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It hurt to hold my head up, but I mustered a smile for my teammates. “I assume I need to offer you my thanks for getting me out of a sticky situation.”
“You don’t remember?” Efred scraped the knobby protrusions on the backs of his hands together. I hoped he earned his wings as a mature Drack, and one day, I would see him soar.
Ginger propped a rolled hide behind me, easing the pain in my trembling abdominals to just this side of tolerable. “He’s only just woken.”
She moved in front of me and slipped a loose, custom-tailored tunic over my head, smoothing it over my pectorals as if she touched me all the time. Her display of ownership over my body triggered my rumba, the same as a mate’s claim would.
Efred’s purple scales shimmered as he flung his arms wildly, reliving the moment. “You took off by yourself, you big brave asshole…” He pulled a crate up to my bedside and sat, legsspread wide. “We couldn’t turn back to help without driving the other four hellsna back to the settlement.”
It was all coming back to me. Ginger rushing toward me in a blaze of glory.
“The best news though”—Efred’s taloned feet bounced, undulating the mossy floor below me, and I clutched my aching stomach—“only four veiny bastards are left! Your plan to herd them off the cliff…it worked. For one of those overgrown maggots, anyway.” He sucked in a huge breath. “Can you believe it really blanting worked?”
“And they’ve been quiet ever since.” Hill’s lips pinched, as if he was uncertain why.
My stomach growled, and sweat broke out over my forehead ridge from the effort of sitting. “That’s great news.”
Despite an ecstatic thrum of energy pulsing through my veins at that revelation, my smile wavered, and I clutched my swollen guts. What would really make me happy right now was lying back down. Ginger wiped a cool cloth over my head. Her sharp gaze dropped to where I held my stomach and what felt like all my organs in both hands.
“I’ll have your pants and shirt ready tomorrow, Hill, if you want to come by after your shift and say hi.”
Hill nodded and bid us farewell.
I spoke to his retreating back. “And you’ll be paying fair value for those.”
Hill hopped down the short drop, exiting our cave and stifling his laugh. “Of course, Protector.”
Efred returned the crate he’d been sitting on, placing it next to the growing pile of sewing supplies against the black cave wall. “Oh, Ginger…they’ve got two enforcers harvesting all the lunal they can get their hands on right now. Sisip wants you to craft as much of that, what did you call it…chain mail stuff, as you can.”
“Absolutely. Bring it on by when it comes in.”
She should’ve been focused on resting and healing. Those males did not need her clothes. I held that honor.
Ginger slid the door shut after them and came to sit by me. Our cave had gained several chairs over the last few days, and her linnea scent, weakened by illness, mixed with the musk of far too many males. It seemed we were the new command central.
A recently added table stood against the curved wall, holding a sewing machine. Hides covered the floor, little leather clippings piled in a heap, and whirls of skinny string dotted everything.
“How long have I been out?”
A container met my lips, savory steam spilling from it. As much as I liked her feeding me, I needed to show Ginger a strong male. A male worth claiming, so I took the container in my hands, lifted it to my mouth, ignoring my screaming ribs, and swallowed the contents in three gulps.
“You may be ready for something more substantial than soup.” Her smile grew so tender my heart turned over like a powerful ignition, stuttering and restarting.
Her head dipped. “Five days,” she whispered, as if she didn’t want to say it. Or she didn’t want me to see her worry. “Dr. Ten came by yesterday.” She still wouldn’t look at me. “I was so worried.”
Ginger flicked an elephant charm on my wrist, and its light music floated through the cave.
Five rotations? I’d never lost five rotations of my life before to anything. What had I missed? So many questions plagued my mind. Foremost, had Ginger sought treatment elsewhere? No. I exhaled. She couldn’t have, she looked awful. Then I second-guessed myself. Unless it hadn’t worked?
My brain, still unable to focus, jumped to a sneering image of Devile.
I’d start with the easier of the two. Though if someone had been servicing her—my chest tightened—they had no blanting idea what they were doing. “Has Devile arrived?”
Ginger brushed a finger under her glistening eye. “I don’t know. Want me to go to command central and tell Sisip you’re awake? I’m sure she’d like to talk to you.” She cupped my shoulder, rising on wobbly legs from where she sat cross-legged by my head.
Her leaving sent waves of prickling heat under my skin.
“NO,” I barked.
