Page 34 of Dark Survivor (The Qaldreth Warriors #2)

Chapter Twenty-One

With Tiny filling his arms, Nenn just lay there, his mind reeling, his body pinging with residual joy while his symbiotes vibrated through him. Since he’d met her, he’d wanted to learn everything about her. So far, he hadn’t regretted a moment spent with her.

He caught fleeting expressions where sadness lingered, but before he could ask her about it, she’d laugh, and the opportunity was lost.

As a maed, he understood that everything needed balance.

When stability was threatened, chaos ensued.

She couldn’t be cheerful all the time. There had to be darkness for light to shine.

And if she kept that side of her hidden, it was sure to come out when he revealed the Ivoyans wouldn’t heal her or that he wasn’t certain she could go home. Like he’d promised.

He refused to give up, though.

Drawing her closer, he pressed his lips against her temple. Her scent surrounded him. They had just this journey together before she would leave him. His breathing shuddered when pain crushed his heart. As much as he wanted to keep her with him, she had a right to choose.

He extracted himself then tucked a blanket around her semi-naked body. Unable to resist, he stroked her upper arm, relishing her softness. “ Mhi’ hirihadie ,” he whispered and kissed her cheek.

He slipped out and into his room, aiming for his waterfall. Not that he wanted to wash the scent of her off his body, but the day had started. While he stood under the scorching spray, he ran his hand over his chest and stomach, to his koq. Her mouth… He groaned. So hot, silky, wet…

With one hand splayed on the back wall, he dipped his head under the water, reliving what she’d made him feel. The way she’d made his body sing still lingered in his soul.

After allowing the heat from the room to dry him, he pulled on his boots and clean pants. A listen told him she still slept, so he headed to the activities room. Upon seeing Ulvus, Nenn almost turned around. Instead, he drew in a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and approached his wall.

“Morning,” he said.

“Since you are not looking after your weak female, I demand a rematch.” Ulvus spun a sword, his agility mesmerizing.

“Why?” Nenn flicked a glance at him, ignoring the insult to Tiny. If Ulvus couldn’t see her core of inner strength, then the male was a fool.

“This time with weapons.” Ulvus smirked. “I shall let you choose.”

“How magnanimous of you,” Nenn said. “I am trained to take a warrior down to heal him. No matter what weapon you hold, Ulvus, you will find yourself on the floor.” Nenn faced him. “You are a sava, skilled with every weapon. A taed can work and fix anything. I cannot be a sava, a taed, or an arrak.”

Ulvus glowered. “By that thinking, I should only challenge savas.”

“Or arraks.” Nenn shrugged and raised his gaze to the climbing wall, considering this conversation over.

He hit the mat hard, jarring his shoulder. Pain exploded outward, numbing his fingers. He should have expected Ulvus’s attack, something he admonished himself for.

“Ulvus,” he snapped, wincing when each move to free himself hurt.

The male smirked, his face too near. Without hesitation, Nenn slammed his forehead into Ulvus’s nose, sending the roaring male stumbling back, clear blood pouring to his chin. At least, it had wiped away his smugness.

Gripping his upper arm, Nenn rolled onto his knees then bent a leg to stand. “Was that necessary? What did that gain you?” He leaped aside when Ulvus staggered forward. “I am in no mood to entertain this nonsense. We both need healing.”

“The idiot cannot understand that,” Vaen said, his ferocious scowl in place when he strode into the activities room.

“Attack anyone again and you will have all of us to deal with.” He dug inside Nenn’s pocket and pulled out his med-dev.

“In fact, I shall report your behavior to the udaps. Let them decide your fate.”

“No, it is not necessary,” Nenn muttered while scanning his shoulder.

The pain eased, and feeling returned to his fingertips. He swung his arm to test his shoulder’s mobility then approached Ulvus to heal his nose.

“Stand still,” Nenn said when the male inched back as if he expected retaliation.

Vaen huffed but didn’t walk off, choosing instead to remain at Nenn’s back.

“Why wait until now, Ulvus? It has been days since our sparring,” Nenn asked.

“You have been playing with your pet,” Ulvus gritted out, disgust coiling his upper lip. “She is always by your side.”

“Sounds like envy to me,” Vaen said, snapping Ulvus’s glower to him.

“Mate with such a species, the very ones who killed the Senate?” Ulvus settled his amber gaze on Nenn. “They cannot all be love mates. Vatia sahaars are rare.”

Nenn froze, his hand in mid-scan. “What did you say?” The flames of an active volcano poured down his back. He gaped. “Why do you think this?”

He’d heard of love mates but never met such a fated pair.

“I have seen such behavior before. Drafe has found his vatia sahaar, the son of Kreta,” Ulvus spat. “Like that male can never do wrong and is favored by the gods. Even mine.”

“I know you can hear me, Nenn. I’m starving. Are you fetching me or what?” Tiny’s voice added fuel to the fire lambasting his body even as her voice penetrated the room via his forearm.

“Go, I shall take care of him,” Vaen said. “Maybe smack some sense into him.”

Nenn hesitated, cast a glance at Ulvus, then handed over his med-dev to Vaen. He marched out the activities room without looking back. His mind circled, settled, then spun again. Could Tiny be his mate? He almost snorted at that silly hope. Despite their rarity, he could believe Vic was Drafe’s.

“Morning,” Nenn said when he opened the door to Tiny’s room. “Let us start by getting a language nodule inserted into your neck.”

“Really? Just like that?” She gripped her hip. “Not, Tiny, would you mind if I put a foreign object into your body?”

He winced, aware she was wary of augmentation. “Please. It would mean safety, interpretation, and the ability to talk to me directly.”

“Fine.” She huffed. “I suppose it makes sense with me going to strange worlds. Does that mean I’ll be able to understand Ivoyan?”

“Yes, and Qaldreth.”

She smiled. “I’d allow it for that reason alone.” She patted the air.

He stepped into her reach, almost sighing when she splayed her fingers across his chest.

“Where do you want me?” she asked, looping her arm through his.

“My med bay.”

“Oh, at last.” She chuckled. “I finally get to see where you work.”

He gazed upon her upturned face. “Did you sleep well?”

“Lovely,” she said. “But I wasn’t lying. I’m famished.”

“Food or implant first?” he offered because he didn’t like her being hungry, not for a moment.

“Implant. Get it over and done with.”

He grinned. Yes, core of strength. He led her to his med bay tucked between the docking bay and the galley.

The bed had to be flipped down in the tight space.

He did so, then hoisted her onto it. She swung her feet like a child, her gaze unseeing.

As he gathered the tools and nodule he’d need, he snuck glances at her, admiring the shape of her cheek, her breasts rising and falling in yet another loose bold-pink tunic over black-and-yellow horizontal-striped pants, to her nibbling on her bottom lip with her white teeth.

“Tell me, Tiny, if you can, how were you blinded?”

She sucked in a sharp breath and straightened. “You want to know?”

“Please.”

“It all has to do with my brother, Jamie.” Anger and resentment saturated her voice, yet behind the emotion was the haunting note of betrayal. “I was about to graduate from med school…”

As she told her story, he listened, watched, and learned.

The darkness she hid lay in her unforgiveness.

Had he been able to heal her, she could’ve set this aside.

He swabbed her neck, numbing the area, then set to installing the nodule.

It didn’t leave a hole but flattened the muscle fibers beneath it.

He wiped away the blood before it stained her tunic.

“I know, I shouldn’t hold grudges, but he ruined my life, Nenn. I’m so angry with him that I want to hit him.” She waved a small fist in the air.

“This may sound selfish, but if you had not lost your eyesight, you would not have been on the Mula Pesada , and I would not have met you.”

She stilled, her eyes widening. “All true. And as sad as that thought makes me at the thought of not knowing you, I could’ve saved so many lives. I’ve been useless for years.”

“How would you feel if you never saw your family again?” Erasril was his home, but he had no father waiting for him. Sure, he’d love to visit with Tugo, but he wouldn’t return to live there. Not if he didn’t have to.

“Dad would be sad,” was all she said, bowing her head. In doing so, she revealed how it would devastate her not to see her father again.

Nenn gritted his teeth. To keep his promise, he’d steal a ship if he had to. “When we return to Lunar Base, would you introduce me to him?”

She whipped up her head, her eyes glistening. “Of course.”

“I look forward to it,” he said, lifting her off the bed.

“Are we done?” she asked, cupping her neck, finding the small metal circle, then running her fingers over it. “I didn’t feel a thing.”

“But now you can hear only me,” he said, tapping his device.

She squeaked. “I can.”

He chuckled. “Time for food. Which tribe this morning?”

“Yours,” she said, lacing her fingers through his.

Between tasting strips of calpli, vibuy, and banaari, she sipped a steaming jar of russmar tisane. He left the onis for last, not sure she’d like such a potent flavor.

“Licorice?” she squealed and scooped in another mouthful of the purple moss, staining her lips and tongue.

He laughed. “Not my favorite.”

“Why?” she mumbled, a piece on the way to her mouth.

“It overpowers, I suppose,” he said, having not analyzed his dislike of the moss before.