Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 72065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
If only she would give him one more chance he swore he wouldn’t waste it.
43
ALEENA
Aleena woke to a strange sight. She was in some kind of white, sterile room—it looked like a room from the Healing House which she had visited so often with her mother, only the equipment was much more sleek and advanced-looking.
But it wasn’t the room that struck her as strange—it was the sight of her husband, sitting on a chair beside the bed she was in, with his face buried in his hands. His broad shoulders were shaking and a muffled sound of misery was coming from his deep chest.
“Bear? Husband?” she asked tentatively. “Are you unwell?”
He looked up at last and she saw that his eyes were red—not from Rage but from weeping. Had he been crying for her? Was she seriously hurt then? Maybe she was dying!
“Aleena? Sweetheart—how do you feel?” His voice was hoarse with emotion.
“I don’t know,” she said apprehensively. “Am I wounded? Will I die?”
“Die?” He looked surprised and worried. “No, you won’t die—not if I have anything to do with it!”
“Then why are you crying?” Aleena asked uncertainly. “I thought maybe there was something really wrong with me.”
Bear swiped at his eyes with the back of his hand, looking like he was trying to regain his composure. He was shirtless and his broad chest was bare. Which made sense, because she was still wearing his uniform shirt, she saw. The golden buttons gleamed in light from the pale overhead glows.
“Nothing’s wrong with you—it’s me that’s all fucked up, baby,” he said hoarsely. “I’m to blame for everything that happened to you tonight and I’m so fucking sorry.”
Aleena shook her head.
“It wasn’t your fault that Faleesha planned to kidnap me. She must have known that I’d run from you when she revealed…” She cleared her throat, which was suddenly dry. “When she revealed your plan to disavow me.”
“I’m not going to do that—I swear it!” Bear leaned forward, taking her hand in his own. “I never wanted to—I thought I had to. I swear it, baby.”
Aleena frowned, not understanding.
“What do you mean you thought you had to disavow me?”
Bear dragged his free hand over his face wearily.
“It has to do with a vow I made,” he said in a low voice. “A sacred vow that I took after my first wife died…”
Aleena’s eyes widened as she listened to his story. How he had met his wife when both of them were just younglings, how he had loved her desperately and dearly…and how devastated he’d been when she was diagnosed with a rare and incurable disease.
“That must be how you learned so much about blood disorders and were able to cure my mother,” she said softly, when he paused for a moment. “You studied them to try and cure your wife.”
He nodded, looking utterly defeated.
“Yes. Much fucking good that it did me. Zelia died anyway, despite all that I could do. So I gave up practicing medicine and took a vow to never Bond a woman to me again. Then when I was called to broker the worm hole deal and the trade agreements between your people and mine, I was told I’d have to take a Karpsian wife. But your father told me that whoever I married, I could simply divorce her—or disavow her—at the end of the negotiations.”
“So…you hadn’t even met me yet when you decided you would disavow your Karpsian bride?” Aleena asked. She was beginning to get a better idea of what was going on now.
Bear nodded.
“I thought it would be easy—a short marriage of convenience just to satisfy Karpsian social convention.” He took both her hands in his and looked at her intently. “I never dreamed I’d fall in love.”
Aleena’s heart skipped a beat and she took in a shocked breath.
“Oh Bear…do you mean that?”
“Yes, baby—I do.” He nodded earnestly. “I started falling in love with you the minute I saw you. And then when I got to know you, I started falling deeper and deeper. But all the time, I knew I couldn’t Bond you to me, because of the vow I had taken to never Bond another bride.”
“So that’s the real reason you never wanted to change the color of my eyes,” Aleena said, as understanding burst over her.
Bear nodded.
“Exactly. I felt like such an asshole, lying to you. I never should have—I should have told the truth and explained why I couldn’t Bond you from the very first. But you seemed so frightened about being disavowed—I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.”
Aleena looked down at her hands.
“So…I guess you still have to disavow me. Because of the vow you took?”
“No, baby—the Goddess released me from my vow.” He lifted her chin to look into her eyes. “I’m free to Bond you to me—we can spend the rest of our lives together. If…”