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For a second, she hesitated, and he was impressed with the ease she relaxed her posture; that may have convinced anyone else but him. “I’m fine.” She snickered, turning away to return to where she must’ve been seated, reading a book when he’d knocked. “Goddess, you mated men are no better than fussing mother hens. You could’ve just called to check on her.”
She may have been right, but Kai couldn’t ignore this crater in his chest. He closed the distance to the bedroom, and the only answer he could give was, “I can’t lose her,” before he quietly slipped inside.
* * *
Kai had been dozing in the armchair beside the bed for about an hour before he felt an oddly charged breeze sweep by his face, the curtains rustling behind him, though the window had been closed.
Isla began to stir.
“No,” a cracked whisper fell from her lips as she twisted in the wide bed. “No.”
More wind swept by, the temperature in the room dropping as Kai shot to his feet, his wolf edging to the surface as the air in the room hollowed. His eyes fell to its corners, where he swore darkness gathered. Isla thrashed, murmuring something. Kai lunged for the bed, for her, and—
Goddess, she was freezing.
He gripped her shoulders. “Isla!”
Her heartbeat was erratic, her body trembling, her breaths staccato and sharp as they fell from her mouth. It had to be another nightmare.
The bond flickered.
Kai’s eyes flared as he dragged her to him, sitting her up in his lap and leaning her against his chest. Her shivering had been violent enough that he needed to steady himself.
“Isla.” He didn’t yell but whispered her name, allowing the warmth of his breath to cascade over her face. “I need you to wake up.”
She didn’t.
Her heartbeat faltered, and her hand moved up to claw at her chest. Trying to rip something out, rip something free.
Kai placed his hand over hers, not letting himself panic when he felt something burn beneath his arm wrapped around her shoulders. Her lumerosi glowed, seared, while the rest of her was frigid. She must've been fighting something, something he couldn’t see. “Isla,wake up.”
She didn’t.
Shit.Kai tugged at the bond, tugged at her, trying to pull her back. He remembered, now, that one of her last nightmares had been of that woman. He remembered when they’d been in that alleyway in Abalys, and he’d needed to pull her away from her then, too.
“Isla.” For a blink, he swore shadows moved along her body, and something felt very,verywrong.
He didn’t want to do this; he didn’t want to risk it. Guilt settled in time with him falling into himself, spooling a thread of power and casting it across their bridge—right to the edge of her mind.
Break in. Get her out.A fleeting thought of his own.
But then came another as he toed that cliff, and a small door creaked open.Break in—and destroy her.
You’re running out of time.
Kai recoiled and snapped back into himself at that voice.Her voice. That woman.
Isla’s eyes flew open, amethyst-illuminated, and coughs spluttered from her lips as her gaze darted around the room. She gripped him so tightly she could’ve torn his flesh away, her chest heaving with each shuddering, sobbed breath.
Kai bore against the pain and held her tighter to him. “You’re okay. It was a nightmare. I’m here. You’re safe.”
Isla’s panting slowed, and her gaze fluttered up to meet his. “Kai,” she rasped, her shaking touch reaching for his face. Her fingers were cold as they brushed over his lips, his cheek.
“We couldn’t even make it a few hours,” he forced through a soft chuckle.
She exhaled something between a sob and a sigh before hugging herself tighter to him. Eventually, she ended up with her knees beneath her and her legs wrapped around him until there was no space between them. Their chests lined up as their hearts beat together. But there was nothing impish, nothing lustful about it; she just…needed him. And she could have him, all of him.
Kai buried his face into her neck as she had done his, taking in her scent and running his fingers through her hair, avoiding snagging them in salt-laced waves. “You’re okay.”
