“Answer the question.”
“There was no time.”
“No time?” Natalie walked to stand before me and I looked down into her upturned face, trapped by the need I saw burning in her bright blue eyes. “I don’t understand.”
“It would have taken long hours to heal completely.” I raised my hand to her lovely face and traced her cheek with my fingertips. Her skin was as soft as I remembered. “But I refused.”
“This is crazy, Roark. Why? Why wouldn’t you let them heal you?”
“It had been ten days, mate. Ten days and they said you were dead. I was frantic. I had to find you, to know for sure. If you were out there, I had to get to you. And I did.”
Natalie leapt into my arms and I caught her, tucked my hands under her ripe ass as she wrapped her legs around my hips. Her fingers threaded through my hair and pulled, hard, demanding I lower my head and kiss her. Her mouth was soft, her kiss hot and she was so responsive. She opened to me and I tasted her, my tongue tangling with hers.
She pulled back, her breath ragged. “God, it’s been over a year.”
I looked into her pale eyes, saw the passion and the need. The truth. “I don’t understand. It’s been ten days and that was long enough. How could it be a year? I see proof of it in our son, but it makes no sense.”
“Warden Egara said time isn’t the same. I’d only spent just one night with you, but when I was transported back, it had been eleven weeks since I’d left Earth. Eleven!”
The reality of what happened settled heavily, like a nox had sat on my chest. “I’m sorry, mate. Fark.”
What she must have felt to arrive back on Earth, alone, thinking me dead.
“I’m so glad you’re here, but I’m so mad at you.”
I brushed her wild hair back from her face. “Mad?”
She stepped away, looked down at the magical flames. “You left me to go to your parents.” I heard the way her voice broke. “You chose them over me.”
I went to her, spun her to face me. “Left you? I saw to your safety first.” Didn’t she know I would take care of her above anything else? By the hurt, angry look in her eyes, the answer was no.
She shook her head. “No. You sent me off with the doctor. You cared more about your parents. You worried for them, saw to their safety.”
I closed my eyes, exhaled. “Fark. Gara, I didn’t want you with me during the ambush because I couldn’t guarantee your safety if you were by my side. I knew if you went with the doctor, you would be safe, protected.”
She shook her head again, this time with lines of anguish on her face. “I wasn’t safe. They died, Roark. The guards, the doctor. God, they died right in front of me. She put me on the transport pad just in case, then the Drovers came. It was the doctor who saved me.”
She shuddered and I pulled her into my arms, held her tightly, her cheek pressed into my chest. I’d almost lost her. Because of the doctor’s smart planning, the guards that protected her, she was alive.
I spread my hand over her head, holding her to me so she would hear the words as they rumbled through my chest. “I vowed to protect you, Natalie. I sent you to the safest location in the Outpost. The one place I believed you would be safe.”
She shook her head and I felt the hot sting of her tears on my bare chest. I lifted both hands to her cheeks and angled her head up, forced her to look into my eyes. “You are my mate, Natalie. I know you do not yet understand what you mean to me, but know this, I will always put you first. I will always protect you. I will always come for you.”
Natalie bit her lip, her eyes clouded with doubt. “What about your parents?”
I lowered my forehead and pressed it to hers. “They are my family, gara, and important to me. But you are my heart.”
“And Noah? What about him?” She sniffed and looked hopeful, cautious, and very protective of our son. All things a mother should be. I found I liked her fire, the intensity of her devotion to Noah. Seeing her as a fierce, loving mother only made me want her more. I could not wait to fill her with my seed, see her grow round with a second child. I wanted a girl next, with her mother’s eyes. “What do you think about having a son?”
“He is the greatest gift anyone has ever given me, mate. I will love him and protect him with my life, as I will love and protect you. Always.”
My mate studied me and I held her gaze, stood naked and vulnerable before her. For eight days I’d been tortured, but I knew my suffering was nothing compared to hers. I’d believed her dead for but a single day. She’d believed me dead for more than a year, gone through a pregnancy unprotected and alone. Raised our son on her own. Fought off unwanted male attention…