Chapter 25 Harb’k

“Sit your ass down, Harb’k.” Mo’s voice boomed as loud as any Xarc’n warrior’s roar.

I ignored him and advanced on Nov’k, who was the one who smelled most of my Zoey, considering he was the one who’d flown her to Sanctuary while I was fighting the mutations at the nest.

Logically, I knew that it wasn’t his fault, that he’d only done what was asked of him, but I was so angry, too hurt to listen to logic. All I knew was that she was here when I left in the morning, and now she was gone.

I’d thought I’d been doing a good job getting her to fall in love with me. Not only did we emulate everything the other couples did, but she smiled when I was around. And she’d become close with the others at camp. She seemed truly happy here, so why would she leave?

Nov’k simply shrugged. “You tackled me and let them take Heather from me when I first brought her here. Now we are even.”

Bael’k and I had tackled him to prevent the humans from “tranqing” his ass. And the humans hadn’t taken Heather away from camp and back to Sanctuary. It was completely different.

I didn’t bother explaining, I just leaped at him. But in my anger and haste he was able to dodge me and I slammed into the table instead. All the bowls of soup on the table sloshed and spilled and several people swore as they sprang back from the table to prevent being splashed with their dinner.

“If you’re not careful, they’ll tranq you instead.” Nov’k laughed and ducked, but my fist still grazed the side of his face.

“Enough!” Mo bellowed. “Nov’k, you’re not helping. Quit taunting him. Harb’k stand down.” He butted in between us, putting a hand out to stop me, as if he wasn’t half my weight and I couldn’t throw him clear across the room if I wanted.

It wasn’t Mo who defused my anger but Mina as she let out a wail. Mary gathered her child into her arms, glaring daggers at me. Mina never did like fighting, or anything resembling it. I calmed for her sake, and also because if I threw Mo across the room now, I might accidentally hurt her.

“If you’re going to be angry at someone, be angry at me,” Mo said, taking advantage of my calmer state to lead me out of the mess hall and into the war room. “I told him to fly her there. But come on, Harb’k, you knew this was coming. It was the plan the whole time.”

I paced the room, fuming as he talked. Everything he said made sense, but that didn’t stop the sharp sting of loss.

“You know how crucial it is that we stamp out that nest before warm weather hits and the other nests start swarming. The more fighters we have the better. We don’t need Sanctuary’s help, but we want it. Clark knows her. She’s going to put in a good word for us. And besides, her friend’s there, and a promise is a promise.

“I know it hurts that she didn’t say goodbye. But considering how you’re reacting right now, I get it. You might’ve stopped her from going.”

And he wouldn’t have been wrong.

Soft footsteps had us both turning to see Mary walking in, led by little Mina, who looked like she was pulling her mother toward us with all the strength her tiny body could muster.

“I told her Uncle Harby’s sad, and she said she wants to give you a hug.” Mary glared at me. “You calm enough?”

But Mina was already toddling toward me. She held her arms out. “Up!”

I did as ordered, lifting her up into my arms.

“S’okay, Ha-bee.”

I melted, and I felt the anger drain away. Not the sadness and the pain though—those stayed.

After a long moment, I returned Mina to her mother.

Then I started toward the door.

“Where you going?” Mo asked, following close behind.

I knew better than to tell him the truth, so I lied. “To kill some scourge.” It was late in the day, but there were usually stragglers that hadn’t made it back to their nest, so it was believable.

“Good idea. But don’t do anything crazy. Zoey likes you, trust me. Just give her some time to do what she needs to do and she’ll be back. I bet my last bottle of whiskey on it.”

Once in the shuttle, I started toward a nearby area I’d used for hunting in the past. I stayed there until I was sure no one was checking my location anymore, then I ordered my shuttle to stop broadcasting its location before heading toward Sanctuary. I needed to see her.

I made it halfway there before Pip appeared on my nav screen.

“Knock, knock.”

Krux! I’d forgotten to tell my shuttle to shut down communications as well.

“Here to gloat?”

“Nope.” He popped the P.

“Did the others send you to stop me?”

“Nope. They have no idea I’m here.”

“Then what do you want?”

“I found out something very interesting about your female this morning.”

“She’s not my female.” If she were, she’d still be here. I could’ve taken her to Sanctuary to see her friend, then we could’ve come back.

“Yes, she is. She’s your mate.”

How did he know that?

“Did my shuttle tell you? I knew I should have sworn it to secrecy.”

“No, you did. Just now.”

I was being outsmarted by a shuttle. “What did you find out?” I asked, deciding I might as well take the bait.

“Sorry, I can’t tell you. I promised Heather; she said it’s something Zoey needs to tell you herself. And don’t ask her, cuz then she’ll know I told you something.”

So it was something Heather knew, and Pip knew, but not anyone else. And Pip said he found out this morning. It must be something about her health. While Heather was officially the “veterinarian” of our group, we didn’t have many animals, and she was the closest thing we had to a medic.

They must have done a checkup this morning and sent the results to the lab before they cleared her to go. What in it was so interesting?

“You snuck into the files,” I guessed.

“I didn’t trust her and wanted to see what secrets she was hiding. I was caught red-handed.”

“You don’t have hands.”

Suddenly, a bright flash whizzed by the shuttle, rocking us wildly. What the— That was a shuttle blaster! I was being shot at.

“Shuttle, Pip, locate the hostile vessel.”

“No vessel located.”

“None at all,” Pip agreed.

That meant there was another vessel out there being used by hostiles. That was bad news. Unable to see it, there was nothing I could do to fight back. I turned around, zig-zagging back the way I came.

“You don’t want to go to Sanctuary anyway. Those idiots might interpret your presence as an attack and break the truce. Then they’ll really be our enemies and you’ll never see Zoey again.”

Krux! Pip was right.

I directed my shuttle to return to base. They weren’t going to be happy to hear about the mystery shuttle. We could all be miserable together.