“Everything.” The word rushed out of her. “I’ve lost everything.”
He stopped beside her. “I’ve noticed you haven’t cried since that day you first arrived.”
She felt the heat pouring off him, and she couldn’t meet his gaze. “What would a big, bad gladiator know about women and crying?”
“I grew up in a family of women. I was raised by my grandmother and my mother, and surrounded by my aunts and cousins.”
She looked up now. “All women?”
He nodded. “My species, the Nomi, don’t give birth to male children very often. Mostly, the women mate with males of other species, but come back to raise their children in our matriarchal family units.”
“Like the Amazon,” Madeline murmured.
“Nomi genes are dominant, so the children are always Nomi, and most often, female. So, believe me, I know all about a woman’s tears, in all their many forms.”
Madeline pressed her arm against the window to hold herself upright. “Tears are for the weak. They don’t help anything.”
He edged closer, his crisp, male scent wrapping around her.
“Tears help you purge the pain,” he said quietly.
She made a scoffing sound. “You’re telling me that you cry?”
“I did when pirates attacked my family’s spaceship. The Nomi are nomads, and we live in space, usually traveling in convoy. My grandmother, Xilene, owned our ship and ran our convoy. She was a tough, old woman and a fierce captain. My mother and aunts were the crew.”
Madeline heard the fondness buried in his words. “What happened?”
“We were overrun by pirate slavers. I was young and not much of a fighter.” Something painful crossed his face. “My grandmother and mother were killed in front of me.” His gaze turned a stormy gray. “My sister and I were taken as slaves. I was sold here to the arena.”
He’d been abducted, too, and lost his family. Just like her. Madeline pressed her hand to her churning belly, rubbing it in a circle, as she took in his strong, steady form. “You…never found your sister?”
“After I earned my freedom, I looked for her.” He drew in a deep breath. “The trail had gone cold years ago, but I spent several years and all my earnings looking until there was nowhere else to look. It’s hard not knowing.”
“Yes.” She looked at him, her gaze falling on his warm, tanned throat. He’d lost it all, but had found a way to survive. To build a new life.
“It’s okay to lean a little,” he told her.
“I don’t lean. I—” She gave another strangled cry as agony spiked.
Something scary flashed on his face this time. “Drak. What are you doing to yourself?”
He came closer and she held her hands up. “Don’t touch me.”
He ignored her. Seconds later, she found herself scooped up and settled on the surface of the nearby dining table.
Lore studied her face. “Relax. Breathe.”
She tried, but every breath hurt. “Just leave me alone.”
“How often has this been happening?” he demanded. “More than the few times I’ve seen you in pain?”
“It’s just stress.”
“Quit being stubborn. I just want to help you.” He reached out, his hand tangling in her hair.
Madeline felt her eyelashes flutter. A part of her wanted to lean. Just for a little while. Until everything stopped hurting.
But in her life, good things only ever came when she fought for them herself. The few times she’d risked leaning on somebody else, they always disappeared and left her falling.
“I’m fine.” She slid off the table to prove her point, gritting her teeth hard. “Please don’t mention this to Harper and the others.”
She had to get away from him. Moving as fast as she could, she crossed the room. As she reached the corridor leading to the bedrooms, another attack hit. The pain caused sweat to break out on her skin.
She slammed open the door to her bedroom, and took two steps inside. Another fierce wave of pain hit, and drove her to the floor. She stayed there on her hands and knees, fire roaring through her belly.
“Luckily, I’m as stubborn as you.” Lore’s arms wrapped around her, strong and secure.
Madeline groaned and coughed. Blood splattered onto the floor.
The world shifted as she was spun and lifted up into Lore’s arms. His face was the fiercest she’d seen it, even in the arena. He pressed her into his hard chest.
“No more excuses,” he growled. “Medical. Now.”
Chapter Six
Lore was mad and he didn’t get mad often.
He held Madeline tight in his arms. He was feeling protective, and he didn’t care who knew about it. She looked grumpy, rumpled, and in pain.