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Shame burned inside Rhaego, even as his shaft swelled anew. He cradled Aurora in his arms and shouldered his way into their den. The multiple packs he’d piled on his back bumped into the doorframe and he froze, but she didn’t so much as twitch. She’d passed out from exhaustion just as the sun began to rise. To his great relief, his fever had ebbed enough to shoot him through with sense.

He crept through the house, laid her in her bed as gently as he could, then searched for his healer before recalling he had one stowed in the bag currently flopping around his back. Tossing the items to the ground where he stood, he returned to her.

The results of his heat shone across her beautiful naked body—bruises, claw marks, dirt, scrapes, smears of his seed. Her perfect cunt was red and swollen, as were her luscious breasts and puffy lips.

A miserable exhale burst out of him. Even as his cock twitched from the sight of her well-loved body, guilt still plagued him. She was human. A more delicate species. She wasn’t used to Tuvastan roughness, and he cursed himself for not finding the strength to be more careful.

Dropping to his knee at her bedside, he ran the healer across her injuries. He’d made it to her hip and was gently lifting her so he could reach the worst of the scrapes when she rasped, “Good morning.”

Rhaego’s skin heated at the sound of her cracked voice. He made a mental note to fetch her some tea or a brew after he’d settled her into a warm bath. “Good afternoon,” he corrected, gathering the courage to meet her eyes.

His heart skipped to see her smiling sleepily down at him. Her blue eyes widened as they scanned his face, and she sat up, wincing. “What’s wrong? Are you still feeling the heat?”

Without question. “No. It has passed,” he lied, gently pressing her against her pillows.

He went back to work running the healer over an angry circle of skin on her inner thigh he vaguely recalled sucking. “How are you feeling?” He braced for her answer.

“Hmm,” she pondered. “There was this guy I knew in college who got hit by a car when he was riding his bike.” Rhaego’s stomach threatened to empty, and he welded his jaw shut. “He was fine but got pretty banged up. I went to visit him in the hospital, and I thought he was going to be miserable, but he was all happy and floaty because of the drugs they’d given him.”

He let the confusion show on his face as he peered up at her.

She smiled. “I’m sore. Not gonna lie. But I feel…” Her grin widened as she stared at the ceiling and stretched. “Euphoric.”

“Really?” he asked, not daring to hope.

“Ye—” She hissed as he pulled her thighs apart so he could examine her glorious sex.

His throat tightened. “Sorry. It’ll feel better in a moment. I, uh…” Licking his lips, he darted a glance at her. “I can either numb you or heal you entirely. Do you have a preference?”

Aurora stared with wrinkled brows like she was examining a curious insect. “Is there a reason not to heal me?”

“Well…in time your body will grow more and more used to my size if I leave you to heal naturally. But if you’d prefer not to feel that pain again—”

“Wait,” she blurted in a near shout. “Do you think I won’t want to have sex with you again?”

He didn’t know how to answer, which seemed to tell her all she needed to know. She laughed in exasperation and threw her head back to the sky. Wincing, she worked her way to a sitting position.

Rhaego offered his hands for support as she rose. He froze when she let her legs dangle over the side of the bed and cupped his face between her two soft palms. “I just want to grab you by the horns and shake you sometimes,” she grated between clenched teeth, placing a confusing kiss to the tip of his nose. “I loved everything we did last night. I love every claw mark, every bite, every sore spot. I’m your mate, remember?” Her small smile flickered, her pale brows drawing together. “Well, probably. I’m probably your mate, right? You don’t have marks yet, but—”

“You are,” he rushed to say past the squeezing of his throat. Emotion welled, and though he wanted to say more, he couldn’t.

A soft smile returned to her lips. “Then why are you being so thick, huh?” she teased. “I want you just as you are. Stop hiding from me. I…” Her lips closed as though she were debating whether to say what she wanted. “I’m not just saying this because I’m your mate. I’m saying it because I love you.”

Rhaego blinked, dumbfounded. The words clanged through his mind, but surely he’d heard them wrong. She chewed on her lip, brows lifting in concern the longer he went without speaking.

Since learning that matehood had returned to Clecania, Rhaego had hoped beyond reason that he could find his other half. But the humans were different. The bond was one-sided to a degree. Though he’d witnessed friends find mates and earn their love, a part of him had thought he would only be blessed with one of those things, if any.

But she loved him? So easily?

Him? The blight?

Emotion clogged his throat and blurred his eyes. He didn’t know what to say. She might think it now, but…

Rhaego’s head dipped, and she wrenched it up with her grip on his cheeks. “Don’t push your horns at me, mate,” she scolded, her little smirk undercutting her words. “I can see what’s happening in your head, and I want you to shut it down.” Aurora leveled her eyes with his. “I. Love. You.” She repeated each word like she were trying to force them into him. “I’m not overtired or being nice or scared or any of the nonsense you might be trying to tell yourself. I’m sure. I’ve been sure. And nothing will change my mind.”

His purr rumbled low in his achy chest though he’d yet to take a breath.

“Do you believe me?” she asked.

His lips parted. Did he?

A rapid chime rang through the den, and Aurora jumped, hands falling from his face. “What…? Is that the carriage alarm?”

Rhaego rose. His mind still raced, but he slowed the noise. Something was happening, and he needed his thoughts clear. “Phirdo approaches. Unscheduled,” he answered.

Aurora gasped. “Is that normal?”

“No.” Rhaego shook his head, a stony resolve settling over him. “Stay here.”

Though the worst of the heat had passed, his fever rose. This could only be one person: Phirdo. He stalked to the door wearing a pair of trousers and nothing else. He’d meet this rudeness with rudeness of his own.

Nearly breaking off the handle, he wrenched the door open with such force that a small vortex of fallen leaves twirled at his feet.

The carriage was still pulling alongside the dock. Phirdo’s wide eyes flashed toward Rhaego as he guided it into place.

“What?” Rhaego barked, stomping toward the carriage and flexing his claws.

Rather than be greeted by the usual arrogance that dripped from the steward, he was met with a worn and meek male. Phirdo’s face was pale and lined, his eyes shot through with the red of sleeplessness rather than fever. Hands clasped before him, he appeared…apologetic.

It was then that Rhaego smelled the other males. He twisted toward a sudden whiz, and his hand shot out just in time to slap a tranq dart away from his chest. Soldiers decked in the uniforms of the royal guard crept out of the trees.

Thoughts came too quickly for him to process, but one stark realization bellowed above the rest—they would take Aurora from him. His fever roared to the surface, and he charged.

Tiny impacts like pelting hail rained against his chest, but his fever burned through the tranquilizer quicker than they could fire. He slashed out toward the first male he saw, ripping his gun from him and swinging it until it connected with his skull, the bone crumbling under contact.

He leapt to the next male closing in, but his legs were wobbly, weaker. His fever wavered as if the flames were losing oxygen.

“Rhaego!” He twisted, the ground coming up to meet him as he dropped to his knees. Aurora rushed toward him from their den, and it took all his effort to lift a hand to halt her. Hysteria clawed at his insides, trapped within his body. But paralysis took hold.

How could he have been so blind? The soldiers reeked against his well-marked territory. He’d failed to keep her safe. His mate. His love.

Rhaego’s vision tunneled, but Aurora’s cries still carried to him. They were the last thing he heard as his horns hit the grass.