Then I had my hands full, and Khawla still hovered, getting in my way more often than not. First, it was to help the girls into the warmth of the shuttle, where Kalani and I handed out furs by the boatload to get them all warmed up. Then I ducked outside so I could assist Artek with his healing duties as best I could, and for a while, I forgot where I was. It was just me and my patients—soothing worries, patching up cuts and bruises, and handing Artek tools from his bag when he treated the more seriously injured.
They brought in Thunder Rock’s injured too, and among them, to my shock, was Reshar. I did not think he would want to be part of an attack party on the wreck; he hadn’t wanted me dead, after all. Perhaps he’d had little choice, theyhadimplied that obeying the Queen was their only option.He was one of the worst, bleeding badly, and Artek seemed to struggle to stop it, even with his healing device.
When Zathar came to sit beside the makeshift cot, the family resemblance became obvious. “Brothers—Zathar the oldest,” Khawla explained, as I dabbed blood away and then applied a fresh pressure bandage over the wound in the male’s gut. “Unlike sisters, who are rivals from birth, brothers are often close.” He did not say it, but I knew he had felt close to his brother, Arosha. Now outcast, it was unlikely they would see each other again, and I felt sorry.
“Reshar was particularly difficult to be close to,” Zathar admitted dryly. “But that didn’t mean I didn’t try. He was brave today.” Then the Haven leader left, turning away to attend to others. He stopped by several of the Thunder Rock warriors who were awake but too injured to leave, speaking quietly to them without any hostility.
“Now what?” I asked hours later, cold and tired, when Artek and I had seen to the last patient. They were all being loaded onto the shuttle now, which, Artek had confided in me between healing sessions, had been hidden at his home. All Shamans learned how to fly them, but he’d been a little rusty since the last time, and very relieved that Min-Ji, a human pilot from Haven, had taken over after he’d brought Nala there first.
“Now, you get warm and eat something,” Khawla growled at me. “Then we’ll figure out what to do with everyone.” Getting off my feet sounded like a great plan right now, and I was only too happy to let Khawla lead me around the dragon to where the campfires were burning and tents were pitched. To make space on the ship, my girls—now warmly dressed—had been brought back out, and they were huddled around one fire, clustered tightly together and staring distrustfully at everything around them.
I could see Thor and the Dragnell by one campfire, still under guard, and hunters circled the camp with watchful gazes. I didn’t think anyone would try to attack with thedragon right there, lying as a convenient wind shield to one side, its wing raised like a big sail to offer a bit of shelter. “Anyone talked to them yet?” I asked, pointing at the pair. Zathar would be the most likely candidate, but he was with Artek by the shuttle, talking with the Shaman in hushed whispers.
“Not yet,” Khawla responded. Then he picked me up bridal style and coiled around the huddled girls by the fire to find a spot. Sitting down with me in his lap, he barked at a nearby hunter to fetch food, and the male scurried off right away to do so. “I understand that Min-Ji will fly the skyship to Artek’s home with the wounded, then return for the females. Then she and Corin, her mate, will remain here to try to repair the big skyship and fly that to safety, too.”
“Repair the ship? That’s going to take time. It was fried by an EM pulse, wasn’t it?” I asked while accepting a bowl of fragrant stew from the Hunter Khawla had ordered about. “What about the Queen? Do you think she’ll be back?” That was my worry, was she going to try again? She didn’t seem like the type to just let things go. Khawla opened his mouth to answer, his hand pushing a spoonful of stew toward me at the same time, just as Zathar showed up.
The whole group of ladies shuffled back at the approach of the Haven leader, but that might have had more to do with the Naga shadowing his steps. He was bigger than most I’d seen, and they were all intimidatingly big. Their long tails made them take up far too much space, and their wide shoulders often had raised scales that made them look even bigger. This guy was midnight blue, and he carried a massive stone ax on his back. Seeing him mademewant to back away, if not for Khawla’s arms around me and his calm demeanor.
“I believe we’ll need a translator to deal with these two strange males, Khawla, Jolene. Nala could do it, but Artek refuses to let her leave Haven, as she’s close to giving birth. Can you do it?” Zathar asked, his azure eyes piercing merather than Khawla. I glanced once at Jasmine, who nodded at me in encouragement. While Artek had been healing people, another, silvery-blue Naga had gone around offering translator updates. I wasn’t sure if everyone had taken it, but Jasmine had already been at Haven a while, she’d had it done weeks ago.
“I can do it, but Thor speaks UAR English. You should be able to understand him. The Dragnell… I might be able to pull his language from a translator implant, but that only helps if you guys have translators yourselves.” I frowned, because that seemed highly unlikely. When I started to rise, Khawla refused to let me go, rising instead to carry me to the two aliens under guard. If I hadn’t been so busy until now, I would have felt bad about not sorting their situation out sooner. Bothhadhelped us escape, after all. Without them, we wouldn’t have defeated that gray alien or all the Krektar swarming the hold.
“Do it,” Zathar agreed. “Some of us have them. Khawla, I have have something for you,” he added, and he raised his hand and opened it. On his azure palm, gold and purple glittered. It took me a moment to figure it out, but it appeared to be a bracelet. Was that? Yeah, it clearly was. Khawla picked it up with the tip of his tail on soft, relieved sigh. Then flicked his eye up toward Zathar I question.
“Reshar had it, said it was a gift for Nisha?” Zathar did not sound like he was quite certain what that meant. Perhaps he even sounded suspicious. If one didn’t know the meaning of the bracelet, I might have been too. What adult male gave such a thing to a four year old girl, after all? But there was no denying how incredibly thoughtful, and risky, it had been for Reshar to get this.
“Thank you. Thank Reshar. This was Kusha’s, the Queen stole it after her death, it’s all Nisha’s wanted of her mother.” Khawla’s explanation was spoken in a rough voice, strangled with feeling he tried to hide. I curled my fingers into the tunic by his neck and hugged him close. Then carefullyaccepted the bracelet for safekeeping. No more words were said, Zathar and Khawla both hurrying to turn to the task at hand.
My guy halted at the edge of the fire where the pair was sitting. Dangling in his arms was not my preferred position to start these talks, but it would have to do. He wasn’t going to put me down now that he had me bundled up against the falling night cold. One look at him made him hiss under his breath about dangerously low temperatures, which made me feel all warm inside, ironically.
“Hi,” I began awkwardly, since Zathar didn’t say anything he wanted translated, he just hovered next to Khawla with his shadow and watched. “Thor, these are the locals. Zathar, this is Thor.” I gestured from the leader of Haven to the red-and-black alien.
“It’s Bi’Thor,” came the deep, sub-harmonic remark. “Intelligence Officer First Class, tasked by the Kertinal Empire to bring down the criminal Katifa in league with crimelord Jalima.” He sighed when I stared at him blankly. “And none of that means anything to you. Why would it? I am a spy, sent to bring down the bad guy, and the bad guy is down. I want no trouble, just a way off the planet and home.”
That made Zathar bark a rough laugh as he shook his head. “There is no way off the planet.” He waved his hand at the downed Long Hauler we’d arrived in, its hulking shape covered and smoothed out by the snow blanketing it. “The planet only brings skyships down; it does not let them back up.”
I dutifully translated this for the supposed spy, and his expression turned grim but resigned. “Not a surprise, the Zeta Quadrant has been losing ships to Serant for centuries. Its solar system is black-marked on Kertinal star charts for a reason.” Then he jerked his chin toward the so-far utterly silent Dragnell crouching across the fire from him. “What about him?”
Everyone turned their gaze on the Dragnell then, and he rose—and rose. Tall and intimidating, he rivaled Zathar’s bodyguard in impressive size, his thick black fur blending with the night while his golden eyes gleamed like fire. “Tell your leader that I am grateful to be free of stasis. If he wants to fix that ship and fly it to safety, he’ll need my help. I’m an engineer, and I can fix anything.”
Oh, he’d been sitting on that bargaining chip, had he? He must have overheard me talking about it with Khawla and put this plan together. When I translated, Zathar’s response was harsh and firm, but not unkind. “We have an engineer, Corin, too, who can fix anything. Since you have protected the females, I will give you the benefit of the doubt. The faster that ship flies, the better. Lay one claw on a female in harm’s way, and I will have your pelt as a rug for my mate’s tiny feet. Understood?”
I was pretty sure that threat sounded nowhere near as intimidating coming from my mouth when I translated. It made Bi’Thor chuckle like I’d made a joke. The Dragnell, however, dipped his head, his pointed snout dropping to the ground. “Havock, at your service.” I was not sure if having a guy called Havock around was going to be a good idea, but to fix that ship, we’d need all the help we could get.
Chapter 24
Jolene
Arriving at Haven after that big fight actually felt a bit like coming home. This time home was a small town that came out in force to greet everyone like they were long-lost brothers. There was cheering, hugging, and eager greetings. In no time, my girls were all dragged inside to be shown rooms and given clothing. Medical checkups awaited them, run by Vera and Farah—one nursing a baby, the other clearly pregnant.
I saw Haven’s med bay only briefly, though it was instinct to linger there and help out. Hunters injured in the fight were recuperating inside, but most were already up and about, having healed quickly overnight. There weren’t enough fixed apartments for everyone, so the ladies had to sleep four to a room, but I was certain that was still a great improvement for them. They were safe, and most were smiling and looking healthy and happy, beginning to believe the worst was over.
Then Nisha and her brothers dove out of the crowd, screaming excitedly in greeting. They leaped on their father, then there were hugs for me, and I knew this was definitely home—with this man, this Naga male, and his sweet younglings. My girls were safe, so my job was done. Now I could focus on the next one: making my brand-new family happy.
“I don’t see your coat,” I said to Nisha, reaching out to tug on a messy black braid with a smile. “Too warm in here for a tough Naga girl, is it?” Then I pretended to shiver with cold myself, and her guilty expression turned into a laugh. I was a little tired and sore from yesterday’s excitement and the dragon ride back here, but I still picked her up and hugged her.
Khawla was hunched low, whispering with his boys, looking like they were telling him all kinds of secrets. When he rose, his eye met mine, the amethyst gleaming beneath the crystal lights of Haven’s main tunnel. Wind was gusting in through the large open portal to the outside world, making his long, dark braid sway over his shoulder. He looked handsome—and he was all mine. The sultry, heat-filled stare he gave me told me he was thinking the same thing about me. There was a promise there, for later, when we were alone in our rooms. First, though, there was a celebration.
