by Tana Stone
He hesitated, looking back and then looking at her.
“Go.” She waved a hand at him. “I’m fine. I just need to be alone.”
He finally left, and Bexli leaned back against the rock face, letting her head bump the hard surface. Closing her eyes, she breathed in and out deeply. It wasn’t so bad. So, she’d never have a real relationship with the father of her child. That wasn’t so terrible, was it? There were plenty of parents who would be better off if they didn’t stay together. This way, she and Tommel were avoiding all that potential heartbreak upfront.
Like cowards. Like my father who ran off as soon as things got hard.
She shook her head hard. No, she would never let her child feel the way she had. Like it was somehow her fault that her father hadn’t stayed. It would be better if the child never knew him in the first place. That way there would be no one to miss, no face to ache for.
She stood abruptly. That meant she needed to get the hell off this planet, before Tommel could decide that his protection of their child included following her when she left. And, make no mistake, she was leaving.
“Were you looking for him?” The boy’s high voice drew her attention, and she saw that he held Pog in his arms.
Bexli forced herself to smile. “Actually, I was.”
He handed her the glurkin, who seemed to be asleep, and who snuggled against her and started purring. She stroked a hand down Pog’s soft fur. “So are the others busy making a new plan?”
Rynn shrugged. “I guess. It’s not as exciting as the other one. They don’t even think I should sneak back in through the exhaust vents now.”
“Really?”
He made a face. “The serious one thinks it’s too dangerous for me.”
Tommel was probably right. Climbing through exhaust vents was dangerous. It was also the best way to get on board without being seen. If the ship was parked outside the Crestek city, there was no doubt it was being guarded well. Even if she couldn’t shift, she was still probably small enough to crawl through the vents.
“What would you think about hatching a rescue plan of our own?” Bexli asked, dropping her voice to a conspiratorial whisper.
Rynn’s pupils grew large. “Just you and me?”
Bexli winked at him. “And Pog.”
Rynn glanced over his shoulder, seeming to consider leaving the others behind for a moment. “Won’t they be mad at us for leaving without them?”
“Probably,” Bexli said. That was underplaying it a lot. Tommel would be furious, and Caro would be hurt. “But this way, we can actually get into the ship.”
Rynn grinned. “I did like sneaking through the ship through those vents. It was pretty cool to spy on everyone from above.”
“See?” Bexli leaned down and nudged him. “That’s what I need. An expert to show me where to go. I can’t do this without you.”
Rynn threw back his shoulders. “I did tell Tori I would bring you back.”
“See? And neither one of us want to let Tori down, do we?”
Rynn shook his head as he giggled. “No way. Have you seen what happens when she gets mad?”
“More than a few times.” Bexli jerked her head away from where the others were talking, knowing that if they were going to go, it needed to be soon. The sunlight was already fading fast, and if they waited too long, it would be dark. “So, are you in?”
“I’m in.”
Bexli grinned and put a finger to her lips as she motioned for Rynn to follow her. “Then let’s do this, kid.”
They hurried away from Tommel, Rukken, and Caro, running on their toes. Luckily, Pog didn’t wake, and his sleepy purring was the only sound they made as they walked quickly.
Bexli concentrated on the narrowing path and tried not to think about what she’d done and who she’d left behind. She knew it was pretty shitty to leave Caro behind again, but she also knew that her friend would get it. In their group, Bexli and Pog always went ahead. It was their role in the group. Caro might be ticked off at first, but she’d get it.
Tommel would not. She might not have known the Dothvek long, but she knew enough to know that he would be angry. He may not want to be with her, but she couldn’t fool herself into thinking he’d be fine with her running off with Rynn. When he discovered why she’d run off, he’d probably try to lock her up for good.
“Too bad we’re not together and you don’t get a say in what I do,” she mumbled to herself.
“What?” Rynn looked up at her.
“Nothing.” She noticed that the stone path was giving way to sandy dirt. They came around a sharp bend and the path widened, scrubby bushes pushing out of the ground ahead.
Rynn pointed a finger. “See? What’d I tell you?”
Squinting, Bexli could see the top of the massive spaceship in the distance. Her pulse quickened, as she thought about her friends locked inside and pushed the Dothvek she’d left behind out of her mind.
“Come on.” She grabbed Rynn’s hand and tugged him forward.
Before they could take more than a few steps, they were surrounded by gold-skinned warriors that seemed to materialize out of thin air. Rynn’s hand tightened in hers.
So much for their rescue plan.
Twenty-Five
Tommel rocked back on his heels as he crouched across from Rukken. He scraped a hand through his hair and darted another glance toward the bend in the path where Rynn had gone with Pog. He knew Bexli didn’t want to be around him, but he hoped she’d return soon.
“There’s no other way?” Rukken’s question jerked him back to their conversation.
“What? To get into the ship?” Tommel frowned. “Nothing that doesn’t put the boy in danger.”
“He did it once,” Rukken said. “And he offered to go in again.”
Tommel growled low. He couldn’t bear the thought of putting a child at risk. Rynn may not be his child, but he was still a child who needed to be protected by the adults around him. “The risk isn’t worth it.”
Rukken folded his arms over his chest. “Battle is risk.”
Tommel ground his teeth together. “We do it another way.”
“I’m with Tommel.” Caro glanced at them from where she sat propped up against the wall, her legs stretched out in front of her and crossed at the ankles. “I don’t like using a kid. But if we also can’t use Bex, what are we left with? The three of us and Pog?”
Tommel blew out a breath. “Dothveks have overcome bigger disadvantages.”
Rukken was silent for a moment. “Is this because of you and the female? You are afraid—?”
“Bexli and I are not together.”
Caro and Rukken both gaped at him.
“Since when?” Caro asked. “I saw the way you two were making eyes at each other in the cave.”
Tommel tapped one foot on the ground. “Since I decided that we should not be involved.”
“But she is—“ Rukken began to say, before Caro elbowed him.
“I think that’s probably for the best.” Caro’s eyes pinched together. “It’s too bad it didn’t work out, but what can you do?”
Tommel didn’t like talking about it, but he’d learned that Rukken’s mate talked a lot. He doubted there was much he could do to keep her from talking.
“I mean, it’s too bad you weren’t the one for Bex,” Caro continued, “but you can’t force feelings that aren’t there.”
He thought about correcting her. There were plenty of feelings between them. That was the problem. Controlling his feelings and keeping them from destroying him.
“It wouldn’t be fair to be with Bex if you don’t love her, right?” Caro uncrossed her ankles and crisscrossed her legs. “She deserves someone who loves her, even if that someone won’t be you.”
He stood, his spine stiffening with irritation. He did not like thinking of Bexli with someone else.
“Don’t beat yourself up about it.” Caro leaned forward and her dark ponytail fell over one shoulder. “It probably wouldn�
��t have worked out even if you guys had given it a real shot.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Why do you say that?”
Caro bobbed one shoulder up and down. “You’re obviously not looking to be a dad. I’m sure you guys had some fun, but Bex needs someone who will stick by her through thick and thin. Her dad left her when she was young, and then she had lots of reasons not to trust guys for a long time. It’s better she find someone who’s capable of being who she needs.”
“You think I would not stick by her?”
Caro tilted her head at him. “You seem to have a habit of freaking out and pulling away. It doesn’t seem to me like you’ve got it in you to love her, much less love the baby and be a father.”
“Caro,” Rukken’s voice held a warning, but the female ignored him.
“It’s nothing personal against you,” she said, with a flippant wave of one hand. “Love is hard. You barely know Bexli, and you don’t know the baby at all. She can’t expect you to care about a baby you’ve never met.”
His blood pounded as he stared at her. Did this female think he would not love the child? That he did not already love the child? That he was not already sick with worry about something bad happening to it?
“You are wrong,” he snapped.
“Maybe, but I doubt it. Not all guys have it in them to be good fathers. You certainly wouldn’t be the first guy who didn’t care that much about their kid.” Her tone was so casual, it made him want to shake her. “Or who got a woman knocked up they didn’t care about.”
He heaved in a breath. “You think I do not care about your friend? Or the baby?”
She shrugged, smiling as if she hadn’t just accused him of being heartless. “Don’t get so upset. I’m sure you’ll forget about her once we’ve been gone for a while.”
“Gone?” Panic swelled in his chest.
“It will be better for everyone if you two make a clean break,” Caro says. “If you don’t love her enough to give up everything for her, then you should step aside for someone who will. And if you don’t love the baby so much that it terrifies you, then you aren’t the father it needs.”
Even though her voice was light, the words almost knocked the wind out of him. Step aside? What was she talking about? He glanced at Rukken, but his face was blank. Didn’t he notice that his mate had lost her mind?
How could she possibly think that he could step aside? And this human clearly knew nothing about him, because terror was pretty much the only thing he’d felt since the moment he learned she was carrying his child. Terror that something bad would happen to this baby, as well, and he would not be able to survive it.
No, he was scared even before then. Tommel realized he’d been terrified of losing Bexli from the moment she’d first climbed on that jebel with him. It was why he’d shadowed her, making sure she was safe, and keeping any other male from coming too close. He’d been terrified of losing her, even before he’d claimed her and filled her belly with his child. Now, his own fear was going to make him lose her.
“You are wrong about me. I already love this baby so much it terrifies me.” He sucked in a breath and waited for dark waves of grief to crash over him, for guilt to consume him, or for memories to fill him with gut-wrenching pain. But none of that happened. Instead, his chest filled with a warmth that spread throughout his entire body. “And Bexli. I love her.” His breath caught in his throat. “I think I have for a while, but I could not admit it. It has been so long since I’ve let myself feel anything, but I cannot imagine living without her.”
“Really? You love Bex?” Caro grinned, wrapping her arms around her knees.
Tommel drew in a deep breath and looked down the path. “I do. I need to tell her. Now.”
Caro leapt to her feet and gave him a shove. “It took you long enough to get there. Go on!”
He cocked his head at her. Had this been her plan all along? He glanced at Rukken, who was smiling and shaking his head with his hands up.
“I have never been able to control her,” he said. “Or stop her from talking so much.”
Caro slapped her mate’s arm playfully.
Tommel left both of them as he ran around the rock and down the path to where he’d left Bexli. He stopped when he saw that she was not there, nor were Rynn and Pog.
He could not tell her that he loved her. She was gone.
Twenty-Six
Bexli held her hands up as the aliens surrounded her, but she lowered them the moment she realized they were Dothveks. “You escaped!”
The bare-chested warriors who surrounded her furrowed their brows and looked seriously confused. Her gaze traveled over the group. She didn’t see K’alvek, or Kush, or any of the other warriors she recognized on sight. Not even the twin warriors Tommel had been so jealous of. And none of her friends were among them.
Rynn elbowed her. “I don’t think these are the same ones.”
“I’m getting that,” she said to him, under her breath.
The crowd shifted and then parted, revealing a Dothvek female in robes that seemed to shimmer as gold as the sand. Her dark hair was arranged on top of her head with glittering ornaments in it, and her eyes were lined in black, sweeping out at the corners and making her appear cat-like.
Bexli hadn’t seen her often, but she recognized the Dothvek as Zatvar’s mate and K’alvek’s mother. Another female—this one in ivory robes, but with the same intricately arranged hair and dramatically lined eyes—stood slightly behind her. Bexli recognized her as the priestess who had spoken to them before they left the village to go after Caro. She had warned them that their mission would change the clan’s path. She’d been right about that, Bexli thought grimly.
“I am Kyrana,” K’alvek’s mother said, her voice regal and authoritative.
Bexli didn’t know whether to bow or curtsy or what, so she inclined her head slightly. “Bexli.”
“I know you. You are one of the offworlders. The shapeshifter.” The tone held no judgment. “You were with my son when he left on the rescue mission.”
“I was.” Bexli thought how long ago the journey to find Caro seemed, even though it had been less than a week since they left the Dothvek village.
Kyrana’s gaze darted around Bexli. “But you are alone.” Then her gaze drifted down. “Aside from the child.”
Rynn bristled next to her. “Beg your pardon, but I’m not a child. Vrax lets me watch the ship sometimes.”
The Dothvek females both smiled at him, and Kyrana’s eyes flickered with recognition when he said Vrax’s name. “My apologies.”
“We were actually on our way to find the others.” Bexli nodded toward the Crestek city. “Most of your clansmen are in that ship.”
The group pivoted as one, peering at the distant silhouette of the hulking gunmetal-gray spaceship. Low murmurs traveled through the warriors and they shifted uneasily.
Kyrana turned back to Bexli, her placid face revealing little of what she thought. “My son is in there?” Before Bexli could reply, she added, “And Zatvar?”
Bexli cringed. “I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but Zatvar is dead.”
Something flashed behind the Dothvek female’s eyes, but it was gone just as quickly. “When his hunting party did not return, we suspected something had happened. Can you tell me how?”
Bexli blew out a breath. “It’s a bit of a long story.” After no one said anything, she shrugged. She guessed they weren’t in any hurry, although she hadn’t planned to stop and have such a long conversation. She didn’t know if she should be the one telling everything, but she didn’t seem to have a choice. “It turns out your husband or mate, Zatvar, was the reason Rukken was exiled. He was the murderer, and he framed Rukken for his crime.”
Dark noises passed through the group like a ripple across a pond as the Dothveks exchanged glances. K’alvek had believed Rukken, but she wasn’t sure if everyone in the clan would be so willing, especially not the guy’s wife. Still, she needed to tell the
entire story.
“Turns out, he also killed your clan’s former leader and your former…” Bexli paused and swallowed, dropping her eyes from the female’s face, “…husband.”
There was a gasp from behind K’alvek’s mother, and Bexli looked up to see the priestess’ dark eyes wide, and her mouth open in surprise.
“How can it be? I did not see it?”
Kyrana turned, taking the Dothvek’s hands in hers. “Do not blame yourself. Zatvar was skilled at hiding his mind.”
Bexli nodded. “That’s what Rukken said.”
Kyrana turned back to her. “Did Rukken kill him out of vengeance?”
“Actually, your son did. He did it to defend himself and Rukken, but he’s the one who threw the knife that killed Zatvar.”
For the first time since Bexli had started telling the story, K’alvek’s mother reacted physically, the corners of her mouth lifting almost imperceptibly. “And K’alvek is unhurt?”
“Last I saw, he was fine. We were celebrating…” Bexli stopped herself, not sure if the women wanted to hear how much of a party they had because her husband was dead.
Kyrana put a hand on her arm. “I am not bothered. You should know that there was no love between me and my second mate. I only agreed to the match to protect my son. At the time, Zatvar had allies. He gave me a choice—become his mate or lose my son. I am only sorry I did not get to kill the coward myself.”
Bexli released a sigh. “Good, because it was quite a celebration. Everyone was pretty out of it when the Cresteks attacked.”
Her hand tightened on Bexli’s arm. “Our enemies attacked? We have a treaty. A treaty many of us do not approve of, but it exists.”
“It may have been about T’Kar. There’s a chance they thought that he was taken hostage by the Dothveks, since he ran off from their city and he’s the son of the chancellor. But I honestly don’t know. It happened so fast that by the time I arrived at the battle, your son and a lot of other Dothveks, as well as my crew mates, were taken off in the ship.”