by Ella Maven
“Your betrayal of our race never ends. Now you harm a female? Daz should have killed you when he had the chance,” Gar growled with a tremble of rage in his words as he advanced on Drak. “We won’t make the same mistake again.”
“No!” I cried and rushed to Drak’s side. I didn’t get far. Gar’s arms wrapped around me and hauled me back. I screamed as he squeezed my ribs, and Drak went wild. He surged up to his feet only to be smacked back down by the flat edge of Daz’s spear. Blood gushed anew on his scalp, coursing down into his eyes to drip from his chin. I bucked in Gar’s hold. “Don’t hurt him, Daz!” I managed to shout from my swollen jaw. “He’s my mate. Look at our wrists!”
Daz turned furious eyes to Drak. “You beat your mate?”
“The Kulks did this!” I cried as my body bucked with sobs. “They attacked us and burnt Drak’s home and he’s trying to get us to safety.”
Daz went still, until only his head swiveled to face me. “What?”
I wasn’t a crier, but I couldn’t seem to stop the sobs from ripping out of my throat. This was so fucked up. My face hurt like a motherfucker, my ankle screamed in pain, and all I could taste was the iron of my own blood. I could only see out of one eye, and I couldn’t imagine what Drak and I looked like right now. My body shook from pain and fear and fatigue. “Drak would never hurt me.”
“Miranda, we saw him carrying your prone body through Nero’s eyes. When we confronted him, he said nothing—”
“Because he can’t talk!” I cried. “Look at his throat.” I inhaled sharply before getting myself under control. I pushed against Gar’s hold as I looked Daz straight in the eye. “He’s my mate, and I swear to God if you hurt him, I’ll launch myself off the cliff. Frankie would never forgive you.”
Daz’s nostrils flared. “He’s a traitor. We cast him out over fifteen cycles ago.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Well, people can change. It’s been fifteen fucking years.”
“Daz,” Ward spoke up. “He did save Reba and I from the hunner swarm.”
Daz’s chest heaved, and he watched me for a long time before looking over my shoulder, his gaze skimming each of his warriors in attendance—Gar, Ward, and Sax.
Finally, he dropped the spear at his side, and gestured to Ward. “Get him up. We’ll take them back and deal with this in the morning. Miranda needs to see Val for her wounds.”
“Drak’s in worse shape than me,” I said as Ward gathered Drak’s chain in his hands and tugged him to his feet. He swayed, and I wanted more than anything to wrap my arms around him.
“We won’t waste medis on—”
“Daz, if you finish that sentence, I’m going to grab that spear and gut you.”
He rolled his eyes to the sky and sighed heavily with his hands on his hips. Finally, he met my gaze. “Fine, we will treat his wounds, but he will be locked up until tonight.”
“Locked up!”
“That’s final, Miranda. I won’t put the whole clavas at risk on your single opinion.”
I wanted to stomp my feet and rage, but I had to pick my battles. My priority was getting Drak medical attention because he’d lost a lot of blood. It had pooled on the ground where he knelt, leaving behind a black spot that shone in the moonlight.
I let myself be led toward the Night Kings compound, watching Drak’s stumbling steps. My ribs screamed, my face throbbed, but nothing ached as bad as my heart.
His hut. I knew he’d built it with his own hands, because I’d seen him repairing it a time or two with the same materials. We’d eaten in the safety of the structure. We’d made love on the roof. He’d said his name in my arms while the stars twinkled above us. Another sob threatened to leave my lips and I stuffed it down. It wasn’t the time to have a mental break. Was Drak okay with watching his home go up in flames? The only home he had?
Earlier I’d been so worried about getting back to see my girls, and now that felt like a dream. My priority now was staying alive and seeing to Drak. I would help him rebuild. No way would I leave him when I was the reason his only home was now drifting to the forest floor in a pile of ash.
“Oh Drak,” I muttered.
His black eyes flicked to me before his jaw clenched and he trudged on, bound with chains like an animal.
Drak
I hadn’t understood everything that had happened in the forest. Miranda’s words were still gibberish to me, but from Daz’s response, she had fought for me. My brave, amazing female. My mate.
I could understand why the Night Kings thought I’d injured her. She’d been unconscious in my arms as I’d carried her to the compound. I wished I could remember what I’d done that they didn’t trust me. It had to have been unforgivable. Bits and pieces were coming back. I’d been friends once with Ward. But now he held the chain keeping me captive in one giant fist and didn’t make eye contact with me once. He’d known it was me who’d saved him from the hunner horde. It’d been my name he said. I knew that now. Drak.
When we reached the gates, they opened, and I was led inside directly to a sparse hut. There stood a healer and a female with light skin and yellow hair. She had kind eyes, and I liked her immediately as she placed gentle hands on my arm and led me to a fur pallet on the floor.
I had just sat down on the edge when Merr-anda burst through the door and threw herself at me. With my arms still tied around my back, all I could do was lean into her. I closed my eyes, relishing her warmth and touch. I’d gone without company for so long, but now that I knew what it felt like to fall asleep next to Merr-anda, I couldn’t imagine life without it.
I’d been prepared to deal with it though. When I delivered her to the Night Kings, I’d known they could potentially separate us and turn me away. I would have lived without her if it meant she got to live.
She shook as she burrowed her face in my neck. Ward remained stoic at my side, his hand loosely holding the end of my chain restraint. The yellow-haired female spoke to me in the same lilting language that Merr-anda spoke, but I shook my head to indicate I couldn’t understand her. She frowned, and then turned to say a few words to Sax. While her expression remained calm, her tone and look were firm. With a heavy sigh, he left, and returned a moment later with a gun-looking object. I flinched as he held it up to my ear. A bolt of warmth spread throughout my skull and when it was over, I blinked up at Sax in confusion.
“Done,” he muttered.
Merr-anda yanked her head back, eyes on the gun-like object. “Did you update his implant?”
I jolted in her arms, and she whirled to face me, eyes huge and round. “Can you understand me?” I nodded and she threw herself at me again, gripping the back of my head as she wet my shoulder with her eyes.
“Merr-anda,” the yellow-haired human said with a tap on my mate’s shoulder. With a sniffle, my mate rose and hugged the other human. The two females clung to each other for some time. “I’m so glad you made it back to us,” she said. “We were so worried. The men searched for you every day…”
“I was safe,” Merr-anda wiped at her face with a cloth the other human handed her. “I was safe thanks to Drak.”
The yellow-haired human turned to me. “Hi, I’m Val, Sax’s mate” she said.
“You can trust her.” Merr-anda perched on the bed next to me. “She’s a ners. Well, a healer.”
“You need to untie him,” Val said to Ward.
“Daz said—”
“I know what Daz said,” she said. “You and Sax can stand guard if you’d like, but I cannot check all his injuries with his arms tied behind his back. This is ridiculous.”
“He won’t hurt anyone,” Merr-anda insisted, swiping at my face with her cloth. The white fabric came away black and green with blood and dirt.
With muttered curses, Ward unlocked my bonds. My arms came away free, and I slumped on the pallet, the room spinning as the blood in my body rushed back to my limbs and torso.
“Help him lay down!” Val called out, and strong hands lowered me to my back.
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Ward bent over me, his gaze searching my eyes. I flashed back to another time, us in battle against a foe. We stood side by side. Machets out. Arms crossed. Battle formation.
I blinked, and his jaw clenched. He moved away before I could read any more from his eyes. Val returned in my vision, but I shook my head, pointing to Merr-anda. She needed treated first. I would live. But my human mate was fragile with thin skin. Small breakable limbs.
Val gave me a soft smile, and I liked her, especially when she did exactly what I wanted and worked on Merr-anda’s wounds. I must have drifted off, because I came to with a non-bruised Merr-anda smiling down at me while Val poked and prodded me. A few needle pricks later, and my scalp itched as well as my shoulder. I glanced down at my wounds to see them sealing shut.
I tried to lift my head, but it felt heavy, too heavy. My cora beat faster as I began to panic. Had they tied me down again?
“What’s wrong?” Merr-anda asked, fussing over me. “Why’s he upset?”
“These guys won’t rest unless we knock them out,” Val said to Merr-anda. “I gave him something to force him to sleep. He’s probably fighting sleep. They always do.”
“It’ll be okay,” Merr-anda petted me, her hands warm on my chest. “Just focus on resting. We’ll worry about everything else later. I’ll be right by your side. I promise.”
She was perfection, more than I could ever deserve in my life. My eyes weren’t focusing, and my body felt fuzzy, like I was floating on a cloud. With the last bit of energy I had, I reached for Merr-anda’s hand and placed it on my throat. I’d been working on this at night after she fell asleep. My last effort before I let sleep consume me was to say in a scratchy, halting tone, “Merr-anda.”
Nine
Miranda
I was not going to cry again. I refused. But nothing had ever felt quite like my palm vibrating with Drak’s broken, “Merr-anda.”
Val didn’t speak, and neither did Sax or Ward. We sat there in silence as Drak’s breathing evened out and his arms flopped to his sides. I kept my hand on his throat, comforted in the pounding of his pulse and the echoing vibration of my name. Thank fuck for medis because I felt no pain. Even my ankle seemed good as new.
We weren’t in the healer’s hut. This one was empty except for a cleanser in the corner and the fur palette on the floor. No windows except for a barred hole in the ceiling. A prison hut.
I’d moved from sad and scared to downright fucking mad. I whirled on Sax and Ward. “How dare you? How fucking dare you!”
“Miranda—” Val began in her soothing tone.
“Do not use your nurse tone on me right now, Val,” I snapped. “I love you, but not right now. Not while my mate was marched in here in chains like a criminal.”
“He is a criminal,” Ward said. “The only reason we didn’t turn him away is because you pleaded for him. I understand your anger, but be mindful, Miranda, we are making concessions.” He waved a hand around the hut. “This is a concession.”
I gritted my teeth. I wanted to argue more but I also knew I’d get nowhere. Not tonight They’d given him medis and a bed. I’d fight for more tomorrow. I ran my fingers over the hard planes of Drak’s face.
Despite the late hour, the silence was broken by the sound of feet slapping the ground outside before the hut was filled with a gaggle of women. Reba, Tabitha, Justine, a pregnant Frankie, and last but not least Naomi. With Drak safe and resting, I relished in my homecoming and threw myself at them. All the pregnant ladies were crying, along with Tabitha. Justine was yelling about never allowing me to leave the walls again. Meanwhile Naomi clung to me, her face buried into my side like she wanted to live in my skin.
“I missed you all,” I said. “I’m so, so sorry.”
“What happened?” Justine was still on a rant. Her emotions almost always manifested themselves in anger. “Why the hell did you run away from Gar and Crius?”
“I didn’t run away…” I sighed. “I’ll explain tomorrow. Right now, I just wanted to hug you all and hear how my baby mommas are doing.”
“Terrible!” Frankie wailed. “Aunt Miranda was off gallivanting in the forest finding a mate while I’m growing a baby with horns!”
I rolled my eyes. “I was not gallivanting.”
“You’re like the solid rock we all pivot around,” Naomi said in her soft voice at my side. “Without you, we flailed in orbit.”
“That’s pretty poetic,” Justine said with a sniffle. “But accurate.”
“They’re not lying.” Frankie poked me in the side. “The guys here might love me, but they don’t listen to me like they do when you crack the whip.”
I laughed, remembering all the shenanigans some of the warriors got into, like when a bunch tricked a younger warrior into sticking his head between two wooden slats of fencing and then scattered when he’d gotten stuck.
We hugged and talked some more. But eventually the girls grew tired as it was the middle of the night. They left after I promised to explain what had happened while I was gone. Frankie remained behind with Val.
“And now,” she reached for my hand and examined my loks. “You’re mated, Miss I Don’t Need a Man.”
I yanked my hand back. “I still don’t need one.” I glanced back at Drak as he twitched in his sleep. “But I do want this one.”
“Miranda,” Frankie whispered.
“He’s good, Frank,” I pleaded to her and Val, ignoring the piercing looks of the warriors in the room. “When he’s himself again, he’ll show you. He’s kind and gentle. I don’t know what happened all those cycles ago, but he’s a good warrior. Strong and resourceful.”
Frankie looked me right in the eye and said the three words I hadn’t realized I’d wanted to hear. “I believe you.”
I held back the tears that threatened and whispered a broken, “Thank you.”
“We’ll talk tomorrow,” Frankie said. “Get some rest. Don’t worry about anything. Daz has the last word, but I’m his mate and I’m carrying his child. If anyone has his ear, it’s me.”
“I love you, Frankie.”
She pressed a kiss to my cheek and smiled. “I love you, too.” With a flourish, she tightened her wrap around her bulging belly and walked out.
“Come on, Val,” Sax said. “Time to get some rest.”
Val gave me one long look and turned to leave.
“Val,” I called out.
She looked at me over her shoulder.
“I’m sorry for snapping at you.”
She smiled. “No need to apologize. I know what it’s like to desperately want to protect your mate.” With a nod, she left.
Ward gave me one final long look and walked out. He shut the door, and I heard him slide a bolt across, locking us in.
I glared at the door for a while until I swayed on my feet. I needed to sleep too, so I curled up next to Drak’s big body and finally let myself drift off.
Drak
My mind churned with images, sounds, and visions. I didn’t know what was a dream and what was memory. I felt my pulse pounding in my ears and opened my eyes on a gasp to stare not at the stars but at an unfamiliar ceiling. The sun’s first rays of the rotation beamed through a barred window in the room, and I frowned at it.
Merr-anda!
I jolted to a sitting position, ready to slay the world to find her, only to realize she was curled in a ball with her back to me, asleep.
I winced, kneading my temples as I sought to remember what happened last night, and where I was. Spotting a jug of qua near the door, I stumbled from the bed to retrieve it. I chugged the cool liquid as the memories returned. Fighting the Kulks. My injuries. Remembering the Night Kings would protect Merr-anda. A yellow-haired female who’d healed me as Merr-anda raged for the chains restraining me to be removed.
I was in the Night Kings compound, and while they allowed me in their walls, they didn’t trust me yet. I scratched my head, wishing I could remember what I’d done to be forced out. Exiled. Shunned.
Why couldn’t I remember?
“Drak?” Came a groggy voice from behind me.
I whirled around to see Merr-anda blinking at me. I rushed to her side, running my hands over her face. I’d requested the healer tend to her first, but I wanted to make sure myself her injuries were taken care of.
“I’m okay,” she said, and I marveled again at how amazing it was I could understand her. “Val is a good healer, and your medis is some powerful stuff. We don’t have anything like that on Earth.”
I nodded, not sure of all her words. Medis sounded familiar. Ah, that was what the healer had filled the needle with before she jabbed it into my shoulder. I glanced at the spot of the former injury, playing my fingers over the scales there that were good as new.
“Hey,” Miranda’s fingers brushed my jaw. Her gaze roamed my face, lingering on my throat scar before meeting my eyes. “Now that we can finally communicate, I have some questions, okay? I’ll try to make them yes or no.”
I nodded, urging her to go ahead.
She smiled. “When we first met, did you know your name?”
I shook my head, and she sucked in a breath. She licked her lips and swallowed. “Okay, that’s what I thought. You remembered that night you said your name on the roof, right?”
I nodded.
“Was that… the first memory you had in a while?”
I nodded again.
“When the Kulk called you a Drixonian, that made you remember something, didn’t it?”
I gestured around us to indicate I’d remembered I was a Night King.
“Okay so you remembered you were a part of this clavas.” She reached for me, her touch gentle but her words direct. “Do you remember why you were forced to leave?”
I shook my head. My skin felt too tight, and I forced down the agitation. I didn’t know. I didn’t know, and it pissed me the fleck off. What had happened? How dishonorable was I? When Merr-anda found out, would she send me away?
