Chapter Eighteen

Darq

 

“We should get up.” I stroked my mate’s arm. We lay spent and snuggling after morning relations. “We don’t want to be late.”

She tilted her head to peer at me. “You’re not nervous, are you?”

“No.” I shook my head. “More…excited.”

A week had passed since the trek to the meeting place, and we would go again today. Andrea would be on the computer, and Sunny intended to introduce me to her family. They had watched me on the ’net, but I’d never seen them.

“Good.” She hugged me. “They’ll love meeting you.”

I still didn’t fully understand what a ’net show was, but she had promised to show me some episodes of Sunny Weathers’ Excellent Adventures. I was particularly interested in the one where she worked on a pig farm.

“I’m hoping Stormy will have news of whether she was accepted into the exchange program. I’m a little nervous,” she said.

“Why?”

“Since she has a relative in the program—me—her application was supposed to be expedited; however, I wouldn’t put it past Apogee to blacklist her, out of revenge.”

“They could prevent her from coming here?”

“Maybe. It’s a government program, so Apogee isn’t in control. However, they might have consultants inside the government who would do them a favor—or accept a bribe.” She twisted her mouth. “Then again, maybe I’m cynical. Or paranoid. Or both.” She rolled out of my arms and flung back the kel. “You’re right. We could get an early start. Let’s go.”

I didn’t recall saying we should get an early start, but I enjoyed watching her as she strode to the box where she kept her possessions. Her buttocks jiggled, reminding me how her ass overflowed my palms when I cupped it. She had generous, healthy buttocks, an attribute as nice as her breasts.

Those were lush, round handfuls, too.

Well…now I wasn’t sure. Which was better? Her buttocks or her breasts? A visual appreciation wasn’t going to be enough. I needed hands-on information. My horns tingled, and my loins awakened. I patted the still-warm place she had vacated. “Why don’t you come back to bed?” I flashed a beckoning smile.

“Again? Darq…” She planted her hands on her hips and an expression of exasperation on her face, but desire sparked in her eyes.

“We have plenty of time.”

“You’re impossible. Insatiable,” she protested, but slipped into bed.

I tossed the top kel over both of us and kissed her. I cupped her breast, stroking the nipple to hardness then slipped my hand down to her ass and squeezed. Tough choice. I liked them both.

She nibbled on my earlobe while stroking my horns. Pleasure coursed through my body.

“Darq! I need to speak to you, now!” Torg shouted from the main chamber.

Sunny stiffened, and I bit off a groan, an annoyed one, not a rapturous one. “Shh! Ignore him. I’ll see what he wants later,” I whispered and nuzzled her neck.

“He sounded upset.”

“Now, Darq!” Torg interjected in his tribe-leader voice.

I wasn’t sure of the time, but it was still early in the morning. No one had eaten yet. What could he want?

“I’ll be right back.” I slipped out of bed and pulled on my leggings. “I’m coming,” I yelled to forestall Torg from delivering another command in person. I shoved my feet into boots.

Sunny dressed. “I’ll come, too.”

My plan for another romp in the kels disintegrated. Damn that Torg.

In the main chamber, Torg paced, Starr hugged herself looking very concerned, and beyond them stood Romando, his tribe leader Polonio, and Enoki.

It was going to be a very bad day.

As soon as he saw me, Romando leaped forward and jabbed his finger at Sunny. “This female is mine. She belongs to me!”

“Whoa, buddy. I don’t know who you are think you are, but I don’t belong to you,” she shot back.

“Women don’t belong to anybody,” Starr agreed with her.

“Any female acquired with my chit belongs to me.” Romando’s face had reddened, and his horns had swelled with ire. “I have the right to take her.”

Try it. Sunny is mine! I’d fight for my mate! I may have stolen the chit, but I’d recorded our pairing in the official tome.

The same one Enoki had tucked under his arm. With a heavy sigh, he placed it on the table.

“Sunny is my mate. It says so in the records tome.” I gestured to the volume.

“That’s what it says,” Enoki agreed, “but we have reason to believe, it is not correct.” He swept out his arm. “We are short of the females needed to save our species. To steal a mate is a grievous offense, but so is tampering with official records. After the asteroid hit, when our ancestors had to fight for survival, they believed our past important enough to preserve by recording their memories. To falsify records dishonors them and taints history for future generations.”

Sunny and Starr huddled together. “Spoken like a true bureaucrat,” Sunny murmured.

“When everyone but Romando claimed a female, we knew somebody had his chit. We just didn’t know who until now.” Enoki looked at me.

Torg crossed his arms. “Why do you suspect my brother? What evidence do you have?”

“A messenger from Terra appeared and related that Darq had found the chit and wrongfully claimed a female,” Polonio said.

“A messenger? Like what? You encountered a burning bush?” Sunny snorted. “Or maybe a winged creature with a halo descended from the sky?”

Polonio and Romando nodded. “It was a winged creature,” Polonio said.

“You son of a bitch!” My mate swore at the cameras hovering behind the men.

“The winged one spoke to us in Dakonian and bade us to bring Enoki to the meeting place. We watched on the Terran screen as Darq confessed how he found the chit and altered the records.”

Torg looked at me. “Is this true?”

Everyone stared. Sunny imperceptibly shook her head, encouraging a lie. Enoki and Polonio glared their accusation, and Romando smirked with triumph.

Until I’d found the chit, I was not a man who lied.

In doing so, I had besmirched my honor, my brother’s, and my clan’s. Sunny had pledged herself to me. I would tell any untruth to keep her—and her beseeching look urged me to continue the falsehood, but I did not want to be, in her eyes, a man who lied. For if I lied to them, how long before she would wonder if I lied to her? Would a time come when she would question my word? Doubt my love?

“I found Romando’s chit,” I admitted.

Stunned silence followed my confession. They all had expected denial.

Romando thrust out his jaw. “I demand the female be turned over to me.”

I pushed Sunny behind me and readied to fight. “Never.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” she said.

“It is only fair,” Polonio said. “You must hand her over to my tribesman.”

“Nobody is going anywhere,” Torg said. “You don’t know Terran females very well if you assume you can pass them around like a kel coat. Sunny is a member of my tribe, and she will remain in my tribe—if she wants.” He looked at her.

“I want to stay here,” she said. “With Darq.”

Romando’s face reddened, and he clenched his fists. Polonio stayed him with a hand on his arm. “I will elevate this matter to the council.”

Enoki nodded. “I will bring it on your behalf. There must be recompense for the loss of the female.”

Torg glanced at me. I could see the anger and disappointment in his eyes. I had shamed him, dishonored our tribe. “There will be recompense,” he agreed.

“What?” Romando spit out.

“I haven’t decided, but I assure you it will be significant. I can’t replace the loss of a female—”

“Yes, you can! You can give her to me. She’s right there,” he said.

Everyone was looking at Enoki. Would he intervene or let Torg handle it? The tribal chief had no overt power over our clan, but his influence could result in the other tribes ostracizing us.

Enoki remained silent for a long moment then exhaled. “Torg has been judicious in the past. I trust him to be fair.”

“I don’t!” Romando snorted. “He’s the mate stealer’s brother!”

Enoki held up his hand. “However, recompense alone will not suffice. Justice requires punishment.”

“He’ll be punished. I give you my word as tribe leader,” Torg said.

“Punished?” Sunny sprang out from behind me. “Hell no.” She glared at Enoki and Romando. “Darq didn’t steal me. I never would have chosen Romando.”

“Darq should be banished,” Polonio said.

“Yes!” Romando said.

“That would befit the offense.” Enoki nodded.

Banishment was reserved for the most serious crimes. When a person got expelled from his tribe, he couldn’t return. He would have to find another tribe to accept him.

“You can’t do that—he’s your brother!” Starr cried.

Torg’s stoicism masked his anguish at the dilemma. As clan chief, he had to do what was best for the tribe and enforce our customs and traditions. Had anyone else done what I had, he would have been banished. If Torg showed favoritism toward me, he would lose face and probably would be challenged to a muta. He could lose his position as leader.

“If he’s banished, then I’m going with him!” Sunny hung onto my arm like she expected me to be ejected at any moment.

She couldn’t go with me because it was too dangerous. Once word spread I’d stolen a chit, every tribe would reject me. No one would harbor a mate-stealer. I could survive on my own; I would find a cave and hunt kel. But Sunny? I couldn’t risk her life. She’d gotten lost in a snowstorm going from the lodge to the tavern.

“I’ll make a decision and let you know,” Torg said.