Rietin tipped his head and withdrew, off to plan his protection of a very headstrong young match.
Sakkra ambled toward his quarters, feeling worn in both body and mind. His men handed off reports of the day’s activities to him, from this consulate and all the others that had finished their daily testing. Concentrating on them was nearly impossible with memories of Amy Davidson in his arms taunting him.
She cannot be mine. She will not be mate to any of our kind. She already has a mate.
Chapter Nine
Amy stared at the telephone, reached toward it, and pulled her hand back again. She had to make the calls eventually. But not yet.
How was she supposed to tell her parents that they were both Sakk-descended? How was she supposed to tell them that any of her cousins might be so heavily Sakk-descended as to be unable to reproduce with a human man?
What if I am? That thought set off a basket of snakes in her stomach.
The other call she had to make was to Jason. How could she tell him she wasn’t human? How could she even start?
I’m Sakk-descended. The barrage of questions he would fire at her made her head spin. How would she know that? Why had she agreed to be tested? Did she prefer a Sakk warrior to a human man?
I need to try something else.
A funny thing happened when I went to the consulate with Lucy today.
As if! The last thing Amy would call this mess was ‘funny’. Terrifying. Life-altering. Maddening.
“I told you, you shouldn’t have gone with her.”
Amy winced at what would most likely be Jason’s rebuke, imagined though it was. He’ll say it. No matter how I break the news, he’ll come out with that at some point.
After that, the dozens of unanswerable questions will start. Could they have children together? Would those children be sterile?
Will they have wings? God forbid! Her heart stuttered at the possibility. The reports about the breeding colonies said Sakk-descended sometimes produced winged babies with each other. Usually with small, deformed wings, but still winged.
Not like Sakkra’s wings.
She shook away the memories of the Sakk prince, concern in his gray eyes. His wings had been long and full, strong wings that looked like they could lift him from the ground, despite the slightly higher gravity on Earth.
Not conducive. I need answers, not daydreams.
Could we have children together? If Jason was at least partially Sakk, they might be able to, but there was no way to know if he had Sakk blood without testing at the consulate.
I need answers to these questions before I call anyone. Sakkra would give her answers, she was sure. It was the least the Sakk owed her after the upheaval they’d caused in her personal life.
A heavy-handed knock at the door put a premature end to her self-righteous internal rant. Amy glanced at the clock, noting that it was after eight.
Who would come here at this time of night? And without calling? Certainly not her parents or Jason. Maybe Jo? Her cousin had shown up with an armload of books or a DVD and asked for a couch for the night on more than one occasion.
The knock sounded again. It was more impatient and decidedly male.
Amy pushed off the couch and padded across the floor in her fuzzy slippers. The peephole was a little high for her comfort, but she rose on tiptoe to use it.
“Jason?” She tried not to let her dread color her tone. I probably failed.
“Oh, so you are there.”
Her fingers shook against the deadbolt. “It’s after eight, and I wasn’t expecting anyone. I wasn’t going to announce I was here until I knew who was on the other side of the door.” Wasn’t Jason the one who kept telling her to be safe? A woman living alone and all of that?
The lock snapped open; she turned the handle and opened the door for him. Jason scowled at her, then stomped inside without a greeting. That set off warning bells.
Amy closed the door, taking her time about it. “Is there a problem, Jason?”
“Problem?” he grumbled. “This fiasco is a little more than a problem, don’t you think?”
He knows? How could he? It was better to be sure than to blurt it out and shock him with more than he already thought was wrong. “Which fiasco?” Please be referring to a problem with the caterer or the deejay.
“Which—? You’re not seriously going to pretend the little scene at the Sakk consulate today never happened, are you?”
She turned toward him, though she knew it was probably a mistake. Jason stood in the center of the room, his jaw clenched shut, his hands fisted at his sides.
“I’ll assume Lucy called you,” she replied wearily. The bitch. The jealous brat.
“From jail. I would have thought you would have had the courtesy to. After all, you are my fiancée.” His gaze flicked to her hand, as if he was assuring himself she was wearing her ring.
“I would have, once I had the answers to the questions you’re going to ask me. I didn’t want to let the cat out of the bag when everything was still so uncertain.”
“So you chose not to tell me my fiancée is a fucking alien?”
Amy jerked away at the warning in his voice, coming up hard against the door. The completely outrageous thought that she should have taken Sakkra up on his bodyguard settled in her mind.
That’s ridiculous. This is Jason. We love each other. But he doesn’t trust me, apparently. That piqued her anger. “I didn’t ask to be tested,” she protested. “Lucy pushed me onto the testing pad, and—”
“That doesn’t change that you’re one of them.”
“For all you know, you are, too.” It was out before Amy could reason herself out of saying it so bluntly. “I had no clue I was. Are my eyes an odd color, Jason? Is my hair overly fine? No.”
Jason stared at her, his mouth moving as if he wanted to protest in return but couldn’t form it.
She forced her voice to gentle. “Come to the consulate with me.” At the very least, she’d be more comfortable walking in there if she had Jason with her to assure she could walk out again.
Sakkra would make sure of that.
Stop it! The last thing she wanted to do was depend on the Sakk prince for anything. “We’ll ask our questions. Let them take their tests.”
“If I’m one of them, I don’t want to know it. I don’t want to be one.”
“You think I did?” In the hours since she’d been tested, her life had been in complete disarray.
“I don’t want you to be one, either. Don’t you get it?” There was something manic in that. “I told you not to go to the consulate. I told you, and you just had to go.”
Her mouth went dry at his meaning. “I can’t change what I am, Jason. But we can go to the consulate and ask—”
“And if they say I’m human?”
“You’re enough for me.” Was that his problem? Did he think she was that shallow?
His eyes narrowed. “It’s not enough for me. We had plans, Amy. We planned to have a big family. A big Italian, human family. Remember those plans?”
The finality of his argument raised stomach acid in her throat. “You’re not even going to try. Are you?”
“I don’t think this is going to work.”
Her hands shaking, tears pooling in her eyes, Amy pulled the engagement ring off and held it out on the palm of her hand. Jason hesitated, then marched across the room and plucked it up.
“You would have been enough for me,” she repeated.
Jason didn’t answer. He motioned her away from the door. Amy complied on quaking legs. He didn’t even look at her. Jason pulled the door open, stepped through, and slammed it shut. His footsteps echoed down the hallway, courtesy of the hardwood floors.
The sobs won the battle, bursting free from her in a rush. Amy slid down the wall and huddled in on herself.
That morning, she’d had it all: a man she loved, a job she liked, and a calm, ordered life. Now? She’d lost Jason. Since she worked with Lucy, and Lucy had appar
ently set out to destroy her life, it was a safe bet Amy should plan to start job hunting in the morning.
I have some things left. My family. A few friends who aren’t also friends of Lucy’s.
But not Jason. And no idea what she even had to offer a man. Could she ever give a man, besides a Sakk warrior, children? She couldn’t promise that. She couldn’t promise that she couldn’t, either.
Oh, this sucks!
Her future loomed before her. For the first time in her life, it was full of dark uncertainty. The only way she could give a man assurances was to mate with a Sakk warrior.
I don’t want to go to Sakk! Amy didn’t want to leave Earth. She’d never had dreams of being an astronaut. Face it. I don’t have the right stuff.
Not to mention the fact that she didn’t want to leave her family. Odd as some people found it, her mother was one of her closest friends. The closest now. And her cousin Jo was a close second. Leaving her family wasn’t an option plan.
They have no right to ask me to, she fumed.
A rational voice in her rioting mind reminded her that Sakkra wasn’t demanding anything of her.
But their testing caused this!
That damned rational corner piped up again with the truth that marrying someone as shallow as Jason and losing him when she couldn’t provide those all-important children to prove his virility—Or God forbid, I gave him winged children!—would have been just as bad. Or worse.
That was sobering. And confusing. How could Amy make plans for her life when she no longer understood the rules of her existence?
I have to know.
The pressing need to prioritize, right the wrongs of her perceptions, and fill in the gaps in her knowledge sent Amy rushing to the closet to grab a jacket. Sakkra had answers she needed. Desperately. She intended to get them.
Amy was halfway across town before she realized she was still wearing her pajamas and slippers. It’s just one more upheaval in my life, she rationalized.
****
It wasn’t until she reached the shield that Amy realized she hadn’t thought the process through to the end. What is wrong with me? I’ve never been this disorganized.
She stood at the barrier, at a loss for how to get inside. There wasn’t a doorbell or an intercom. What was she supposed to do?
Amy laid a hand to the shield, certain they wouldn’t be allowed to use it if it was capable of hurting someone that way. It was cool and smooth, lightly buzzing against her skin.
Frustrated, she hit it. That was a mistake. It felt like hitting a wall.
Well, it’s supposed to, isn’t it? She shook her hand out, wincing.
Okay. Breaking in isn’t an option. Of course, she’d known that.
So what do I do now? Realization was slow coming. They would have watches, wouldn’t they? Or they would be scanning the shield from inside. One way or the other, someone would notice her when they got to this point.
Amy would wait. It couldn’t take them that long to spot her. Could it? That thought in mind, she turned her back to the wall and slid down the shield, using it to support her back.
She didn’t question why she was doing this. Sakkra had answers she needed. I’m not leaving until I get them.
****
Sakkra rushed into the command center. “What is it?” He dimly noted the chamber was full of warriors, easily three times the normal for a night watch.
“She has returned.”
“Who has?” Nothing the warrior at the desk said was making sense.
“The young match.”
Sakkra’s heart skittered in shock at the news, and he circled the desk to look at the screen, certain the warrior had been mistaken. Since there had only been one match located recently—no matter how sloppily—there was no question which match he meant.
“It is she.”
To his credit, the young warrior didn’t answer the insinuation that both he and Rietin might have been wrong.
Sakkra focused on Amy Davidson, trying to assess the situation. He’d fully expected never to see her again. He’d resigned himself to the loss of her. She’d been intent on marrying her human male.
Sakkan, what changed?
The young match sat on the stone walkway, leaning back against the shield, her hands tucked under her chin. She wore a hooded jacket over odd patterned pants and some sort of furry foot coverings.
“What is she wearing?” He’d never seen anything like it.
The warrior cleared his throat. “I believe it is a particular style of human sleeping clothes.”
“Sleeping—? Why in the ten systems would she wear sleeping clothes here?” Sakkra didn’t wait for an answer. “She’ll freeze. We have to admit her.” Whatever else Amy was, she was Sakk-descended and clearly distraught. What was she thinking to come here like this?
“I will send—”
“No. I will bring her in.”
The warrior looked up, seemingly scandalized.
“She is not carrying weapons.” He didn’t make it a question.
The warrior answered anyway. “No, Sakkra. The scan is negative for weapons.”
“Then there is no reason for me not to see to her condition personally. General Lea...Corporal Brak...Accompany me.” Sakkra had to accept guards, or his warriors would keep him from going to her.
He pushed away from the desk and stalked down the corridors to the main entry point, the two warriors at his heels.
Sakkra didn’t pause. There was no question the warrior would be dropping the shields ahead of him and raising them behind him again. The last shield dropped when he was two steps away, and Ms. Davidson overbalanced backward and caught herself on her elbows.
She must have been using the shield to support her weight.
He squatted to her side and offered his hand. She stared at it for a moment, wary.
“I have questions for you.” Her voice was strained and breathy.
At this time of night? Sakkra nodded. “Come inside where it is warmer.” This close, he could see that her hair was damp, and the jacket she wore was unequal to the dropping temperatures.
She swallowed hard, and her chilled, shivering hand crept into his. Amy allowed Sakkra to lift her to her feet.
“Come inside,” he repeated. Clearly, she was already suffering from the weather.
“I’m not volunteering,” she informed him. “I just have questions.”
His heart ached at her refusal, though it wasn’t personal. “As you wish. You have my vow that you can leave whenever you wish, as long as it is safe for you to do so.”
She considered his vow for a moment, then nodded.
****
The wind whipped through her lounging pants, and Amy shivered. One of the warriors with Sakkra pulled off his cloak and wrapped it around her. She suspected Sakkra would have given her his own, had he been wearing one.
He came out here without a cloak? Why?
“Thank you,” she whispered in the sudden realization that she was being rude.
The warrior didn’t flirt with her, as she’d expected him to. His nod was stiff and formal.
They led her into the consulate, deep into the crosshatch of hallways. Sakk warriors crowded around them, and the warriors escorting them warned them back. It took her a moment to realize she’d pressed close to Sakkra, and she eased away, her cheeks burning.
A door opened, and Sakkra guided her inside. The two others followed, and the door closed behind them.
The room was a small living room with a table and chairs for eating at the far end. Her gaze strayed to the silver drapes that no doubt led to a bedroom and bathroom.
Her mouth went dry as she pieced together what this room was used for. Mating.
“Amy?” Sakkra reminded her.
“This is...?” Words failed her.
“It is a comfortable place. You can sleep here if you feel the need. You are safe. We are not making demands of you or assumptions about your intentions, I assure you.”
&n
bsp; “You use these rooms a lot?”
“I believe we were overzealous in planning for a dozen of them.” He winced. “We rarely use more than one a month for the intended purposes. It’s more likely that visiting media or dignitaries will use them, but I suppose the space is not wasted.
“Can I offer you food or drink?” he offered.
She started to shake her head, then reconsidered. “Orange juice or lemonade? Thanks.”
“Colonel, if you would.”
One of the two warriors tipped his head and left the room.
Amy sank into one of the plush chairs. The words wouldn’t come. All the questions she’d reasoned she needed to ask him eluded her.
He settled on the chair across from her, his eyes assessing. “What is it? What has happened to send you here...this way?”
Jason’s angry shouting echoed in her memories, and she grasped at a question at random. “Can I have children with a human man?”
The wings on the last remaining warrior bristled, but he remained silent otherwise. She focused on Sakkra, wringing her hands in her lap nervously.
“I cannot say for certain. Since our goal was breeding matches for ourselves, whether or not they could breed with the general population was of no interest to us.” He hesitated. “Perhaps the healers can offer more information. I am...a leader, not a medical man, but I would imagine it would depend on how close to Sakk the man in question is personally.”
Her heart sank. Even if he’d let her, she couldn’t give Jason assurances. She couldn’t give any man assurances. The only way to know would be to have any given man she liked tested and hope for the best. What man would put up with that? None she knew.
****
Sakkra winced at her pallor. “The Sakk genes have been spread far and wide, in males as well as females. I am sure some human-appearing men could reproduce with you. Others?” He shook his head sadly. “I regret that the best we could do would be to test individual men for you.”
Unexpected Mates (Sons of Heaven) Page 10
