Page 13 of Healing His Mate

My heart drops into my stomach when he purses his lips. He is going to say no. But I need him. I need my mind back, and his food is the only thing that has led me to my memories.

“It is just that . . .” he begins.

But I do not let him finish. “Please,” I say, getting to my feet and standing before him. I take one of his hands. It envelops mine until I cannot see my fingers at all. “I am begging you. Please, help me.”

Waldric swallows as his gaze lifts from our joined hands to my eyes. “Yes,” he whispers. “Yes, I will help you. It would be an honor.”

I press my lips to his knuckles and let out a relieved sigh. “Thank you.” Then I release him and return to my bread. I tear it down the center and shove the smaller piece into my mouth. Once I am done, I clap my hands together. “You may set up your cook station here,” I say, gesturing to the metal table along the far wall. At the end of the table is a fire pit he can use to cook the food. “Feel free to bring your supplies and begin setting up.”

“Uh, very well,” he says, his voice a husky rumble as he nods and takes four long strides to exit my shop. I cannot help but notice his ample, but firm, backside as he leaves. It has the shape of two humongous b’fiko berries pressed together and concealed by the fabric of his pants. My core heats as I picture digging my heels into it as he slams his cock into me.

How odd. My body has not reacted this way for a male besides Varrek in ages.

I shake my head as I grab my screen pad from the table and send a comm to Cloh-ee. She answers, and I see Varrek holding a tiny creature in his arms behind her. Their baby. Varrek lightly rocks the child in his arms as he whispers something to it. Something I cannot hear. “Hello, Nalba!” she greets enthusiastically. “Everything okay over there?”

“Yes, it is fine. Cloh-ee, do you have a moment to assist me?” I ask, hoping she is not too busy with her child.

“Of course!” she replies. “Be right there.”

She arrives shortly, wearing a different tunic, this one gray, whereas the previous was black.

“You changed your attire? For this?” I ask curiously.

“Oh, no,” she says, waving a dismissive hand. “My milk leaked all over the other one. Then Vahla spit up on my shoulder after I fed her. Hashtag mom life.”

Her words are strange, but I think I understand the context. “Yes, you are a mother,” I say, my tone holding a hint of surprise that I fail to hide, “to Varrek’s child.”

She stops folding the pile of rags at the end of one of the tables and turns to me. “Is it weird that Varrek is mated?”

I am unsure of how to respond. I do not wish to hurt Cloh-ee’s delicate human feelings, but admittedly, it is odd to think of Varrek pleasuring anyone else. “Yes,” I end up telling her. “It is indeed.”

“I can’t even imagine. If I woke up and discovered the guy who I was fucking was married and had a kid!” she says with a bewildered tone. “I’d be all kinds of freaked out.”

Cloh-ee could be a lot of things at this moment. She could be angry at the knowledge that I feel anything at all for her mate. She could be jealous that my memories of his cock are fresh in my mind. She is neither, however. Cloh-ee’s voice holds curiosity and empathy. I was not expecting this, but it further solidifies why she and I have grown close since her arrival.

“It is puzzling. I did not expect Varrek to ever find his inara,” I tell her, adjusting the height of the table Waldric will use for his cooking station. “And as I am not anyone’s inara, I assumed the two of us would sate our bodies’ needs occasionally until we both died.”

“Do you miss him?” she asks, pulling out a metal box with several empty small square cubes inside.

“Do not worry, little Cloh-ee,” I tell her with a chuckle. “I am not lusting after your mate. I assure you.”

“Oh, honey. I’m not worried. Varrek and I share thoughts. I know how much he loves me. I see what goes through his head when he looks at me. He’d never leave me for anyone else.”

“Ah, yes. The mate bond.”

“But I get it,” she says, looking up and meeting my gaze. “It’s weird to envision someone you’ve been intimate with falling in love and being intimate with someone else.”

That is not what plagues me. “I am more surprised that Varrek was able to find someone who would stay at his side for all of eternity.”

She lets out a loud giggle with a snort at the end.

“Does he still scrunch his nose whenever he is confused?” I ask. “Does he snap his fingers repeatedly when he is trying to remember something? Or clench his jaw when he is distressed?” I could not stand the latter. The sound of his fangs gnashing against each other made me want to peel my skin off my body. It was a deeply unpleasant sound.

“Yes, he still does. I think it’s cute,” she says with a dreamy smile.

Varrek was not all bad. There were, of course, a few things he was quite good at. “When he fucks you, does he do that thing where he shifts his hips slightly to the left when you are about to orgasm?”

“Nalba!” she squeals in embarrassment. Her cheeks turn bright pink as she busies her hands to avoid looking at me.

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