“I’m sorry,” Jay said to Benjera, hands going up defensively in front of him. A concerned look painted his face as Benjera shoved him back a few paces. Noa stayed behind Benjera, and she was still too rattled and undressed to make sense of what was going on. When Benjera fell it scared her more than the wolf. And she still couldn’t figure out why.

  One thing was clear.

  This man, Jay, and Benjera were related. They had to be. Jay had a softer jaw. Same brown hair, but the stranger had it grown out and curly. Same intensely skinny frame but Benjera’s was filled out with muscle and just a little shorter. Jay was like Benjera lite, but Noa already didn’t like the new man.

  Seeing Jay’s deference, Benjera relaxed. He straightened up and cleared his throat. “Noa, this is Jasreal, my cousin. Jay, this is Noa Venn.”

  Venn.

  His cousin’s eyes went wide with shock, his nose flared as he tilted his head, as if he didn’t quite hear Benjera. Which was possible, he had a thick set of earmuffs over his head. Noa was embarrassed as Jasreal’s eyes tried to find her again and shook his head at her nearly naked and hiding behind Benjera.

  “Why? It had to be now, Benji? Gods Below.”

  The word was trembling with raw emotions and Noa was reminded again how much she didn’t know Benjera was putting at stake. Her husband looked over his bare shoulder at her. She still couldn’t believe he was breathing again. Standing. Color in his cheeks. Something possessive was in his eyes.

  “I had to,” Benjera said, keeping his eyes on her. Repeating her words to her and turning back to Jasreal. Noa backed up at the declaration, flinching when her sensitive hand smacked into the wall.

  Jasreal gave Noa a look of pity as she tried escaping the situation through the bedroom she found earlier. Too much was happening, Benjera had almost died. She was still kicking herself for letting him carry her at all after nearly drowning. He needed rest, not weight lifting. Guilt and fear twisted in her underneath their conversation.

  “I get it,” Jasreal told Benjera, gesturing at Noa like she was a thing on display and not a person. “You find a helpless, well fed, silver frog and you can’t say no.”

  “Helpless?” Benjera asked with annoyance. “Jasreal, she saved my life.”

  “That’s pond scum,” Jasreal said.

  “Pond scum?” Benjera replied dryly.

  Jasreal sneered at his cousin, “Yeah, pond scum, its called having children and keeping your language clean. You want his children? He wants children.”

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  Noa sidestepped into the bedroom so she was able to hide behind the wall and peer out the doorway.

  “We discussed it,” Noa said from her shielded space, her heart felt like it was being squeezed tightly. They hadn’t actually agreed to anything, she realized.

  Jasreal scowled, and he looked a lot like Benjera when he did. He clearly didn’t think Noa was really a part of the conversation. “She saved your life?”

  “I died,” Benjera was vaguely disturbed by his own words. Jasreal didn’t seem to know what to say to that. “You can go, Jay. I need to spend some time with my wife.”

  Jasreal’s eyes darted between them and he shook his head, “Rasha is going to kill you.”

  And he left, one last scrutinizing look of disbelief as he left. Benjera frowned after Jasreal and then turned to her, expression inscrutable. She had made her decision by then.

  “I’m sorry, Benjera,” Noa said from the bedroom doorway. “But we need to renegotiate the terms of our marriage.”

  “What?” Benjera glared, “No.”

  “No?” she said, panicking, “I-I don’t care! I change my mind!”

  Benjera’s face darkened further. “Noa…”

  “I know it’s selfish!” she tried to explain with her heart pounding loudly in her ears.

  “We’re already married!” he snapped, “There is no changing your mind!”

  Noa laughed and she saw immediately that Benjera thought she was laughing at him and he hated it. “No, I don’t mean about that. I… I am your wife.”

  Benjera grimaced and folded his arms, “What, then?”

  There was nothing to do but blunder forward. Noa took a deep breath. “This is one sided but I need…”

  Her breath hitched, caught on emotions that were about to boil out of her and like trying to grip smoke between her fingers, she couldn’t hold on to them. Her voice grew thick with emotions she didn’t want to have. “I lost everything and now you’re all I have so when you fell over I was losing everything all over again and I can’t. I can’t lose you and I can’t… share you or…”

  The tears came, rolling down her cheeks and she realized how thirsty and tired she was while Benjera stomped across the main room to her.

  “You don’t have to share me!” he almost shouted for how firmly he said it. “Come here.”

  Noa took a step out of the bedroom and he pulled her closer, hesitating before stepping around and hugging her from behind so he didn’t press against her burns. His cheek tucked beside hers as he dipped his head and embraced her. His arms that had been limp and cold just minutes before were warm and protective.

  “You’re not allowed to die,” Noa sniffed, leaning back into him.

  Benjera sighed heavily, “I will move it up my priority list.”

  And Noa felt his smile against her cheek and she laughed, maybe too much. Having Benjera hold her sent a strange, giddy rush through her.

  “I only need one thing from you,” Benjera said seriously in the next second, leaning to the side and turning his head to get a better look at her. His hands were around her stomach and waist.

  “What is it?” she asked. Noa couldn’t help but feel nervous. She didn’t know what to expect and she preferred knowing.

  “That you want me.” Benjera said softly, and his eyes traveled down and back up to her eyes. “And know that I want you.”

  “That’s two things,” Noa said, and he grinned. “You’re going to have to pick one.”

  “Quit giving me trouble,” he growled. “It’s a turn on.”

  She giggled, and was surprised she could. Every moment she was in this place something was dragging her further away from everything she ever knew. The wood textured like tile. The light from a sun of rainbow rivers through the skylights. And this man, who had decided to make her his wife and complicate everything.

  She didn’t have to say anything else, just give in to the pull that had been there from the first moment. The gravity in Benjera’s eyes. She leaned in and kissed her husband.