“I can’t,” she whispered.
“Yes, you can, dammit!” he shot back. “They are demanding permanent exile—back to Earth.”
That was better than the slimy, creepy crawly, bug-infested jungle, but to have to leave her friends, Beck, Eryn, and Eva, although they were days away, and not have the chance to see the man she loved again, sounded like a cruel and inhumane sentence.
“Does that mean I wouldn’t be allowed to come back to the colony, ever?”
“That is what permanent means, Lana. And exile wouldn’t mean only Terra Nova, but Primaria, too.”
“But I didn’t do anything wrong!”
“They are looking for someone to blame because they are angry and afraid.”
“Beck said the same thing.”
Her situation was almost identical to what happened to Eryn. Fingers had pointed at her demanding justice for her part in the North Mine explosion. If she had set foot on Primarian soil, she would have faced what Lana did now—a trial and if guilty, a similar punishment. But her mate protected her, and arrests were made clearing her name. If found guilty, Lana didn’t have anyone to defend and protect her, unless she accepted Trask as her mate once more.
“This is crazy. We need answers, not a scapegoat for expediency sake.”
“Agreed, but they’ve found one in you. And, Lana, they have the votes.”
“I’d be stuck on a crumbling planet; they’d be sending me back to die. Oh my God!”
Someone knocked. “General, the council refuses to wait any longer.”
“A moment,” Trask answered sharply before he lowered his voice and demanded softly, “What’s it going to be, little one?”
“How does being mated to you save me from the same fate?”
“As your mate, I would be responsible for keeping you out of trouble. More importantly, if there is wrongdoing, it is my right to determine your punishment and no other. They are ready to hear testimony and vote. This needs to happen before the council rules and a sentence is handed down. I need your answer now.”
“Can they try and convict me when I’m not there?”
“Yes. What is your answer?”
“I don’t know,” she bit out, feeling the pressure. “I need time to think so you’re gonna have to cut me some slack.”
He tensed for an instant before exploding. “Being mated to me cannot be a worse fate than exile, dammit!”
Staring into his tormented eyes, she couldn’t let him believe it. “You’re right, Trask. It’s not, but this is all coming at me fast.”
“I know, and that’s where the trust comes in. I want to protect you, Lana, but if we do this, there’s no going back, no running away, and no fucking notes.” She flinched as if he’d slapped her. “We will be mates for real, in every way, for a lifetime.”
It was the answer to her prayers, except for one remaining unresolved issue. She had to tell him.
Another knock sounded, this time more insistent. “Trask, I can’t delay them any longer!”
“We are out of time. What is your answer?”
“Yes, except I need to tell you something first.”
He gazed at her for a split second, then, as if he knew what she had to tell him was momentous, he shook his head and set her on her feet. “Not now.”
“But, Trask—”
“Later,” he ordered. “We must get in there and stop this before they call for a vote.”
“Can they do that without me there?”
He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the door. “Yes, which is why we must hurry.”
“This is the craziest justice system I’ve ever heard of.”
“Agreed, the bylaws adopted ended up in a convoluted mix of both our laws. But in the frontiers of Terra Nova where anything goes, I’m not at all surprised.”
In the hallway, she had to jog to keep up with his long strides.
“Trask, you have to know before you agree to this—”
He stopped so suddenly she slammed into his back. When he turned, he caught her in full rebound, but his firm grip on her upper arms kept her from falling flat on her ass.
“Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it, but not now when all I can think of is stopping the process that would take you away from me again. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
She nodded, not pushing further because she could read the raw emotion in his turbulent eyes.
They were off once more, at a faster pace which left Lana running to keep up.
A HUSH FELL OVER THE room as Trask entered. With Lana close by his side, he strode determinedly up the center aisle, drawing every eye as they passed until they stood before the long table on the raised dais. To make his announcement, he faced the council rather than taking his usual seat among them, Lana stood silently at his elbow, her chin raised bravely. To look at her, no one would guess a short while ago she’d been weeping in his arms. He wouldn’t suspect she wasn’t as calm as she outwardly appeared if it weren’t for the white-knuckled death grip she had on his hand.
“A hearing on this subject is no longer required,” he stated, his voice firm, though not raised, with the rapt attention of his audience who hung on his every word, it didn’t have to be. “I have been informed of the charges against my mate and will address them. I agree with the majority of the council that we wait until the investigation is complete before we start placing blame. Until that time, I will enforce the previous ruling of this panel and restrict Lana’s access to the mine site and anything and anyone involved with it. I can assure you, any future violation of the ruling will be dealt with promptly and firmly.”
“Your mate?” Aylan asked.
“Yes. Lana Hartman is my mate and therefore a citizen of Primaria and subject to our laws. As you know, Aylan”—his gaze shifted to the other elder—”and as do you, Tyordor, this gives me full authority over her actions, and any penalties are for me to impose.”
“You can’t mean this, Trask!”
“I do, Uncle.”
“Uncle?” Lana repeated in a surprised whisper.
He squeezed her hand in warning, and she was quiet again.
The two elders shared a glance while the humans on the panel and in the audience looked on in confusion.
“I was under the impression she requested dissolution,” Tyordor asked, his expression baffled.
“My mate made a request, but, under the law, both parties must agree to dissolve the match. I did not. Therefore, this order of dissolution must be declared invalid.”
“But it has been a full year, and you have made no protest before now,” the elder replied incredulously.
“There is no timeframe in which I must exert my rights or lose them that I am aware of. Other provisions of the law were ignored. My right to a formal appeal is one. An interventional waiting period for reconciliation is another. Thirty days is allowed, I believe, but I didn’t get one. She left a note one evening and was gone from Primaria the next morning.”
The audience reacted so loudly to this news Trask had to stop or shout to be heard. Beside him, Lana dropped her chin to her chest. Airing their personal business in public wasn’t something he relished either, but it was necessary to protect her.
“Other than the request to the council,” he continued when the murmurs had died down, “none of the requirements were met. You have no recourse except to nullify the order.”
“Being new to the council, I am not familiar with the rules on dissolution. I will have to defer to someone with more experience.” Tyordor, as well as the humans on the panel who had remained silent during the legal discussion, looked at Aylan for a decision.
“How should I know?” he replied. “You’re in the dark as much as me because, in my twenty years as an elder, this has never happened.”
Trask shrugged. “In my lifetime, that I recall. But being first does not negate my rights.”
The two elders looked at one another, and a heated discussion erupted between them, but in hushed t
ones.
Lana tugged on his sleeve, and when he bent, asked quietly in his ear, “Can they override your request?”
“No,” he whispered back. “And this was so badly bungled, they have no grounds if they could. But I want this ended, today, and came prepared to use the most powerful weapon in my arsenal.” He said this with another squeeze meant to reassure. “I have already notified Max Kerr of this glaring oversight,” he announced, silencing the room once more. “I also assured him the dispute between my mate and me has been resolved, not that I’ll go into detail about it because it is private. Being mated to a human, the Princep understands my challenges.” He ignored the narrow-eyed glance Lana sent his way and finished. “I am expecting his written ruling in my favor momentarily.”
This was a bluff. He had sent Lothar up to the Intrepid to transmit the request via an interplanetary relay. He left only a moment before they entered the council room. He hoped to have Kerr’s response in hand before the end of the hearing, but they didn’t need to know he’d embellished a bit on the details.
“What does this mean?” Betsy Barker called angrily from the front row.
Aylan sighed. “It means the general and Lana Hartman are still mates and we will await the results of the investigation.”
“You mean to let her go free without paying for what she did? These proceedings and this council are a mockery!”
“Miss Barker,” Aylan began with barely controlled irritation. “As I told you when you came to me, demanding action, this hearing was to address violations of the restriction already imposed, and to determine if her willful refusal to abide by the ruling rises to the level of further intervention. With this new development, General Trask will mete out whatever punishment he sees fit. It is not up to this council unless he requests intercession.”
“Which he won’t,” Trask replied curtly.
“These bizarre rules apply in your world, but this is an Earth colony. What are our rights? Even if we don’t have proof she set the explosives...yet, she was ordered to stay away and did not. I want her punished.” She faced Trask with a narrow-eyed glare when she added, “Under Earth law.”
Trask stated in a voice as hard as steel. “As my mate, she is Primarian and not subject to Earth law.”
“You orchestrated this drama to protect her,” Betsy accused.
“She is my mate. I will always protect her; that is our way.” Several male murmurs of approval came from the warriors in the audience. “But I assure you, Miss Barker, her involvement in this will be addressed.”
“What does that entail, a few swats on the ass like a naughty child, and that’s it? People were injured. A man lies close to death.”
“We have no proof of who is at fault yet.”
“She is! It’s obvious! Yet, you’ll let an attempted murderer loose to wreak more havoc.” Several of the humans surrounding her stood and shouted their support of her objections. “Your alien system of justice is fucked-up, and, believe me, the authorities back home are going to hear about it.”
Kincaid, who’d been silently observing, had apparently heard enough from the annoying redhead. He rose to his feet and said in a sharp voice that sliced through the clamor. “I refuse to listen to any more of these asinine accusations. You’re slandering a decent woman for a crime that was impossible for her to carry out. There are two types of explosives available on the colony. C4 and good old-fashioned TNT. The first would require several full-size shuttles loaded to capacity to do the amount of damage I saw from the sky yesterday. Dynamite would require drilling blast holes, running fuses and relays, and a remote detonation switch, none of which could have possibly been done by Ms. Hartman without being noticed. Hell, a warrior spotted her within ten minutes of passing the perimeter the first time. To get this set up would have taken days, perhaps weeks.”
“She could be working with others to sabotage our mining efforts.”
He leaned forward, his hands flat on the table, and he glowered at the woman. “And pigs could fly out your ass, Betsy. Nevertheless, until I see it, or others do who will swear to it, your accusations are conjecture and don’t mean jack squat.”
Guffaws came from the back of the room. Trask would have been amused, too, if he weren’t so worried about getting Lana out of this mess. As it was, he looked at Beckett Kincaid with a new appreciation. He wouldn’t go so far to admit liking the man since an image of him holding his mate and speaking low in her ear popped into his head every time he saw him. But he came to her defense today and had looked after her for months since her arrival, so he owed him for that.
“As the old saying goes,” Kincaid went on to say, still glaring at the lead scientist. “Put up or shut up, woman. Call your witness to this grand plot or be done with it.” He scanned the other members of the council, ending with Trask. “I move we adjourn and reschedule a closed-door session to discuss relevant matters, like who blew up the mine, for what reason, and with what.” He held up a sheet of paper. “Because this tracking log, brought to me before I came in here today, shows an accounting of all BRK’s explosives.”
“I second,” Mr. Pruitt shouted to be heard above the crowd who had resumed its loud chattering.
Trask looked at Aylan and raised a brow in challenge.
“Council is adjourned,” he called over the din then he and Tyordor rushed out.
“It’s over?” Lana asked, looking up at him with wide eyes.
“Yes, your friend should have been an advocate.” She frowned at his comment, so he explained. “You call them lawyers.”
“Oh, yes.” She nodded, glancing at the other man with a small smile. “Beck was brilliant, wasn’t he?”
This irritated him, and he decided it would be best not to bring him up in the future.
He laid a hand on her lower back, ready to escort her out, but she was saying something else. He had to dip his head to hear over the crowd noise.
“This seemed rather anticlimactic.” She looked down at her hands, which she held clasped together, tight. “Maybe we overreacted. You can change your mind if you want to.”
“Are you deliberately trying to anger me?”
Her head came up. “No, I just thought—”
“If we hadn’t acted as we did, there would have been a vote. Kincaid helped, but the outcome wasn’t guaranteed.” He cupped his hand beneath her chin and asked, “What did I say earlier?”
“No going back,” she whispered without hesitation.
“Yes, but I said something else.”
“That it’s real—for a lifetime, I remember.”
Her eyes were bright, but unguarded, something he hadn’t seen in a very long time. And he read trust in her expression—which was a welcome relief, although they were still a long way from being back where they once were. But he’d take it, gladly, because she was coming home, finally, his beautiful mate.
The thought of her in his house, his arms, his bed, stirred his body, sending a jolt straight to his neglected cock. This was hardly the time or place, although he had little chance of controlling his instinctive reaction to her. He started walking with her in tow. “Let’s get out of here. We’ll go to your apartment and get what you need. The Dauntless is due to arrive in a few hours with a supply shipment, and I intend for us to be on it for the return trip.”
As they moved toward the door, Lana pulled away. “Wait. I can’t leave without thanking him. I’ll be right back.”
He watched her thread her way through the crowd to the front of the room where Kincaid stood. Trask refrained from following until she tipped her head back and smiled at him. Then he moved, fighting the flow of onlookers heading for the door now that the show was over. He stopped at the end of the dais, far enough to give her space, but where he could see and hear, which wasn’t by coincidence.
“I guess this is goodbye, Beck.”
“Yeah, darlin’, I suppose it is.”
Trask saw her eyes shimmer with tears. In reaction, the human male’s face softe
ned with an affectionate smile, transforming him for the angry, unyielding man Miss Barker had faced. He didn’t like it but forced himself to stand silently by and wait.
“Thank you for everything. Not only for coming to my defense today but for taking a chance on me with a job, playing the role of my surrogate big brother, and being there for me since the day I arrived.”
The tears clinging to her long silky lashes overflowed. Crying—something he noticed she did more of now than before. Another thing he didn’t like.
“You were right that day about friends, Beck. Whenever I look back on this time, I’ll remember you, the best friend I’ve ever had.” She threw her arms around his waist and hugged him, hard. “I’ll miss you.”
“As I will you, Lana.”
His hand rose to her back, his work-scarred hand stroking her long hair. It was an overtly friendly gesture, no more, but, still, it set Trask’s teeth on edge.
“Who else will I sucker into playing 9-ball with me at The Watering Hole?”
Trask didn’t understand what Kincaid meant by that, but Lana apparently did.
With a laugh, she tipped her head back and gave her friend a watery grin. “No one, because you’re a shark, Beckett Kincaid. Something which you failed to tell me. I had to hear from the other guys you’d played professionally.”
“How do you think I got start-up money for BRK, Inc.? And a rich bimbo bride on my arm?”
She smacked his arm lightly. “Don’t say, bimbo, Beck. It’s degrading to women.”
“And your description of her was any nicer?”
“Touché.” She giggled, a sound Trask hadn’t heard in almost a year. That another man was responsible, and she still had her arms around him, was testing his control.
“Grab yourself some happy, darlin’.”
“I’ll try, but under the circumstances...”
Kincaid’s eyes rose and met his over the top of her head. “Yeah, things might not be starting out the best way, but your general cares for you, darlin’. You’ve got to believe that because no man would come to the defense of an ex-lover and agree to take her back after she jilted him to save her from exile if he didn’t.”
Defying the General Page 29
