And Korum realized exactly what she was seeing. He was covered with blood, both his own and that of Loris. He could taste its metallic tang on his tongue, smell it surrounding him, and he knew it was all over his hair, his face, his mouth.
Fuck. He must look like something out of a nightmare, especially with the rapidly healing parts of his body where Loris had torn out chunks of his flesh.
Remembering her reaction to Saur’s remains on the beach, Korum mentally cursed himself for letting Mia see him like this. He had been hoping to avoid killing Loris partially for this reason – because he didn’t want his little human traumatized by seeing her lover brutally kill someone. This should’ve been an easy fight, one during which Korum could’ve restrained himself, kept from giving in to the primitive instincts of his species. If it hadn’t been for Saret’s interference, Korum could’ve easily subdued his opponent, defeating him but graciously letting him live. And instead, he had been utterly savage, like a cornered animal.
His legs were already feeling better, so Korum shrugged off Alir’s support and carefully reached for Mia, bringing her toward him. He knew there was a chance he might repulse her now, but he needed her. Needed to feel her softness, to inhale her clean, sweet scent.
To his surprise, she wrapped her arms around him, holding him so tightly that it hurt his half-healed ribs. She was shaking, her slender body trembling in his embrace.
“It’s all right, my sweet,” he murmured, some of his tension draining as he realized she was not afraid to touch him. “It’s going to be all right . . .”
“I thought –” With her face buried against his shoulder, Mia’s voice was barely audible. Her hands were icy on the bare skin of his back. “I thought he killed you . . . Oh God, Korum, I thought you were dead –”
“No,” he soothed, reveling in her apparent concern for him. “No, my darling, he didn’t. It’s over now –”
A sob broke out of her throat. “He hurt you. I saw him hurting you, again and again. Korum, he was killing you –”
“It’s okay, I’m all right,” Korum whispered, his heart aching at the horror in her voice. “Everything’s going to be fine. I’m sorry you had to see that. It wasn’t supposed to be like that, believe me . . .”
She drew in a shuddering breath and pulled back to look up at him. Her eyes were reddened, her lashes dark and spiky from tears. “What happened? I saw you fall and then it was like you couldn’t fight anymore. Did Loris cheat somehow? Did he do something to you?”
“It wasn’t Loris,” Korum explained, trying to keep the fury out of his voice. “It was Saret. He was in the audience, just a few seats away from you. He shot me with a stunner – a weapon similar to a stun gun – so I couldn’t move for a bit.”
She gasped. “He tried to kill you? Is that what the commotion over there was about? I wasn’t paying attention –”
“Yes,” Korum said. “I sent the guardians after him as soon as I realized what was happening.”
“You sent the guardians? How?”
“Remember I told you I have an embedded computer?” Korum asked.
Mia nodded, staring at him. She still looked pale, even though the tremors wracking her frame were beginning to subside.
“I was able to use it to contact the guardians.”
She blinked, and he could see that she wasn’t absorbing what he was saying, her mind still consumed by what had just happened.
Alir stepped in front of him, making Korum aware of his presence again. “The victory ceremony is about to start,” the guardian said quietly. “Are you able to participate?”
Korum considered it for a moment, holding Mia against his side, then gave Alir a short nod. “I should be fine.” He was still in pain, but it was a healing kind of pain. His body was repairing itself from the inside, the cells regenerating themselves. In another few minutes, he would be almost back to normal.
Of course, given everything that happened, a regular ceremony with a public claiming of his charl was out of the question. Even though his recovering body was beginning to stir at her nearness, Korum was fully cognizant of his current appearance. He was dirty, sweaty, and covered in blood – not exactly appealing to a human girl. She had also just been through a major shock, and the last thing she needed was to deal with unwanted sexual advances from a man she probably now saw as a savage killer.
Alir inclined his head in a gesture of respect and walked off the field, his tall, broad frame moving with a warrior’s gait. Korum had played defrebs with the man several times in the last couple of years, and he’d lost more than once. The guardians were excellent fighters, their profession requiring them to stay in top shape, and Korum was glad that he’d never had to face one of them in the Arena.
“All you have to do is stay with me right now,” Korum told Mia when Alir was further away. “Under the circumstances, the post-fight ceremony will be brief.”
“Because you’re hurt?” she asked, and he could hear the strain in her voice.
“No, I’ll be fine. But you’re not ready for anything like a victory celebration right now,” Korum said softly. “What we need is to go home.”
* * *
As the ceremony began, Mia tried to focus on the event, but her mind kept flashing back to the gruesome images of the fight.
Flash. Korum lying on the ground, unable to move.
Flash. Blood spraying everywhere. That terrible gloating expression on Loris’s face.