She turned around slowly and crept back toward the room she'd come from, hugging the front of her thick cloak for comfort. It would be better to hide away, to wait until they arrived on Alpha if she could manage it. She realized she might have to sneak some food or water when her rations ran low. Survival was the goal now. Then, on Alpha, she'd figure out a way to earn a living while she made her availability known to the locals. If Tark had been truthful about the Alphan infertility issue, then she doubted she'd run into any trouble meeting potential partners, or bondmates, as Tark had called them.
"Stop right there."
Thalia sucked in a sharp breath as she went stock still just past the bedroom's doorway. It was time to find out what the Alphans' temperaments were really like.
Chapter Two
There'd been an odd reading on the ship's monitoring system that Glyn hadn't noticed immediately. He'd been too busy focusing on thoughts of his sweet Summer and the rousing welcome home he and Vall were sure to receive from her. It was their first mission so far off world since they'd claimed her as their bondmate. The pictures they'd brought along didn't do much to ease his pining heart or his worries she'd feel abandoned during such a lengthy absence.
But thoughts of home had been shoved aside when he'd noticed the extra life signature on the monitor. Human.
"Put your hands where I can see them. Then turn around slowly," he instructed, using a stern but calm voice. He could see the human's light brown calves and feet below the dark red hem of her dress. The cloak she wore was like nothing he'd ever seen before, woven together from many different brown and black fabrics.
The human revealed her bare arms and raised them up above her hooded head, fingers spread wide, then turned until she faced him. Her wide brown eyes spoke of her fear.
"What is your name?" Glyn asked. No doubt she'd been one of the Xyrans' slaves looking for a permanent escape, but he still felt compelled to confirm his suspicion. "And why are you on our ship?"
"My name," she began softly, uncertainly. She swallowed, licked her lips, and continued with conviction. "My name is Thalia, and I want to go to Alpha and find my own bondmates."
Glyn's eyebrows shot toward the base of his upward curving horns. He'd certainly never heard of bonds proceeding in such a way, but he liked Thalia's boldness. It surprised him, too, that she didn't mention the Xyrans.
"I am Glyn. It's … interesting to meet you, Thalia."
He studied her lovely face, the waves of dark curls inside her hood, and he knew she'd have no difficulties attracting many potential mates on the homeworld. Vall wouldn't be pleased about the situation when he woke, but Glyn couldn't see any other course of action than to continue onward in their return journey. Thalia looked quite healthy, if dirty, yet he knew how terribly their enemies treated their slaves. He couldn't turn the ship around with a clear conscience, not knowing what terrors his Summer had faced at Xyran hands. There was no love to be found between Xyrans and anyone. They were heartless brutes worth nothing but the gems they embedded in their skins.
"Please, relax. But know if you attempt to harm me or my bondmate, Vall, we will restrain you and return you to Earth."
"You're not—thank you." Thalia lowered her arms and pushed her hood back, a weak smile tugging at the corners of her full, bow-shaped lips. Her dark brown eyes roved over him, mapping his physique.
"I'm not going to hurt you," he said, puffing up with pride at her visual assessment. He and Vall were prominent, highly decorated warriors, and he couldn't help basking in appreciation. "Are you hungry? Would you like to bathe?"
"Who are you talking to?" Vall grumbled from the sleeping chamber.
Thalia shot a nervous glance at the open doorway, then stared up at Vall's towering form as he stepped out into the corridor.
"We have a stowaway!" Glyn announced with an amused huff. Human tenacity still awed him in its many different forms. "Her name is Thalia. And she's looking for Alphan bondmates."
"You won't find any here," Vall said, voice gruff, dark brows drawn together in irritation. He scratched at the fresh crescent-shaped scabs on his neck. "We're already bonded."
Thalia's expression faltered, her lips drawing into a tight line.
"Turn the ship around, Glyn," Vall said in their native tongue.
"And return her to that beast? Can you imagine how she'd be treated after escaping?" Glyn stood firm, knowing his bondmate would see he was right. Vall's demeanor may have been tough as armor, but he had a softness in his heart that Glyn and Summer had access to.
Predictably, Vall growled his displeasure, but heaved a sigh after thinking over Glyn's words for a moment. He turned a glare on Thalia and spoke to her in English again.
"Keep quiet while I rest." He turned his glare on his bondmate. "Both of you."
"Come with me," Glyn said in a whisper. He gestured for Thalia to follow him as he opened the door opposite the sleeping chamber and flicked on the lights in the hygiene chamber.
The human followed, looking around the large room they used for bathing while he demonstrated the use of the shower.
"Do you have a clean change of clothes?"
"Yeah, I brought one." Thalia nodded, flashing Glyn a warm smile.
"Good. Take your time washing up. Then come up to the cockpit and we'll eat something." Glyn nodded to her, then headed out of the chamber and closed the door behind him.
Making his way back to his earlier seat at the helm, he wondered how Thalia would be received on Alpha. She might be bombarded with offers of claiming, and, while he hated to think ill of any of his Alphan brethren, he was aware some personalities meshed better than others. Already he could think of several friends who would be poor matches for Thalia's headstrong nature.
He stared out through the view port, watching space and stars as the ship carried them onward toward home. What a story this would be to tell their superiors and friends! A human woman seeking out Alphans. He grinned and picked up the image recorder containing their collection of images from home.
Glyn knew he'd made the right choice. If Thalia desired Alphan mates, then she certainly deserved them.
****
"We received word Vall and Glyn are on their way home. We should see them in two to three days’ time," Lox said with a curt nod. He looked over Summer for, he hoped, the last time until his House brothers were assigned another far-flung mission. She looked well. Healthy. And undeniably with child.
"Oh thank you, Lox! That's wonderful!" Summer clapped her hands together in excitement and looked as if she might launch herself at him in affection. Humans did love to hug, as they called it, but fortunately she refrained, bouncing in place instead.
"Is there anything you require before their return?" Lox hoped not, but he'd made a promise to check on her and help her where needed in her bondmates' absence.
Sometimes containing his jealousy over his brothers' human bondmate was a more difficult battle than reining in his lingering disappointment at his short, pitiful military career. Today he didn't feel capable of managing either. All he wanted to do was return to his flock of dvod, and, if Korsik were in the mood, remind his body it didn't need a female, human or Alphan, to find pleasurable release with a loving companion.
"Nothing I can think of. Thank you. The house is still in order from your visit the other day." Summer shook her head, beaming a bright smile up at him. She looked so much happier and healthier than when she'd arrived.
That was the way with all of the human women he'd encountered, though. Each one was made stronger by their bond just as the Alphans gained strength in the same way. Summer, with her flaxen hair, seemed to radiate with delight any time she was near her lovers or mentioned them in conversation.
Lox couldn't take any more of the heart-wrenching look of love in her eyes. His envy was too heated, roiling within him like a threatening storm cloud.
"Let us know if you need anything." He nodded in goodbye, then quickly turned and left.
It was onl
y a short ride on his kaballu down the winding road, across property lines, and past rolling fields littered with grazing dvod before Lox was home, yet he didn't feel any less miserable. He tried to console himself by checking on the newest additions to his flock: three cream colored dvod who loved to bounce over one another and bump playfully into his legs. But it didn't provide more than a temporary reprieve from his dark emotions.
"Into the pen with you, Iva," Lox said to the last little dvod he'd given an inspection. Her wiggly nose, bright eyes, and tall ears looked clean and healthy, as did each of the thick claws and pads on her four triple-toed feet. Soon she'd grow great spiral horns and provide long, soft fur for weaving into cloth, just like her parents.
When he turned around he spotted Korsik hobbling around the side of the barn without use of his cane. A scowl settled over Lox's face. That stubborn idiot was going to fall and injure himself.
"What are you doing?" Lox called out as he marched toward him, ire reaching a fever pitch.
"Coming to see our new children. They're over a week old now," Korsik called back, calm as ever. He smiled brightly, moving one leg at a time, keeping most of his weight on his good leg and taking his merry time.
It had been a year since they'd failed, since Korsik had almost lost his leg—and his life. Lox couldn't bear the thought of any harm coming to his bondmate anymore. It wasn't like when they'd been warriors. Not now that he'd come too close to losing the only lover he'd ever have. How other men carried on after such a loss, how they continued to face the mortal danger to their bonded … Lox would never know. He didn't care to. So what if he'd been branded a coward by many of his peers? He'd done his duty, served his time defending his people. Now Korsik needed him, whether the bastard would admit it or not.
"I meant what are you doing without your cane?"
Korsik tilted his head and gestured toward himself in the silent way he often did when he wanted assistance. Lox lifted Korsik's arm and draped it over his shoulder, then slung his own arm around his bondmate's waist to better support him. He'd slimmed down considerably, losing much of the bulk of his muscles thanks to his injury, returning to the lean, athletic build of his early youth.
"I don't need it, see?" Korsik smirked as they began walking together, moving a little faster than he'd been able to manage on his own. "I have you."
"This from the man who insists he can do everything on his—"
"I can. I do. But you look like you'll take my head off if I don't let you help."
Lox couldn't argue with that. He did feel like taking something's head off.
"What's angered you today? You didn't run into Javek or Belten, did you?" Korsik pulled his arm from around Lox and took the last two steps to the fence on his own. He leaned against the wood and grinned when he caught sight of the three young dvod hopping about and chasing one another.
"No, not today." Thinking of the pair of them, former brothers in arms during their training years and onto the battlefield, put a fresh scowl on Lox's face. They wanted to pick a fight Lox knew he couldn't win. He'd tried his best to keep up his strength, to train daily in addition to his work with the livestock, but he was no match for two active warriors. Not alone.
"You need to let go of this fantasy of a human bondmate. It's not healthy." Korsik turned his head to the side to glance at Lox through the long sweep of black hair. "I've disgraced us. I still struggle to accept this reality, but we have to move on together."
"We should have challenged them for Summer when they—"
"We agreed our friendships and our lives were more important."
"You wouldn't have nearly died if Summer had become our bondmate!" Lox bellowed.
Several dvod bleated in surprise and scattered away from the fence.
Korsik turned, one elbow still braced against the fence as he shot Lox a tired look. "You're infatuated with her. Vall made mention of it before he left. That's why he asked you to check in on her, because he knows you care for her and respect their bond."
Shouting had helped relieve a little of the tension raging inside Lox's head, but Korsik's words weren't a comfort. A friendship should have been more than enough with the woman. She'd been through much, had worked through her trauma with the strength of an Alphan. Perhaps her transformation, her strength and loving nature were what he admired and desired most. An ideal. Whatever it was that made him see her with longing eyes, he would have to strive harder to quash it.
"Help me back to the house," Korsik said. He began to walk off, one stiff-legged step at a time, until Lox hurried to his side.
The short trek to the house was silent, which Lox appreciated more than he wanted to admit. Korsik had a way of antagonizing him in the gentlest manner possible. He meant well, and it often helped Lox to work out his tangle of emotions, but it just as often led to Lox shouting, then apologizing. Silence was much safer. He'd been enough of a fool for one day.
****
"You've been working all morning here, and then you rode to visit Summer. Let me wash you. It'll help you relax," Korsik said as they shucked their boots at the back entry to the house. He gripped the doorframe to the kitchen with one hand and manhandled his bad leg back to a neutral position with a poorly disguised wince.
The pain never left, not entirely, but most days he could ignore the dull ache. Other times the pain would flare as sharp, shooting throbs through the scarred muscles below his right knee. He'd been warned the pain might never disappear completely. It was his penance, he felt, for being an inferior warrior. Even death in battle would have been more valiant, more honorable. Instead, his hesitation had allowed the enemy to escape with an Alphan ship and he'd been crippled.
"Is it bad today? You should rest while I clean up." Lox's pale golden eyes fixed on him with intense concern.
"I won't allow my leg to dictate what I do anymore than I'll allow you," Korsik said and locked eyes with his bondmate, jaw set in grim determination. A Xyran might defeat him, but his body wouldn't.
He hobbled off, taking his time even though he'd have rather breezed past Lox to hit home his point, but that wasn't the way he moved anymore. Now he limped. And he could limp with dignity on his own, the void take that stupid cane.
Lox stalked off ahead of him to their modest hygiene chamber. It was much cozier than the sleek version they'd enjoyed on their ship for so many years.
At first he'd hated the small house and its sprawling fields. The low stone wall along the cobblestone path from the entry road had been in disrepair. The wooden fencing around the dvod paddocks had been eaten through by weather and pests. It was as if their deteriorated lives and Korsik's wounded body had manifested in their future dwelling.
But they'd used the necessary repairs to keep themselves busy. The property had truly become theirs, and their modest little fiber farm had finally begun to support itself after eating up most of the remains of their battle spoils.
By the time Korsik rounded the corner into the hygiene chamber, Lox had already disrobed and stood beside the large tub as it filled, head bowed, long hair hanging like a curtain beside his face. It had been his choice to let his hair continue growing until it reached the middle of his broad back, and Korsik couldn't get enough of running his fingers through it when they bonded or curled together to sleep.
He discarded his clothing, placing it on the table holding the washbasin. With his leg protesting off and on, he didn't want to have to squat or bend to pick his things up off the floor later. Listening to the rush of warm water, he stepped up behind Lox and admired the handsome expanse of his golden back.
Lox cut the water off and turned, eyes still angry, but his expression resigned. "Do you want help in?"
"Yes, I do." Korsik loved that his bondmate didn't ask if he needed help in. He already knew the answer to that question.
It took some careful maneuvering to get into the tub without slipping and settle with Lox's body between his legs. Korsik wasted no time grabbing a clean washrag from the hook on the
wall and began to soap it liberally. The warmth of the water and Lox's body seeped into him, helping him relax as he ran the soapy rag over the muscles of Lox's tense back.
"You keep all this anger inside … it isn't healthy," he commented absently.
"I have no enemies to vanquish with it," Lox grumbled, hunching his shoulders for a moment before he tried to relax into Korsik's firm touch.
"You've become your own enemy." Korsik felt Lox tense again under his steady scrubbing. This wasn't the right way to get him to calm down, but he did know another way. His favorite way. He let his hands slip around Lox's sides to the hard plane of his stomach. One hand dipped below the water to wrap around Lox's flaccid member and stroke teasingly.
A hitched sigh escaped Lox's throat as he leaned back against Korsik's chest, head tilted back against his shoulder. Lox's body still felt rigid, taut, but it wouldn't last for long. Korsik stroked his hand faster, reveling in the feel of his lover's staff growing at his expert command, challenging his grip with its girth. His own staff rose to expectant attention beneath the water, stuck between his stomach and Lox's back. Experimentally, he rolled his hips upward to find some much needed friction of his own, but pain shot through his leg and he stilled with a grunt.
"Don't push yourself if it's bothering you," Lox grumbled. He leaned back more firmly, pinning Korsik to the tub wall.
A different sort of grunt rumbled in Korsik's throat at the hard press of skin against skin. He shoved his free hand down between them to awkwardly adjust his package, ignoring Lox's words. If he stopped pushing himself, how would he know if he was capable of anything?
"Stop worrying about me," Korsik murmured in Lox's ear while he resumed stroking the thick shaft in his hand. His fingertips traced circles over the flared edge of Lox's corona, then slipped back down in the tight grip he loved.
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