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“Hold on. Lick it better? The phrase is kiss it better!”
“What phrase? I was talking about the fact that so many animals lick their wounds, or those of their calves or cubs.”
“I am not a calf. Or a cub. Or a cat!”
“Maybe not,” I acknowledged, my voice lowering to a foreign, husky growl. “But you are my wife. And I’d happily lick any part of you that was hurting.”
“OK. Wow. You know what? Clearly, you’re fine. I don’t know what I was worried about.” She grabbed the blankets and slammed herself down on her side. Remembering Magnolia’s directions about skin-to-skin, I instantly lay down behind her, curving my front around her back. She’d drawn her knees up to her chest again, and my cock found a perfect place to nestle below her backside.
“Don’t know why I even care,” she was mumbling angrily to the blankets she’d pulled up over her mouth. “Don’t know why I even went looking for you at all.”
“Why did you?” I asked. I’d been too frantic about her health to ask her about it until now. “Why were you out in the storm looking for me?”
Darcy stilled. When she spoke again, her voice was very small, stripped of that barb-tongued tone.
“You didn’t come back. It was dinner time, and it was getting dark and windy. I could see the storm rolling in. And you didn’t come back.”
Tenderness that felt and awful lot like pain tore through my chest. I buried my face in my wife’s hair.
“Never put yourself in danger for me again,” I rasped, my throat feeling strangely constricted. “Storms. Rain. Darkness. None of it matters. None of it could keep me away. I’ll always come back to you, Darcy. Always.”
She stiffened, then relaxed with a shaky breath.
“Alright,” she said softly. And then, some of the tartness returning to her tone, she added, “Then don’t be late for dinner next time.”
19
GARREK
Istared out at the charred, still-smoking land that had once been pastures for my herd. The rolling expanse of grass that would have fed my cattle all season was now nothing but dead, crisp ground.
Killian, the cause for this latest disaster, stood meekly beside me.
“Garrek-”
I held up one hand to silence him, scrubbing the other vigorously down my exhausted face.
“Don’t talk. I need to think.”
I lowered both my hands and settled them on my belt, glaring out at the burnt land. At least the porch we stood upon remained intact and no animals had died. Luckily, Killian, thick-skulled as he was, realized how serious what he’d done was and had roused me in the night for help. Together, we’d gotten the shuldu and the herd to safety. It was only the freakish luck of a late spring storm’s rain rolling through that had halted the fire and spared the house and barns.
But the fences were gone. And so was the grass. From what I could see, my herd had fewer than five days’ worth of sustenance. I could start digging into my stores for next winter, but they were already low considering we’d only just come out of this past winter. And then I’d have less for the next cycle.
Blast! I dug my claws into my palms so that I wouldn’t grab Killian and shake him the way that a poisonous part of me wanted to. I’d been hurt enough times as a child. No matter how foolish and rebellious and angry he was, I’d promised myself I’d never lay a hand on him.
He wasn’t angry now. For once, he appeared contrite, hanging his young, white-haired head in what had to be a good helping of shame. My convict-ward may not have cared about me, about my property, or even about himself. But he cared about the animals. And there was no doubt he could now see what his foolish little fire had cost them.
Thankfully he had enough sense, and enough remorse, to wake me when he did. Otherwise…
With a growl, I pushed that thought away. The shuldu and the cattle were alright. But we wouldn’t be able to stay here. I hated the thought, especially while managing such an unpredictable convict-ward as Killian, but we’d have to load up and spend the rest of the cycle travelling from pasture to pasture while my land recovered. It would open up my herd – not to mention us – to all sorts of risks. But there wasn’t any other choice. The fences and the food were all gone.
“I have to call the warden,” I grumbled. I pointed a fierce tail at Killian’s small body. “Don’t move.”
I coughed as I made my way into the house, the smoke from last night making my insides feel as wrecked as my ranch. I picked up my data tab and used it to call the warden.
It didn’t take him long to answer.
“We had a grassfire,” I said by way of greeting. On the other end, Warden Tenn inhaled swiftly, then swore.
