Page 36 of HaL

“I think I liked the hospital better because at least there you were beside me when I woke up. If I go in there, you can’t stay with me without being miserable.”

“We will find our way on this path Dawn, but until we can get you better garments, you should sleep where your body is the most relaxed. I will only be a whisper away if you need me.”

HaL leans his massive form down and presses a gentle kiss to the top of my head. His lips are cool against the heat of my skin, a brief contrast that makes my chest tighten in a way I can’t quite name. Then he nudges me softly toward the other room, knowing I need its warmth but doesn’t want to let me go.

I walk away hesitantly. Each step feeling heavier than the last, like my body is finally admitting what I’ve been ignoring. I’ve pushed myself too hard, too fast, and now it’s catching up to me in quiet, insistent waves of exhaustion.

The warmth wraps around me the moment I step through the bubble. It’s immediate and almost overwhelming. Even though I know I’ll wake up overheated, I can’t bring myself to take off his coat. It feels like the last thing anchoring me to him, so I keep it on as I lower myself onto the bed.

The mattress welcomes me, sinking beneath my weight as if it’s been waiting for me to give in. I don’t fight it, I can’t. The tension I’ve been carrying begins to unravel, thread by thread, until there’s nothing left to hold on to.

My breathing slows. My muscles loosen in reluctant surrender. And as the warmth deepens around me, sleep doesn’t just come, it takes me gently, completely.

CHAPTER 12

DAWN

I have no idea how long I’ve slept, but I don’t think I moved. The second my eyes open, I look toward the doorway, not shocked to see HaL sitting on the other side of the membrane in a large seat, watching me. SAGE, true to her word, has set up an area between the two rooms where we can sit together but still apart. I turn all the way over so that I can look at him.

“Good rising, Roja.”

His words bring a smile to my face.

“Okay, enough teasing. You have to tell me what that word means.”

He hesitates for just a second, and I can tell he is contemplating whether to tell me.

“It’s another word for beloved, but in your language, oddly enough, it also means red.”

I pull his Yeti snuggie closer even though I’m as warm as toast.

“Beloved! … You’ve been calling me that since I opened my eyes so wasn’t that a little premature, even with the mate bond running through your veins? You have no idea if you even like me, and it’s possible that you may even come to hate me. After all, we’re complete strangers.”

“No! The moment I held you in my arms, you became all that mattered. Even though you are another species, I never doubted the gift I had been given, and I knew before you opened your eyes that I would adore everything about you.”

“Wow … takes all the fakeness out of dating on your part, huh? So, does this mean you don’t feel like you still need to woo me, and that I can be a grouchy butt and get by with it?”

“That expression does not make any sense to me.”

“Ummm, never mind. This isn’t Earth, so I can’t have the same expectations or opinions on how things should work. You know, some girls might have woken up screaming, thinking you were a stalker sitting there watching me like that. Did you get any sleep?”

“It is hard for me to rest when you are so far away. I came in several times through the darkness to check on you, as you had not moved in quite some time, but I could not stay long because of the heat.”

“It’s even a little toasty in here for me too. So, what are our plans for today?”

“Troza will want to see you first thing.”

“You two seem very close. Is she related to you? Because when she smiles a certain way, there is a huge resemblance.”

“She raised me, and I care for her more than I do most.”

“So, she isn’t your mother? She kinda puts off those vibes.”

HaL goes quiet in a way that makes me know what I just said hit a nerve.

“I was told she found me after an avalanche hit the area where she was foraging, but recently questions have emerged that make me wonder if that is the whole story.”

“The past always has a way of reappearing, it seems, but it’s clear to anyone with eyes that you two care for each other deeply, so maybe it just doesn’t matter.”