Angondra Holiday Special

by Ruth Anne Scott

  Turk raised his eyebrow. “Both our peoples have too much to lose to fall into petty bickering.”

  Jaro nodded again. “If you follow me, I’ll conduct you and your mate to Renier.”

  Chris stiffened, but before she could correct him, he walked away into the rocks. His friends went on ahead, with Manu in front. Turk and Chris came last with their hands still clasped. “I thought you said they were no threat to us.”

  “They aren’t,” he murmured back. “They have orders to watch the border, but they won’t risk hostilities.”

  “He called you Alpha,” Chris pointed out.

  “I am Alpha,” Turk replied.

  “You’re secondary,” Chris returned. “Caleb is Alpha.”

  “I am as Alpha as Caleb will ever be,” Turk replied. “If he so much as breaks his ankle, I am Alpha. The Felsite know that. They don’t know I’m here to indulge the whim of a human woman to chase some impossible fantasy. For all they know, I’m here on business that affects all Angondra. They won’t turn me away.”

  “He thinks I’m your mate,” Chris pointed out. “Why didn’t you correct him?”

  “You are my mate,” Turk murmured.

  “Don’t fool yourself,” Chris snapped. “One night doesn’t make me your mate.”

  “What do you call it?” he asked. “We call it mating.”

  Chris grimaced. “It wasn’t anything more than a bit of harmless fun. It doesn’t make me your mate.”

  To her disgust, he chuckled under his breath. “Words. Nothing but words. You can twist them around every way you want.”

  “Believe what you want to believe, Loverboy,” Chris shot back. “I’m not your mate, and I never will be.”

  Turk let it go at that, but for some reason, she didn’t let go of his hand. The farther they traveled into Felsite territory, the more she held onto him. She wasn’t scared, so why did she stick close to him? If he wasn’t her mate, why did she reserve this bond in the face of the unknown?

  The Felsite scouts led them through the pass, but Turk and Chris could have found their way alone. There was only one path winding through sheer granite defiles. The wind moaned between the cliffs. Voices murmured from every direction, sometimes sobbing, sometimes chuckling, and sometimes singing. Chris glanced one way and then another, but nothing surrounded them but blank stone.

  Turk paid the noise no mind. He kept his attention on Manu. The big orange-haired scout put as much distance between himself and the rest of the party as he could, and when they broke out of the defile into open country, he put on speed and left the party in the dust.

  “Where’s he going?” Chris asked.

  “No doubt he’s on his way to report his friend to Renier,” Turk replied. “He’ll tell all about how his friend stopped him from attacking me and then disarmed him. He’ll try to get his friend disciplined and removed from duty. That sort of thing happens all the time.”

  “Has it happened with the Lycaon, too?” she asked.

  He nodded. “I had to remove someone from duty once. One of my lieutenants attacked an Avitras who crossed our border. The Avitras landed in a tree near their outpost, and my lieutenant threw his hammer at it. He struck it in the head and killed it instantly.”

  “Oh my God!” Chris exclaimed.

  Turk nodded. “Afterwards, we found out the Avitras was Aquilla’s cousin, and he’d come to warn us about a river in flood that threatened to wipe out one of our villages. A logjam of rocks and tree trunks gave way in Avitras territory, and the water was rushing down the valley toward our village. Because my lieutenant killed the messenger, we didn’t find out in time. The village was destroyed, and Aquilla was furious.”

  “What happened?” she asked. “Did you go to war over it?”

  “Thank the stars Aquilla is a sensible man,” he replied. “When Caleb told him I removed the man from duty, he let the incident go. He said any of us could have made the same mistake, and his cousin should have given us fair warning instead of landing in a tree near our scouts’ heads the way he did.”

  “He does sound like a sensible man,” Chris remarked.

  “He would have been within his rights to launch a war against us,” Turk went on. “None of us can afford to make a mistake like that. I’m sure Renier will exonerate our friend Jaro when he learns the full story.”

  Chris shook her head. “I thought you people were peaceful. I didn’t know you were on the brink of war all the time.”

  He shrugged. “Hostilities come and go. It’s everybody’s responsibility to keep the peace.”

  At that moment, they rounded a corner in the rocks and Chris looked out over a million miles of waving grassland. The sun dipped toward the horizon and cast a golden glow over the landscape. Chris paused and admired the scene. The sun glinted gold off a shiny surface in the distance.

  “That’s Melnili,” Turk told her.

  “Mel—what?” Chris asked.

  “Melnili,” he repeated. “It’s Renier's city. The sun is shining off the windows.”

  “Windows!” Chris breathed. “I never imagined any place on this wretched planet would have windows.”

  Turk didn’t answer, but when she turned to go on, she found him studying her. “Is it really that important?”

  “The windows?” She shook her head and turned away. “I only meant......”

  “If it is that important to you,” he went on, “you could stay with the Felsite. I’m sure Carmen would arrange it for you. She would be happy to have you there.”

  Chris closed her eyes. “It’s not that important. I’m just surprised. That’s all.”

  He watched her walk after the Felsite scouts toward that golden plain. She didn’t look back, but after a moment’s hesitation, his undeniable presence approached her from behind. He didn’t take his place at her side again, but followed at her heels in silence.

  Chris didn’t turn around, and they walked all the way down the hill and across the broad landscape without a word. She would have to get away from him sooner or later. His presumption set her blood boiling. Who did he think he was to assume they were mated, after one brief fling in the forest night? He obviously didn’t know the first thing about liberated human females.

  If she couldn’t get off this planet or encountered some technical delay and if Renier and Carmen offered her a place in the Felsite city, maybe she should take it. She ought to end this nonsense with Turk at the first available exit.

  The sun sank below the grass. The sky turned from gold to royal purple to blue to star-studded black, and still they walked. The scouts showed no sign of fatigue, and neither did Turk. They could walk forever and never get tired. Chris kept her exhaustion hidden as best she could. She wouldn’t let them rescue her from herself.

  By the time the sun set, Manu was out of sight. The twinkle of light from the faraway city disappeared into oblivion, and Chris put the city out of her mind. They had a long way to go before they reached it.

  Full dark descended over the plain, but the men didn’t stop to rest. Chris kept her eyes open for a likely camping spot, but they only marched on and on without so much as a mouthful of water. She gasped and swallowed, but she refused to complain. Whatever they could handle, she could handle. She would march on as long as they did, and she wouldn’t stop until they did.

  Chapter 11

  Chris huddled down into herself against the wind howling off the plain. It set her teeth chattering and flattened the grass underfoot. The men didn’t notice. Not one of them so much as shuddered. Turk strode at Chris’s side with his sharp eyes fixed on the skyline.

  His hand warmed her arm. When did they start holding hands again? She couldn’t remember. She lost track of where they were or how far they’d gone, but he could see in the dark. She could only trust him and let him lead her.

  What waited for her at the city? Would Renier and Carmen welcome her the way everybody assured her they would? They might kill her and
Turk and throw them into the river. They might not care if they started a war with Caleb. In fact, they might want to do exactly that. She couldn’t think of any reason why they would, but anything was possible. She had to be ready for anything.

  All at once, Turk stiffened at her side. Chris snapped alert, and her eye scanned the darkness on all sides. She didn’t see anything, but a clang shattered the stillness. Ahead of them, Jaro stopped in the middle of the path. Chris would have collided with him if Turk hadn’t stopped in time.

  “What is it?” she whispered.

  The clang echoed over the plain again. Jaro sighed and started walking again. “They’re sounding the warning bell.”

  Chris strained her ears to listen. Even at that distance, shouting voices and banging metal struck her ear. Her hackles rose, and she searched the dark for the spot where the sun shone off the city’s windows. “Will they come after us?”

  Turk set off after Jaro. He gave her arm a tug and she followed him. “It doesn’t mean anything. It only means Manu has arrived. They have to arm the parapet against strangers.”

  Chris gasped. “Arm the parapet! But we’re two people. We can’t attack the whole city.”

  He shrugged. “They have to. I’m sure Manu filled their heads full of a bunch of nonsense about the Lycaon breaching their border. They have to prepare. When Renier finds out who’s really coming, he’ll sack Manu and that will be the end of our problems.”

  At that moment, a deafening explosion crashed across the plain. Lights blasted through the darkness and lit up the landscape. In a blaze of millions of lights, a phalanx of warriors streamed out from behind the city walls and flooded the plain.

  Chris froze in her tracks. She never realized the city was so close. What happened to all those miles and miles of empty plain? Yet here she was, virtually at the Felsite's doorstep, and they sent armed troops to block her passage.

  One Felsite stood head and shoulders above the others. He swung an enormous blade above his head and bellowed orders to his troops. Chris couldn’t take her eyes off him. His golden mane blazed in the light and set off his teeth shining between his lips. This could only be Renier, the Alpha Felsite.

  Turk steered her forward, but she couldn’t move. Every fiber screamed to flee. Only Turk’s hand kept her in place. The phalanx formed a rank in front of them, and the warriors menaced the newcomers with their weapons.

  Jaro strode forward and hailed the formation. He walked right between the warriors’ spears and approached Renier. Renier jumped down from the parapet and he lowered his blade to his side. His eye swept over his scouts, and when he spotted Turk and Chris, he frowned.

  Turk followed Jaro into the midst of the troops. Chris quavered in her shoes. Jaro and Turk could walk through those spears like they weren’t there, but she couldn’t. Turk pulled at her hand again, and when she didn’t move, he dragged her forward. This was no time to lose heart, but she couldn’t force herself to advance.

  Renier observed them with hard eyes. Jaro murmured into his ear, and he nodded. When Turk finally managed to guide Chris toward him and stop next to Jaro, Renier surveyed them up and down. “What’s the meaning of this? Why do you breach our border and invade our territory? You should know better, Lycaon.”

  Turk jerked his head toward Chris. “You see this Earth female? She belongs to the same people as your mate, Alpha Felsite.”

  Renier clenched his fists. “I can see that as well as you can. So why is she here, facing off with all my troops? I hope you have a good reason for this.”

  Turk shrugged. “You know yourself these females don’t settle here easily. This woman wants to find a way back to her home world. She comes to consult your mate about how to do it.”

  Renier glared at Chris. “There is no way off this planet.”

  “She would only believe that coming from one of her own kind,” Turk replied.

  “Then why doesn’t she believe it coming from your Alpha’s mate?” Renier asked.

  Turk snorted. “She won’t believe it coming from anyone who believes it. She must dedicate her life to finding a way, and when she fails, she still won’t believe it.”

  Renier stared at him. Then he turned to Chris. “Tell me this isn’t true. Tell me even you wouldn’t be so foolish as this.”

  Chris blushed. “I know it sounds crazy, but...”

  “It sounds more than crazy,” he replied. “There is no way off this planet. Why won’t you believe it?”

  “There’s no way off this planet because no one has tried.” Once the words started coming out, they wouldn’t stop. No amount of telling herself to be respectful and prudent could stop them now. “There has to be a way if we only try to find it.”

  He fixed her with a hard stare. Then he glanced at Turk. Turk shrugged again, but didn’t say anything.

  Renier sighed. “I see. Then you’d better come with me.” He turned on his heel and headed toward the city ablaze with light. But the warriors didn’t move.

  Chris hesitated. “What about... them?”

  No one answered her. Turk headed through the formation of warriors after Renier, leaving Chris no choice but to follow him. The troops held their ranks with their weapons at the ready as Chris wound her way up through a gap in the wall and into the Felsite city.

  Renier disappeared through a door, and when Chris arrived at it, she found it led to a staircase climbing up through walls of solid brick. She touched the surface with her hand and almost burst into tears. She never thought she’d get back to a real city. Could she feel at home here? If she couldn’t settle in the Lycaon’s crude village, maybe this was the place for her after all.

  Turk climbed the stairs in front of her and turned into another door. Chris’s footsteps filled the staircase, but she couldn’t take her hand off those bricks. They comforted her more than Turk’s hand. She never wanted to take her hand off them.

  The door at the top landing led into a clean, well-lighted room with a platform of hewn wood along one wall. Mellow tanned animal skins covered it, and Renier sat on it with one leg folded under him. A wooden table sat in the middle of the room, but Chris couldn’t see any other furniture.

  A woman sat cross-legged next to Renier. She wore her jet-black hair in a short bob around her neck and ears, which made her look even smaller and more fragile next to her giant mate. She smiled at Chris.

  Renier spoke first. “So here you are. You wanted to tell Carmen about your idea to leave the planet. Now you can tell her.”

  Carmen motioned to the platform. “Come and sit down. Tell us all about how you got here.”

  Turk shifted from one foot to the other. He turned to Chris. “You’re here, so I’ll be going.”

  Chris spun around. “What? You can’t go!”

  Turk waved toward the platform. “You’ll be safe now.”

  She grasped his hand. “Stay here. You don’t have to leave.”

  He shook his head. “This is no place for me. I don’t belong here.”

  “They won’t harm you,” Chris insisted. “You’re the Alpha of your faction. They have to respect you and give you safe passage.”

  His eyes shifted around the room. She never saw him so uncomfortable. “I don’t belong here. These walls... ” He glared at them. Those walls were his enemies, more than any hostile faction. “I can’t stay here. I belong to the woods.”

  She tried to hold him back. “Don’t leave, Turk. Stay here.”

  He dislodged his hand from hers and withdrew to the other side of the room. “You’ll be safe now. You’re where you belong, and it’s time I went back where I belong.”

  A lump stuck in Chris’s throat. He must have seen the way she touched those brick walls. She didn’t want to leave them. If she stayed with the Felsite, she wouldn’t have any further need of him. He understood that better than she did.

  Chris blushed with shame. She thought she kept those thoughts of ditching him at the first opportunity hidden
in her own heart and mind. But she didn’t count on his ability to read her body language. He knew all along how much she wanted to dump him the first time she found a protector to take his place.

  Now he was dumping her instead. She pleaded with him with her eyes, but he walked to the door. He glanced back at her before he disappeared. “I hope you find what you’re looking for.” Then he was gone.

  Chris stared at the empty place where he used to be. She would never find what she was looking for, now that he was gone. She thought she was looking for a way off this planet, when she was looking for him all along. What would she do without him?

  What good were her horses back home without the solid foundation he gave her? None of it meant anything, especially not some city with windows. How could she be so shallow, so ignorant? He trekked halfway across the planet to support her, even when he knew her quest was hopeless and vain.

  Why did he bother? It sure wasn’t out of curiosity, to find out what she would do. He said that to set her at ease, so he wouldn’t have to tell her to her face that he cared about her and respected what she was trying to do. That would only embarrass her and send her running in the opposite direction. He understood her better than she understood herself.

  And now he was gone. Leaving was the surest way he could show her what they had between them. She would never value him until she lost him. Now all she cared about was getting him back. She would trek all the way back to Lycaon territory to find him and win his heart again.

  Chapter 12

  Chris turned away from that door. Her heart ached, but she wouldn’t show Carmen and Renier that. She could barely look them in the eye.

  Carmen and Renier waited on their platform. What would they think of her exceptional rudeness? “Come sit down,” Carmen called. “We have a lot to talk about.”

  Renier shifted his weight on the platform. He studied Chris for a moment. Then he stood up. “I better leave you two alone. You probably want to talk in private.”