He clenched his claws. “We can never contact them either, for their safety as well as ours.” Wait. She knew of their offspring? “Your memories are returning?”
“Some of them,” she hedged. “I remember our boys, Rayzor and Kayzon.”
His sons…a stab of pain continued to flare in his chest at the thought of how his actions had pushed them away and caused them so much pain. “If we contact them, the Hurlians will know where we are. They will be at risk and so will we.”
She nodded, her eyes wet and she turned away. His answers did not seem to appease her. It did not appease him either. He wanted desperately to find out about his sons. But his Bride had no information to share with him. And he was also unable to contact them. Plus, there was the added complication that they probably hated him.
His own sons had to hate him, as did his entire species and most beings in the four sectors. He was the most wanted being in the universe. The Hurlians had done this to him, and he still saw no way out.
“Melachine—”
“Don’t touch me,” she growled. She turned to glare at him with eyes blazing with hatred. Finally, she was telling him the truth. “I remember it all…I remember everything and I know your lies. Nothing is the same now. Nothing.”
6
They didn’t talk to each other for two whole diurnals.
Productivity was down.
Melachine moved out of their quarters and slept with the kittens in the empty room down the hallway. It was awful. She kept the door locked at night for her own safety.
Kroga was livid that she didn’t believe him when he’d offered excuses about being under Hurlian mind control. And she was sickened to be left alone in this facility with a known murderer and a lying mate.
By the third diurnal she’d had enough of this mutual silent treatment. If this was going to be her future, it was no future at all. She had to get out of there, even if it meant accepting that she would be living out the rest of her life in the Swirl, but on a different section. This was better than living with a criminal mastermind. At first, she’d thought she needed to stay close to him in order to find out what his plans were, but now she was just desperate to get away.
“I’m leaving,” she announced the next morning.
His jaw clenched. “You cannot leave the Swirl,” he reminded her, “the mortality rate during return travel is fifty to sixty percent. I don’t know what personal flier you think you’re going to use, but you can’t go that route because it could very well mean death, especially if you are trying to navigate on your own. And you can’t use the transporter either, it will kill you.”
“You think you’ve got it all figured out, don’t you? You brought me here so I can never leave and you think I’m stuck with you, but I’m not. I am going to ask Megan if I can live with them, or with the Xylan living on section thirteen. I’m certain they will allow me to move into one of their sections without question. I’m taking the kittens with me and we’re leaving you.”
He slammed a fist on the counter. “You will not leave.”
“I will.”
“You will stay with me so that I can visually confirm your safety and your happiness.”
“I cannot believe those words are coming out of your mouth. You could care less about my happiness. You just want to keep me safe so you have a mate to fuck and keep by your side to scent.”
He dropped his chin to his chest. “You have to listen to me,” he rasped. “It wasn’t me. They used me.”
“There was a truth lock seal on the vid that showed you giving state secrets to Hurlian intelligence officers.”
He shook his head in denial.
The more she thought about all of Kroga’s deceptions, and the fact that he’d said he was still working with the Hurlians until recently and they were after their rogue agent—the more she regretted her impetuous decision to request Kayzon’s help. When she’d sent that message she’d been frantic. She’d just recovered and the memories had flooded her mind and Kroga was pounding on the door. But now that she’d had time to calm down, she knew that sending that message had been wrong.
How could any of her three sons arrive here to help her without themselves getting hurt or killed? What if they were caught in the middle of Kroga’s violent dealings with the Hurlians? The odds were impossible. She needed to convince them to stay away.
She hadn’t even been able to check her messages because Kroga was monitoring the comm system and personally checking if she was making an outgoing message. But, she’d also been quietly hacking the computer, finding a work-around. And she was almost at a place where she could at least quietly access the Bounty Hunter Leaderboards and check for a coded message back from Kayzon and hopefully send back a reply telling him not to attempt to come here.
Today she was breaking free of this place and getting away from this controlling asshole. She’d accepted the fact that for now she was staying here in the Swirl, but that didn’t mean she had to remain on section five. If she lived somewhere else, at the very least she could keep in contact with her family and friends, even from a distance. And she could also alert the High Command to the whereabouts of Kroga of Seventy-Five.
He moved toward her. “Melachine. Let me explain.”
She put her claws up. “No, don’t come close.” A growl rumbled in her chest and she bared her fangs. She was ready to attack him. She wasn’t as strong as Kroga, but she could still do him damage. “Did you cause my amnesia?”
“No,” he bellowed. “I would never do that to my Bride. You were hurt.”
“Well, it’s very convenient that you kidnaped me and brought me here and then I lose all memory of your treacherous past.”
“This wasn’t a good thing. I’ve been living with a ticking time bomb. I wasn’t sure how much to tell you or not. Your neurological state was fragile.”
“You certainly felt I was strong enough to mate.”
A flush crept along his cheeks. He looked away, then back at her. “I hadn’t seen you or touched you for fourteen years,” he rasped. “It’s true that I’ve been obsessed with reconnecting with your body and your scent. You think this was easy for me? I have been living with a mate who has no memory of her past. You do not remember our offspring. I have not seen our sons in over fourteen years. I wanted to speak to you about them, to learn how they were, but I couldn’t. And I almost lost you on our journey here.”
“Why would you take me to the Swirl knowing we could die on the journey here?”
“Because I was that desperate. I found out that the Hurlians weren’t through with me. They planned on killing me. But to make sure that no one ever found anything out, they planned on killing my mate too. I brought you here because I felt if you were out in the four sectors you would certainly die at the hands of my enemies, but if I brought you to the Swirl there was at least a fifty percent chance of your survival.”
“Why would they kill me? I had nothing to do with this.”
“You have a bond with me. You are the one who finally pulled me out of this mind control. When I arrived at the cargo bay of the Hunter ship and you touched me and your smell entered my lungs—my mind cleared completely for the final time. I’d already been having moments of lucidity prior to that because their mind control had begun to crack. But I only had seconds to react. The Hurlians monitored my every movement. I grabbed you and left. We went to my personal flier I’d used to transport over alone. I strapped you into a safety seat on the bridge. And then I calculated that our only way out was to hide in the Swirl. During these last fourteen years, whenever I was myself and confined to my cell, brooding about my escape, I always knew this was what I’d do. I’d take you with me to start our lives over in the Swirl. I’d planned to take our sons too, if I could also bring them along. But in this instance, I was unable.”
“I don’t believe any of this.”
“Why?”
“Why? Because you have been mating with me this whole time under false pretenses. And b
ecause I cannot believe that all of this was simply mind control. You said yourself there were times of lucidity. How much do I know was you and wasn’t you? Were you the male who committed treason? But you weren’t the male who worked undercover for the Hurlians as the warden of that prison? I do not know who I have with me right now. I cannot trust you.”
“I haven’t lied to you my whole life.”
“You lied to me by not telling me the whole truth of our past.”
“I tried—”
“You didn’t try hard enough, because it was convenient for you to keep me in the dark. And also, because you don’t care about your own offspring.”
He sucked in a sharp breath. “You charge me of such a thing?”
“You don’t give a shit about any of us, you only care about yourself. Remember how when I saw you on the cargo bay I stepped up and punched you in the face? Well, that’s how I felt about you and how I feel now. You do not know or understand all the pain I’ve been put through these last fourteen years. Fourteen years.”
“And you don’t understand what I’ve been through when—”
A siren began blaring. “Intruders are manually overriding the transporter lock,” the computer announced. “Estimated arrival in two minutes.”
Kroga grabbed his Bride’s claw and they raced down the hall together to their makeshift Cabul. They each grabbed a personal blade and a blaster and still managed to make it to the transporter room in time before any being arrived.
“Stand behind me,” he growled at her.
“But Kroga—”
He turned to tag his beautiful Bride with an intense stare, gazing into her sparkling hazel eyes perhaps for the last time. He was going to give his honor, his life, before hers. “Stand back,” he repeated. “The Hurlians have found us. I will take first position.”
“That’s what you think this is? We don’t know who is coming in on that disk; it could be anyone and we have to be ready, but, Kroga, there’s something you don’t understand. I really don’t think the intruders are Hurlians here for a meetup with their rogue agent. I think it’s more likely to do with the secret coded message I sent to our sons…”
He rocked back on his heels. “You did what?”
Light began to materialize on a disk and the transporter began to hum.
“I know, I know. I wish I hadn’t done that because now I’m terrified about what could possibly happen to them if they tried to come here. But I can’t take back what I did and—”
Atoms began to coalesce. Kroga and his Bride turned to silently stare at what was arriving. He held his blaster up, ready for what may come. A shape formed and finally a being stood before them. It turned to stare at them with watery eyes and squeaked with fear. It appeared male with yellow hair on its head; tall, thin and freakishly colorless. It was dressed in simple work clothing and carried no weapons. The being looked very human-like except for the two large feathered colorless wings that curved from its back.
It did not appear ready for battle.
“Who the hell are you?” Kroga shouted, using formal Xylan and not giving a damn if he was understood or not.
The being hissed and cowered. It took two steps back and slipped on the step and crashed onto the floor of the cargo bay, its wings sprawled out for support.
Kroga let out a snort of disgust, lowered his blaster and met his Bride’s gaze. “Who is this being?” he demanded.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m not even sure what species this creature is. He looks harmless though.”
Three other disks lit up and began to hum, signaling the speedy arrival of more intruders.
“How are these beings getting through?” Kroga raged. “This transporter is industrial grade and locked. How is this happening?” He raced over to the console and his eyes widened as he scanned the screens. Somehow every single system had been overridden. “This is impossible,” he muttered.
Three more shapes formed, each of them showing the tell-tale signs of tall Xylan warriors.
“Oh,” his Bride gasped. “Can it be…?”
“Melachine.” Kroga raced to her side. “Don’t lower your weapon. We don’t know who is arriving.”
She shook her head, eyes bright with unshed tears and placed a claw over her hearts. “Look, it’s…my sons.”
Kroga stood in shock as three intimidating Xylan warriors fully materialized, heavily armed and ready for battle. His two sons and a Margol he did not recognize.
Three different blasters were aimed straight at him.
And Kroga saw his firstborn son for the first time in fourteen years.
The male looked like a male of his own distinguished line. Pride burned in his hearts. They’d bucked tradition by naming their firstborn son Rayzor and not a variation of his own name, Kroga. But he’d never liked his own name. He was named for a notorious ancestor and now he was certain he’d ruined that name for all eternity, doubling the notoriety—it would never be used again. No one would name their offspring after a male considered to be the worst traitor to the empire.
And Kayzon stood nearby, looking very much like Melachine and House Ulmath. Except his face was marred with a deep scar and an older-model cybernetic eye, proving how hard the banishment had been on his younger son. Yet another wave of uncontrollable hatred lumped in Kroga’s throat for those Hurlian officers who’d ruined his life, and the lives of his line.
Rayzor pressed a com on his wrist. “We made it safely,” he told someone. “Melachine is here”—he narrowed his eyes and met Kroga’s gaze—“and so is he.”
“How did you get past security?” he asked his sons, genuinely surprised that they’d managed to bypass a locked system.
“Mother,” Kayzon growled, ignoring his question. “Are you well?”
“I am fine,” she answered. “Don’t worry. I was not mistreated.”
Kayzon nodded. And only then did the three warriors lower their blasters and step off the disks.
Rayzor bent down to help up the winged male who was still cowering on the floor. “This being is the hacker who discovered a way into locked industrial grade transporters. He claimed that for an exorbitant fee, he could safely send beings to any destination they required. We decided to send him through first to make sure he wasn’t telling us lies.”
The Margol warrior stepped forward and pushed the winged male back onto a disk. “And we’re sending you back right now too,” he told the hacker, “to make sure you secured the exit like you said you did.”
“What?” the stunned male gasped as the disk lit up.
“Bye,” the Margol quipped. “I hope for your sake you weren’t lying when you said we could get back safely the way we came.” He waved his claw at the winged male as the being’s form dissolved into atoms and disappeared.
Kayzon lifted the com at his wrist to his ear to listen to a message. “He made it back safely,” he remarked.
“Good,” Rayzor answered, then he turned to face Kroga and tagged him with a harsh stare. Meanwhile the other two warriors stepped over to Melachine and embraced her with tight hugs and cries of joy. “And now that that’s settled, it’s time for you to tell me what happened,” Rayzor demanded.
Kroga glanced over at his Bride who was lit up with joy at the presence of their offspring and this Margol who obviously knew her too. He turned back to his son. This was going to be difficult, but it had to be done. He lifted his chin. “I was under Hurlian mind control for fourteen planetary rotations,” he answered. “I am only now free of their rule.”
There was quiet for a moment while the three males processed what he’d said.
“You’re making that shit up,” the Margol he didn’t know snarled.
“I’m not. And who the hell are you? Why is this Margol here?”
Rayzor’s jaw clenched. “I want proof before I will believe your excuses,” he said. “And this Margol is my honorary brother, Joyzal of Seventeen, the male who took care of your Bride for the last fourteen years while you we
re busy committing treason, killing beings and breaking laws. Joyzal took in Melachine as the Manager of his line when no one else would. Do not disrespect him.”
Kroga processed his son’s words, took a deep breath and turned to the Margol who had protected his Bride. He fisted his claw and pounded it against his chest. “I thank you for your honorable actions. You protected my Bride when I was unable. I place your honor before mine and I formally accept you as an honorary member of my line.”
The only sound in the cargo bay was the sniff of Melachine’s tears.
“Your deference to Joyzal is noted. But why did you kidnap our mother and bring her to the Swirl?” Kayzon demanded. “She could’ve died on the journey here. Why would you risk our mother in this way? And also keep her from us?”
Kroga met the angry gaze of his youngest son, tagged by his glowing cybernetic eye. “The Hurlians were looking for me everywhere but were unable to find me. I brought Melachine here because they’d always told me if I ever managed to escape from their mind control and stepped out of line, they’d kill my mate first, as retaliation. I had to take her with me or she would be killed too.”
“This whole time you were under mind control?”
“Yes.” And then he continued to tell them all the same stories of the last fourteen years he’d told his Bride. And when he was finished the three warriors stared at him with the same disbelieving look his Bride had been subjecting him to for the last few diurnals.
Melachine stepped forward. “I can’t trust you. I don’t know what parts of your story are the truth and which are lies.”
“I am telling you the truth.”
“But what part of what happened were really you? What parts were caused by the Hurlians messing with your mind and which were you? I don’t know the real you anymore. Because even when you’d been freed you took me and didn’t tell me everything. I fear you’ve still been lying to me. And look at all the destruction you’ve caused.”
“Melachine.”
“You haven’t made amends with your sons. You haven’t met your grandchildren. Look at Kayzon. Look what happened to our son as a result of his disbursement. I feel like you’ve still only been thinking of yourself. You took me and left them behind without thinking of the consequences of them all losing their parents yet again. What kind of response is that?”
Kroga's Redemption Page 5
