Eight
Later that shift, Balvan positioned himself, fully dressed, in front of a horizontal support in their nourishment chamber. His little female hurried around the space, mumbling to herself, her light-blue flight suit billowing around her. Sparkles sat on his lap. The puffker had been fed first and was now purring happily.
Although Balvan hadn’t yet eaten, he felt the same level of joy. His mate was fabricating a nourishment bar especially for him.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d received a gift. This planet rotation, he’d be receiving two.
Elyce had already given him the gift of her body, their unexpected and delightfully vigorous breeding easily topping his list of best experiences. Being inside her exceeded every wild imagining, every previous happiness.
Her scent clung to his skin. They had utilized the cleansing chamber but he refused to remove her distinct fragrance. He wanted every being to know he belonged to her.
That she belonged to him would be communicated to anyone with enhanced senses. He had filled her with his nanohumanics. His lips lifted into a smug smile. There would be no doubt in any male’s mind that she was his.
“I think I remembered all of the ingredients.” She placed the giant nourishment bar before him.
Many of the ingredients she’d utilized now decorated her boots. They required another polish, the second of this planet rotation. She had insisted on cleaning his boots when they woke and he had reciprocated, recognizing the task as an expression of caring for his little female.
As was her nourishment bar fabrication.
“I wasn’t too certain about the ratios, though.” She set her much smaller bar on the horizontal support and climbed onto the chair next to his. It was a challenging endeavor. The seat was high off the floor, the chair constructed for his much greater height.
Never thinking he’d have a female, he hadn’t modified the design for such a possibility. Balvan made a mental note to add rungs along the chair legs. Those should make it easier for his tiny human to access.
“If you don’t like it, you don’t have to eat it.” She continued to worry, her cheeks flushed from activity.
He was eating it. Balvan raised the bar to his lips. It was warm and soft. He bit into it. Tartness exploded on his tongue. The ratios were definitely off. He hid his reaction under a blank expression.
Elyce didn’t make that effort. She grimaced, her eyes widening. “It’s too sour, needs more sweetener.” She set her smaller bar on the platter. “I’m sorry.” Her bottom lip trembled. “I used up many of your supplies and it’s ruined and—”
“It’s not ruined.” He stopped her impending meltdown. “I like my nourishment bars sour.”
He didn’t like them as sour as the one she’d fabricated, however. Balvan took another huge bite and chewed, adding ‘Purchase sweetener’ to his mental supply list.
“You’re merely being nice.” She retrieved two packaged nourishment bars from a wall compartment, set one in front of him, and unwrapped the other. “Don’t eat it. I’ll try again next planet rotation.”
Wanting his female to continue trying, to show her caring for him every planet rotation, Balvan devoured her first attempt at a nourishment bar. Then he ate hers also.
His female watched him as she nibbled on the packaged nourishment bar. Her mood lightened a little bit more every time he swallowed, that reward more than offsetting the sour taste in his mouth.
“I know what I did wrong.” Her eyes glowed. “The next one will be perfect.”
“As long as you put the same amount of caring into it, I’ll be happy.” No one had ever fussed over his nourishment. He liked it. It made him feel loved.
He washed the last of the nourishment bar down with a swig of beverage and patted his stomach, contentment shrouding him. “We could obtain supplies now.” He wanted to purchase more garments for her also. She deserved a flight suit in every color. “It—”
Meet me at my working chambers. Now. Kralj pushed that thought into his head.
Balvan sucked back a groan. He didn’t want to part with his female.
Bring her also. The Ruler addressed his concern.
“What is it?” Balvan’s perceptive female studied him, worry furrowing her forehead. “Is something wrong?”
“Kralj wants to see us.” He transferred Sparkles to the square of padded fabric on the floor. The puffker yipped once and promptly fell back asleep.
“He wants to see both of us?” She nibbled on her bottom lip, abusing that lush flesh. “Marowit is coming for Paloma, for me, isn’t he? He’s going to get to us and—”
“He won’t get to you.” He swung her into his arms. “To do that, he’d have to get through me first.” He walked with her through the domicile.
“He could hurt you.” Her eyes reflected her fear.
For him. Balvan’s world spun. His female worried for him, a monster, a being designed for one purpose and one purpose only—to end lifespans. “He can’t hurt me.”
He carried his little human out of the structure.
“You don’t know him,” she mumbled.
Balvan’s adversary was human and he was…not. That was all he needed to know. “You’re safe, little female.”
The space others gave them emphasized that point. Most beings feared him. His female didn’t. That was yet another sign she was meant for him.
Kralj’s working chambers were situated in a beverage outlet in the center of the settlement. Balvan opted to pass through one of the back doors to the structure.
Hulagu, the Chamele kid being trained by Kralj, Orol, and the others, stood guard at that entrance, his claws extended. Azalea, his female, sat on an upturned container positioned beside him.
Elyce, seeing Hulagu, pressed closer to Balvan, her body trembling. Her fear of males clearly extended to half-grown youths.
Balvan’s lips flattened. He would kill Marowit, tear that perverted male apart.
“Hulagu and Azalea, this is Elyce, my mate.” He held his little female high against his chest, out of any being’s reach. “Hulagu and Azalea care for Sparkles when I’m not able to tend to her.” He explained, trying to ease her trepidation.
“My gerel cares for Sparkles.” Hulagu huffed. “I’m a Warlord-in-training.”
“He protects me.” Azalea, always cautious around strangers, hid behind her mate. “Like Balvan protects you. We’re safe…as long as we don’t leave the Refuge.”
“I can protect you outside the Refuge.” The kid frowned. “I’ll decapitate anyone who dares to come close to you.” He swiped his claws through the air.
Elyce’s trembling intensified and Balvan rumbled his unhappiness. With Hulagu intent on looking like a badass and Azalea being scared of her own shadow, their conversation was increasing his little female’s concerns, not lessening them.
“Kralj wants to speak with us.” Balvan relayed before the kid demonstrated any more of his recently acquired fighting skills.
“Yes, sir.” Hulagu’s thin body snapped straight and he stepped aside, Azalea moving with him. “Tell him how well I’m guarding his doors.”
Balvan grunted his response and carried his female into the structure. The Ruler knew everything. There was no need to relay the kid’s message. The doors closed behind them, the noise decreasing.
“Was your friend, Azalea, abducted also?” Elyce whispered.
Fraggin’ hole. Balvan’s jaw dropped. He had an observant mate.
“Azalea was attacked outside Kralj’s terrain.” He explained. “Hulagu wasn’t with her.”
His female blinked once, twice, absorbing that information. “And now her attacker waits for her?”
“Her attackers are dead.” As Elyce’s abductor and his males would soon be dead. “Dita and Kralj eliminated them.”
“That was the one time he left the settlement.” She nodded, his female’s memory equally impressive. “Some beings would blame her for being attacked. If she hadn’t been where she was, looked the way she did, it might not have happened.”
She was referring to herself, to her abduction. Balvan folded his muscles around his little mate, seeking to comfort her.
“The only beings to blame were Azalea’s attackers.” He told her. “They were looking for someone to hurt and they found her. Marowit was looking for someone to abduct and he found you.” She wasn’t responsible for the violence against her.
Elyce gazed up at him, her eyes widening slightly. “If Marowit hadn’t taken me, he would have taken someone else?”
“He would have taken someone else.” Balvan was certain of that. “The abduction was Marowit’s fault, not yours.”
As they approached Kralj’s working chambers, the doors opened.
“What is Marowit’s fault?” Orol, having enhanced hearing, had heard part of their conversation. The warrior stood with Rhea, his mate, and Paloma, her sister.
Balvan narrowed his gaze at his friend. “What do you know about Marowit?”
“He has been watching the human.” Kralj was seated behind a horizontal support, Dita, his mate, positioned beside him. “Marowit is commanding the Humanoid Alliance forces.”
“That’s the being responsible for the siege?” Orol’s wings fluttered. “The males refer to him by his rank.”
“Why would the Humanoid Alliance send Marowit to bring me back?” Rhea placed her hands on the handles of her holstered guns. “Did they think I’d trust him again, after what he did to us?” Her tone was incredulous.
“What has he done to you?” Balvan was confused. What was Rhea’s connection to Marowit?
“He was the being who betrayed my parents.” Rhea avoided his gaze. “He was responsible for their deaths.”
“They’re not dead.” Paloma crossed her arms under her breasts.
“They are dead.” Rhea insisted. “I’ve told you that multiple times. They were executed in front of me, a single projectile to each of their foreheads.”
“Then he wasn’t responsible for their deaths,” Elyce whispered.
Orol’s gaze swung to Balvan’s mate. “Why would you say that?” He demanded. “Do you know who was responsible?”
“No one is responsible. They aren’t dead.” Paloma clung to her illusions.
“Silence.” Kralj’s voice came from everywhere and nowhere, filling the chamber.
Everyone except Elyce stared at the Ruler. She hid her face against Balvan’s chest.
“Elyce, tell the others why Marowit wasn’t responsible for the deaths of Rhea and Paloma’s parents.” Kralj’s tone would have scared any other being into immediately answering.
Balvan’s little female hesitated, her body tensing as though she expected to be struck.
“Kralj, sir.” Balvan didn’t want the Ruler grilling her, digging for answers the all-knowing male already had. She’d been through enough trauma.
“Your female dragged herself across sand dunes by her fingertips.” Kralj’s tone was dry. “She can answer a simple question, can’t you, Elyce?”
“I can, sir.” She lifted her gaze to Balvan’s. “It’ll be okay,” she whispered, covering his hands with hers. “I can take the punishment if I get the answer wrong.” The smile she summoned broke his big heart.
He wanted to assure her there’d be no punishment for wrong answers but he couldn’t. A lump of emotion was clogging his throat.
“I wouldn’t be asking you to share a wrong answer.” Kralj said nothing about punishments, the Ruler leaving that option open. “Why wasn’t Marowit responsible?”
“Marowit could have betrayed the parents.” Elyce’s voice shook. “That’s something he would do, but he wasn’t responsible for their deaths. A single projectile to the forehead is not his style. It is too fast, too…kind.”
She knew that because she’d seen her abductor do much worse than that. Balvan held her close. She’d endured more than any being should have to endure.
“While we were waiting for your arrival.” Kralj didn’t like any delays. “Orol shared what he’d overheard. According to talk in the enemy camp, Marowit and the other Humanoid Alliance males are here to retrieve two spies, spies with top secret information.”
“He’s after me and Paloma.” Rhea nodded, her hands clasped in front of her, her knuckles white.
“Father and Mother weren’t spies.” That was another truth Paloma refused to believe about her parents. “And neither are we.”
“Is that why Marowit is here, Elyce?” Kralj remained focused on Balvan’s female. “To retrieve two spies?”
Why was the Ruler forcing her involvement? Balvan glowered at him. He knew the answers.
“That’s not why he’s here.” Elyce admitted, her voice stronger.
“Why is he here?” Kralj pressed her.
“He’s here to take Paloma.”
“Good.” The girl cast a dark look at Rhea. “Let him take me. No one else wants me. All Rhea cares about is Orol and the babies. Azalea has Hulagu.” Her gaze returned to Elyce. “You’ve stolen Balvan. At least, Marowit wants me.”
“You don’t want Marowit.” Elyce shook her head.
“Why not?” Paloma took a step toward her and Balvan rumbled a warning. No one threatened his female. “He’s handsome, clearly powerful—or all of you wouldn’t be worried about him, and maybe he’d talk to me, tell me things, treat me like a grown female.”
“He isn’t a good male.” Elyce pushed her body into Balvan’s, trying to retreat from the girl and likely from the hostile situation.
“Your Balvan isn’t a good male.” Paloma’s voice raised. “He’s the exact same type of being as Marowit.”
Balvan stared at the girl, fury rushing up his big form. He was nothing like Elyce’s abductor.
“What did you say?” His female became deathly still.
She didn’t believe he was like that male, did she? Balvan looked down at her flushed face, daggers of despair slicing through his soul.
“What did you say?” His female repeated, straightening, all of the softness in her face and form turning into unrelenting hardness.
“You heard me.” Paloma stuck out her chin. “There’s no difference between your Balvan and Marowit.”
“Fuck you.” Elyce yelled, her passion hardening his cock. “Don’t you ever compare Balvan to Marowit.”
She flung herself forward, her hands flying.
Balvan caught her. “I’ve got you.” He pulled her back to him.
“Let me down.” She smacked his arms. “This is my fight.”
His female wanted to physically confront the girl. Stunned by that revelation, he complied with her command.
“Yes, Balvan has killed beings.” Elyce stalked toward the younger female, her beautiful face bright with a righteous fury.
That fury was for him. He gazed at her. She was defending him.
He was a monster, a being designed for the sole purpose of killing. No one had ever waged war on his behalf, no one except her.
“He has crushed skulls and torn off limbs, but he does that to protect the beings he cares about.” Elyce’s eyes blazed. “He isn’t evil. Marowit is evil.”
“That’s your opinion.” Paloma stepped backward, that fearful action belying her defiant tone.
“That’s not my opinion.” His female clenched her tiny fingers into the cutest little fists Balvan had ever seen. “That’s fact. Marowit had his sights set on you. When he couldn’t find you, he took me, a complete stranger. I was walking along a pathway and he grabbed me. Do you know why?” She shook her fists at Paloma.
The girl gulped air. “B-because you’re crazy.”
“Because I had blonde hair, blue eyes, curves.” Elyce’s top lip curled. “For the crime of looking like you, he destroyed my life. He beat me, used me, gave me to his males, paraded me through settlements, naked except for the collar around my neck and the restraints on my wrists and ankles. Those scars you find horrifying?” She unfastened her flight suit, revealing the marks around her neck. “He gave them to me.”
“I-I…” Paloma’s face turned white.
“He gave me these too.” Elyce showed the girl the scars around her wrists. “And these.” She turned around and lowered her flight suit to her waist.
Paloma and Rhea gasped. Orol wrapped his wings protectively around his pregnant mate. Dita looked ready to kill someone. The shadows concealing Kralj’s scarred countenance extended to encompass his assassin mate.
Balvan met Elyce’s gaze, the tears on his brave mate’s cheeks twisting his heart. “You’ve told her enough, my little female.”
“It isn’t enough, not nearly enough.” She fastened her flight suit, hiding her scars once more. “She doesn’t know that all the time Marowit was torturing me, brutally taking me, gouging my flesh with the tips of his daggers, he called me by her name. She was the female he loathed yet I was the female he punished over and over again. Because I looked like her.”
Paloma sobbed.
Elyce turned to face the girl. “I hated you when I first met you. I wanted to slap the smirk off your beautiful face, make you pay for the pain I’d suffered. But Balvan convinced me I shouldn’t. He cares for you for some reason.” She rolled her eyes. “I suggest you apologize to him for saying he is the same type of male as Marowit or I might change my mind.”
Balvan had to struggle to keep his expression blank. He doubted the indulged girl had ever had to apologize for anything in her lifespan.
Paloma looked fearfully at Elyce before looking at him. “I-I’m s-sorry I said you were the same type of male as M-Marowit.”
“I accept your apology.” He dipped his head.
His female was a force. Balvan no longer wondered how she’d survived. He wondered how Marowit had escaped death.
The male wouldn’t live for much longer. He would kill him slowly, painfully.
“The killing can wait.” Kralj rejected that course of action. “He’s blocking deliveries but my terrain is secure. No one will try to leave the Refuge again.” That statement was directed at Paloma. “Take this time to prepare. We’re at war.” His gaze turned to Elyce. “Everyone should be able to defend themselves.”
She didn’t have to learn how to defend herself. Balven pressed his lips together. She was his female. He’d keep her safe, would always be by her side whenever she left their domicile. No one would ever touch her again without her permission.
There was no need to instruct her on the ugly, brutal, often bloody task of ending lifespans.
Except it might give her more confidence. And it would add an extra layer of security around her. And if she ever walked into another fight, seeking to defend him, she’d be prepared for the worst-case scenario.
Fraggin’ hole.
He had to teach her how to kill.