Chapter 52
Havali
That despicable male had his mate by the throat.
His naked mate. His naked, bleeding mate.
Her obscenely red blood, so much brighter than even her hair, stained her skin around her wrists and ankles where he could see magcuffs had cut into her flesh.
Even worse, he could see the drops at her neck where Crav’s claws had marked her.
Drawing her blood. Blood that belonged to Havali.
Twin growls at his back told him that Atem and Tuvo had spotted her as well. Out of the corner of his eye, Havali saw Atem gesture to the ratchi and kreecharma males that had come with them, silently ordering them to stay out of sight in the hall.
A wise move. Not because they needed to hide their numbers from Crav, but because Havali knew his private Scarlet would not wish her entire body to be seen by so many.
This violation of her stuck in his chest like a blade. The urge to kill was strong. It took everything in him not to rush forward and rip her from Crav’s grasp. Only knowing that doing so would hurt her kept him still.
“Any closer, and she dies!” Crav said, trying to sound confident. The shaking of his hands betrayed his true feelings.
“Surrender my mate,” Havali snarled.
Scarlet gasped quietly, stilling in Crav’s grasp. Havali did not know why, but he was thankful that she had stopped moving. He didn’t want to see anymore of her blood drawn. Not like this. Not by another male.
“Step back from the door! All of you!” He snapped at them, practically crushing her with his hold. “We will leave here. You won’t follow us. And she gets to live.”
“Release my female, and I will make your death quick,” Havali said, stepping forward.
Crav stepped back.
“I mean it!” He tried to snarl, fear robbing the sound of any force. “I’ll kill her!”
“You won’t.” Havali took another step. “You need her too badly.”
“I’ve done nothing wrong!” Crav’s voice broke as he continued to retreat. In the corner, Danya was wailing miserably while Svit just stood there, mimicking a statue. “She’s not a Coalition species yet! The law to protect her hasn’t been passed! This is not a crime!”
“She is a citizen of Turv, adopted into our Dominani’s clan. She has the same rights and protection as any domini, regardless of her species.”
“I have to protect my people! You don’t understand!” His claws were cutting into her again, but Scarlet wasn’t making a sound of protest. She was letting him pull her along, keeping her eyes on Havali. She didn’t even seem scared.
His brave, perfect mate.
“You domini have no idea what it’s like!” He hissed, angry and desperate. “My people are dying. There is no action, no crime, nothing, that I can do that wouldn’t be preferrable to our extinction! I have to do this!”
“No. You choose to do this.” Havali kept going.
Nearly having him in the corner. “You picked this method because it lets you have my female. It gives you power and prestige and secures a lasting legacy for your family. If it were just a matter of protecting your people, you would have directed this manic energy into studying the humans like the rest of us. Instead, you choose this.”
“I have to,” he moaned as though pained. “I have to. It’s so easy for you to lecture me! You’ve no idea what my species is going through! Why do the domini deserve the humans?! What reason do the gods have for granting them to you?!”
“The females are not gifts to be given or prizes to be stolen. They are ours because they earned their places amongst us. Just as you have earned what is coming to you.”
Danya suddenly screamed and ran from the room. Havali didn’t even look her way. Neither Atem nor Tuvo made a move to stop her. Just beyond the door, her shriek increased in pitch before it was suddenly silenced. Her weeping resumed as she was caught by other males outside.
“I will kill her!” Crav tried again, near hysterical now. Wings beating at the air, causing a breeze that upset Scarlet’s hair.
Havali remained unconcerned. “Even if you take her now, it won’t matter. You won’t be able to breed her anyway.”
“I have to try!”
“I don’t mean because your pairing is untested. Scarlet has turned off her ovulation. She’s not fertile right now. And she won’t be again until she reverses it. You could rut her for a year, and it would make no difference. Your plan is a failure.”
The stark truth of the statement finally seemed to break Crav.
He choked on the air, his grip loosening.
Scarlet wasted no time in breaking free and running away. Towards him.
Havali wrapped his arm back and around her waist as she hid behind him.
Crav was weeping now. Everything destroyed on a chance that was nonexistent thanks to the human females’ insistence on choosing when and how they were impregnated.
Clever, wonderful females.
Crav looked at him. Devastated. “I just wanted… to save my people…”
Havali slashed his claws across his throat, drawing dark, gray blood that burst forth, coating his body and the walls as Scarlet continued to shield herself behind him.
“So did I,” he growled.
He said nothing as he watched Crav choke on his own blood. Drop to his knees, clutching desperately at his neck. Gray blood continued to spurt through his fingers. Spraying on the ground. Turning into a thick puddle that spread around Havali’s shoes.
He turned as his corpse dropped to the ground. The blood had reached Scarlet’s toes. She didn’t seem to notice. Instead, she was using her hands to cover her body.
Havali gently took her face in his hands. His heart breaking at the sight of her. Injured. Shaking. He didn’t know what else.
“Are you okay?” He asked, voice soft.
She gave him a weak smile and nodded. “He didn’t touch me.”
That was a lie. There were claw marks on her neck that betrayed it. But a moment later, he realized that she didn’t mean the words literally. She was telling him that he hadn’t managed to successfully penetrate her.
“Here.” Tuvo tossed Havali his military jacket.
Havali took it with a nod of thanks before pulling it around her shoulders. She gratefully sank into the fabric. A light at the collar blinked white twice before the camocloth changed colors, matching her skin tone.
She laughed weakly, sliding her arms through the sleeves. “Like it’s not even there.”
Havali scooped her up in his arms, surprising her. She caught her arm around his neck, hanging on as he took her from the room. He completely ignored Svit who had collapsed beside her mate, staring in wide eyed horror. Even Danya had ceased her wailing.
They were mate locked to Crav, and now Crav was dead. Likely, they wouldn’t last long without him, judging by what he knew of the vir mate bond.
But he didn’t particularly care. They had taken, violated, and harmed his female. Their lives were forfeit as far as he was concerned.
And also as far as the law was concerned.
The vir species would need to be contacted to have a replacement representative ready, and something had to be done about Svit and Danya until they wasted away. But those were not his concerns.
The only thing that mattered to him was the female in his arms burying her face in his neck, holding onto him as he walked her out of the maintenance tunnels – flanked in front and behind by Atem and Tuvo who were serving as guard.
They were silent as they reached the surface where Fellaseen was waiting with a blanket that she immediately tossed over Scarlet before they climbed into the hover. She tried to wiggle free, but Havali wouldn’t set her down.
He held her in his lap as Tuvo lifted the vehicle into the air.
Atem kept his eyes on them, but for once, he wasn’t growling.
Havali breathed deep of Scarlet’s scent as he kept her close. Streaks of her enemy’s gray blood from his claws stained her skin, but that didn’t bother him nearly so much as her own, red blood that was drying on all four of her limbs.
She had fought so hard.
“Thank you,” she whispered, keeping her face in his neck making the words mumbled.
“Never thank me for something like this,” he said, still growling. Unable to keep his anger banked even after killing her attacker.
“I’m just glad you got there when you did.” Her arm tightened around his neck as her body curled in tighter. His own arms squeezed reassuringly in turn.
“I would never have stopped trying to find you. Even if he had taken you back to his homeworld, I would have followed him and slayed him just the same. Then laughed because his efforts were completely pointless because of your cleverness.”
Scarlet said nothing. Still on his lap. He didn’t think anything of it. She had just come through something horrible. Of course, she was still tense. He was already planning on spending the rest of the night spoiling and tending to her. Doing whatever necessary to make her feel better again.
Then, softly, she said-
“It might not have failed.”
“Hm? What do you mean, Healer?”
“His plan.” She sniffed and he felt the cold of her tears on his skin. “There was a chance…”
It took him a moment to realize what she was saying. His heart skipped a beat before racing in his chest as his grip tightened on her further. It couldn’t be comfortable, but she didn’t make a single sound of protest. If anything, her own embrace tightened in turn.
“Scarlet, do you mean…?”
“I was going to tell you.” She finally lifted her head, looking up at him through watery eyes. “It was going to be a surprise. I love you, Havali.”
“Scarlet…”
“I love you and I want you. Forever. And it’s terrifying because I don’t know if you might see some other domini lady one day and realize that she’s your mate.”
“Scarlet-”
“And then I started doubting you and wondering if what we had was even real. And when I had that thought, it made me afraid to have any sort of relationship with you at all.”
Havali felt those words like a physical blow.
She sniffed, giving him a smile. “But you know, as I was laying there on the scanner, having those thoughts, I realized how stupid it was. How stupid I was. Because, yeah, some of the things you do are objectively creepy. But I like it. Even when I’m alone now, I don’t feel that way, because I know you’re watching out for me.
And I don’t feel threatened or trapped or stifled.
I feel safe and warm and loved because I like you watching me.
I like knowing you know where I am, and you’re interested in what I’m doing.
I like not feeling alone. And I really like it when you bite me.
And those things are only creepy if they’re done without my permission. Just like anything else.”
The crushing pain in his chest eased with every word she spoke. Though a new, guilty sickness was rising up to take his place.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“No, don’t be. I just said I liked it.”
“Not for that.” He brushed her wild hair out of her face. “I’m sorry for making you doubt me. I’m sorry that I wasn’t clear.”
“About me actually being your mate?” She gave him a soft, understanding smile.
“I didn’t want to frighten you. I thought if I came out and said it immediately, you would have tried to run from me. And I couldn’t bear that.”
She hesitated before giving him a half shrug. “You know, that probably wasn’t an entirely baseless fear.”
“Despite your doubts, you… you restored your fertility anyway?”
She gave him a shy smile. “I mean, I kind of like the idea. And you really like the idea. Was that okay? Should I have talked to you about it first? Oh, gosh. I should have, shouldn’t I? That was a really stupid surprise to-”
Havali silenced her by jerking her close and covering her lips with his. Kissing her eagerly. Showing her without words just how okay he found that idea. Completely ignoring Atem who had finally been pushed too far and was growling again.
Ignoring the powerful urge to challenge him for her was difficult, but now wasn’t the time.
She had been through something horrible tonight. She needed to return to the compound and get under her med scanner to heal her myriad of wounds. She needed to be treated with kindness and tender, loving care.
“Soon,” he promised without separating their lips.
She shivered in his arms.