A warm sensation washed through Drakor. He had images of Erin holding a baby, chasing after a toddler, tickling Sitora. Images of her pregnant body enfolded in his arms.
No!
Drakor threw his head back against the tree trunk. A blast of pain ricocheted through his skull.
“Is she coming over again?”
He didn’t want her to, but he knew she would. He never told her not to come. And since she was investigating them, she was due to return soon. He should have told her something to keep her away. But he needed her. His body needed her contact. And needed to see if she could help him locate Alaziri.
She is not like some of the other females on this planet who can mate without giving something of themselves. Erin will be heartbroken when you are gone from here.
Even if it were true, he couldn’t worry about that. He couldn’t let Erin discover who they really were. He couldn’t let himself get lost in her embrace again.
“She isn’t coming, is she?” Sitora said, blinking up at him.
“I don’t know. We may be gone from here if she does come.”
“I want her to come with us.”
Drakor managed a smile. “That’s not possible.”
“Why not?”
“We cannot bring a human back to Elliac with us.”
“Why not?”
“Because they don’t belong there.”
“We don’t belong here.”
He sighed. “It isn’t the same. We are only staying a short time. And we’ve come for a reason.”
“She can come for a reason and only stay a short time. You can bring her back.”
“It isn’t that simple.”
“Why not?”
“Because it isn’t. Sitora, you are too little to understand. Humans belong on Earth and we belong on Elliac. That’s the way it is.” Unless a child of mixed heritage comes back inside the belly of a sacrificial Elliacian.
She crossed her chubby arms over each other. “It doesn’t have to be that way. You are just being mean.”
Drakor glared at her, his exasperation bubbling. “I am not being mean. I just know more than you.”
She put her nose in the air and stomped away. “If you really liked Erin,” she said over her shoulder. “You would ask her to come back with us.”
If he really liked Erin, he couldn’t leave without her.
Sitora wandered around to the front of the house and Drakor watched her go. What else was there to do? Ankra would not say whether or not she had been able to convince Greg to leave off the condom. In fact, his sister did nothing but weep most of the day. And yet, she insisted that she’d rather sacrifice her body, her future, her very father so that she could help Elliac.
“Drakor!”
He looked up at the sound of his mother’s voice. She called to him from the other side of the house. Immediately, he could see lines on her face deepened and the weak pallor of her skin. She looked about as ill as Father.
He hurried over to her. “What is it?”
“Your father. He is calling for you. You must come now.”
Drakor sighed and followed her inside the house. He passed a weeping Ankra sitting on the top step and a shuffling Brundor near their bedroom.
Inside his parents’ bedroom his father lay on the bed, his face shining and as white as the Earth clouds outside. Dark circles rimmed his glassy eyes and his chest rose and fell with too rapid a pace. The smell of sickness punctured the air and Drakor swallowed.
He moved close to his father’s side and knelt down next to the bed. “I am here, Father. You’ve called for me?”
“Drakor…” He reached his shaking hand out and Drakor took it in his own, ignoring its coldness.
“I am here.”
“You must take my place. Be the leader…the leader of this mission.”
“I do not have the same values as you, Father. I cannot jeopardize the rest of the family for this. Is it not enough that we might lose you?”
His father winced. “I am already lost. I would have been lost on Elliac. You must save our world.” He stopped and closed his eyes briefly. “It is up to you to bring back what the Researchers need.”
A hot flush of anger bloomed in Drakor’s chest. Human genes could not be the answer to their problems. How can a culture, a people, so vastly primitive, have what they don’t?
“We will be discovered if we stay longer, Father.”
He tried to shake his head. “You must prevent it. You cannot return home until-until it is complete.”
Drakor let his father’s hand drop. “Erin is a journalist and she suspects we are not as we seem. She could expose us.” But would she? After last night, would she tell the world what she learned?
“You will do what-whatever it takes to keep her away.”
“What if I can’t?”
“Then you will become Alaziri. All of this will be for nothing.”
Drakor stood, pain and outrage feuding in his heart. Everyone first thought Erin was his Mharai, now she was his enemy.
“Call the family in here,” his father croaked. “I must say my good-byes.”
Drakor forced down the lump rising in his throat and waved his family in. They gathered around the bed—Mother and Ankra crying and clutching hands and Brundor staring down at his feet. But where was his littlest sister?
“Where is Sitora?” Drakor glanced about the room.
No one seemed to hear as Father rasped out a few words of good-bye and that he would one day see them on the far side of the Sun. Drakor started for the door to find Sitora, when a sudden gasp blew from Father’s mouth.
Mother wailed and threw herself across his body. Ankra sank to her knees and put her head on Father’s arm. Brundor turned away, his shoulders sagging.
Drakor stared at them, his own heart falling for the man he never agreed with. This man who was his father. Then the ghostly image of the rainbow flickered before his eyes. A tragedy prophesied to the viewer. Father was dead and he was now in charge of this mission. If he stayed on Earth, how many other tragedies would ensue? If he returned home immediately, how much disgrace would shadow his family?
With his birth anniversary a few days away, was peace lost to him forever?
Chapter Thirteen
Drakor turned to leave the room, his family’s overpowering emotions choking him. Right now he could not grieve, he could not mourn. Not now anyway. There were more important matters to attend to.
“No, don’t go!”
It was Mother. Her dark, wet eyes implored him. Tear tracks scattered among the lines and wrinkles on her face and her bottom lip trembled. She reached out her hand.
“You must help me. Drakor, my son.”
He held his breath, every muscle rigid, anticipating her next words with dread. “Help you?”
She nodded and gripped Father’s gray hand. “I cannot stay here without him.”
Exactly what he feared. Drakor squeezed his eyes closed and released his breath in a hiss. The dull ache inside of his skull continued to pulsate. “You don’t have to do this, Mother. We are here for you.”
“He is my Mharai. We are meant to be together.” She sniffled. “Always.”
Drakor leaned against the doorframe. “That doesn’t mean you have to forfeit your life when he is gone.”
Her weeping began again in earnest. “You don’t understand the feeling. The connection. If you find your Mharai, then you will understand. You won’t want to ever be separated.”
Even his own mother thought he would never find his destined mate. Why would she? She knew nothing of his relationship with Erin, but she knew full well how soon the anniversary of his birth was.
Despite her plea, he could not help her kill herself. “I cannot do it.”
Ankra rose from her spot beside the bed. She planted herself before him. “You would deny Mother her last wish as you denied Father his?”
Drakor set his jaw. “I did not deny Father his wish. I feared we would be expos
ed if we remained here much longer.”
“I just need more time. And you should tell Erin the truth. If she really cares for you, she won’t reveal us.”
Tell Erin the truth? Just hand a journalist the story that aliens were on her doorstep, that she mated with an alien and so did her brother. He couldn’t trust a human with information like that. Not even Erin.
“We will remain until you are pregnant and not a moment sooner, even if I have not found Alaziri. No one will reveal who we are or why we are here.” He looked over at Brundor, who had sunk against the windowpane. “No one.”
Ankra crossed her arms. “Are you going to help Mother, or not?”
He wouldn’t let himself glance over at his mother, still leaning against her mate’s legs. He couldn’t bear to see the pain and entreaty on her face. “I cannot take part in her death. It was hard enough to be forced to take part in Father’s.”
Ankra’s voice hardened. “Then I will do it and you can be the coward that you are.”
Heat flared at Drakor’s ears and his pulse intensified. “First I have no allegiance and now I am a coward. You should watch your tongue, sister.”
Her eyes challenged him. “And you should care more about others than yourself sometimes.”
“I care a great deal about this family. That is the whole reason I did not want to come, why I want to go. We are in danger here. Why does no one recognize this but me?”
She shook her head. “But your family is not worried about this the way you are. We believe in the mission. We feel it is an honor.”
“You are only worried about not finding your Mharai,” Brundor said from across the room. “If your birth anniversary were not so close, you would not be so concerned.”
Ankra’s raised eyebrow showed she agreed. Let them think he only worried for his own peace and happiness. He knew better, he knew he worried for their safety. They didn’t have to like him. They didn’t have to agree with him. They only had to follow him.
Drakor went over to Mother and took her hands. He helped her to stand. Her watery eyes asked for his compassion. He wanted to give it, he wanted to understand. But would he ever feel that way? Would he ever find his true Mharai and know the intimate bond?
He kissed both of her wet cheeks. “Join him on the far side of the Sun.”
A small smile curved her lips. “You will look after Sitora?”
“Of course.”
She clenched his fingers. “Do not let our deaths be in vain. Complete the mission, bring us back to Elliac with honor.”
He kissed her forehead and took a step back from her, a sigh swallowed in his throat. “I will do my best,” was the only truthful thing he could say.
Drakor glared at his sister, who returned the stare and then headed for the dresser. Brundor challenged him for only a moment and then shifted his gaze away. Had he divided them? Had his refusal to give Mother her Mharai-death driven his family from him?
They were all that he had left now. Ankra, Brundor, and Sitora. In two more Earth days his birth anniversary would come, making him thirty Elliac sun-cycles. Making him past the age of finding his mate.
Why should either of these two care? Ankra still had many cycles to go and Brundor had not even had his Crossing yet.
He growled, disgusted at their willingness to end another person’s life. Maybe he really didn’t belong with any of them.
“Brundor!”
His brother turned to face him. The small gleam of trepidation pleased Drakor. At least he still held power over one of his siblings.
He tossed his crystal pad over. “Activate the shuttlecraft.”
“Now?”
“Yes, now. How else will we keep them until we can return home?” He waved a hand over to the bed, indicating his parents. Mother still lived and his heart tore at referring to her as dead. But he could not change her mind.
“What is the code?”
Drakor rattled off the code and the craft appeared outside the window. He knew it was risky. Erin or Greg could stop over at any time. Especially since this day was at week’s end, when many humans did not have to work.
But what else could he do? He had to preserve his parents’ bodies until they could return home and give them a proper burial. Earth’s atmosphere would not permit proper preservation. His only choice was to bring them onto the shuttle. As soon as possible.
His throat tight and dry, Drakor tried to swallow but couldn’t. He took a last look at Father’s still form, lying lifeless on the four-poster bed. Then, at Mother, whose tearful eyes yearned for her peace. She would rather be dead than be without him.
That must be the true test of finding one’s Mharai. No matter how Erin made him feel with desire or contentment, he could easily live without her. Couldn’t he?
An unknown weight lifted from him. He had been right all along. She was not his lifemate.
He pulled his gaze away from Mother, his eyes blurring, and spoke to the other two. “Come find me when you need my help to move them to the shuttle.”
Then, he turned from the room and went to look for Sitora.
Erin threw her keys on her kitchen counter and dropped the grocery bags to the floor. Okay, so she couldn’t stop thinking about Drakor. Who could forget such mysterious, steamy eyes? Just about any woman would have heart palpitations watching his thick, muscled body move. Like a lion on the prowl.
She opened up the fridge and put away the milk, eggs, and yogurt. Man, her fridge was bare. It’s a wonder she had anything to eat all week. Okay, so he distracted her. But really she needed this story. No doubt Rita was nearly done with hers. She just couldn’t go back to being a nobody again. Not after what she went through before. She’d worked too long and hard at this po-dunk paper to make something of herself again. After this spread, she’d be able to get out of here and have a life in the big city again.
Erin shoved the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in the freezer. The blast of cold air woke her from her daze.
She had to do more research on that Victorian and on the death of John Doe. The two just had to be connected. Mysteries and secrets like that were not mere coincidences. Not in her book anyway.
Erin grabbed her keys again.
The floor at her office building seemed deserted when Erin got off the elevator. She went past the rows of metal desks until she reached her own. Her usual pile of papers and folders stood next to her computer monitor. Some new junk mail lay on her chair and she tossed it in the trash.
She bent under the desk to flip on the power strip. Bam! Erin jumped at the door slam, banging her head on the desk. Who just came in? Please, don’t let it be Rita. Anyone, but Rita.
The sound of footsteps brought the person close and Erin gradually backed out of the desk and sat up. Bronze, silk capris and a matching white and bronze shirt greeted her eyes. Oh, shit.
“Well, I must say that this is a first. Erin Price in here on a weekend?”
“Don’t you have a hole you can climb into?”
Rita tapped her red manicured nails on the desk. “Touchy, touchy. I happen to be working on my story. And you?”
Erin nibbled her lip. “None of your business.”
Rita raised her tweezed eyebrows. “Everything is my business.”
The nerve of this woman. It would take someone like her to dampen her good mood. Erin felt the corner of her eye tick, that damn annoying reaction to Rita’s presence. “Shouldn’t you be doing something other than bothering me?”
Rita smiled. “I can find something to do. Give me your friend’s phone number and I’ll get busy.”
“My friend?”
“You know, the one from Mickey’s. Mr. Tall, Dark and Extra Hot. The one that was way out of your league, remember?”
Out of her league, huh? It didn’t seem that way last night when tongue was inside her mouth or his hot hands were—
“Dear Lord, are you blushing?”
Erin blinked. “Uh…no.”
“Yes, you were. You have
the hots for him, don’t you? I think Ed in printing is a little more your type.”
Ed. Sloppy, middle-aged, with a comb-over. That was her type? Rita thought she knew everything. Thought she was so smart. Well, this time, Erin had something on her.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Erin stuck her chin in the air.
“Oh?” Rita snapped the gum in her mouth.
“Mr. Tall, Dark, and Extra Hot has been spending quite a bit of time with me, thank you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I’ve been to his place, he’s been to mine. Maybe he’s not so out of my league.”
Rita stopped chewing. “You’re bluffing. There’s no way he’d go for a girl like you.”
Erin grit her teeth. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
She waved her arm in the air with a flair. “Look at you. Short and pale, boring hair, bland face. What would he see in you?”
“He must see something because he spent the night with me last night.”
“That’s a lie.”
“It isn’t, you can ask my brother. Greg knows he was there.”
Erin could swear that she saw Rita blanch. Her mouth dropped open and her perfectly made-up face shifted a few colors. Somehow, offering Greg as a back up was enough to have Rita believe her.
“He slept on your couch, right?”
Erin grinned. “That was last week. Last night he slept in my bed. Well, you know, not really slept…”
Rita straightened her back and sucked in a deep breath. Erin could tell she was not pleased that Drakor actually had an interest in her.
“Don’t get cocky. I have something on your brother that will bring him down. And then you’ll fall right along with him.”
Erin’s stomach pitched. “What do you mean you have something to bring him down? Is your story on him?” Oh God, was she the one who broke into his office?
Rita’s lip curled into a snarl. “There’s something illegal going on in that office and I’m going to expose it.”
Erin gulped. “Whatever it is, Greg can’t possibly have anything to do with it or know about it. You can’t just ruin him.”
The Price of Discovery Page 12