Chapter Five

 

Azra felt his heart swell when he saw the figure leaning back against the wall and recognized that it was Elise. It felt like it had been so long since he had seen her, and just getting a glimpse of her felt like a rush of cool air into his lungs. He took a few steps toward her, then paused, not wanting to startle her in the quiet privacy that she had found.

“Elise?” he said loudly enough that she would hear him, but softly enough that it wouldn’t frighten her.

Despite his efforts, Elise’s head snapped up off of the wall and she looked over at him sharply. He took another step forward, holding his own torch so that she could see his face. Even at the distance, he could see her eyes light up and in an instant, she was on her feet and running toward him. No longer caring about the illumination that the torch provided, he dropped it to the ground. It hissed loudly as it hit and the sand extinguished the flame, but he didn’t have a chance to see it. He was running toward Elise as fast as he could, holding his arms open toward her so that he wouldn’t have to wait a second longer than he had to to hold her.

Elise came to within a couple of feet of Azra and leapt forward. Azra caught her in his arms and pulled her up against his chest so that he could tuck his head into the curve of her neck and breath in her scent. She felt warm and soft in his arms and he wished that he could stand there holding her forever. Her arms wrapped around his neck, holding him tightly as she kissed his neck and encircled his waist with her legs.

“I’ve missed you so much,” she murmured in between kisses. “I was so scared that I was never going to see you again.”

Azra made soothing sounds to quiet her and cuddled her a little closer, trying to comfort her.

“I’ve missed you, too,” he said. “But you never have to worry about me. I will go through anything to be with you. There’s nothing that I wouldn’t do to make sure that I was with you again.”

Elise pulled her head back and looked into his eyes, leaning forward to touch their foreheads together.

“I know you would,” she said. “I would, too.”

“You did,” Azra said.

Elise pulled back to look at him again.

“What do you mean? I didn’t do anything.”

Azra gave her another little squeeze and then lowered her gently to her feet.

“Of course, you did,” he said. “You’re still here, aren’t you? You didn’t have to be. You could have gone back with the rest of them to Uoria. You could have gone to Creia and had him contact Earth for a shuttle that would bring you back, and you never would have had to see any of us again, but you didn’t.”

“I couldn’t have done that.”

“Yes, you could. You could have decided that you weren’t going to deal with all of this, and that you would rather just put it behind you. That would be so easy for you. But you didn’t. You decided to stay here and wait for me. You’ve helped more than you will ever understand, and I am so proud of you. You are so strong.”

He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand, gazing at her tenderly. She was even more beautiful than the first time that he saw her. Even with the exhaustion evident on her face, there was a radiance in her eyes that made him feel as though he were seeing the real her that he hadn’t encountered when they were on the ship. There was an authenticity, a depth about her now that seemed like she had just discovered a level of herself that even she had never known and was now prepared to share it with him.

“I would do it all again,” she said. “I would do anything to protect you.”

It sounded strange coming out of her mouth, but as he thought about it, Azra realized that it was absolutely true. Though he was accustomed to being the one in the position of protecting others and would have thought that it would always be him who would be protecting Elise, he knew that what she had done for him, for all of them, had been invaluable. Without her, they wouldn’t have been able to use the ship properly or know how to access all of the supplies within it. Without her, they wouldn’t have been able to communicate between Penthos and Earth, or between the groups after they arrived. Without her, the compound wouldn’t have been prepared for their return, and they wouldn’t have been able to get the wounded the care that they needed, or the rest, the food and water they had been lacking in the battle. In her own way, she had protected him and all of them.

“I love you,” he said. “I love you, Elise. I don’t know if I’ve ever said that to you, but if you’ll let me, I’ll say it to you a million more times, and then when I am finished, I will start again. I never want you to go a day without hearing me tell you that I love you.”

Even in the dim lighting of the lantern in the desert sand, Azra could see the joyful sparkle of Elise’s eyes. She reached up and flattened her hand into the center of his chest, pausing as if she just wanted to feel the rhythm of his heart beating against her palm.

“I love you, too, Azra,” she said. “I have been longing to hear those words. Thinking about them is what has kept me going. I don’t care how many times you say them to me, it will never be enough, and no matter how many times you say them to me, I will say them back to you. I can never tell you enough times how deeply I love you, how tightly I hold you in my heart, or how intensely I have longed for you since we’ve been apart. I’m sorry for every moment that I have missed with you.”

Azra shook his head at her. He cupped her face with both hands, supporting it so that she wouldn’t look away and she would continue to look into his eyes. He wanted her to see the rich orange coloration that had formed when they had completed their bond. It was a visual reminder, a tangible change that proved his devotion to her and ensured that anyone who looked at him would know that he had a mate. This along with a searing heat that would emanate from his skin if another woman not in his close personal circle approached him ensured no other woman attempted to get close to him, keeping him set apart fully and completely for Elise.

“You had no way of knowing what was going to happen,” Azra told her, trying to reassure her that it wasn’t her fault. “You made the decision that was right for you. You thought that finishing your contract would only keep you away for a short time and that we would be able to choose what we did from there. You couldn’t have known that this was going to be how it turned out.”

“But it wasn’t the decision that was right for me,” Elise said. “The right decision would have been to stay with you.”

“You can’t think that,” Azra said. “Your career is important to you. It’s something that you worked hard to accomplish, and you wanted to fulfill the commitment that you made. That’s honorable. What matters is not the minutes that we’ve lost, but the ones that we still have.”

“Every one of those moments is precious,” Elise said. “All of them. I can’t bear the thought of losing any more time with you. I can’t stand the idea that we will ever be apart again.”

“Then don’t think about it,” Azra said. “Just don’t think about it anymore. You don’t have to miss me. You don’t have to worry about me. I’m right here. I’m right here with you. You can see me here in front of you. You can hear my voice.” Azra’s belly was starting to tremble and he took a step closer to her to close the small space between them. He dipped his head down and ran his lips along the side of her neck. “You can smell my skin. You can feel my lips on yours.”

Elise let out a slightly shivering sigh.

“Azra,” she breathed.

Azra touched a hand to the front of her hips and guided her back toward the building where she had been sitting when he approached. He pressed her back gently so that she stood against the wall and reached down to grasp her wrists and sweep them up over her head. Pinning both hands in place with one of his, he paused and stared into Elise’s eyes.

“Every moment that we have together is precious,” he said, repeating the sentiment that she had shared with him. “I don’t want to waste any of them. I want to spend every moment that I am close to you treasuring you.” He kissed the soft dip in between her collar bones. “Cherishing you.” He ran his lips up the front of Elise’s throat and brought them right above hers so that he could feel them as he spoke. “Worshipping you.”

Their mouths met and Azra felt Elise melt beneath the impact of their kiss. He could taste the heat and sweetness of her and longed for more. His tongue tempted her lips, coaxing them to open for him so that it could glide in and taste her more fully.