“I would love to kill you,” Thrane growled, drawing a gasp from Nell and a glare from me. He sniffed and continued, “But it seems you might be more valuable to us alive than you would be dead. Unfortunately.”
“They won’t pay you, you know,” he said coolly. “Our government doesn’t negotiate with mutants.”
Thrane’s upper lip curled back in a silent snarl, which would have frightened a trio of grumpuses, but Hawking held his head high. I couldn’t have been prouder of my mate for his restraint. Not that long ago, such a statement would have made him lose his temper and make good on his death threat.
“Father—”
“Shut up, Penelope.”
He might as well have slapped her across the face. Nell stood and stared down at him, tears slipping from her eyes, as her hands balled into fists. Lysandra and Teah moved to either side of her for support.
Solan shook his head. “If that’s how Terran men treat their females, no wonder your daughter and her friends sought us out.”
The general’s face turned bright red and he struggled to get to his feet to show his indignation. “How dare you! You kidnapped my daughter from the very facility that was training her for a new and wonderful life!”
Thrane barked out a laugh, but said nothing. Nell stepped forward, gripping her friends’ hands so tightly, her knuckles had turned white.
“That’s a lie and you know it,” she whispered.
Hawking whirled on her. “I told you to shut up!”
“I will not shut up!” Both of their faces were the color of borshan berries, and I could now see a resemblance between the two. “We escaped from that horrible place after we heard rumors about Sienna, Natalie and Arlynn. We couldn’t wait to get out of that hell hole!”
The general looked genuinely shocked. “Hell hole! The Training Center is state-of-the-art. The accommodations are better than most outer moon resorts, and the staff are highly trained in genetic manipulation, physical fitness and nutrition.”
The six of us who’d endured years of torturous training session, painful and useless gene therapy, and long bouts of starvation, gaped at the half-wit standing before us. Did he really believe his own spin?
“And the ones who don’t conform to your rigid definition of beauty are sent out to be sex slaves at mining camps and military outposts,” I said, my tone as cold and steely as the walls of our old room at the Center.
“Nonsense,” the general said with a snort. “The missions we send them on are critical to the continued growth of the colony.”
Our silence spoke louder than words. His gaze bounced between the six of us, and we knew the moment he saw the truth in our eyes, because all the color drained from his face.
“No,” he whispered. “That can’t be—”
“It’s true alright,” I interrupted. “Commander Wrent had a nice little side business shipping us off to the remote corners of the galaxy. Why do you think he was so desperate to get us back when we disappeared? He had an order to fill.”
“Oh my God.” The man was either completely oblivious of what really happened on those ‘missions’, or he was the best actor in the universe.
Nell, dropping her friends’ hands, stepped forward and gave her father a curious look. “You really have no clue, do you?”
“Clue of what?”
“What the Center is truly like.”
“It’s a state-of-the—”
“No, not what the press release says. Have you ever stepped foot inside? I know you certainly never visited me after you and mother dumped me there three years ago.”
She didn’t even bother wiping the tears away, making sure her father saw the pain he’d inflicted on his daughter. Only an animal could witness her suffering and not feel guilt over causing it.
“Was…was it really that bad?” he finally asked, tentatively reaching out to her.
“Worse.” Lysandra said, the red scar running down the side of her face clear for all to see.
“I-I didn’t realize… I thought the Center would…”
Natalie jumped in before he could continue stammering. “Make us the perfect specimen? We have news for you, General Hawking. We were perfect to begin with.”
Hawking pulled Nell into his arms. She stood stiffly for a moment, but then broke down in her father’s embrace.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered over and over again, his face buried in her hair.
Sienna’s fingers wriggled into mine, and I squeezed them hard as I cried with happiness and heartbreak over the touching scene. Thrane either sensed my distress, or had a low threshold for mushy displays. Now that we were connected on a cosmic level, I felt certain it was the former, although the latter certainly played a part.
“Okay, enough of all this,” he said, his voice hoarse from the emotion coursing through me. He cleared his throat before continuing. “Here’s the deal, interloper. You’ve seen how we can control your puny brains. Arlynn, my amazing mate, forced you to turn your own gun on yourself. The rest of us forced your men to lay down their arms. Right now, as we speak, a frail, old woman is holding your entire battalion at bay with forest rats. Do you have any doubt we could destroy your entire species just by thinking hard?”
Hawking released his daughter and turned wary eyes on Thrane. “No.”
“Good,” Markon replied, pushing in front of Thrane and giving the general a hard look. “Then we’d like to propose a trade.”
Hawking’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of trade? I told you, our government will not negotiate with” — he shot Thrane a nervous glance — “you.”
“We’d like for you to offer all the adult women your society deems ‘unworthy’ the option to join our tribe, instead of being sent on…missions.”
“You said ‘trade,’ ” Hawking noted. Apparently, he was smarter than I thought.
Thrane shoved his brother aside and glowered down at the much-shorter Terran man. “You send us your unwanted women and we all live in peace, or…we kill you all.”
Hawking blinked up at him for a moment, then squared his shoulders. “I will not allow my daughter to become a…one of you!”
“Father,” Nell said softly, grasping his hand in both of hers. “It’s too late. I accepted the transformational bite this morning. We all did.”
Lysandra and Teah nodded, crossing their arms and glaring at the man who seemed to prefer they become sex slaves to nasty men, than live fulfilling lives as mates to Wargs who loved them.
Hawking grew ashen, but Nell kept talking.
“Not only that, but” — she paused and smiled, in spite of the tension in the air — “I’ve already found my fated mate.”
Chorn moved to the edge of our little circle and nodded curtly, giving his mate’s father a modicum of respect, but ready to tear him to shreds if he so much as raised a hand to Nell.
Steam practically shot out of the general’s ears as he processed all the new information coming at him. One didn’t need to read his mind to know he didn’t like having his hand forced, but when he looked at his daughter — her eyes pleading with him to accept — he sighed.
“You’ve left me no choice,” he said to Nell, his keen eyes studying her. “But you knew that, didn’t you? That’s why you became one of them. You knew I’d never do anything to risk your safety, so as long as you live here…”
“I’ll never forget how patient you were all those times you taught me to play chess. All the strategies and tactics nearly made my brain melt out of my ears, but eventually it clicked. Remember the first time I beat you?”
Hawking smiled and nodded at the memory.
Nell smiled softly back at him. “Checkmate, Father.”
For a moment, his eyes grew wide, then he did the last thing any of us expected. He laughed. Big, throaty laughs all the way from his gut. He dragged Nell into a fierce hug until the chuckles subsided. Ignoring Thrane, he turned to Markon and Solan and stuck out his hand for a shake.
“Deal.”
Markon smiled and pulled Hawking in until their foreheads touched. “Happy day to you, General Hawking.”
“This calls for a celebration!” Solan shouted so the entire village could hear.
The night erupted in cheers.
23
ARLYNN
“Y’know what I think,” General Hawking said, to no one in particular at the head table, slurring his words slightly, thanks to the three cups of reet spirits he’d downed already. “I think I’m gonna change that stupid law. You ladies are the most beautiful creatures I’ve ever seen.”
Since we’d returned to the village in the middle of the night, it had been decided a breakfast feast sounded like a good idea. With the dawn of a new day, came the dawn of a new hope for Wargs. Long tables had been hastily set up all around the commons, with the alphas, their mates, the guest of honor — General Hawking, of all people — and the new Three Musketeers sitting together.
I glanced past Thrane to Sienna, then to Natalie. Then to the Three Musketeers, who sat across from us. “Are you talking to us?” I asked Hawking.
“Yes, dammit!” he slammed his empty cup on the table, causing more than a few Wargs to leap to their feet in alarm, but they needn’t have worried. It seemed the general had developed a sudden and passionate hatred for his own society’s moors.
“As soon as I get back, Wrent and I are going to have a little…conversation. And I’m gonna get that damnable Center closed, once and for all. Your mother cried for weeks after the governor forced us to remand you to the Center.”
Nell looked around for a moment, before finally realizing he was talking to her. “She did?”
Hawking turned to his daughter, his droopy eyes wet with emotion…and a bit of booze. “We both did, my sweet girl. I’m so sorry—” He choked on his eight millionth apology to Nell, then started over, “I thought we were doing the right thing, the only thing.”
Nell pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I forgive you, Father. Now, why don’t you try some helix mash or the baked sawmouth? I think you need to eat something.”
He nodded somberly and took a big bite of sawmouth. “Hey, this is fish! It’s been so long since I’ve had fish. Real fish, not that fake stuff we have inside the walls.”
Natalie leaned forward to look at the general, concern etched on her face. “How long do you think that will take?”
“What?” Hawking happily shoved another piece of fish into his maw.
“Changing the law and closing the Center. How long?”
“Oh,” he said, laying down his spork. “I’m afraid it won’t happen overnight. We’ll be lucky if it takes less than two years. Probably longer. It’ll be a long, hard fight.”
Nat’s face took on that blank look she got when she was running calculations in her head. She blinked back to reality and smiled. “Good.”
“Good?” Lysandra asked. “How can it be good? I want that shit-hole shut down tomorrow!”
“We all do, but if Hawking lives up to his promise to allow orphans to join our tribe” — she narrowed her eyes at him in a silent warning not to betray us — “two years gives us plenty of time to widen our genetic pool enough to ensure our survival as a species.”
“Oh,” Lysandra said, looking as conflicted as I felt.
Naturally, everyone wanted the Training Center to be shut down, and for Terran women of all sizes to be accepted as beautiful by their own people, but now that we were Wargs, our primary concern had to be our own kind’s survival. Besides, such a change to the fabric of their society probably would take years, maybe even decades.
I leaned into Thrane and ran my hand down his rock-hard thigh. “Did you hear that?”
His loin covering twitched as my pinky skimmed along his groin, and he moaned quietly. “You expect me to hear anything with you doing that?”
His grin was predatory and promising. My nipples formed hard peaks in anticipation of what would ‘come’ later — hopefully both of us, several times.
I gave him my most devilish grin. “I told you everything would work out.”
“You certainly did,” he said, brushing a kiss against my temple.
“I guess now is as good a time as any for you to get used to the fact I’m always right.”
His laugh rumbled around inside me, warming my heart and my flesh.
“Yes, dear,” he said with a chuckle.
The mood in the commons was festive and relaxed — more relaxed than I could ever remember it being before. Whelps chased each other through the maze of tables, lovers canoodled near the fire, and laughter filled the crisp morning air. Hill and Valley Wargs sat together, joking around and accepting one another as brothers.
But a different kind of joy settled around those of us who knew we were on the brink of extinction. We all seemed to be perfectly at peace. Whatever hardships and trials lay ahead of us, we now had hope, where we once had none. Light had shown through the mourning veil, just as Ouma had said. There was just one thing missing for me.
“General, thank you for sharing how being forced to leave Nell at the Center affected you. That’s what happened with my parents too.”
Natalie sighed loudly, but thankfully, kept her opinion to herself. I knew the truth, even if everyone else tried to convince me my parents were assholes.
“What were their names?”
“Vin and Whitney Farmer. Guards dragged me away from them when I was twelve.”
Hawking turned grim. “I remember them. They came to me so many times after you were enrolled—”
“Abducted,” I interrupted. He might have been our honored guest, and he might have been willing to dismantle the Center, but I wasn’t going to let him whitewash what had happened.
“Yes, abducted. You’re right. Anyway, they came to me more times than I can count, petitioning for you to be released.”
His cheeks flushed and he avoided eye contact with me. The rest of the story didn’t need telling anyway. He’d obviously denied their requests — it was enough to simply know they’d tried.
Turning to my sisters, I said, “Do you believe me now?”
Sienna and Nat looked at each other. They were shocked, and I didn’t really blame them. Most girls left at the Center had truly been abandoned.
“We’re so sorry we didn’t believe you, Arlynn,” Sienna said. “We should have believed you.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry about. I just really wanted you to know I wasn’t making it up.” I turned back to Hawking. “Do you think— I mean, I know civilians aren’t supposed to go past the city walls, but do you think they might be allowed to come visit one day? I’ve missed them every minute since I was taken.”
Hawking looked thoughtful for a moment, then said, “That could probably be arranged. Might take a while but I’ll see what I can do.”
The most profound sense of relief and joy welled up inside me like a tidal wave. The backs of my eyes tingled with tears, and it was all I could do to stop myself from breaking down into sobs. For nine long years, I’d spent countless hours drawing my parents’ faces so I would never forget them. Now, I might actually get to see them again. It was almost too much to bear.
Thrane wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me into a comforting hug. “See?” he whispered into the top of my head. “You were right, once again.”
I snorted a laugh, which broke the tension, and allowed me to relax in my mate’s embrace. “I love you, Thrane, Alpha of the Hill Tribe.”
“I am now Thrane, Co-alpha of the Great Tribe, and my love for you could fill the universe.”
I craned my neck to peer up at him. “I thought you hated the title of co-alpha.”
“It’s an honor to share it with Wargs such as Markon and Solan,” he said, his voice thick with pride.
My hand resumed roaming around his lap. “Do you have any idea how sexy you are when you open up like that?”
His upper lip quivered and pulled back a little, showing slightly longer fangs. “Do you know how
sexy you are all the fucking time?”
“You really have learned to love that word, haven’t you?”
“In so many ways,” he growled, telling me exactly which definition he’d like to do to me right there in the middle of the feast.
“What ways?” I teased.
Without a word, Thrane pushed back his stool so hard it crashed into someone behind him, and grabbed my hand. “Let me show you.”
24
THRANE
Hate had fueled me my entire life, so the utter absence of it left me reeling. Never before had love motivated every thought, every action. Of course, I loved my tribe, but hate for my enemies had influenced every decision I’d ever made. Now those enemies were my brothers, for whom I would gladly sacrifice my own life.
The alien interlopers might have been a secondary enemy, but I’d never hated them any less for it. Perhaps even more, because they’d dared to call my planet — a planet where they didn’t belong — home. Yet my fated mate — she, who I love more than any other — had been born a Terran, and I’d been the one to broker a peace treaty with one of their leaders.
The old me wouldn’t have recognized the new me. Not only that, he would never have believed he’d turn into what he would have seen as a traitor. But not a flicker of doubt over my actions or feelings remained. This was who I was now. This was my life, my joy, my future.
The entire concept of a future for our species seemed foreign and strange, yet so beautiful. I’d given up hope, I’d believed in my heart all was lost. It had only been Arlynn’s faith in our collective future which sustained me. Her optimism fed my soul when everything around me had seemed to wither and die. The black, fleshy lump in my chest only truly started truly beating the moment my fangs sank into her sweet neck. That was the moment my life had really begun.
And now Arlynn was in my arms, naked and stroking my body, as we rolled around on the bed in my little hut. Our hut, I thought.
Though it seemed as if days had passed since she’d recognized our connection, it had been mere hours. As soon as we sated our beasts and fully claimed one another as mates — and slept like the dead for at least twelve hours, followed by more lovemaking — I planned to move her out of her old hut. The two unmated Terran women could live there comfortably until they found their own fateds.
Thrane's Fated Page 12