by Auryn Hadley
Any idea where you're headed? Jase asked.
None. I just know I'm going to see the Emperor.
Narnx gestured, and the Terrans forcefully hauled her back to the wagon. They tossed her in, her head smacking the bed hard. Sal growled, but Narnx hopped beside her, the damp cloth in his hand, his back to the Terran soldiers.
"Work with me," he said under his breath, holding the cloth where she could see it. "I don't want to hurt you, but I will."
Sal looked up at him once more, terrified that this would be the last time she got to speak to her mates. I'm going to take another nap. I will make it through this. I love you both. Be strong. She felt their emotions hit her and blinked away the anguish. "What will it take to get my mate free?" she asked her captor. "Whatever it is, I'll do it."
Narnx shook his head slightly. "That's not an option, now. He goes with us or he's considered useless and killed." He met her eyes. "Since he's the only reason you're being so nice, they've decided to keep him for a while."
Sal held his gaze. "If you hurt him, I will make you pay. You know that, right?"
"He's already asleep," Narnx told her. "If you cooperate, we won't hurt him. But I won't give you my word because it wouldn't stop them."
"I understand. Where am I going?"
He shook his head. "East of the Siahies. That's all I know."
Sal quickly sent that to her mates, hoping he wasn't trying to deceive her. He held up the cloth again, and she turned her face into it, breathing deeply. As she sucked in a second breath, Narnx whispered, "They won't find you. This was planned too well. I'm all you have."
Chapter 19
Zep stood, facing the direction he'd last felt Sal, and Jase knew his brother's heart was racing to match his own. "North of Issevi," Jase whispered, his frustration building. "We're going the wrong fucking way!"
"Jase," Zep said emotionless. "Are you sure she's north of Issevi?"
"No. Why?"
"Because if she is, they aren't stopping." Zep stared at the horizon over the back of the picket line. "Razor, can you feel anything yet?"
"No," he said groggily, their chatter having pulled him from sleep. "I'm as deaf as a human."
"Catch us up," Arctic demanded, shoving his hair back. "Is Blaec still safe?"
"So far," Zep said. "Sal's worried about him, but they're trying to use him to keep control of her. They have an iliri."
Arctic shook his head to show his confusion. "Another?"
"In the Black Widows," Zep clarified.
Bound in the middle of their group, the Terran chuckled. "Narnx. Lieutenant Narnx to most of us. He doesn't care for your kind."
"Thought you hated us, Marin?" Shift asked.
"Pretty much," Marin agreed, snidely. "Kinda a thing in Terric, you know? We tend not to like the people who try to eat us."
"So I've heard. Ironic that you're now traveling with us, isn't it?"
"After you cut off my leg?" Marin snapped. "Not exactly my choice. Besides, what am I going to do? Run? You've kinda mentioned how that would end. I think I'll just annoy the crap out of you all until I get eaten."
"You're leg's fine now," Shift said, rolling his eyes. "We were in a hurry. We fixed it. You saying you would've been any nicer?"
Zep held up his hand to stop Shift from taunting the human. "Bro, it hurts more for us. Human skin and all that. Leave the prisoner alone. We don't want him to clam up if we need any more information out of him. Takes too long to torture him."
"Pick a side of the fence, Zep," Shift grumbled.
"Human biology, iliri soul. Now can we please find the other part of it? I'm supposed to die fighting, not from a broken heart. She's that way."
Arctic followed Zep's line of sight, pulling out a map. He glanced around, measuring the angle of the sun, comparing it to landmarks, and quickly lost himself in trying to calculate where Sal was currently.
"Romantic," Marin sneered. "She really that good in bed?"
"Yeah," Zep said wistfully. "There's nothing like it. She's that good at everything. It's like having the sun buried inside your chest."
"Cessivi," Risk told the human. "You cannot understand."
Marin looked confused. "He's human."
Risk shook his head. "Not really. Have you ever loved someone so completely that you'd die for them?"
Marin looked at Risk for a long moment before answering. "My wife," he said, holding the iliri's eyes.
"Imagine if you could feel everything she did. Her pain, her pleasure, her secret embarrassments. Imagine if she loved you enough to share that and let you into her mind. No secrets. No betrayal. A promise of a life together and a guarantee of complete understanding."
"That shit's only in books." Marin tried to shrug it off. "Besides, my wife has one hell of a temper, she'd make my life hell."
"Well, that's what they have, except it kinda prevents all those normal relationship problems. Hard to be angry when you understand your lover's reasons."
From the way the man's eyebrows shot up, he was honestly interested. "Cyno and Zep?"
Risk nodded. "They're bound to Sal and to each other. They have no secrets. The three of them are basically one and the same inside."
Marin looked at the pale man beside him, then back to the cessivi. The men moved in unison, their actions always perfectly coordinated. They never fumbled or got in each other's way, yet they were rarely more than a pace apart.
"They're gay?" Marin asked.
Risk chuckled. "No. Trust me, I wish."
"You're gay?"
"Onsyc," Risk said. "I've always found the human term to be crass."
"But they're linked, and share a woman, and..."
"And nothing. Their bed is large enough for the three of them. They know what the other is doing, even if they aren't in the same room, so why not enjoy it."
"Damn," Marin mumbled. "That's the orgies they always talk about?"
Risk nodded. "We don't love like you. Oh, we fuck like you, but we love stronger. We love completely. Our females are like swans, they choose their mates, and keep them for life."
"But not the males?"
Risk shrugged. "We recover easier. It's still a heartbreak, but we can learn to love again. But sex is not love. Don't confuse them. Our women will entertain themselves where they desire, and the children are usually better for it."
"What, you just raise them like a pack of wolves?" Marin laughed at his own joke but stopped when he saw Risk nodding.
"The dominant female decides who can breed, including herself. Those females chose their own partners, but the children are either accepted by the pack and raised as children of them all, or shunned, and sent to live elsewhere."
"Shunned?"
"Usually because they're too closely related. The dam can either raise the children to maturity or move with them still nursing."
"What if it's the alpha bitch's kids that are the problem?" The man was truly becoming interested.
"Doesn't happen," Risk assured him. "Males are chosen for a pack to complement the kaisae. Even I could produce accepted children with Sal."
"Thought you were on-seek or whatever."
"Onsyc," Risk corrected, giving the proper inflection to the accent. "Doesn't mean I couldn't go through the motions. Kinda why iliri women are such an attraction - even to humans."
"Tell him about our other problem," Arctic said without lifting his head.
Risk laughed and leaned back. "Yeah. The stories about iliri raping human women? Not true."
"Oh really?" Marin drawled, not believing him.
"Doesn't work like that. It's physically impossible."
Shift chuckled and leaned over. "Least for those over a quarter."
"Rub it in," Razor said. "Shift's the only one of us that can get laid anytime he wants. Well, except Sal's mates."
"Why?" Marin looked at the men around him, shocked into showing his true interest as they spilled the secrets of their species.
"Can't get it up," Raz
or said. "Girl has to smell right or the shit doesn't work."
"Smell right?"
All of the Iliri men just shrugged, looking between them for one of them to explain it.
"Shade smells like sunshine and a fresh breeze. Like happiness and peace." Arctic finally lifted his head, looking over at the girl.
"Like love," Shade whispered, but the iliri could all hear it.
"Yeah," Razor said. "When they smell like your happiest memories, your dick starts to work. If not, there's nothing that'll make it happen."
"We're controlled by pheromones," Jase said, pacing. "Sometimes we smell a mate that we're destined for. There's na a way to describe it ta yer human senses."
"Once we smell that," Risk said, knowing Jase was too distracted to finish explaining, "there's no one else for us. Most of us, we find a woman that smells nice, entertain ourselves, and call it a good night. Once a man's found the woman he's meant for, nothing else will do. His body will not respond to anything else."
"Nothing?" Shade asked.
"Nothing," Arctic confirmed.
"We may recover from loss faster," Risk went on, "but we pay in other ways. Nature made us fiercely loyal to the women we love."
"And all of you feel this way about Salryc Luxx?" Marin asked.
"No," Risk answered, laughing a bit. "No, she just smells nice to all of us. It's just Jase and Blaec that are destined for her. Arctic is meant for Shade."
"Human," Zep said, still looking at the horizon. "I only know the scent from Jase's perception."
"So I bet you look forward to the chance of being free of it," Marin taunted.
Jase turned, his lips raised in a snarl. "No, ya fool."
"No," Arctic agreed. "When you find the mate you're meant for, it's exhilarating and fulfilling, even if nothing has happened. Just knowing she exists is a kind of pleasure in itself."
"And being free of her means death," Risk told the Terran. "It's one thing for Arctic. It's something completely different for Jase and Zep."
Jase growled. "Being destined and being cessivi are na the same. If Sal dies, we die."
Risk nodded, watching Marin's reaction, hoping he wouldn't think too hard about what Jase had just let slip. "They share everything. We don't know how it happens, but their hearts even beat in time."
"Usually," Zep said. "How much longer, Arctic?"
"I know which pass they're using," he told Zep. "Razor, Jase, Zep, Marin, and Risk. Idiptu Gap. Take a pack of maargra, and go. The rest of us will hit Issevi."
That was all they needed to hear. The men began to scramble, moving as if they weren't relaxing a second before. Marin watched it all with awe, still sitting with his hands tied before him. Risk tossed his bedroll to Razor then moved to Marin's, offering a smile as he bent to help the man up.
"Same rules apply, you know?"
Marin tossed a fake smile to his captor. "I run, I die?"
"Yeah. Sorry man, but we can't have you warning them. Not yet. When we find her, you can return."
The Terran paused. "You're going to let me go when this is all over?"
Risk shrugged. "Won't need you after that. Get your family, cry umso to an Anglian, and come to the right side of the line, or return to the Widows and die like the rest of them. It's your right to choose. Let's go."
In less than five minutes, the men were mounted and moving, a group of pale beasts running easily beside their horses. Jase set a fast pace, pushing them as hard as he safely could. Tied to his horse, Marin clung desperately as Risk led the gelding. Behind them, the rest of the Black Blades, the Verdant Shields, and the Devil Dogs watched them go. All of them hoping they'd make it in time.
"What'd they find?" Pig asked, walking boldly into the Blade's camp.
"Sal was able to reach Zep," Arctic said. "From her position, they're headed through Idiptu Gap, toward the Hurracan River. Hopefully, the Terran will be able to get them through."
"You trusting him?"
Arctic shook his head. "Not yet, but Risk is on it. He'll be a scrubber lover before they cross the Siahies. His scent already reeks of curiosity."
"If not?" Pig asked.
"Jase'll kill him." Arctic shrugged it away as if inconsequential. "Sal hasn't tamed him that much."
Pig nodded in understanding. "We heard the commotion, and we're all up. How long until we move?"
"How soon can we be ready?"
"Ten minutes," Pig said, sending mental orders back to his unit. "Arctic, Idiptu Gap is covered in Terrans."
"I know," Arctic said softly. "We have to figure out how to get through."
It wasn't long before they were packed and moving. The Verdant Shields encircled Dom and Rayna, but the group rode hard without breaks. Late in the day, a group of golden horses raced toward them, their coats gleaming in the setting sun, the pale armor of their riders looking ethereal. Arctic refused to slow, forcing the Viraenovans to fall in beside him.
"I need to speak to Tseri," he called to the woman beside him in Iliran.
"Where's the Kaisae?"
"Taken by Terric." He looked over, refusing to submit. "Anglia needs our sisters."
She nodded. "Then you shall have them. The Kaeen is in Issevi. We will be there by nightfall. I have already told her."
They didn't speak again until the horses clattered through the gates, stars fighting to be seen through the heavy clouds blowing in. The woman escorting them cried out, still in Iliran, demanding their horses be walked out, and pale soldiers hurried to obey. Arctic slipped from Bazya's side and patted her wet neck before following the Captain who'd led them in. The rest of the elites scurried to catch up, Dominik included. They entered a common building at the side, and the Kaeen of Viraenova rushed toward him.
"Is it true?" she asked, speaking in Glish.
"Yeah. Black Widows got Sal and Blaec. Jase, Zep, and Razor are trying to find them. Risk went, hoping he could help."
"But that's not all," she said, quickly understanding. "What do you need from us?" She glanced up to Dom, acknowledging his presence.
"They need iliri soldiers," he said.
Tseri nodded, lowering her eyes as she sorted through her mind. "I can give you five units. It will take a day to free up more, but they're yours. Viraenova will not abandon our Kaisae, but we do not want to lose this war."
Dom lifted a hand reassuringly. "The Blades will find Sal. I'm here with the Shields to assist you and organize something with the Conglomerate." He tilted his head to the man in blue standing behind the rest of the Anglian soldiers. "Rais Tolan, of the 112th, and Sal's friend."
Tseri glanced up, running her eyes over the man. "Is that so?"
"Yes, Kaeen," Rais said. "She saved my pride and my friend. Now she's offered to save my country. I'm kinda invested. The 112th will not stand across the line, but we will stand with her."
The Kaeen of Viraenova smiled, but it looked nearly as feral as Jase usually did. Slowly, she nodded, once. "I want to meet all of your men, to touch them. After that, you will be allowed through our ranks."
Arctic spoke up. "Kaeen, I'm sending the Devil Dogs with Rais, back to the CFC. Terric is pushing their border. We have to at least hold it until we get Sal and Blaec back."
Her face fell. "They have Blaec, too?" She paused, her eyes drifting out of focus before snapping back to Arctic's face. "Take what you need. Tell me how I can help best."
"Find the Unavi rebels," he told her. "Show them Dom is not like other humans. Teach them that Anglians are to be trusted. And above all else... Hold the fucking line."
"I swear it, Raewar." She blinked her eyes over to Dom. "Sire, you're about to become my very trusted friend. I'll have your men bunked with mine."
"How long are we staying?" Ilija asked.
Arctic answered. "The 112th and Devil Dogs can stay for the night. Shields? Until something changes." He waited for Ilija to nod, then took a deep breath. "Sal had a plan. I'm assigning the grauori to Pig, and ordering Pig to obey Rais."
Ilij
a sucked in a breath. "That means - "
Arctic nodded, cutting him off. "The grauori will be bound by the human conventions of war and operating directly under CFC orders. I know. I trust Rais, even if he isn't Anglian."
Rais raised his chin, aware of the serious looks in the room. "I won't let her down. I swear, Arctic. If you all trust me with the safety of your people, I owe Sal too much to let her down."
"Yeah," Arctic said, his exhaustion finally reaching his voice. "If for no other reason than Blaz would kill you."
"And Sturmgren. Regardless of what our politicians say, the 112th will always be an ally, sir."
"I know, Rais," Arctic assured him. "I just don't want to feel them die. I'm trusting all of you to handle this war, because I have to find her."
"All iliri do," Tseri added. "No matter what we call ourselves. She is the last Kaisae."
Chapter 20
Sal woke again. This time the canvas was dark. She felt Blaec beside her, but he was unconscious. Her ears flicked and swiveled, listening for some hint of movement, but there was none. Breathing deeply, she smelled smoke, burning meat, humans, and horses.
Jase? Zep? she tried, but felt nothing. Panic welled inside her. She was too far to reach a link!
Her mind searched for a hub, something she could use to enhance her mental reach, and found nothing. For kilometers on either side, she couldn't feel a single iliri or grauori mind. She could feel her cessivi's emotions, though. Somehow she knew they were aware of her, both straining to make sense of what they felt.
She was alone, so focused on that. It was only her and Blaec, and he was unconscious. In the pit of her stomach, she felt Jase understand, and relaxed, knowing that at least she still had some way to communicate with them.
"She's awake," Narnx said, his voice coming to her from a distance. "She's also scared."
Blaec? Sal asked, hoping he would respond.
The cover was yanked back, a dark cloud-filled sky the first thing Sal saw. The second was worse. Narnx leaned over her with a hard resin collar. "You can't reach your friends from here. You can't harm us or we kill your mate. So, why don't you be a good little girl and put on your new necklace so I can take you for a walk?"
