Page 31 of Rescued

Stop worrying about it, she told herself. If you make the Healing Nectar, it will be for his benefit. But there’s always a chance you can heal him without it—just by taking his pain as you did tonight.

Which was true—the nectar making process might reverse itself if she could mitigate her fated mate’s pain enough just by sharing his burden in the usual Empath way. And that would bring them almost as close as letting him suck the Healing Nectar from her breasts. After all, they had the rest of the Claiming Period to go through—that would bring any couple closer together.

Lan’ara stroked his thick brown hair lovingly. She knew that Nate couldn’t remember any of the dreams they had shared, but she felt certain that he felt the connection between them.

I’ll heal him, she swore to herself. With the Goddess’s help, I’ll heal him and make him whole, one way or another. Whatever it takes, I am willing to give.

She dropped a kiss on her human’s forehead and closed her eyes. Tomorrow she would take Nate to the Singing Woods and they could officially begin their Claiming Period. They were already in the Holding Week—though Lan’ara intended to cut down the time for each part of the Period in order to get back to the Mother Ship sooner. But it would be good to give each other formal vows and let Nate understand what each part of the Claiming Period entailed.

As she drifted to sleep in her fated mate’s arms, Lan’ara was already longing for the Tasting Week…

NINETEEN

DAVRIK

Davrik couldn’t miss the look of abject fear on Sonya’s face. She was staring at him as though he was a monster who wanted to eat her up. That look of terror in her big, beautiful eyes tore at his heart—especially since he knew he had put it there.

“Sonya, please—get up,” he said, since she was still crouching, frozen on the white marble floor. When she didn’t move, he leaned down to help her to her feet.

But the moment he put a hand under her arm, Sonya suddenly came to life. With a gasp, she jumped to her feet and skittered away from him.

Then she seemed to realize what she was doing and made herself stop. He could see her breasts heaving over the top of her sparkling red gown as she turned and stared up at him.

In the five years since Davrik had lost his own Sonya, he had somehow forgotten how extreme their height difference was. She was so much smaller than him the top of her head just barely reached above his elbow. No wonder she was frightened.

“For…forgive me, my Lord and Master,” she said in a low, trembling voice. “I…I didn’t mean to run away from you like that. Please don’t tell Oozle on me!”

“Oozle?” Davrik frowned. “Do you mean the Sluggorn? Your manager?”

“My owner,” she corrected him. “Though I guess, technically you’re my owner now. For the next week, at least.”

There was a faint bitterness in her lovely contralto voice but she kept the expression on her face respectful—doubtless out of fear.

Davrik shifted uncomfortably—he hated it that she feared him. If only that idiotic Sluggorn hadn’t gone on and on about how he could beat her or burn her or bite her if he felt like it! It had certainly gotten them started off on the wrong foot, as the humans said.

“Look, I’m not here to hurt you,” he said, holding out his hands, palm-up, in a gesture of peace. “I’m sorry if the horrible things your manager said made you frightened of me.”

“I’d be frightened no matter what Oozle said—you’re a Scourge!” she exclaimed, lifting her chin with a hint of defiance. “Your people came and ruined my world. You’re the reason I’m here in the first place!”

Suddenly her fear of him made sense—Davrik remembered how Oliver and Simon had thought he was a Scourge too. In his own universe the ancient enemy of the Kindred had all but been wiped off the face of the galaxy, so he never had this problem. But here, the Scourge were a force to be reckoned with and the fact that he had the same skin and hair tones as the enemy was extremely inconvenient.

“I’m not a Scourge,” he said firmly. “I’m a Kindred.”

“A Kindred? That’s just an urban legend,” she protested. “A story desperate people made up to give themselves hope. Besides, I thought all the Kindred were supposed to be beautiful, strong warrior women.”

“Not in my universe—I mean, not where I come from,” Davrik corrected himself quickly. “Where I come from, the Kindred are ninety-five percent male. But you only have to look at my eyes to see that I’m telling the truth,” he added. “See?”

He leaned down, showing her the white sclera and pale blue irises of his eyes.

Sonya took a cautious step towards him and stared up at him, meeting his gaze. For a long moment they looked into each other’s eyes and Davrik felt his heart swell. He wanted so badly to gather her into his arms—wanted so much just to hold her.

If she was his Sonya, he would have swept her off her feet and cuddled her close to his chest, but this Sonya didn’t know him. And more importantly, she didn’t trust him yet. He had to earn her trust and take things slowly. So he only looked into her eyes until Sonya’s light brown cheeks grew dark with a blush and she dropped her gaze.

“I…see,” she said at last. “So you’re not a Scourge. I’m sorry if I offended you, my Lord and Master.”

“Please—you don’t have to call me that. My name is Davrik.” He became aware that he was looming over her, doubtless not helping the trust situation. “Look, can I just…here, let me sit down.”

He looked around the room for someplace to sit but didn’t see anything except the vast silver platform bed in the corner of the room. He went and had a seat on the side of the thick luxury mattress, spreading his legs to get comfortable and trying to look more approachable.

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