His Mate to Keep by Ivy Sparks

14

Xavier

I peeredthrough the opening at the mist-shrouded mountain outside. Merrit strung a canvas she found in the runner to form a makeshift tent over me, but I could still see up the mountain. Too bad the mist blocked my view.

She huddled in a ball with her head resting on her arms. She fell asleep like that, sitting up the way she used to in the lab. I couldn’t help admiring her in the silence of the early morning. She’d been working around the clock to escape since the experimenters brought her into the lab. Now she was here, tirelessly looking after me.

The pain in my side and head lessened in the night. How strange it was to actually go through a dark night. I almost forgot what it was like in the constant light of the lab. I felt stronger too. Whatever those leaves were, they worked. They sped up the healing process. One more day and I would be back to normal.

I didn’t make any noise, but without warning, Merrit jolted awake. She jerked her head around, tense and ready to fight. Her bleary eyes skipped over the forest outside our tent.

“It’s all right,” I told her. “We’re safe. Don’t worry. No one is here.”

She remained vigilant, hopping to her feet. “I’m going up the mountain. I want to see what’s above this fog. If I can find a…”

“No,” I cut in. “I don’t want you to leave.”

“You’ll be safe,” she countered. “I won’t be gone long.”

“I’m not worried about myself. I’m worried about you. I don’t want us splitting up in a strange place, or you putting yourself in unnecessary danger. Just wait a day or two, then we can go together.”

“If something is out there that could threaten us, we need to know about it now. And who knows, maybe there’s a thriving metropolis less than a day’s walk from us, and we’re sitting here in the wilderness instead of going there.”

“I’m still too weak to go anywhere.”

“That’s why we should plan for when you’re ready. Fact is, we’re already almost out of food and water. We can’t waste any precious time, or we’ll be dead, anyway.” She stood up. “I promise I won’t be gone long.” She shoved the block of Izikar plums at me. “You’ll be fine. Ration that food. You can use those leaves if you need to bandage your injuries again. I’ll be right back.”

“Merrit,” I started, but she was already ducking out of the tent. She headed up the mountain and vanished into the fog. I knew she was right, but that didn’t make it any less of a risk.

I stared at the spot where she disappeared. The foggy woods prevented me from seeing anything beyond the nearest trees. Where was she? Was she in danger already? What if something happened to her?

I pushed myself up on my arm and had to waver there until my vision cleared. The leaves she used to bandage the wound on my side must have had some healing properties, because the pain was gone and the wound didn’t bleed at all. I still felt weak, but my injuries didn’t seem to be a real concern anymore.

I couldn’t lie here and wait for her to come back. If I truly believed she was putting herself in danger by climbing that mountain, then I had to get up and go. I had to protect her.

This was the voice of instinct speaking to me. It wasn’t just worry or paranoia. I could feel it in my chest that something was wrong.

I rotated onto my hands and knees. I had to wait there for my head to stop spinning before I summoned the strength to crawl out of the tent. I crawled to the nearest trunk and planted my hand on the rough bark. It took another almighty effort to pull myself up to my feet.

Even then, I rested my torso against the trunk and shut my eyes for several minutes. Standing up made me feel sick. I couldn’t breathe or focus my eyes on anything for a long time.

Some forest creature’s high-pitched screech startled me alert. Merrit. I had to find Merrit. I lurched off the trunk and headed up the hill in the direction she went. The terrain changed in no time. The trees thinned out, and boulders dotted the mountainside.

I stumbled more than once. Each fall cost me time and energy I couldn’t afford, but each time I felt like passing out, concern about Merrit drove me to my feet. I had to…

I fell again, and a stab of pain in my side made me look down. The leaf bandage she made had come loose. Blood oozed from underneath the seal, but I couldn’t stop now.

A few minutes later—or maybe it was longer, I wasn’t sure—the trees dwindled completely. I emerged into open land with a rocky outcropping rising to the peak above. The trees didn’t trap the fog underneath, so I could see all the way to the summit. Where was Merrit?

I staggered out of the shadows. Sunshine touched my skin for the first time since I left Kavius. God, had it really been that long? No wonder I was weak. I teetered onto a rock and had to pause again.

After a moment’s rest, I shoved myself off the boulder and propelled myself forward. I blundered around another outcropping, then collided head first into Merrit. She ricocheted off me with a startled cry, then stared up at me with huge eyes.

At that moment, a flying missile of fur, claws, and teeth hurtled at me from beyond her shoulder.

It launched from the nearest rock and sailed straight for Merrit with a dozen menacing claws extended. I reacted with a surge of adrenaline. With the last of my strength, I shoved her out of the way before the beast could land on her shoulders.

She tumbled sideways with another scream, and the creature hit me with all its weight. I pitched over backward with the thing on top of me. Its claws sank into my arms as I caught hold of it and held on.

I crashed down hard onto another rock and felt something rip in my already injured side. The creature lunged for my face, baring curved fangs ready to tear me apart. I kicked out with my legs and flung the thing over my head.

It flew several feet, smashed into a tall outcropping, and bounced off. It rocketed at me with unimaginable speed, but I was already on my feet. This thing tried to kill my mate. Blood rage flooded me and wiped out every trace of weakness and fear I may have had. I launched for the creature, bellowing in fury.

The creature shrieked in the same murderous frenzy and vaulted off the ground. It extended all four limbs as its dripping fangs glistened in the sun. The next instant, we collided in an unbreakable lock, but I already knew I was too weak to fight this animal.

Instinct born from long experience in the battle room kicked in. I clamped my hands around the creature’s head and gave it a cruel twist. The spine cracked, but I didn’t count on my injury weakening me this much.

The creature howled in pain, but the attack didn’t kill it. It drove it into an even more violent rage, and I had played my last and only card. With my hands in the wrong position, I couldn’t stop it from lunging straight for my throat.

At that moment, a spray of laser fire burst out of nowhere. It cut the creature in half, and its head fell off in mid-lunge. Blood spurted from the severed neck, and the animal spasmed in my arms. Its weight fell on top of me and we both hit the ground.

I kicked it off and the twitching, blood-soaked body flopped onto the grass. I scrambled to my feet, but I had to focus hard to see Merrit standing only a few feet away. She held a massive blaster under one arm as smoke puffed from the barrel. It was too big even for her to lift it to her shoulder.

I had to steady myself against the nearest rock to keep upright. “Where did you get that thing?”

“I took it from the runner after I left the camp. I dropped it when this thing attacked me, but you distracted it long enough for me to pick it up again.” She hurried to my side, looking over my wounds. “Dammit, Xavier. You should have stayed back.”

“I couldn’t. I felt it, knew that I was about to lose my…”

I bit off the last word. I barely stopped myself from saying it. My mate. My fated mate.

She stared at me with a strange expression on her face. In between the pain and rage, a hint of some shadow darkened her features. Did she know? And further, did she understand why I hadn’t told her yet?

Her eyes darted to my side. “You’re bleeding. We better get back…”

I pushed off the rock and staggered to her side. “Let me help you…”

One of my knees buckled, and I stumbled again. I didn’t have time to catch my balance, and I would have toppled both of us if she hadn’t caught me with her one good arm. “I think maybe it’s me who should be helping you.”

She pivoted around and, with one arm, supported me down the hill. I leaned against her, but I made sure not to let her hold up all my weight. She was as hurt as I was.

Neither of us said anything on the way back. By the time we reached the tent, I couldn’t see much. My eyes refused to focus. I became aware of her lowering me onto the ground where she left me. I was too grateful to have her back to argue.

I shut my eyes and concentrated on breathing. When I opened them again, she sat next to me, working on the medical kit. I didn’t see what she was doing until she held up the bone fuser. “You have some broken ribs. I’m going to fuse them. I put another leaf bandage on your side. As long as you lie still and don’t dislodge this one, you should make a full recovery.”

“Thank you, Merrit,” I croaked. “You’ve taken such good care of me.”

She smiled gently. “Yeah. Well, you’re not going to love me so much after I use this bone fuser on you.”

My eyes widened. Love? Did she already know I loved her?

She pivoted onto her knees and leaned over me. “Hold on. I’m going to fuse your ribs. Are you ready?”

I swallowed hard, watching her get into position. She pressed the bone fuser to my side, and the pain shot through my body. I gritted my teeth as she fused five more breaks on my left side. I writhed in pain for a few more moments until finally it subsided and I felt mostly fixed.

“You okay?” she asked, wincing in sympathy.

“Yeah. And you’re right. I don’t love you as much anymore.”

She laughed at my joke, then blushed. I wondered briefly if anyone had ever told her they loved her before. Maybe I should say it, really say it, just in case something happened.

I wasn’t really sure why I hesitated, or why I hadn’t told her yet about our fated connection. I didn’t fear rejection; I just worried it might push her away. She was a pirate after all, used to her bonds being only momentary.

Before I could mull over it much more, she started knotting a triangle sling for herself with one hand and her teeth. She looped it over her head, settled the knot behind her neck, and then very carefully slid her broken arm into the sling.

Once she was happy with it, she turned to me. “We have to decide what to do next. Nothing’s changed; we’re still going to run out of food and water soon. Maybe we should scavenge what we can from the runner, then start exploring outward. Find at least a stream of water. Then we can set up a more permanent base to signal for help.”

I nodded, but I didn’t answer. I observed her rummaging in the rations pack. She handed me something, and I ate it, but my thoughts wouldn’t let me rest. She avoided looking at me, and all too soon, she fell silent too.

Did she understand about fated mates? If she did, would it repulse her? I wasn’t sure how to feel about it myself. After all, I didn’t choose her as my mate. The experimenters threw us together without knowing how it would affect me—or maybe they did. Maybe that was why they did it.

I spent so much of my life drifting. After the invasion of Kavius, I had no one to hold me down. I learned not to get attached to anyone. I never knew when or if I’d ever see someone again.

Now I was attached to this woman by something beyond blood, beyond danger and hardship. I couldn’t live without her—literally. Nothing mattered more than taking care of her and being the best mate I could be to her.

Too bad I had no model for what that should look like. My parents were fated mates, but they died before I reached maturity. I wasn’t sure even where to begin, and if today was any sign, I wasn’t off to a very good start.