2
I click his name then quickly I tell him what we have found.
“We are driving to you now,” he says and hangs up.
I drop my arms to my sides and close my eyes. Defeat is weighing on me. She’s gone. A hirion has taken her, she’s fought it, lost her armband in the battle, and has been taken away as a meal for some grotesque beast.
“El-Frankin. You must stay positive.”
In-Sar slips his arms around my waist and pulls me to him.
I am about to fight him off but can’t make myself. Thoughts of her pretty, perfect body mauled by fangs is too sickening to bear. So I let him hold me in his strong young arms. “I am a terrible mate,” I murmur against his neck.
“Shh, you are not.” He strokes my hair in small tender little gestures. “It was just taking you a while to adjust. Get used to her. She is an alien after all. An alien in your bed.”
“I didn’t try very hard.”
“But you will when we find her. I know you will.”
I don’t answer. The feeling of dread is growing. It would have been better to find nothing for this armband proves there has been an incident out here, in the crop field, far from any help.
He gives me a squeeze and then cups my cheeks, looks at me earnestly. “Stay hopeful.”
“The king will have me either sentenced to death or exiled to the Uncivilized Tundra, which is the same as death. The Jakarty will kill me for my years of obedience to King Athos.”
Pain flashes over his eyes.
I know he loves me and the thought of my death is as unappealing to him as it is to me.
“No,” he says sternly and brushes his lips to mine. “We will tell them we have converted to their way of thinking. That we want to be Jakarty.”
“We?”
“Yes, we, do you really think I would let you go there, alone?” He flicks his head toward the pass. “It’s a wild and dangerous land. Safety in numbers.”
“I couldn’t let you.”
“You wouldn’t have a choice.”
I pull in a breath that feels laced with his strength and commitment to me. My handsome In-Sar, so loyal and sexy and always there.
“Thank you,” I whisper and grip his tunic in my fists. “For being here.”
“Where else would I be?” He kisses me. A firm, determined press of his lips that seems to seal his words.
I know in that moment that if I am banished I won’t be going alone. And then, then it would become my life to protect In-Sar. After giving everything up for me, it would be the least I could do.
We break the kiss, and just in time as Ar-Hagan’s vehz appears at the end of the track. He races toward us and slams to a halt.
In-Sar steps away and stoops to fiddle with the drone.
“Where is it?” Mel is racing toward me. “Where did you find it?”
I hand her the round armband and point at the dirt. “Just there.”
“And have you searched the area?” She spins, her gown billowing in the slight breeze.
“Yes, but In-Sar is going to send the drone up for a better look.”
“Good, yes do that.” She points at In-Sar. “Hurry.”
Ar-Hagan strides toward me. It is years since I have seen him looking so concerned. His shoulders are slightly hunched as though there is a great weight upon them. “We should step away from this area.” He says, sweeping his arm to the right and the left.
“What? Why?” Mel says, holding out her hands.
“Because we might be able to discern tracks, get a clue as to what happened.”
“Yes. You’re right.” How could we have been so thoughtless? I step back, right up to the crops and look at the mass of boot prints and scuffs.
Mel jumps away and studies the ground. “Can you see anything, Ar-Hagan?”
He tugs his beard and his tail twitches at the end. “These are her tracks.” He points back to the farmstead. “Small boots, the same as Mel’s.”
“Yes, I see them,” she says.
I sigh. “And then it’s a mess. We should have been more careful.”
“Yes, you should have been,” Mel says.
“But, on a positive note,” I say. “There are no hirion hoof prints, from what I can see.”
“You think a hirion took her?” Mel gasps. “One of those big beasts we see in the distance. Oh my god, no!”
“I did think it might be a possibility, but not now,” I say. “So please, don’t think that.”
“Not if there are no prints,” In-Sar says. “They are heavy creatures, they would be easy to see. It was something, but not a hirion.”
Mel frowns at him, she isn’t a fan.
Does she suspect something between us that is more than friendship?
No. How could she?
What if Tammy suspected something and they discussed it? Discussed me and In-Sar.
My gut roils. It’s a secret too big to ever be let loose.
I touch my lips. I can still feel the press of In-Sar’s kiss. Still taste him on my tongue. Feel his arms around me and his body pressed close.
“So what was it?” Ar-Hagan is still tugging his beard. He is frowning at the ground. “In-Sar, do you have a ridge on the base of your left boot?” He squats down, his tail flattening behind. “Like this?”
“I…I don’t know.” In-Sar lifts his foot. “No, perfectly smooth sole.”
“And you?” He nods at me.
I take a look, bending my left knee and examining the hirion hide. “No, these are new, they are flat.”
“Which means,” Ar-Hagan says. “That someone with older, worn boots was here.”
Mel’s eyes widen. “What are you saying?”
“I am not sure,” Ar-Hagan says, “other than the evidence before us points to the fact she was not alone when she lost her armband.”
‘Not alone?” Mel spins around, a full three-sixty. “Someone was here, on the farmstead.”
I nod, the picture becoming clear. We had an intruder and my mate ran into them.
“But…who are the other employees? There must be more than you three for this huge place.” Mel slams her hands onto her hips. “We need to speak to them, interrogate them.”
“It is just us three, the robots do most of the work,” In-Sar says, standing with the drone in his hand. “No one else comes here, it is private land.”
“And no one on Planet Hade breaks rules, or so I have been told.” She slams her hands on her hips. “We have to go to the king, or to the generals, and tell them what has happened. Someone knows something, we have that proof now.”
“A footprint.” Ar-Hagan nods. “It is certainly proof of something.”
“But no one breaks rules,” I say, knowing we have never had a trespasser from the Civilized Tundra. “Not under King Athos. There is too much respect for him.”
“But we know who doesn’t have respect for him. Or for rules,” In-Sar says.
My heart does a weird flip, as though missing a beat. Instantly I understand what In-Sar is saying.
Jakarty.
They have no respect for anything we do.
“No.” I shake my head. Of course I’d thought it but hadn’t wanted to believe it. “No, it can’t be.”
“What?” Mel demands. “What do you mean?”
“You said the pass was more cut off than ever, with the rock fall,” I say.
“And the erosion,” Ar-Hagan adds, clearly following the train of thought. “It’s not possible.”
“What isn’t possible?” Mel snaps. “Tell me.” And then she goes quiet, she slaps her hand over her mouth and her eyes widen.
She knows what we are talking about.
Who we are talking about.
“My love.” Ar-Hagan reaches for her, draws her close. “We do not know for sure.”
She looks up at him. Her hands are trembling. “Now you do think the Jakarty took her? The lawless, heathen rebels who care for nothing have my sister.”
It doesn’t bear thinking about. They are cruel and nasty and I didn’t even want to think what they’d do to a delicate Earth female. Breeding would just be the start of the torment. There would be no care, no adoration, no consideration for her needs.
And giving birth.
There would be no sedation or medical care.
I shudder and despite the warm evening goosebumps cover my skin. I look at In-Sar. He’s a little paler than before and he swallows, the lump in his throat bobbing.
“But…where have they taken her?” Mel asks. “If they can’t get through the pass?”
“I don’t know,” Ar-Hagan says and glances around. “Perhaps they are still near.”
“If that’s a possibility,” she says, “we need to search all night.”
“And if we don’t find her,” In-Sar says.
I fold my arms, my horns ache from tingling and the end of my tail, beneath the bandage, throbs. “We will have to go and get her.” I tilt my chin.
“From the Uncivilized Tundra?” Ar-Hagan says. “That will be a death sentence. The Jakarty will find you and kill you. There are many of them. Many defectors of King Athos.”
“What choice do we have?” In-Sar launches the drone. “If she is not here, she is over there.” He sends the drone toward the pass. “And then we have two options.”
“Which are?” There is a shake in Mel’s voice.
Ar-Hagan holds her a bit tighter.
My arms ache to hold Tammy.
“Our options,” In-Sar says. “Is to go to the King and explain what has happened.”
“Which means risking the death penalty for El-Frankin. I do not like that option,” Ar-Hagan says firmly.
“Neither do I,” In-Sar says. “So option two will be for us to go and get her back.”
“Us?” I ask.
“You and me. You know I won’t let you go alone,” In-Sar says to me. “I already told you that.”
I want to hug him, hold him close, thank him for being the strong male that he is.
But of course I don’t. Instead I bring Tammy’s armband to my mouth, set my lips on it, and hope that she isn’t currently being impregnated by a monstrous Jakarty male.