Farin the Dark

by Kelly Lucille

  Farin nodded to Celo and he looked back at Lyric who tipped her chin and hit a few buttons on the com pad in her hands. She nodded and Ember knew the recorded part of the meeting was over.

  Farin turned to her abruptly and announced with pure command. "You will not cut your hair."

  Ember blinked up at him and narrowed her eyes at his tone. "I know," she said mildly enough. He started to relax. "I can't cut my hair because blades don't work on it."

  He ground his teeth. "And if it did?"

  Ember shrugged. "At one time I would probably have cut it just for the anonymity, but my hair is a part of who I am. As much as it misbehaves, I would not change who I am, not any longer."

  This time he relaxed even more, pulling her close, nuzzling his nose into the hair at her neck with a satisfied purr before straightening and turning back to the others. He looked at Celo. "Report."

  "We have separated the survivors and the ones that have a home will be escorted back. The others..."

  One of the females that Ember had not met stepped forward and she could see a resemblance to Brax's mate Ariel, in the eye shape and mouth. Though she was clearly a Tellox with her gold skin and hair, and swirling gold eyes.

  Sara, Farin said into her thoughts. Mate to Creed and the seer. Her mate stands with her, and her daughter at his back. Rory the weather Mage. She has two more young males, but they did not accompany her here. Creed's calvern stand with his daughter.

  The seer and the weather mage drew her eyes first.

  Both females wore identical black nanite armor. The younger armed with a sword at her back and what Ember could only assume a blaster at her waist. Like her mother she looked to be in her twenties.

  The eyes while similar in shape and color were not the same. Where the weather mage almost seemed to have sparks of light dancing behind her intelligent eyes, her mother’s glimmered with a different kind of power. She could see why so many acted on what this woman saw. There was something very compelling about Sara of the Tellox, formerly of Earth.

  "The Travelers bade me tell you that the survivors of the labs, unless deemed unworthy by the travelers when they come, will be welcome to join us."

  Ember felt more than saw Farin stiffen in surprise at her words. "The Travelers are opening their planet?"

  Sara shook her head. "Only to a select few. Those that were created in the labs and have survived to childhood will be the misplaced. From what I have seen, and the Travelers have shared with me of their future sight, there will not be many who survive. Those that do will be..." She looked from Ember to Lyric, then Charm. "Exceptional."

  That one word Ember felt deep in her belly. She looked from her sisters to the Seer before her and sucked in a calming breath. How much had she seen? Lyric especially looked stricken before her face went back to her usual friendly mask. Ember was careful of her thoughts, knowing that Farin could read them at will she did her best to shift her attention from her sisters to the woman before her. More than one pair of eyes were studying Ember and her family with curious eyes. "You saw more labs?" Ember asked shifting the focus, she hoped from extraordinary survivors to what they needed to be on.

  Sara blew out a breath and looked frustrated. "Not enough," she said with clear bite. "It will help, I think, but not enough, and not quickly."

  "But you saw something, because from what Farin told me, you and yours have not left the planet you are protected on since the Tellox invaded Earth."

  Sara nodded, though she quirked a smile at Farin beside her briefly. "Not really an invasion. Thanks to the Commander. But to answer your question, yes. I had a dream and knew it would take all of us to get you out of the labs, and that it was worth whatever price we had to pay to make that happen."

  Ember tilted her head and examined the other woman. "What did you see?"

  "I saw a future where the Tellox would take one road or another." She looked from Ember to Farin and closed her eyes as if the sight was too much for her. A shudder of something bad moved behind those closed lids and when she spoke Ember had no doubt that she had seen something truly horrifying. "I saw that Ember, Siren of the Trios, and mate to Farin the Dark would die in the labs, her unborn Tellox child with her," She opened her eyes and Ember did not doubt every horrible word she spoke was just a taste of the evil that she had seen. "And I saw Farin the Dark and what he would do and become because of it."

  Ember did not need to see the tick on her mate’s tense jaws or hear his low growl of rage to know what the words from the seer did to him. She felt the rage and pain at the idea of how close he had come to losing everything in the way his mind clamped down on hers, even as he pulled her into his chest and held on. When he finally spoke through his gritted teeth, and after all the growling had stopped from the males around them his words were as cold as space and just as dark. "We find the Galais and we end them."

  Ember sucked in a breath and fought against the need to put some space between herself and her mate, at least mentally. His sudden grip in her mind was painful. But she said nothing. Just relaxed into his hold as much as she could and tried to soothe the beast that had been awakened by the seer’s vision. She would think about what the vision meant for her later.

  Farin had been determined to end the danger of the labs before. Now it had become his holy quest. Ember looked around at the Tellox surrounding them and then caught the eyes of her sisters. They did not look any happier than her mate did. But then they had just heard that she would have died in the labs.

  Lyric met her eyes and nodded, anger clear in hers. This needs to end. We will stay with the Tellox and see this through.

  Ember took a deep breath finally nodded her head, happier than she could say that she did not have to immediately lose her family, or force Farin to choose between her and his. And after that?

  Lyric looked from her to Charm and then a moment later something passed between the two women. Charm she could see was close to true rage, something none of them needed in a crowded room. But she was holding on, and whatever passed between her and Lyric she nodded her head in agreement.

  We will stay with the Tellox and find the Galais. Charm's voice finally joined ours. She was not nearly as powerful telepathically as Lyric was, but she could speak over short distances. Her words however were full of the same surety as Lyrics. Then she growled and it was all frustration when she finished. But you need to tell these males to stay out of my space, or I am going to bite someone.

  Ember choked on a laugh, noticing that Celo was standing awfully close to their berserker.

  I would not recommend that, Farin spoke into her mind, the rage of a moment before finally receding enough that his hold on her was no longer painful. He would probably like it.

  She heard Charm’s snort of frustration even as far away as they stood. Celo heard the sound too, because he turned, ran his eyes over every inch of Charm and stepped a half step closer, as if to assure he was close enough to grab her if he needed to. Charm, Ember noted was eying his closer back as if she really wanted to take a bite out of it. Ember bit back a smile, knowing her friend’s looks well enough to know that she really wanted to bite him.

  What will he do when she does bite him? Ember asked Farin, recognizing trouble when she saw it. Charm was not known for her restraint.

  Farin leaned down and licked her shoulder, just over her mate bite. Unlike her other wounds that one had healed with a scar. The rumble of his mind voice was both a tease and a warning. He'll bite her back.

  Ember shuddered in the pleasure of her mates touch then turned wide eyes on Charm, and the Tellox warrior that seemed determined to crowd her. Ember sucked in a breath at the implications. Then spoke her thoughts aloud and with feeling.

  "We are in so much trouble."

  Farin the dark just smiled into his mate’s eyes with a show of sharp teeth, and Ember knew, unlike herself, he was looking forward to it.

  Look for Charm and Celo's story coming soon in: Celo, The Tellox Accords (Book 2)