Sarazen's Betrayal : Sarazen Saga 1.2

by Isabel Wroth

  Cassie thought personally it was a bit of overkill, but for someone to have been murdered inside the walls where the pride leader and his family lived, the threat to the rest of them was not taken lightly. Until it was stamped out, until there was no further danger to the mated pairs, security was on whatever level came after ‘red alert.’

  Falken’s mother was being held in one of the suites two levels down from where most of the hybrid couples lived, secured by five warriors outside and three inside. Though why eight warriors were required to guard one female, Cassie was uncertain. It made her nervous.

  Maybe Falken’s mom was a complete badass. One who would take one look at Cassie and hate her guts because she wasn’t good enough for Falken. Before entering the secured room, Falken lifted her hand to his mouth for a sweet kiss.

  His reassuring push of love had her smiling when they walked into the rather Spartan space. There weren’t plush furnishings or thick rugs on the stone floors, no luxurious bathroom with a tub big enough to swim in. It was exactly what it looked like, a room for a prisoner.

  One single bed pushed up against a wall, an open chamber with an enzyme wash stall, a pair of lounges, though from the mismatched color of them Cassie assumed the second one had recently been brought in.

  The female waiting for them stood with a smile on her face. Cassie was stunned to see the resemblance between mother and son. The other woman’s hair was cut short like Falken’s, the same inky black a few shades darker than the deep blue clan markings curling behind her ears and down to her nape.

  Her eyes were more amber than gold, less serious and more sad, though her delight at seeing Falken was obvious. Cassie watched the way Falken approached the female and lowered his brow to hers, his big hands settling on her shoulders while he murmured a soft greeting.

  Cassie waited for her beast to protest the affection being given to another, but the big cat seemed content to just stretch and roll over lazily. She waited patiently while she took in their reunion. Falken had told her that he hadn’t seen his mother, other than in hologram form, for a very long time.

  She noticed the hands Falken’s mother curled around his forearms were covered in some kind of thick, clear gel. Like rubber gloves that appeared sealed to her skin and made her palms clumsy. For some reason, the sight of them made Cassie uncomfortable, and Falken wasn’t very pleased either.

  “I am sorry you must wear these, mata.” he told her.

  The female gave a shrug of her shoulders and waved her glove-covered hands. “It is a small inconvenience in the face of what has happened. Is this her?”

  Cassie couldn’t help but blush at the look of pride Falken gave when he introduced her to his mother. “Yes. Cassie, this is my mother, Amreet.”

  Falken held his hand out to her and Cassie scooted forward to accept it, noticing how Amreet all but bounced with eagerness. Cassie was almost a foot shorter than the Sarazen woman, but that wasn’t uncommon. The shortest native female Cassie had seen was about five foot ten and, come to find out, that had been a teenager.

  Amreet’s amber eyes sparkled with her delight. Her voice measured and formal but the excitement couldn’t be disguised in her tone. “I am so very pleased to finally meet my son’s mate.”

  Cassie had to fight not to duck her head. “I’m honored to meet you.”

  Amreet invited them to sit, asking Cassie questions Cassie assumed were the normal mother-in-law questions. The other female was curious about her life before having been rescued by Tarek and his warriors. Cassie didn’t have a whole lot of nice things to say about her tenure aboard the Aria, so she stuck to the basics as best she could and changed the subject at the first opportunity.

  “Actually, Amreet, I was wondering if you could help me with something.”

  Cassie felt Falken still beside her, his amusement at his mother’s questions fading immediately. Amreet seemed just as surprised, glancing to Falken as though trying to read his reaction.

  She struggled for just a moment before answering, “How could I help you, Cassie?”

  “Well, I haven’t exactly gotten a chance to speak with many Sarazen females, and the ones I have spoken to, likely wouldn’t know how to help. There’s a thing that humans do when babies, um, cubs are born. We give birthday gifts.

  “When they’re first born, the gifts are usually for the mother, and seeing as how I’ve never been around Sarazen cubs before, I was wondering if you might advise me on something Clary might need. Or something that would be helpful for the cubs.”

  At Amreet’s baffled expression, Cassie tried to clarify, her insides writhing with uncertainty. Especially when she felt Falken soften, felt the tenderness in the kiss he touched to her temple. “Was there anything you would have liked to have had on hand when Falken was little?”

  Understanding lit the female’s eyes and they sparkled with a mixture of warmth and excitement. “Teething toys and thick posts for when his little claws first emerged. All the furniture had to be replaced twice before they finally elongated fully. I was constantly washing his little diapers, he was the sweetest, messiest little cub.”

  “Mata!” Falken groaned with embarrassment. But the love he felt for his mother rang clearly to Cassie through their bond.

  Amreet wasn’t anywhere near done recounting how adorable Falken was as a cub. “I was so proud when he shifted before all the other cubs his age, but getting him to shift back was tantamount to torture. I would put him to bed at night as a sweet little male, then open his door and be pounced on by a wild beast!

  “His favorite game to play was to pounce and growl like he was going to eat me, I would play along and scream for help, drop to the floor and wrestle around with him. Then, he would just stop and wiggle up to cuddle against my shoulder, rumbling away.”

  The other female laughed and awkwardly dashed the moisture from her eyes. Looking at the thick gel on her hands with a sad sigh. “Seems so long ago. Your sire was away much of that time, building his business off world.”

  Amreet flicked a glance at her son. “It never occurred to me he would be doing anything else. I began to suspect my mate was not the male I thought he was, the day you came to us and declared your intent to advance beyond the basic training to become a fully deployed warrior. I did not understand why he was so angry, and after you left I blamed him for driving you away. Things changed then for us.

  “I closed myself off to our bond, and I suppose I did not understand or see what was happening because I didn’t want to believe it. When the former Asho and his warriors came to take us into custody, I confess I was not surprised by the accusation of treachery. I have sat here these past few days seeking back across my memories for obvious signs I chose to overlook, and there are so many that I am ashamed to even speak of them.

  “I believe I allowed myself to even believe I was bothering you with my incessant contact, Falken. But the truth was I was afraid you would see my suspicion and ask me what was wrong. Afraid I would have to tell you the truth and then I would have to accept it as well.”

  Amreet shook her head and straightened her spine as she cast off the slump of defeat. Cassie got up, ignoring the way the warriors situated by the door stiffened, and sat beside Falken’s mother.

  Not knowing what else to do or say, Cassie just curled her hands around one of Amreet’s, hoping the gesture would offer the other woman some measure of comfort. The gel was thick and heavy, so much so it was a wonder Amreet could move her fingers at all.

  It must have, because Amreet took another deep breath and nodded. “There is some data I believe might help you, I hid it several seasons ago when my suspicions got the better of me.”

  Falken’s mother told them about a data-cube with the travel logs from the small fleet of merchant ships owned by Falken’s father. Amreet’s guilt was palpable, as was Falken’s struggle to believe his mother and still remain an objective warrior, loyal to his king.

  “It’s in our old hiding place.” Amreet murmured with her
heart in her eyes when she smiled at her son.

  Falken swallowed thickly and nodded, clearly knowing exactly where that hiding spot was. “I will retrieve it, mata. I do not know yet what the Asho will decide to do with your mate. His confession and the evidence already provided have named him and three others as undeniably guilty. Until the Asho makes his decision, I regret very much that you must remain here like this.”

  Amreet nodded and looked for all the world to be devastated, but accepting of the news. “I understand. Can you tell me why I was given a medical scan upon my arrival?”

  Falken cleared his throat and explained about the Adiveeze implants used to control members of the population by the Original Council and how devastating the effects of one being activated had been. Cassie was not trained in any kind of psychological way, but she was fairly certain the horrified reaction of Falken’s mother, was one hundred percent genuine.

  “What else?” Amreet demanded.

  Surprisingly, Falken looked at her as though seeking her permission. Cassie nodded, knowing that had she been the one there with gel mittens on to keep from hurting herself or others, Cassie would be demanding to know what else was going on.

  “When we returned to Saraz and took our mates to the breeding festival, the Asho’na overheard a discussion among two males, speaking of how they had corrupted our mates food with flurra pollen in hopes of deadening our bonds. In hopes of leaving us unable to communicate with our females as we sought them out across the forests of S3. When that failed, the traitors tried again.

  “One of the human mates was taken in the light of day, from a public place, right out from under the nose of her mate using a molecular displacement device. The trace energy signature matches a device created by the Adiveeze. She was taken to an underground facility, a lab of some kind from before the Clan Wars. She was injected with a toxic dose of flurra pollen, modified to target the part of her brain responsible for bonding with her mate.

  “They are still, months later, unable to communicate or sense one another along their link. Over the course of an unknown amount of time, several of the fortress guard were corrupted with the neural implants, T’kalis among them. When those corrupted were discovered, the Original Council shut down their program, activating the self-destruct of the implants.

  “Several thousand were killed almost instantly across the territory and aboard many of the warships. Cassie was approached here in the fortress by a low level agent, apparently without authorization from his superiors, and offered her my death in exchange for information.

  “The traitor’s superiors chose to have him killed rather than risk any more information leaking without their consent. In response, Cassie found the names of two possible suspects, one of whom led to three more, Farro among them.”

  For a long time, Amreet just sat and stared at Falken in shock. Rigid as steel, trembling slightly as she processed the information just given to her. Just when Cassie thought Amreet was going to break in half, she sucked in a shaky breath and nodded.

  “Thank you.” Amreet struggled to find more words, her lips jumping up in a tiny smile when Cassie squeezed her hand hard enough to be felt through the gel. “Before you go, I want you to know how very proud of you I am, Falken. A mother could not be more proud than I.”

  Cassie saw the tips of Falken’s ears turn pink. His internal struggle was intense and Cassie didn’t know what to do to ease him. His mother was being held on suspicion of collusion with the Original Council, shut up in this room.

  Even if Amreet was completely innocent, if her mate was put to death it would be a death sentence for her as well. As difficult as it was, Cassie had a hard time accepting Amreet had been completely ignorant to Farro’s crimes until recently. As much as Cassie wanted to believe it, Falken desperately wanted to believe it.

  “Thank you, mata.” Falken rasped, forcing a smile.

  Fourteen

  Falken took Cassie with him for his final report to Tarek wondering if he would have made it all the way there, had she not been curled up under his arm. Seeing his mother that way, a prisoner, had left him reeling.

  There was nothing he could do unless he was able to prove beyond all doubt that she was innocent of having known what his sire was involved with. And that would be insanely difficult to prove without the help of a certain Matavei.

  Though even if Ilaria were able to read his mother’s thoughts and claimed she was in fact innocent of any knowledge about the details of his sire’s treachery, there was still the matter of Farro’s punishment. Whatever happened to Farro, Amreet would suffer for it. Whether it was in the form of mate sickness or blood-lust, no one could say.

  The son in him wanted to defend his mother to his last breath.

  The loyal warrior in him wanted to defend his home and his pride.

  The mate in him wanted peace and safety for his female and future family.

  The beast in him wanted blood.

  He sighed as they entered Tarek’s study and waited for the Asho and Asha to arrive. Cassie pushed him into a chair and crawled right up in his lap, her arms slung around him so she could rest her cheek on his shoulder. The warmth of her smile and the love that sparkled in her eyes steadied him like none other.

  “I like your mom.”

  Falken huffed and leaned over to touch a kiss to her smiling lips. “She liked you, too.”

  “I’d like to visit her later. After we go retrieve her data-cube.”

  “You may visit her whenever you wish, with Zarak and Matem if I am not present. And WE are not retrieving anything. I am going to go get—”

  Cassie leaned in to kiss any further protest, immediately distracting him from his denial. He knew exactly what she was doing yet to his disappointment, it was working.

  “I will not be swayed by your attempt—” the rest of what he intended to say was lost to a growl when she licked at his lip and nipped sharply.

  “Alright, Falken. I won’t come. I have projects that I need to work on anyway. Hopefully, I’ll end up with better results, my goal being that when you return home, there won’t be any dead bodies.”

  He wanted to glare at her, but she was smiling so sweetly and snuggling down on his shoulder with a happy hum. While visions of her roaming the halls alone at night, approached by stars only knew who, and the last words his sire spoke to him, ricocheted through his head like rogue asteroids.

  Pray that you find the others, before the others find your mate.

  The thought of Cassie experiencing anything within the realm of what Ohlen’s mate had suffered after being taken by the enemy, made Falken’s blood turn to ice. Andi had not been a fighter to begin with. Cassie was undoubtedly, a fighter.

  Cassie would not meekly submit until the threat of death was assured.

  Cassie would assure death because she would not meekly submit to threats.

  Cassie would never meekly submit without a fight and, in this instance, it terrified him. So the choice became, did he put his foot down and insist Cassie stay within the questionably safe confines of the fortress, with warriors he wanted to believe with all his heart would protect her and risk their enemy finding a way to lay hands on her?

  Or did he take her with him, where he was certain he could protect her, certain she would not be wandering around at odd hours of the night, and certain he would not spend a single night away from her wondering if she was alright.

  His childhood home was near the space port on the opposite side of the continent, just outside the capital city of Market Bay. Convenient for the import export of goods his sire had moved. Goods that had likely contained the illegal weapons and implants used to corrupt thousands of Sarazen citizens against their will.

  Falken was uncertain how he could ever rid himself of such shame, but the female in his arms offered him solace and the strength to find a way.

  “In the future, my one, I will not always be so easily managed.”

  He attempted to keep his tone gruff with disapproval,
but her expression softened to one of amused understanding. Her soft little hand cupped his jaw and she touched a kiss to the tight muscles bunching just below the skin.

  “Of course not, sweetheart.”

  “What have you promised your mate? Mine only makes that face when she has won some kind of victory in the face of my refusal.”

  Both of them jolted at the sound of Tarek’s voice suddenly filling the room. Falken made to get up, but Tarek waved at him to stay, throwing himself down into his big chair as soon as T’mai had closed the door behind them.

  Falken cleared his throat, shifting slightly to better cuddle his mate. “A journey to Market Bay. My mother has hidden a data-cube with information that may be helpful in identifying the remaining traitors. I believe her to be innocent of involvement with my sire’s activities, but my bias prevents me from being absolutely certain.”

  Tarek nodded and pulled his hand down his face, his exhaustion obvious. “Understandable. Did she say what was on this data-cube?”

  Falken replayed the conversation between him and his mother as it pertained to the subject, and when he was finished, Tarek shared a look with his brother and nodded decisively.

  “We were able to use the information your sire gave as incentive to make the others talk. We concur that this is not a plot, as they claim, to return us to our former glory. It is simply an attempt to retain the power and the foothold they have gained within the shadows. All three have refused to name the next tier in their command structure.

  “We have a merchant, able to move contraband and potentially even smuggle enemies in and out of our territory. A medic, working under the autonomy of one of my warships with access to as many test subjects as he could get his hands on. A garrison commander, able to flag young warriors who may have been targeted by the Original Council for future corruption. And a Port Commander, able to sign off on shipments or ships themselves from off-world without contest. Stars only know what’s been smuggled in.”