Chapter 16

SIXTEEN

Lorna

Something was wrong with Whit. His jaws in my mind had been a gnashing violent mess, and now they'd dulled to a barely there outline. I knew he'd react when he realized I was gone, but this wasn't just anger. This was rage. Physical pain. What was he doing?

I was once again caged in a small trailer that was pulled by a larger truck driven by Dayloes. And dozens of Dayloes walked behind my cage. Xaberians walked beside me, four on each side, and their presence alone raised every single hair on my skin in alarm. They were fucking terrifying. Piercing eyes. Horns that curved viciously from rattled skull heads. Their feet alone were massive, the size of my head, and whip-like tentacles curled around their bodies, each topped with a razor-sharp pincher. When I grabbed the bars of my cage, a pincher nearly took off my finger. So I huddled in the middle, arms wrapped around my knees, wondering if this had been a very bad terrible idea.

I wasn't pregnant. At least, I didn't think I was. I'd gotten my period while we'd been with the Loppies. But Whitten and I had sex afterward… still the timing didn't match up. I couldn't be this fertile on an alien planet, could I?

Whitten wouldn't let me go. I knew that. But I didn't want him on a one-man mission of destruction either. Maybe he'd adopt a cool head, go home, and formulate a plan. There was time. The Xaberians thought I was pregnant, so they'd let me alone while I cooked my hypothetical baby, right?

Ugh, I hated these aliens. The armadillo-like Dayloes, and the terrifying Xaberians. They were like some nightmare version of a centaur. Cursed centaurs. I shuddered and buried my face in my knees. I still smelled Whitten on my clothes. I comforted myself with the knowledge that the Loppies were safe. As soon as I'd left the village, the doors had closed behind me. I'd watched every Dayloes and Xaberian retreat from the doors. I knew they'd left some guards behind, but the Xaberians told me they had no interest in the Loppies. Only me and the Beast.

They'd questioned me many times about the Beast's death. And I told them mostly the truth. How we'd been taken by the Inklas. But when I talked about the Loppie rescue, I'd told them I was the only one who survived. The Beast had been killed by the Ev. The Xaberians seemed skeptical, but I held firm. It was clear then that the Xaberians didn't want to kill him. They wanted him too, just like they wanted me.

The truck pulling my cart suddenly stopped. The door opened and a Dayloes got out, frowning at the vehicle.

"What's going on?" Barked one of Xaberians who I believed to be in charge. He wore a pendant around his neck that the others did not, and his horns had more points, like an old deer buck.

"Won't go forward," grunted the Dayloes. "Something broke."

"Fix it," said buck Xaberian. There more Dayloes emerged from the truck in hurried movements. Behind us, a large contingent of armored Dayloes shuffled into crouches as they rested their legs. I was hungry. And thirsty. I'd snuck a water skin and some food in my pants, but I'd already gone through them.

I missed the Loppies. I missed Whitten. And while my situation was absolutely scary, I still felt a sense of calm that I never had before. Maybe I drew strength from Whitten through our loks. Or maybe I finally had hope that this planet had more to offer than just pain and terror. The Loppies had shown me that. So did Whitten, his brothers, and Queen.

And those were thoughts a second time before an eerie whistling sound cut through the air, like the sound of an object falling. A thud followed, and then the pack of armored Dayloes erupted.

Actually erupted .

Bodie soared through the air, some whole, some in pieces as an explosion blew a crater in the previous smooth dirt road. As the remaining Dayloes scattered to find the source of the attack, a loud buzzing soared from either side of the road. I looked up to see the outline of a familiar vehicle—I'd seen a hover bike like that before. I'd ridden one with Whitten. But there wasn't just one. Two soared toward us, and on each rode a massive Beast. Laser fired slammed into the Dayloes, and the Xaberians roared with anger. One whip-like tentacle caught on the bottom disk of one hover bike, and I screamed as the Beast lost balance of the machine.

But instead of hitting the ground, the Beast took flight. Massive blue-black wings beat the air. Two arms and hands gripped a gun. He fired a massive laser gun—bigger than I'd ever seen—into the body of the Xaberian. The massive creature flew back with the force of the blow. His body crashed into the idling truck before going very still with a massive hole smoking in his chesty cavity.

The door to my cage flew open, and I immediately tried to run free, but an Xaberian was there, the one with the pendant necklace. "You're mine, human," he hissed at me as his pinchers cinched around my waist. He hauled me in the air, and I screamed.

"Lorna!" Whitten's voice rose over the sounds of fighting and carnage. I looked to see him racing toward me, but was cut off by the remaining two Xaberians, who immediately attacked him with their pinching tentacles. He dodged one, slashed another, and was soon joined by a striped Beast with a long tail who fought like a feral thing, growling and snapping like a cornered animal. He alone took out an Xaberian by jumping on his back and ripping out half of his spine with his teeth.

The pinchers tightened around my waist, and I sensed the rising anger of the Xaberian holding me. The last of the Dayloes fell under the winged beast—Eleric's—laser fire. All that remained was the Xaberian holding me.

The tiger Beast—Tain—growled and slashed out with his claws, but with every advance, the Xaberian added another pincher somewhere to my body. When I cried out in pain as one closed around my thigh, Whitten held up his paws to stop his brother. Tain went still, chest heaving.

Whitten was injured. Some wounds looked new, and some looked a little old. He'd been through a lot in the short time we'd been separated. I didn't want him to be hurt more. "Don't," I urged him. I grimaced as a pincher dug into my skin. "Just stay back."

"Listen to your mate," the Xaberian said. His voice was a thready grunt. I shivered at the sound. His last tentacle hovered in front of my stomach. "You know what this offspring is worth. You know it's the last of the Drixonian kind."

Tain stopped breathing. Eleric's wings drooped. They both turned their heads slowly toward Whitten.

My heart ached for my mate. His face blanched under his fur. He glanced at each of his brothers before saying, "I'll explain soon."

"Explain now," the Xaberian's voice made my skull feel like it was going to crack. My head pounded. My ears rang. "Explain to them what you kept from them."

"You don't know me," Whitten growled. "And you don't know the bond I have with my brothers. Let my mate go, and maybe we'll give you a head start before we chase you down and kill you."

"You won't try. You won't risk your mate and your precious offspring." The Xaberian gripped my hair and tugged my neck back. I forced myself to breathe, but all I managed to do was wheeze.

"We will not stop." The Xaberians hold tightened. "We will?—"

Whitten made his move. He leapt so fast, machets out, that he was mostly a blur as he slashed at the tentacles holding my hair. Blood sprayed everywhere. The Xaberian screeched. And then all three brothers were in the fray. My body dropped as Tain cut tentacles. Eleric caught me before I hit the ground, and I turned my head in time to see Whitten leap in the air and rake his machets across the Xaberians neck just as Tain sliced into its body from below.

The Xaberian let out one more strained screech before crumbling to the ground, light leaving his eyes.

And then, nothing but silence.

Whitten

I immediately ripped Lorna from Eleric's arms and wrapped her up against my chest. Her heart pounded against me. Slowly, her fingers tangled in my fur. "I missed you."

"You shouldn't have left me like that. You shouldn't have made that sacrifice." He hesitated before adding. "But I know why you did. I know your heart, mate. Your actions were consistent with who you are. You wanted to save the Loppies. And me."

She sighed into my neck. "You get me. And in the end, you still saved me."

"Whitten, we need a debrief… and a long talk." Eleric pointedly met my eyes. "But for now, we have to get going. I've had enough fighting for the day."

He was right. Home was the safest place to be. I was done with this adventure. "No more field work for me," I grumbled. "For a long time. Maybe ever."

Tain was already striding toward his bike. "Ride with me, Eleric. Whitten, take Eleric's bike with your mate." He nodded at her briefly. "Good to see you again, Lorna."

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't want any of you hurt."

"One hurts, we all hurt," Eleric said, and his gaze met mine again, this time a little accusingly. "We are all one."

He knew. He knew I'd been keeping something from them. And he wasn't angry, but he was disappointed. It was all there in his sharp gaze. "We are all one," I responded softly.

Tain and Eleric had, in fact, brought lots of rations. As I settled Lorna in front of me on the bike, I gave her some dried meat, fresh berries, and some sweet brew that Tain had been working on with Kini. She ate as our bikes lifted into the air and as we pointed them home.

We only had to stop a few times. Once for Lorna to pee, and another for us to cool off in a stream as the air grew warmer the farther south we rode. When the familiar edges of our land came into view, my heart soared. There were moments since I left that I wasn't sure I'd ever see home again.

As always, we took different routes home nearly every time. I sped head of Tain and Eleric, eager to see Queen and get Lorna under the safety of our dome. As we drew closer, the dome covering Queen's garden lifted. I smiled, thinking that Kyle was likely operating it. He'd picked up a lot of my controls quickly. Bastian wasn't good with technology, and Lynix didn't have the patience for it. As soon as the dome closed over the four of us, I breathed easier.

Our home was made up of the Dome and our underground living chambers. After Eleric crashed an aircraft all the way through to our underground home, I decided to land carefully in the garden. The underground sliding door was already open as I landed. Yanna and Kini were the first ones at the top step. Barefooted, wearing loose clothes, they raced toward my mate. Queen followed much slower, her cane stabbing the soft ground with Kyle at her side for support. My brothers followed—first Bastian and then Lynix.

The women hovered around Lorna as they helped her off the bike. They'd spoken several times while we were with the Loppies, and Lorna immediately hugged them tightly as tears leaked from her eyes. "I wasn't sure I'd ever get to do this," she said to them as she laughed and swiped at her tears. What a journey it's been."

"We understand." Kini rubbed her back.

Yanna took in the state of my mate and shot me a glare. Lorna was filthy, her clothes torn, and blood oozed from a cut on her leg, but considering how badly things could have gone, I was grateful for her condition. Still, I accepted the glare, and vowed to never let Lorna bleed from even a scratch again.

The women parted as Queen approached. "I've been waiting for you," she said as she held Lorna's held. "Welcome to Akoma."

"Thank you." Lorna still wept, and I remembered she said that sometimes the tears meant she was happy. I could tell by her stream in my mind that she was weeping happy tears. "Thank you for raising your sons so well. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Whitten."

Queen patted her hand. "It's in their blood to be the way they are."

Yanna wrapped her arm around my mate's shoulders. "Let me show you to your room so you can bathe." She urged her toward the steps leading down to the underground chambers, and Lorna glanced at me over her shoulder. I nodded. "I'll be close behind you. The females will care for you."

At my approval, Lorna descended out of view with the females, leaving me behind with Queen, my brothers, and Kyle. Queen began to walk toward her favorite part of her garden, where the blooms reached as tall as my head. Kyle remained at her side while I followed without needing her to command it. I just knew that my time for reckoning had come. My brothers fell in line behind me, and the silence let me know that Eleric must have sent a message home ahead of our arrival that led everyone to understand a conversation needed to be had.

Queen surveyed her blooms, shrew eyes checking for any pests or stalks to be trimmed. Eleric cleared his throat. Tain glared at me. Bastian shuffled his hooved feet, and Lynix picked at his fangs with a claw. Only Kyle seemed calm as he held a few blooms that Queen chose to pick.

"What do you need to tell us?" Queen asked, and finally the tension in me snapped. I blurted out the truth, that I'd learned long ago that Drixonian society had collapsed due to a virus. And that all the females had died.

My brothers stood in shock and horror. Kyle had gone pale. Tain had to walk away, and I was sure that if we weren't in Queen's beloved garden, he would have broken something. Lynix hung his head, and Eleric remained thoughtful, his gaze far away. Bastian continued to shuffle his feet.

Queen finally placed her last cut bloom in Kyle's hand and turned to face me. She'd never been truly angry at us. Frustrated, sure. But angry? Hurt? No. I stared at the ground. I couldn't meet her eyes, and I felt like a coward for it.

"Look up" she said softly. I felt a presence at either side of me. At my back. My brothers had surrounded me, and when I glanced at each of them in turn, they held pain in their eyes, but no censure directed at me. In fact, if anything, they looked at me with a little like pity.

And finally, I met Queen's gaze. Sadness swam in her eyes. "Your father might not have survived that news. He lived to old age and died peacefully believing that his family remained safe on Corin. Did you know when he was still alive?"

I swallowed and nodded once.

She released a long exhale. "I'm glad he didn't know, so I thank you for that, Whitten." She stepped closer and wrapped her wrinkled hand around the outside of my paw. "But after he died, you didn't have to hold that in. I know you felt it in your soul, the loss. And you kept that all when you could have shared it with us. Spread it amongst me and your brothers until the pain had faded to a small fraction. Can you feel it now? How the weight is less?"

I could. "But now my brothers carry that weight." My voice cracked. "And you."

"Eleric?" she called.

"Yes, Queen," he said from beside me.

"Do accept sharing the pain of this weight with your brothers rather than one of you take it all?"

"Yes, Queen." His firm voice rang out in the dome.

My heart lurched at his answer. And it continued to beat against my ribcage as she asked each other, all who answered in no uncertain terms that they wanted to share the burden. And finally, Queen answered the question herself. "I'd rather take some of this pain knowing it's less for you. That's what it means to be a family. To love each other. I meant it when I said that being who you are is in your blood, but these are the things I teach. What I hope you get from me as a human. Do you understand?"

"I do," I whispered.

She patted my paw. "We'll speak about what this means for us all another time. It's a fact we are under threat by the Xaberians, and it's a fact they likely have Six. But that's a conversation for another time. Today, we celebrate that you have returned home, and that another female—and mate—is safe."

I remained where I was as she and Kyle walked past me. Eleric faced me first, his expression solemn, and then he grasped the back of my neck and brought our foreheads together. I closed my eyes as I felt the feathers of his wings brush my shoulders. This was the Drixonian expression of affection, something our father had taught us, but not something we did often. I reveled in it.

Next was Tain whose grip was tight. His claws pricked my skin, but I knew his anger wasn't leveled at me.

Bastian held me next, and finally Lynix. His tail brushed mine. "You did good," he said softly. Compliments were rare from Lynix, and I found I couldn't answer him.

They retreated underground, and when I got myself under control, I followed. I wanted to see my mate.