by Lili Zander
Before either of them have a chance to respond, Raiht’vi comes up. “Let me see,” she orders. I obediently show her my hand, and she surveys it for a few seconds and then shrugs dismissively. “It’s a minor cut,” she says. “It won’t hurt you. The wound will heal.”
It’s a good thing Raiht’vi never became a doctor because her bedside manner sucks ass.
Dennox’s fingers dig into my flesh, jerking my attention to my mate. His face has gone even whiter, and he’s staring at Raiht’vi in horror. “I remember you,” he says. “You were in the Crimson Citadel. You were one of the people that experimented on me.”
He takes a deep breath, and when he speaks next, there’s a note of raw anger in his voice, one I’ve never heard from him. “You were there that night, working late. Everyone else had left. I remember.”
A stillness spreads over the crowd. Arax stalks over. “What are you saying, Dennox?” he asks, his voice soft and filled with menace.
Dennox is still looking at Raiht’vi. “I remember the guards coming in with the news that Vulrux was in the citadel. You asked them if any of the more senior scientists were around, but nobody was there except you.” His eyes haze with pain. “Did you…”
Raiht’vi straightens to her full, impressive height. Her face is set in hard lines. “Yes,” she says. “I did. I gave the order that killed your mate.”
Dennox breaks from his stillness, lunging towards Raiht’vi, who does not recoil. She stands bravely as the warrior charges. Shouts rise from everyone. “Dennox, stop,” Arax orders. “No,” I cry out, adding my voice to the mix, but he cannot hear me.
“You,” Dennox roars, “You will not hurt our mate!”
A body blurs past Raiht’vi, slamming into Dennox. It’s Thrax, trying to stop my warrior mate. The blow forces him back, but in a smooth move, Dennox ducks and sends the leaner alien flying, crashing into the staring crowd. Thrax springs back to his feet, shakes his head and rushes back, but he’s no match for Dennox, who moves with the skill and speed of an elite soldier.
Nyx rushes Dennox, feinting at the last moment to slip past his defenses. The two Draekons wrestle, Thrax jumping on the pile, grabbing Dennox’s arm as he slams Nyx to the floor. More Draekons rush to help.
Cool air washes over my skin, a shocking change from the broiling humidity. My skin prickles with the significance.
Dennox is calling his dragon.
“No,” I scream louder, and start pushing through the crowd, trying to get to him.
Vulrux whirls and catches me, lifting me into his arms. “We must get you to safety.” There’s fear in his voice. He’s realized what I have: Dennox is no longer in control.
“Dennox, please,” I sob, terror washing over me. Somehow, my voice catches my warrior mate’s ear in the chaos and the tumult.
“Harper?” He turns to find me, almost pulling Nyx and two others off their feet. My heart breaks at the confusion in his eyes. He seems to slowly gather his wits. He draws in a deep breath and takes a half-step toward me.
“Yes, that’s it,” Vulrux breathes. “He’s back in control.”
Nyx and Thrax get a hold of Dennox’s arms, but he’s no longer fighting. He looks straight at me, his chest rising and falling like he’s run a marathon. “I’m sorry,” he whispers. “I snapped.”
“Almost,” I correct him. “You didn’t, though. What happened?”
“He remembers,” Vulrux murmurs, and I realize why Dennox charged Raiht’vi. For a moment Dennox was back in that awful place, watching his first mate die, helpless to protect her. His instincts kicked in when he remembered what Raiht’vi had done.
“She killed your mate,” I whisper, feeling ill.
“She gave the order,” Vulrux says quietly. His mouth is twisted, and his eyes are filled with pain. My heart aches at the sight. I want to cling to him, but he steps away, towards Dennox, and I let him go.
“Enough,” Arax says. He has his arms around Viola, shielding her from any possible danger. A motion from him, and Nyx and Thrax release Dennox. The Firstborn gives Raiht’vi a long, assessing stare. The scientist’s face is pale, but she still stands tall. “I will see the affected parties in my house,” Arax says icily. He glances around at us. “Vulrux and Dennox. This crime was committed on the homeworld. By the laws of Zoraht, you, as the injured party, may pass judgment on Raiht’vi. You will decide,” he pauses and draws in a deep breath, “whether she lives or dies.”
Vulrux and Dennox are looking at Raiht’vi in stunned horror.
I want to be sick. All the while, I’ve been trying to convince myself that the two men aren’t still broken up by the death of their mate, ignoring the signs that pointed otherwise. I’ve tried to forget that the real reason Vulrux drugged Beirax is because he wanted to know the truth of that night. I’ve turned a blind eye to the fact that Dennox didn’t want to mate with me until his memories reappeared.
I’m a fool. A stupid, love-struck fool wearing rose-tinted glasses.
It’s clear from their expressions that Vulrux and Dennox never got over their first mate. And I don’t know where that leaves me.
16
Dennox:
For the last few days, I was happier than I’d ever been in my life. Harper’s quick wit, her ready smiles, the clear bell-like notes of her laugh filled my heart and soothed my soul, and I was truly content.
Then Raiht’vi tells Harper her wound will heal, and when I hear those words, the veil obscuring my memories is ripped away. Images crash over me in a tidal wave, and I remember everything.
Arriving in the Crimson Citadel. Disarming the guards during an unattended moment, and making a break for it, only to be brought down at the gates by a battalion of Brunox’s guards.
The first few months, the scientists that experimented on me were interested in my powers of healing. Sharp knives would slice into me in precise strokes, and the indigo-clad men and women would stand around and watch me bleed, noting my pain responses and measuring the precise moment when my wounds began to knit.
Then they brought the woman in and tried to unravel the mysteries of the Draekon mating bond.
I remember when Raiht’vi first arrived at the underground labs. Her eyes had widened with horror and pity when she’d seen the two of us, bound on examination tables. She’d realized at once that she was witnessing an act of treason. By kidnapping a Zoraken, the scientists were declaring war on the High Emperor.
I remember her body trembling with fear as she was told what she would have to do. She’d been young then, a little over fifteen, a third-year apprentice with immense talent, but with a fatal flaw. She’d had a conscience.
I watched as the senior scientists stripped that away from her, the same way they stripped away my freedom, my pride and my sense of dignity. So many times in the underground citadel, I’d wanted to kill myself, to end the pain and the horror of what I’d stumbled into.
Then one night, Vulrux had appeared, and everything had changed.
At my side, Harper’s stiff and pale. I put my arm around her shoulder, taking comfort in her softness, breathing in her warmth. I’m profoundly grateful that we were lucky enough to find her. “I need you, diya,” I say quietly into her ear. “Come with us.”
She doesn’t respond but lost as I am in my thoughts, I don’t notice.
Vulrux:
So many conflicting emotions.
I don’t know what to think. My entire world has been upended. My emotions swirl over me like an angry sea, and I’m afraid I’m going to drown under the weight of my past.
But at my side, there’s a woman that anchors me to the present. In my past, there is darkness, but Harper Boyd is my present and my future. A woman who has brought color and laughter back into my world, a woman who makes me want to live, not just survive.
“I don’t get it,” I’d told Arax once, shortly after Viola came to the camp and Arax introduced her as his mate. “I don’t understand how you can take one look at a stranger from a faraway
planet, and know that you belong together. Isn’t it important that you get to know a woman and find out if there’s something deeper than sexual attraction that binds you together?”
He’d looked at me, a typically serious expression on his face. “My soul recognizes Viola,” he’d said. “I don’t know how to explain it, Vulrux. What I feel for her is so much more than a physical urge. Until she arrived in my life, I didn’t know that there was a hole in it, but now that she’s here, I can’t imagine my life without her.”
I think of my cousin’s words now. Sixty years ago, the dragon inside me recognized the woman in the underground lab as my mate, but she’d been killed before I could even say a word to her.
It’s so much better with Harper. The dragon inside me wants her, but that urge is primal. The dragon doesn’t appreciate the sparkle in her eyes, but I do. The dragon doesn’t see the way her gaze softens when she looks at Dennox and me, but I do. The dragon doesn’t value her sharp wit and keen curiosity, but I do.
Harper is more than our mate. She’s the woman I’m in love with.
Without Raiht’vi’s intervention, our first mate would still be alive.
Without Raiht’vi’s intervention, Harper would have died.
The seven of us crowd into Arax’s living space. Viola’s eyes are wide and worried. Nyx’s usual cheerful expression has been replaced by a grim sternness. Harper is pale and quiet. “Is your hand hurting you?” I murmur.
“No,” she whispers back. Her tone is uncharacteristically flat, sending a pinprick of worry down my spine.
Once upon a time, I would have sworn that I wanted revenge on the person that took my mate away from me. Now, the need for vengeance is dimmed. I’m too aware that if it hadn’t been for Raiht’vi, Harper would be dead.
One life taken. One life saved.
Arax is about to open his mouth, but before he does, I lift my hand to forestall him. “Before we do this,” I say to my cousin, “I need to tell you something.” I glance at the Zorahn scientist, whose expression is unreadable. “Privately.”
The urgency of my tone isn’t lost on the room. “I’ll escort Raiht’vi back to Zorux’s house,” Nyx says. “And arrange for a guard.”
Raiht’vi chuckles bitterly. “A guard? Where am I going to go, Thief? The rains trap me on this mountain.”
“Nonetheless,” Arax replies, his voice harsh. “I refuse to take any chances.”
When Nyx returns, I take a deep breath. “For years,” I begin, “it’s eaten away at me that that woman was killed because of me.”
“Because of both of us,” Dennox interjects. “This isn’t your fault alone.”
I nod to my pair-bond. “Had we not transformed inside the Crimson Citadel, she would still be alive. Many nights, I’ve stayed awake, consumed with guilt that I was responsible for her death.”
“We were responsible for her death,” Dennox mutters under his breath. “Not just you.”
Arax agrees with the soldier. “You are Draekon,” he says. “You cannot control the first transformation. The person responsible for the death of your mate,” he says, “is the person that gave the order for her to be killed.”
I ignore the interruption and get to the point. “When the scientists crashed on the prison planet, I burned to know the truth. I questioned Beirax.”
“How?” Nyx asks. “Arax couldn’t get the man to talk.”
My cheeks flush. “Ahuma venom is a very effective truth serum. In the last sixty years, I’ve managed to collect two vials of it. I used one on Beirax.”
Nyx whistles under his breath and Arax surveys me with an astonished expression on his face. “You drugged a patient, violating the core principles of your training as a healer? It mattered that much that you knew?”
It did, but not for the reasons he believes. Dennox was resolute that he wouldn’t complete the mating bond until he knew what his missing memories concealed. My motivations were more complex. For sixty years, I was obsessed with discovering the truth. I had to find out, if only to lay my long quest to rest and focus on the future.
“It’s complicated,” I murmur. “Besides, I never completed my training as a healer. I didn’t take the final oaths.”
Nyx’s eyes flicker to Harper, and then back to me. I understand the unspoken message. The thief has an unerring ability to hone in on what’s truly important, and he’s right. My past lies behind me. A future with Harper lies ahead.
My mate seems distressed, her face pale and pinched with misery. I wonder if it is because she thinks we’re going to demand that Raiht’vi be killed for her crimes. I want to reassure her and tell her that I have no such bloodlust, but first, I need to tell Arax what I discovered.
“What did you learn from Beirax?”
“His purpose was to learn if the human women could mate with us,” I reply. “But that’s not the most important thing.” I draw a deep breath. “Beirax claims that the Order of the Crimson Night has been dropping supplies on the prison planet, and somewhere out there,” I wave a hand to the jungle below us, “there are the component parts of a Cloakship, waiting to be assembled. Beirax never intended to be exiled on the prison planet. He had a way back home.”
Arax’s head snaps up with shock. Even Nyx looks intrigued. “What’s a Cloakship?” Viola asks.
“A top-of-the-line spaceship,” Arax replies grimly. “Small, faster than light, and virtually undetectable. Only one planet in the known universe possesses the ability to make them.”
Understanding dawns in Dennox’s eyes. “Adrash. Of course. That’s why we were sent into battle. The High Emperor wanted to bring the techmages under his control.”
The Firstborn’s eyes narrow. “How did you know about Adrash?”
“I fought in that battle,” he replies. “I watched soldiers die around me.” His lips twist into a bitter smile. “At least now, I know why.”
A cold realization cuts through me. “You were captured by techmages,” I say slowly, looking at my pair-bond. “Who surrendered you to the scientists.” My mind spins as I try and understand what’s going on. “Why would the scientists ally themselves with an enemy of the High Emperor?”
Arax’s voice is cold. “Brunox covets power,” he says. “I advised my father to take precautions, but he liked the man, and he wouldn’t listen to me. Then I was exiled.”
The four of us go around in circles for many minutes, trying to figure out the ramifications of everything we’ve learned. Finally, Viola cuts in. “Guys,” she says. “Do you know where Harper went?”
Just as she speaks, a great wave of unease washes over me. Our mate is in trouble. I can feel it.
17
Harper:
I can’t compete with a ghost.
I’m standing in Arax’s living area, listening to Dennox and Vulrux talk about the past, and suddenly, I can’t take it anymore. I need air and space and quiet, and I need to be alone.
I can’t go back to the dining area. Sofia and Ryanna are going to demand answers from me. The Draekons are going to surround me, and everyone’s going to be discussing Vulrux and Dennox’s dead mate.
I can’t go back to Vulrux’s house. The three of us have shared a bed for days. Everything in there will remind me of the two men I’ve fallen in love with.
My eyes fill with tears, and there’s a lump in my throat, making it difficult to swallow. Harper, I chide, you’re overreacting. This woman has been dead for sixty years, and Dennox and Vulrux never really knew her. You’re freaking out about nothing.
Hope trickles through me. Maybe there’s nothing to be worried about.
The lake. That’s exactly what I need. Lap after lap in the underground lake, until my muscles are exhausted, and my mind is calmed.
Everyone’s still in the dining area, but they’re sitting around the table in the outer room, deep in conversation. I move quietly into the inner room, taking care to avoid attracting any attention. I just need to be by myself for a little while.
As si
lently as I can, I open the trapdoor in the floor. Grabbing one of the lamps in the room, I head down the long flight of stairs.
I’m at the stone archway at the bottom of the stairs when I hear someone behind me. The hair on the back of my neck rises. Before I can turn, there’s a sharp knife against my throat.
“Harper Boyd,” a harsh voice says. “I’ve been waiting for this moment.”
Beirax.
Fuck.
My heart pounds in my chest. “What are you doing?” I demand. “What’s the point of this? Do you think that Vulrux and Dennox aren’t going to notice I’m missing? Because they will.”
“I’m counting on it,” he replies coolly. “Your Draekons are an integral part of my plan.”
My palms dampen with fear. “What do you mean? What do you want with them?”
“They can fly,” he says. “They’re going to take me to my cloakship, stupid human.” He pushes me through the archway. “Hold up your lamp. I need to find a spot where the Draekons can’t sneak up on me.”
He presses the blade against my neck as he speaks. My hand still throbs from the cut earlier this evening, a reminder that bleeding to death will be exceptionally painful and unpleasant. Gritting my teeth, I hold up the lamp.
“That way.” He gestures to the formation of rocks that the three of us have been using as a diving board. It’s the same spot from which Dennox tried to fly a few days ago. My lips curl into a grin as I remember the short-lived attempt, only to be wiped away when the full meaning of Beirax’s words sink in.
“They can’t fly in the rain,” I say, the pitch of my voice rising in fear. “You saw what happened to their wings.”
“So they get hurt.” The indifference in his voice stuns me. “They’ll heal. Draekons always heal.”
I remember the angry-looking welts and bruises on Vulrux and Dennox’s arms. They’d only been in the rain for a few short moments… My stomach churns with anxiety. I have to think of some way out of this situation. I can’t let Beirax use me to force my mates to cooperate.
