Chapter Two
The warriors were gathered around the living room, making the space look small with their massive size only magnified by the fact that that there were so many of them there together. Lynx stepped into the room and all of their eyes turned to him, burrowing into him with the intensity that said they all expected him to do something, but he wasn't sure what that was. He paused at the door and looked back at them, for the first time distinctly aware of the pairs of orange orbs that stood out against the contrasting blue, green, and grey ones that stared back at him. He had caught sight of his own eyes in the mirror above the vanity in Rain's room while he was brushing his hair and noticed that they were still their usual shade. He wondered if they flickered orange when he was near her like he had seen happen to some of the other men in the early days of them finding their future mates but before their bonding was complete.
This thought brought painful tightness to his throat and a rock to his belly. Would he ever be able to complete his bond with Rain? Would they ever be able to look into each other's eyes and truly be together, or would he be left to long for her for the rest of his life knowing that she was there, but frozen in place for eternity?
An even worse thought hit him then. He suddenly wondered if when they destroyed the Covra they also destroyed the link that kept the Light Ones alive.
"We have to figure out how to unlock them," he said without waiting for any of them to say anything to him first.
"That's exactly what we were just talking about," Bannack told him from his spot near the fireplace where the other men had seemed to be watching him before Lynx came into the room.
"How long have you all been here?" Lynx asked.
"Only about an hour," Pyra told him, "Ty and Vax were still sleeping after their healing and we thought that after everything that you went through last night you could probably use a little bit of extra rest."
Lynx nodded.
"Thank you," he said, knowing that they were probably right. The night before had been rough on him and his body still felt like he could use more sleep, "What were you saying about unlocking the Light Ones?"
He was still cautious about the way that he spoke about the people of the settlement, keeping with the name for them that they all already knew from the information they found in the abandoned, burned prison rather than revealing that he knew anything else about them that the others did not.
"You were there when Loralia told us that the Covra aren't gone. There are more to come and she is pretty positive that they are going to be strong enough that the Light Ones aren't going to be able to survive when they come."
"So what do we do?" Lynx asked.
Bannack let out a deep sigh and looked at Pyra.
"We don't know," Pyra said, "We were hoping that there was something more you could tell us about them, something else that you noticed when you were watching their last few moments. Anything."
Lynx shook his head.
"I told you everything. I can't think of anything else that I saw that would have any meaning. I only saw them locking them, not waking them up."
"And they locked them by stabbing them with their legs just like they did when they were fighting us?"
Lynx shuddered as he remembered watching the Covra's sharp, gleaming leg puncturing Rain's belly and her body going completely still. He nodded.
"Can you show us?" Ciyrs asked.
Intense protectiveness flooded through Lynx and he felt the anger and aggression surge within him. He didn't like the thought of any of the other men, not even Ciyrs, looking at Rain, especially if they wanted to expose her belly so that they could see the injury that was inflicted by the Covra. He knew, though, that they had to have as much information as they possibly could if they were going to have any chance of figuring out how to wake the locked residents of the settlement, and that meant having to trust the other men of the tribe, particularly their healer, with his mate.
"Not all of you are going to fit in the room with her," he said.
He wanted to find a way to limit the number of the men who were going to be close to her and looking at her in such a prone and vulnerable state, but he also was trying to control his anger and not hurt any of their feelings by obviously trying to exclude them from the situation.
"Just Ciyrs, Bannack, and me," Pyra said carefully as if he were coaxing permission to get near Rain out of Lynx and being cautious not to upset him for fear that he would rescind the permission and the hopes that they would be able to help these people would be completely futile.
"Why Bannack?" Lynx asked with a touch more aggression and suspicion than he intended to put in his voice.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Bannack asked.
Bannack himself was still only a few days into his mating relationship with Loralia and it seemed that much of the aggression and temper were still lingering in him as the defensiveness in the question caused his body to tense visibly.
"Calm down," Pyra said, holding one arm out in front of Bannack as if to block the other warrior from advancing on Lynx, "This is his future mate you are talking about. Think about how you would have felt if it was Loralia lying up there in that bed completely helpless and you had never even been able to speak to her much less be with her, but all of us wanted to go in and look at her and touch her."
"Touch her?"
Lynx appreciated that Pyra was trying to explain the situation to Bannack in a way that the young and volatile warrior would understand, but mentioning that they were going to touch Rain had Lynx feeling like he was pushing the very edge of his control.
"Ciyrs might have to," Pyra said to him evenly, "We have to figure out what exactly happened to them that locked them if we are going to be able to figure out how to reverse it, if that is even possible, and that means that we are going to have to examine her as thoroughly as Ciyrs thinks is necessary."
Lynx could feel his fists clenching and releasing beside him and the urge to lash out at the men was building again. He worried for a moment that the effect of the Covra attack was still lingering inside him and that he was going back into his completely involuntary rage that nearly had him killing his fellow warriors with his bare hands. Pyra didn't seem concerned about his behavior, however, and Lynx realized that he was just feeling what all Denynso men did when they were getting close to their mates. He wanted to hope that the fact that the feeling was intensifying meant that he was, in fact, getting closer to Rain being awake and in his arms.
"Listen to me, Lynx," Ty said, stepping forward, "If any of us understand what you are going through right now and what you want to do to us, it is the three of us who have found our mates in the last few months. We know exactly what it's like to be angry and frustrated and distrustful of everyone who we thought might be trying to get near our mates. Pyra and Gyyx have even watched Ciyrs heal their mates. Because we understand it, though, is exactly why you need to trust us."
Lynx looked at the bandages wrapped around Ty's chest just as they had been around his own when he first awoke after the attack. This man was not a warrior by birth but rather a nurturer who devoted himself to making sure that the warriors and the rest of the tribe had what they needed and were kept comfortable and happy, particularly after battles. The arrival of his mate, Samira, however, had brought things out in him that none of the Denynso had ever imagined would exist in his huge but gentle presence. He had not only become as angry and forceful as Lynx was feeling now, but he had stepped forward and agreed to use the power that he had inherited from his father but had never used to battle against the Klimnu. If Ty's mate had transformed him that much; had given him that much power, strength, and courage, Lynx knew that he couldn't just let Rain lie there for a single second longer than she absolutely had to. He couldn't risk not having something so incredible in his life in the full and complete way that she should.