Page 28 of An Alien for Her Heart

“How did Eleanor get injured?” I whisper, wincing slightly from the pinprick of the needle.

“Got hit down by an ooga. It was an accident.”

“Oof,” I whisper. “Good thing you were there.”

He makes a sound in his throat and pulls the needle away before reaching for a bandage. “It was pure luck. I only found her because I went to protect her from—”

He stops talking abruptly. So abruptly that I look up at him.

He tightens the bandage and wraps up the used needle before closing the first-aid kit.

“Protect her from what?”

Varek doesn’t meet my gaze. It actually seems like he won’t answer me. But then his throat moves and he lifts the first-aid kit into his arms. “From Zynar.”

My frown is warranted. I’m confused. “But…why? Aren’t they together? Why would you need to protect Eleanor from her own husband? Her, erm, her mate?”

A heavy breath makes his shoulders rise and fall before his gaze slides to me. It shifts down from my eyes to my lips and goes farther. Down the exposed skin at my shoulders, down my chest, my hips, my legs… Varek seems lost in thought.

“Varek?”

At the sound of his name, his gaze flies right back to my face, and he blinks as if he’s just returning from a place far, far away.

“The rut,” he finally says.

The word doesn’t make much sense to me and I wonder if the translator embedded in the back of my head got hit by the falling tool and is malfunctioning. “I…don’t know what that is.”

Varek sort of winces as if he’d hoped that one word would have been enough. His shoulders rise and fall in a heavy breath. “I was there to help Eleanor…because my siblingkin was afraid he would mate her to death.”

My eyes widen and I can only blink at him, his words taking a long while to fully settle in my mind. Because what in tarnation…

“I should…I should put this back on the transport,” he says before turning, just as there’s a sound at the door. The dull thud of someone knocking echoes in the room once more, and my gaze shifts past Varek.

I’m not sure who could be knocking. The moment I shift off the bed, wincing as my shoulder readjusts, is the moment Varek’s gaze hardens and I realize that there had been a note of vulnerability there. He watches me as I shift past him and the dull thumps of his boots follow me out to the main room. When I swing the door open, I’m completely aware of Varek’s presence at my back.

It’s the Raki. His eyes widen again the moment the door opens, his ears folding inward as he cowers. At first, I think it’s because he’s terrified I might have been critically hurt, but then I hear the growl at my back. When I look over my shoulder, Varek’s snarling again. He looks like he’ll rip the poor Raki to shreds.

Without thinking, I reach back, placing a steady hand on his arm. The snarl, at least the deep rumbling growl that I’m not quite sure he knew he was doing, cuts off immediately. My own breath hitches. His scales. They’re unbelievably soft. Over the muscle that tightens beneath my touch, his scales are like smooth silk.

“Y-yes?” I answer the Raki. In these past few days, I’ve never been more unsure in my life. The woman who used to be the public face of an entire company suddenly feels reduced to someone who isn’t sure quitewhoshe is anymore. How could I manage my duties if I’d been like this back on Earth? The Richmond name would have suffered, and I would have suffered more.

“Greetings.” The Raki’s gaze shifts from Varek to my shoulder and he seems to cower some more. “It was not my intent to harm you.”

I smile. “I know that. It’s just an accident.”

“Your negligence could have killed her.” Varek’s words could cut through ice. The Raki’s ears fold some more and I give Varek a comforting squeeze. I could almost laugh. He seems more upset about the whole thing than I am.

“I will withdraw my services from your lodge,” the Raki says.

My brows shoot up. “You don’t have to do that,” I say. At the same time, Varek speaks as well. “You should.”

“I will not accept payment for the work already done,” the Raki continues.

My eyes widen on that one. At the same time, Varek growls at my back. “It would do well if youdidn’t.”

The Raki bows. “I am at your mercy, female, if you wish to report my negligence.”

I stare at him open-mouthed as Varek says, “You should be reported. You’re a carelesspilkra.”

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