Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
NORA
Airik lay unmoving, his hand limp against his throat where he’d just been clawing. There was no sound—not even from the forest around them, as if it, too, were horrified—except for his weak, rasping, fading breath.
The world spun around Nora at a terrifying speed, with Airik at its center. Her knees buckled, and she collapsed on top of his body.
She gripped his shoulders, fighting an old instinct to turn around—to look for a path to a different reality where Airik wasn’t dying. But she held fast, knowing all she’d see was the massive head of the bear-bison, gaping at her, its yellow eyes devoid of…everything.
Lucky barked, then nosed under Airik’s neck, pushing it up until Airik’s head tilted back and his mouth fell open. His halting, jerky chest movements snapped her out of her thoughts.
He couldn’t breathe. She had seen this before. During her first week working in the Abeona’s med-bay. A woman had been dragged in clutching her throat, her chest and face red. Unable to breathe.
Anaphylaxis. From a bee that had somehow found its way into the crew shuttle and stung her as she’d been departing.
Blood covered Airik from the top of his head to his boots, including his lips and teeth. The monster’s blood must’ve triggered an allergic reaction in him.
She wiped his chest of blood with her sleeve, then pressed her ear to his heart, a sick twist in her belly, afraid of the silence she might hear.
It beat. Even and fast, though she had no idea what was normal for him.
Bringing her ear to his mouth, she heard the crackle of his breathing. God, was he wheezing? She had nothing for this. No epinephrine injector. No strength to do a damn thing. And what could she do? Just because she knew what it was didn’t mean she had a clue what to do next.
Lucky started to lick Airik’s face, clearing it of blood.
“Good boy!” Nora cried. Get rid of what’s killing him.
The pool of water was at least twenty feet from the hut’s door, and Airik was tall and muscular—maybe close to three hundred pounds.
Frantic, she found a rope on a shelf and looped it under his arms, making a harness as she’d seen on a survival show. She didn’t know how to tie a knot with thick rope, so she wrapped the ends around her waist several times until they were snug and she could hold them in place.
“Help me.” Nora waved to one of the two taught sections of rope between her body and Airik.
Lucky, thankfully understanding her, bit down on one side, then wrapped his tail around Airik’s chest.
Hauling in a deep breath, Nora pulled Airik forward, throwing every ounce of her weight to drag him. Even with Lucky’s help, it was far harder than she had imagined. The rope dug into her hips. If her ankle hadn’t been broken before, it would be by the time she made it to the pool.
None of it mattered because Airik was dying. She wouldn’t just let him…go.
She pulled, kicked off the ground, grunted, and cried for what felt like a hundred years until her body was drenched in sweat and a shallow path stretched from Airik’s body, tracing the distance between the shed and the pool.
Lucky dove into the water, still holding the rope.
“Wait!” Nora collapsed at the edge of the pool.
Nausea rose thick in her throat. There was no alternative but to go in. She had to do this. If she didn’t get the blood off as fast as possible, he’d die. She’d have to get into the water with him.
This isn’t an ocean. It’s a calm pool, she assured herself. It’s not Earth water. It even has a cute little sign in a language I can’t read. It will be okay. It must be. Airik said he’s “unkillable.” I need to make sure that’s true.
After checking that Airik still breathed—he did, but barely—she plunged into the night-chilled water. The cold gave her an extra blast of strength. She grabbed the rope, braced herself against the side of the pool, and heaved, pulling Airik in with her.
He sank to the bottom. Fueled by adrenaline-induced fearlessness, she dove after him, pulling him up by hugging under his arms. A vague thought occurred to her that she’d been a strong swimmer once. A very long time ago.
Sensing she needed help from the surface, Lucky dragged himself back out and pulled Airik up by the rope, straining to keep Airik’s heavy weight afloat and Airik’s mouth clear of water.
Nora rushed to rinse Airik clean of blood. Strong, handsome Airik, who had saved her life again. Beheading a creature twice the size of a bison.
She wanted him back. Now, so he could yell at her again for not listening.
Beginning with his face, she gently cradled the back of his neck, cupping water over his eyes and hair. She pried his mouth open, revealing his sharp canines and a gray-blue tongue.
Praying she wouldn’t drown him, she poured water into his mouth, then quickly tipped his head forward to drain it before it entered his airways. Once his tongue was clear, she wiped his teeth with her finger to remove the congealing blood.
Water beside her splashed as Lucky swung his tail, pushing Nora’s soap and shampoo from the night before into the pool.
There was so much of Airik. Scrubbing him clean was an immense undertaking, but she’d never been so determined to accomplish something as quickly or as well in her life.
When all visible traces of blood were gone, she took off her own clothes and threw them ashore. She moved to unlatch his belt.
“I hope to god you won’t remember this,” she said before pushing down his pants. She dove under to tear them from his feet, barely registering the irrational fear that she’d never surface. Blood oozed off his body, floating around them in dark whorls.
Shampooing his hair, scrubbing his chest, she rinsed almost every inch of him, biting her lip until it bled, trying not to commit the long planes of his powerful body to memory.
Every few minutes, she’d press her head against his chest, each time relieved that his heart still beat.
By the time they were both completely clean, she realized with sheer dread that his skin had grown much colder than the water around them.
Fuck.
Somehow managing to pull Airik out of the water, she took the rope from Lucky, who was panting as well. She crawled to her pack, her legs exhausted, keeping her head turned so she wouldn’t see the dead bison-bear from hell.
This whole place was hell. Maybe it deserved to be broken by Airik.
Nora’s mini first aid kit sat at the bottom of her bag. She dumped the contents onto the ground. Rifling through everything, she spotted the package of vanilla-mint-flavored antihistamine strips. It wasn’t epinephrine, but it was all she had.
She pushed a finger between his lips, forcing his mouth open. Careful of his fangs, she placed a strip on his tongue, then closed his mouth. “I’m sorry. You’ll probably hate how it tastes.”
He started to shiver, shaking her, too. Trying to keep him still, she flattened herself against his body. Was it good that he responded to his environment? Or was this the next step toward death?
She didn’t have a lighter, and even if she did, she didn’t know how to start a fire.
“Airik!” she cried, her forehead dropping against his.
Lucky pressed against Airik’s side, breaking into a loud purr.
“Good idea.” Body warmth. Her body was alive and bursting with heat.
She checked Airik’s heartbeat once more, sagging against his chest when she heard it. The hardness of his chest seared into her skin, and the sound of his heart was a warning to keep moving.
She heard a noise above her. Excited, she bolted up. Her heart dropped into a cold pool of panic.
Airik’s eyes were open and fixed on her, but the light in them was gone. All that was left was a clear turquoise, empty, and dead of glow.
A moan rattled from inside his chest. Maybe in agony. Maybe in shock.
“Yes! Good—stay awake, please.” She moved behind him, cradling his head in her lap.
His eyes stayed locked on hers, but his lashes drooped.
“Wake up!” she said, violently shaking him.
Airik didn’t so much as grunt in annoyance.
Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, forgetting dignity, propriety, and everything else, she buried her face in his neck, hoping the heat of her breath would reach him.
“You brought me here,” she whispered into his ear, not knowing what else to do but appeal to his honor.
“You said I’d be safe with you, that I was yours. Please…don’t leave me alone.”
Something tugged on her hair, forcing her to look down.
His eyes were open and on her. His throat working as he tried to speak, but nothing came out. He looped her braid around his hand, then pulled down weakly.
She followed him where he wanted, until their noses nearly touched.
“You have…” he said, breathlessly. “The most beautiful eyes…of all I have seen…in…the universe.” He smiled. Wistful. Delirious. “So brown. Almost red…like a demon.”
Nora stilled, except for the smile tugging at her lips. Of all the things in the world to say, this was what he considered most important. “How do you know what a demon is?”
His eyes dropped shut.
Terror shot down Nora’s spine. “Airik!” she screamed. Red birds burst from the bamboo forest and shot across the clearing. Yet Airik still didn’t wake. But the day was starting, and they’d burn out here in the suns.
With Lucky’s help, Nora used the last of her strength to drag him back into the storage shed. Sour nausea rose in her throat as she kicked one of the beheaded beast’s legs out of the way to clear a path to the hut’s far wall.
She fell to the ground by the wall, as far away from the blood as she could get.
“Can you get us a blanket?” she said to Lucky between heaving breaths.
As soon as the request was out, Lucky bolted, jumped over the carcass, and dragged a blanket back to them, making sure no blood on the ground got on it.
“You’re the best boy. You’ll get extra snacks when this is all over,” she promised him, then pushed herself up.
After spreading the blanket, she rolled Airik onto it so he lay on his left side—something she remembered from the med-bay. Her shirt clung to her, wet and cold. For heat to transfer, they’d have to be skin to skin.
She pressed her cheek against his chest. Though his heart beat rapidly, he was practically a slab of ice.
Fuck. Not wasting another second, she peeled off her shirt and tossed it aside. She looked down at herself, stupidly shy in her pink smiley-face panties, which she’d worn for two days in a row.
Airik let out a pained moan, his body shuddering.
Embarrassment was better than grieving.
She lay on her side behind him, then pressed close, as if air were the enemy to be banished from between them.
Goose bumps burst across her skin as she reached under his arm, around his stomach, trying to cover as much of his front, too. How was it possible for him to be so cold?
Lucky balled himself, pressed against Airik’s chest, trapping Nora’s arm between them. They lay connected everywhere, except where his shorts and her panties kept them apart. Her body barely covered his back and hips.
Nora’s right hand rested against the hard ridges of his abdomen. Her left hand, needing to connect with him, wove into his wet, silky hair.
He smelled of raspberries and soap. An impulse drove her to bury her nose deeper between his shoulder blades, hoping it was as much a comfort to him as to her.
He won’t remember this.
Airik’s breathing came in ragged drags, but with each passing moment, it strengthened.
Encouraged, she pulled him closer, feeling every part where their skin met, willing her heat to flow into him. Her nipples hardened into points, and she again hoped that he wouldn’t remember any of this.
Airik’s fingers slipped between hers, their fingers entwining.
Nora froze. “Airik?”
He sighed, nestling deeper into her arms, as much as his big body would allow. His back relaxed, tension draining from his muscles in a palpable ripple.
Did he feel just a little warmer against her cheek?
Certain he’d only fallen asleep, Nora let out a long breath and gripped his hand tighter. “It’s okay,” she told him, imagining her words sinking into his skin and reaching his heart. “I have you.”