This is not what I imagined happening.

I can only hope her delicate human bones have withstood the attack. I chance a glance down at her, my heart hurting, distress at her unconscious state spurring me to move faster still.

Violent red and purple blossom across her temple, and her skin is paler than usual, her human freckles standing out in stark relief to the light, light color. Her lips are parted, and shallow breath gusts against my hand as I check it.

“I would kill him again if I could, my Leigh,” I tell her.

I should have protected my mate.

I have failed her.

OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER TWELVE

OceanofPDF.com

LEIGH

The room swims as I open my eyes, and I immediately roll to my side, throwing up.

“Why is it spicy?” I whine. Someone blots the back of my neck, and I’m grateful for that, at least.

“She’s awake,” a male voice booms. Too fucking loud. I wince.

“Shh,” I say, but even making that noise is too much.

A door slams, and I squeeze my eyes shut, curling into a ball. My face hurts, oh my god, my whole face hurts. I try grinding my teeth, but they don’t even make contact on the side of my face that’s screaming pain at me.

Something pinches my arm, and a calm voice says, “That’s an analgesic. For the pain. I also put an anti-nausea med in it. It should help.”

I blink up at the person talking, only to realize belatedly it’s not a person at all.

It’s a Roth. It’s Nydo. My fake mate. He’s still holding me in his arms, and now he’s blotting my mouth, his forehead creased with worry, his mouth a thin line.

He blots at my skin, the back of my neck.

“You are going to be alright,” he tells me, running a damp cloth over my temple. “You took a nasty hit to the head, but you’re a fighter, aren’t you, my Leigh?”

I try to nod, I try to tell him yes, I am a fighter, but it hurts.

So I fall asleep again instead.

Nydo

I can’t leave her side. I won’t.

This is my fault. I thought I had every aspect of our trip to the station under control. I should have insisted that Lyko come with me, instead of telling him to stay with the ship, because I stupidly wanted to be alone with her.

With Leigh.

Leigh, who I won’t let out of my arms, who sleeps fitfully, as I give her pain meds around the clock, along with ice packs along her temple.

Her friends check on us often, shooting me slightly terrified looks when I bristle at them. They help me spoon broth into her mouth, changing out the ice packs and cool compresses when they are too warm, which happens often, because of the energy discharging around me.

I want her to be okay.

I want to see that fight in her eyes again.

I want her to open her eyes.

OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

OceanofPDF.com

LEIGH

My mouth is dry.

It’s the only thing I can concentrate on, until my eyes open and I realize I have no fucking clue where I am.

A ship. I close one eye, like that’s going to help me deduce my location.

I’m hungry.

“I have to pee,” I say out loud. My lips crack at the effort, my mouth the Sahara.

“Oh my god,” Piper says, her hand on my arm. “You’re awake. Thank goodness. Oh, Leigh, we’ve been worried sick.” And at that, she bursts into tears.

A door hisses open, and Billie runs in, frantic.

“You’re awake,” she whisper-shouts at me.

“Gotta pee,” I answer, frowning at her.

“Thank fuck! I never thought I’d be so happy to hear someone had to pee, but here we are!”

I wince at the volume, and she resumes a loud whisper. “Sorry.” Billie fidgets with her top, then shoots Piper a look. “It’s just… you’ve been out for a day and a half now. You had a major concussion. We did everything we could with the med kit to speed your healing, but it was scary, Leigh.”

“Sorry,” I manage. I sit up slowly, and Piper braces an arm along my back, Billie scurrying to my other side. They help me walk to the ship’s small bathroom, and sure enough, my head pounds at the minimal exertion.

I try not to be embarrassed as Piper helps me go to the bathroom.

“You know, he hasn’t left your side.”

“Who?” I ask.

“Who?” Billie repeats, folding her arms over chest and fixing me with an exasperated look. “Nydo. The heir apparent to the lost throne of Roth. The guy who torched half the mercenaries who came after you.”

“He’s been the one taking care of you the whole time,” Piper says softly. “We had to force him to leave your side so he could get some rest.”

“Yeah, I thought he was going to lose his mind,” Billie adds. “He’s pretty scary.”

I finish using the bathroom, digesting what they’ve told me.

“Torched half the mercenaries?”

“You don’t remember any of it?” Billie asks, sharing another look with Piper. “Maybe it’s better that way.”

I glance up at my reflection out of habit, flinching at the sight of my face. My temple is black and blue, green spiraling down my jaw and vivid dark purple half-moons under my eyes.

“Looks good with my hair,” I try joking.

“We have some cream we’ve been putting on it. It’s already helped so much. I bet your bruises will be gone in another day or two, by the time we get to Ikkox settlement to recruit more Roth.”

“Yeah, and you guys are blowing up all over the vids,” Billie adds.

“What?” I flop back into bed, exhausted from the short trip to the bathroom. Piper helps fluff my pillow, and I turn on my good side, watching them.

The vids were one of the first ways Earth managed to catalogue alien races. After the Roth invaded, they left enough tech behind that we could exponentially increase our capabilities through reverse engineering. Vids were the streams we caught on alien frequency, and that’s how we started figuring out that we weren’t alone in the universe with just the Roth.

I shiver, remembering the first Suevan vid I saw, of a warlord ripping the spine out of a Roth during the settlement wars. Gross.

“How bad is it?” I finally ask.

“Do you think we should show her?” Piper asks Billie, patting me gingerly, like I’m a hot potato she’s tucked into tinfoil and not a human in a blanket.

“She’s right here and she would like to see it,” I grit out. Fuck. I gotta get better, because I can’t stand people handling me like I’m fragile glass. Though, at the moment, my skull feels very breakable indeed.

“Show her,” Billie says.

“Screens might be bad for her recovery,” Piper argues.

“Show me,” I demand.

“It’s not like it lasted long,” Billie tells Piper, pulling a comms tablet out. “More like wham, bam, fricasseed Roth, thank you, ma’am.”

“That’s not why I didn’t want her to see it,” Piper murmurs, raising one eyebrow.

Billie exhales noisily, then props the tablet up on my lap, selecting one of the streams. She’s saved it to her favorites, and I try to give her a meaningful look, but my face is too swollen to do anything but glance at her.

Nydo fills up the screen, wreathed in flame, a god of fire.

My breath catches.

He’s terrifying, his eyes glowing furious orange, the Roth mercenaries grabbing me while I flail at them with a knife, a moment before a huge grey fist lands on my face.

“Hang on, I forgot the sound,” Billie says, then slides the volume bar up on the side.

“That is my mate,” the Nydo on screen says, his voice quiet and all the scarier for it.

I blink, shock at his conviction pulsing through me.

“You dare hurt my mate. My queen.”