Page 61 of Auctioned to the Convicts
Hannah gasped behind him. Hannah. . . his sha’vi. He knew at that moment that no matter what happened with these other males, she would always be his. But killing Vaughn. . . Ky’Li couldn’t do it. The man wasn’t groveling before him, apologizing for taking her, and his sha’vi wasn’t apologizing either. She hadn’t been with Vaughn to hurt Ky’Li, even though it hurt, as much as if the knife he held had eviscerated him.
A soft hand rested against his back. “Please, Ky’Li. Don’t do this.”
A lump formed in Ky’Li’s throat at the fear in her voice. She was torn between them. There was something the doctor gave her that he could not, and it was more than the need to form a true unit, as she’d asserted.
Ky’Li grabbed her hand and pulled her back into the bedroom, slamming the door behind him. He paced, unsure of how to quell the anger, how to deal with the sense of betrayal. Except she hadn’t betrayed him. She had never promised herself to him alone. She’d done the opposite, forewarning him that she would not be exclusive to him. She was not of Daraan. Her culture, her world, held different beliefs.
“Thank you,” her soft voice said from where she stood by the door. She looked ready to flee. He was losing her, if he hadn’t already.
“Do you have any room in your heart for me?” he asked.
“Oh, Ky, you were my first choice.”
Ky’Li’s back stiffened. “Apparently, not. You chose him.” He couldn’t bear to speak the doctor’s name yet.
“I may have slept with him first, but you were and still are my first choice. Is it that hard to believe that I can care about, even love each of you for who you are?”
“I don’t want to lose you, sha’vi.”
Hell, he’d called her sha’vi. Deep down, he knew it was the only thing he could ever call her again. She was his one and only, even if he was not hers.
She ran to him, throwing her arms against his chest and gripping him with a passion he’d seen in her before. His arms wrapped around her as if they were designed to fit around her. He bent his head, taking in her scent. “It will take time to accept,” he said.
“Why aren’t you yelling at or threatening me?” she asked, tilting her head back to face him.
He winced at the very idea of threatening her and the fact that she expected that of him, or life. He feared his sha-vi had not been treated well during her life. She was ensuring her survival on Narkos by bonding to more than Ky’Li because she was smart. She knew he could not protect her by himself. Today’s attack on the railcar had proved that.
“Would being mad at you keep you from the others?” he said, trying to make his voice, his expression light for her.
With her injured hand, she caressed his jaw, gently brushing over the scrape he’d received today in a minor tussle with two men from Griggs’s unit.
“I know I’m asking a lot of you, Ky, but—”
“Enough,” he said. He needed time to adjust, to consider how he could have a life with her while she slept with another man.
Men.
Krike.Men. Three men.
His sha’vi was as brave as she was beautiful. Demanding she not touch Vaughn or even killing Vaughn or the others, would not win her.
He had a choice to make. Share his sha’vi or lose her altogether.
“Are you in pain?” he asked as he captured her wounded hand and drew it to his lips where he lightly kissed the mottled skin.
Green eyes grew incredulous. “In here.” She held her fist over her heart. “I don’t want to lose you.”
She truly was worried about him. Her sincerity touched him, but it didn’t change what had happened.
“Your hand, sha’vi. Are you in pain?”
She shook her head, even as her hand explored his cheeks, the line of his nose, and then his brow. The pad of her thumb rubbed at his skin, likely removing dirt or zurlite dust that always decorated his body in the mines. Her hand continued exploring every part of his face. Her touch held all the love in the world. He had not lost her yet.
“The mine is no place for a soldier,” she said as she laid her head against his chest.
Ky’Li was able to breathe again at that simple contact.
“I wish I could do better for you, be the woman you want. You deserve the best.”
