Settler's Mine 2: The Lovers

by Mechele Armstrong

  Bren’s eyes widened, reflecting the same sentiment.

  Gemini could taste their anguish at their runaway mate. And it was good.

  Chapter Eleven

  Zelda looked out the window at the passing stars. They zipped by, small and gratuitous, though in their galaxy, they were huge and important. She turned toward Bren when he spoke aloud for the first time since they’d left Settler’s Mine.

  “We’ll find him.” Bren pressed a beeping control on the panel of the shuttle. They were traveling as fast as the shuttle could go. They wouldn’t catch up to Amory. He had too much of a head start.

  “I know.”

  Bren glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “You’ve been quiet.” Without asking a question, he asked her so much.

  “I know.” She turned to stare out of the window again.

  “That all I’m getting from you?” He didn’t sound angry, only perplexed.

  “No.”

  His chuckle reverberated in the shuttle. “You went backwards instead of forward. From two words down to one.”

  She rubbed her face with her hands. “What should I say, Bren?”

  “I don’t know. Whatever you want to. Nothing’s ever stopped you from saying what’s on your mind before. Especially to me.”

  “Something doesn’t feel right.” She’d been mulling over the situation in her mind from the time they’d left the mine.

  “What do you mean?”

  Bren would listen to her thoughtfully and then tell her if she was full of bullshit. He always did. “Something’s not right about Amory running away from us. Like Gemini said that he did.”

  Bren switched to autopilot and leaned back in the seat, giving Zelda his full attention. “Spill it.”

  “You had sex with him, right? Before he left?”

  “We gave each other hand jobs.”

  Zelda ignored the trembling that erupted in her stomach from that information. Didn’t want to focus on the imaged that conjured up, but instead on what was going on. “How did he seem?”

  Bren shrugged. “He was fine.”

  “You didn’t argue?” A chuckle escaped her lips. “Like we did later?”

  “Nope. No argument.”

  “We disagreed as you know about him leaving. But I don’t think that would make him go on a knife wielding hostage taking spree.” The situation bothered her. A lot. Amory was a lot of things, but he didn’t seem to be the type to hurt someone else for his own gain. “And he broke the Etruscan vow he made to us. They don’t do that, Bren.”

  “Gemini had eyewitness reports. That Amory took Swill. At knifepoint.” He pointed to the console. “Several of them.”

  “I know.” She picked up the computer where they’d been copied. “I read them all.” She brought up the screen with the over half dozen reports.

  “When we left, he said, ‘I won’t wait for you.’ Maybe that meant more than we thought it did.”

  “But where did Amory get the knife?”

  “Maybe he had help.”

  “But who? Amory didn’t make many friends and anyone who might have helped him, like the men he helped with heartstones, is long gone.” Zelda scanned the reports. “Something doesn’t add up.” Amory’s attitude versus what had happened didn’t make any sense. Amory hadn’t been that upset once he’d gotten over the initial frustration at being contained. He didn’t show enough anger to do what the witnesses said that he’d done after he’d left their quarters.

  “Maybe he got a call directly from his dads. Maybe there was a problem at home, and he had to leave in a hurry.”

  “Any calls would have been logged. I checked to be sure. Nothing. There’s nothing for Amory in the logs. And wouldn’t he have tried to find us? Especially with his vow? We’re not that hard to find on Settler’s Mine.” Zelda looked into Bren’s worried eyes. “Amory’s a man of his word. Why would he break that vow?”

  “Maybe he told us what we wanted to hear and never had any intention of staying a week.”

  Zelda belted out a laugh at that. “Since when has Amory ever said what we wanted to hear? This vow is sacred to his people. Why make a pledge like that and not keep it?

  Bren scratched at his chest. “Your gut is telling you Amory didn’t run away like it’s said he did. Isn’t it?”

  “I’m not sure what my gut says. But something is rotten here. I can’t put my finger on what.”

  “Gemini.”

  Her lips creased up in a smile. Bren often tuned into her feelings. How, she didn’t know. They were so different, and yet, he often had a bead on what she felt even better than she did. “Maybe. He’s done nothing that says I shouldn’t trust him.”

  “But, you don’t.”

  “No. Not really.” The man had something that didn’t come across as trustworthy. Though he’d done nothing untoward since he’d been on the station. She’d been distracted with Amory, and he’d even been helpful, taking care of situations before she’d arrived. That had all been noted in his reports. Swill and Tenack had stopped being problems as soon as Gemini had settled into being the chief. That was a good thing. So why did the timeline make her so fucking suspicious?

  The calls that had Bren running across the station thinking she’d paged him, which she couldn’t trace, had ended around the same time that Swill and Tenack had stopped getting into trouble. Another piece of odd timing.

  “Why go to all the trouble to send Amory away from Settler’s Mine?”

  “Because it gets us off the station. When was the last time we were both gone? Or even just me?” They didn’t leave often. The last time she’d been gone had been when she’d done a favor of retrieving someone for a friend. Bren never left without her at his side.

  “But, why get us off the station?” Bren pushed a few buttons on the console. “What does that garner him? What does he hope to accomplish?” He stared down at his hands. “Being suspicious of Gemini and you left the mine anyway?” He shook his head. “I’d have left the mine, too, but…you don’t usually think this way. Except…well, you know.”

  Except about Bren.

  She reached out to squeeze his arm. “I don’t know what it all means. But I am eager to find Amory, ask him some questions, and get back to the mine to see what’s happened while we’ve been gone.” Seeing Amory somehow superseded everything. Once she’d found him gone, nothing else had seemed to matter. An oddity for her. The mine had been in her blood since she’d taken it over. She had to see Amory, though. Make sure he was all right. See him for herself. Her throat constricted. Please don’t let anything have happened to him.

  “Good.” Bren dropped the shuttle’s speed down a notch or two. “Because we’re at Amory’s planet.”

  She wasn’t sure whether she would jump Amory’s bones or strangle him for worrying them. Either way, she planned to have a hands on reunion with her mate.

  * * * * *

  Amory stalked down the street, turning a corner. The house loomed in front of him with corners and angles jutting out.

  Tania’s house.

  They’d planned to live there. After they’d been mated.

  He blew out a breath, looking up at the structure rising toward the vastness of space. The house had always been beautiful to him, with lots of extravagant materials and spaces that had no purposes. Tania’s parents had liked to live well. So did she.

  Now, it was just a structure. He didn’t see the beauty of it anymore.

  He missed the rock walls, the caverns and neon glow lighting. He missed the tough floors that had dips and crevices, the metal furniture, and the downward dipping spirals of hallways.

  Most of all he missed Zelda and Bren.

  How things changed in the flip of a planet.

  He walked up to the sliding doors and rang the bell. He heard puttering footsteps on the other side of the door. Drawing up his shoulders, he steeled himself. This wasn’t going to be easy, but it was something he had to do. Had to face Tania in person, after all they’d meant to
each other, and tell her in person they could no longer be.

  Tania answered the door.

  The woman who used to be his end all. His be all. And nothing stirred within him. She wasn’t what he needed. Neither a giant of a man or a curvaceous, red-haired beauty. He expelled the breath he’d been holding. This was going to be easier than he’d thought it would be.

  Her eyes widened with surprise. “Amory! You’re back. I didn’t…” Her mouth pursed up along with questioning eyes. “You found your heartstone.” Her lips went from tight to fanning out in a grin. “You really found it.”

  As it rested around his neck, it wasn’t hard to figure out. No glow emanated from deep within. Not that he’d expected the stone to shine. And the disappointment didn’t come. Not that he’d expected that, either. He didn’t feel the drop of his stomach to his knees at the surety they weren’t mates. “I did.”

  “Nothing’s glowing. I guess we aren’t mates.”

  “Appears that way.”

  “Come on in.” She opened the door wide so he could go past her inside the immaculately furnished house.

  He went inside as she traipsed around to the galley style kitchen. Her family had found an ancient dwelling and revamped the whole thing. It was the only house of this sort he’d ever been in. Her family was into saving historical buildings. Once upon a time, he’d found their philanthropy exciting. “How have you been?”

  “Good.” She reached down to finger her heartstone. Her face twitched, almost nervously. “I wasn’t expecting you back so soon. Wasn’t expecting to see you today.”

  “I came back to tell you something. I’ve met my mates.” He shrugged. “Wasn’t anything I looked for while I was gone from you. But, I found them at the mine. So, we can’t be together.”

  “OK.” She blinked at him a few times as if in disbelief.

  He scratched his chin. “We’d pledged to each other in Etruscan vows. I thought it only fair that I tell you in person.” She didn’t seem all that disappointed. No tears or running from the room screaming her fate. And that was good. Because he had things he had to do. Like get back to his mates.

  Her laugh rang out like a tinkling bell. Highly annoying, now that he heard it without the trappings of a crush. “Oh, yeah. We had.”

  Now it was his turn to blink at her. “Why say it like that?” She sounded so amused, it made his stomach plunge.

  “No reason.” She shrugged.

  He stared at her intently. “No, there was a reason.” He’d seen something crawl across her face.

  Another man sauntered into the kitchen through another entrance. “I knocked on the back door, but no one answered.” A younger man than Amory, who he’d seen around the village. “Are you Amory? I thought you went to find your heartstone?”

  “I did. And I found it.”

  “Yes, yes, he did.” Tania spoke quickly. Too quickly. “He’s just come back to tell everyone he found his mates. But he’s leaving now. Right, Amory?”

  “Congrats, man.” The man smiled and pumped Amory’s hand up and down in a tight handshake.

  Amory looked around the young man’s neck. No heartstone. He drew in a calming breath. “You’re Went, aren’t you?”

  The youth nodded, his head bobbing out a nod in his enthusiasm. “I am.” He rocked back on his heels. “I hate to be rude, but I’m shipping out in a half an hour to search mines along the border, and I have to talk to Tania before I leave.”

  “Yeah.” Amory folded his arms across his chest. “You want to talk to the woman you’re pledging to come home to. With Etruscan vows.”

  Tania’s eyes widened, then pleaded with Amory.

  Amory ignored her, giving his attention to Went.

  “Damn straight.” The man grinned, showing even, white teeth. “You told him? After you asked me to keep it secret from everyone?”

  And there it was. Amory pushed down the rolling of his stomach. “Let me just take a minute of Tania’s time to tell her good-bye. Then, she’s all yours.” He grabbed her by the elbow and escorted her to the front porch. Only after they stood in front of the door, did Amory ask, “Why?”

  She gritted her teeth together. “Why what?”

  “You know what. Why deceive me? Deceive him? How many men have you pledged to? Made the vows with?”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “It does.” It damn sure mattered to him. He’d left his mates of his own free will to come back and do the honorable thing, only to find out the woman had acted less than honorably. “You have them all keep it a secret. All your men. So they won’t talk to each other and find out they aren’t the only one.” Amory had kept his pledge to Tania secret from everyone in the village, even his own fathers. The only ones he’d talked to about their relationship had been Bren and Zelda.

  A breath rushed past her lips in a long gasp. “Look, I have my heartstone already. But, no mate. My mate has to be out there somewhere. Maybe in this village. If I make every man promise to come back to me when they go to retrieve their stone, maybe two-thirds will come back. It increases my odds of finding my own mate.” She rolled her shoulders in the air. “I need a mate, Amory.”

  “So the pledge is about checking to see who your mate is? And who’s not your mate?” How could he have been so stupid? So blind?

  “Yes, dammit. I want my mate. My parents are gone all the time, but won’t let me go anywhere. At least this way, I have a chance of finding mine. You don’t understand what it’s like living with no hope.” She coughed, the sound light. “The Etruscan vows are outdated. Daddy says so. But they work well to get men to come back.”

  Oh, she had no idea of living without hope. He’d lived without a heartstone for all his life, but the last few days. “The men you pledge to think you feel something for them. And, because of that, they feel something for you.”

  Another light laugh escaped her lips. “No one can truly love until they have a whole heart.”

  “But you do have your missing piece.” That had been his logical explanation for how the love pledge they’d made could work. She had her heartstone and loved him. Therefore, they must be true mates, even though he didn’t have his. He’d banked his whole theory on that before he’d met Zelda and Bren.

  An illusion.

  Everything she’d done had been an illusion.

  She hadn’t cared anything for him. Didn’t care for the man waiting for her in the kitchen. Didn’t care for any of the men she’d propositioned and told of her affection for.

  All she wanted was for them to come back to her, instead of moving on, so she could make sure their stones didn’t glow.

  He rubbed his face with his hands.

  “…have my heartstone, it doesn’t mean that I can fall in love. The stones have to match, to glow. So, just because I had mine already, it didn’t mean anything.”

  But she’d said she’d loved him. And he’d pinned all his hopes and dreams on that emotion, partly because she’d pledged it and partly because she already had her heartstone. “So you didn’t care for me like you said? It was all a ruse to get me back here after I’d found my heartstone.” And he’d acted like she wanted. Damn him for being such a rube. He’d been so naïve.

  “Yeah.”

  The only upside was that he’d traveled off to Settler’s Mine to hurry up and find his heartstone because of Tania. In doing so, he’d met the true ones he was fated to be with. His true mates. And what he felt for them stood head and shoulders above anything he’d ever felt for her. Would he have gone off to Settler’s Mine like he had without Tania pushing him? Probably not as quickly. Might have started at smaller, less expensive operations. So, Tania had caused him to find his mates with her warped logic of finding hers. He couldn’t be mad at her because she’d helped him to find his truth.

  “Tania, either you stop using the Etruscan vows, or I’ll out you to the village. They’re sacred.” He folded his arms in front of his chest.

  She bent her head. “You’d really out me
?”

  Damn straight he would. “Yes. To the whole village about what you’ve been doing.”

  Her lips pursed. “Fine. I won’t use the Etruscan vows any longer.”

  At least no one else would be forced into coming back to her. “I need to go. Back to my mates.” He leaned in to kiss her cheek. “Thank you.” In another lifetime, he might have been sad at leaving her. Angry at her revelation. But all he could think of was seeing Zelda and Bren again. And being their mate in all the ways he could. A shiver rocked him.

  She pulled her lip between her teeth. “I am glad you found your mates. You probably don’t believe that. But it’s true.”

  “I do. Have a good life, Tania.” Turning, he darted back to his fathers’ cabin. Time to get going to Settler’s Mine.

  He stepped in the door. “Dad, I’m back. Getting ready to head back out. Did you find a shuttle for me to rent to take back…” He broke off as a shadow moved through the hallway. “Dad?”

  Zelda and Bren stepped out of the darkness and into the light.

  * * * * *

  Amory’s eyes widened as he stared at them. His mouth worked, but nothing came out, as though the words were frozen.

  Bren didn’t say anything, preferring to stand there and drink in the sight of his mate.

  “Surprised to see us?” Zelda’s frosty voice could have frozen molten lava, though it seemed to have the opposite effect on Amory. The angry heat rolled from him in waves after her words. “Here on your planet?”

  Bren winced. Not exactly the way they’d intended to start off seeing Amory again. But getting to Amory’s home and finding out that he’d gone off to see Tania hadn’t been the best way for them to arrive. There had been many other things they’d discovered by talking to Amory’s fathers that made both of them question what was going on, but nothing that would tell them for sure. There was no sign of Swill, the man who’d been taken hostage. One of Amory’s fathers had said the man who’d brought Amory had left not long after arriving. The man hadn’t seemed to be there against his will. The tale was getting confusing.

  Amory’s jaw tightened. “Yeah. Yeah, I am surprised to see you here.” He folded his arms across his chest, closing himself off. Something shut down in him.