Page 87

“... You live,” he eventually rasps out.

A broken laugh escapes me. “Yeah, thanks to you.”

My eyes drift over him again, taking in the purple bruises and contusions dotting his ribs and chest. The memory of the mountain crashing onto his back flashes through my mind, and my stomach twists so forcefully I think I might be sick.

“How could you do that?” I choke out. “You were just going to let yourself die for me. What the fuck, Orion?”

My mate weakly lifts our joined hands until his claws brush the back of my wrist. “I… love… you,” he breathes through heaving breaths.

Any composure I was holding onto finally crumbles.

Bowing my head over our entwined hands, a sob escapes before I can swallow it down. “Never do that again, okay? Never. Promise me.”

Orion stays quiet for a long moment. When he finally speaks, each word comes with obvious effort. “You... must go.”

My gaze flies upward as I blink through tears. “What?”

He visibly swallows before raising a hand to the sky. “Fresh air. Veggies. String cheese.”

For a heartbeat, I just stare at him until his words register. When they do, my chest throbs so sharply I think it might implode. “You seriously think I'm doing that again?”

My monster only closes his eyes and nods. “I… cannot give you what humans need.”

“Orion, no. I was wrong. Last time I left, it damn near killed us both. I'm not making that mistake twice.”

“I will not trap you,” he rumbles, sitting up with a groan. When his fingers slowly trail downward, brushing over my chest before splaying wide on my stomach, I swear my heart cracks in two. “Either of you.”

Air catches in my throat.

I stare down at the enormous hand spread across my abdomen, refusing to make the connection at first. Then every word his father said comes rushing back like a tidal wave.

Within you, my blood continues.

You consider yourself to be wholly human?

“Fuck.” My free hand instinctively blankets his own.

It shouldn't even be possible. Every scrap of scientific knowledge I possess screams that it isn't, and yet some force deep inside my being knows that it is.

What does this mean? Am I half whatever Orion is? As he is half human? His father had said Paula and Dennis carried his mate's line, so did that mean they were related to my monster?

The thought of Paula makes me flinch, remembering how she had shoved me out of the way before the ceiling came down, and⁠—

Oh, god. The collapse. I'd been choked, thrown across a cave, crushed beneath rock, buried alive...

Panic slams into me so violently I double over.

“The baby,” I gasp, frantically patting my stomach as if I'd somehow be able to feel it through my skin. “Orion, what if something happened? We almost died!”

My mate's expression softens immediately. He swaps our hands so mine is against my abdomen. “It is safe.”

“But how do we know?”

He closes his eyes and releases a deep purr. “Heartbeat.”

Warmth instantly envelops me at the sound of his calming rumbles. “Holy shit, you can hear that? Already?”

With a nod, Orion smiles faintly. “Strong.”