CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 31
Xoknith’s family takes Mick to their ship, and Hannah and I join Zadeon’s retrieval team, which already includes Cyden and Julie.
Julie, whose footwear is her beloved high heels, is no doubt going to have sore feet later with all the walking we’re about to do. Of note, clasped about one of her ankles, she’s wearing a thin jeweled silver anklet that Cyden smithed himself. We know because she told us so and shared that she absolutely loves it. Perhaps as much as the Cyden-crafted wedding ring that circles the finger of her left hand.
Her outfit is one that I recognize from the fated window shopping trip at the mall. One that Julie had lamented she could only ever dream of affording. That she’s wearing it now means that Cyden afforded it for his mate, making more than one of her dreams come true.
Her other dream being that she would someday find a loving mate. By the looks the two so often send each other, this has happily come true.
Cyden kisses Julie and leaves to begin emptying their possessions from their dwelling and transporting them to their ship. He offers to do this for Hannah and me too, which is kind. Nearly everything we own is in boxes and transport containers, so it will be an easy enough task for him to complete. We only need him to take care when transporting Saphkarra, but he assures us that if nothing else, he will Comm me to retrieve my pet if he encounters resistance. I would like to assist him, but Zadeon’s cold eyes find me and warn me that I’m to stay near him so that he can destroy me if his sister is not captured. Safely captured.
I breathe uneasily into Hannah’s mane, making her pat me and send Zadeon a warning look.
My wing tears out of my cloak to block her view of him. “No,” I tell her hurriedly. “Don’t send Zadeon aggressive stares, please.”
Hannah frowns up at me, for the first time looking more than sad. She’s growing worried. “Is he being mean to you?”
“That sounds so mild,” I remark dazedly. Because ‘being mean’ is tame compared to the undiluted threats Zadeon is silently sending me.
Julie moves to stand with us, and she is not between my blocking wing and Zadeon so she is free to glare at him, and does.
“Julie,”I plead.
She tries to frown at me, but she’s also attempting to stare Zadeon down. She won’t win, but she doesn’t yet know this. “Who is this guy?”
I drop my wing and take her hand, pulling her so that she’s beside Hannah. “Not a Rakhii to defy. Or challenge,” I add, gulping as he glares at our trio before finally turning to attend to his mate, Callie, who has moved against him and placed her hand on his arm.
The moment his focus is off of us, I slump in relief.
Hannah and Julie turn to me, whispering worriedly.
“Let’s ditch this asshole,” Julie says, shooting a glare in Zadeon’s direction. “We can just board the ship and wait for them to get their sister.” She raises her voice. “Hey,” she says, directing her word to Zadeon.
He doesn’t look up from his mate’s face, which he is wholly focusing on. His mate doesn’t notice us either because she’s speaking to him, equally focused on his face.
“HEY,” Julie says and starts forward.
I wildly reach out and catch her. “NO.”
“Let me go, Jonoh,” she says, and I’m forced to release her.
“Julie!” Hannah chastises. “Don’t order Jonoh around!”
“Sorry,” Julie says shortly. “This guy is pissing me off, giving us a nasty stink eye then ignoring us.”
“He isn’t deliberately ignoring you,” I point out.
She scoffs. “What is he, deaf?”
“Yes,” I confirm.
“Oh,” she says.
Hannah pats my chest. “Can we go to the ship and wait there to avoid this guy?”
I shake my head. “I don’t think he’s going to allow me that privilege. You see, I am responsible for his sister’s escape. I unlocked his very expensive, one-of-a-kind ship and started its engine so that she could pilot it.”
Julie slowly spins around to face me, her expression blanked. “No wonder he’s pissed.”
Hannah, having already heard my tale of woe, pets me while I quickly summarize for Julie the events that led this murder of Rakhii to invade Earth. This entire time, she’s operated under the assumption that the Rakhii were making their trip simply to pick us up. Evidently Cyden didn’t mention any of the events that led up to this moment, leading me to gather that the hearts of the conflict didn’t cause him fear, anxiety, or worry. Which is fair. After all, it isn’t his lifespan that’s in jeopardy.
“So this Inara chick forced you,” Julie says, her voice heating. “Jonoh, this isn’t your fault!”
“I can assure you Zadeon will never see it that way,” I say.
Hannah’s arm tightens around my back—not my literal back, but the concealed mass of my wings. “He’s coming over here!”
We all freeze. Even Julie.
Zadeon’s thundering steps—I would swear the plascrete under our feet trembles under his feet—stop as he reaches our huddle. “You,” Zadeon says. “You come with me.”
“I’m not leaving him,” Hannah says bravely, hugging onto me more tightly.
I glance down at her, not only to look at her, but to cue Zadeon that she’s spoken. He has learned to read his human’s lips and therefore he can nearly read all humans who share Callie’s language. But if he isn’t looking at a person’s mouth, he isn’t able to read what they say.
Hannah, guessing at the reason he’s suddenly glaring at her mouth, essentially repeats her statement, although not with defiance this time, thank the Creator. “I’m not leaving Jonoh. So whatever your plan is for him, it better include me.”
Julie reaches up and taps Zadeon on his upper arm, causing all my hearts to stop. When he turns to her, she says, “I’m coming with them.” Seeing that she has his attention on her lips, she says very firmly, brooking no arguments, “What do you want us to do?”
***
We find Inara at the location her male inadvertently gave away by giving me his parchment rectangle. It isn’t in fact their home base but their place of business, and Inara’s brothers cause Matt, her human mate, some mild harm as they make his acquaintance.
Once Inara’s brothers have impressed upon Matt that they can end his lifespan any time they see the need—and once Matt has gained their grudging respect by standing his ground even in the face of certain annihilation, had her brothers not been lenient—we essentially escort them to his rookery he has shared with Inara, and the couple hurriedly chooses what items they wish to take with them when they leave Earth.
We are all invited into Matt and Inara’s rookery as this feat is accomplished. It’s rather overcrowded with all of Inara’s siblings, their families, Matt”s family, and myself, Hannah, and Julie, but Zadeon’s cutting look before we entered their rookery complex told us that our presence was not optional.
Technically they do need us. I have a camera strapped to my chest and Hannah is wearing a headset, as if we are a filming crew. Since I tore my cloak and accidentally smeared it with my wingpowder when I closed my freed wing over the fabric, I opted to change into a long coat to safely conceal my wings. Hannah left her apron at the fabric store and is wearing jeans, a short-sleeved shirt, and a sport jacket. Julie is in a solid-colored jacket with contrasting silver buttons, an item of clothing known as a blazer. She has a light-colored blouse beneath it, along with a dark blue skirt.
It looks startlingly reminiscent of the outfits the female attorneys would wear at her former place of employment on their court days.
This ends up being a boon when Julie accepted Zadeon”s task of passing out forms to her fellow humans. Counterfeit forms that essentially confirm the belief that none of what onlookers are seeing is real—these terrifying fire-breathing creatures are humans in costume and please sign the consent forms so that we can include our footage of the crowd in the final product, the onlookers relegated to ‘unpaid extras.’
We look so convincing we’ve had no humans attempt to apprehend or even engage our Rakhii or their families.
They film us though. It is a very good thing we are leaving soon.
As Matt and Inara are assembling the last of their things in preparation for Inara’s brothers to transport them to the ships that will be taking us all to our homeland, Inara questions me to confirm her suspicion that I was the one to report her whereabouts.
Rather than becoming upset, Inara questions if I was compelled to alert her family—and when she confirms that I was, she relaxes, not holding any ill will for me.
Matt’s dam makes us a lunch that we consume at rapid speed, and then we move out Matt and Inara’s belongings. Once that’s done, Zadeon himself assists in moving the last of Hannah’s and my things from her rookery.
And then we all clamber into the ships and exit Earth.