The sounds of her raspy, wheezing coughs were like broken seashell shards stabbing Nero’s ears as he paced uselessly back and forth at the mouth of the small cavern where his mother did her healing. The pod had been in these cave tunnels for the past two moons, but they would have moved on by now if not for the current predicament Nero was facing now.

  Lying on the sand, with skin that had faded to a shade so pale her veins stood prominently against her skin, with sand tangled in her blonde tresses, was his heart and soul. Half a moon ago, Karina had taken sick. It started with some coughing and increased fatigue, but had worsened over time despite his mother’s best efforts. Now, Karina’s chest shook with every breath and her bright brown eyes were dulled and sunken into her skull, and every breath she took came with a painful rattling noise.

  It had been several turns since she had eaten anything, and her ribs were beginning to show awkwardly against her skin. It broke Nero’s heart three times over to see her in this state, but there was nothing he could do to help her or ease her suffering and he hated it.

  When his mother rose from her kneeled spot beside Karina, Nero’s pacing came to an abrupt halt and he followed her outside the small nook of a cave, desperate for answers about her recovery. But his mother remained silent and it made Nero’s heart squeeze. “Mother?” he prompted. He was unable to keep the needy plea out of his tone.

  When Rebecca turned to face him, her shoulders were slumped and her eyes were wide and hollow. She reached out to cup his face in her hands and her sorrow slammed into him as she shook her head. “Oh Nero, I am so sorry…There is nothing more I can do for her now, except to end her suffering.”

  Nero’s heart stalled in his chest and he shook his head. “No,” he refused.

  The sympathy filling his mother’s gaze hinted at her own pain about the situation. “Nero, it is the kindest thing we can do now. She is in so much pain and she is not going to get better.”

  He knew it was not her fault, but he bared his teeth and snarled at her in response. “No!” he repeated with his heart hammering in his chest. “There has to be another option. You have to do more!” It was not fair to take it out on his mother, who had worked tirelessly since Karina’s health had begun to decline, but his terror was taking root. He could not lose her. He could not imagine life without her.

  His mother sighed. “I know you are scared, Nero, I know that this is hard. Losing a mate is an unimaginable pain that I would not wish on anyone, least of all my son, but that is what you are going to have to brace for. Nothing I can try or do has any effect, she continues to get worse. Karina is going to die, so I can allow her to struggle on until her heart gives out or I can end her pain more quickly. She is no longer conscious and not going to get better. I wish I had another answer, but there is only so much that remedies can do and Karina is beyond them now.”

  Nero’s fingers curled into fists and he spun to slam his knuckled against the rock wall beside him. The skin of his knuckles split as he did, but he hardly noticed the sting as he slumped to the sand. “I cannot lose her, mother. I just cannot. Please, there must be something? Anything at all?”

  He could not bring himself to look at her, but her silence answered his question for him. Nero dug his fingers into the sand and bit his lip against a scalding sob. It had been almost two cycles since he had brought Karina to his pod. She had finally been settling in and becoming comfortable with a place in their ranks and adjusting to all the travel. She was always so strong, never complained, tried to find reasons to be happy even when her pain was smothering. It was not fair that she was suffering so devastatingly now.

  “Nero, I am sorry, but there is nothing left that I can do for Karina. You know that if there was, I would already be trying it. You need to go say goodbye to her now.”

  Nero shook his head and bared his fangs again. “I will not quit on her,” he hissed. When his mother’s brows furrowed together and her mouth opened, Nero felt a bubbling rage like none other he had ever known and his voice elevated to a shout. “I will not give up on Karina!” Never in his life had yelled at his mother, but now he was twitching with stress and anger, with no other outlet.

  “Umm…excuse me, I am sorry to interrupt…” a meek voice trailed off when Nero’s attention snapped to its owner. The Mer before him was smaller, with broad hips and shoulders and a rosy complexion. She was wringing her fingers together and had her dark blue gaze averted from his attention. Her scales were a pale yellow, like the flesh of a banana, and a large, ribbed fin ran from the center of her shoulders, all the way down her tail where it tapered off at two nearly translucent tailfins, that were quivering as she lashed the tip of her tail to and fro. “I am sorry, but…your mate…she is poorly?”

  “She is dying,” his mother warned with a sharp edge in her tone.

  Nero continued to stare at the newcomer. She was not from his pod, nor had he met her before, but theirs was not the only pod settling in these caverns. “Yes,” he answered. “Do you know a way to help?” His heart drummed wildly in his chest as he posed the question. His throat was swelling shut with the desire to help his mate.

  The Mer dipped her chin into a low bob and chewed her lip. “Perhaps, if your swimming is swift; but you may not like it.”

  Nero shook his head. “Tell me,” he urged. “Please.” He would do anything required of him if it meant Karina might recover.

  The Mer was stirring up silt with her nervous twitching, but Nero did not protest. He and his mother had been arguing when she had approached, and she looked barely out of adolescence. It had to be intimidating. “A few cycles ago, my younger brother and I were separated from our pod. We were meant to be diving deep. There was very bad weather brewing. But it was sunny and Herogigne was restless. He swam off and I chased him. We should never have been so close to the shallows. When the wave hit, we were both caught up in it. It burst from the sea and ravaged the shores, pulling my brother and I along with it. I had not known the fear I did that day, nor have I since.”

  Nero dug his fingers into the muscle of his arm and gritted his teeth so that he would not cut her off and demand she reach her point.

  “When the water receded, it left us stranded in the sun. I was bruised and bleeding from several lacerations caused by the debris the water picked up, but it was my brother that was truly hurt. I will never forget the sight of the long metal stick stabbed through his shoulder. It passed clean through him. He was bleeding heavily and his pained cries…I knew our parents were going to lose us both. Him first, and me later when the sun or the inhabitants of land finished me. But then land people showed up in this roaring white beast with a hollow belly. The brought us inside the beast and took us to a place where they cleaned and treated my injuries and removed the stick from my brother’s body. There were other Mer there that assured me I had nothing to fear from these particular land people and that it was a safe place for us to seek medical care or a place to rest, that they had been at it for cycles and many Mer lived or frequented it. I have not been back since, but they are the reason that we both made it back to our pod,” she explained.

  “They saved my brother from a wound that should have been fatal. Perhaps they can heal your mate as well, if you can get her there in time.”

  “Absolutely not!” Rebecca hissed. Her tail lashed and she snarled at the newcomer. “Begone with you and your tales of false hope. I do not understand your intent, but I will not allow you to coherce my son into such incredible danger on a flimsy hope that humans may save his mate.”

  “I do not mean to offend, only to help,” the younger Mer protested. “I understand if you do not want to take a risk and I cannot promise they can fix her, I just wished to share what I know so that you might decide. Maybe she does not have to die needlessly, but I am not a healer and she may be too far gone for all I know.”

  Nero pursed his lips and stared at his hands. He did not know how to feel. Any hope – false or real – was better than giving up and accepting the loss of Karina’s life, but at the same time...Nero glanced back to where Karina was lying limp and unconscious. She had endured such a traumatic experience with humankind when she lost her pod that he wondered if it was too cruel to take her among them now. Especially if there was the risk they would be betrayed.

  “What is your name?” Nero found himself asking the girl before he had made up his mind.

  “Embreen,” the Mer introduced.

  Nero nodded. “I appreciate you trying to help. Where can I find this place?”

  “Nero, no!” his mother pleaded. She grabbed his arm and her eyes were wide with dismay. “Please, I know you fear losing Karina. I do not wish that pain upon you either, but I cannot lose the both of you. You are my son, Nero. You just came back to us, please do not leave,” she begged.

  Nero shrugged out of her touch and cupped her cheek. “I am sorry, mother, but I have to try.” He turned and swam back to Karina’s side. His father was there, but when Nero met his gaze, Ixion merely nodded. He had heard, and understood. Nero forced a shaky smile in return and knelt by Karina’s side.

  She was so weak and fragile that she weighed nearly nothing as he scooped her up and cradled her against his chest. She should have at least been a dead weight, but it was like holding nothing but bones. Her fins drooped from her tail and swayed with the current, and her sunny scales had lost their luster and begun to fall from her tail. If it were not for the faint rise and fall of her chest, Nero would have believed her dead already. He bowed his head and kissed her delicate lips while drinking in her scent. He had to fight past the acrid smell of disease to reach her natural arouma, one he had loved and grown accustomed to over the cycles. “Just hang in there, Karina. I will not give up on you; I will find us some help, no matter what it takes,” he vowed.

  He lifted her from the sand and swam back to where his mother and Embreen were waiting. His mother’s posture was slumped and she rubbed her arm awkwardly before reaching out to embrace him. She arched her spine to angle her body in a way that avoided pressing against Karina, and she kissed his cheek. “Please be careful, Nero,” she begged. “I will give Karina something to keep her strength up before you go. I understand why you must do this, I will not stop you, but please come back to us. No matter what, please come home.”

  Nero hummed in the back of his throat, then turned to Embreen once more.

***

  It had been a long journey and exhaustion clawed at Nero’s muscles with icy talons as he finally approached the place where the continental shelf grew shallow and the land jutted up around him in tall cliffs and craggy inlets. He had swum steadfast for nearly eight turns now. He had stopped only at his most desparate intervals to rest briefly and forage a few mouthfuls of kelp or crustaceans if he could find them. Karina had spent most of the trip in a feverish state of unconsciousness. Occasionally she would stirr or struggle in his embrace, or murmur something incoherent. Once or twice, she opened her eyes, but they were glazed over and unfocused. He had gotten her to eat very little and her skin was very warm to the touch. He knew if he did not get her to a healer soon, there would be nothing left of his mate to heal.

  Embreen’s instructions echoed in his mind as he swam further along the coast. He had already passed two of the three markers she had described to him, so he knew he was close.

  As he swam, Karina began to fuss again. She whimpered and her tail lashed, so Nero’s grip on her tightened. Her gills were flared wide, but her chest was bobbing in rapid hiccups as she fought for breath. It spurred Nero to go faster as he finally found the correct inlet where a large tunnel had been carved through the rock of the cliff.

  Though under normal circumstances he would have been skeptical, Karina’s ailments spurred him to abandon caution as he shot down the tunnel and up towards the surface when it finally opened up. There was still sand below them, but the walls on all sides of the basin they were in were not natural.

  Nero was surprised to find a group of Mer dwelling in the waters, but they all parted for him as he charged by. One kept pace with him as he streaked for the sloping ground that led to the surface. “Are you new?” the older Mer asked as he matched Nero stroke for stroke. Nero nodded curtly, too tense to bother with words. “She does not look so good,” the Mer observed. “But do not worry too much, you will find aid here. Bring her to the surface.”

  The Mer broke away from him in favor of breaching the surface while still in deeper waters, and Nero winced as a piercing cry echoed through the room and rang in his ears like a danger signal. It began to ripple among the Mer and by the time Nero’s tail dragged on the odd ramp and his head broke the surface, there was another Mer waiting for him.

  This one had a strange scent, like he had been on land for a long time. His tail was curled up beside him on the ground, but while his hair was dry, water was still dripping from his amber scales, so he had recently been at least partially in the water. There were deep lacerations on his three-point fin, and his torso was covered in a strange white and blue material. Nero would have liked to growl at him if it were not for the concerned look on the other male’s face.

  His attention was solely on Karina, and he leaned closer to Nero for a better look and clucked his tongue. “How long has she been sick?” he inquired.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  Nero shook his head. Karina was shaking violently in his embrace and now that she was above the water, she felt much heavier to his exhausted muscles. Her lips were parted wide and she was gasping for each breath. “Over a moon now,” he reported. “Our healer did not know what to do. A passersby mentioned this place, I-I cannot lose her.”

  The Mer pursed his lips and winced. “That is a long time for one of us to be sick and I have never seen a Mer this ill before. Injuries are easier for our people to recover from, but we will do what we can for her. My brother is on his way and he will help, but he is human. Despite any misgivings you might have, you are going to have to allow him near and to do what he needs to. The more time he spends trying to reassure you, the less focus he is giving her, and every heartbeat is going to count right now.”

  Nero hesitated, and in that moment, three humans came rushing up. On instinct, Nero shrunk back from them and pulled Karina closer to his chest. She was still fussing and wheezing for breath, and Nero was beginning to fear it was already too late.

  The humans had brought something with them. A long board perched on metal sticks and rocks that squeaked as they rolled. Then one of the three dropped to his knees in front of Nero and pulled out a long tendril with two branches that he parted to put in his ears before reaching out towards Nero. “May I?” he asked in English. The language was foreign and it took Nero a moment to recall it enough to understand, but the human male’s gesture towards Karina crossed all language barriers.

  Despite his uncertainty, Nero carefully held his grimacing mate out for the human to see. The man pressed the end of the tendril to Karina’s chest and listened for a moment. “Her heart is palpitating irratically, fever is high, restricted airway,” the man muttered as he inspected Karina. Nero did not fully understand everything the man was saying, but none of it sounded good. “She needs to be on a ventilator. I’m sorry, bud, but I’m going to have to take her now, alright?”

  Every instinct within him was screeching at him to snarl at the man and pull Karina away, but he knew if he did, she would die. It made him nervous, though. As he hesitated, the other Mer opened his mouth as if to translate.

  “I can understand him,” Nero stopped him. He bowed his head and stroked Karina’s hair. She had fallen limp against him once more, but her breathing was incredibly rapid and shallow. He had come this far, he had already made his choice. “Please be okay,” he begged her. “I love you, Karina. Stay strong, everyone is waiting for us to return together. I need you.”

  “Hey…” Nero looked up to see the human rubbing the back of his head. “I know it’s scary, but you have to let us do this. She’s very sick and I’m amazed that she’s lasted this long. I don’t want to distress you, but if I don’t take her now, it’s going to be too late.”

  As much as Nero was still wary about handing over his helpless mate to a stranger, a human one at that, he could not save her on his own and the fear of losing her was too great. Reluctantly, he sat up further and lifted Karina up out of the water. One of her arms dangled limply as the man accepted her from him and pulled her up. He twisted away from Nero and laid the girl out on the elevated board.

  “Thank you for trusting us. We’re going to do everything we can for her,” the man promised him.

  Then, just as quickly as they had come, the three of them raced away from the water with Karina in tow.

  Nero’s heart seized in his chest and he began dragging himself from the water in order to follow them. He was so focused on his task that he nearly whipped around teeth first when a hand was laid on his dorsal, holding him back.

  The other Mer was staring at him with wide eyes and a slight frown. He shook his head. “Stay here,” he urged. “I understand that you are worried for her, but you will only be a distraction if you follow them. Carson will do everything in his power to eradicate the illness she is ridden with, but he can only do his job properly so long as he has the space and focus to do so. They are probably going to be a while. Rest here and eat something, regain your strength to better support her when she is going to need you. What is your name?”

  Nero sighed. He was tired and hungry, and the Mer’s advice made sense, but that did not make it any easier to watch Karina disappear out of his sight. “Nero,” he muttered finally to answer the question, though he felt in no mood to chat.

  The other Mer hummed. “I am Azmexyoulnus, but I go by Az. I imagine someone urged you to come here when she fell gravely ill – you have too much of a nervous, distrusting energy to have come here on your own – but I assure you that she is in no danger. I have lived with Carson and our sister – Devin – since I was young. This whole place was built on the dream of bringing Mer and humans together. We have not been able to achieve that yet – humanity is not ready to handle it as a whole – but it has become a sanctuary for pods to rest on migration or to seek medial care or shelter from bad weather. Your mate is going to get the best care that we have to offer.”

  Nero hummed in the back of his throat so that Az would know he had been heard. He could not tear his gaze away from the direction they had taken Karina. He growled in frustration and his tail swished back and forth.

  “Nero?”

  “I need to be with her.”

  Az laid a hand on Nero’s arm. “Where have you come from?”

  Nero sighed. He really did not feel chatty. “It is a blurr. Eight turns non-stop travel,” he admitted.

  “That is quite the journey,” Az acknowledged. “You must be exhausted. Please, I know you probably have reservations about us, but you need to eat and rest. You are no good to her if you collapse as well. That just stretches our resources thinner trying to care for you too.”

  Nero sighed. He accepted the logic, but it was hard to cave to it. “I do not like being away from her,” he admitted after he realized his silence was more prolongued than appropriate. He was never very chatty and making friends was low in his priorities given the circumstances, but these people were offering him aid and he begrudgingly had to accept that he could not afford to offend them. Not when Karina’s life potentially hung in the balance. “I need to be with her. To know that she is alright.”

  “Nero, she is not alright,” Az dropped. “I am sorry, but she is very sick and Carson looked incredibly worried. He will do everything he can to help her, but we need to stay out of the way for now. As soon as he has her stabilized, he will come back for you and take you to her, alright? Then you can watch over her as long as you like. In the meantime, keeping your strength up would be the next logical step, yes?”

  Nero growled again, but caved. “Yes,” he hissed.

  Though there was sympathy and understanding in Az’s expression and tone, Nero’s tightly wound nerves and exhaustion were only fueling his desire to snarl at the other Mer. He still felt Karina was all that mattered and the urge to remain by her side was only growing worse. Nero knew Az could sense his inner turmoil, and so could several others because another surfaced by his side merely heartbeats later.

  This Mer was much older, with soft, wisened lines carved through her cheeks and brow. Her hair was short and a bit wispy, with only the barest hints of fleeting colour remaining among the silver. She was unlike any other Mer Nero had ever met. Her skin was pale and veiny, with more soft folds where it hung loose on frail bones.

  But while she looked fragile, there was still solid muscle in her tail, the scales of which raced in rainbow swirls down the long, coiling limb. Irridescent purples, greens, yellows, and reds spun together in shimmering shades that made Nero’s vision blur to look at for too long. Their colours had faded slightly with her age, but they were still disorienting. As were the large, translucent fins – twice the size of any Nero had ever seen – that rippled from her tail and down her spine in long, curved strips.

  Just by appearance, Nero would guess she normally dwelled in deeper, darker waters. Perhaps not quite the depths as he had heard the Mer there were spindly and they glowed, but this Mer was likely from somewhere inbetween the depths and the waters that saw the sun and moon. She reached out and laid a hand on Nero’s forearm and though the touch was gentle, a shiver raced up Nero’s spine as he stared into her slate gaze. It was a little chilling to see such dark eyes on an otherwise dizzingly colourful Mer. “Nero,” she purred in a low, airy voice, confirming that she had been lingering and overheard. “Come, child, we will get a meal into you and you will feel better once you have rested.”

  Nero began to shake his head. “I do not-” he broke off as she began to growl.

  It was quiet and low in her throat, but the rumble was warning enough to make him falter. She patted his arm a few times. “Now,” she urged. It was barely a whisper, but Nero stiffened as she spoke. He was healthy and well-trained, and would not bat an eye at a fight if it was required of him, and yet, there was something ominous about the elderly Mer before him that warned he would regret earning her ire.

  “Moore, do not be so rough on him,” Az urged. “His mate is in a poorly way.”

  Moore clucked her tongue and smiled at Nero. She was missing a few teeth, but her fangs still gleamed like ivory. “We could all see how much you care for her. This is a safe place, but not one many newcomers find their way to lightly. It was a desperate gamble and you are brave for taking it. But your concern is no excuse to wither away into a shell too weak to be of any use to her, now is it?” she chastized. “You know this already, so I expect that you will show control and come now. You need rest and not to be worrying those who seek to aid the Mer you love. Now come.”

  Nero hesitated once more and glanced at Az who merely grimaced and waved a hand. “Best you go with Moore. You will know within a heartbeat if there is any news or changes regarding your mate.”

  There was no chance to argue before Moore’s grip on his arm tightened to a vice and Nero found himself dragged off the slopping shore and back into the water with more strength than Nero could have ever guessed she could possess.

  Nero coughed at the unexpected shift from air to water, and shook himself. Now that he was below the surface once more, his head cleared a little and his body sagged with exhaustion. He was still fraught with concern for Karina’s wellbeing, but much of his desperate adrenaline had faded now and his reckless race across the ocean was finally catching up with him.

  Moore patted his arm again and her fins slapped against his back to urge him forward. “You see your foolishness now,” she scolded.

  It was not worth the effort to argue with her, Nero decided, so he followed her as she dove for deeper waters. Nero settled down on the floor of the basin with a sigh. Around him, a meal was being shared out among the others – though he did not know if it was the merrits of a hunting party or if the humans in this place had played a hand in the food – and a few heartbeats later, Moore was shoving a fish under his nose.

  “Eat,” she ordered.

  Nero licked his lips and hummed his appreciation before accepting the offering. As tender as the meat was and as ravenous as Nero would normally be, his gut was in a knot and he could barely choke down two or three mouthfuls of flesh before the nausea forced him to abandon the effort.

  As he slumped down, Moore sighed and clucked her tongue. “You have worn yourself ragged. It is commendable, but foolish. Perhaps a full belly should wait until you have had the opportunity to rest. Go to sleep now. It will help the time pass until you can reunite with your mate. What is her name?”

  “Karina,” Nero mumbled as his head lolled to the ground.

  “A lovely name,” Moore acknowledged.

  Her tailfins waved in Nero’s face as she hovered over him and began pushing the tips of her fingers into his spine. Her nails scratched over his skin and Nero shuddered. It did not feel like what his mother would do to lull a sick or overworked patient, but it seemed to be what Moore was attempting. “Moore, you do not need to-”

  “Hush,” Moore interrupted. Her fins danced in front of Nero’s gaze again. Though there was no colour to the membrane itself, it was laced with pulsing red and blue veins that were just as disorienting to the eye as Moore’s scales.

  “Are you a healer?” he murmured as the confusion lulled him deeper into a trance.

  Moore clucked her tongue. “Not so much, young one. Just an old Mer with a few uses left out of some old hunting tricks. Rest now, and wake with the strength you need.”

  Nero’s concerns were beginning to slip into the background and though he knew he should protest and seek out Karina, his exhaustion and the elderly Mer’s efforts overruled the desires of his heart and mind, and he found his eyes sliding shut before he could process that he was falling asleep.

***

  When Nero finally awoke, he felt stiff. He had lain motionless too long, but was also feeling the effects of abusing his body the way he had. He groaned and slowly forced himself up onto one arm. After stretching the kinks out of his tail, Nero sat the rest of the way up.

  He had not woken on his own and found Az staring at him. The other Mer was waving his arms to and fro to help him balance. The gnarled scars on his fins gave Nero his answer before he could voice his question on why Az was not utilizing his tail for balance. The injuries likely still pained him.

  Under normal circumstances, with Karina by his side, Nero may have felt social enough to inquire about the other Mer’s story, but for now, he was more concerned with why Az had woken him. “Karina?” he demanded frantically.

  Az shook his head. “She is no worse off than she was,” he assured him. “But Carson has returned from treating her and I imagined you would wish to hear what my brother has to report.”

  Nero dipped his head and lurched up from the spot he was lying in. It would be rude to abandon the Mer who had come to rouse him and who clearly had some difficulties in the water, so Nero forced himself to find a little patience as he waited for Az and they surfaced together.

  Nero looked around. Moore was gone, as were many of the other Mer. A few were milling around in other pools, but the main basin had been deserted. Except for the human – Carson – who had taken Karina away earlier.

  The heartbeat both he and Az were out of the water, Carson smiled and extended his hand towards Nero. “We didn’t get a chance to meet properly before. My name is Carson and while I wish it were under better circumstances, I’m glad to meet you. Do you speak English, Nero or would you prefer Az to translate?”

  Nero shook his head. Though he did not enjoy the idea of speaking the human’s dialect, he knew that having Az relay would merely waste more time and he wished to know about Karina. “I-I can speak it,” he agreed carefully. “Karina, where is she?”

  “She’s resting,” Carson replied. “She’s as stabilized as we’re going to get her for now. She’s wearing a special mask to help her breathe better and we’re trying to keep her as warm and comfortable as we can, but I imagine proximity to you will help with both of those far better than anything we could attempt.”

  Nero’s head bobbed. “I wish to go to her,” he insisted. “Will…will she recover?” His heart squeezed and he waited with bated breath for an answer he was not entirely certain he was prepared to hear.

  Carson’s face pinched and he winced. “I managed to get her temperature down for now, so she isn’t in any immediate danger for the moment, but she’s still very sick. She contracted a rather nasty virus that I have not seen behave like this in Mer before. It doesn’t help that she was sick for so long, but it does seem like she’s determined to hang around. She’s stable for now and the rest will do her good in the meantime. I’ve given her some powerful antibiotics, which are a strong medicine we have access to here. If she reacts well to them, she’ll get better.”

  Nero nodded along slowly as he processed all the information being thrown at him. It was relieving to know that Karina was not in immediate danger of death any longer, but Carson's last words struck a dark cord in Nero’s gut. “And if she does not react well?” he checked.

  “We’ll worry about that if it comes to it,” Carson decided. “But I promise that we’ll do everything we can to help her. No one here wants to see her die. Would you like to come see her now?”

  Nero dipped his head firmly enough that it made his neck ache, but he paid the discomfort little mind. All that mattered was checking on his mate.

  “I’ll have to pick you up,” Carson advised. “It’ll be easier on both of us for me to carry you to her. Are you alright with that for now?”

  Unease prickled down Nero’s spine, but he shoved it away and nodded again. He was not going to delay by refusing. Carson was quick but gentle as he hefted Nero off the ground. Nero could not help shifting his weight with discomfort as he began to yearn for the ground once more. It was unnerving to rely on someone else’s balance and power to remain aloft and unharmed. But it was a small price to pay and as the man began to carry him deeper into the cavernous den, Nero’s need grew. He had to see her, to know that she was going to be alright. He needed her to be alright. Karina was everything to him, and he would cling to this new hope until the bitter end if necessary.