by Auryn Hadley
"Cessivi." He shrugged.
"What's it like?"
"It's fuckin amazing, big brother. She's always there." He tapped the center of his chest. "And yeh, I feel it when she's with him. Or ya. It's na like when we're linked, though. More like she's in the next room and her voice is slightly muffled. In the back of my head, I can tell she's enjoying herself, and there's allus a bit of her mind that hangs onto me like she's holding my hand."
"Ok. I am jealous. I can't imagine loving someone so much you can make yourself one."
Jase dragged his tongue over the tip of his canines. "Would ya do it?"
"With Sal?" Zep smiled, his eyes looking at only his memories. "Yeah. Without a second thought."
"Then why are ya na Taunor?"
"Because I love Sal like an iliri," he explained. "Humans love selfishly. We love a woman for her beauty, or because she makes us feel strong, or smart, or special. We love for what we get back." Zep paused. "You're cessivi. You felt it when she showed me how she feels about me?"
Jase nodded.
"She doesn't love me to keep me, she loves me because I am me. Same shit, man." With one finger, he rubbed at the inner corner of his eye, then wiped his hand on his pants. "I'm kinda trying to do the same thing. Look at how she latched onto LT? She loves him because she's supposed to, and I don't ever want her to be like that with me."
Jase's eyes flew up and he hissed, "Do na say tha'. Do na even think that around her. She loves him because he gave her respect. She loves him because he never once thought of her as anything less than a Kaisae. Fer all the stupid shit he does, he is the one that showed her she is na, and does na hafta be, a slave."
"I know," Zep breathed, lifting his hands. "His pride in her is what lets her believe she can do this. Bro, LT's a good guy. I'm not trying to cause shit between them or anything."
Slowly, Jase nodded, relaxing once again. "Then it is na because she a’ready has two mates? That does na bother ya?"
Zep twisted his mouth to the side and shook his head. "I was happy to be her big brother because she needed it. She glows when she's with you. She stands taller when she's with LT. She didn't need another man to entertain; she needed a shoulder. Someone who wanted nothing back. That's what's stopping me. Cyno, I love that little bitch enough to never ever tell her, so she won't feel she owes me something."
"Yeh. I could na do it, Zep. Yer a stronger man than me. But ya gave in. She will na let ya go back ta just being a brother. Na after what we've shared. Ya know that, right?"
"We'll see. Next month, it might be Arctic. Who knows. I just want to enjoy this. Her," he chuckled, "and you, bro. Something's changed, and I don't think it's just her."
Jase shrugged. "It is what it is."
"Yeah. Maybe. You do look good with her, though."
Jase watched him for a moment. "Zep, sometimes ya surprise me."
The big man chuckled.
"The more ya embrace me - na her, but me in the link - the more things will change. That's why they're like that." Jase nodded at the nuvani men. "They do na know any other way."
"I was raised to think this is perverse, ya know that, right?"
Jase smiled wryly. "Berrik made sure ta point that out a few times."
Zep sighed. "Yeah, and it's weird. I'm supposed to want a couple of women jumping on me, not seeing my best bud's ass as he's ramming the girl I love. Never mind the biting and shit," Zep said. "Guys like those nuvani? Gotta be queer or something, and I'm not like that. I'm not in this for the kink."
"Nah. It's more like the bond between twins. They think nothing of working together ta impress her. They buy her gifts together or arrange it so that one is busy, so she has time alone. Things like that."
"You got a read on them?"
Jase nodded. "Seems everyone wants ta grab the hand of the Ahnor. Is gonna take some getting used ta."
Zep patted his friend's shoulder. "I'm getting you gloves for the New Year, man."
Jase laughed at that. "But ya keep this up, Zep... Ya keep coming when she calls ya to us, and ya'll end up like them." Jase's eyes landed on the pale men.
For a moment, Zep said nothing. His jaw clenched then unclenched. Finally, he came to a decision. "I'm good with that. Tell me if I'm wrong, but you haven't seemed to mind me being around."
"Nah," Jase promised. "I'm iliri. I like seeing her with ya. Is na somethan to be ashamed of to say, either. I've always liked ta watch her. Riding, killing, or with ya, it does na matter." He sighed, and looked at the ground. "She's gorgeous, ya know? Like Ayati took a form. I just wish I'd been there that first night ya had her. The way she felt? Zep, the way ya made her feel..."
"Nah, bro, you can't stop there."
Jase looked up at Zep quickly, surprised to see his friend waiting to meet his eyes. "Ya treated her like she was a treasure. You, man, with yer dark skin. Like she was the best thing ta ever happen ta ya. I'm na sure what ya said, but the rush I got? It stopped me in my tracks - and I was over two klicks away."
"I told her I'd been waiting my entire life for her, and that we had all night to make it memorable," Zep admitted, blushing.
"She liked that." Jase shook his head. "Nah. That's na right. She loved it. Ya made her feel worth something."
"I have, you know. I've waited my whole life for her."
"Yeh. We've all known ya liked the pale ones."
Zep shook his head, lowering his voice. "No, man. I'm full of a lot of shit. I realized I've waited my whole life for her. There's a whole damned camp of iliri ladies out there, and I couldn't give a fuck."
"I know what ya mean," Jase said.
"It's her. I wanted to hate her. I wanted to ignore her. I even tried to just be friends with her. None of that shit's working, though. She makes me feel like I matter."
"Yeh. Ya leak that shit bad when yer with us."
Zep grinned and nodded. "I bet. Almost as much as you do."
"Fair 'nough," Jase agreed.
"So how does this shit work from here, man?"
"I dunno. She likes it, though. She wants more of it."
Zep slowly nodded, bobbing his head to show he'd heard. "My pride won't take me sneaking across the camp every night, bro."
Jase shrugged, carefully looking back at his knees. "Then do na sneak. Does na bother me if ya stay."
"She falls asleep in my arms and you aren't going to kill me?"
"Fuck no," Jase assured him. "Na like that. We're brothers. We've been brothers a long-ass time. This is na any different than half the times ya've carried my broken body home. Zep, I'd rather wake up cuddling up ta yer chest than pull yer ass out of a damned tower with your guts hanging out again." He paused. "Ya ever wonder why humans think one is ok, but the other is na? Neither's what we want ta happen, but ya man-up when ya deal in death, and there's something wrong with ya when ya deal in love. Being brave enough ta kill someone makes ya a man, but being brave enough ta give ever'thing for love does na? Makes no fucking sense."
Zep chuckled. "Yeah, humans have some weird ideas. For them, everything is a competition. Always about being better than someone else. Loving someone means you won her. Won. Beat down all the competition. I dunno. But the way iliri love? It's not really about the physical part of it. It's about the bond, and I have that with all of you. It's just going to take me a bit to realize that there's nothing wrong with a man caring about more than just his girl."
"There is also na a thing wrong with wanting ta care about just yer girl," Jase said. "Ya just gotta tell me when. I do na have a problem with crashing in yer tent." He ducked his head and laughed softly. "Or the floor."
Zep nodded, but he was smiling. For the first time, there wasn't a trace of embarrassment with it, either. "Give me time, man. I gotta get used to this. The way you little shits mix up sex, love, and friendship into this one big happy thing? I didn't come with a set of primal instructions, bro."
Jase shook his head. "Nah. I'm winging it. I know we are made fer it, but I'm na used ta sharing h
er, either. We had ta play human fer far too long. She comes ta me or she goes ta LT. Makes me worry sometimes."
"Bout wha'?"
"If I'm keeping up with ya," Jase said, shrugging.
"Fuck. Yeah, ya got nothing to worry about there." Zep chuckled and leaned back. "She told me something, and it makes a lot more sense now. After she was with me, she said she'd never had anything like it, right?" Jase refused to look at him, so Zep kept going. "She said she wouldn't tell me who's better because it doesn't work like that. I got this impression from her of steak and venison. It finally makes sense. I'm human, you're iliri, LT's in the middle. We don't love her the same. Apples and oranges."
Jase huffed out a laugh, nodding. "Yeh, that makes sense. Ya can na bite like me, but yer skin is freakishly sensitive. She loves that. But I'm the orange, bro."
Zep shrugged. "Apples kick ass, man."
"We good?"
Zep closed his eyes and nodded. "Yeah. We're good. I'm fucking losing my mind, but we're good."
Chapter 41
That night, the Black Blades reclined casually around their campfire. Sal leaned against Blaec, her feet across Zep's lap, and Jase sat beside them, sharpening his blades. Risk held Tilso to his chest on the other side of the fire, casually running his fingers through the young man's dark blonde locks, kissing the new silver glyph on his neck. Shift, Arctic, Razor, Geo, and Audgan threw dice by the tents, gambling away the last of their Conglomerate money. Three of them paused to take a deep breath.
"You already made it through the line," Arctic said softly. "We've known you were coming for the last twenty meters."
A man chuckled. "Please don't tell me I'm that bad as an elite," Tyr said.
"Nah," Sal called to him. "You just tend to notice something that tasty wafting in the wind. Grauori noses work well."
Tyr had moved into the light of the fire, but he stiffened at her words. "We good, Sal?"
Zep laughed. "Sal, do the thing with the knife to them later, ok?"
"Yeah. Think I need to. Gotta get them all here first. Tyr, we're good. I'm not berserk and Roo fed me well. You're safe." She looked up at him. "I swear, Tyr. I won't hurt you. None of you. Ok?"
He tried to shrug it off, but Sal could see his concern fade. "Yeah. You're just one freakish bitch when you have a bad day."
Jase chuckled. "Nah. Maast is a good day. Is na a thing like it."
"He gets it too," Zep said, jerking his head at Jase. "And Hwa, but grauori aren't as aggressive. Have a seat, man. Someone bringing your horses?"
"Yeah," Tyr said. "They've been slipping them out the back in pairs for a few hours. When I was sent over, they had like eighteen out. Pig said you're good on the extractions?"
"Planned and ready for execution, just waiting on all of you to get here so we can send the riders out," Blaec told him, kissing Sal's hair.
Tyr's head snapped over to Zep. Jase chuckled.
"Back to your Conglomerate habits?" Ricown asked, walking into their camp. He didn't wait for an answer. "And I found a stray Dog outside. This belong to any of you?"
Sal looked up and saw a man in grey that she didn't recognize. "Tyr?"
"Yeah, he's ours. That's Khai."
"K, then he's good," Sal said.
"So what do you mean," Tyr asked, waving Khai over, "about Conglomerate habits?"
Ricown pointed at the group of iliri, so Zep answered. "Hiding everything humans wouldn't approve of, including the relationships between us. You see Blaec kiss Sal, then Cyno, then me, then someone else, and you all are going to be waiting for shit to go down. We trained the Shields already. Dogs should be a lot easier."
"Ah," Tyr breathed. "That whole shit from the other night. Gotcha." He turned to Blaec, and asked, "You're seriously ok with them groping your girl?"
Blaec grinned and pointed over to Cyno. "His girl. I'm second. Don't think any of us are dumb enough to tell her no. You saw what happens when she gets mad."
Tyr's eyes widened. "Sal, you'd fucking flip out on them?"
Sal giggled and shook her head. "He's jerking you around Tyr. Well, about the me getting pissed part. Guys, we have another coming in." She pointed back toward the grass.
Arctic climbed to his feet. "I'll get him."
"Shit, that's uncanny," Khai said. "How long have you all been doing this and we didn't know?"
Blaec raised his eyes, a smug smile on his lips. "Ten years."
"Fuck. No wonder you're so good. How do you hear them?"
Sal lazily waved her hand toward the general direction of the CFC base. "There's grauori in the grass out there. This one slipped past two, so is pretty damned good. I've only ever gotten past four - and I smell like them."
In the distance, they heard Arctic's voice. "Easy with that. Just came to show you the way in." A few minutes later, Arctic walked back into the light of the campfire with Ryekir behind him. Both were smiling. "You train him, Cyno? Sal?" Arctic asked. "I was damned near on top of him and couldn't see a thing."
Cyno shook his head. "Nope. Have na met that one."
"Ryekir," Sal introduced him, gesturing to her Ahnor. "Cyno. That's the one I told you about. He likes the steel."
Jase shook his head. "Too heavy, kitten. Still do na know why yer so fond of those."
Ryek chuckled. "Use the inertia of the weight instead of fighting it, and it's like they swing themselves."
Sal dismissed Jase's complaint with a wave of her hand. "He likes ceramic best. Sharper, he says -" She stopped and suddenly sat up, patting Blaec's leg. "Guys, we've got horses coming in. But something's going on back at the encampment."
That was all it took. Around the fire, the Blades hopped to their feet, each moving like he had a purpose. The Devil Dogs looked around, lost.
"Rico, tell the Shields we're gonna need hands," Blaec called out. "Blades, pull the tack, toss it in my tent. It can cover the bed. No one will look there. Hwa, get me a group of gerus to distract them. A few spooks is all it should take. We need a two-minute lead. Move!"
Around the cluster of black tents, bodies started moving. Some went left, some right, but none of them asked for any more clarification. Except the three Devil Dogs. Sal was the only Black Blade not rushing to do something, instead, sending orders out across the Anglian military.
"What just happened, Sal?" Ryek asked.
She waved him down. "Little hiccup in your move. Nothing to worry about."
"Yeah, but what just happened?"
Her pale eyes finally focused on him. "Grauori warned me there was a group of horses coming in. Rayna's riding one, and they know her. There's another human with her, and they think near thirty head."
Tyr nodded, "Twenty-eight, so close."
"My eyes on your exit said two men in blue rode out and almost right over one of your guys trying to sneak past the main gate. If they come checking this way, we want it to look quiet as can be. The Dog is still moving." Sal stared at nothing for a second. "Once they get the riders away, they'll slip the human through the vegetation their way." Suddenly, she chuckled. "Man I love those mutts," she breathed. "We're good. Two rafrezzi just scared a few rabbits at the horses. One rider's down, the other horse bolted. They've got the Dog in weeds tall enough to block him from sight and are sending in a shifter to stall anyone else."
Her ears turned to the sound of horses moving toward them, and she stood, gesturing for the Devil Dogs to follow her. They slipped between the black tents, coming at the horse lines from the back side. Like shadows against the night sky, a chain of silhouettes declared themselves with snorts and the the rustling of brittle grass.
"I need a new line. We have almost thirty head coming in," Sal said in a casual voice. Men in green began to move.
Rayna and Pig rode in on the string. Each halter was tied to the horse ahead of it, keeping the herd from wandering off on their own. When they stopped, the lines swung out, and horses began to fidget and pull at their restraints. Like everyone else, Sal calmly made her way to the closest anim
al. The three Devil Dogs, all of the Black Blades, and a group of Anglian soldiers in green were doing the same. Each grabbed a horse and untied them, leading the aminals toward the picket line.
"Green's regular army?" Pig asked, tying his horse next to the one Sal had.
"Yeah."
"Nice. I'm impressed. Not used to soldiers with brains."
"Thank you, sir," an Anglian said from his other side. "We learned pretty quick when the Kaisae came in. Can't say we had brains before that. Kinda embarrassing watching the Conglomerate regulars now and thinking I used to be like that."
Pig just chuckled.
"Pig, we had a small incident," Sal said, then told him about the riders nearly stumbling upon one of the Devil Dogs. "He's good now, sir. There's a pair escorting him back. How do you want to handle the rest getting out?"
Pig sighed, reaching up to rub at his temple. "We have a plan B if only I can get word to them."
Sal's ears flicked forward. "And they know what plan B means?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Because the gerus there isn't so great at Glish, but he can draw the letter B."
Pig just shook his head. "That's going to take some getting used to."
"It comes pretty quick," Ilija said, walking toward them. "Major Pig, nice to see ya again."
"Colonel Vayu, the same. You know this is going to piss a lot of people off, right? We're not iliri. We can't claim that damned law."
Ilija laughed. "Fuck 'em. Myrosica's crawling up our ass, and Sal's got Viraenova willing to march across the continent for her. Man for man, we outclass the Conglomerate, now, after Sal's crash course. Add in the grauori, plus the link, and all I need is enough nations to approve of what we're doing that shit won't come back and cause attacks at home." He grinned. "And your Dogs are on the move again."
Pig looked from Ilija to Sal. "You both getting updates?"
Sal smiled. "LT, too."
He nodded, looking impressed. "So, what's the chain of command around here?"
Ilija answered. "Kaisae, Kaisor, Colonel."
"Me, Blaec, Ilija, officially," Sal clarified. "Unofficially, whoever's closest."
