Errol stared at the gun against Hadiza’s head. The Sahr moved, and Errol flinched—belatedly realizing that he hadn’t moved against Hadiza—he’d withdrawn his knife from the other human’s throat.
“I think it is obvious which one has driven you mad, Sin-Haros.” He shifted to stand behind Hadiza, edging the guard away. He kept the electron gun pressed to her temple, and brought the bone blade up so that the point of it pressed against the pulse below her jaw.
Hadiza stiffened. Errol could see faint tremors running through her entire body. Her fear tore him apart.
The other woman struggled against her Scaeven guard, making muffled sounds of fury. Errol didn’t spare her even a glance. His gaze was pinned on the blade point pressing into Hadiza’s neck.
“Stop,” he said hoarsely.
“Lay down the plasma torch.”
Errol hesitated. There was no way to save her if he was unarmed. If he handed his weapon over, the Sahr could simply kill them both. Which he undoubtedly planned to do, regardless.
The blade pressed in—just the barest sliver—but it was enough to break her skin. Hadiza whimpered. Blood welled and slid down the side of her neck.
Errol threw the plasma torch to the ground.
“Let her go,” he pleaded. “Do what you will with me, but give the human to Mor-Talis. He’ll return her to human territory. She’ll never be a threat to you.”
“On your knees, Sin-Haros.”
Errol had no choice but to comply. He sank to his knees, furious, helpless, mind racing. He met Hadiza’s gaze. He had to save her. There was no other option. His gaze swept the bridge, searching for any weakness, any opportunity. The plasma torch lay between Errol and the Sahr. He wouldn’t be able to reach it before the Sahr killed Hadiza—and even if he held the torch in his hands, it was too imprecise. He risked killing Hadiza as surely as the Sahr.
Hadiza’s gaze flickered from side to side, cold, assessing. In a beat of stupefied surprise, Errol realized her fear was an act. No doubt, she was frightened. But this trembling woman was not a docile victim. She wanted the Sahr and his guards to underestimate her. Clever, beautiful creature. Delicate, but not helpless. Fragile, but not broken.
Cold fear still kept him on his toes. At any moment, the Sahr could plunge his knife into her throat or pull the trigger on the electron gun.
“Please,” Errol continued, buying time while he tried to scrape together a plan. “You know she’s my mate. You can’t harm her.” The two guards shifted uneasily. Errol’s words, only intended to stall, fell from his mouth with the heavy toll of a truth he hadn’t fully accepted until now. Hadiza was his mate. Pregnant or not, she was all he wanted. He would do anything to keep her safe, even if it meant sending her away forever. Even if it meant laying down his own life. He looked at her as he spoke to the Sahr. “You cannot harm—”
Hadiza’s eyes widened, her gaze flicking from the electron gun at her temple to the plasma torch on the ground. She raised her eyebrows.
“—another Scaeven’s mate,” Errol continued, trying to read Hadiza’s mind. Something with the electron gun and the plasma torch. “It’s a violation of everything Scaevos stands for. If I know one thing about you, Sahr—”
Hadiza pinned wide, urgent eyes on the plasma torch. She wanted him to get the torch.
He nodded minutely. “—it’s that you are devoted to upholding Scaeven—”
Hadiza sidestepped suddenly. “Their guns don’t work!” she shouted, and then turned and sank her teeth into the Sahr’s forearm.
Errol surged into motion, seizing the plasma torch.
The Sahr bellowed in pain, but with Hadiza’s teeth fastened to his knife-wielding arm, he couldn’t use the blade against her. He swung his arm out, sending her flying across the bridge. It was the last thing he ever did.
Errol aimed the torch and opened the flow valve, sweeping a vicious upward arc.
When he’d sealed the valve, and his eyes adjusted back down to the dimness inside the bridge, the Sahr was dead. The smell of burnt flesh and ozone assaulted Errol’s nose. The patriarch’s body lay in two places, bisected into clean, cauterized halves.
Errol turned the plasma torch on the guard nearest Hadiza, and found the other Scaeven kneeling in the parley posture, electron gun discarded.
“He did not tell us she was your mate.”
Errol turned swiftly, and found the other guard in the same posture. “We were told she had been involved in the disappearance of the Sahr’s grandson’s mate.” The guard glanced at the Sahr’s portioned corpse. “Ah—the Sahr’s son’s mate, now.”
Errol stared grimly at the corpse. With the Sahr dead, his son would take his place—all his social cache, all his wealth, all his property, and his seat on the Council. Errol had just created a new enemy for himself.
But he’d saved Hadiza. He turned to find her crouched on the deck, leaning against a bulkhead and clutching her arm. He went to her, reached for her—
“Ah, careful—” she cautioned, cringing away, rending his heart. “I think my arm is broken.”
A furious snarl tore from his throat. He gently gathered her into his arms, careful of her injury. “If I could kill him again—”
She reached up with her good hand, touching his cheek. “Are they going to take you from me again?”
He’d die first. “We’re leaving Scaevos. Right now.” He moved towards the torched doorway with her. “We’ll shelter on a fugitive planet, figure something out—”
“Wait—we have to get Sofie.”
He had completely forgotten the other human. He turned back to see her backed against the far bulkhead, staring at the Sahr’s charred remains with a distant, horrified expression, hands pressed to her mouth. One of the Scaeven guards had risen to her feet, approaching slowly.
“Get away from her,” Errol snapped.
The Scaeven froze.
“Set me down,” Hadiza said. “Let me get her.”
Loathe to release her, he did so anyway. Every beat that they remained on planet was another in which Enforcement and the military had the chance to show up and take him back into custody. “Hurry.”
Hadiza moved with the urgency he felt. She grabbed the other woman by the wrist, and dragged her towards the door, clutching her injured arm against her body. “Come on, Sofie, we have to get out of here. We have to see if Lyra’s okay.”
That seemed to get through to the stunned woman. She tore her gaze away from the Sahr, and nodded jerkily at Hadiza. Still speechless, she followed numbly as Errol led the way off the ship.
He eased his way out of the damaged loading bay door, only to find Admiral Renier Kir-Thoran waiting for him, with a coterie of four conscriptees standing at his back.
“Errol Sin-Haros,” the admiral said, sounding almost bored. “There are so many reasons I’m arresting you. I think you can guess what they are.”
No matter that the other Scaeven had given him the tip-off to save Hadiza—he’d kill the man and each one of his soldiers before he’d go back into custody. He was taking Hadiza off-planet if he had to grow wings and carry her in a basket. He hoisted the plasma torch in his arms, fingering the release valve. “Killing the Sahr’s probably at the top,” Errol said, careless.
The admiral visibly recoiled. “The Sahr is—” he stared at the wrecked shuttle. “You’ve killed—” he couldn’t seem to get the words out. “Do you understand what you’ve done to yourself, you reckless idiot? Killing a fucking patriarch?”
“He was going to kill my mate.” Errol twisted behind and reached into the shuttle for Hadiza. He sent her gently on the ground beside him, and then reached back for Sofie.
As soon as he pulled the other female from the wreckage, the admiral stiffened. His pupils dilated to narrow black slashes. “No,” he rasped. A low, purring growl reverberated deep in his chest.
The soldiers behind him broke into an eerie, discordant harmony of feral snarls. They fell out of their rigid military postures, crouched i
n hunting stances.
“Get her away from them!” the admiral growled, spinning to intercept the nearest comer as he tried to leap at Sofie. The admiral brought him to the ground, then twisted to kick the legs out from under a soldier who tried to bypass him. He managed to snag the ankle of a third soldier, bringing the young Scaeven crashing to the ground. But, big as he was, he still had only two hands—and wrestling three young soldiers into submission was occupation enough. The fourth soldier broke past the admiral.
Errol stepped into his path, caught him like a runaway ram, and slammed him to the ground. The two guards from the Sahr’s ship appeared at the opening in the loading door, staring at the chaos.
“She’s unmated!” Errol bellowed at them. “Help her!”
The guards leapt down and into the fray, tackling young, unmated soldiers and pinning them.
“The safe room!” Hadiza urged. “We have the plasma torch—there’s no way they can get in.”
Losing time. Every fucking beat of his heart was another beat towards losing Hadiza, losing everything. He needed to get away, He needed a functioning shuttle. He needed—
“Errol!” Hadiza gripped his wrist. “Help me!”
He needed to help her. He scooped her into one arm, then stooped to grab Sofie in the other, he sprinted towards Mor-Talis’ home. Asier’s mate—the pale female who’d aroused so much gossip and speculation at Enforcement headquarters—stood at the back of the tunnel, face taut, a howling infant clutched tightly in her arms. When she saw Errol and the two women in his arms, she slumped against the wall of the tunnel, looking as if her legs might give out beneath her.
“We have to move fast!” Errol barked. “There are five unmated males out there who’ve all got your sister’s scent in their heads.”
Asier’s mate pushed off the wall, steady and straight, and led him through the home, down through the twisting tunnels that led to the safe room. He deposited Sofie inside and shoved the plasma torch into her hands.
“Don’t touch that valve,” he told her, before turning to usher Lyra inside. He slammed the door shut on both of them. “Set the locks, and don’t open them until your mate returns.”
“And when will that be?” Lyra called through the door, sounding less concerned, more furious.
Errol didn’t answer. He shifted Hadiza into both arms, and barreled back through the tunnels.
Outside the home, he found the four soldiers sitting on the ground, in various states of dazed incomprehension. The admiral stood some distance away, braced against the side of his shuttle, shoulders heaving with labored breaths. He turned at the sound of Errol’s approaching footsteps.
“Can you give me a head start?” Errol asked.
The admiral leveled him with a baffled expression. “No,” he said hoarsely, still laboring to overcome the effect of Sofie’s scent.
Wait. Errol straightened. “I didn’t react to Mor-Talis’s ward.”
“Congratulations,” the admiral said dourly. “You’re still under arrest.”
“The matebond is set.” He looked down at Hadiza. Switching to the Creole, he said to her, softly, reverently, “the matebond is set.”
She leaned against him, eyes soft as they searched his. “Does this change anything?”
Errol’s grin spread slowly across his face, growing wider and wider, until he let out a victorious shout of laughter. “It means they can’t charge me with a fucking thing. Defense of a mate is a blanket pardon.”
“How do you intend to prove that you killed the Sahr in defense of your mate?”
“I’ll give testimony,” one of the guards from the Sahr’s ship stepped up. He was bleeding from his nose, and limped as he walked.
“As will I,” the other said, not moving from his spot on the ground, clutching what appeared to be injured ribs.
The admiral considered them both, gaze flat. He turned back to Errol. “Regardless. You’re still under arrest.”
Chapter Twenty
Leo Cluster, NGC 3842
Scaevos Multi-body System, Varan Moon
IG Standard Calendar 236.47.01
“…and how can we ascertain that the human female has truly matebonded with Sin-Haros?” the Justiciar demanded. “Our medical scanners have proved wildly unreliable—both Scaeven and Ravanoth.”
The Ravanoth scanner’s results had been tampered with and destroyed, but they had no way of proving it, and so did not present it as evidence in Errol’s favor.
“There is a non-tech way to determine the matebond,” Asier Mor-Talis said. “Unmated human females elicit a powerful response in unmated Scaeven males. Sin-Haros does not react to unmated human females, and unmated males do not react to his mate.”
“And we are simply meant to take your word for it?”
Asier looked grim. “My ward, Sofie Hallas, has volunteered to demonstrate the effect. We have secured the cooperation of an unmated male whose reputation and integrity should appease the court.”
The justiciar looked skeptical.
“Admiral Renier Kir-Thoran.”
The massive Scaeven strode into the justiciar chamber, looking deeply displeased.
The chief justiciar raised his eyebrows. “Admiral.”
“Justiciar.”
After a considering moment, the chief justiciar sat back. “We will accept the demonstration as evidence.”
Asier glanced at the admiral. “For my ward’s safety, he will have to be contained.”
Kir-Thoran sighed as four mated Enforcement agents clustered around him in a diamond formation.
And then the doors opened and Sofie, surrounded by her own coterie of mated Enforcers, stepped into the space. Kir-Thoran stiffened immediately, and a low, hungry snarl tore from his chest. He surged towards her, then caught himself before the Enforcers had a chance to try to wrestle him back. He gasped several heavy, jagged breaths, unable to break out of the predatory posture.
“You’ve made your point,” he growled. “Now remove her.”
“Note—” Asier said as he nodded at the Enforcers guarding Sofie “—that Sin-Haros has evinced no response whatsoever to her presence—the same as the rest of us, mated males.”
Sofie departed, and as the doors clacked shut behind her, the admiral let out a haggard sigh of relief.
Asier turned to the doors through which Sofie had disappeared. “And now, Sin-Haros’s mate.”
Hadiza entered, unencumbered by any kind of guard. She walked over to the admiral, shouldering between the Enforcers to stand just in front of him. “Admiral,” she greeted him.
“Rour-Errol,” he responded with stiff courtesy.
She turned away from him, and crossed the chamber. She made brief, loving, worried eye-contact with her mate, and then she was out of the room.
All present turned expectantly to the chief justiciar. “It seems,” the elder Scaeven began thoughtfully, “that Errol Sin-Haros has indeed matebonded to the human female, so-called Hadiza Moreau, henceforth Rour-Errol. In observance of this sacred union, the Justiciar is unable to rule on any charges related to the defense of his mate. Errol Sin-Haros—” a heavy silence fell over the chamber “—you are pardoned. Your sentence has been reversed. All property in your possession prior to the initial tribunal will revert again to your ownership. Your rank and authority with Enforcement is restored.” The justiciar stood. “This tribunal has concluded.”
Errol stepped out of the chamber in a daze, barely aware of the congratulatory hands landing on his back, of the well-wishes being spoken to him. He nodded and moved past the others to where a beautiful, brave, cunning, perfect creature stood at the end of the corridor. She turned away from the window when she heard the doors open. Her gaze flew to his, fear and concern writ across her features.
Errol nodded, once. She burst into a trill of beautiful laughter, and ran towards him. Heedless of the eyes on them, he ran to her, catching her in his arms, hauling her up against his body. She kissed him, and he savored the taste of her, the f
eel of her. She was really in his arms, really his. He had her forever.
She broke the kiss, and her soft brown eyes searched his. “The charges were dropped? You’re free?”
He nodded. “Full pardon, rourra. Now you’ll never be rid of me.”
Like the other Scaeven homes she’d seen, Errol’s was partially subterranean. His property was not as heavily wooded as Asier’s, but it was steeper and rockier. Built into the side of the mountain, overlooking a smooth glacial lake, a central dome of clear glass was connected to other, smaller domes by a warren of skylit tunnels. He’d told her his birth moon was called Rafir, but he lived on Varan now. His home was on a different continent than Asier’s and Lyra’s, but such distances were negligible with the speed of Scaeven transport tech.
As he showed her to the underground entrance to the home, something wicked gleamed in his eyes. He walked a few paces behind her, and as the dark of the tunnel thickened, his trailing pace felt more and more like the stalking gait of a hungry jaguar. Hadiza glanced back at him uncertainly, a nervous smile pulling at the corner of her mouth.
“Why are you lookin at me that way?” she asked.
“What way?” he asked, too innocent. He edged towards her, herding her further down the tunnel, further into the dark.
She wasn’t frightened, but she was suspicious. “This feels like a trap.”
“Does it?” He grinned, and his fangs gleamed in the darkness.
Hadiza’s breathing quickened. “What are you doing?”
“Taking my mate into my home.” His voice had dropped into a deep growl, and Hadiza recognized the predatory gleam in his eyes.
She turned to face him. “Is that significant for Scaevens?”
“Yes. It’s a claim.”
He closed in on her, forcing her to retreat a step. A low growl rumbled deep in his chest. He closed the space between them again, and she backed away again. He might not be the vicious brute he’d been raised to believe of himself, but he was still a dangerous predator, and Hadiza was happy to be his prey. She bit her lip as she looked up into his eyes. She let him back her down the last few steps of the tunnel until her shoulders hit the door.
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