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“Now lay down and hold him. Tell him how well you are running things in his absence. Tell him how much you miss him and how you’re madly in love with him.”
I smiled, lowering myself. My head was propped on my hand and I reached over with hesitation to trace my fingers over his stomach. I could feel his core energy so close and the location and connection seemed right.
His shirt moved with my touch and I soon lost myself in the motions as I began to speak about my every day routine. Hunter’s hand at some point had settled on Marko’s shoulder and being so close to the men I loved did put me at peace. Separate, we were incomplete. Together, we were whole.
“I’ve missed you more than you’ll ever know. Sometimes when I’m giving orders, or holding a meeting, I find myself stopping and wondering what you would do if you were awake and in my position. You were meant to lead. Even as I do, I feel it is not my place.”
I paused, lifting to rub my face over the stubble on his cheek. “God, your scent calls to me. Do you feel my emptiness without you? This is tearing me apart, Marko. You have to come back to me. This is killing me.”
“I … think it’s killing me more.”
My head shot up at the scratchy, weak voice that made my heart plummet to the floor.
“Don’t stop.” His lids fluttered open and I nearly began crying all over again as his eyes connected with mine. The stinging left my vision blurred and I quickly blinked it away as I moved back. My hand cupped his cheek and the sob couldn’t be stopped as I hugged myself to him.
“I won’t stop,” I managed. “I won’t stop until you’re better. God, I love you. I’m sorry.”
Marko’s head turned toward me, yet he tried to pull back. I lifted, not able to control the clutching sensation around my heart.
“What are you sorry for?”
His eyes blinked heavily and fear that he might leave me again so soon had me rubbing my hand over his rough cheek to try to keep him awake. I couldn’t lose him. Not yet.
“For this. For not running away from Aetas fast enough. Or …”
“Oh, ma minette. None of this is your fault. This was the only way. I knew that before I even saw the two of you sitting there.” He took a ragged breath, closing his eyes for a few seconds before opening them again. “A sacrifice had to be made in order to save you and our people. I would have done it a million times over. I love you all that much.” He turned to Hunter, a grin pulling at his mouth. “I do believe I have reason to worry when I get better. Do you usually threaten dying men?”
Hunter laughed under his breath. “If it’s appropriate. In this case it was. You killed us that night, too, you know. We thought we lost you for good. You died twice more after Tessa brought you back the first time. She wouldn’t stop, though. None of us would.
“None?”
Marko looked between us and I wiped the wetness from my cheek. “It wasn’t just me who gave you my blood. I lost so much during the first attempt that Hunter, Mistress Price, and Niko mixed theirs during the following two … We were desperate. We were trying everything we could think of while Nelson worked on you.”
Marko’s hands were shaking as he lifted them. Hunter and I slid our palms over his and held to him as he closed his eyes.
“I am indebted to you all.”
“No. What you did can never be repaid. And never repeated,” I stressed. “Hunter and I … we can’t lose you.”
“She’s right. We’re absolutely miserable. Especially me,” Hunter said, throwing me a wink. “I’ve been moping around, bugging the shit out of poor Colin just so I can have someone yell at me when I screw up. It’s bad. You have to get better. I don’t think he can take much more.”
Marko laughed, groaning through the pain. His lids opened and the smile remained. The beauty it possessed took my breath away. Hunter was right. His strength was growing. Marko was going to live. And we were going to be okay. Everything was going to be just as it should.
“I’m really tired. Will both of you stay?”
He was already yawning, trying to pull me down to lay with him. I smiled, looking over to Hunter as he pulled back the covers on Marko’s other side. I rose, doing the same.
“We’re not going anywhere, and there’s nothing that could make us. I should have never of left your side to begin with, but I can promise I’ll never leave it again. I love you.”
The side of Marko’s mouth pulled back and he opened his eyes, searching my face as I made the dress vanish into my nightgown. The moment I curled into his side, I felt his energy surge the smallest amount. He was happy, and he was healing.
“I love you, too … He paused. “I loved you to death, ma minette. I really did. Now I will love both of you for life.”
The End
