Page 23 of Survivor
“I hold no more from you,” Vraxxan assured me, his arms encircling my waist with a gentle yet firm embrace that sent tingles coursing through me.
“Not you... me,” I admitted, feeling the weight of my confession hanging in the air between us.
“I don’t understand,” Vraxxan said. His intense teal gaze swept over me as though trying to decipher the mystery I knew etched my face.
“It’s nothing big,” I promised, trying to ease the tension. “Just something about my past that I haven’t told you.”
He tensed slightly, the muscles in his arms becoming taut. “Are you mated to another?”
The absurdity of his worry brought unrestrained laughter bubbling up from my throat. “No. You’re my one and only,” I promised once gaining control of myself.
“I like that,” he sighed, the softness of his breath brushing against my hairline as his lips pressed a tender kiss there.
“It’s just that…” I hesitated, grappling for the right words. “I didn’t have a good life on Earth.”
“Were you mistreated?” His voice took on a growly quality, a protective edge that both comforted and pained me.
I drew in a deep, steadying breath. “I was sick.”
“Sick?” Vraxxan repeated, the idea seemingly foreign to him. Little wonder, given that alien medical technology had all but eradicated disease.
“I had something called cancer. Acute Myeloid Leukemia, to be exact.”
“I do not know thiscancer?” Vraxxan admitted, his brow furrowing in confusion, though his grasp on me tightened, revealing his understanding of the seriousness of the concept.
“Of course, you don’t,” I laughed, though the sound was brittle. “Earth’s medical technology isn’t nearly as advanced as yours.”
“And this cancer made your life bad,” Vraxxan pressed.
“It stole my life,” I murmured, allowing the memories to wash over me like a dark tide. “I was ten when I got diagnosed and everything in my life after became about fighting the disease… about keeping me alive. I spent more time in hospitals than I ever did in my own home. I had to have constant treatment. Chemotherapy, radiation, anything and everything the doctors felt might help.” I gave a slight shrug, knowing all the suffering I endured was for naught. Hindsight truly was twenty-twenty. “In the end, I died anyway.”
“You died?” Vraxxan jerked, his teal eyes, deep and worried, fixed intently on my face.
“At least I think I did,” I said, patting his chest, feeling the steady rhythm of his heartbeat beneath my palm. “I felt pretty sure I was dying and dragged myself onto the hospital roof so I could see the stars one last time. That’s where the Trogvyk grabbed me.”
Vraxxan’s face transformed into a storm of shock and rage. His hands moved over me, seeking reassurance that I wasindeed whole and well. When he seemed satisfied that I suffered no ill, he drew me against his chest, holding me tightly as he rubbed his cheek over my hair like a big cat trying to offer comfort. “You are, okay?” he whispered, his voice laced with an almost desperate plea. “Please tell me you are no longer sick.”
“I’m fine.” This time, my chuckle held genuine humor. “Thanks to that nifty little contraption called the Garoot Healer. My cancer is gone.”
Vraxxan’s only response was to hold me tighter. I felt a tremor, like a subterranean earthquake, roll through his body, a silent testament to his emotions.
“I’m okay,” I reassured him softly. “I promise.”
“Why did you not tell me this before?” he asked after a few moments, his voice a mix of curiosity and concern as his fingers traveled soothingly up and down my spine.
“I didn’t want you to pity me,” I admitted, the words difficult to voice.
“Pity?” Vraxxan repeated, his brow furrowing in confusion as if the concept was foreign to him.
“Usually, whenever anybody finds out I had cancer, they give me thepity stare,” I explained, mimicking the expression I encountered so many times—sad demeanor, furrowed brow, and downturned mouth—an expression I grew to despise.
“Why would I pity you?” Vraxxan frowned, his distaste for the idea mirroring my own. “You are the most remarkable female I have ever met. I feel many things for you, but pity is not one of them.”
“I feel many things for you, too,” I murmured softly, my voice barely audible over the hammering of my heart.
His lips crashed down on mine, and I wound my arms around his neck, letting myself get lost in the sensation. The scents of damp earth and vibrant foliage mingled with thedistant calls of exotic creatures, seeming to enclose us in our own little bubble, allowing us to lose ourselves in each other.
When we finally broke apart, Vraxxan glanced back toward our favorite spot by the creek, wagging his eyebrows suggestively.
