Page 41 of Keeping His Mate

“I was in training. My warrior training. Still a very young male. I was dropped in the wilds on the planet of Xelai where we were to make camp on our own and traverse the mountainside in search of our individual targets,” I explain. “My target was a bot, tied up and wearing a bright yellow shirt with the matching symbol we were each given at the start of the mission. We were required to capture our target and take them to the designated location.”

Elle-noor does not ask questions. She does not interrupt. She merely watches me with rapt attention as I continue my violent, tragic tale.

“The warrior who completed the mission the fastest would get a full day’s head start on the next mission. We never knew what that mission would be, but time was currency, and that amount of time could mean the difference between life and death, in some cases,” I say, running a hand through my hair as I dive deeper into this memory.

“It was the second eve after the mission began. I was exhausted, cold, and not sure of my direction in this section of the forest. I spent so much time retracing my steps that I was unable to acquire a safe place to sleep that eve. So, I wandered and continued until I heard something behind me. Following me.” I swallow the lump forming in my throat, making it feel as if it is shrinking.

“I pulled my dagger from its sheath, but by the time I turned, it was too late. The beast was on top of me. The mit’xcruul,” I say, a shudder racking my body as I picture the creature. “It clawed and slashed and dug at my flesh as if it were looking for something deep inside my chest cavity. I suppose that thing was meat.” I bark out a sardonic laugh. “I tried to fight. I stabbed it several times in the side, and in the gut, but when it went for my face, I–I don’t know what happened,” I say, feeling Elle-noor’s hand curling into a fist as I speak. “I remember feeling my skin hanging off my cheek.”

Elle-noor lets out a gasp.

“And feeling the wetness of the blood as it ran down onto my chest. And...and the sharpness of my bone. I felt it. My brow bone,” I say, mimicking the motion from that eve. “I woke up with a bandage covering half my face, and several around my chest and shoulders.”

“My god, Bruvix,” Elle-noor says in a choked whisper. “You’re so lucky to be alive.”

“I am,” I agree. “I do not know what made the mit’xcruul halt its attack, or who found me and transported me to the healers, but by all accounts, I should not have survived.”

“But you did,” she points out. “Look, I understand why you don’t want to be anywhere near a tr’gory.”

“It is less about me being near one and possibly attacked,” I realize, this very moment, “and more about seeing one attack you, and being unable to stop them.”

She nods as a tear slides down her cheek. “I get that,” she says, huffing out a breath. “If it helps, I can go alone.”

Did she not just hear me? “That does nothing to ease my concerns, Elle-noor. I do not want you going. It is you I worry about,” I repeat.

“I know, but ignorance is bliss, right?” she says with a casual shrug. “If you’re not watching me feed them, you won’t experience the same amount of distress as you would if you were right next to me.”

“No,” I reply. “I will go with you.”

“Bruvix,” she begins, “I don’t want you to put yourself in that situation. I don’t want you reliving that trauma. I can ask someone else to go with me. One of the hunters,” she says. “I’m sure they’d be willing to keep it hush, hush.”

I do not care if every hunter in our clan gleefully volunteered to accompany Elle-noor to observe the tr’gorys and vowed to keep it secret. I am the one who will go with her. “It will be me.”

“Why?” she asks. “Why would you put yourself through that?”

I tell her the truth. “Because the others are not as willing to die for you as I am. Which means they are incapable of protecting you the way I can.”

She sighs, rolling her eyes. “Fine.”

I smile at her and watch as her eyes brighten the moment I agree to accompany her on this quest. There is nothing I would not do for those smiles. They breathe life into my bones.

Leaving our home, I keep her smiles in the forefront of my mind as I lead the way toward the falls once the village grows quiet and the clan is asleep. Her smile is what I see when I hear a branch snap nearby, when Elle-noor lets out a gasp, thinking she saw something when it was merely a shadow. Her smile is what keeps my feet moving forward once the narrow path widens, once Elle-noor steps around me, exposing her small, vulnerable body to Nanay and her pups once they emerge.

The way her entire face lights up the dark forest when Stahn-lee eats a strip of jerky the moment she drops it in front of him. The way her lips quirk up as she scribbles notes onto her screen pad as the tr’gorys consume the meat she brought for them.

One of them could pounce on my chest right now, and if it made Elle-noor smile the way she is now, I would let them rip me apart. I would endure it, for her.

CHAPTER 19

ELEANOR

“No longer seems to be nursing.”

“All pups seem to be eating solid foods.”

“Pups are now the size of adult golden retrievers. Continuing to grow at rapid pace.”

“Nanay makes sure all pups feed before taking her portion.”

---