Chapter Nineteen
Once Ellar released her, Trask took her home and straight to bed, insisting she get some rest, except it wasn’t their bedroom, but a guest room on the first floor.
After he tucked her in, he went to inspect the damage. While she’d undergone treatment at the clinic, the response team investigated and sent their report. The fire had been triggered by a chemical reaction which caused a small explosion in a room down the hall from the master suite. It had fortunately been contained to the third floor, thanks to Trask’s top-notch home automation and the efforts of the response team.
When he returned to her, he didn’t look pleased. “If the automated system hadn’t activated the closure of the fire doors, we’d be sleeping somewhere else. And, we’re fortunate the autocleaners have been busy while we’ve been away. I can only detect the faint smell of smoke downstairs.”
“Is there anything your magic house can’t do?”
He glanced her way but didn’t laugh or even crack a smile at her comment. “Construction,” was his reply. “There is some minor structural damage. I’ll contact some technicians for repairs in the morning. Until then we’ll have to make do here.”
After removing his clothes and ordering, “Night lighting on,” which magically dimmed the overhead fixtures, leaving only the soft glow of the floor lights, he climbed into bed beside her. He wasn’t distant, hauling her up against him and keeping her there, but he was quiet.
“Are you very angry with me?” she asked when a few minutes passed and he didn’t say a word.
“I’m disappointed, Lana, and frustrated we lost so much time together.” He rolled onto a hip, propped up on one elbow, and angled her face up to his with a hand below her chin. “It shouldn’t have been for you alone to decide.”
“You’re right,” she murmured, her gaze dropping to his dark stubbled jaw. Since she’d been back with him, he shaved every day. His smooth skin and clean-cut appearance were equally attractive, but she missed the bearded alien-warrior look she’d first encountered in the jungle, which he’d maintained even when he took her up to his ship, and later brought her home. She raised her hand to his cheek, fingertips tracing over the coarse black stubble when she continued, “I was shocked by the news and that, in all this time, no one had ever told me. Then I thought of my recent visit with Mailynn who was gushing over her pregnancy, and she went on and on about how happy her mate was because he thought he’d never have a child. It wasn’t fair to either of us, but especially to you since more mates stayed on, and I knew scores more would come if the talks with Earth were successful. I wanted you to have the chance to be a father, to rebuild your world, even if it meant you did it with someone who wasn’t me.”
“I understand the thought process behind it but making such a drastic decision unilaterally was wrong.” He gazed into her eyes when he said sternly, “Moving forward, mate, no secrets, no lies, and no leaving. Understand?”
She nodded without hesitation. “I do, and I’m sorry for hurting you, Trask.”
“That I have you back is what’s important, Lana.”
“I have something else I want to tell you.”
“Nothing of this magnitude, I hope.”
“It is beyond this magnitude.”
He groaned and closed his eyes. “Tell me now. We’ll deal with it, as we have everything else, and move on together.”
She rolled onto her belly, came up on her hands and knees, and lifted one leg and swung it over his hips. Once she moved on top of him, she took his beloved face between her hands. Her thumb swept over the dimple in his cheek, as sweet as it was sexy, but his smooth skin couldn’t compete with his beard rasping against the tender skin of her inner thigh when he went down on her.
“Lana.”
She blinked at his impatient growl which snapped her back to the present.
“You had something of magnitude to tell me?”
“Oh, yes, well, the thing is...” She paused for the span of a heartbeat, unsure why she was suddenly shy, she’d said it before. Maybe because today, with the truth revealed, everything changed.
“Best get to it, mate.”
“I want you to grow your beard back. I miss it,” she blurted out like a coward. Except when his eyes flared wide then narrowed, she added quickly. “But that wasn’t what I meant to say. I love you, Trask. Always have. I think I fell in love with you the first day in the forest, looking into your beautiful eyes.”
He stared at her for a moment then gave a short laugh. “Were you proclaiming your love when you kicked my balls up into my belly that first night in my tent?”
“I’m trying to be serious.”
“I know you are, but it’s too funny because you sure didn’t love me when I put you over my knee and paddled your bottom for doing it.”
“I may have vacillated at first because of the feelings I didn’t want to acknowledge, you were my barbarian captor, after all. But the days passed, and you were so gentle with me, I fell for you—hard. Leaving you was the toughest thing I ever did, but that love never wavered.”
“Nor did mine for you, sweet mate.” He slid a hand between them, palm up, so it covered her belly. “And now that love has created a child.”
It was her turn to be amused, and she giggled. “It was more like wild, hungry, raw, angry passion that created this little one. No matter what you say, you were angry, but it had to be then, don’t you think, Trask? If I’m two weeks along?”
“Very likely,” he answered, gazing up at her with an aqua twinkle. “Was this the news of great magnitude you wanted to share?”
She leaned forward intent on another kiss as she whispered, “Yes.”
Two resounded smacks landed crisply on each cheek. Lana yelped in surprise while rearing back, but she didn’t go far with his large hand clamped over her butt. “Hey! You can’t spank me!” she protested. “I’m expecting.”
“I can and will, when you need it, mate. Like just now, when you led me to believe another catastrophe was heading our way.”
“Oh, that...” She reached back to rub her stinging butt except he caught her wrist and pinned it to her lower back.
“Mmm, yes, that. I’ll be white headed like an elder by the time our baby arrives at this rate.”
“That isn’t fair. I didn’t set the house on fire.”
He raised up, his nose touching hers. “No, but you did climb out a window.” Then he groaned, and his head fell back on the pillow. “While carrying our child.”
“But I didn’t know I was.”
A mix of dark blue and stormy sea green, his gazed blazed up at her. “No more of that, or anything that puts you, or her—
“Him, you mean, I’d like a boy, first.”
He shook his head in exasperation, even while a smile tipped his lips. “Him or her, either way, I’m happy as long as there are no more reckless, impulsive acts while you’re carrying our little one, understood?”
“That goes without saying.”
“You’ll forgive me, but with you, I don’t think that it does.”
“Ouch,” she said, with a little wince. “That hurts, even if it’s true.”
“Just making things clear between us, baby.”
Trask calling her baby, so naturally, eased the sting of his words. With the air cleared between them, she planned to win back his trust. She’d start as soon as she kissed him, which would hopefully lead to more, because lying on top of him with his hands lightly caressing her still-warm and tingling bottom, and so near to other warm and tingling parts, was getting her hot.
She leaned down again, her hands sliding up his chest, to his neck, until she curved them around his jaw. “Can I have my kiss now?”
“After I get your promise.”
She had to think a moment before she remembered. “Yes, Trask, no more reckless impulsive acts while I’m carrying our baby.”
“How about no more—ever?”
“That’s a long time to keep a promise,” she teased.
His fingers flexed in warning. “Are you asking for more?”
“Of your kisses? Always,” she said with a grin, deliberately misconstruing his threat to her bottom.
He chuckled softly. “You’re mighty cheeky considering my hands are on your bare backside.” He squeezed her still- tingling cheeks gently. “I remember you being rounder before. We’ll have to fix that, and especially since you’ll be eating for two during the next seven months.”
Taking the opportunity to shift the conversation away from her less round bottom, she said with a grin, “That’s right. Eva and Eryn’s pregnancies were much shorter than usual, which is a plus.”
“Here’s another one.” His hands left her bottom and slid up her back, one stopping to rest on her upper back, while the other moved up to tangle in the hair. He drew her down until she was close enough to feel his breath on her mouth when he next spoke. “With Remus and Tarus assigned to investigate this new problem on the colony, I’ll be able to be here to pamper my breeding mate.”
“Expecting, please. I’m not a prized mare.”
“Of course, you aren’t, little one. You’re the very beautiful mother of my child.”
Lana’s broad smile brushed his lips. “Does this mean I’ll have you home every night until the baby is born?”
“I’ll limit travel to Primaria, and overnight, only when absolutely necessary.”
She imagined falling asleep in his arms and waking the same way each morning. “I could get used to that.”
“Me, too,” he murmured against her lips. “Do you think you can be happy here with me, little one?”
“I’m already halfway to ecstatic, big guy.”
“Only halfway?”
“I am still waiting for my kiss. What about you?”
“How could I not be, when I have the female I love in my arms, and she is making all my dreams come true.”
Tears stung her eyes. “Now that sent me from halfway, passed full, to overflowing.”
With her held tight against his body, he rolled them as one. Braced above her carefully, he covered her mouth with his, finally. His hands, instantly on the move, parted her thighs and explored her wetness. She could have told him she was more than ready and had been since he climbed into bed beside her with all his golden skin gloriously naked and in a swirl of glossy black hair.
“I can’t wait, Trask,” she whispered into his mouth as she hooked a leg over his hip and pulled him closer.
“You don’t have to, baby.”
Rolling her fully onto her back, he pushed her thighs wider and lined up his cock with her slick opening, preparing to claim what was his, and always had been. A moan of pleasure broke from her lips as he pushed into her. Her hips lifted as he filled her, sinking in slowly while her passage stretched to accommodate his size. She melted around him, her body trembling with desire. Each time, like the first time, his possession took her breath away.
When he moved inside her, setting a drugging in and out pace, she arched into his thrusts, friction stimulating every sensitive nerve with each upward stroke and downward drag of his cock. Soon, sounds of raw passion filled the air. As she gasped and moaned, a low carnal growl emanated from Trask’s throat, and in the background, the ever-present steady rhythm of skin slapping skin.
“Tell me again that you love me, Lana,” he ordered, moving faster.
“I love you, Trask,” she cried out, as her climax shimmered within reach.
He slid a hand between their bodies and found the nub at the front of her sex with his thumb. Flicking and rubbing and spurring her closer to release, he continued to pump into her while he demanded, “Now tell me who you belong to.”
“You.” She panted more than spoke her response. Then, because it was important, she drew in a deep breath and said in the clearest voice she could manage, “I belong to you, Trask, my mate, my general, the father of my child, and my love, forever.”
“You’re mine, Lana,” he avowed in a deep, raspy growl. “My love, my mate, forever mine.”
When climax came, it came for them both, and they shuddered together with shared ecstasy while gazing unashamedly into the depths of each other’s eyes.
***
The next morning when he woke, it took a moment to get his bearings. Different room, strange bed, but the female lying next to him was all too familiar. Pressed warm and soft against his side, her cheek on his chest as her pillow, Lana was still sound asleep. Wanting only to lie there savoring the quiet moment, he didn’t move except to dip his head and breathe in the sweet scent of her hair.
He froze. Could it be true?
He inhaled again. Maker be praised, it was—she scented of him.
Unable to wait to share his news, he rolled on top of her, smiling as she stretched and yawned while coming gradually awake. She was so adorable and arousing at the same time, he couldn’t resist taking a morning kiss. Her lips were as soft and warm as the rest of her, and after drinking of their sweetness, he pulled away and looked into her still sleep-drowsy eyes.
His head jerked back in surprise as he stiffened. Then, he pushed up until his arms locked, far enough away to see her lovely face clearly.
Blinking sleep from her eyes, she noticed him staring. “Is something wrong? You look startled. Have I grown a second head overnight?”
Another moment passed before he smiled broadly. If he looked in the mirror now, he knew what he’d see, a big, goofy, ear-to-ear grin.
“Trask, what is it?
A burst of happiness welled within him, and he couldn’t hold back a joyous laugh.
“It’s a third eye, isn’t it?” she guessed. “That would be my luck, but I should think it would be more horrifying than funny.”
“She’s back,” he murmured as he lowered himself on top of her once more.
“Who’s back?” she asked, her perfectly arched brows knitted in confusion. “You’re not making sense, big guy.”
“My Lana, who snuggles into my side soft and warm while I sleep, who opens for me eagerly, as needy for me as I am for her. My mate, who looks up at me with shimmering aqua eyes and all the love in her heart.”
“I do love you, Trask.”
He didn’t move, still staring down at her, grinning.
“I don’t… Wait, did you say aqua eyes—my eyes?” She pushed at his chest until he rolled off her, then he watched as she bounded off the bed and raced to the mirror, the ends of her long hair, still blonde, but with streaks of his black threaded through it, danced over her naked bottom.
Peering at her reflection in the glass, she gasped, seeing what he had. Her eyes were no longer brown, not one little bit, but beautiful and fully blue-green like his.
“I’ve transformed again.” Standing in profile, her eyes darted back and forth between him and her image in the mirror, her tears flowing freely.
He couldn’t keep from taking in the rest of her beauty, rosy lips in the same shade as her pink-tipped breasts, flat stomach with creamy skin that he knew was as soft as the finest silks sold at the artisan street market, hip bones that jutted out more than before, too much so. What his gaze encountered next was so startling it stopped his brain function for a moment.
“Trask, what is it now? You don’t look good. Like you’ve seen a ghost.”
The concern in her voice seemed to reset his mental processes. “Mate,” he uttered softly as he shifted to the edge of the bed and stood. Without looking away from one of the most exquisitely stunning images he’d ever seen, he moved forward, reaching for her hand when he was near enough, and spun her halfway around. Standing behind her, his front to her back, he curled a hand under her chin and gently angled her face to the mirror.
But her delicate mouth curved downward in confusion as she stared at his reflection instead of what he intended for her to see. With her hand in his, he raised her arm and curled it behind his neck exposing the length of her naked body to the floor-to-ceiling glass. Then, in a sweeping caress down her side, he watched her eyes follow his hand, and knew the instant she saw himself on her.
As her jaw dropped and she sucked in a startled breath, he stated with raw emotion, “Look at my beautiful fated mate.”
Together, they gazed at the swirls, lines, and edges, in black, gold, and red tones, starting at her hip, curling around in back to encompass half a bottom cheek, and running down the outer aspect of her thigh, replicated in exact detail on her body, lay his mark.
“Trask, does this mean—?”
“Yes, paulova.”
“But how?”
“I am not certain.”
“Our score was barely passing—I saw it.”
“I did, too.”
“We were 20th percentile, whatever that means.”
“Obviously, it meant nothing.”
“And they wanted you to throw me back in the mating pool.”
“Never.” He covered her fingers where they slowly traced the pattern on her hip.
She turned in his arms, frowning with uncertainty.
“We were apart for almost a year without suffering the effects of separation. How can this be?”
“I don’t know, Lana, but Kerr and Eva, Maggie and Roth, and Ram and Eryn are all fated mates and none of their mate-bondings took the usual course. And I will not question this gift; I'm going to revel in it.”
“You were right from the beginning,” she said in wonder, then her breath hitched on a sob. “And I put you through torment. You said if it was meant to be, it would happen, and it did, but I didn’t listen. And I didn’t believe.” She dropped her head forward and buried her tear-dampened face in his chest. “How can you ever forgive me?”
His hands swept up her back and he enveloped her, hanging on and squeezing tight. “Paulova, don’t torture yourself over this. You are a woman of science, used to believing what you can see and measure and test. All the facts were stacking up against us.”
“But you didn’t waver.”
“I had a foolproof way of knowing, which you did not.”
“Really? What was it?”
“The awareness.”
Her head popped up, eyes round as twin moons. “What kind of awareness?”
“It’s hard to explain other than to say it’s a feeling some males get when they encounter their intended mate for the first time.”
“Only the males?”
“Yes, why?”
“I had it too, Trask. I was scared out of my mind by the huge alien in front of me, but all I could think was you were the most beautiful creature in the world—well, the universe, actually.” Heat rushed to her face. “I struggled with the guilt of lusting after my captor from day one.”
“Did your heart race?”
“Yes. Did your skin tingle?”
“Yes. And I hungered for you instantly.”
“Me, too. My nipples got hard.”
“I noticed.”
She frowned. “You did not.”
“In that skin-tight flight suit? How could I not? But most of all, my cock turned hard like a uladite crystal.”
“Yeah,” she said as she smiled, big. “I couldn’t miss that, either. You were wearing a loincloth, Trask. But I thought it was love at first sight—well, more so lust at the time. I didn’t know it was a sign.”
“Now, my scientist mate, you have indisputable proof you were meant for me, something you’ll have with you always as a reminder of who you belong to.”
He felt her mouth curve into a smile against his chest and give a soft huff of laugher. “You know, that’s incredibly sexist, but I don’t even care.”
“It isn’t sexist when it’s the truth. You are mine.”
She snaked her arms around his neck and pulled his head down, which didn’t require much effort because he went willingly to her lips.
“Correction, big guy,” she whispered, her sweet mouth brushing over his. “I’m yours forever—maes eternium, remember?—which makes me extraordinarily happy.”
***
With a malicious elder to track down, more warriors to assign to security both here and on the colony, not to mention the trouble on Terra Nova, duties to delegate, and preparations for a wave of new arrivals from Earth in the coming months, Trask was a busy man and though he didn’t want to, had to get back to work. Here guard was doubled, with two guards stationed at each door, when he left her with a smoldering kiss and dire warnings of a sore backside if she didn’t stay put and out of trouble.
He needn’t have worried, however; she had no intention of doing anything to put her baby at risk.
Standing at the patio door, looking out at the courtyard, she was contemplating another garden, maybe just some flowers this time, when she heard steps in the hall behind her.
“Did you forget something?” she asked as she glanced behind her, expecting to see Trask.
But standing in the doorway of the kitchen was an older man in elder robes, one she’d met months before at the clinic. Fear cut straight through to her heart, but she couldn’t let it show, or let on she remembered him.
She plastered on a fake smile, at the same time glancing behind him, hoping to see one of the guards, or better, Trask. The house was quiet, however.
“Hello,” she said, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “Did my mate let you in?”
“Your mate,” he sneered, the acid in his tone making her flinch. So much for her acting. “I was well rid of you then you had to be stupid, like all your kind, and come back.”
When he moved forward, she took a step back. Afraid to take her eyes off him, she reached back with a hand for the door.
He hissed, “Stay where you are,” and pulled a small blaster from his robe.
The pocket-sized weapon looked like a toy, but Lana knew from experience, their technology was advanced, and with uladite powering even their weaponry, this tiny gun would carry deadly force. Still, she stepped to the side enough to place the food prep counter and sink in the middle of the kitchen between them. It was high enough to protect her belly and her unborn child, but if he blew her head off, it would make little difference.
“I said don’t move!” he barked.
“I don’t understand. What do you mean you were well rid of me?”
He grunted. “You must be more ignorant than the others if you can’t put two and two together.”
She distinctly remembered their brief conversation and how he’d shown her the data stick, making sure to mention the upload from the Odyssey, leaving his tablet unlocked. He’d left a trail of bread crumbs, and she gobbled up each one. “You set me up.”
“Shrewd deduction,” he drawled sarcastically. “You succumbed to Primarian male charm faster than any of the others, and your romantic nature, along with your obviously low intellect, made you susceptible to suggestions. You reacted as I anticipated. It was the general who surprised me. That he insisted on keeping a mate he had little chance of breeding with perplexed me. I brought in reinforcements, hoping to get him to see reason. For a pragmatic strategist, Trask was unusually stubborn. Your infertility was a bonus I hadn’t expected. I thought it would be the push he needed and planned to disclose your barrenness to him, but your self-sacrifice made my work painless. Doing anything for love, bah! Sentimental, stupid humans.” He stared at her, scowling. “I simply don’t understand this attraction he has to you. You’re small and frail, sick more often than healthy, and you ran from him, which he should have taken as an unforgiveable betrayal. But unbelievably, he took you back.” With a scathing glance from head to toe, he muttered, “You must have a magical cunt to have bewitched him so because it’s not as though you are fated mates.”
Ordinarily, she would have told the bastard off for his crudeness, but he came too close to her secret for comfort, and he was armed. Therefore, she ignored his rude comment and asked simply, “Who are you?”
“I am Mordrun.”
“Aylan’s brother?”
“We met before the day at the clinic, during introductions at the new mate’s welcome celebration.” His mouth twisted as if the words were sour on his tongue. “You likely don’t remember. Ramikin using the vocal silencer on his red-haired mate was so appalling to all of you pathetic humans, you became frightened and timid, and barely made eye contact with anyone after that.” He added snidely, “Too bad the behavior didn’t last beyond the meal.”
“I don’t understand what this has to do with you standing in my kitchen, aiming a gun at me.”
“It doesn’t. The only thing important here is your unfortunate return to Primaria which will make it impossible to keep our paths from crossing.”
“And that matters because…?”
“As a whole, your species isn’t very bright, is it? I am family, uncle to Trask and Ramikin, who are both a part of my nephew, the current Princep’s inner circle. As such, and as an elder on the council, avoiding one another and having you put two and two together, as challenging as it may have been for you, would have happened eventually. And I couldn’t risk that.”
“Must you be so ugly?”
He barked with laughter. “I’m holding a gun on you; I didn’t come to chat and sip tea.”
“I didn’t know you were Ram’s uncle, too? Quite a family dynasty despite all their denials.”
“It should have been my dynasty,” he snapped. “I was the oldest brother, not Alvarr.”
She shook her head at the new name.
“Kerr’s father, you fool. I was next in line to accede to power. If not for you pathetic Earth females, I would have done so by now.”
“You’ve done all this for power?” For all his superiority, he wasn’t any different than the jealous conniving power-hungry brothers, uncles, and cousins who fill the history books back on Earth. “Did you plan to eliminate Max Kerr and Krager, too? Before we came into the picture, weren’t they in your way?”
“The wheels were in motion. Then we went hunting on Ventorcopia, and you ruined it all.”
“Terra Nova, you mean.”
“No,” he roared. “Ventorcopia would still be ours if not for you. Who gives away an entire planet, except my idiot, human-loving nephew?” Spittle flew from his mouth as he denounced Kerr.
Lana recoiled, loathing being spit on, but detesting being held at gunpoint by a psychopath even more.
“You would rather have seen your people die out and become extinct?”
“Of course not. I had a treaty of my own in the works with an advanced species. It needed only for me to become Princep for it to move forward. My people would have thrived. Instead, we’re destined to decline through the diluting of our DNA with an inferior race.”
“I’m getting tired of your insults.”
He raised the blaster. “You won’t have to hear them for long.”
The cold knot of fear tightened in her stomach. Her eyes dropped to his gun hand, steady as a rock, which was likely what comprised his heart, granite most likely. A chill silenced extended between them.
It was interrupted by a loud knock on the front door.
He glanced behind him, for the first time revealing a crack in his steely calm. “Are you expecting someone?”
“No.”
Another knock sounded, and she heard Eva call through the door, “Lana, we’ve come visiting.”
As good as his word, Trask had made it possible for her friends to visit. Why now? She was both hopeful they might save her and fearful they would be harmed by this menacing elder.
“It is the Prima,” he spat. “The most bothersome of all you insipid creatures. Get rid of her.”
“How?”
“I don’t care. Make something up, just do it fast. If you alert her of my presence, I’ll have to kill her, too. You wouldn’t want that, would you?” A baby’s squealing laugh had Mordrun grinning. “Ah, she’s brought her half-breed brat. How convenient. Maybe I’ll eliminate several annoyances at once.”
“No, not the baby, he’s innocent. I’ll cooperate.”
He shrugged as if it mattered not to him, but his expression showed his disappointment. It chilled her to the bone that Trask was related to this vile man.
When she opened the door, she saw not one friend with her baby, but three. Mailynn held her son, Raylan, the spitting image of Krager, with his shock of thick black hair and gleaming gold-flecked brown eyes. Eva had Kellan propped on her hip. He also looked like his daddy with his same eyes and bronze skin, but what was uniquely different about the new Primmum Ectus—next in line—he had his mother’s champagne-blonde hair, the first fair Primarian in history.
Behind them stood Eryn with her daughter. Since the Rain of Fire two decades ago, the few children born had all been sons, until Cierra. Lana hadn’t seen her in months and couldn’t help from getting teary-eyed over how much she’d grown. She’d been born on Earth while Lana was home, and she’d had the pleasure of caring for the sweet baby girl while Eryn was sick, and Ram was out of his mind with worry for his mate. During that terrible time, when she worried she’d lose her friend, she’d grown close to Ram. His daughter was a miniature of him. Rather than her mother’s fair creamy complexion and her vivid auburn locks, she had jet-black waves in a cloud around her face, and the same glittering gold-flecked eyes as her cousins. She was stunning, but if not for the mix of green in her iris’s, there wasn’t a hint of her mother in her.
These women were her friends, and now that she carried Trask’s child and would be a mother to one of the new generation of Primarians, she felt a closer connection to them. And, they were family since Kerr, Krager, Ram, and Trask all cousins. She couldn’t draw them into this and risk their lives, or those of their precious children. She had to get rid of them, but perhaps she could plant a seed of doubt.
She made it clear this wasn’t a good time, acting rudely, by not inviting them in. “I’m sorry, but I’m not feeling up to visitors this morning.”
“Morning sickness?” Mailynn asked, sympathy in her gaze. “I remember it well.”
“I thought I’d puke up my toenails,” Eryn said.
“Please, no. It’s not that at all. How could it be?” she exclaimed loudly trying to cover for their inadvertent disclosure of her condition.
“Because Primarian genes are incredibly potent,” Mai answered with a little laugh. “And if you’re like us, you won’t be able to avoid it.”
“No, you don’t understand—”
“I do!” Eva chimed in. “Dry crackers worked for me, but only if I ate them before I set foot out of bed in the morning. Try it.”
“Krager brought me buttered toast,” Mai put in. “It had to have butter for some reason or it came back up.”
“Everything came back up with me,” Eryn stated.
“We get it, Eryn,” Eva laughed. “You have it bad.”
“I don’t mean to sound unsympathetic, but I need to go lie down.”
“We understand,” Eryn said, although she eyed her suspiciously, and her gaze shot over her head. Lana had barely opened the door, though, in an attempt to protect them. The ex-chief noticed this, too, and gave her another wary look. “We’ll get out of your hair, so you can rest.”
“Appreciate it,” Lana replied, “but before you go, could I get a cuddle from Cierra? I haven’t had baby snuggles in what seems like forever.”
She held out her arms, and the child lunged at her, falling into her embrace. She rubbed her nose in her soft hair and inhaled her intoxicating baby-sweet smell. “If someone could bottle this scent, they’d be rich.”
The three women nodded.
She kissed Cici’s downy-soft cheek before handing her back to her mother. In case she’d misread Eryn’s reaction, she gave her another clue. “She’s beautiful. Her eyes remind me of our apartment and the robin’s egg blue paint on the walls. Remember how we slapped it on, having no idea what we were doing. We got more on us and the floor than the walls?”
Their apartment had been yellow, not blue, and the former Master Chief of Security had likely not painted more than her toenails in her lifetime. Eryn stared at her as if she’d suddenly sprouted horns, which wasn’t quite the reaction she’d expected. She could only hope she got her message something was seriously wrong. Even if she called Trask to tell him she’d cracked up, would get a response—she hoped.
“You remember, don’t you?”
“Uh, yeah, how could I forget?” she replied, thankfully playing along. “Although with the mess we made and had to clean up, crawling on our hands and knees, scraping it off the floor, I’ve tried. How you did that for six months on Terra Nova, I’ll never know.”
“I was desperate,” she said, staring meaningfully into her friend’s intelligent green eyes. “And had no other choice.”
Eryn eyed her critically for a moment before moving quickly toward the front gate.
Mai followed next, after patting her arm.
“We’ll come back when you’re feeling better,” Eva told her as she turned to go. “A few weeks and the morning sickness should be passed.”
“Not if she’s like me,” Eryn called back. The other women simply shook their heads, but unlike Lana, they hadn’t seen how violently ill her friend had been.
With waves and another curious glance from Eryn, they were gone.
“Close the door,” Mordrun ordered from behind her, digging the blaster painfully into her spine to remind her he was still in charge. Once she did, he motioned down the hall. “Out the back, quickly. We need to go in case they decide to return.”
“If you’re getting rid of me, why should I cooperate? I’m dead either way.”
“I’m not going to kill you,” he replied, his fingers digging into her arm painfully when she didn’t move as he’d demanded. In the kitchen, he shoved her in front of him.
“You aren’t?” she asked as she caught her balance, moving faster now, so he wouldn’t push her again.
“I’m giving you to friends as payment for a favor.”
“Who?” she asked in horror. “Not the Denastrians.”
Even Mordrun grimaced. “Vile creatures. I can see why they don’t appeal. But this is someone else who finds humans particularly enticing. You might call it a craving.”
Goose bumps broke out on her skin as she shivered in revulsion.
“Quit stalling.”
“If I don’t?”
He raised his blaster. “This is set to stun. I’ll shoot you and drag you if I must. As scrawny as you are, it shouldn’t be difficult.”
Afraid of what a photon blast even on stun might do to her baby, Lana complied, planning to watch for another opportunity to escape him.
Through the door, when she started across the flagstone patio, she stopped short, her hands coming to her mouth in horror. Her two rear guards lay slumped on the ground, unmoving, near the courtyard wall. She staggered, but not from her rubbery knees, which could have very well caused it, but because her heel caught on the edge of the same loose stone she always tripped on. Remus had promised to summon a mason before someone broke their neck—most likely her. And thank goodness he hadn’t gotten to it yet because it gave her an idea.
“Are they dead?” she asked of Mordrun as she used her foot beneath her long skirt to lift the loose stone up more at an angle.
“Stunned, the same is in store for you if you don’t move.” He jabbed the muzzle of his gun painfully into her back. She lurched forward, or at least she pretended to, careful to avoid the protruding stone. As she righted herself, she listened and prayed he wouldn’t look down.
He didn’t and tripped, grunting as his foot caught the stone and he started to go down, which is what she hoped would happen. Tripping was enough, however. She had to get the weapon.
With her fingers interlaced together, she spun and slammed her clenched hands as hard as she could against the side of the awful man’s head. Already off-balance, he dropped to his knees, arms extended, hands open to catch himself on the hard ground. She timed it, so when he landed, she stomped her heel hard on his fingers. She thought she heard a crunch, but it could have been wishful thinking. While Mordrun squealed like a pig in pain, she bent and ripped the weapon away from him.
With trembling hands, she leveled the blaster at him as she backed away several paces.
“Who’s stupid now, old man?” She eyed the dial on the side of the gun. “So ‘s’…that stands for stun, right? Should I blast you senseless like you planned to do to me.”
“No! Don’t!” he cried. “S means silent, not stun; the charge is set to full power.”
“You bastard! You were going to kill me after all.”
“Yes, bitch. I don’t want you gone; I want you dead.”
“It’s been you all along, hasn’t it? You not only caused the Terra Nova explosion, but the one in the North Mine here on Primaria. And you poisoned the warriors on the Odyssey, didn’t you? You were so desperate to obstruct the integration, you targeted your own people.” As she went through the mounting list of incidents, she was sickened by his treachery. “It was you who cut Eryn’s breathing tube, wasn’t it? She almost died, you hateful fucker.”
“While you’re dredging up past history, why not ask if I was responsible for the rock fall that killed my brother? Or the engine malfunction which killed Trask’s father. Stupid human, I’ve covered my tracks for twenty years without suspicion. I’ve sat on the council for two decades and am revered. Who are you? A breeder who opens her thighs for Primarian seed. Except you can’t even accomplish that. Go on, tell them all. I’ve laid a trail to Aylan, who wants nothing more than Krager to rise to power. No one will believe you if you try to impugn me and implicate me in treason.”
“I believe you have done an excellent job of it yourself, Uncle.”
His head twisted to the side, as did Lana’s, and they both stared—Mordrun in horror, herself in relief—at Max Kerr. His golden eyes blazed with such intense fury, she took a step back. The look was recreated in the faces of the men who flanked him—Trask, Ram, and Krager, and the half dozen other warriors who now filled the small rear courtyard.
Her mate shouldered past his leader and strode to her side.
“I’ll take that,” he murmured as he pulled the blaster from her trembling fingers. “Are you all right, paulova? Did he harm you?”
“I’m okay, so is the baby.” But with the drama over, and her mate’s protective arm sliding around her, the enormity of the near-death experience hit her, and she began to tremble. Trask passed the weapon to someone behind him and enveloped her with both arms as her rubbery knees gave way.
“How did you know to come, with so many?”
“Eryn sent an urgent transmission to Ram. She said you were acting funny and suspected something was wrong here. Thank the Maker she did.”
“I was counting on her.”
“She also said if she had been armed and didn’t have a baby on her hip, she would have taken care of whatever it was herself, which would have made Ram’s head explode.”
Lana didn’t doubt it of her friend for a moment. Unbelievably, she laughed, though she muffled it by pressing her face in his tunic. From the angry waves bouncing around the courtyard, her amusement likely wouldn’t have been appreciated.
Ram’s voice rumbled in an enraged growl behind them. “Kerr, if I have to look at him another second, old man or not, I won’t be responsible for my actions.”
“I know exactly how you feel; the sight of him sickens me,” the Princep replied. “Take him away.” She pulled away from Trask enough to see him signal two of the warriors forward. “And get the response team here, now,” he commanded of no one in particular. “Tell them we have four warriors down, two back here and out front.”
“I’ve already transmitted the alert,” Krager stated, from where he crouched beside her unconscious guards. “They’re coming around now. We can add multiple charges of assault and attempted kidnapping to his long list of crimes.” Suddenly, he was on his feet and storming toward Mordrun. “You tried to set my father up for your own treasonous intentions. What is wrong with you?” he demanded. “Betraying your own brother, your Princep, myself, Ram, and Trask; we’re your kin.”
“You are all traitors!” the old man spat. “Consorting with aliens, contaminating our pure familial line with inferior blood.”
Lana stiffened, getting tired of hearing her species maligned by this warped, xenophobic old man.
“This will break Valkerr’s heart,” Trask observed as his arms tightened around her.
“Valkerr?” she asked softly, remembering the name from her file.
“My grandfather.”
Trask of Valkerr, now it made sense.
“My father, the old fool, this is his fault,” Mordrun bit out, plainly unrepentant. “He should have ceded the authority to me, not my weak older brother. It was the beginning of the end the day Alvarr was given authority in my stead. I rue the day he came to power.”
“You’ll rue this day,” Kerr said in a deadly tone. “Your malice knows no bounds. Exile is too good for you. For what you have done—conspiring against your own, undermining our efforts to keep our species from dying out, kidnapping, attempts on our mates’ lives, and, by your own admission, the assassination of a Princep. For these capital crimes, I shall see you pay the ultimate price.”
“You can’t! We haven’t condoned execution for centuries!”
“For you, Uncle, I’m bringing it back because no one has deserved it quite so much as you, Mordrun of Valkerr.” He jerked his chin to the side and the warriors dragged him away. The Princep stared coldly after him. “Suspicions pointed to him being behind this, but we had nothing concrete. I should have acted before now, but I couldn’t make myself believe he was capable of such hatred and treachery.”
“None of us could,” Krager murmured. “He is family.”
“His illness, all those years ago, affected him,” Trask observed, his chest vibrating beneath her ear. “He hasn’t been right since. Grandfather knew he couldn’t lead us and hoped to appease him with a place on the council. But who would have suspected the bitterness that simmered beneath the surface, fueling his hate all this time?”
“And we were the catalyst that brought it to the surface,” Lana stated softly.
“No, Lana,” Kerr countered. “You were the catalyst that will save us all. Mordrun is simply too old, foolish, and stubborn to realize the truth.”