Twist of Fate (Veredian Chronicles Book 4)

by Regine Abel

  “I do not understand why it’s so hard for you males to back off. You’re my mate, and I love you. Do you not think I, too, worry for your welfare during battle? Do you not think I don’t fight the urge to jump to your side to protect you? But I don’t, because I trust you. Acting any differently would be equal to me saying I doubt your ability to defend yourself.”

  Although valid, her argument constituted but one of many ways one could interpret a situation. From her perspective, we were disrespecting her. From mine, we were battling our own form of conditioning.

  “Let me tell you a story Seha Tolvhin told me when I was a child. I don’t fully remember it, but you’ll understand the general idea. It was the tale of some Terran barber and a female he became involved with.”

  “A barber?” Aleina asked.

  “A person that cuts, trims, and tends to all that facial hair Terran males have.”

  “Ah, right!”

  Unlike Terrans, Veredians and Xelixians only had hair on their heads, and in the form of eyebrows and eyelashes.

  “So the barber’s female ran this bakery where she made some of the best meat pie in town. People came from far and wide to eat the pie, it was that delicious. One day, they discovered that the meat didn’t come from animals, but from customers the barber assassinated.”

  Aleina gasped, her lips parting. Unable to resist, I ran my thumb over the bottom one before giving her a chaste kiss. She smiled, and her eyes smoldered.

  “As you can guess, she lost every single customer overnight. Her pies were still the same delectable treats the town had been gorging on for months, but now the mere thought of eating those pies made the people gag. Nothing had changed, yet everything had. If you’re raised to believe eating people is barbaric and repulsive, finding out you have been doing it for years unbeknownst to you doesn’t change how you feel about it. Perception, Aleina. Perception is everything.”

  She nodded slowly, finally understanding where I was coming from.

  “Our whole lives, Xelixians are taught that females are to be sheltered at all costs. There are so few on our homeworld. And Veredians… You have no idea how much my people revere you all. Since Amalia, Veredians have become ours to protect and nurture. Despite Amalia’s strength and proven combat skills, your Sisters are perceived as delicate, abused females who would become extinct without the joint protection of the powerful Tuureans and the vicious Xelixians. You flipped that perception on its head. Give us time to come to terms with eating that pie.”

  “Fine,” she conceded with reluctance, “but you better make it quick. Kamala made me promise not to interfere if she kicks Sohr’s behind the next time he gets in her way.”

  “No promises on a timeline, but I promise we’ll work on it.”

  She pursed her lips into a sexy pout. Once more, I didn’t resist their appeal and kissed her. Aleina cupped the back of my head with both hands and deepened the kiss.

  “Let’s go shower,” she whispered against my lips.

  It still somewhat troubled me to be showering with a female without being formally mated but life was too short to squander any minute of it. And with my shortcomings, I wanted to seize every opportunity to give Aleina whatever I could to keep her happy. By the time we returned to Xelix Prime, Amalia would still have at least three to four weeks to go before her season. Despite drinking two, sometimes three times a day from my mate, and enhancing her with regular injections of my Thylin venom, my condition didn’t seem to be stabilizing but was worsening instead. I would likely resume taking painkillers in the next couple of days.

  Lifting her in my arms, I carried her to the fresher. We slowly undressed each other before stepping under the hot stream. Aleina took command, her soft hands roaming over my chest as she began to wash me. A part of me wanted to rebel at this but after the spanking she gave us earlier, I decided to let her have at it.

  Once again, my lack of sexual drive worried me. I enjoyed Aleina’s touch, felt the pleasure she gave me, yet a simple cuddling was all I really craved. If the Taint didn’t win its battle against me, I feared my stunted sexual appetite would eventually drive her away. Her own season was due in a couple of weeks, only days before Amalia’s. How I would keep up with her needs terrified me. She could do so much better than me.

  Her soapy hands rubbing against my shaft snapped me out of my dark thoughts. A bolt of lust surged in the pit of my stomach only to immediately begin to fade. But the pleasure elicited by her touch kept fanning the flame, forbidding it to die. Eyes connected with mine, she slowly accelerated the movement and increased the pressure.

  Drawing her face to mine, I kissed her, my other hand sliding down her back to rest on the perfect mound of her ass.

  Breaking the kiss, she pulled me under the water to rinse the soap off me before pressing my back against the cold tiles of the shower. She kissed my jaw line, her lips tracing a trail down my neck to my chest. Her hands resumed stroking me while her mouth latched onto my left nipple. Until then, I hadn’t realized the disappointment I had felt when she stopped to rinse me.

  Something was building inside me and, for the first time in forever, I wanted to see it through. Without slowing the movement of her hand on my shaft, Aleina nipped and licked the veins on my chest and arms. She often teased that she could go on licking me for days without tiring. Why females found ropey veins attractive was beyond me, but I’d never complain about my mate liking my body despite my Taint.

  I tensed when she suddenly dropped to her knees before me. Feeling self-conscious, I tried to pull her up, but she gave me a warning glare. It was one thing for her to feel my inadequacy by touch, but for her to stare at it fueled my shame.

  Once more, my arousal tried to wane but my mate didn’t allow it.

  The heat of her mouth wrapping around my length tore a hiss out of me. I bucked and she flattened her palm against my stomach to hold me still. Head bobbing, Aleina’s hand stroked my shaft in counterpoint to the movement of her mouth. The timid flame that had swirled around my belly now raged as a full-on inferno. My abdominal muscles quivered as the fire spread then trickled down my legs. Resting one hand on the wall for support, I fisted her hair with the other, careful not to hurt her.

  A drawn-out moan rumbled out of my chest and my breathing accelerated with the mounting spikes of pleasure coursing through me. My legs shook and electric sparks zapped my nerve endings. The building pressure reached a boiling point. In a second of clarity, I tried to pull Aleina away, but she latched onto my hip with her free hand. A blinding white light exploded before my eyes, and a bestial roar tore out of my throat. Liquid fire ran through my veins while my seed poured out of me in an endless flow of pure ecstasy.

  Aleina didn’t relent on her ministrations until the last of my seed had subsided. She then rose to her feet, a smug look on her face. She pressed herself against me, a hand cupping the back of my head, the other still covering my groin.

  “You are mine, Ghan Delphin. Every inch of you is mine. Your heart, your mind, your pleasure, your seed, and every centimeter of that delectable body of yours. Don’t you dare try to deny me again.”

  I swallowed hard, my body still thrumming from the most insane orgasm I’d ever had, even though I’d never gotten hard.

  “Yes, my mate. Now it’s my turn to make you scream even louder,” I grumbled.

  Giggling, she nipped my chin. “Challenge accepted.”

  * * *

  After ten long days of travel, including a detour by Tuur to drop the latest rescued females in Haven, the Tempest finally arrived on Xelix Prime. Amalia still hadn’t figured out what secret the Oracle had hinted that Gruuk’s medallion possessed but kept investigating. Kamala and the rest of the Xelixian fleet had gone ahead of us. Despite the close bonds between our people, the Veredians had not yet welcomed any of us to their new homeworld. Even I didn’t get to visit when we left the Jeruna captives there.

  The mission had been a success, not only in terms of the rescues but in allowin
g further bonding with my mate. Aleina was perfect in every way. I still struggled with the idea that a female could love and desire me as I was, but the truth of it couldn’t be denied. The way she looked at me, touched me… But would it last with my inability to perform? Would the intimacy we currently had suffice in the long run?

  Goddess, please give me the strength to endure.

  As soon as we landed, I went straight to visit Minh. The pain had returned to debilitating levels, which made no sense. I had been drinking regularly from Aleina. My condition should have stabilized, not worsened. So what was the deal?

  However, Minh’s tests confirmed I had indeed stabilized. My Taint hadn’t progressed. Until a cure could be devised—or maybe with the aid of Amalia’s hormone—I would go in and out of phases of excruciating pain. He pumped me full of painkillers and provided me with a large supply to take with me.

  I accompanied him to the Praghan estate where we would be having dinner. Stuck in a Council meeting about initiating meetings between Veredians and Xelixians, Aleina hadn’t been able to join us. Having spent the past three weeks with her aboard the Tempest, I already missed her. This was raising other questions that I would need to discuss with Khel.

  We entered the estate and followed the voices to the dining room. As soon as we passed the door frame, little Rhadames ran up to me, squealing in delight. I nodded in greeting to Amalia and Lhor sitting at the table before turning my attention back to their youngest child.

  “Uncle Ghan! Look! Look what I do!”

  His motor controls still being somewhat iffy, he almost face-planted a couple of times but always recovered in the most unusual fashion. My eyes flicked to his Gem standing nearby. Vahl watched his younger brother intently. Every time the boy almost fell, Vahl’s eye fluttered and Rhad straightened. His secondary biokinetic powers were growing at an unbelievable speed. The words of the Oracle floated back in my mind.

  We would ensure Vahl grew up with the right values.

  His fierce protective instincts toward his siblings and parents, especially his mother, were already a good sign of solid moral foundations. A monster would only care for his own needs.

  Little Rhad reached me and gripped my leg to steady himself. He pulled on my pants to indicate I should crouch. I complied. The boy made me hold my palm up then pointed at the dining table.

  “Look at golet,” Rhad said with excitement.

  “Look at what?” I asked, confused.

  “Golet! Look! Golet!”

  I blinked, unsure what ‘golet’ meant. He was too young to know gullet. Despite being mentally advanced for his age, his speech still had some catching up to do.

  “He means goblet,” Lhor said, pointing at a silver cup on the table.

  “Yes! Golet!” Rhad repeated.

  “Okay, I’m looking at it,” I said, wondering what the little hellion was up to.

  Rhadames put his hand on the floor. The goblet vanished and a sudden weight on my palm had me gaping in shock. The expression on my face must have been priceless because the boy squealed with laughter and his parents’ chuckles soon joined in.

  “That is amazing, little one!” I said in genuine awe.

  He laughed again and touched the goblet in my hand. A second later, it vanished from my palm and returned to the table. Well, almost. The goblet reappeared too close to the edge, teetered, then fell to the floor.

  “Oopsie,” Rhadames said, covering his mouth with his fingers.

  “That’s still very impressive,” I said in encouragement.

  It was more than impressive. These children possessed mind-boggling powers.

  “And that is why he’s not allowed to do this to people,” Amalia said, giving her son a stern stare.

  “People? He can teleport people?” I asked, flabbergasted.

  “He sure can. My stomach is still queasy from the experience.”

  Maheva and Khel’s arrival with little Zhara cradled in his arms prevented me from asking the questions burning my tongue.

  “Look who’s returned,” Khel said amiably, walking toward me.

  Rising to my feet, I nodded at him before looking at my little princess. When her golden gaze landed on me, her beaming smile quickly faded to be replaced by an expression of pure sorrow. My chest tightened when, tears glistening in her eyes, she turned and buried her face in Khel’s neck.

  Minh squeezed my shoulder in support before going to join his mate. The indulgent smile that had graced Vahl’s face during his little brother’s ability display was now replaced by a deep frown. He hated seeing his twin upset and right now, I was the cause.

  Closing the distance between Khel and me, I caressed Zhara’s hair. She turned to look at me, her face wet with tears.

  “Doesn’t your Uncle Ghan get a hello?” I asked in a gentle voice.

  Sniffling, she nodded and extended her arms toward me. Khel relinquished his daughter to me, and I held her close to my heart.

  “Don’t cry, little one. I’m all right. I’m not going anywhere.”

  “But your light…”

  “Minh confirmed I am not getting sicker. So you see, I’m not leaving.”

  She sniffled and wiped her tears with the back of her hand. Using my thumb, I wiped a bit more from her cheek.

  “Why don’t you fix him?” Vahl snarled furiously, looking at Minh.

  “Vahleryon,” Khel said in a calm, but warning tone.

  “I don’t want Zha to be sad, Daddy,” Vahl argued. “Why can’t he fix Uncle Ghan? Zha says he’s not sick.”

  “Zhara’s power doesn’t see it as a sickness, but it is,” I said, hoping to defuse the situation. “The Taint is trying to poison my body, but it has stopped growing now. So I’m not going to get sicker. And Minh and Lee’s scientists are going to try to find a cure for me and the other Tainted.”

  “But what is poisoning you?” Vahl asked. “Is it the black things inside you?”

  “Yes, that’s what is making me sick.”

  Vahl observed me from head to toe as if he could see deep inside of me. Which he probably could.

  “They’re everywhere,” he said, almost pensively. “If we take them out, you will be better?”

  “If we could take the toxin out, it would make me better, but we can’t.”

  “Why not?” Vahl asked, scrunching his face in confusion.

  “It’s spread inside his body, in his heart, his lungs, everywhere. We don’t have any way to take it out,” Minh said.

  Goddess, I don’t need to hear this.

  “I can take it out,” Vahl said, gauging me.

  We all froze and stared at the boy in shock. Disbelief, hope, and fear shot through me all at once.

  “How, sweetie?” Amalia asked, recovering first from our stunned state. “How can you take out the toxin? You can’t control water or any other liquid.”

  “Water isn’t alive, Mama,” he said as if she had asked a silly question. “It’s lots and lots and lots of little black bugs swimming inside him.”

  “Of course,” Minh whispered. “Of course! The toxin is a viral agent. To Vahl, it would look like a swarm of bugs. He could control them because those microorganisms are alive.”

  “But… is it safe?” Amalia asked.

  The same worry could be read on Lhor and Khel’s faces. And while I tried to hide it on my own, it troubled me as well. At his young age, and despite his tremendous power, could Vahl have enough control not to damage me?

  “I said I can do it, Mama,” Vahl said, frowning. “I know I’m not supposed to harm people.”

  “Your Mama knows you don’t want to harm Uncle Ghan,” Khel said, crouching before his son.

  “I can do it, Daddy,” Vahl repeated, forcefully. “I won’t harm him.”

  In that instant, despite my concern for my personal safety, I prayed that Khel would give the boy his blessing. The promise of a cure didn’t drive that wish. If Khel didn’t, I believed something would be broken between them that might never be mended.
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br />   Khel cupped his son’s face who stared at him, his little body stiff with tension.

  “I believe you, son,” Khel said. “Anything you can do to help him, we’d all be grateful.”

  Vahl relaxed and his face brightened with adoration for his sire.

  “Thank you, Daddy.”

  Khel kissed his son’s crihnin before releasing him.

  Eyes sparkling with excitement, Minh turned toward me.

  “Ghan, sit down,” he said, pulling a chair for me before facing his mate. “Love, can you bring us the largest bowl you have?”

  Maheva nodded and rushed into the kitchen while Amalia picked up her youngest son.

  Still holding Zhara, I let myself drop onto the chair, feeling numb. She looked at me, wide eyed, then slipped off my lap to stand before her brother.

  “You can help him?” she asked, her high-pitched voice filled with hope.

  Vahl nodded. “I can take out the black stuff.”

  She beamed at her brother who immediately poked his finger into her left dimple. Zhara giggled, grabbed his other hand, and pressed another finger into her right dimple.

  “Pokey-poke,” Rhadames said, grinning at his siblings.

  Vahl smiled at his sister, his eyes full of love.

  “I don’t like when you’re sad, Zha. No more crying, okay?” Vahl asked.

  “Okay,” Zhara said before kissing his cheek.

  Heart pounding, I stared at Vahl approaching me with a slow, predatory prowl. His claws popped from the tips of his fingers. Maheva returned with a huge metallic container, large enough for a medium-sized rhomak to fit in. She placed it next to my chair. No sooner did it hit the ground than Vahl’s claws slashed across my forearm. I swallowed a hiss, and he clasped his small hand on my wrist. His purple eyes darkened and I gasped as a lightning bolt exploded through me. The sharp sensation morphed into an intense tingling, starting in my extremities before spreading.

  Then the pull began.

  I inhaled sharply as a thick, black substance oozed out of the cut to plop down into the container. It looked like tar, although more fluid. Pain raked through my limbs and my chest. It felt like a giant vacuum was attempting to suck the blood from my veins through the gash on my arm.