Mari's Mistake - Ruby Dixon Page 0,34

the tent and leaves my side to direct the others as they carry T’chai in. My mate is so still it’s alarming, and he hasn’t woken in what feels like forever.

I miss him.

It’s stupid to miss someone I haven’t even had a real conversation with…and yet, I do. I need him to get better. Not just because of resonance, but because I feel connected to him on several levels. I miss his smile. I miss lying next to him at night. I miss the touch of his hand. For the last month, even though he’s been deathly ill, he’s been with me, even if it’s just a little every day. Ever since we left the island, though, he’s been gone.

I worry I haven’t gotten the chance to say goodbye, and it feels like a hollow ache in my chest. He’s supposed to be my soulmate. My other half. My media naranja. What do I do if he leaves me behind?

The moment T’chai is gently laid down in the furs, Veronica is next to him. She puts her hands on his chest, biting her lip as she concentrates. I settle in next to her, trying to ignore the hushed conversation that R’jaal and the others are having with Veronica’s big golden mate. T’chai’s the only thing I care about right now, and I can’t understand them anyhow. They’re just a distraction. So I watch my friend intently, wondering if there’s any way to tell from her expression if T’chai’s going to live…or if we’ve just carried him all this way for nothing.

Suddenly, I want to reach over and grab his hand, but I’m afraid of interrupting. I ignore the twitching of my own hands and play with the edge of the fur I’m wearing. Wake up, I silently chant. Wake up and get better, T’chai.

Wake up for me.

Please.

Veronica is utterly still for so long that I start to get nervous. Her face is pale and her hands occasionally flex on T’chai’s chest, but other than that, she doesn’t move. I look over at Ashtar, but he doesn’t seem concerned. He watches his mate and sends R’jaal and the others on their way.

“Mmm,” Veronica murmurs after a while, at the same time that my cootie begins its frantic, hungry purring.

I rub my chest, trying to ignore the sensations flooding through me. Resonance felt good at first. Now, it just feels…awful. It’s like I’ve tipped over from good sensations over to terrible ones, like an unfulfilled orgasm that goes on for far too long and leaves your entire body over-sensitive. Or a full-body toothache. It’s just not fun. In fact, it’s miserable. But I’ll gladly put up with the misery because it means that T’chai is alive. As long as I resonate, he’s still holding on.

T’chai’s cootie reacts to mine, starting up its song, and I reach over and hold his hand. He’s all skin and bones now, nothing but knuckles and too-thin fingers attached to a pale blue hand. I want to cry at how prominent his veins are, and just quietly kiss them instead. “I’m here.”

He just groans in pain, his entire body shivering with the strength of his resonance.

Veronica presses her fingers to her lips, thinking. “This is a problem.”

“What is?” I look over at her, cradling his fragile hand to my chest. Her words are scaring me. Five minutes ago we were at “I can heal him” and we’ve moved to “this is a problem”? That’s not good.

She looks over at me. “The resonance. His khui is exhausted. When I reach out for it…it’s got nothing left in the tank.” Her lips purse and she reaches out and touches my hand, her eyes going unfocused. She’s quiet for a long moment, and then Veronica blinks. “Yours is wiped out, too. How long have you guys been resonating?”

I lick my dry lips. “Weeks now. Maybe…a month?” It might be longer, or shorter. I’ve lost all track of time at this point. “We had sex, but I guess it didn’t work?”

“Not everyone gets pregnant on their first round of sex, no matter how fertile.” Veronica’s mouth flattens into a thin line and she glances over at her mate.

“What?” I ask. “What is it? What’s wrong?” I want to clutch T’chai’s hand tighter, but I’m afraid of breaking him.

“I can’t do this while you’re both resonating.” She presses both her hands to her forehead, stressed. “It’s distracting his khui and I can’t coax it into healing him because all it wants is