Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 67092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 224(@300wpm)
But if I can’t make my body work, I’ll be forced out of it again, Raak thought, with something close to panic. At the very least, I have to breathe—I have to make my lungs work.
It was the hardest thing he’d ever done—like trying to push a huge, heavy boulder up a hill. But somehow, he managed to pull in a small sip of air and get it down into his lungs. Slowly, they inflated and then he heard a low, faltering thump.
It was followed by another thump and then another until there was a steady rhythm. Thump- thump … thump-thump -… thump-thump…
My heart, he realized, it’s started beating again!
His lungs expelled the air he had sipped in and then expanded again—much more broadly this time—as he took another, deeper breath.
The engine was working again, Raak thought with relief. Thank the Goddess, his body was beginning to come back!
He forced his eyelids open and saw that Kara was staring at him with tears in her eyes—her dark blue eyes—with a silver ring around the irises.
Raak wanted to tell her how beautiful her new eyes were, but his mouth still wouldn’t move. It seemed some parts of his body were coming back faster than others. Still, he had another way to communicate with her now, didn’t he?
“Your eyes are beautiful, baby girl,” he sent through their newly formed bond. “They’re dark blue with a silver ring now.”
Kara’s lovely eyes flew wide and she looked at him in astonishment.
“Raak,” she whispered in a voice hoarse from crying. “Are you okay? And did you just speak inside my head?”
“That’s right, baby girl,” he sent, and found that his mouth was at least able to grin, though his lips still felt too clumsy to form words. “I’m talking to you through our link—we’re bonded now.”
“But…how?” Kara shook her head in disbelief. “You’re an Unbondable.”
“Not anymore, I’m not—you bonded me to you when you bit me just now, baby. That’s the reason you have your fangs in the first place—so that when the two of us got together you could bond me to you. The Goddess told me so.”
“The Goddess?” Kara sent through their link, a look of shock on her face. “When did you speak to the Goddess?”
“Just now—when I was dead,” Raak told her.
“When you were what?” she demanded out loud.
So then of course, he had to explain everything.
Thirty-Seven
Kara listened in disbelief as Raak finally explained what had happened. How his sliver of a soul had grown as he came to care for her and love her and how the Goddess had granted them the ability to bond as a consequence.
“But how did you die in the first place?” she demanded. “Did it have something to do with you growing a soul?”
“Exactly,” Raak said, nodding a little too quickly, Kara thought. She was almost certain there was more too it—in fact, she could feel that he was keeping something from her. But she could also sense, though their new bond, that he thought knowing his secret would hurt her and he wanted to keep her safe.
Reluctantly, Kara decided to leave it alone—for now. What really mattered was that Raak was back with her and he seemed to be as healthy as ever. In fact, as soon as he had finished explaining everything, he immediately wanted to make love again.
“Not so fast,” Kara told him sternly. “Before you do any more physical exertion, I want to get you checked out by Silki.”
She left him grumbling about how a male couldn’t even die for a minute or two before being forced to see the doctor and went to find the little Tolleg.
Silki’s pointed ears perked up when Kara informed her of the circumstances and she frowned in apparent surprise.
“So you say he was dead but now he’s alive again? Yes he is, yes he is?”
“He says the Goddess sent him back,” Kara told her. “But I want you to check him out—okay?”
“Of course I will, of course I will! I have to see this—yes I do, yes I do!” Silki exclaimed. She came with Kara at once and gave Raak—who by then had gotten up and put on some trousers—a complete examination. Only when the little Tolleg doctor had pronounced him to be in perfect health, did Kara breathe a sigh of relief.
“See, baby girl?” Raak growled at her. “Told you I was fine. Now how about if we find some privacy for a little while?”
“Only if Doctor Silki says it’s okay,” Kara said cautiously. “And since I seem to be cured too,” she added, because she hadn’t had an essence attack in the past hour while the little Tolleg was examining Raak and her fangs seemed to be working properly again.
“It should be safe for the two of you to resume your love-making,” Silki said with a frankness that made Kara blush. “But I would like to be notified at once if either of you dies again. Yes I would, yes I would.”