33. Taurex
TAUREX
The mission to Valeria Prime had been successful, though Taurex found that he took very little satisfaction in that fact.
After days of painstaking negotiations, endless ceremonial meals, and more discussions about the relative value of cut gems than he ever wanted to endure again, he had secured a long-term agreement for enough kethra resin to keep the Monstrum Mother Ship supplied for years.
Commander Rarev ought to be pleased, and under normal circumstances Taurex would have felt a deep sense of accomplishment at completing such an important assignment for his people.
Instead, as his shuttle moved silently towards the red gash in space that would eventually bring him back to the Mother Ship, he felt the same dull emptiness that had followed him everywhere since he had left Earth.
Work had not helped nearly as much as he had hoped it would.
In fact, if anything, the traveling and negotiating had given him far too much time to think about Terra because every successful bargain made him remember how proud she had been when she recovered the first delinquent invoices for Intergalactic Imports.
Every time he dealt with some incomprehensible piece of financial documentation, he imagined what she would have said about it.
Probably something sarcastic and amusing before she took it out of his hands and fixed it herself.
Even the Valerian meals had reminded him of cooking with her in his domicile, of Terra laughing because the meat was blue and giving ridiculous Earth names to all his kitchen plants.
He could still hear her voice if he let himself remember too clearly—could still see her standing beside him with her sleeves rolled up and that beautiful expression of curiosity on her face.
He missed her with a physical ache that never completely faded and, he was certain, would never fade. One did not survive rejection by one’s fated mate without it leaving a scar—or in this case, an open wound.
Taurex had thought leaving Earth would help.
He had told himself that distance was what Terra wanted and therefore distance was what he would give her, even if providing it tore him apart.
He had released her from his employment and deposited enough currency into her account to ensure she could finish her education and support her family without ever having to return to the Doll House.
He had been careful not to contact her afterward because even a harmless message might feel like pressure, and the last thing he wanted was for Terra to believe that the severance payment came with some invisible string attached.
It did not—the currency belonged to her. So did her life. He had made absolutely no claim on her.
Taurex had repeated those facts to himself so many times that they had become almost like a prayer, though they did nothing to ease the terrible emptiness inside him.
Terra had chosen not to be his mate, and he would respect her choice.
Perhaps one day he would even learn to live with it, though right now he couldn’t imagine how.
He was checking the shuttle’s navigation system when suddenly every hair on his body stood on end.
Taurex froze—the sensation was unmistakable. A vast presence had filled his shuttle.
It did not arrive through the doorway or appear on any of his instruments. There was no physical body—no visible manifestation at all—and yet the atmosphere had changed so completely that Taurex felt as though the entire universe had suddenly leaned down to look directly at him.
Power pressed around him from every direction—ancient, feminine and immeasurably immense—and the instincts bred into every Monstrum warrior from birth recognized Her before his conscious mind did.
The Goddess—the Mother of All Life was here in his shuttle.
Taurex immediately lowered his head.
“My Lady,” he murmured, awe tightening his throat. He had prayed to the Goddess countless times and had felt Her presence during ceremonies in the Sacred Grove, but never in all his life had She addressed him directly. “How may I serve you?”
Her voice did not enter through his ears—it sounded inside him…around him…through him.
“Warrior, you are needed.”
Taurex straightened immediately, every trace of his earlier listlessness disappearing. The Goddess had a task for him—a purpose.
“Tell me what you require,” he said respectfully.
For a single heartbeat, there was silence. Then the immense presence surrounding him seemed to deepen until he felt almost crushed beneath it.
“The children of the mate I chose for you are in grave danger,” the Goddess told him.
Taurex nearly stopped breathing.
“The children…” His heart began hammering. “You mean Cody and Lisa?” He knew the answer before the Goddess spoke again.
“I do.”
Taurex’s hands clenched around the steering yoke as images of the two human younglings flashed through his mind.
Cody reaching up eagerly to touch one of his horns…
Lisa announcing without the slightest hesitation that she wanted to see the Bull-man.
Their delight over the gifts he had bought them at the Market and Terra hugging both of them when he brought her home.
“What has happened?” he demanded, forgetting for a moment whom he was addressing. “Are they hurt? Where are they?”
“They live, but they have been taken by a male who intends to use them to force their mother into submission.”
The Goddess’s voice was grim.
A growl rolled out of Taurex before he could contain it.
Orlov—it had to be.
Terra had mentioned enough about the human male during their time together for Taurex to know exactly what kind of creature he was—a wealthy predator who believed his desire for a female entitled him to possess her.
Taurex had already disliked the male without ever meeting him, but now a murderous fury unlike anything he had felt in years began building inside him.
Then another thought struck him.
“Terra,” he breathed. “Is she safe?”
“For now. But she will put herself in danger to save them.”
Safe only for now. Relief lasted less than a second before fear replaced it.
“Tell me where they are. I will go at once,” Taurex said.
But to his surprise, the Goddess remained silent.
Taurex frowned and looked around, though there was nothing to see—only Her presence.
“My Lady?” he asked.
“Terra made it clear that she did not wish to accept you as her mate and yet you would go to her aid?” the Goddess asked.
Taurex hesitated, confused by the question.
“Of course.”
The Goddess’s presence seemed to shift around him, not withdrawing but becoming almost contemplative.
“I mean…” Taurex swallowed. “Terra does not want me anymore. She made that very clear, and I will not force myself into her life. But her younglings, they are dear to me, though I only knew them briefly.”
“Does her rejection mean you will refuse to help her children?” the Goddess demanded.
Taurex stared into the empty air in shock.
“No! No, Goddess, of course not. That is not what I meant.”
The pressure of Her presence increased.
“Because if your devotion depends upon Terra giving you what you desire, then you do not deserve the woman I chose for you.”
The rebuke struck deeply and Taurex bowed his head at once.
“You are right, My Lady,” he said. “I would protect Cody and Lisa whether Terra ever speaks to me again or not,” he added earnestly.
“They are innocent younglings. More than that, they are her younglings. I care for them because they belong to the woman I love, even if she never chooses to belong with me. I did not mean that I would refuse them aid. I only meant…” His voice grew rough.
“I only meant that I know I have no right to expect anything from Terra anymore.”
For several seconds, there was no answer.
Then the crushing weight of the Goddess’s presence seemed to soften.
“Good. You have passed the test, Warrior, and been found worthy.”
Taurex felt a rush of relief.
“Thank you, Goddess. Now will you tell me where they are?”
“I will. Listen carefully, warrior. I will tell you where to go.”
“Yes.” He immediately activated the navigation system. “Tell me.”
Coordinates appeared inside his mind with impossible clarity—not numbers he had to struggle to remember but a complete spatial location, as though someone had placed a glowing marker on the surface of Earth itself.
Taurex watched as the glowing dot zeroed in North America…then Florida…then downtown Tampa. He entered the coordinates as quickly as his hands could move.
“The children are frightened, but they are unharmed at this moment.”
“At this moment?” Taurex repeated grimly.
“The male who took them is dangerous. He has other males with him, and some carry human projectile weapons,” the Goddess informed him.
Taurex’s jaw tightened.
“How many?”
“Enough that you should not go unarmed.”
His hand immediately went to the weapons compartment beneath the shuttle console.
“I will be armed.”
“You must protect the younglings at all costs. Children are sacred to me.”
“I will protect them with my life.”
There was no hesitation. Taurex meant every word. If saving Cody and Lisa required him to die, then he would die. He could think of no better use for a life that had felt empty ever since Terra left it.
But the Goddess wasn’t finished.
“Do not be reckless simply because your heart is wounded, warrior. I asked you to protect them, not to throw your life away.”
Taurex went still. Apparently there were no thoughts one could hide from a Goddess.
“I understand, Goddess,” he said.
“Do you?”
Her tone was gentle now, but there was something inside it that made him feel like a youngling being corrected by an infinitely patient mother.
Taurex swallowed.
“Yes, my Lady. I will protect myself as well.”
“See that you do.”
“Is Terra with them?” he asked.
“Not yet.”
Something about those two words chilled him.
“Not yet?”
“The male intends to draw her to him.”
Taurex felt his blood turn cold.
“Then I have to reach them before she does.”
“Yes.”
He thought of Terra facing the man who had stalked her, photographed her children and put his hands on her against her will. Of course she would go to him if he had Cody and Lisa. Terra would walk straight into the Seven Hells themselves for her younglings.
And Orlov knew it.
“Please, My Lady, tell me if there is anything else I need to know,” Taurex said urgently.
For a moment, the Goddess said nothing, and Taurex had the strange sensation that She was looking at him—not at his body but through every layer of him, seeing his grief and his love and all the things he had tried unsuccessfully to bury beneath work.
Then Her voice filled him one final time.
“Do not concern yourself with whether Terra will choose you when this is over. Do not concern yourself with Bonds or mating or what you believe you have lost. Go because two frightened younglings need a warrior, and because the woman you love needs help whether she asks for it or not.”
Taurex closed his eyes briefly.
“Yes, Goddess.”
For one instant, the Goddess remained, and he felt as though warm arms were enfolding him in a comforting hug.
Taurex lowered his head.
“Thank you, Goddess.”
A warmth unlike anything physical moved briefly through his chest.
“Go, warrior.”
And then She was gone and the shuttle suddenly felt very small and very quiet.
Taurex sat motionless for perhaps two heartbeats before all of his training took over.
He made a call to the Monstrum Mother Ship and informed them that he needed the fold in space redirected to Earth’s orbit instead of to Mars.
Then he engaged the new flight path, pushed the engines to maximum safe output and raced toward the fold.
His grief was still there. Nothing had changed between him and Terra. She might still want nothing to do with him when this was over, and Taurex would accept that if it was her choice.
But none of it mattered now.
Cody and Lisa were in danger. Terra was in danger. And somewhere on Earth, Viktor Orlov believed he could take the woman Taurex loved by using her children against her.
Taurex’s nostrils flared as a low growl filled the shuttle.
Orlov was about to discover his mistake.
“Hold on, younglings,” he murmured as the stars ahead of him began to bend and the fold point opened like a dark wound in space. “I am coming.”
Then Taurex drove his golden shuttle into the fold and headed for Earth.