Page 12

Chapter twelve

Nash

I opened my eyes slowly, half expecting to find the bed beside me empty. Instead, I was instantly hit with a warmth at my side that sent a measure of calm I’d never known before pooling through my body.

Kai was wrapped around me like he was afraid I was going to escape in the middle of the night, and his nose was buried against my neck.

He was warm and solid and real .

It was strange to think that it was only days earlier that he’d hit me and tried to escape, but I knew the draw of the bond that existed between us. I’d spent my entire life wanting exactly these emotions, this connection. This inevitability.

I wasn’t going to question the intensity, or how he curled closer to me in his sleep, as though he could sense that I was thinking about our bond.

It was almost a shame for me to move—I could have spent the rest of the morning wrapped up in the way he was wrapped up in me... but there was too much to do. I tried to detangle myself from his hold, and the low grunt of irritation that pooled from his chest tore a laugh from me.

The sound made his eyes shoot open. There was a second where panic tried to flit across his face and fill his expression, and then he settled back and glared at me.

“Were you seriously trying to leave me here? Listen, bro …” He drew the word out slowly. “I’m not the kind of guy who fucks and runs. You could at least get me breakfast before you leave me tied to your bed again.”

I glanced between the stern look on his face, his tousled, tawny hair, the stubble growing on his cheeks... and the way his fingers were biting into my skin.

He didn’t want me to leave—maybe he wasn’t the best at expressing it, but it was obvious. The thought made me smile, and the smile drew my lips down to his. I brushed a gentle kiss on his mouth, and when I pulled back, the edges of his scowl had softened.

“Kissing me isn’t going to—”

I cut him off before he had a chance to keep ranting.

“I’m not tying you to the bed. Come, there’s too much to do around the camp. Besides.” I stood, pulling on a loose-fitting shirt. “I’m sure you have questions.”

That seemed to catch his attention. He sat up, his brow arching as he stretched and started feeling around for the shirt that he hadn’t bothered pulling back on. When he didn’t find it, I tossed him one of mine with a grin.

He slipped it over his head, glancing down at the way it looked entirely too big on him—I wasn’t going to tell him I would have him in my clothing all the time if I could.

“Questions?” he finally said, and I nodded.

“I’m sure there are things you want to know—and it’s not as though you’ve taken much opportunity to ask.”

“I was plotting how to escape—”

My sharp expression cut him off. “Well, ask me now. Maybe if I fill your curiosity, you’ll change your mind about trying to leave.”

He looked me over once, like he wanted to say more. It was almost endearing, the way he seemed incapable of lying, too sweet to be convincing even if he tried. Finally, he nodded.

“You’ve kind of kept me chained to your bed and spent the entire time we’ve been together hand-feeding me. There hasn’t been a lot of time for talking.”

As much as I wanted to tell him that wasn’t true, I knew it was.

For someone who seemed clueless about survival and better with his hands than the eloquence of speech, Kai was full of questions. He wanted to know about Belzod, about my family… asked about our magic while he helped build a new table that could be easily broken down for travel.

When he started pointing out plants and questioning me about the kind of animals that were in the woods, there was genuine curiosity and excitement in his tone. The only time the expression fell was when he asked about other people entering the barrier, and if there was an easier way for me to get the question about his friend around. I hated that he was still so intent on finding this Rainn. It was time for more truths—the only way I could steer him from the thought was to tell him there was no way his friend could have entered through the portal unless he had a mate, and there was no way for him to leave unless he was claimed.

That seemed to catch his attention. We’d wandered to the edge of the tents and settled beneath one of the sprawling trees that bordered the clearing we’d set up in. In the shade, with his skin slightly red from the sun and the white shirt I’d given him dirty from the work he’d done throughout the morning, he looked good.

I was nearly drunk on the sight of him, and just the curiosity he had about mating made my cock stir in my breeches. I was fairly certain he’d notice if I didn’t take care.

“So, there’s no way for me to get home until someone marks me?”

“Until I mark you,” I corrected him instantly, and for the first time, he didn’t snap back about how I wasn’t his mate. There was just the faintest hint of pink that touched his cheeks, and he darted his eyes away from mine.

“Okay. So until I’m marked, I… what? Just keep bouncing off the air? That’s what happens to anyone who crosses through the barrier?”

I was caught up in the way he sounded genuinely curious, and the way his fingers were toying with the blade of grass he held, tying it into knots with delicate precision. It took me a second to answer him.

“We’re not sure when the portals first appeared, or why… but they lead between worlds. Our land protects itself, though, or at least the magic of it does. No one who comes here comes without purpose. Anyone who can cross the barrier has a mate on the other side.” I watched as his eyes lifted, trailing across my face slowly before landing on mine.

“Everyone?”

“Yes. And until that mate claims you, there’s no way for you to leave. Just as the magic protects the land, it protects its people. It would be cruel, don’t you think?” I said, plucking the grass from his hand, flipping it over so I could trace the lines of his skin and revel in the way he shivered beneath my touch.

“What would be cruel?” Kai’s voice was soft, a little throaty, and the flush of his cheeks deepened every time I stroked slowly against his palm.

“To have your mate so close to you without the ability to keep them. To feel the draw…” I trailed my touch slowly along his wrist, tickling up his arm. “That line between you, that tether… and never know what it was like for it to truly be fulfilled.”

“I…” Kai bit his lower lip, his brows drawing together. “I don’t…”

I saved him from having to answer by leaning forward and pressing my mouth gently against his. His body instantly relaxed, his hand lifting to slide along my chest before wrapping around my neck. For someone who’d fought so hard against it before, he seemed more than willing to touch me now.

When I finally pulled back, his gaze was slightly out of focus, but he still managed to speak. “So… how does it work, exactly?”

“Hm?” I had to fight to make sense of what he said, and his fingers trailing back and forth against my nape didn’t help.

“Mating? Is it like marriage? You say some shit and boom, connected?”

“No,” I answered. “You join together—I would fuck you, fill you up, bite you, and you would bite me in turn…” Kai’s gaze darted to my face, his pupils slightly dilating at my words. “And when I was buried so deep inside you that we were one, I would knot you.”

“Knot?” His eyes went wide and I couldn’t help but stare at the morbid fascination I saw cross his expression. “You have a knot ? Holy shit , is that what I felt the other night?”

From the way he said it, he knew the word… and I knew he’d never been to this world before, so… “You know what that is?”

He had the grace to blush as he looked away with a sheepish grin. “I read a lot.” I wanted to question him more, but he prompted me to go on with a gentle nudge. “What happens after you knot me?”

Hearing him say the words was nearly enough to make me lose myself, to show him what would happen. Instead, I took a breath to steady myself and continued. “The bites would take, and the connection between us would be unbreakable.” When I leaned closer, he tilted his head like he couldn’t help himself, and I pressed a kiss to his throat, right above the place my teeth would set into the tender skin—I gave the softest nip that drew a sound from his chest.

“Unbreakable?” The word came out on a moan, and I nodded against his skin, placing one more kiss before pulling back.

“We would fade without one another, until we were nothing. We would be each other’s home, no matter where we were, no matter what world we were in.”

When Kai’s lids fluttered this time, the smile that touched his face was soft. Sweet. Almost euphoric.

“That sounds nice.”

I cupped his cheek gently, brushing my thumb along his lower lip. “I’ve dreamed my entire life of finding my mate, my home. I’ve traveled all the land, and I’ve always felt restless, half empty, like my purpose was unfulfilled.”

Those blue eyes shifted to look at me again, and for the first time, it felt like he was really seeing me.

Like he really understood.

“Nash… I…”

But whatever he was going to say was interrupted by the sound of footsteps as two children—our healer’s twins—spilled around the corner with a giggle.

“There you are! Mama is looking for you.” When I made to stand, Elia, the younger girl, shook her head. “Not you, Nash.” She pointed to Kai. “Him. She said our tent is broken and he can fix it.”

Kai bit his lower lip, a small smile blooming across his face. “Yeah, I can fix it.” He stood, but he didn’t let go of my hand. I came to my feet with him, and he threw me a smile over his shoulder. “Come on, Nash. Maybe I can teach you to be useful.”

The children giggled louder, Elia’s brother actually covering his mouth at the quip. They weren’t used to someone being so brazen with me, and even less used to the way I slid my arm around Kai’s waist and pulled him to me in a quick hug. I spared them anything more than a gentle kiss pressed to the corner of his mouth that still made him blush.

“Lead the way, Little Mate.”

And instead of arguing or telling me the words weren’t true, he gave my fingers a squeeze and trotted ahead so he could join the twins. When they each caught one of his hands, I felt something in me nearly break with longing at the image of Kai walking just the same with our children and loving them with that fierce warmth that was so unique to him.

He might truly be the death of me before I ever felt our mate bond. My heart had never been so full.