Chapter Thirteen
ZEHN AND LORE had spent the last month feeling as if something in them had died. The tie to Mandy was so thin as to be nonexistent, and they knew she’d left the planet. Grief didn’t begin to describe their loss. The only thing keeping them sane was their tie to each other, and to Ussed itself.
They continued to train new warriors, while Lore kept a close eye on Skehl. Talzec had decided to add Skehl to the clan, and since Skehl had no objections, they planned to officially celebrate his addition in another month, when the mother moons aligned.
Skehl seemed as lost as Lore and his bond-mate. The male did what he was told, ate and slept, but seemed to have little excitement about life. For all that he’d been Nasuhl, and had the scars to prove it, he had a gentleness of spirit all the females had taken to. Many of them had offered to warm his pallet, but he never responded.
The only person to get any emotion out of him was Arghet. When the two sparred, something in Skehl came alive. But outside the fighting ring, he drew back into himself.
Lore could relate. Though his alpha and beta kept a close watch on him and Zehn, Lore wondered if they should leave. Follow their mate to whatever worlds she wanted to visit. He hadn’t thought he’d miss her so much, to the point that nothing else mattered.
Zehn felt the same. Not just a result of Lore’s offworlder ancestry then. The barbarians mourned for their lost mate.
He sighed as they returned from a routine patrol. Even battles with an encroaching enemy didn’t satisfy anymore.
“How many?” Arghet asked when they returned to the village.
“Six.” Zehn no longer smiled. He no longer took joy in anything except the sexual needs he and Lore shared. If anything, the sex had grown rougher and angrier without their third to finish them.
But if Mandy was happy, he and Zehn could endure.
Arghet studied them. “Nope. I am never mating.” He nodded to his left. “Xav wants to see you two in your dwelling. Now.”
Lore and Zehn obeyed without argument. But within a few steps of their hut, a familiar flame burned, licking at the barriers in their minds.
Lore opened himself fully and gasped, his heart filled with joy. Zehn didn’t seem to feel anything, and for a moment Lore wondered if he’d imagined the return of their female. But then Mandy burst out of their dwelling and jumped into his arms.
“Oh, I missed you.”
He hugged her back, elated.
Zehn blinked, as if waking from a deep sleep, the hope on his face painful to see. “Mandy?”
She laughed and squirmed from Lore to hug Zehn. He stared at Lore, unsure, then closed his eyes and hugged his mate back. A tear trickled down his cheek, and Lore had to wipe his own eyes, for once not embarrassed at the swell of emotion he carried.
He and Zehn dragged their mate inside, so hungry for her touch. They didn’t speak, lavishing her with kisses and caresses. And she seemed as needy.
Nothing mattered but reaffirming their bonds to one another. Clothing flew off, and then they were on their pallet, everyone touching, kissing. Together.
The lovemaking was fierce and fast. Lore was coming into his female while Zehn shot over her belly. Lore withdrew, watching as Zehn took over, giving their female his second seed while Lore emptied the rest of his desire in her mouth.
Their Mandy gave them so much satisfaction, and her throaty cries and powerful orgasms prolonged the pleasure into a glorious agony he’d never forget.
Once spent, they went again. And again. Until they all expended the hurt and the need and simply moved together as one. Bond-mates for life.
***
Mandy had missed her barbarians so much. She’d planned to tell them so but they’d beaten her to it. Showing her what she’d been missing. The spark of life inside her seemed ecstatic to be with his fathers again. She couldn’t blame him.
Ussed had welcomed her back with open arms. Arghet had been right. The life-force of the planet and her mates completed her as nothing could.
“Mandy, mate, where have you been?” Zehn asked, his voice raw. “We missed you so much.” She lay under him.
He scooted over so that he and Lore could sit up to face her, and they pulled her to sit with them.
“I’m sorry. I had to know.”
“Were you happy?” Lore asked, stroking her cheek, his eyes a deep, luminous green. Just like Zehn’s.
