Page 17 of Adtovar (The Alliance Rescue #1)
My eyelids fluttered open to a world cloaked in shadow, the darkness pressing in from all sides. My eyes, dry and gritty as if dusted with sand, struggled to focus.
Memories surged back, slicing through my brain like the cut of a razor-sharp blade. I’d fought a Leptosak. The towering, slender creature wasn’t much of a warrior. Yet its eight fingers bore foot-long claws that made it a formidable adversary.
I allowed myself to become distracted, my attention momentarily captured by what I thought was the sight of Maddie’s luxuriant dark curls in the crowd.
The lapse allowed the Leptosak an opportunity to deliver a brutal slash just as I was in the process of knocking it out.
I glanced down at my chest, surprised to see it cleaned and bandaged.
.. as well as Maddie’s rich brown curls splayed over my skin as she lay peacefully beside me, her breathing soft and steady in slumber.
Because of the Ulkommanian augmentation, my wounds mended swiftly. Though I still felt an ache and tightness in my muscles, the sensation was merely a whisper of discomfort.
I recalled very little about the journey back to my cell after the fight.
The memories were fragmented, like pieces of a shattered mirror—Maddie’s gentle hands tending to my wound, how she safeguarded me from Bozzo.
Yet, one memory stood out more vividly than the others, the warmth of Maddie’s lips as she kissed me, a gesture that only solidified my certainty. Maddie was my mate.
A second chance.
My memory returned to a conversation with Willa, during which she confided in me the guilt she felt for falling in love with Charick after losing her first mate back on Earth.
I urged her to accept the blessing and take the love and happiness fate offered.
A smile crept onto my lips as I realized Willa would undoubtedly echo those same sentiments to me.
Maddie was my mate. A precious gift bestowed by the gods themselves.
I would deny it no longer. However, recognizing the mate bond and doing something about it were two different things.
I yearned to claim her. To hold her tight, taste her skin and lips while burying myself against the softness of her body and sheathing myself in her warmth.
Yet, despite the intensity of my feelings, I couldn’t bring myself to reveal the truth to her.
Not here. Not amidst the chaos of blood and battle, where echoes of death hovered in the air.
I would hold my revelation until we were safely onboard the Historia .
I would wait until a promise of the future would gleam brightly before us, like a constellation of stars in the darkness of space.
Only then, with the universe stretching vast and hopeful around us, would I confess to her, lay bare my soul, and ask her to remain by my side as my mate.
I shifted, not enough to wake her but to draw her more solidly into my arms. As I lay there, with Maddie nestled cozily beside me, I realized I had never felt so content.
I no longer felt like taking Maddie as my mate meant forsaking the feelings I held for Keelia.
No. Wanting Maddie felt like a testament to the deep love I held for my first mate and wanting to share that kind of love with another.
Slumber enveloped me so effortlessly that I was unaware of sleeping again until a faint, fearful moan reached my ears, bringing me to wakefulness.
Maddie lay curled beside me, but now her face contorted with emotion, her features tense and drawn.
Tears cascaded down her cheeks like a gentle stream, and she rocked back and forth as if desperately trying to escape an invisible terror.
I woke her gently, my fingers softly tracing the curve of her cheek and tenderly brushing away the remnants of her tears. Her dark eyes fluttered open, initially clouded with confusion, then widened as she recognized me and realized we lay entwined together.
Maddie bolted upright, her hands instinctively swiping at her tear-streaked face. “Adtovar, I’m so sorry,” she murmured, her voice tinged with remorse. “I didn’t mean to wake you. How do you feel?” Her eyes, wide with concern, searched my face for any sign of discomfort.
“Not too bad, all things considered.” I let my fingertips glide over the bandage. The cloth was frayed and slightly rough from wear, yet it was clean. “It doesn’t seem like too bad a wound.
Maddie loomed over me, her eyes wide and her brows furrowed in a mixture of disbelief and irritation. “Not too bad a wound? You almost bled to death!”
I felt rather shocked to hear the diagnosis. “Really? I bled to death once before. It didn’t feel the same at all.” Nansar’s blade had pierced my heart, a wound I took willingly to save my Earth daughter Willa.
Maddie rolled her eyes as she squirmed out of my attempt to keep an arm around her waist and rose onto her knees. “Lay still. Let me check the wound.”
Her hands slid over my chest, carefully peeling away the bandage to inspect the wound beneath. I relished the sensation of her touch against my skin, a comforting blend of tenderness and care that seemed to ease the pain in my chest... and begin a throbbing ache elsewhere in my body.
I glanced downward, observing the vivid, deep red line that puckered and stretched across my chest like a jagged seam in stark contrast against the paler skin surrounding it.
“Wow,” Maddie breathed, her fingers hesitantly probing the edges of the wound. “This looks better than I expected.”
It was hard to shrug in a prone position, but I did my best. “I heal quickly.”
“Apparently,” she huffed, repositioning the bandage. Her fingertips tickled across my skin. Once finished, she laid her palm flat over my chest, sighing with relief at the steady thrum of my heart. “You scared me.”
“I am sorry.” I felt utterly foolish for lowering my defenses and ending up wounded. Even more so for causing her unnecessary worry and upset. “Is that why you were dreaming?”
“What?” Maddie’s dark eyes shifted swiftly in my direction, revealing a flicker of surprise.
“You were crying in your sleep... a nightmare.” I used the Earth word. My kind were not prone to dreaming... and such instances when they occurred were considered prophetic visions.
“It wasn’t about that... about you.” She let out a deep, weary sigh and gently massaged her eyes as though they ached. In all the time I had known her, she never appeared more fragile than right now. I wanted to gather her in my arms, hold her tight and promise to protect her for eternity.
Instead, I raised a hand, letting my fingertips trail along the residual tear trails still visible on her skin. “What upset you?”
Maddie shrugged and drew her knees up to her chest, encircling them with her arms. She looked like she was trying to curl in on herself, as if seeking solace in her own presence. “I haven’t dreamed about it in a while. I usually don’t, not unless I’m really upset.”
“And you were upset today?” I prodded gently.
Maddie fixed me with a piercing gaze, her eyes narrowing sharply. “You almost bled to death.”
“I am sorry I made you have a nightmare,” I said with genuine remorse.
“It’s not your fault.” Her voice came gently, like a whisper carried on a breeze. When her eyes met mine, they held a tenderness that mirrored the softness of her tone.
“Perhaps you should speak of it,” I suggested. “Aljani believe that any worry spoken aloud loses its power.”
“My aunt used to tell me that.” A faint nostalgic smile played over her beautiful face.
She didn’t wear her hair pulled back as usual, allowing a wild, vibrant cascade of curls to spill freely around her head.
Each strand seemed to possess a life of its own, bouncing and swaying with every movement.
It was all I could do not to bury my fingers in her inviting tresses.
“She seems very wise,” I agreed.
Maddie chuckled, then sighed, her posture relaxing. “You know I was at my aunt’s house when those cat-like aliens grabbed me.”
“Yes.” I recalled her mention of that and took the opportunity to let my hand cover one of hers.
I found it almost impossible to resist the urge to touch her, even in the smallest ways.
Her skin felt warm, inviting and so very soft.
I longed for her to lie down beside me so I could envelop her in my arms again.
“The reason I was at my aunt’s house....” Maddie’s voice trailed off, and she licked her lips, seeming to wrestle with the burden of confession. “I was hiding.”
“Hiding?” My skin prickled. The thought of shielding her from any threat, whether lurking in her past, looming in her present, or awaiting in her future, consumed me entirely. “Why were you hiding?”
“Because I didn’t know what else to do.” Maddie let out a deep, frustrated groan, burying her face in her hands as if trying to hide from the universe.
When she finally lifted her head, the reluctance that had clouded her expression vanished, replaced by a sharp, unmistakable flash of aggravation that lit up her features like a sudden storm.
“You remember, I told you I’m an engineer. ”
I nodded, proud of her intellect.
“After I graduated from college, I got a job offer from one of the top engineering firms in the world, WPS Global.” Her expression brightened with memory. “I was the only female in my department.”
“Are females on Earth rarely engineers?” Like many species, Aljani males took on the role of warrior and protector, while females tended toward the sciences.
Maddie laughed, but the sound seemed sad. “No, there are many good female engineers. It’s just for someone like me—a black woman—it was quite an achievement.”