He’d taken care of his clan, building in strength to exact his revenge. And he’d been justly rewarded for it.
Arghet didn’t need to look hard to see the connection from Talzec to the lagoon, where Skye no doubt waited. Their energies seethed, lapping at each other.
And how the moons and suns can I know this?Arghet hadn’t even tried and he’d seen a world beyond the normal one he lived in. A world full of ties to life in different phases.
He shook his head and blinked, and thankfully, everything returned to normal. But he didn’t like it. Didn’t like any of this. Arghet was a warrior who had plans to mate and have young in the far future. He’d already had one part of his life plan changed. Now he not only had a mate, he had two, and one wasmale.
The Maker should be going easy on him. But just as he was adjusting to having bonded, he was expected to give them up to help the tribe?
The warrior he’d been raised to be demanded he obey his elders. That the welfare of the many superseded the few. But damn it, while Arghet could handle suffering, Raia and Skehlwould not.Though he’d hate his life if he gave them up, he would sacrifice in a heartbeat to spare them pain. But he knew, deep down, Skehl would be forever harmed if Arghet abandoned him. Skehl had healed, physically, and mostly emotionally, but part of him would always be a wounded warrior needing acceptance.
Raia, he knew, wouldn’t agree to let him go for the sheer principle. She’d claimed him, and in her mind, he belonged to her. He chuckled, expecting nothing less.
“What’s so funny?” Talzec asked.
“Raia. My female thinks she’s in charge of me.”
“And isn’t she?”
He opened his mouth in rebuttal, saw Talzec’s humor, and shook his head instead. “She is not my alpha. She’s my mate.” He scowled. “My mate, and they expect me to give her up for the good of the tribe?” He blew out a breath. “Talzec, am I being selfish for not wanting the stubborn female and Skehl to go?”
Talzec gripped his shoulder and stared into his eyes. “No, you are not. Love is a blessing. We fight, we war, and we do it to protect our own. But connections, love, is what pulls us to each other. I cannot think the Maker would want you to throw all that away to make healers for our tribe. We haven’t had them for hundreds of years, yet we are still here.”
“But for how long remains the question,” Elder Ihlar said, joining them. “I am sorry, Arghet. I know what Talzec says is true, in here.” He tapped his heart. Though older than most, he was still strong, still a warrior in frame and spirit with the wisdom of years of experience. “But we have heard from the Fire tribe, and their news troubles us.” He glanced around, and seeing them alone, explained. “The offworlder technology is becoming more of a problem. We’ve had reports that aliens are landing in various parts of the planet and taking pieces of our world. They are destroying small sections before we can get to them. Deforesting, stealing wildlife, and blasting for minerals they take back to their worlds. But they are doing it with weapons we cannot defeat.” He paused. “But the Fire tribe’s Sehvar have been effective.”
Talzec scowled. “Why has this not been told to the clan leaders?”
“Because we thought the few instances of offworlders in our lands were just happening here, in Cloud lands. Yesterday, one of the Fire tribe sent a messenger. It was he who spoke of the Sehvar doing what others could not. And he told us more invaders will come. Flushed out of Fire lands, they invade the Water and soon the Cloud lands.”
“Like they came yesterday,” Arghet murmured, now understanding why the elders would ask him to break a sacred bond.
“Yes.” Elder Ihlar paled. “Talzec, you are our strongest alpha, yet against the weapons the aliens bring, you are helpless.”
“Not so.” Talzec frowned. “Our pelts protect us from the blasts.” He raised his arm-bracer. “The xechelln hides repel alien tech. If Ussed cannot withstand the invaders, then we must. That is why we were born.”
Arghet nodded. “To defend our planet. A gift from the Maker to the Mother—Ussed.”
Elder Ihlar sighed. “I want to believe, I do. But at the cost of our people? Things are changing, warriors. Infighting among us must stop. And it’s time we all embraced each other, clan to clan, tribe to tribe, to repel the invaders from our world.” He turned to Arghet. “Think on that, Sehvar.” He left, and Arghet felt a heaviness in his heart he hadn’t felt before.
“There is always a way,” Talzec said. “Elder Ihlar is right to be worried. But this is why we exist.” The light in Talzec’s eyes blazed. “Barbarians are bred to fight. But not each other.” He nodded. “We fight to protect our own, what we love. I love this world, my clan, my mates. But what do you love, Arghet? What sacrifices would you make to save what makes life worth living?”
Arghet spent the next few days in deep thought. His bond-mates gave him space. He’d ignored Skehl’s attempts to mentally communicate. Keeping his mates out had grown easier, as if a muscle in his mind had strengthened. He often wandered the jungle, moving in and out of fellow Cloud warriors enjoying the games and each other. They didn’t know of the coming danger, instead embracing the camaraderie of barbarians in battle, mock though it was.
He missed his mates, his body still heavy with need as phelthar continued to build at a surprising rate. And blast it all, he felt eyes on him at all times. Inhuman eyes.
A caerrn cat followed him any time he ventured away from the barbarians into the solitude of the jungle. Far enough away that Arghet could not touch it, yet the pet remained in visual proximity. Letting Arghet know it was there. He’d heard that the felines had a greater intelligence than any other predator in their territory. But he believed it also had a sense of humor.
Twice when he’d tried to follow it, the creature had walked him into hidden puddles of water, and once almost into a pit of viplings, whose bite would not kill but itched like crazy.
Then the feline had bared its teeth, as if in a smile.
Arghet sighed and sat on a tree stump, staring at a drove of flit birds, tiny things that could fit in the palm of his hand, as they swarmed a meyrn tree for its sweet, sugary blossoms. Near him, the caerrn cat sat in wait.
“I don’t know what I should do,” he said to it, not expecting a response. “I feel a need for my bonded mates, but I must serve my clan. If what the elders say is right, then the Sehvar can save our planet from destruction. Is my happiness more important than the survival of my clan? My tribe? Ussed?”
He knew the answer was no, but he couldn’t imagine no longer having a tie to his mates. Through them everything was brighter, better.
He felt…love. Though he had much to learn about his mates, he felt them deep inside. He knew their strengths and vulnerabilities. Though Raia acted tough and expected to protect the males she thought she’d claimed, she hadn’t been able to hide her fears that she would never be strong enough to defend them.
