Chapter Fifteen
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URZRA COULDN’T STOP thinking about what the elderly human had said as he continued to search for Bria.
It was well past dark and he still hadn’t sensed her yet.
“Is the cambion really supposed to be mine?” he asked incredulously.
A nightbird called out, but he didn’t think it was meant to be a sign of agreement.
It was difficult for the knight to believe Fate had orchestrated females for him and his brothers.
“We’ll only be here until we win or lose our war,” he said.
“We can’t even procreate with the females, just in case our offspring turn out to be evil.
What sort of life will they have once we leave them if they fall for us? ”
Urzra had only known Bria Janke for a brief time, yet he couldn’t keep her out of his thoughts.
Finding her had become more important to him than locating his commander and brothers.
He should probably search for a ham radio of his own.
Maybe the Mad Prophet would give him some clues about what Fate wanted him to do.
Glad he had far more stamina than a puny human, Urzra followed the faint connection that was leading him steadily to the northwest. It was just after midnight when he finally sensed the cambion.
“I’ve found you at last,” Urzra said in satisfaction, then backed up a bit. He waited to see if Bria had detected him and if she would flee. She remained in place, so he figured she was probably asleep.
He could see a house in the distance and knew his female was inside it. Wincing that he’d mentally claimed Bria as if she truly was his, he debated about what to do next. She was probably exhausted from traveling such a long way from her home. He felt tired enough to turn in himself.
“I’ll let her rest for tonight and speak to her in the morning,” the warrior decided.
Looking around, he spied another house and loped closer to it.
He couldn’t sense anyone inside, so he broke in through the back door.
Going in through the front would be a bad idea.
There was always the risk of breaking the lock so badly that the door wouldn’t even shut.
Someone might see it swing open and investigate.
Urzra crossed through the dusty kitchen to the equally dusty living room.
He turned the couch cushions over, then removed his shoes and lay down.
Spreading his squashed toes out as far as they would go, he sighed in contentment.
It was a relief to know Bria was alive and well.
He hadn’t felt her being wounded, but she’d been too far away until now.
Their link wasn’t something he’d encountered before, so he didn’t know what its limitations were yet.
“Do my brothers have the same connection to their females?” he speculated.
He wished he knew what his fellow knights had done to screw things up, so he could avoid making the same mistakes they had.
It was discouraging that his cambion kept trying to get rid of him.
Maybe Bria would change her mind once he told her what the humans had said.
His mind continued to mull over this strange new development until he finally dropped off to sleep.
Awake at dawn, Urzra walked close enough to his female to see she hadn’t moved yet. Returning to the house, he washed himself with bottles of water he found in the pantry and a bar of soap from the bathroom. It was stupid, but he wanted to be presentable when he spoke to Bria.
Speaking of his cambion, she was no longer in the house when he loped towards it again. His alarm faded when he sensed her on the edges of his radar. “I should see where she’s going before I approach her,” Urzra said, pretending he wasn’t delaying because he feared she would only reject him again.
He stayed a safe distance away, nerves growing by the hour as he trailed after Bria.
She was too far away for him to see her, but he sensed her stopping frequently.
He halted each time, wondering what she was doing.
“Is she searching each house she comes to?” he asked.
It made sense. She would need enough provisions to last her when she settled on somewhere to live.
“Unless I can convince her to come with me,” he told himself.
“If my brothers have females of their own, we’ll need to provide food and water for them.
” His instincts were kicking in. They were urging him to search for supplies even though he didn’t know where his commander’s base was yet.
It could take weeks to find Amaros and it would slow them down to carry a lot of food around.
He continued to trail after Bria as she stopped at every empty house to add to her cache.
Feeling increasingly embarrassed at his lack of courage, Urzra tried to psych himself up to approach his female.
“What am I going to say to her?” he asked.
“Hey, Bria, a crazy man on the radio said you’re supposed to be my woman.
Come with me and we’ll fall madly in love while we search for my absent brothers. ” He mulled that over and discarded it.
Heaving a sigh, he wished he’d had even some experience at trying to court a female.
His relationships had been fleeting in the past eras, just like the rest of the knights.
None of them were equipped to woo modern females.
The Rapture had made it even harder now that so many people were evil.
Bria knew he had a white soul, but it was still difficult for her to trust him.
“Maybe stalking her all this way isn’t the best way to handle this,” he mused.
His cowardice wasn’t going to win him any points.
“Amaros wouldn’t drag his heels like this out of fear of rejection,” Urzra scolded himself.
“My commander probably swept his female off her feet as soon as he found her. Camriel probably wouldn’t have fumbled around as badly as I am either,” he added.
Urzra resolved to grow a spine and gather his courage just as soon as Bria finished raiding the next property she came to. Or maybe the one after that. It was almost lunchtime now. It might be best to let his female take a break and have a rest before he approached her.
“You’re a coward, Urzra,” the warrior said in disgust. “Yes, your female has already rejected you twice. Yes, she’s not exactly falling over herself to leap at the chance to be with you.
But are you going to let that stop you from giving her the good news that you’re supposed to be together?
” He waited a few seconds before responding.
“Nope,” he said with renewed determination.
“I’m going to march over to Bria Janke as soon as she’s rested after her lunchbreak and lay it all out for her. ”
He estimated he had an hour or so before he would have to come good on his vow to himself. Gulping in trepidation, the knight began running through various scenarios in his mind.