Svennett ran his eyes over his wife's naked form. The sheet Darr carelessly tossed off as he clambered out of his bed still remained loosely lying about her knees. She seemed unperturbed about being naked beneath their watching eyes. Cade saw no need to have her covered up either. They all needed to see her. See her heal from the horrendous burns that had covered her body. The rawness of those burns were still fading. There really was no longer a reason to keep her out of her clothes. But he couldn't quite bring himself to cover all that up. There was just something, he didn't know what, but something about Saera that just made his mouth water. Scars and all, burns and all.
It was not the fucking soul bond. He knew what came with those, and that was nothing like what he'd experienced with Saera. She was not normal. She made him feel nothing normal.
Love? That's an emotion that didn't even exist. It was fiction. It had to be. He had been alive long enough to know that to be true. If it was real he would have experienced it sooner. Saera was not the first girl he'd been with. There was no reason why he should not have fallen in love before. It was fake. It had to be. A spell. Something she wielded over him. Over Darr. Over Cade even. Why else would she have not just one but four mates... now three.
Svennett drew his gaze away from her with some difficulty. Her pull was almost magnetic. And it seemed her draw wasn't just for her mates. He'd received the reports on the night of the attack. He knew the deamons were drawn to her. Had tried to take her. They would have taken her had it not been for the arrival of the reinforcements he'd sent for.
Svennett gritted his teeth and clenched his hands into fists. Thinking about that night was the hardest thing he could do.
Send me.
Her words still echoed in his mind with all the finality of death. He still trembled inwardly over what had happened and could not bear thinking of what could have happened. He would never admit it, certainly not to her face but he had been glad... beyond glad to discover it was Nick who had died instead of her.
Anyone, indeed everyone, could die but not her. Never her. And everyone else had died that night. Everyone who had gone out there with her. Svennett couldn't begin to think what would have happened had she been the one who had died. It didn't bear thinking of. A shudder ran down his spine at the very thought.
Not that he would ever reveal that to her face. To anyone else either, not even Darr could know how much she meant to him. She was a weakness he couldn't afford having. Not now. Not ever.
"I need to talk to you," said Darr, also staring at Saera. They watched for a moment as Cade tried to cajole some food into her then Svennett nodded and turned leading the way.
"She won't even let me touch her," griped Darr as soon as they swept into the other room.