“We wanted to question him, Daahn,” MacNair complained, the protest muffled, thanks to the mask.
Aleeks ripped his mask away, stepping over the elder to kneel before Miri. “She’s my mate.”
MacNair sighed but didn’t respond. If any human understood Aleeks’s drive to protect Miri, MacNair would.
Miri pressed to him, and Aleeks hummed a soothing note, rocking her.
“How bad is it, Lieutenant?” MacNair asked.
Jacks gasped out his response. “Broken ribs, sir.”
“You don’t lunge at a Xxanian Dominant unarmored, son.”
“Yeah. I remember.”
“A painful lesson.” MacNair stood and started addressing his comm unit instead of Jacks. “We’ll need the doc down here and — Daahn, get some glasses on.”
Aleeks fished a pair from the floor, sliding them onto Miri’s face. “I need a second.”
They flew at him from MacNair’s position. “What were the damned things doing with glasses, anyway?” the admiral snapped. “Don’t you young bucks know better than to give Xxanian prisoners glasses?”
Jacks coughed harshly. “Daahn said —”
“The cells,” Aleeks interrupted him, sliding the glasses on his own face. “I darkened Miri’s cell.”
“I never went to her cell again,” he admitted. “And she’s had glasses every time I’ve seen her since.”
“Lights up,” MacNair ordered.
Light spilled into the corridor through the open security door. MacNair moved away to check each of the prisoners.
Aleeks assessed Miri’s condition, sighing in relief that the wounds were relatively minor, certainly less dangerous than the damage she’d come to him with.
Her tear-stained face pulled at his heart. He shouldn’t have allowed this to happen to her. A sob half escaping his lips, he wrapped his body around hers, closing his eyes as the security doors swung open nearly in unison, no doubt at MacNair’s word that the prisoners were dead.
“What was that?” Jacks asked. “You crying, Daahn?”
“Shut up, Jacks. I haven’t decided whether or not to kill you yet.” The last thing he needed was the lieutenant’s shit right now.
There was a moment of silence. “It’s okay to be human, you know,” Jacks grumbled.
“I’m not human.”
“Close enough. That bastard Haauulen touched my wife, I’d’ve broken his neck too.”
Aleeks nodded, his eyes straying to the Grea Elder, Miri’s other trainer. She shuddered at the mention of his name, and Aleeks laid a kiss on the top of her head in comfort.
“Guess so,” he offered. “Close enough to human. That’s not so bad.”
Epilogue
Homecoming
Two months later
Miri fidgeted in the passenger seat of Aleeks’s transport, peeking up at the passing scenery, her heart hammering.
Aleeks sighed. “You are my mate, Miri. You’re welcome in our nest.”
She pulled her legs to her chest, nodding miserably. Aleeks was her mate. He would protect her, even at the cost of his own life. If only she didn’t suspect that would be the price, Miri might be able to relax.
Assimilated to Earth or not, Daahn the Eldest was a Grea Elder. It was more than likely that he would kill her once her disgraceful choices were laid bare for him. Once my dishonor is. If her own seir had ordered her killed, why would one not related to her accept her?
Aleeks pulled up in front of a long, low structure and turned off the transport’s engine, sending her heart into a skittering non-rhythm. He exited, rounded the vehicle, and opened Miri’s door, offering his hand to lift her to her feet. Miri unfurled, pressing to his chest as Aleeks closed the door behind her.
She shifted uncomfortably in the grippers he’d provided to protect her feet from the frosted ground. Aleeks claimed he’d chosen them because they were lightweight and comfortable. She agreed with the former, but if the latter was true, Miri would hate to wear any other type of shoes.
A bitter wind pulsed through the long coat he’d provided, and she shivered. Though Miri had read about the weather on Earth, she hadn’t believed the reports of sub-zero temperatures. She wondered at the fact that the Xxan wanted Earth. The winter temperatures alone would stop them cold. Miri winced at the unintended pun.
Aleeks guided her into the house and shut them into a room she recognized as a s’sanuea, a preparation room. Before Miri could catch her breath, Aleeks had stripped off her coat and hung it reverently on a hook. He went to his knees, slipped the grippers off her feet, and then removed his own.
He came to his feet, and Miri took over, unbuttoning his shirt. Aleeks buried his face in her neck, scenting her anew, though she carried his scent by virtue of their mating.
Miri didn’t have to question that. It was a promise of protection. Moreover, it was an announcement that she belonged to Aleeks. There were certain to be other Dominant males in the nest...at least Daahn the Eldest if not Aleeks’s seir and Zondra’s human mate. Although all of the aforementioned were mated and wouldn’t be interested in her, a Dominant always laid scent claim to what was his own.
Dressed only in his jeans, Aleeks pulled Miri under his arm. On some level, it surprised her that he didn’t wear a S’suumea, but being born and raised on Earth, she supposed not all the traditions were deemed necessary.
“You will greet Gran-seir beneath my arm,” he instructed.
Miri took a calming breath at that.
“They are my family, Miri. They are your family.”
But she’d heard that elders didn’t always approve of the mates chosen by young Dominants. Miri hadn’t asked what happened when the elder didn’t approve. Until Aleeks, she hadn’t thought a Dominant would ever choose her. If any Xxanian did, she’d thought it would be a Subdominant, and even that had been highly unlikely.
She supposed the couple joined the female’s nest, in such a case...if they survived the displeasure of the male’s elder. But Miri had no nest. Would they live apart from a nest, if it came to that? Would Aleeks become bitter at the loss of his family?
He stared at her, waiting for a sign of Miri’s acceptance. She nodded, her heart thudding against her ribs. Aleeks raised his arm, and she buried her face in his chest then faced the door sliding aside behind Aleeks’s hand.
The air beyond it was hot and moist, and the lights were dimmed to a lounging level. Miri shook her head in disbelief at the first scent of the pungent spice she’d only smelled twice in her life on Xxania Uuaahth.
Aleeks stopped, staring down at her, his brow furrowed. “What is it?”
“Saahaal?” she questioned. Where would they get the precious spice?
He slid the door shut behind her, a smile curving his lips. “On Earth, it is called clove.”
“It grows here?” she asked, calculating how the Grea Elders would respond to that fact. It wouldn’t be a pretty sight.
“It does.” He started forward again, then paused. “Though my entire family can speak English, only Xxan is spoken in the nest.”
“Of course.” She switched to Xxan to answer him, taking that warning to heart. Miri was glad to know it. Offering offense to his family was the last thing she wanted to do.
The floor sloped down into underground gardens not unlike those on the home world. The first two rooms were empty, and Miri relaxed, lulled by the stillness and physical comfort of the environment. It wasn’t until someone moved in the shadows that she remembered the Xxan hunted the night.
Aleeks caught her against him when she scrambled for his back. “Still,” he soothed her in rumbling Xxan.
Miri peeked past his chest, staring at the man emerging from the shadows. He was dressed much as Aleeks was, and his eyes were human, identifying him as Zondra’s mate.
Aleeks addressed him in Xxan, confirming that even the humans in the family spoke the Seir-tongue. “We greet the nest mate.”
“You are most welcome, brother warrior.”
“Our thanks, Evan.”
Aleeks offered his hand for a human handshake, and Evan took it. Evan met her eyes, cocking his head to one side, assessing Miri.
“My mate,” Aleeks informed him.
He nodded. “Mac told us you’d be bringing a new female to the nest.”
“So the Saahaal is in celebration,” Aleeks deduced.
Evan smiled widely. “Would Gran-seir offer any less for a female?”
Miri swallowed hard at that. If the elder didn’t approve of her, he would be even angrier at the waste of the precious spice.
Evan bowed his head to her. “You are most welcome, sister.”
Miri started to stutter out her name, and Aleeks shook his head in warning.
“Gran-seir must meet you first. Otherwise, we offend him.”
Evan’s eyes narrowed, and his muscles tensed.
Aleeks motioned for patience. “A long story, but...”
“I understand. Gran-seir must hear it first,” Evan replied. With that, he waved them further into the caves.
Aleeks drew Miri with him, offering Evan their unprotected backs. It was an incredible sign of trust. Miri glanced back, watching Evan follow them on silent feet. She’d never had someone she could trust at her back until Aleeks.
The center nest was a room large enough for dozens of people. Miri looked around at the women, noting that they all wore formal S’suuhhea. At once, she felt underdressed. If she was more human, she felt certain she’d be blushing furiously.
An errant voice in her mind reminded her that she’d never been invited or encouraged to wear the S’suuhhea. Her doubts reared up, frightening thoughts that she wasn’t worthy of the traditional Xxanian dress, even with Aleeks’s family.
No. Aleeks wouldn’t treat me that way. No matter what his family thinks of me.
Evan moved to the youngest female, his hand stroking at her full and heavy womb. A small hand reached from behind his mate and fisted on Evan’s jeans. Evan lifted a boy with human eyes but wearing the S’suumea.
An older Dominant, hairless but human in every way but his eyes and S’suumea, wrapped his arms around a female with stunning green human eyes and blood-red curls.
Until he leaned forward on his chair, Miri didn’t see the elder. Bathed in shadow, his smooth, dark scales blended into the water-wall behind him. His mate was even further in shadow, at his back until her mate evaluated any threat to her.
Miri stopped short, trying again to escape Aleeks’s hold, her breathing going ragged as the elder came to his full height and stared down at her. His ridge plates extended in show. That stopped her retreat, though her knees shook. Every instinct screamed at her to sink to the submissive. As if Aleeks could scent the thought, he gripped her arm to keep her standing.
The elder’s forked tongue peeked past his barred teeth and took her scent. His eye slits narrowed. “I scent an old ally in this one... Uuumaal.”
Miri’s knees threatened to fold. An old ally? Seir-God lives! When he learns I’ve killed that ally—
Aleeks saved her the attempt to explain herself. “I fear your old ally has not treated his daughter honorably, Gran-seir.”
Daahn’s head cocked to one side, and his nose slits widened, then narrowed again. “Daughter? Uuumaal took another mate in his waning years?”
“No. Neither did he gift Miri his name.”
Daahn’s ridge plates came out to their full extension, the frill spikes of a Grea Elder warning that his anger was fierce and uncompromising. His growling sent Miri under Aleeks’s arm and to his back. He didn’t stop her, which frightened Miri even more.
“Tell me,” the elder demanded.
Aleeks reached his hand back and covered one of hers with it. “They created Miri in their labs. She was starved, beaten, uncared for... And when Miri balked at Uuumaal’s duplicity and deception to his own blood, he ordered her killed.”
Miri chanced a look around Aleeks’s body at a rush of movement. Her mouth went dry at the sight of Daahn holding the ancient weapons of a Xxanian warrior at the ready. The zuahhhbeahhh and s’saahhta were sharp enough to skin an enemy, she was certain.
She dropped to her knees, making herself as inconspicuous as possible, waiting for Aleeks’s signal to hide herself while he fought. That signal didn’t come, and the room went so silent that her breathing and clamoring heart were the loudest noises, drowning out even the babbling of water.
A clatter of metal sent her closer to her mate’s legs, shivering. The hands reaching for her weren’t Aleeks’s. Miri held tight to her mate for a moment, then reasoned that Aleeks was letting the elder draw her out. She released his jeans and let Daahn lift her gently to her feet between the two males.
Aleeks cupped her shoulders in his hands. “Gran-seir... I present my mate, Miri Daahn, formerly Miri Johns, daughter of Marianne Johns and the criminal Uuumaal.”
The elder’s tongue extended again, scenting her in earnest. His head swiveled back and forth, undulating in a ritual dance she didn’t recognize but knew she should. Her eyes slipped shut, and her head fell back. Her muscles unknotted, and her trembling eased.
Daahn’s tongue was rough against her throat, and her breathing hitched at the touch. He was a hunter; he could rip her throat out, but he caressed her, imprinting her Zhigaaal mixed Zhigaaah on his scent memory.
His hand covered the soft meat of her belly, and his claws raked at her tunic. Miri’s shaking legs abandoned her, and Aleeks lifted her in his arms, whispering her name. Her head spun, and the next few moments passed in a blur of hisses and trills that made little sense to her.
Aleeks shifted her, settling her into Daahn’s arms. Her confusion and upset at the move emerged as little more than a whimper, and the elder rumbled something soothing in response. Daahn carried her further into the center nest.
The warm water soaking her clothing forced a squeak of surprise from her, and Miri turned, intent on escape. Aleeks’s chest appeared, and she held tight to him.
Daahn released her. “Peace, young daughter. You need never hide in the nest.”
Aleeks guided her further into the pool...to her hips, then drew her to kneeling so the water reached her shoulders. Little details made it through the fog of her mind, including the fact that Aleeks was nude. Swirls of water announced Daahn joining them. Miri dared not look around at him, certain that he’d be equally unclothed.
She sought out Aleeks’s eyes, pleading for an explanation.
Her mate nodded. “You have never been bathed by your elder.”
She was certain Aleeks said it more for Daahn than for herself. Miri knew what she had and had not done in her life, after all.
The elder’s hands worked her tunic up. Miri let him, reasoning that he couldn’t see her body in the water. It had been planned that way, she was sure. Aleeks pulled her trousers away, and she nestled further onto his lap.
The nip of oil against the sensitive skin of her shoulder preceded the smell of Saahaal. Miri snapped a look of shock at Aleeks. Daahn was wasting the spice on her? Why would he?
Aleeks rubbed the oil into her neck and down her chest. “You are a female, coming to the center nest for the first time. It is an honor for the elder that you have come to us, that one of his descendants was strong enough to bind a mate to him and to our nest. He shows you honor in the only way he can.”
“The young one was never bathed?” Daahn asked.
“Never by the Xxan,” Aleeks corrected. “Though I had no Saahaal to bathe her properly, as mate, I have done so.”
There was a moment of silence, during which Daahn made a single swipe of the oil over her mating stripe and moved on to a massage of her opposite shoulder. To Miri’s surprise, she felt no arousal when the elder touched her. She sighed in relief.
“You will bathe your mate daily with the Saahaal, Aleeks. Daily for a moon turn, in apology for neglecting her so long.”
Miri opened her mouth to protest that Aleeks had never neglected her. He’d been diligent
in her care and in more carnal matters.
Aleeks captured her mouth, silencing her and heating her blood for him. He broke away slowly. “Daily for a moon turn,” he repeated. His Zhigaaal was pungent in the mist, a sure sign that the baths he’d gift her would be much more intimate affairs.
Her mate massaged the oil into her breasts, while Daahn moved down her back. His hand stopped, and both men tensed. Miri didn’t have to question what the elder took exception to.
Daahn’s voice was rough, a sure sign that his ridge plates and frill spikes were extended. “I will kill the one responsible for this. I vow it, little daughter.”
Aleeks smiled weakly. “Miri has already killed several of them. I killed the last.”
“You allowed—”
“Pardon my sloppy telling, Gran-seir. I met my mate in the midst of battle, a battle in which she killed three of the Grea Elders responsible for her abuse, as well as nearly two dozen Dominants, and a hand or two of Subdominants. She did so to protect the lie of peace her seir had promised...to protect the human Council, my men...all who had been promised safe passage and negotiation.”
Daahn’s hand moved on, spreading the oil diligently. Miri’s heart pounded in fear of what he’d say next.
“Two moon turns, Aleeks. Such a female is a rare prize,” he murmured. “This nest is blessed with such a female.”
Aleeks came erect at that pronouncement. “Two moon turns.”
“Which were responsible?”
Her mate didn’t hesitate to share the news. “Uuumaal, S’Suuleahhn, S’sie, and Haauulen. I killed Haauulen myself.”
Daahn made no reply to that. Miri suspected that the elder knew them all. Was he saddened to hear that they were lost to the vacuum? Angry that she’d killed them? Did he feel it justified? Did he wish he’d pulled the trigger himself?
He went to work on her arms, pausing again at the scar Haauulen had left her with. Daahn didn’t ask for an explanation. “Your mate has had medical care for their abuses, I assume.”
Daahn Rising Page 21