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“What happened?” I croaked. My voice was hoarse and raspy.
“You were attacked.”
It all came back to me as I recalled the water.“I remember now.”
I sat up in the bed. I was dry and dressed in, what I could only assume, Ryker’s shirt and pants.
I was still upset with him. He had pushed me off a damn cliff. For a good reason, but still. Besides, that hardly mattered to me now.
The sun shone through the windows, casting warm hues across the floors and walls. I looked around the room to find that Ryker wasn’t there, and I found myself missing his presence. Placing my feet on the stone floor, I felt for him in the palace. There was activity downstairs, but the upper level was devoid of anyone else as far as I could tell.
“Where’s Ryker?”I asked. And why hadn’t he come last night?
“I do not know. You are safe for now. He left and I stayed to watch over you. But now that you are awake, I must leave. I will be back.”With that, he disappeared.
With all that hair, you’d think he’d be more warm and fuzzy. Ass.
I would have liked more of an explanation about what had happened or who in the After attacked me. Regardless of my wish for solitude the night before, I, once again, found myself not wanting to be alone.
My body had completely healed overnight, as if nothing had ever happened. My mind was crisp and my lungs were clear.
I stepped into the bathing room to get dressed.
Well…not completely healed.
In the mirror, I could see faint red marks down the length of my neck. I must have dug my nails deep into the skin for there to still be evidence of the self-inflicted injury. I looked to the tub and my stomach churned at the thought of being submerged again.
It would take some time before I was comfortable near water. No matter how deep.
I turned away from the tub and found a set of clothes waiting for me. After getting dressed, I decided to head down to find something to eat, and hopefully Ryker. I could smell the food from the kitchen and it made my stomach grumble. Just as I was about to head out the door, I felt someone approaching, multiple someones, with familiar steps that I would recognize anywhere.
I threw open the door to find Malina and Nikan, the former beaming with delight. Malina squealed as she hugged me tightly, nearly causing me to topple over. All thoughts of the night before escaped me in their presence.
“What are you doing here? How did you get here so fast?” I laughed in disbelief. There was so much that I wanted to tell them and show them.
“Pigeon boy came and got us with his cute little Spirit demon,” Malina said, nearly bouncing on her toes and clapping.
That explains why he wasn’t there last night.
“Theron? He Traveled you here?” I looked between the two of them. Nikan was taking in the space around us, seemingly displeased, but accepted my embrace regardless.
“Yep. Nearly made Nik shit his pants when we saw him.” Malina made a mocking scared expression.
“Well yeah, any sane person would. What, you weren’t scared that the scaled beast would eat us when you first saw it?” he asked Malina after releasing me. I had missed them both.
“No way. Ryker led us to him, and I knew that he wouldn’t have if it was dangerous.”
“You trust him too easily. He’s a bloodthirsty Lord. You don’t know what he would do,” Nikan said.
“Watch it Nik,” I threatened. Upset with my mate or not, I wouldn’t have anyone talking poorly of him. “If Ryker wanted to harm either of you, he would have long ago, and he wouldn’t have to use a Spirit animal to do it. You’re in his home, and you’ll treat him with the respect he deserves as my mate, regardless if you don’t approve of him.”
Nikan sighed, rubbing his temple with his fingers. “Fine. I can at least appreciate that he came to retrieve us. He said we might be of help to you.”
“Help to me how?”
“I don’t know. He just said that you might need us, then when we got here he left us on the roof and ran inside. We stood there for a while before someone came and got us and showed us to a couple of rooms,” Malina said.
I smiled slightly. He was right, I needed them to talk through my frustrations. But where was he?
