Page 31 of Needed in the Night (The Fortusian Mates, #2)

“I don’t think I’d mind a boring life now.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Pool?” she asked, raising her eyebrows. “Or shower?”

“Pool.” Carefully, I gathered her in my arms and rose from the bed. “I enjoy seeing you swim.”

“I like seeing you in the water too.” Her smile returned. “But we’re going to end up on those stones, right? Like you promised? ”

“Exactly as I promised,” I said very solemnly. “You will come many times on those stones. I will see to it personally.”

When we reached the edge of the pool, Isla kicked her feet playfully. “Toss me in. ”

I blinked at her. “What?”

“Toss me in,” she insisted. “For fun.”

“How would that be fun?” I asked, puzzled. “You might be hurt.” And I would be the cause. The very thought made my stomach roil.

She sighed. “Fine. Put me down, then, please.”

I set her on her feet, took her hand, and leaned down, intending to kiss her. But a fraction of a second before my lips met hers, she tipped over and fell backward, taking me with her.

Moving purely on instinct, I caught her in midair, pulled her against my chest, turned us, and hit the water on my back with my arms around my mate. Her laugh ended abruptly in a gurgle as we went under.

My body weight pulled us into the dark depths of the pool before I rotated us and kicked up to bring us back to the surface. I lifted Isla above me so she would reach air as quickly as possible.

When my head and shoulders emerged from the water, I found my mate coughing and laughing.

Scowling and treading water, I grated, “Isla…”

With a chuckle, she swam into my arms, rested her head against my chest, and wrapped her legs around my waist. I suddenly found myself utterly unable to say another word, scolding or otherwise.

“I’m sorry for pulling you into the pool,” she said, smiling though she was still coughing. She scratched her nails on my chest to elicit the rumbling sound she enjoyed so much and that I loved making for her. “Don’t be afraid to be spontaneous sometimes. You never know what might happen.”

“You are right.” I kissed her forehead. “I must balance that against my need to keep you safe. All my instincts tell me I must never let you come to harm, most especially by my own actions.”

“I’ll remember that.” She looked around the pool. “This is such a beautiful room. You’d never know from the shop downstairs that this is an embassy, would you? Or that Atlath’s got such luxurious accommodations.” She hesitated, then frowned. “Or did you know?”

“I did not,” I assured her. “I knew his name, but not that he owns the shop or is an ambassador. And of course I had no idea he might be in a position to help us.”

“He helped us because he knows Ycari and Pioni, and because you’re a good bartender and I sang songs he likes.” Isla looked up at me, her violet eyes suddenly shimmering. “Do you ever feel like the universe isn’t random?”

I rested my forehead on hers. “Are you asking a man who has found his true mate if he thinks the universe is random?”

“Oh, well, that’s a good point.” She blinked rapidly, fighting back tears.

“But my life has been so difficult. The baron sold me to the woman in the palace, Hidel helped me escape, my last mission ended badly, I chose to come to Fortusia to hide, and Brae persuaded me to audition for the job at Zaa’ga, where I met you.

” Her cough sounded like a little sob. “How do I make sense of it all?”

“My life has also been difficult,” I said quietly. “I owe you my own story, but I too have been subject to many winds of fate and others’ decisions, as well as my own choices, that brought me to Zaa’ga, where I thought frequently of leaving to work for someone far less objectionable but did not.”

“I don’t—” She bit her lip. “How can all this feel so much like random chance, but at the same time not like chance at all?”

I brushed her wet hair back from her face.

“I cannot explain how our lives unfold, or answer why we suffered, or even why our paths crossed. There are many theories, certainly. Whether one has better claim to the truth than another, I do not know.” I cupped her face with both my hands.

“What I do know is you are perfect, I love you, and if being with me makes you happy, that is all I need or want. ”

“You have got to stop telling me I’m perfect,” she said, with a wry smile that wobbled. “It’s starting to go to my head.”

“I will never stop kneeling before you, and I will never stop saying you are perfect,” I stated. “So you might as well become accustomed to both.”

“Stubborn as a Gandarian mule-ox.” She sighed. “I suppose if you have to have one flaw, it might as well be that.”

I kissed my mate very deeply and for a very long time, treading water.

She held on with her arms and legs, trusting me to keep us afloat.

Gods, I could spend forever like this, holding her and gently supporting her.

For so long I had yearned to swim with Isla in warm waters, and here she was in my arms.

Finally, our lazy circling of the pool brought us to the side with the basking stones. “Are you ready to go up to the stones?” I asked.

“Yes.” She looked at her fingertips and then at mine. “I’m all wrinkly from the water, but you aren’t. That’s not fair.”

With a chuckle, I kissed her forehead and guided her to the wall. “Would you like me to give you a boost to help get you out of the pool, or for me to climb out first and lift you?”

She pursed her lips and studied the rocks. “How about you get out first and lift me?”

I left her treading water and clambered up the stone wall to stand beside the pool on the basking stone I had used earlier. When I turned to look down, Isla was smiling up at me, her lovely hair swirling around her shoulders.

“Oh, I like this view,” she chuckled, her gaze on my dripping cocks.

“No view could be better than looking at you.” I crouched and reached for her hands. “Ready, my love?”

She let me grip her wrists and found a foothold on the wall to push off. “Ready.”

I rose, lifting her with ease to set her on her feet beside me. She kissed my chest, then turned in a circle, her arms extended .

“This is wonderful,” she said, tilting her head back, eyes closed, to feel the heat from above. “It’s warm, but not hot hot. I see why you like it.”

I sat on one of the stones and held out my arms. “Come to me.”

She did so immediately, folding herself into my lap as easily and naturally as though we had done this a hundred times.

I lay back on my elbows as she moved around on top of me to find the most comfortable position, careful not to put her knees or elbows anywhere sensitive.

My mate ended up lying on me as if I were a bed, partly on her side, nestled into my chest with one knee bent over my thigh and her head over my primary heart. The moment she stilled, my body relaxed, as if I had melted into the heated stone beneath me. I exhaled in complete contentment.

“Is this all right?” she asked, biting her lip. “Am I too heavy with a rock under you?”

“Never.” I kissed the top of her head. “You will frown at me, but you are perfect.”

She did frown, but then she smiled and snuggled closer. “Let me know if you get uncomfortable, or your leg falls asleep.”

“I will.” I wrapped her in my arms. “Are you comfortable?”

“Unbelievably comfortable.” She chuckled low in her throat. “I think I could get used to this, actually.”

Did she have any idea how much joy she kindled in my hearts and soul with those words?

As we basked, I caressed her back and soaked in her scent. I did not want to spoil the moment, but she had not provided an explanation for something very, very distressing I had noticed last night when we removed her dress.

“Isla,” I said gently, “will you tell me about the scars on your back? They appear recent.”

She flinched. I stroked her back lovingly until she relaxed again .

“I mentioned my last mission ended badly,” she said finally. Her voice was strong and not shaky, but I smelled the pain of her memories. “I can’t give you details, but I was shot in the back by a plasma rifle. My body armor took most of it, thankfully.”

My chest grew so tight I could not get a breath.

An image of my Isla filled my mind’s eye, lying on some distant world, bloody and hurting and shot in the back. My Isla, who could have died in that moment, or afterward if she had not received adequate medical care.

My Isla, who had nearly given her life trying to free someone else from captivity. My body quaked with the force of my rage and sorrow.

“Mikas.” She moved her head to look into my eyes. “I’m all right,” she said, and squeezed my hand. “I lived. My mission didn’t fail, and the person I extracted is living free now.”

“I am glad to hear it.” I kissed her knuckles. “But is this mission the reason you came to Fortusia? You are in hiding?”

“Yes.” She bit her lip. “There’s an angry Erotovo on Ngara who believes I stole this person from him. He’s combing Havel Prime for a woman named Halena Onsulus. That was my false identity for the job.”

“How did your mission go wrong?”

“I never found out.” She sighed. “I’ve had no contact with my handler since that day and Ycari doesn’t know.

My best guess is someone found the holo projector that hid us while we got ready to escape, but I suppose I’ll never know for sure.

” She rubbed her nose on my chest over my hearts.

“I received a new identity after it was over. My face, my hair, and even my voice have changed. I don’t think the Erotovo will ever find me, no matter how determined he is. ”

I tried to imagine Isla as she might have looked before she came to Fortusia and could not picture it .

“Mikas.” Her voice suddenly had a sharp edge, for reasons I did not understand. “Say something.”

“I am sorry your mission did not go as planned.” I caressed her cheek, but she raised her head and moved away from my touch.

“Do you not feel the same about me now?” she demanded. Her eyes had become fiery. “Because my appearance changed?”

My stomach churned because I had somehow made her angry. But the more I looked into her eyes, the less I thought my reaction had caused her to be upset.

This was not anger at me, I decided. This was anger at the Erotovo who had held someone captive and now hunted for her, combined with fear that by changing her appearance she might not be herself any longer.

“My feelings have not changed at all,” I said, my voice firm. “No matter what color your hair is, or your eyes, or the shape of your face, you are Isla .”

She studied me for a long time. “So if my hair was brown,” she said finally, “or my eyes were blue, or my voice was a little different?—”

“—I would love you just the same.” I cupped her cheek, and this time she did not move away from my hand. “It is your soul I love, my mate.”

She lay back down and let out a breath. “Okay,” she said quietly. “I believe you.”

We lay like that for a long time, soaking in the warmth and the comfort of being close to each other. Absently, she caressed my arms, my side, my thigh, and my chest, and even played gently with my nipple piercings and spines. Her casual explorations were wonderfully sensual.

I did the same, memorizing every detail of the shape of her ears, the graceful curves of her shoulders and neck, the dip above her collarbone, and the sublime curvature of her hip. I would learn everything about her body, from her toes to her hair.

“How do you feel?” I asked when I judged nearly an hour had gone by.

“I feel loved.” She moved her head to look up at me. “Safe and loved. And that’s really nice.”

I drew her gently up my body so I could kiss her. “It is very nice,” I agreed. “What may I do for my mate so she feels even more safe and loved?”

“I’m starving,” she said instantly. “Feed me?”