3013: PRIMAL

by Laurie Roma

  When Matt had explained their mission and told them that they were out of leads, Olivia said that they hadn’t seen any sign of Quilla on the space station. Reva had asked if the Xenon magic could possibly help them find her, and Olivia had just smiled and told them she knew of someone who could definitely help them on the Xenon home world.

  Olivia had wanted to contact Vasera Ivy Blackthorn to ask for permission for the group to land on Xenthian, but Amari told her that she could take them to the citadel on the center island of Sommervail, because after all, she had already been there. That had made Olivia sigh, but she still said that she would contact Ivy to let her know they were on their way.

  Reva thought she would have time to speak to Malik on their way to Xenthian, but Amari had gotten them there a few hours later, and they had spent that time with the group. Then the Dragon Warrior had transported them down to the surface.

  When they arrived, Reva had felt fine, but Lazio and Rob had been sick, and the others hadn’t looked much better. Amari was fine, of course, but Reva had been surprised when Malik hadn’t even blinked when they had transported.

  Then again, neither had she.

  Amari had brought them to a room that looked like a library, with a huge desk in between two windows that curved at the top like an arch. In another area, there was a sitting area with a table between armchairs and a large couch. The couch was in the middle of two towering bookshelves that spanned the entire wall up to the ceiling, and on each shelf were various scrolls and leather-bound books.

  A Xenon male stood near the desk in a long, black tunic and matching tights that showed off his muscular legs, while a human female sat on the couch. The male spun around when they appeared in the room, his long black hair streaked with bronze flying as he did. His golden eyes had showed his fury as he smoothly pulled his dagger from his belt.

  To Reva, he looked like a very handsome, tall, pissed-off elf.

  Ivy, a human female with blonde hair and curious green eyes, pushed to her feet and laughed as the male looked down at Lazio and Rob and the mess they had made with disgust. She smiled over at them, then said, “Now, that was an entrance. Hello, everyone. Welcome to Sommervail. Or I guess I should say welcome to Xenthian.”

  “Hey, Ivy.” Matt cast a quick glance at the Xenon male before saying, “Sorry to drop in on you like this. Literally.”

  “We were expecting you…just not so soon. Olivia contacted me.” She walked over, and the beautiful green gown she was wearing swished against the floor as she walked. She moved to the male who looked as if he wanted to kill Lazio and Rob, and took his dagger from him, replacing it in his belt.

  “This is Vasili Kai Blackthorn, king of the Xenon, and my soulmate. For those of you who don’t know, I’m Vasera Ivy Blackthorn, formerly Commander Dalton of the Dreamweaver before it crash-landed on Xenthian. That is a long story that I’m sure you will want to hear over dinner, which should be soon.”

  “Welcome,” Kai said, but didn’t seem like he meant it as he pulled Ivy to his side.

  Ivy smiled. “I didn’t expect to see you here, Reva.”

  Reva caught Malik’s sigh, and she smirked. So, she knew people. She couldn’t help it, so he was just going to have deal.

  “Vasili Blackthorn.” She bowed her head slightly, and he nodded back. “Ivy,” her gaze flickered to Ivy’s pregnant belly, “you look…large.”

  Ivy laughed as she rested a hand on her pregnant belly. “I know, right?”

  Matt kept staring at Ivy’s belly. When Kai took an aggressive step toward him, and it snapped him out of it. “Sorry! Sorry, but…how? You were …”

  “A star? Infertile? This is a magical place.” Ivy shrugged as she chuckled. “Trust me, I was as surprised as you are. My life was completely altered when I met Kai.” She shot her soulmate a loving look, and his expression softened as he put one arm around her waist and his other hand over hers on her visible bump.

  “Umm…sorry about your floor,” Lazio said hoarsely.

  “Oh, that.” Amari cleaned up the mess on the floor, then said, “I remember the layout of the room from last time I was here, but I had to redirect to avoid hitting the king.”

  “Wait…what?” Ivy looked startled, but she couldn’t say more because Kai pulled her back, then he stepped in front of her, blocking her body from view. Ivy tried to get around him, but he kept her back. That made her sigh. “What are you doing?”

  The markings on Kai’s body that had shimmered with a translucent light when they had arrived, but they had grown paler, almost fading. They were showing again as he glared at Amari and Lazio. “What did he say, and why was she growling at you? And why are her eyes doing that?”

  Shit.

  Reva and the others with her could understand Kai because the Xenon language had been programmed into their language converter database, but he couldn’t understand them…or at least some of them.

  “This is going to get confusing…fast,” Reva muttered.

  “It already is. What is going on?” Malik asked as he moved closer to her.

  “We can understand the Xenon language, but they can’t understand us,” Reva explained, then she turned back to Kai. “But you understood me when I greeted you?”

  Kai nodded. “Yes, I understand the Helios. We have one of you.”

  Malik growled and pulled her close as she said, “I’m sorry…what?”

  “Do you know Sion Jabari, Reva?” Ivy asked. After Reva nodded, the Vasera added, “He is on one of the other islands right now. He is soulmate to the Vasera of the Eastern Isle.”

  “Wait,” Reva said with a disbelieving laugh, feeling Malik relax against her. “Are you telling me that Sion is now king of his own island? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  Ivy smiled. “Kai is the only king here, but Sion is now Vasere or leader of the Eastern Isle, alongside Rya Clearwater. The Xenon can understand the human and Helios languages since they are programmed into the transponders, but not the Tarin, Dragon Warrior, or Krytos.”

  “Great,” Kahla muttered. “I’ll just go sit in the corner or something.”

  Kai’s golden eyes focused on Amari’s glowing gold. He pushed Ivy back again. “She is Dragon Warrior.”

  “Hey, stop doing that!”

  “The Dragon Warriors are waffles,” Kai insisted. “We need to apple them.”

  Insulted, Amari stiffened. “We are what? And you will not apple me, whatever that means.”

  Ivy burst out laughing as everyone else just looked confused. “Sorry, the language converter doesn’t have the complete Xenon language installed yet.” She turned her head and pointed to the earpiece she was wearing. “This is more accurate. My soulmate was saying that the Xenon consider the Dragon Warriors an enemy of sorts, and that they should be avoided.”

  Well, this was sure to be a clusterfuck.

  Reva asked, “Are the Xenon at war with them?”

  “Nay,” Amari denied. “We war with no one in this part of the universe.”

  “Does that mean they are at war with others?” Lazio whispered, but Darius and Malik just shot him looks that made him shut up.

  “Our historical records say we should apple them,” Kai said with a sigh. “I am not sure why, though. We have not seen them in centuries. Still, they are dangerous—”

  Amari sighed in exasperation “We are a danger to every race, and so are you. Our magic makes us so. You need to crawl over yourself.”

  “I think you mean get over yourself?” Kahla guessed.

  “Aye, that.”

  After Ivy translated for Kai, he glared at Amari and said, “I am still not comfortable with a Dragon Warrior around my soulmate.”

  Amari wrinkled her nose at Kai. “You were nicer the last time I was here. I do not think I like you anymore.”

  “About that…” Ivy paused. “When were you here before?”

  “She was here before?” Kai’s softly spoken words were filled with fury.

  Amari just looked pleased wi
th herself. “Aye, I was here about what you would call a human month ago. I can understand everyone since I synced my L-CON unit with your transponders last time I was here.”

  When Ivy translated, Kai looked like he wanted to kill someone…mostly Amari.

  Since the Xenon male and the Dragon Warrior female were around the same height, it was easy for her to stare him in the eyes as she said, “This is getting young. Perhaps I should—”

  “You mean old,” Matt, Rob and Ivy said at the same time.

  Amari frowned at them. “Why old? It is the younglings who are more foolish. The elders are wise.”

  “That’s not…okay, that totally makes sense when you say it that way,” Ivy conceded.

  “I officially have no idea what in bloody hellfire is going on,” Lazio announced.

  “Astonishingly, I agree with you this time,” Darius muttered.

  Amari walked over to Kai, who stiffened as she came closer, and his hand slipped down to the hilt of the dagger on his belt again. She ignored that and held out her arm to him. When he didn’t move, Amari reached down and pulled up his arm to grip his forearm while he continued to look suspicious.

  “A warrior’s greeting to you, Vasili Kaireedtheryl Blackthorn. I am Dragon Warrior Amari Nazira.”

  He looked startled as he jerked his arm away from hers and shook it. “What did you do to me? How do you know my full name? Gods, and how do I understand what you are saying now?”

  “Stop trying to use your magic on me,” Amari ordered, wrinkling her nose. “It tickles. I do not want to be sent away. I downloaded my language to your transponder. This way is much easier than talking through an intermediary.”

  “It…tickles?” Kai looked completely offended.

  “Aye. I was ready to block you, so it made my head feel funny. I knew you would try something before you understood what I did.”

  A few feet away, Malik whispered, “We should ask her to do that for us.”

  Reva snorted. “Do you really think he is going to allow her to touch him again?”

  “Good point.”

  Amari turned to look at Ivy, and her glowing gold eyes swirled. “You should sit down. Your son is active.”

  Ivy put her hand on her belly again. “How did you—forget that. A son? We’re having a son?” Tears filled her eyes as she reached for Kai. He held her close as she repeated, “We’re having a son.”

  “We have truly been blessed.”

  Reva caught Amari’s gaze and said, “I guess they didn’t know yet.”

  After introductions were made, Ivy led everyone over to the sitting area. Reva saw Darius looking at Kai. At first, she thought he didn’t trust the king. Then, she got it. Darius was looking as if he were…yep, he was definitely checking out Kai’s ass. She couldn’t blame his taste, but Kai’s love for Ivy was clear to everyone.

  When they got to the sitting area, she realized there weren’t enough seats. Amari created a few more, and Ivy looked at her in awe. Kai’s jaw clenched, and he crossed his arms over his chest as he stood like a sentinel next to the chair that Ivy was sitting on. Darius also chose to stand, his back against the bookshelf near the end of the couch where Malik, Reva, and Lazio were seated.

  “Trust me, you get used to it,” Kahla told them. “Wait, you have magic, too. Shit, I forgot he can’t understand me. Forget about everything I just said. Reva, why don’t you and Ivy run this show so we don’t have to repeat stuff over and over again?”

  When Reva and Ivy agreed, they were designated the translators of the group.

  “I’m not sure how much you know about our mission,” Reva began.

  Ivy’s expression went hard, and she put her hand over her stomach as if to protect her unborn child. “I heard about Quilla really being Korsek before we crashed here, and I knew she was being hunted, but I had no idea about what happened on New Vega. I’m sorry for your loss, Reva. Olivia explained everything when she told us you were coming here.”

  Reva was surprised that every time she received condolences from people, it helped distance herself from the pain she had felt right after it had happened. She felt Malik press his thigh against hers. They were sitting next to each other on the couch, but she knew he was trying to comfort her without showing everyone what they were to each other. Fuck that, she thought, and reached over to put her hand on his thigh.

  When he immediately covered it with his own, she felt…healed.

  Since she had first seen Malik again on New Vega, she had changed. He had given her a peace she hadn’t thought she deserved, and he had been there for her every step of their journey. He was her companion now, her one and only.

  She tuned back to the conversation when Ivy was saying, “We’ve been kind of busy with our own drama lately. One of the elders was causing some trouble here, and—”

  “Trouble?” Kai growled. “I would not call kidnapping you and other pregnant females trouble. It was a despicable, it was unforgivable, and it was—”

  “I know. I was trying to keep it vague, because you lose your shit every time I bring it up,” Ivy said frowning up at him. “Like now.”

  Reva saw Kai take a deep breath to calm himself, but it didn’t seem to be working. “Olivia told us that someone here could help us,” she said, getting them back on track. “Can someone use magic to find Quilla?”

  “Yes, there is a way to help here…sort of. It’s not someone with magic, but…” Ivy glanced over at the elites before adding, “But you will need to forget you saw her.”

  “What? Saw who?” Rob asked.

  “Promise first, then I’ll tell you.”

  Matt scowled at Ivy, but she just stared him down.

  “Ivy—”

  “No, Malloy. You can’t tell anyone you saw her here. When I asked her to help you, she agreed without any hesitation. You have to promise.”

  Matt huffed out a breath. “Fine. We promise.”

  “Kai, can you ask Tira to bring her in here?” Ivy reached up and gripped one of his hands with hers.

  “Are you sure you want to do this? We have offered her our protection.”

  “We’ll leave it up to her to decide if she wants to help or not, but she said she would try.” Ivy grinned. “And you can always send them back to their ship if they try to take her.”

  “Stars, Ivy. You’ve turned vicious.” Matt groaned as Kai used his transponder to do what Ivy had asked. “And we didn’t land our ship. We took the Dragon Warrior express, hence the guys puking on the king’s feet. I would prefer you didn’t float me into space or something.”

  “Then you better behave,” Ivy threatened, but there was a definite twinkle of mischief in her green eyes.

  Before Matt could respond, the metal doors to the room slid open. A female Xenon with black hair tied into a knot at her crown walked into the room, saying, “It is a good thing you called for me, because I was about to kill those annoying—”

  She came to a halt when she saw everyone.

  Her amethyst-colored eyes narrowed, and her hand instantly went to the hilt of the sword. Behind her, a human female with ice blue eyes and flaming red hair walked in holding the hand of a small Xenon boy with burgundy colored eyes and thick black hair. He looked to be around three or four years, but it was difficult to tell an accurate age.

  They came to a stop next to the Xenon, and so close the two females looked like opposites. The Xenon female had on a black tunic with silver inlays with black tights, and soft, black knee-high boots. She was carrying a sword and dagger, and looked ready to fight while the elite female had on a pale-blue dress that looked a little too big on her smaller frame.

  “Oh, hell,” Matt groaned as he looked at the human female.

  A sound like someone was dropping pebbles in a steady rhythm on the stone floor had everyone looking back toward the doorway. Reva frowned when a small animal that resembled an Earth piglet hurried into the room on tiny feet. Instead of pink skin with bristly hair, it had a thin layer of shiny black fur with b
ig white splotches. Its floppy ears perked up when it saw Ivy, and it ran straight toward her, wagging its double tails like a mad thing.

  Sighing, Kai picked the animal up off the floor and handed it over to Ivy, who cooed at it before she placed it on her lap. It rolled over, revealing a white patch of fur in the shape of a star as she rubbed its belly. “You are such a good boy, Hamlet.”

  “Holy nova, you named that pig Hamlet?” Rob asked.

  “It’s not a pig, it’s a bekshin,” Ivy corrected. “And, yes, his name is Hamlet.”

  “That is…” Matt didn’t seem to be able to finish the thought.

  “Dinner?” Lazio asked, trying to help him out.

  Ivy protectively cuddled the tiny thing closer to her. “He is my pet, damn you. No one is eating him. The bekshin are a protected species here, so don’t touch any of them.”

  “Then perhaps they should avoid the garden,” Kai said dryly.

  “You’ve totally lost it, Dalton.” Then Matt corrected with, “I mean, Blackthorn.”

  “If you don’t eat those, what do you eat? You know, since you mentioned dinner.” Lazio looked horrified. “Gods, you don’t just eat vegetation, do you? That would be—”

  “We eat meat,” Ivy told him. “Just not bekshin anymore.”

  “He is cute,” Amari declared, daring anyone to argue with her. “I would take one with me, but I fear Rhys would eat it in less time it would take for me to give it a name.”

  Kai and Ivy shared a look before he asked, “Who is Rhys?”

  “My argos, which you would know as a lion. Though, the argos are different.”

  Kai looked stunned, but Ivy threw a hand in the air and said, “Okay, if she has a lion as a pet, I don’t want to hear any more shit about me having a pig.”

  Lazio turned to Kahla and whispered, “She called it a pig.”

  “I will kill you,” Ivy growled as he pointed at him.

  “She was joking,” Matt told Lazio. “Maybe.”