I looked into her pale eyes, saw the passion and the need. The truth. “I don’t understand. It’s been ten days and that was long enough. How could it be a year? I see proof of it in our son, but it makes no sense.”
“Warden Egara said time isn’t the same. I’d only spent just one night with you, but when I was transported back, it had been eleven weeks since I’d left Earth. Eleven!”
The reality of what happened settled heavily, like a nox had sat on my chest. “I’m sorry, mate. Fark.”
What she must have felt to arrive back on Earth, alone, thinking me dead.
“I’m so glad you’re here, but I’m so mad at you.”
I brushed her wild hair back from her face. “Mad?”
She stepped away, looked down at the magical flames. “You left me to go to your parents.” I heard the way her voice broke. “You chose them over me.”
I went to her, spun her to face me. “Left you? I saw to your safety first.” Didn’t she know I would take care of her above anything else? By the hurt, angry look in her eyes, the answer was no.
She shook her head. “No. You sent me off with the doctor. You cared more about your parents. You worried for them, saw to their safety.”
I closed my eyes, exhaled. “Fark. Gara, I didn’t want you with me during the ambush because I couldn’t guarantee your safety if you were by my side. I knew if you went with the doctor, you would be safe, protected.”
She shook her head again, this time with lines of anguish on her face. “I wasn’t safe. They died, Roark. The guards, the doctor. God, they died right in front of me. She put me on the transport pad just in case, then the Drovers came. It was the doctor who saved me.”
She shuddered and I pulled her into my arms, held her tightly, her cheek pressed into my chest. I’d almost lost her. Because of the doctor’s smart planning, the guards that protected her, she was alive.
I spread my hand over her head, holding her to me so she would hear the words as they rumbled through my chest. “I vowed to protect you, Natalie. I sent you to the safest location in the Outpost. The one place I believed you would be safe.”
She shook her head and I felt the hot sting of her tears on my bare chest. I lifted both hands to her cheeks and angled her head up, forced her to look into my eyes. “You are my mate, Natalie. I know you do not yet understand what you mean to me, but know this, I will always put you first. I will always protect you. I will always come for you.”
Natalie bit her lip, her eyes clouded with doubt. “What about your parents?”
I lowered my forehead and pressed it to hers. “They are my family, gara, and important to me. But you are my heart.”
“And Noah? What about him?” She sniffed and looked hopeful, cautious, and very protective of our son. All things a mother should be. I found I liked her fire, the intensity of her devotion to Noah. Seeing her as a fierce, loving mother only made me want her more. I could not wait to fill her with my seed, see her grow round with a second child. I wanted a girl next, with her mother’s eyes. “What do you think about having a son?”
“He is the greatest gift anyone has ever given me, mate. I will love him and protect him with my life, as I will love and protect you. Always.”
My mate studied me and I held her gaze, stood naked and vulnerable before her. For eight days I’d been tortured, but I knew my suffering was nothing compared to hers. I’d believed her dead for but a single day. She’d believed me dead for more than a year, gone through a pregnancy unprotected and alone. Raised our son on her own. Fought off unwanted male attention…
At least, I wanted to think she had not given her body to another. But with her beauty, her luscious curves, I had no doubt the sniveling fool here when I arrived was not the first man to want my mate.
“I want to take you home, Natalie.”
“Back to Trion?”
“Yes. I want you home with me. There is so much I didn’t get to show you, and Noah. The capital, Xalia, is a beautiful city, with gardens and markets, so much life. And the medallion I gave you is a key that unlocks a vault deep below the city.”
“What?” She looked at me wide eyed. “You gave that to me?”
I nodded. “You are my mate. Of course you would have it. That’s how I found you. The medallion. It only opens for my DNA. Noah touched it, didn’t he?”
She thought for a moment and nodded.
“While you hold the key to the southern continent on your chain, Noah has the power to open it. He helped me find you again.”
Warm air escaped her parted lips with a hint of a shudder. “What’s in it?”
“Knowledge. Wealth. Power. The planet at your feet, mate. I gave you everything, love.” I traced her bottom lip with my thumb, hungry to taste her. But I would not take her without her consent. “Come home with me.”
***