impending quest. Mayhap it was the danger from several quarters. I didn’t know what troubled my CeCe, but I would sit and witness her grief. The shel could heal many things, but they had not yet healed the wounds of the soul. Perhaps that was the original purpose of the heart mate, I mused. To have one who would bear witness to your inner wounds, one with whom to share the burden of trials and hardships. Perhaps when the heart left its heart home, escaping the confines of the thick fibrous membrane, it was better able to sense the troubles of your heart mate—because it was closer.
I frowned.
Warmth flooded my chest.
Bursting joy fluttered in my gut.
Nay, it was not the excruciating torment of the heart transition, but could not these feelings signify the same phenomenon?
Mayhap CeCe was not my heart mate, but she was indeed the mate of my heart.
Liquid slipped from my eye and raced down my face. Startled, I reached up with my free hand and swiped, expecting to find blood. It was clear. I tasted it. It was a tear.
Squeezing CeCe’s hand, she gripped mine back but then let go. And leaned into my side, and I put my arm around her shoulders and cradled her trembling body, and marveled.
After a time, she sat straight and looked at me.
“VELMA researched my mother’s disappearance with her diplomatic envoy and found out what happened,” she said, her eyes penetrating and brow creased with a slight wrinkle. “I knew she had passed. But now I know how it happened and when. I’m shocked, sad, angry—and also relieved. It’s so strange to have all these emotions happening at once.” She clutched at her immovable chest panel.
Tenderness for my mate welled up in my body.
“VELMA gave you an incomparable gift,” I said and reached to stroke the length of CeCe’s cheek with my finger.
CeCe laughed. “That’s exactly how VELMA presented the information to me,” she said with delight, though a tear sparkled at the corner of one eye. “What fascinates me is that she had access to all of that information this whole time. She just had the motivation and initiative to look for specific keywords and markers.”
“VELMA is truly a wonder,” I said. “I can’t begin to comprehend the way in which you programmed electronic machines to simulate a sentient mind, but you are possessed of a magnificent intellect.”
Her cheeks deepened to a burnished pink, and she smiled. “Now you’re just trying to flatter me.”
“Upon my word, I am not,” I said with a smile. “I had never hoped to find a companion with which to share the thoughts of my heart or the curiosities of the universe, but in you, I would have these things. You are a treasure to me.”
CeCe blinked, her dark lashes shadowing her dark eyes for a jotik, and she tilted her head, studying me. I’d never once been self-conscious of my broken fang until now, but I allowed a small smile anyway. I noticed the jotik her gaze lingered on my mouth, and flashes of my brethren sharing breath with their heart mates crashed to my mind. My pulse thundered in my throat and in my ears, and I felt one of my fingers twitch, as if rehearsing the light touch I wished to give her.
Her eyes caressed my face, my ears, my hair, and I dared not move nor flinch. I was prey captured by her scrutiny.
She released me from her intensity after a rotik and looked across the cavern to the others as they made their preparations.
I breathed.
“It goes against logic,” she said, not meeting my eyes but sparing me a fleeting glance first. “And against science, social constructs … hell; it goes against common sense. But you’ve become very important to me as well,” she said before her chest rose, and she looked at me. “I want to explore this more.” She scooted close enough that her armored thigh scraped against mine where we sat. Pressing two fingers to her generous lips, she kissed them, then pressed them to mine, and my breath caught. “I don’t even know how this could work, considering what we’re about to do,” she said with a confused laugh and furrowed brow. “But stay with me. Stay nearby. Everything we do, let’s do it together. And who knows? Maybe we could have a happy ending like all of them.” She angled her head toward my brothers and their mates and gave me a smile that stole my breath.
A seeker of truth, I was also a titled hunter with prime lands on Ikshe. I’d bagged some of Ikthe’s grandest trophies as an apex predator on Certain Death and yet …. I was powerless in the face of CeCe Pain’s smile. I would fall prey to her with a willing heart again and again if she chose me.
Lips still burning from her touch, I grasped the nape of her neck and pressed my forehead to hers.
“Together,” I whispered. “I vow it.”