by Vi Voxley
The shock was plain on Dana's face.
"You told the Sanguine to leave without me," she said. "Why? They need me to explain, to delegate. They’re not allowed to maneuver without my expressed permission!"
Havoc smiled, knowing the temptation to do everything himself very well.
"Trust your ship," he said. "It called back all the Terrans in Taria and left. Even some females from previous trips showed up. It shows they trust you and the ship. There will be plenty of opportunities for you to go to them and explain the situation.
"Right now, Chase and I thought it would be better if we didn't wake your son before dawn with a war announcement. Your crew was understandably not willing to argue with me or Chase on the matter, nor did they need to after we explained that you and your son were staying with us."
That made Dana reconsider.
"Thank you," she said finally, gracing him with a tired smile. "I appreciate that, I really do. Let me get dressed and wake Sean. I don't want to keep you."
He knew better than to wrestle the control of a vessel out of the hands of her captain, but in this case, his desire to spend more time with Dana won over tradition and good manners.
Havoc waited until they were ready, before escorting them upstairs to their surprise.
"I thought we were leaving," Dana said and he couldn't help noticing how tightly she held on to the boy's hand.
"We are," Havoc said. "The ship is waiting for us on the roof. It is the safest transport ship in our armies. A bit more comfortable than a fighter, too."
The smile on Dana's lips warmed his heart. With every passing second, Havoc was beginning to doubt his ability to let her go if the need ever arose.
It reminded him too much of what had happened more than ten years ago. The same expectation, the same joy of being around the other person… A jab of pain struck through his heart, far too close for comfort.
Chase was waiting for them, helping Dana and Sean into the ship and signaling to him. Havoc watched the complicated array of symbols in the Gargon sign language, one of the many means they had to communicate without being overheard.
League approaching. Twins in the flagship. First casualties at the outposts. Here soon. And surprisingly, the boy should know.
Before Havoc could argue with that, Chase fired up the engines and he climbed into the transport ship. Sitting down, he could see Dana looking at her son fearfully, and noticed the confusion plain on the boy's features.
He realized what Chase had meant. A small dosage of truth would help. They had to hope Dana agreed.
"Where are we going?" Sean asked, right on cue.
"On a little trip," Dana began at once. "Havoc and Chase have invited us to a nice house–"
"Stop, Dana," Chase cut in and, ignoring the furious glare in their fated's eyes as he crouched down before the boy. "Listen to me, little warrior. There are some enemies coming for us and we are taking you and your mother to safety. It is okay to be afraid, but I need you to trust us that we will let nothing happen to either of you. Do you believe me?"
The boy hesitated while Dana almost hissed:
"You bastard–"
"Yes," Sean said, looking at her mother, quieting her protests.
"Look at me," Chase went on, bringing the boy's attention back to him. "Remember when we held you last night and didn't let go?"
"Yes."
"This is exactly like that. We are protecting you and nothing bad will happen. Are you going to be brave for your mother? Like a real Gargon warrior?"
Nice touch, Havoc thought when the boy practically beamed at that, nodding fiercely.
"Good," he joined in. "When we get to the house, we should get you a weapon, too."
More beaming from Sean, and more glaring from Dana.
"You had no right to tell him this," she whispered quietly when the ship took off, speaking over the engines while Sean was taking a look at the controls with the pilots.
"Once the war comes, he will see and if we didn't tell him, the surprise would be all the worse," Chase said firmly. "Do you know why children play war? To prepare. Bad things happen in this world. It's always better to know what's coming."
"He's a child," Dana said, although her voice was no longer mad, just deeply saddened.
"We know," Havoc replied for Chase. "There are many children on this world. And we will let nothing happen to any of them."
That seemed to calm Dana down while Sean was growing more excited about the whole affair. It seemed that for the time being, they'd managed to contain the situation with the boy. As the dropship kept flying towards the only place on Octava Havoc trusted without the shadow of doubt, he watched Dana.
She was holding her son securely in her arms, looking around with nervous expectation, which was not unexpected and entirely understandable. There was something else, however.
The initial tension and discomfort were gone. Perhaps it was their promise to let her do as she pleased, or the night on the roof. To Havoc's eyes, Dana looked... hopeful.
12
Chase
Havoc's villa was ludicrous, in Chase's mind, which for the first time ever wasn't a bad thing. As a warlord, he had always wondered why Havoc spent so much time reinforcing his home. It was a sign of a worried mind to him, a characteristic Gargon warriors usually didn't portray.
Havoc himself had simply said he valued his trophies and weapons too much to let them stay unguarded.
Now, Chase was glad for that particular part of Havoc's personality, since it was bound to keep Dana and her son safe. He’d taken an immediate liking to the boy, and it wasn’t only because he was such a big part of his fated’s life. The child was bright and eager to learn. Good qualities in a boy looking to grow into a respectable man. In fact they were the makings of a real warrior.
The ship landed neatly in front of the villa and Sean practically dashed out. Dana shouted after him, yet the boy was gone before any one of them could move. Chase was impressed. It took some skill to outrun the attention span of Gargon warriors, even those not on guard at the moment, but it made sense a curious child would be the one to do it.
"Don't worry," he told Dana, helping her jump off the ship hovering above the ground. "This is Havoc's place. There is nothing dangerous here."
At his words, Havoc took off with something that most definitely wasn't a run, more like a very specifically hurried walk.
Chase laughed while Dana gave him a serious, hard look.
"That would be less funny if it was your child," she said sharply.
She didn't mean it like that, but the words still stung. Of course it would be. The bitter reminder that their lives were still very much so messed up caught up with Chase for a moment. Seeing the look on Dana's face, he saw that she had realized what she'd said as well.
"Don't worry," he said. "I understand. We are just trying to make sure you have no reason to be unhappy here."
The light in Dana's eyes shone a little brighter at that. There was an adorable smile on her lips as she tried to appear casual, leaning back a little, her hands in the pockets of her uniform.
Unfortunately for her, the forced carelessness was making her even sexier. The way she stood, the skin-tight uniform hugging her body in all the right places, Chase had to keep himself back from catching that first, elusive kiss from her lips.
He wondered how soft her lips were, how they would feel against his, how his fated would taste...
"It's all so messed up," Dana said, the smile disappearing as she started walking towards the villa slowly, Chase falling into step beside her. "I never meant to get anyone hurt."
"I know," Chase replied. "Trust me. Havoc may not seem so, but he understands too."
"A part of me wishes none of this had happened," Dana said sadly.
There was true remorse in her voice.
"All of this. Meeting you guys. I was doing so well, thinking you were all brutes and bastards. No offense."
Chase shrugged.
&nb
sp; "None taken. It's what most people think of us."
"A much larger part is happy, though," Dana said, surprising Chase as she smiled. "This way, no matter what happens, I don't have doubts anymore. And I finally have a chance at happiness. All three of us, and Sean, too.
“You can't put a price on that. At first I thought I can't risk the heartache of it all going wrong, but then I realized the promise of it working is worth anything."
The early morning light played in her red hair as she smiled at him, bringing a glow to it that Chase couldn't look away from. He imagined waking up next to her, watching those soft curls spread out on the pillows as Dana moved slowly in her sleep.
He imagined her naked, hot body, still exhausted from the night of fucking... The ache in his cock was growing to be almost unbearable. He had never longed for a female that badly.
The sexual tension was only a part of it, of course. No matter how much Dana's delicious body, with that curvaceous ass that was begging him to grope it, tempted him, it wasn't all. More than anything, Chase wanted her to say she would stay. Without a shadow of doubt.
He joined her in that fear of hers. It was cruel to taste perfection, only to have it robbed from you in the next second.
"The most important thing to me is that you're happy," the warlord said, the words coming to his lips unbidden as he couldn't help himself. "I understand the need to protect yourself."
She looked at him, a quizzical expression on her face. In a single moment of trust, Chase thought about opening up to her. It was clear she needed it, wanted to know she wasn't alone in the whole mess.
The walls didn't come down easily, putting up the same fight they always had.
What kind of a coward accepted loss before they ever got the chance to put up a fight against the destiny that didn't need to come to be?
Chase struggled for words. Being vulnerable wasn't what Gargon warlords did. It was different for Havoc than it was for him. Easier somehow, perhaps. He had lost a fated. Every Gargon alive sympathized with his pain. His pain was healthy.
Feeling remorse and grief for something that was still possible was different.
He'd avoided speaking his full mind all his life. Only when it came to war was Chase ever truly and completely honest.
There was too much at stake in battle. Warriors he needed to lead and give example to. Gargons he had to protect and Octava, the gateway to the Alliance's worlds – they were too precious for him to take anyone's feelings into consideration. Only harsh truths won wars.
The door to his heart was firmly closed, as it always had been. Looking at Dana, standing in all her effortless beauty under the morning sun, Chase stubbornly thought it was okay to nudge the door open just a little.
"I've heard Terrans speak of our bonds," he said seriously, gaining courage to go on from how attentively Dana observed him, barely daring to breathe. "All the romance, all the promises. It is all that, too. They're amazing when true and right and simple. Only when they are not, the cracks become visible."
A deep regret passed behind Dana's eyes. Her pink lips opened and closed as though she was searching for words too, but it wasn't apologies Chase wanted.
"Don't look so sad," he told her. "This is not your fault. You didn't ask for this and neither did we. That's the catch. We spend our lives looking forward to something that may not be what we dreamed of.
"Then the real challenge begins. It is not up to us to fight fate. It is up to us to decide what to do with what we're given in life. That is hard for everyone, not just Terrans.
"I never told Havoc this. When he found Hannah, his first fated, when he brought his fated to meet me, I couldn't be happy for him. I rejoiced for the fact a powerful warlord like him was finally mated with someone. That was good for all Gargons. That I could do.
"Under the surface, I was jealous for the first time in my life. I have never desired something another man has. That is the mark of weaker men, not me. Yet I hated him for finding her. Even convinced myself she wasn't that great to ease the pain.
"So trust me when I say, as bad as this is, you are not alone. We all do what we must to guard our hearts."
When he was done, it felt like he'd run out of words. The crack in the door Chase had meant to open for her had become a flood of emotions, one he had never admitted to out loud. As he'd spoken, the deep sadness in Dana's eyes had evaporated, one painful truth at a time until she was simply looking at him, a soft smile on her lips.
He recognized the emotion without fault. She wasn't smiling. It was the sign of relief, of being able to relate.
"Thank you," she said quietly. "Really. I know you and Havoc are only trying to protect me, to make me happy. I simply can't bring myself to say yes again. It means the world to me that you don't blame me for that."
"There is no possible world where we could be mad at you," Chase said, starting to walk her towards the house where Sean's thrilled cries could be heard.
Dana was silent for a moment before carefully asking:
"What was Hannah like, then? Really?"
Chase bit his tongue before saying the wrong thing.
She looked much like you, in fact. But she was nothing like you, in the end.
He decided to keep that to himself. As much as he sometimes hated Havoc, that truth would have made their fated always look at the other warlord with pity. That was too cruel of a fate, even for Havoc.
"She was nice. Not as feisty as you. A calm soul, quiet. A tortured soul…”
He quieted before he revealed too much. It was Havoc’s story to tell.
"You should ask Havoc. I honestly never truly knew her."
"I wish I did," Dana said, the most adorable little frown between her brows. "I try to keep an eye on all the women that come with me. You'd think I would remember the one who landed Havoc."
Chase laughed, shrugging.
"You're the one who landed both of us," he pointed out. "History will make of us what it will. For our part, we wouldn't have anyone but you."
13
Dana
Chase's sentiment stayed with her.
Mostly because she badly needed to believe it. As much doubt and fear as there was in Dana's heart, the longing for real happiness and safety was greater. She wanted it to work, with all her heart.
Of course, the cruel part of that was that she couldn't exactly let her fated know. Until a fraction of hesitation remained in her, it would have been wrong to give them false hope, especially with something as important as that.
Dana hated it. Unfair didn't even begin to cover the whole mess.
She was absolutely infuriated by that fate. Ryan, the man she never should have gotten together with, was ruining the men that the stars themselves had picked for her.
Even with all that, Dana had never regretted her choice to be with Ryan because after all, in the end, he'd done the single good deed in his life and gifted her with the light of her life, Sean. For her son, Dana counted every other thing Ryan did worth it.
Worth it only for her, naturally. She'd never forgive her ex for how he'd treated Sean, never stop hating him for robbing her son of the sweet childhood he should have had. And never stop feeling guilty for allowing it to happen.
Maybe, just maybe, she could give Sean one yet.
A week later they were still in Havoc's villa and Dana was feeling much more at home than she'd been prepared for. In fact, her only resolution had been not to get too comfortable, too close. It should have been a simple rule to follow, yet it turned out to be the most difficult task in her life.
Sailing the Sanguine turned out to be a piece of cake compared to resisting a pair of gorgeous warlords who were clearly vying for her heart even when hadn't given them a "yes" yet.
She wasn't trying to play games with them, or with her own heart. There were plenty of women who delighted in turning their lives into bad soap operas. Dana didn't count herself among them, yet there she was, entertaining the idea that staying on Octava wasn't such
a bad idea after all.
She knew Sean was her first and last argument in whichever choice she made. Her son would always come first to Dana. As it stood, it was both hard and invigorating to see that her son had taken a complete and boundless liking to her fated mates very quickly. The boy had lacked for a male role model and now he had two.
And what a two they were.
Dana was sitting on a bench next to a small private arena, watching her men – she had a hard time thinking of them in any other way – train for the upcoming war. The League was held up by the border patrols of Gargons and the rest of the Alliance, for the time being.
They all knew the deceptive peace wouldn’t last. The will of the enemy was too strong. The League hadn’t come unprepared, as she would have preferred.
Havoc and Chase were both shirtless, practicing their craft and barely noticing she was there. It wasn't exactly what she'd been expecting. With all the talk of the fated bonds, Dana had envisioned blatant attempts at seduction and parking their morning work-out camp under her bedroom window.
The last part turned out to be true, but not in the bicep-flexing, perfect body flaunting kind of way.
The warlords really were, as far as she could tell, concerned for her safety and nothing else could get in the way of that. The two weren't putting on a show for her, it was an actual, brutal fight. Dana could hear furious grunts as they dueled, seeing the way they spared no strength to bring their opponent down. It was a preparation for war, clearly.
Her eyes traveled shamelessly over their chiseled bodies, relishing the sight of those gleaming muscles and hard-as-rock abs. Watching them train every morning without breaking the routine, Dana had quickly come to understand why they were the best. With bodies of iron and nerves of steel, how could they not be?
Her heart had nearly stopped when Havoc programmed the arena to shoot vicious blasts of gunfire and plasma at him while he dueled the mechs that were scary enough in their own right. Dana's throat had closed up when she realized men like that didn't use dummy ammo.
