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She sighed. “I understand what you’re saying. I’m a pacifist, though I’m not squeamish. I might look away while you do it, however.”
“You don’t need to watch.” I spun her around in my arms. “I’m glad I found you, mate.”
“Me too.” Her smile faded. “When I fell, I must’ve hit my head because the next thing I knew, I woke with a broken arm. A bone was sticking out and it was bleeding like a stuck . . . Okay, I’m going to scrub that image from my mind as soon as possible. The thing is, I was horribly injured and in incredible pain. Nevarn found me and brought me here where his god healed me.”
“Nevarn helped you?”
“Strangely enough, yes. He said he and his clansmen have been spying on our village because they were afraid you’d kidnapped me, that I wasn’t your mate.” She rubbed her mark.
“I will kill him!”
“He now knows he’s wrong, and I bet he won’t encroach on Indigan territory again.”
I grumbled. “Are you sure I can’t rip off his head or at least one of his arms?”
“I’d rather you didn’t. I’m friends with their god, and I don’t believe she’d be happy if you did something like that. She might actually defend him.”
“I don’t wish to offend his god.”
“Then let it go. When I return to visit Helena, I’ll mention your concern about Nevarn. She’ll speak with him, and I bet you anything, he and the members of his clan will leave us alone.” She held out her arm, turning it this way and that. “It looks as good as new. We’re going to have coffee together.”
I lowered her feet to the forest floor but held onto her hands. I couldn’t bear to let her out of touching distance. “You and Nevarn are going to have coffee?”
“Not him, the god, Helena and me. We’re going to visit and have girl talk.”
I couldn’t understand much of what she said, thoughgodstood out. “There are no crystal structures in this forest. No gods.”
She tugged a hand away and patted the tree. “This is their version of a crystal structure. Nevarn’s clan uses these trees for houses.”
I peered up at the canopy that swayed in the breeze. Birds swooped about, and the chitter of a drettire echoed through the woods to my right.
“When I come back to have coffee with Helena, I’ll introduce you.” Vanessa frowned. “But we have an urgent matter we need to take care of right away.”
Pain arched through my chest like I’d taken a spear through the heart. I knew exactly what she meant. “If you plan to leave me, you don’t need to go to the island gods. Remain here, and they’ll take you.”
“Can I . . .” She shook her head and gave me the sweetest smile. “That’s the thing. I need to get there before they send me back. I’m staying with you, Aizor. I love you, and there’s no place I’d rather be than by your side.”
“Mate.” I cupped her face and curled forward to kiss her. “Precious mate.”
She looked toward the sky. “How long will it take for us to reach the island? I have to be there before sunset.”
The sun hovered on the horizon. I swept her up again and pivoted, bolting toward the lake. “Hold on to me, mate, because I’m in love, which makes me the fastest male in the Zuldruxian world.”
I would run forever if it meant Vanessa would remain with me.
Chapter 39
Vanessa
We reached the shore as the sun was slipping away. Aizor blew on the horn to call the giant puffer fish. I fretted while we waited. Would we be too late? I could almost feel the crystal aliens sucking me from Aizor’s arms.
The lake creature breached on the shore, and I didn’t hesitate before leaping inside its mouth.
Aizor held me in his arms as the beast swished back into the water and took us to the island. When the fish grounded itself on the opposite shore and stretched its mouth wide, Aizor bolted, splashing through the water and up onto dry land. He didn’t stop but raced toward the central crystal compound with me in his arms.
We’d almost reached the front door when the sun slipped away.
An alien bristling with weapons stepped in front of us, brandishing his sword. It was so dark, and he was in shadows, I couldn’t tell who he was.
