Chapter 11

Blade

My sweet little Hannah was quiet as she crossed the mossy ground toward the ring of stones. They stood in a small clearing, partially overgrown, and some had tumbled to the ground. Whatever technology made them work, it was still working, but it wasn’t working right anymore. The idea that she was about to attempt to touch them while she wished to be returned home made my chest ache. What if they did it? What if she vanished before my eyes?

I swallowed roughly and tapped my sternum with a knuckle; I’d follow her of course. I’d try to make those stones work for me as well. As she circled them, I tapped out a quick message to my brother, just to let him know what was going on, and why I might not be returning home. I was not the only one with heavy thoughts, my mate’s shoulders were practically up by her ears. Every line of her body screamed her apprehension, I hoped that meant that I’d changed her mind. That she didn’t want to leave me.

She glanced over her shoulder my way and that look in her eyes hit me like a gut punch. She was asking me for encouragement, for advice. I didn’t think she knew she was doing it, or what it did to my insides, that look. I was an Ironheart orc; we had courage in spades and even more determination. Other clans called us stubborn, and we took great pride in that.

“Go on. Touch them, Hannah,” I said, despite that being the last thing I wanted her to do. She needed this, she needed to find out, and frankly so did I. If the stones did not take her, I’d know that she wanted to stay, at least as much as she desired to leave. She shivered, one hand clutching her warm leather coat more tightly around her, but the other rose toward the stone.

I held my breath as her fingers brushed the stone. She muttered under her breath as she did it, but nothing happened. No change, no whirlwind struck us, no sign of a bolt of lightning. She did not vanish quietly either. Her eyes flicked my way, and she frowned like it was my fault the stones hadn’t done as she wanted. I shrugged, and she tried again, and then again.

At some point, she made me walk deeper into the woods as if it could be my presence that disturbed their ability. I didn’t know if that was true, and I was willing to humor her, only as long as there remained no sign of the overlords and their troops. She had resorted to talking, then shouting, and planting both her fists against their granite surface. But by now, she’d moved on to whispers and quiet prayers.

She was desperate, and I did not like seeing her that way; it made my heart ache to see the first sign of tears. Her desire to leave stopped hurting my ego a while ago, after her fifth attempt or thereabout. She was struggling with something other than my company. This wasn’t about leaving me , or maybe it was, but not in the way you’d first assume.

When her shoulders started shaking, I’d had enough. Though she warned me to stay back, I stalked toward her and swept her in my arms. She pushed with her fists for only a second, and then she relented, sobbing as she clung to my chest. I hated seeing her that way, I wanted to take away her tears and her hurt, but sometimes, you needed to go through it to see the light. Patience was not my strong suit, but for her, I stood my ground and just held her. Only when her sobs turned to quiet tears did I ask the question burning in my mind. “Will you tell me?”

She didn’t need me to explain that question, she knew what I was asking. Her fists opened so she could lay her palms against my chest, and I savored that contact. Her mouth opened a few times. She had trouble admitting it to me, but I was done waiting. With a fingertip, I raised her chin, so she had no choice but to look me in the eye. “I’m dying, okay?” she said, her lower lip trembling, her eyes red from her tears, and red spots riding high on her cheeks. “Cancer, too advanced to do much about. I chose not to treat it because… well, it would only add three miserable months.”

She bit her lip, then yanked her head to twist it out of my grip, but she did not shrug out of my arms, letting her slight body rest against mine. She shuddered, her forehead thumping against my chest and her shoulders slumped, betraying an exhaustion she had tried valiantly to hide before. “No, that’s not okay,” I said to her. “I guess there’s only one thing left to do, be my mate.”

This time, my words yanked her out of her misery and made way for a spark of fire. Anger sizzled in her eyes, her fists balled again and she ripped herself from me to shake one such fist at me. “Are you crazy? I can’t do that to you! You’ve been so nice. All I want to do is go home, not make someone mourn me when I die.” She jerked an accusing finger at the stones. “I have to go home. I can’t stay with you.”

She was like a skittish wild animal when I approached this time, and I had to sidestep twice before I could grab her by the shoulders. Her mutinous look made me grin when I jerked my chin in the direction of the huge capital city. “You did see that city, didn’t you? You were listening when I told you what my clan does? Don’t you think we’ve figured out how to heal what you have? Come home with me, if you still don’t want to be my mate. That’s fine. But I swear you will not die. Not on my watch.”

Her mouth opened in this lovely ‘O’ that made my cock twitch in my pants. I jerked her closer, so she could feel that, and swept my tongue into her mouth. I fed on her gasps and moans, let her release her frustration as our tongues tangled, and when we pulled back, I kissed the tears still clinging to her cheeks. “I’ll take good care of you, Hannah.”

She looked dazed, her mouth dropped open again and tempted me to give her another kiss. I dipped my head, but she twisted her head and my lips landed on her silky cheek instead. “Ah, damn it, Blade! You confuse me so much. Are you really sure? I don’t… I don’t want any false hope. I made peace with my fate once, but I don’t think I have the strength to do it again.”

I cupped the back of her head, her dark curls crushing beneath my palm, “I would never lie to you, Hannah.” She still looked dubious, but when I started to usher her toward my hovercycle, she came willingly. I did not fool myself into thinking she had accepted being my mate; I’d given her an out after all, but it gave me hope that she would come around.

Lifting her by the waist, I settled her onto the saddle, my palms tingling though I could not feel her warmth through her thick coat. “I don’t understand why you keep insisting I should mate you. You’re asking me to marry you, right? A lifelong commitment. Humans don’t make such decisions in a day.”

Ah, she was willing to talk about that part, after all. I grinned when I met her confused look, then rolled a shoulder to draw her eyes to my tattooed and very green chest. “But I’m not human, am I? I’m an orc.” I did not point out that there was another excellent reason to agree to be my mate. The overlords would not stop chasing her until they had either thrown her off the planet, or she’d mated. Unattached humans were simply not allowed, but somehow, I did not think that mattered to her.

My statement made her laugh, a light sparkling in her eyes that lightened the heavy feeling in my chest. She was bouncing back already, and as soon as I’d gotten her to the clan’s primary village, healers would take good care of her. She would be safe under Rover’s protection, and my own, hidden from the overlord’s sensors. Long enough for me to convince her that we were perfect together.

A sound whizzed through the air, my only warning, and I threw myself onto my pretty female by reflex. The two of us toppled over the bike and crashed onto the mossy forest floor. I rushed to roll us so I would not crush her beneath my weight. Dirt, leaves, and twigs stuck to Hannah’s hair, but I was more concerned with the slight graze along her cheek. She was hurt.

With a furious roar, I leaped up, ignored the sizzling, crackling noise coming from my bike’s engine, and yanked my ax from its holster. “Who dares!?” I shouted, facing the figures that slipped into the clearing.