“What does that mean?” Sparx asked, even though his anxiety was only getting worse the longer their conversation continued. “Will she—I mean, will they need the healer if the mate isn’t available?”
“Why wouldn’t he be available?” Matrix leaned forward with an even more confused, but now also concerned, expression. “I don’t understand what you are saying, Sparx. Has there been a problem with one of our Djaromir that has required us to remove him from his mate?”
“No. No, no,” Sparx sputtered as if that were a ridiculous thing for his friend to suggest, even though he’d just suggested that very thing. Looking around the room, he let a brief silence fill their small circle within the command center. “But what if the male doesn’t want a mate? Will the female be all right if the male isn’t available to complete the mating?”
Colby snorted where he was still posted behind Sparx’s shoulder.
“That makes absolutely no sense.” Matrix ran a hand down his face as if he were exhausted. “You’re making my head hurt trying to follow what you may be thinking, Sparx. Are you sure you are feeling well?” Waving a hand in his general direction, his friend gave him a level look. “You seem more…on edge than normal.”
“I’m—” Sparx paused briefly in the middle of his lie, almost unable to force it out. “Fine.”
Colby snorted again. This time louder.
“Do you have something to say?” Sparx half turned to glare at the miner behind him. “Yes, Colby,” Matrix interrupted from his chair with a dry voice. Leaning back, he raised his brows. “It sounds like you might know what’s happening right now. Do you have anything to add to the craziness that your leader is spouting off…or at least an explanation for it?”
“Sir.” Colby paused to lick his lips nervously, his gaze darting from Sparx, who was still glaring at him, to Matrix, and then back again.
“Yes?” Matrix asked, wiggling his fingers to Colby to hurry things along.
“Not you, sir.” Colby bowed his head in respect to Matrix before placing a hand on Sparx’s shoulder. “I may be your second in command, but I am also your friend, so I hope you don’t kill me when I tell you that you’re acting like an idiot.”
Matrix sucked in his breath where he was sitting, completely frozen in his chair, with his mouth open. His eyes were glued to Sparx, waiting for a reaction.
Which he didn’t give.
Colby, the man he trusted to take charge and lead Fyeir in his place, was telling him the honest truth. For that he couldn’t be angry or even shocked that his friend had called him out.
He was an idiot. A big stumbling idiot who had absolutely no place being a warlord, the leader who’s place it was to preserve their way of life, if he rejected a blessing bestowed to him from their ancestors who lingered in the stars.
Lucy was that blessing.
It did not matter that he was terrified of something happening to her. It did not matter that he was worried about his effectiveness as a leader because some may think Lucy a distraction. None of that mattered when being weighed against the way her smile made him feel. The way one touch on his chest seemed to calm the racing of his heart. The sense of peace and home that filled his being whenever he looked into her gorgeous amber eyes.
Mates were everything to each other.
“I’ve found my mate.” The announcement landed like a chunk of ore directly in the center of them all.
Sparx sat up a little straighter in his chair, the knot of anxiety he’d felt centered between his shoulder blades loosening the longer the realization settled within him. Saying that out loud had felt good. Incredibly good.
He frowned.
“At least, I think I’ve found my mate. I haven’t been around human females enough to know what normal behavior for them is, but other than an initial attraction, she hasn’t indicated that she feels something towards me. That’s why I was curious if you remember what K’hor had described feeling during his heat. It wasn’t just a few hours ago that we were talking about how long it had been since either one of us had visited the brothels, and I just don’t—” he broke off what he was saying, worried that voicing the idea would take away the blessing he’d been given. “The last thing I wanted was a mate, and now that I think I may have one—”
“You want to be sure,” Matrix finished with a nod. “I understand your hesitation. Tell me what is it that you feel right now.”
Looking around the room at the Djaromir who were loitering close, listening in on their conversation, he let out a heavy sigh. He might as well let everyone hear what he was about to say, considering they might have the same question at some point. Hopefully.
“I feel as if we are…tethered,” he said for lack of a better word. “As if there is a link between us, even though she’s not next to me. I can tell she’s in her room sleeping right now, restlessly, as if she cannot get comfortable.”
Colby and Matrix both gave him strange looks at those words, and he shrugged.
“Don’t ask me how I know she is sleeping. I just do.” Pushing up from his seat, he began to pace, the repetitive rhythm of his boots calming the inner turmoil he felt swirling in the pit of his stomach. “I know that she needs me there, even if she doesn’t know it. Holding her and keeping her safe. Offering her comfort.”
His words were met with silence in the crowded room, everyone staring as he continued to pour out the words that had been souring his stomach.
“I know
