Page 69 of Unleashed

The rough pads of Aduun’s fingers caressed her cheek. Opening her eyes half-lidded, she looked up at him.

“You only just woke up,” he said, voice a low rumble, “we did not mean to wear you out so quickly.”

Nina chuckled and turned her face to kiss his palm. “Worth it.”

He smiled, but the expression faded quickly. “I will try to be better. Gentler. It…is not easy. I—”

Nina reached up and cupped his cheeks, pulling him down to kiss his lips. “I understand, Aduun. I know. I think if you make peace with your inner beast,” she brushed her fingers lightly over the bone ridges above his brow, “you will find harmony. You are one in the same, and yet you fight your nature.” She kissed him again. “This isyou, the you I chose.”

He stared at her silently, his parted lips giving her a tiny glimpse of his sharp teeth. He inhaled deeply, paused, and released the breath in a long stream.

When his shaft finally eased, he slowly withdrew from her body. Nina moaned at the pleasure and discomfort, legs falling to the floor, her body as heavy and useless as it had felt after the worm poisoned her.

Aduun returned with her fur cloak and draped it over her. “Rest,” he said, once more stroking her cheek.

Vortok and Balir entered her vision as well, encircling her like a living wall — her stalwart protectors.

My males. My mates.

They were the last things she saw before her eyes drifted shut

“Sleep, our heart,” Balir murmured as sleep claimed her.

Chapter Fifteen

A gentle stroke on her back woke Nina. She opened her eyes, and for a moment, she feared she was trapped in that black dream space. But there were no desperate, demanding voices assailing her. As her vision adjusted, she realized there was light — the soft, faint glow of the little fire they’d laid near the cave wall behind her.

It seemed she dreamed less and less the farther along they journeyed; the echoing voices entrapped her while she slept, imploring her to help, offering her little true rest. Even now, she sensed them reaching to her, faint and far-off but difficult to ignore.

She shifted, turning onto her back, and groaned softly. Her entire body ached, no part more so than between her legs. But it was a good ache. It was a pleasant reminder of what she’d shared with her mates.

“Finally awake?” Vortok, who was sitting beside her, offered a waterskin.

Nina accepted it gratefully. With his help, she drew herself into a sitting position and drank deeply. She handed the container back to him when she was done. “Thank you.”

“How do you feel?” Aduun asked. She glanced toward him; he sat near the little fire with their skull bowls set around him, each filled with melting snow.

“Good.” Nina’s answer was a bit of a surprise even to herself; despite the slight discomfort between her legs and her weary muscles, she feltgood. So good that she’d had the strength to mate all three of her valos, one after another. Reaching across her chest, she bent her arm and touched the place on her shoulder where the worm’s dart had hit her.

“Does it pain you?” Vortok asked.

“No.” She frowned as she brushed her fingers over the wound; only a slight bump and a bit of tenderness remained. It felt like little more than a bruise. “I don’t understand it. I could have sworn that I was dying, and then…I was fine when I woke up. Like it never happened.”

“Your wounds from the first day are gone as well,” Balir said, lifting a hand and making a clawing motion in the air near his shoulder. He was seated on the opposite side of the fire from Aduun. “I felt no scabs, no scars. Nothing but smooth, unbroken skin.”

She moved her hands to her shoulders, feeling no trace of the puncture wounds Aduun had made with his claws. Throwing the fur cloak aside, she inspected her legs, her arms, the palm of her hand, only to find nothing — no sign of the numerous bumps, cuts, and bruises she’d accumulated since falling through the hole in the ground and into Vortok’s cell.

Some of those wounds had been more than a week old, but it seemed too soon for all evidence of them to have vanished.

It reminded her of her mother. After what had been done to her on theConcord, Quinn healed so rapidly that she often didn’t notice smaller cuts and scrapes until all that remained of them was a bit of dried blood on her skin, which would wash away to reveal no wound beneath.

But Nina wasn’t like Quinn; her wounds had been healing at a normal, human during their travel. She’d had to make a conscious effort not to scratch her scabs only days ago. This was closer to what some of Quinn’s friends had described experiencing after mating with their valos — accelerated healing and slower aging, similar to Quinn’s abilities but on a lesser scale. Lydia and Lucie, both of whom had medical backgrounds before their time on theConcord, had said it was the result of some sort of technology the Creators had used in the valos, but the explanation had been beyond Nina’s understanding.

All she knew for sure was that the women’s newfound abilities had occurred after an exchange of…fluids…

Nina was still frowning when Balir rose and walked to her. He crouched beside her and held up a hand, a thick strip of dried meat resting on his palm. “Eat. You are healing quickly, and that is good no matter what the source may be. We have another difficult journey ahead of us.”

“We’ll set out as soon as you are ready,” Aduun said as Nina took the meat from Balir. “We have the cover of night in our favor. It would be best to make the most of it.”

---