two more sets of arms came around her. All three of her boys.
You should see this Levi, she thought, willing him to wake up. You’d be so proud of them.
…
Why are my eyes sealed shut?
Levi came back into his body slowly, the darkness he floated in turning heavy, weighing down his chest as though he was pinned under a boulder. And something was tickling his chin. He tried to lift a hand to swipe at his face, but his arms wouldn’t budge, as though they’d been strapped down.
A grunt echoed in his head. Was that him or his dragon?
Suddenly, in the darkness, his animal was there with him, lifting his head with trembling difficulty, as though his body had turned to lead. He nosed at Levi as if asking if they were okay.
Give me a minute.
Pulling air into lungs that sat tight in his chest, he willed himself to wake up. He managed to peel open first one eye, then the other, to discover Lyndi sprawled across his chest.
Apparently, she’d sat beside his bed and fallen asleep on top of him, silky hair spread over him, brushing at his chin. And dead asleep.
“Ly—” He had to stop and clear his throat, swallowing a few times. “Lyndi,” he managed on the second try, though it came out raspy.
With a sucked-in gasp, she jerked upright and blinked at him twice before her eyes widened. “You’re awake,” she whispered.
“Yes—”
With frantic hands, she pulled the sheets bound tightly around his arms back to bare his stomach. Levi frowned at the shiny, angry pink swath of skin, almost a perfectly round hole, just below his ribs on the right side of his abdomen.
“What happened—”
Lyndi jerked her gaze to his, then her eyes welled with tears. With a muffled sob, she dropped her face in her hands, shoulders shaking.
Shock froze his systems in place. Lyndi crying had the effect of sending his protective instincts into overdrive, his dragon whining inside his head.
“You almost died.” Her voice came out broken, anguished. “I almost lost you.”
She crawled up on the bed with him, wrapping her arms around his neck and burrowing her head into him, soaking his skin.
Levi grinned as he closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her, smoothing a hand up her back, tangling it in her hair. He inhaled her springtime and smoke scent and let himself hope—really hope—for the first time since meeting her, that maybe he had an actual chance.
She wasn’t running. She wasn’t pretending to be brave. She wasn’t hiding from him anymore. This was the real her.
And damn, she was incredible.
Lyndi lifted her head, but before he could grin or say a damn thing, her lips were on his, demanding, drugging, and the sweetest thing he’d ever tasted. Berry ripe and eager for him in a way he hadn’t sensed from her before. As though she was holding nothing back.
But he needed to know for sure that what his heart was telling him wasn’t a lie. Or a dream.
“Lyndi—”
She broke off the kiss only to pepper a trail of kisses along his jaw up to his ear to nip at his lobe, and his dick, already a good soldier standing to attention, twitched.
“Lyndi—”
“Please, Levi.” The trail of kisses led down his neck and gods did he want to just surrender to her and give in to whatever she had in mind. But he had to know.
He took her firmly by the arms, giving a little squeeze. “Min eneste, stop.”
She went so still in his arms he could’ve been holding a marble statue. Only the tiny shuddering breath she took gave any indication she was alive. Then she took a deeper breath and, hands planted to either side of him, lifted her head to stare back at him with eyes so wide and wary and bruised, he wanted to tug her back into his arms and tell her everything would be all right.
“What’s your biggest fear?” she asked quietly.
He frowned, not sure why she was asking, but didn’t put the question off. “Losing you.”
She closed her eyes, anguish and hope in each small nuance of her expression, then opened them again, eyes glowing red. “Since when.”
Only total honesty was going to get him through this. “The first time I saw you, though it took me a good decade to recognize it. You pushed me away so hard—” He shrugged. “And then I stayed away because…”
He paused, searching her gaze.
“Because?”
“Because you so obviously didn’t feel the same. You could hardly stand to