Chapter 12
Rezor
Six cycles had passed since Cleo and I became lovers, and I still couldn’t quite believe she was mine.
I stood outside the guest quarters, steeling myself for the conversation I was about to have. News had arrived moments ago that would change everything, and I needed to tell Cleo and her companions before rumors spread through the village.
But first, I let myself have this moment. This breath before the storm.
The past six cycles had been the best of my life. And the most complicated.
Although she still slept in the guest quarters, Cleo came to my chambers every evening.
Then, we shared a meal, spoke about our day, and learned each other’s bodies with an intensity that left me breathless.
Every touch, every gasp, every moment of connection felt like a gift I hadn’t known I was waiting for.
My marks blazed for her constantly now. The entire clan knew.
There was no hiding the way they glowed whenever she was near, or the fact that I touched her every chance I got.
Small things. A hand on her back as we walked.
Fingers brushing hers when we stood together.
The need to maintain contact, to reassure myself she was real and here and mine.
The council had stopped questioning her presence. How could they not, when she’d saved our water system and repaired the grow facility? When she spent her days teaching our engineers things they’d never known about the technology that kept us alive?
But there was a wall between us I couldn’t breach.
Physically, Cleo was mine. Enthusiastically, passionately mine. But emotionally, she held something back. Some core part of herself that she wouldn’t let me touch, no matter how many times I buried myself inside her, no matter how many times she cried out my name in the darkness.
We hadn’t talked about it. About what it meant that we were lovers now. About whether she would stay when, and if, her crew was found. About the mate bond that my marks insisted was inevitable.
I was giving her time and space to adapt to the reality of us, but the weight of unspoken questions built between us.
And now I had news that would force all those questions to the surface.
I knocked once, then entered after hearing someone mutter to come in.
All three of them looked up as I entered.
Baleck stood near the window, his skin shifting to a cautious orange.
Mierva sat on one of the beds, her arm was healed now and her expression curious.
And Cleo, my beautiful, complicated mate who didn’t quite believe she was my mate, looked up from the engineering schematic she’d been studying with worry already clouding her eyes.
She knew me too well. Could read the tension in my posture.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, setting the schematic aside. “Did something break?”
“No.” I moved further into the room, aware of all three sets of eyes tracking my movement. “A scout returned an hour ago from the northern tunnel. He had news.”
“What kind of news?” Baleck’s voice was careful, controlled.
I took a breath, choosing my words with care.
“As you know, we have scouts who monitor a tunnel through the mountain. It’s the only route through the peaks that doesn’t require exposing yourself to the storms for extended periods.
” I paused, meeting Cleo’s gaze. “Occasionally, very occasionally, they meet with scouts from Vikkat’s stronghold. ”
“Vikkat?” Cleo’s brow furrowed. “Who’s that?”
“He controls the largest settlement outside the valley. His people have armored vehicles they call crawlers that can traverse the storms.” I watched understanding begin to dawn in her eyes.
“Many generations ago, before the storms became what they are now, there were battles over this valley. Over who had the right to live in the only naturally safe place on this part of the planet. We won. Vikkat’s ancestors lost.”
“Bad blood,” Baleck said quietly, his skin shifting to a knowing blue-gray. “Territorial disputes rarely end cleanly.”
“Worse than bad blood,” I confirmed. “There’s fear.
Fear that one day Vikkat will decide he wants what we have and will try to take it by force.
” I ran a hand through my hair, feeling the weight of generations of paranoia.
“We maintain minimal contact. Just enough to share catastrophic news if necessary. But my guards have standing orders to reveal nothing about what happens inside the valley.”
Cleo stood, her body tense. “What did the scout learn?”
This was the part that would hurt her. The hope and the impossibility of it tangled together.
“Vikkat’s people have picked up emergency transmissions.” I kept my eyes on hers, watching the impact of my words. “They don’t know who they’re from or what they mean. The signals are fragmented, but they’re coming from somewhere in the storm zones.”
The color drained from her face. Mierva gasped. Baleck’s skin flared bright with shock and hope.
“Emergency transmissions,” Cleo repeated, her voice barely above a whisper. “From the crash?”
“Possibly.” I moved closer, my instinct to comfort warring with the need to be honest. “We can’t be sure. My scout followed his orders. He didn’t reveal that we have three sky people in the valley. As far as Vikkat knows, we heard nothing, saw nothing.”
“But someone’s out there.” Cleo’s voice cracked, and I saw tears forming in her eyes. “Someone survived. Zara could be alive. The others—”
I closed the distance between us, gripping her shoulders. “Cleo. We don’t know anything for certain. The transmissions could be automated distress signals from wreckage. They could be from equipment, not people.”
“Or they could be from our crew.” Mierva stood, her voice shaking with hope and fear. “Captain Korvath. Dr. Rivers. The others who were in different pods.”
“Zara’s brilliant,” Cleo said, and I heard the desperate hope in her voice. “If anyone could find a way to signal for help, it’s her.”
I nodded slowly. “That’s possible.”
She pulled back from my grip, her mind already racing. I could see it in her eyes, the way she started cataloging options, running through scenarios. “We have to get word to them. Tell them we’re here. That we survived.”
“That is not possible.” I kept my voice gentle but firm. “The storms outside this valley are lethal. My people have no vehicles that can travel through them and we our communication devices only work when the storm cycle is low. Which it is currently not.”
“You have absolutely no way of contacting him at all?” Her hands gripped my arms, and I felt her desperation through that touch.
“No.” This was the impossible part. The choice that would change everything. “We have no reason to talk. He’s our enemy.”
“But he could help us reach them.” Baleck moved closer, his expression intense. “If we could convince him—”
“We will not have contact with Vikkat’s people until the next time he sends a crawler out this way,” I interrupted, looking between all three of them. “And even then, asking him for help would mean voluntarily opening the valley for the first time in generations. It is simply not done.”
“But if it saves our friends—” Cleo started.
“I know.” I hated seeing the tears she was fighting to hold back.
“If the situation were reversed, I would have the same thoughts. But first, the council would have to approve. Second, the clan has had to accept much change in recent cycles. Asking them to open dialogue with our rival clan would be a step too far for most of them. And even if we did, somehow, get agreement from the council and the people here, there’s no guarantee Vikkat would help. ”
“Why wouldn’t he?” Mierva asked. “Is he a tyrant?”
I blinked. “I know very little about Vikkat, but helping strangers isn’t how you survive on this planet,” I said bluntly. “Vikkat’s people are survivors, like us. They won’t risk their resources and their crawlers for people they don’t know unless there’s something in it for them.”
Cleo closed her eyes, and I saw a tear slip down her cheek. “So close. They could be so close, and we’re trapped here.”
My gut twisted at hearing her describe her stay here as being “trapped.” But then, being confined to a valley would be hard for someone accustomed to having the galaxy to explore.
I’d try not to take it personally. “We’ll consider this problem, but we can’t rush into contact with Vikkat without understanding the risks. ”
“While my friends die out there in the storms?” The words came out harsh, accusatory, and she stepped away from me.
“While we do everything we can to keep you safe here and try to find a way to help whoever’s out there.” I held her gaze, willing her to understand. “I know you want to save them. But we lack the ability to leave this valley, and it’s not as if the storms are getting better.”
“You should have allowed the scout to tell Vikkat’s guard about us,” she said, her voice sharp with frustration. “Wait—was the scout Vax?”
“No,” I replied. “Vax is not yet on duty. He is being trained.”
All three of them appeared relieved about that. And also sad about the news I’d delivered. It wasn’t what they wanted to hear. “I will leave you to your activities,” I said, drawing to the door.
In the corridor, I sighed and thought about Cleo’s devastated expression. She would not be joining me in my chambers this evening, I was sure of it.
“Rezor.”
I turned to see her slip through the door to join me in the hallway. “Yes, Cleo?”
“Next time Vikkat’s people make contact, tell them about us,” she said. Her eyes were guarded, but she didn’t resist when I pulled her into my arms. “Please, Rezor. You’re very good to us, but you can’t hide us here.”
“I can when you’re under my protection.” I felt my marks pulse with heat. “And when you’re my mate.”
Her expression shuttered, and I saw her pull back emotionally even as she stood in my arms. “I’m not your mate yet.”
The words stung. “Aren’t you? Our flesh has joined.
My marks burn for you constantly. I think about you every moment we’re apart.
The thought of you in danger makes me want to tear down mountains.
” I searched her face, looking for any sign that she felt even a fraction of what I did. “That sounds like a mate to me.”
“Rezor—”
“I will help you find your crew,” I said, my voice fierce with the certainty I felt in my bones. “I will do everything in my power to reach them. But I won’t lose you in the process. I can’t.”
She leaned into my touch, and I saw the exhaustion and fear and hope warring in her expression. “We deserve a choice. I deserve one.”
“I know. And I will talk to the council, discuss options. If they agree to open communication with Vikkat that doesn’t put the clan at risk, we’ll take the next steps.
” I pressed my forehead to hers, breathing in her scent, grounding myself in her presence.
“But first, we take a breath. We think. We plan.”
“I’m not good at waiting,” she grumbled.
“I know.” I smiled despite the gravity of the situation. “But you’re good at solving impossible problems. So we’ll solve this one. Together.”
“Together,” she said quietly, gazing up at me with an expression I couldn’t quite read. “Promise me you’ll let us go, if—if someone wants to.”
I gazed at her, wishing I could peer into her mind and read her thoughts. “Do you want to go?”
“I don’t know what I want.” Cleo pulled back. “But I know I want options. If we have no choice but this valley, then so be it. But if the possibility is there to go home, don’t keep it from us.”
“I won’t.” I kissed the top of her head. “I think you’re the most brilliant, stubborn, impossible person I’ve ever met.” I traced her cheekbone with my thumb. “And if you want to leave me, I won’t stop you.”
I wanted to believe my own words. Wanted to trust that I could send her off without losing my mind. But even as I touched her, I felt the foundations of our world beginning to shake.
Cleo opened her mouth to respond, but the corridor lit up with a blinding flash of white light. The crack of lightning was so loud it felt like the world was splitting open. I grabbed Cleo, pulling her against me as the building shook.
For a heartbeat, everything was chaos and light and the smell of ozone.
Lightning. Inside the protected valley. Inside our sanctuary.
The storms were breaching our defenses.