Page 19 of Champion (The Outlander Book Club… in Space! #6)
Bellowing out every ounce of heartbreak and fury residing in my soul, I snatched the blade from the creature’s chest and brought it down hard across his throat.
One last gurgle and the Zarpazian went silent.
Sticky black blood sprayed upward, coating my hands and arms. I wore the ichor like a badge of honor, sinking to my knees beside my kill while the aftereffects of adrenaline shivered over my skin.
The door slammed open, and Adtovar burst into the room, his eyes going wide as he took in the nearly headless alien lying in the middle of the floor.
“Willa!” He snatched me into his arms, hands running over my body. “Are you hurt?”
I managed to shake my head. “Charick… he was Charick.” Hot tears drenched my cheeks, but I made no attempt to stop them.
Adtovar shut the door, pulled a chair against the doorframe, and sat me down. He disappeared into the bathroom, emerging a moment later with a damp cloth, with which he bathed my hands, arms, and face free of the proof of my kill.
“Charick.” It was the only thing I said, the only word repeating in my brain and heart.
Adtovar took my face between his hands, thumbs swiping ineffectively at the torrent of tears. “Trust me. It will be okay, but you need to be quiet.”
It was an easy acquiescence. I didn’t want to speak. All I wanted to do was cry.
Adtovar jerked the blanket from the bed, wrapping it around the Zarpazian before stashing the body in the bathroom.
When he held out his hand, I rose without a word and followed silently as he led me across the shadowed cobblestones toward one of the larger abodes.
The door creaked loudly, offering entry into a gray stone dwelling almost twice the size of mine.
Chairs littered the room, along with two tables and a blazing fireplace.
I started to ask Adtovar where he’d taken me when Zahavi emerged from one of the two inner doorways.
“Is he?” Adtovar’s hand settled on my shoulder, and I felt him tremble.
“Alive. For now.” Zahavi sighed, jerking his chin toward the room he’d exited.
Alive?
“Charick?”
I stepped away from Adtovar’s grip, rushing past Zahavi into a small, dark room furnished only with a chair and a cot.
Charick’s normally tan pelt appeared like ivory velvet in the shards of moonlight falling through the small window. He lay unnaturally still, save for the slow rise and fall of his chest, appearing uninjured save for a bandage on his right forearm just above his wrist.
“Is he....” My words choked off on a sob.
“He lives, for now,” Zahavi murmured from where he stood by my side.
“The Zarpazian….” I wiped tears from my cheeks, emboldened by a fresh wash of anger. “He came to me as Charick.”
“What happened to him?” Zahavi’s eyes darted between Adtovar and me.
“Willa killed him,” Adtovar said, with no small amount of pride.
“I knew it wasn’t Charick,” I murmured, moving closer to the cot. “I just knew.”
“I never doubted you could take care of yourself,” Adtovar snorted. “I trained you well.”
“I thought the touch of a Zarpazian killed.” I settled in the chair beside the cot, letting my fingertips brush the hair from Charick’s forehead. His skin felt warm, which gave me hope.
“Usually.” Zahavi came to stand beside me, his pale eyes focused on my mate. “Thankfully the Zarpazian didn’t have enough time to completely steal his essence.”
Adtovar issued a low growl, drawing my attention as he came to stand beside my chair letting his hand drop again to my shoulder.
His eyes held an apology when they met mine.
“I was searching for a place to observe unseen when I stumbled across the guard. I knew it was the Zarpazian because of how withered the body. I heard Charick roar and by the time I got to him, the Zarpazian had already touched him. Thank the gods I scared the assassin away before he could completely drain Charick. I brought him back to Zahavi and then got to you as fast as I could.” The hand on my shoulder gave a squeeze.
“I should have come straight to you... to protect you, but I knew you’d kill me if I didn’t try to save Charick. ”
“True,” I muttered, giving the older warrior something that might have been a smile before returning my attention to Charick. “Will he be okay?”
“I have done all I can do for him.” Zahavi gave me something that might have been a smile. “Charick is young and strong. A mated warrior. Your bond will give him the will to live.”
A few days ago, I would have argued that belief. Now, I prayed for it to be true.
“Talk to him, Lady Willa,” Zahavi urged. “There is no realm of unconsciousness where his mate’s voice will not reach him.”
I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to tell Charick how I knew the Zarpazian wasn’t him. How I killed the Zarpazian to avenge him and....
Oh shit, the Zarpazian.
I glanced at Adtovar, my teeth worrying over my lower lip. “Um, what do we do about the dead body in my room?”
Adtovar made a face that succinctly described what he thought of the task. “I will get Cristox and Xabat to help me hide the Zarpazian and guard. The longer we keep Nansar from realizing his plan has failed, the better.”
Zahavi and I nodded in unison.
With a few short words to Zahavi, Adtovar departed. I didn’t know what he said to the healer, but if I had my guess, it had something to do with keeping me safe since the medic locked the door and dragged a chair against it as an extra barrier.
The medic returned to Charick’s bedside, his hands running over my mate’s forehead and checking his pulse at a spot just above his collarbone, his red eyes holding concern.
“I will be in the outer room preparing some healing herbs for a tea.” Zahavi’s head bobbed once before he stepped away. A low whine issued from the hinges as he pulled the door to the bedroom closed behind him.
I pulled the chair closer to the cot so that my upper body rested on the mattress, pressed against Charick’s side.
My fingertips ran slowly along his cheek and across his jawline, coming to a stop when I reached the center of his chest. The steady thrum of his heart reverberated through my nerve endings, and I couldn’t tell whether he echoed my heartbeat, or I his.
“Zahavi says you can hear me,” I murmured, stroking the muscles of his chest. “I hope he’s right.
” I scooted closer, laying my cheek against his shoulder, heartened by the warmth of his body.
“I know I said that I didn’t believe in this mate shit, but I’m not so sure anymore.
After last night… there’s something between us.
I can feel it here.” My fingertips drew a large circle on his chest over where his heart lay.
“It’s like my heartbeat holds a part of you within it. ”
Could he hear me? Or was this the same type of cathartic moment I had when speaking to my husband’s casket?
Or holding the American Flag that had draped my son’s final remains?
Either way, the feelings and the words lay heavy on my tongue.
This conversation might be for my ears alone, but I still needed to say the words.
“I’m scared.” Hot tears breached my lashes at the admission.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve let myself feel like this about anybody.
It scares me to feel this strongly, but after living through a moment where I thought I lost you, it scares me even more not to let myself feel.
I don’t know if I’m ready to believe this mate shit of yours.
I don’t know if I ever will. But I am ready to admit that I feel something for you, Charick, something deep and real. .. and I don’t want to lose you.”
I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his, the warm huff of his breath tickling over my cheeks.
I spent my life thinking aliens weren’t real, and they belonged in the realm of make-believe and fairy tales.
I held my breath, letting my lips play over his, a part of me praying that this kiss was the thing of fairytales, and that it would awaken him from slumber.
Charick didn’t wake, but his lips twitched, the corners flicking upward into something resembling a smug grin.
“Of course, you’d be conceited, you bastard.” Affection played out over my expression in a grin. I could just hear him insisting he’d been right about the mate shit. I kissed him again for good measure. “Just come back to me, okay… and you can be conceited all you want.”