Chapter 19 #3
“Oh. Yes, we have a bromance,” he said flatly. “Whenever we go out, we twine our tails together.”
Shay narrowed her eyes. “There shall be no twining of tails. Your tail, and everything attached to it, belongs to me.”
Drakkal chuckled and purred, “It certainly does, kiraia.”
She groaned. “God, I love it when you purr. It’s going to kill me waiting until I’m healed up before I can jump your bones again.”
She didn’t even want to know the extent of the damage to her poor vagina.
That produced a low growl from his chest that sent tingles all the way down to Shay’s toes.
“I’m already feeling it, kiraia.”
“I’ll have to take care of you later then.”
It would be torture for her, but she’d enjoy pleasuring him immensely.
Drakkal took her hand and brought it to his face, rubbing his cheek against the top of it before turning it to lick her palm. The roughness of his tongue sent another tingling wave through her.
“Not until I can take care of you, too. The wait will be worth it.”
Shay smiled and stroked his jaw. It so would be.
“So anyway, why haven’t you told Arc?” Shay asked.
He released a long, slow sigh. “I don’t know.
Part of me thought he might try to find her if he knew.
Arc doesn’t tolerate betrayal, even when he’s not the direct victim, and when he latches on to something it can be hard to distract him from it.
We had other things going on that needed his focus.
And another part of me felt like I had to say she was dead because it was the only way I could free myself from the whole mess. ”
“But now she’s here. And she knows you’re here. You should tell Arc, Drakkal. You can’t keep shit like that secret.”
“Yeah. And I should’ve learned by now how the past has a habit of trying bite you in the ass if you ignore it.
” He angled his head to the side a little more, shifting his gaze to Leah, and gently brushed the pad of a finger along her little back.
“Vanya can’t be trusted. After what she said to you, about you…
she’s a potential threat. Need to make sure we’re all aware so we can keep an eye out.
The odds of running into her again are slim, but I won’t take the chance. Not when I have so much more to lose.”
After a few seconds of silence, Drakkal leaned toward Shay and kissed her forehead again. “I’m going to talk to him now. Do you need anything?”
Shay wrapped her arms around her slumbering baby. “No, I’m good.”
“All right.” He rolled away from her, sat up at the edge of the bed, and stretched as he stood up.
His fur was rumpled and sticking up all over, but he was still sexy as hell, especially with those tight pants hugging his toned ass.
He walked toward the door. “Get some more rest. I’ll be back soon. ”
“Remember, no tail twining,” Shay said with a smirk.
Drakkal snort-laughed. “If you don’t see it, it doesn’t count.”
Shay scoffed playfully. “So much for trust.”
“I’ll think of you while I do it, kiraia,” he said as he reached the door.
“Bet you wouldn’t like it if I said the same thing about Thargen.”
The playfulness vanished from his expression. “That’s different.”
“But he’s my friend.”
“Are you saying you have a bromance with Thargen?” he asked, lifting a brow.
“In a manner of speaking. I’m just missing the thing swinging between my legs.”
“Hurry up and heal, kiraia, and I’ll fill in that emptiness as much as you want.”
Shay grinned. “I love it when you talk dirty.”
With another chuckle, he opened the door and stepped out into the corridor, leaving Shay alone with Leah.
Shay’s smile lingered. “Hear that, body? You better hurry up.”
She turned her face back toward Leah and leaned down to press her lips to her daughter’s head.
She inhaled deeply, taking in the sweet scent of her baby, and closed her eyes.
Weariness poked at the edges of her consciousness.
There’d been more exhaustion, anxiety, discomfort, and pain over the last several months than Shay had thought possible.
Drakkal had made it so much easier to bear, but he couldn’t eliminate it, couldn’t shield her from all of it. And she knew there was more to come.
“But you are worth it,” she whispered. “And so is he.”
Drakkal felt lighter as he walked the quiet corridors in search of Arcanthus.
He’d never shared his past with anyone but Arc, and that had only been in pieces—and had included the lie about Vanya.
Telling Shay the story—the full, true story—had been like shedding a crippling burden he’d never realized he’d been carrying.
He’d been described by others as guarded and hard to read, and he’d never disagreed.
His emotions had always been just that—his.
The same for his past. It had always seemed like sharing either could only have unfairly burdened the people around him.
He’d never wanted them to worry about his problems.
But while Shay—his beautiful, fierce, strong Shay—had talked about her regrets in the training area downstairs weeks ago, Drakkal had realized that sharing those things with a mate wasn’t a matter of burdening someone else, wasn’t a display of weakness.
It was a sort of strength beyond any he’d known before.
It was a courage he’d long been unable to muster.
Drakkal had always been there for Arc and the rest of the crew, but he’d never allowed them to be there for him.
Vrek’osh, I am getting sappy.
That was all right, though. Having his true mate and a newborn cub had altered Drakkal’s perspective for the better. He wanted to share everything with her, and he could see that allowing himself to lean on her sometimes would only strengthen both of them—and their mating bond.
He turned a corner and entered the hall leading to Arcanthus’s workshop.
He wasn’t going to shy away from what he meant to do now.
The little spark of anxiousness and uncertainty in Drakkal’s gut meant nothing.
He’d correct the one lie he’d told to Arcanthus years ago, and then everyone could move on with their lives aware of the possible threat posed by Vanya.
They could reclaim normalcy—not that Drakkal knew yet what normal meant after the birth of a cub.
Drakkal pressed the entry button beside the workshop door, walking through the moment the door opened.
Arcanthus and Samantha were reclining together on one of the couches, her body tucked against his in a languid embrace. Sam was watching the holographic flames in the flame bowl, which were constantly changing color, while Arc fiddled with her hair, weaving a trio of strands into a thin braid.
Samantha turned her attention and offered Drakkal a warm smile. “Evening, Drak.”
The sedhi glanced up at Drakkal with his center eye as his fingers continued their work. “What, you don’t even use the buzzer anymore?”
“You want privacy, lock the door,” Drakkal replied.
He walked to the unoccupied couch and plopped down.
His eyes ached, and his eyelids were heavy; despite having had a few hours of sleep and having not done much physically over the last day, he was exhausted.
He couldn’t imagine how Shay felt. But he wouldn’t complain—his weariness was the result of something more amazing and beautiful than he could express.
“You spent all that time whining because I locked the doors, and now you’re telling me to lock them?”
Drakkal released a huff and tilted his head back, leaning it against the backrest. “Figure it out, sedhi. I don’t have time to be your mother right now.”
“How’s little Leah?” Samantha asked.
A wide grin stretched across Drakkal’s lips. “She’s perfect. Sleeping with Shay right now.”
Kraasz ka’val…I’m a father.
That thought had struck him several times since Leah was born, and each time had been just as surreal as the last. A few months ago, the idea of Drakkal having a cub would’ve been absurd—but only slightly more so than the idea of him finding his mate.
Perhaps the reality of the situation would eventually set in, but he didn’t think his awe would fade any time soon.
“Shay still doing okay?” asked Sam.
“Yeah,” Drakkal replied. “She’s exhausted, but I think all she’s really wanted to do is stare at Leah. Can’t blame her. Painkillers Urgand gave her are helping her get comfortable, at least.”
Drakkal could hear the warm smile in Sam’s voice when she said, “Good.”
Silence settled over the room; it was a comfortable, companionable sort of silence, but it increasingly reminded Drakkal how much he missed his mate and cub as the seconds passed. Finally, he lifted his head and looked at his friends.
Samantha’s eyes were on Drakkal, bright with shimmering, reflected firelight.
The joy on her face was unlike any Drakkal had seen there before—and Sam seemed happy just about all the time.
Arcanthus had finished with her hair and was staring at her face.
Though his expression was subtler than hers, it was beaming with love, adoration, and something… more.
Drakkal understood the look on Arc’s face—it was the same way Drakkal looked at Shay.
He smiled to himself and let a few more seconds trickle by.
It had been good to see his oldest, dearest friend, his brother, so content over the last year.
The bouts of darkness and depression to which the sedhi had long been prone to had been absent in all that time.
Arcanthus wasn’t a different person because of Samantha, but he was certainly the best version of himself.
That made Drakkal want to get back to Shay and Leah even more.
“Sorry for interrupting,” Drakkal said, “but I need to borrow Arc for a few minutes. Need to talk to him about something.”