Chapter 35
Pako, Yiis, Mosk, and Carmen greeted them at the terminal. Zul and the Omari Triad watched with indulgent tolerance as the two women embraced and began chattering.
“Where are your boys?”Ursula eventually asked as they walked as a group toward the exit.
“Gil’s watching them,” Carmen answered, linking one arm with her friend’s and resting her other hand on her baby bump. Zul eyed the bulge in suspicion. “You know, he’s surprisingly good with children.”
Ursula smiled. “I don’t think it’s all that surprising. Gil’s good with people.”
“A good Second is,” Yiis commented.
“Stop listening, you big oaf. I wasn’t talking to you,” Carmen retorted with a smile.
“Then speak more softly,” he whispered.
“Oh, you!” She smacked him on the arm, and he feigned injury just to make her smile.
Ursula’s eyes were wide and her mouth gaped. Bending close to Carmen, she whispered, “Yiis made a joke? Who knew he had a sense of humor?”
“Yiis has hidden depths.” Carmen giggled. “Now, Pako” —she used the Spanish pronunciation of “Paco”— “is more of a ‘what you see is what you get’ kind of man.”
“Whizzy-wig,” Ursula verbalized the abbreviation, WYSIWYG.
“I wasn’t sure you knew that term. You are a generation younger than me.”
“My folks used to use that and other terms,” Ursula replied. “Hearing them brings back memories.”
“Good memories, I hope.”
“Yes, mostly.”
A beast-drawn carriage picked them up at the curb. Ursula shook her head in disbelief after everyone climbed in and seated themselves. She commented, “I’ll never get used to the weird combination of high tech and ancient tech used on this planet.”
“I think it’s the Urib way of preserving their history and culture,” Carmen replied.
Ursula shrugged. “I don’t recognize these beasties.” She inhaled. “They don’t stink like the numpties.”
The driver slapped the reins over the beasts’ backs, and the carriage, which hovered above the ground, eased forward.
The six-legged animals were larger than the numpties, scaled (unlike the hairy numpties), and appeared to be of a similar phlegmatic temperament.
Ursula wondered why they didn’t use these strange beasts instead of numpties in Fangrys, and asked.
“They’re not native to that part of the continent,” Pako answered. “The capital is several thousand leagues north of Fangrys and Omari, so flora and fauna are adapted to the different climate here.”
Ursula nodded, accepting the explanation, recalling that even in the USA, animals and plants at similar latitudes differed from East Coast to West Coast. Southern California didn’t have alligators, but Georgia certainly did.
Ursula pressed her lips together at the widespread destruction and said nothing about it.
The evidence of violent revolution needed no explanation.
Instead, they discussed inconsequential topics during the ride to the large house where Gil and Bran and the Omari Triad were staying.
It wouldn’t have done for the driver or anyone else to overhear anything important or incriminating.
“Papa Gil!” Crow shouted when they arrived. Gil stood in the open doorway, Carmen’s children peering from behind him.
Pako descended from the carriage first, then Yiis who handed Carmen to his Prime.
Gil emerged from the house and nodded in greeting to them.
Suvesh handed Crow to him then climbed down to again take charge of the youngling.
Uncaring that Mosk and Zul were watching, Ursula flung herself into Gil’s arms. He caught her with a low grunt and buried his nose in her hair, concealing his surprise when he noticed how thin she’d gotten.
“I missed you so much, elska’adir,” he murmured, lips brushing against her hair. He raised his eyes to meet Zul’s black gaze, conveying his gratitude for having taken good care of the two people most precious to him over those long weeks.
Mosk and Zul descended from the carriage and followed Gil and Ursula into the house.
“How is Bran?” Ursula asked, her lower lip trembling.
“He will be better now that you, Crow, and Zul are here,” Gil assured her as much as he assured himself.
Ursula pressed a kiss to his palm then said, “Take me to him.”
Gil did as she bade him, Zul following close behind.
Ursula gasped when she saw the Fangrys Prime lying in bed, swathed in bandages and looking disturbingly small and ashen. She kneeled beside the bed and took one of his big hands between her much smaller ones.
“Bran, I am here. I’m fine. Our son is fine. Come back to us,” she pleaded. “Don’t leave us like Crow did. I couldn’t bear it. We all need you. I need you.”
She continued to talk, begging him to hear her, to wake up, to come back to them until her voice grew hoarse.
When her parched throat rasped every word, she switched to mental communication.
The physical link of touch strengthened the bond between them.
Bran’s mental barriers dissolved into nothingness as she barreled through them to his consciousness buried deeply in a swirling well of pain, dark regret, and sorrow.
Zul and Gil joined her. Each of her males rested a hand on her shoulder and a hand on what small patches of Bran’s hide the bandages did not cover.
Thus connected by touch and mind, they forged a bright beckoning that burned away Bran’s darkness, splintered his regret, and crushed his sorrow, replacing them with hope and love and their need for him.
They remained that way late into the night, connected and urging Bran’s return.
“Come back to us, Bran. Don’t abandon us,” she whispered, her voice hoarse. “Please, or our unborn child will never know you.”
The other two males’ eyes widened with surprise.
“You’re pregnant?” Gil growled. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
Zul gulped, wondering how he could have not known. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
She looked over each shoulder in turn to meet each male’s gaze. “It wouldn’t have changed anything.”
“But… but…” Zul spluttered.
“We would not have permitted you to fly on the wyvern,” Gil said. “Or to live in such primitive conditions.”
“Oh, you knew about that?” she responded. She pressed a hand over her belly, leaving one hand on Bran’s broad chest.
“Yes, I knew about that. So did Bran. But we didn’t know about the babe.”
Zul squeezed her shoulder, not hard enough to hurt, but enough to let her know he meant business. “Do not keep secrets from us, Ursula. I will not have you risking our young.”
She sighed because she knew she had risked her pregnancy. “And if I had told you? What then? What would you have done differently?”
“We would not have retreated to the box canyon.”
“And you would have taken us somewhere civilized, I suppose?” she countered in an arch tone. “A place where it would have been easy to find us? Easy to take us into custody?”
Gil winced. Zul opened his mouth to protest, but Gil shook his head. “No, Ursula, we would have proceeded more cautiously.”
“You mean you would have delayed the necessary action to effect the reforms that would keep mates together?”
“That ‘reform’ is not as important as you and our youngling,” Zul snapped.
Ursula retorted, “No, it’s more important. Rooting out a corrupt government and replacing it with honorable people is bigger than me, bigger than our children: it’s important to all of Uribern.”
“Not to us,” Gil said, cupping her cheek with the hand that had rested on her shoulder. “To us, you are more important than the Council Supreme.”
“Never to us. Family is more important than anything,” Zul added. “I lived without family for too long. I know exactly how important family is—how important you are. You are everything.”
“And Bran will feel the same way,” Gil added.
Ursula looked at Bran again, eyes welling with tears that trickled down her cheeks. “Don’t abandon us, Bran.” She moved closer to him and held his limp hand over her belly. “Please.”
Bran’s eyelids flickered open, and his nostrils flared as he finally caught her scent, ripe and rich with life despite her gaunt figure. His golden eyes remained unfocused, but he turned his head toward his mate. I will never abandon you.
His eyes fluttered closed again and he sighed, a small smile curling the corners of his mouth.
The others relaxed, for this was a natural, healing sleep rather than the oblivion of unconsciousness and despair.
The three of them remained by his bedside for a good while longer.
Suvesh brought Crow in to see his parents and bid them goodnight.
Another servant brought in trays of food and drink.
Exhausted, Ursula fell asleep in Gil’s arms, her legs resting on Zul’s lap.
“Is she safe?” Zul said when he was sure she was sound asleep. “If not, I will take her and Crow somewhere else, somewhere they are not endangered.”
“We are safe,” Gil assured him. “And we’re now on the new Council Supreme. You and Mosk have been assigned to serve as the new joint commanders of the Guard Supreme.”
Zul grimaced. “I never wanted that.” He stroked Ursula’s calf. “A mate is all I ever dreamed of, and she is perfect.”
“Nor did I or Bran particularly want to serve on the new council,” Gil admitted with a shrug.
“But bonded and mated males from each caste have been elected to the new council—and we were elected.” He stroked her hair, reveling in the fine, silky texture.
“And, yes, she is perfect for us. She completes us.”
“Elected?”
“Aye. And the warrior caste has two triads representing the honor of the new council and assuming the duty of enforcing our laws. The Primes will serve as the executive arm, Seconds as the highest and final arbiters of the law—the judicial arm, if you will—and Thirds as the highest enforcement of the law.”
Zul nodded. “Fangrys and who else?”
“Omari. Pako will serve as chairman of the council and Bran as his chief advisor.”
Zul was not surprised. “The people believe us honorable males.”
“Yes, and we are. All Uribern knows this.”
Zul shook his head. “I never wished to rule.”
Gil shrugged. “We will support our Prime and ensure the council remains free of corruption.”
Zul looked at their slumbering mate. “And our mate?”
“She and other adult females now have the right to vote for their castes’ representatives.
That was our first order of business.” Gil smoothed the hair back from her forehead again.
He determined that his next order of business would be to ensure their mate ate properly—all the fruits and vegetables and cheese she wanted.
He’d have to see about importing more chocolate, too.
Zul nodded. “She’ll appreciate that.”
“For now,” Gil said with a small grin. Their human hybrid mate would not be satisfied for long with that meager progress. “She’ll start demanding more rights soon enough.”
Zul smiled with a full display of sharp teeth as he’d learned from his mate. “That she will. And will we relent?”
Gil grinned at him. “Of course not. But we’ll keep her happy nonetheless.”
Zul nodded and looked forward to a lifetime of distracting their mate with a lifetime of orgasms.