Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
“Why are there so many—” Without warning, her words cut off at the same time she begins kicking her legs. I imagine what the scene must look like in her eyes; the gathering Hallan males, our fleet of ships looming, and nothing familiar. Certainly not a face. Not yet. “You let me down right now!”
Lucky for her, it’s just about that time.
Another two strides, and I’m in front of her father. Luna doesn’t even realize the person she probably wants to see the most is just behind her because she was too busy concerning herself with trivial things like arguing with me over whether she would walk.
No, what she wanted to do was run.
“I said, let me—”
I don’t even allow Luna to finish before I’ve plucked her from my shoulder, still kicking and flailing enough to topple to the ground should I let her, but I produce her safely in front of her father. As I said I would.
I am nothing if not a Hallan of my word.
“Your daughter, human,” I tell him.
“Yes, she is,” he murmurs.
Luna gapes at her grinning father, finally speechless.
Was that all I needed to do, then?
It doesn’t take long for her to gain her bearings to ask, “Dad?”
“You say that like you can’t believe I’m in front of you. You didn’t give up hope, did you?”
I hear the swallow of my mate before she chances a glance back at me. Pretending to be more interested in something beyond them, she takes my fake distraction as the opportunity to turn back to her father.
“I don’t doubt you,” she says quietly.
I don’t necessarily think her comment is meant to point my way, but that’s not impossible, either.
The two embrace as the rest of the passengers on our ship, including the mother of my brother’s mate, disembark using the same ramp we just did.
Zarah catches my eye as she passes and reaches for me. The guard carrying her stops without question. “Halun, is it?”
“Bey,” I tell her, nodding.
“Halun … thank you.”
I smile slightly. “For my brother, it is the least I can do. I promise you’ll be fed and well cared for with me. I will see you shortly to check in about your foot, and it won’t be long before you see Selina again.”
At the prospect, Zarah brightens.
“If she goes anywhere, I go, too,” comes the voice of my mate.
I turn slowly on her to find Luna now facing me instead of her father. Heads and shoulders below me, she still glares up at me as if we stand eye to eye and she’s daring me to tell her anything different.
I’d like to kiss her.
Watch that fight in her bleed away.
Instead, I drag in a lungful of air to cull the swell of arousal in my gut because there is but one thing I am sure of at this moment, and that is how now is not the time to create a spectacle. Oh, we could and what a show it would be, but I needn’t make this woman any less enthused with me than she already is. Treating her in such a way might very well do that right now, considering …
“Then, go with her,” I say.
The pinch that forms between her brows is adorable. It’s the tiniest crack in her suit of invisible armor. She’s full of rough edges but I bet they soften just as well as they sharpen.
I almost laugh when she cocks an eyebrow at me.
“I will,” she says, still confident and firm.
My brows lift subtly. “Very well.”
Her gaze narrows in on me. “Oh, so I couldn’t walk down a freaking ramp alone but now I can just go …” She swings her arms wide “Anywhere?”
“Try to run, Zawla.”
A gust of her annoyance comes out in a heavy breath. “My name is—”
“Doesn’t that word mean mate?” Frances interjects quietly.
Of course, he knows that word. Frances and his men have intermingled with willing Hallans enough over the past while that they’ve picked up on a few things. Given part of that was definitely our reason for being here and my brother’s mate, I’m not shocked to learn he knows that word well enough to use it.
“Mate—what?” Luna hisses.
“Yes, I’m sure that’s … isn’t it?” Frances asks me again.
My head tips sideways, and my gaze soon follows the same path so I can find myself out of this moment as soon as possible. I’m not worried about Luna finding her way out of the encampment, and perhaps now also isn’t the time for that tricky conversation with my mate about us being mates. I can’t imagine it going over well.
“Well?” Luna asks me, those lips of hers pursing into the perfect pout. “What does that word mean?”
It isn’t lost on me how the waiting people, and even Luna’s own father, faded to the background as she came into focus in front of me. Once again reminding me that I need to take a moment to process the day I’ve just had and what it all now means.