Page 44 of Vexing Valmir
"You need to rest," I tell him, my tone softer. "We can speak when you're not hurting as much. It's nothing important, really."
"Everything you say is important." His thumb strokes my wrist. "Don't leave."
Just that small touch sends prickles of arousal skittering through me. My khui hums, the sound more insistent than ever. I appreciate that he wants me to stay, but the act of remaining near him grows more difficult with every passing hour. Resonance only feels tolerable when we're far, far away from each other. "Like I said, it's not important."
"Lies." He continues to hold onto my wrist, even as his voice grows sleepy.
Being around him is making me soft in the head, because I'm melting at his insistence on holding onto me. It's weakening my resolve. "I wanted to see if you'd be up for your last task when you feel better. Butnotuntil you feel better, Valmir. You need to recover first."
He struggles to look at me, his eyelids heavy. "Last one?"
"Last one," I agree, meeting his gaze.
"You're not thinking of ways to stall?"
I shake my head. "I'm tired." I mean it, too. All of this is no longer challenging, no longer fun. There's no longer an exciting edge to it. Now it's just...exhausting. "We'll make sure you're recovered, and then we'll do the last task. And... I guess, whatever else comes after that."
His thumb claw strokes lightly over my skin again. "What's the task?"
The one I've been putting off for weeks now. "You can help me take Makana home."
"You're not going to keep him?"
"Of course not. I'm just hishanai."
"His what?"
Right. It's another one of those strange words that slips out of me and feels so natural. "His guardian. I'll look after him, but if he wants to be free, it would be cruel for me to keep him. I want him to live his best life, even if it's not with me."
"You wouldn't hold him even if you love him?" he muses, and he still doesn't let go of my wrist. "You and I are very different creatures."
Hearing that should not fill me with warmth the way it does.
CHAPTER 12
VALMIR
Something with April is off.
When she first assigned this latest task, she was her normal self. She established what she wanted — a specific mountain plant, roots and all, brought back to her alive — and I agreed. Then we'd fallen into her furs, arguing even as we touched each other. I made her come, she jerked my cock, and I left feeling pleased over our usual push-pull.
Things were fine.
Then I fell into Corvak's pit and found him and Aidy. Or rather, they found me. They're very different from myself and April. From the beginning, they've been a unified team. Every decision they made, they chose together. They support each other endlessly. They are of one mind on everything. As people go, they're tolerable enough. Aidy is sweet and kind, and Corvak is a decent warrior who just wants to protect his female. But as far as couples go...
They're boring.
Is that what mating is supposed to be like? Is that why April has been fighting this so hard? If so, I get it. I'd much rather have her arguing with me or teasing me and calling me "pussycat" even though she knows it irks me. I like that April isunexpected and difficult to please. Our arguments arouse me as much as they fill me with pleasure.
If resonance means we will never have another heated discussion between us that leads to frantic, angry touches followed by an equally frantic orgasm, then I am glad we have waited for so long.
It's just that...the sass I appreciate in April has dried up.
She came and found me in the mountains, which told me she was worried about me. I enjoyed that realization. No, Ilovedthat realization. She tries so hard to pretend like she doesn't care, but she was the first one to offer me a shoulder if my ankle hurt, and she always had hot tea at hand to give me. And sharp, teasing word to go with the hot tea, but that is how April and I communicate. Sharp words tell me that she seesme, that she's not just trotting out whatever she thinks I want to hear.
Yet ever since I returned to the village, April has beennice.
I don't trust it.
