Still, he was happy to have them in his life. He had siblings, too, including a sister who captained one of the ships in orbit. There was one other passenger in thehold. She was not one of the gyr. Nor was she human. She…had been a surprise.
Mercy flicked something on her console, and her next words were broadcast across the ship. “We’ll be landing in the next thirty seconds. Remember, Rage needs to go out first. You’ve waited a long time for this moment. Please be patient a little longer.” Then she grinned and added, “And don’t forget to tip your pilot.”
Then she glanced over her shoulder at him. “You ready?”
“I’ve waited for this moment for more than a year. What do you think?”
She stuck her tongue out at him. “No need to be dramatic. Touching down in three-two-one… and… we’re here.”
She powered down the engines while he got to his feet. “Wait a second, big guy. I need to say something before we open that door.”
He waited, impatient but aware that his mate would not delay this moment without a good reason.
She caught up to him at the hatch, hitting him with a fierce hug that was surprisingly strong for one so small.
He folded her into his arms and held her. “Speak.”
“I’m getting to it.” She gave him one last squeeze before stepping back to look up at him. “I’m proud of you. Nothing we did in the last year was easy, but here we are. You kept your promise. You came back.”
“Wedid this.”
“We did. And when I go out there, I want you to remember one very important thing.”
“What?”
“I belong to you. Don’t ruin this reunion by beating the crap out of your brothers because one of them looked at me too long.” She held up her hands to display the marks on her wrists. Mating marks. They knew that now. A physical manifestation of the chemistry that bound them together. His people believed the link carried on from one life to the next. Mates would find each other over and over. He liked that idea.
He would still kill any one of them who flirted with his beautiful Mercy. She washis.
He walked off the ship with Mercy beside him. He knew there were more human females present because of the crash, but it still surprised him to see so many new faces among his brothers.
Mayhem and Menace on one side. Strife, Risk, and Vengeance on the other. Havoc stood with Bysshe, and the rest of his clan pressed in around them.
He had so much to tell them, but before he did, there was someone he needed to talk to.
“Bysshe!” he called the android over. “Do you remember Mercy?”
Bysshe looked down at his mate and then shook his head. “No.”
“You warned us that you intended to wipe your memories.”
“I did?” Bysshe looked uncertain. “I don’t recall that. But I suppose that was the point.”
“I have heard about your escape, however. Mercy, you have my thanks for getting Rage safely away.”
“You paid very generously to make it happen. But I decided to keep him around after the money ran out.” Mercy smiled. “It’s good to see you again, Bysshe. You’re the reason we went looking for the truth. Thank you.”
“The truth?” Bysshe cocked his head.
Rage raised his voice. “We are not the fa’rel. That was another lie the scrawnies told us. They might have experimented on our DNA, but they did not create us. We have another name, my brothers. We are the gyr, and our families have been looking for us.”
“Gyr? Families?” Bysshe repeated the words in a daze. Around them everyone else did the same.
“You can come out now,” Mercy spoke into a communicator. The back door of theTimeless Blueopened, and a group of golden furred aliens leaped down.
Rage didn’t pay attention to the chaos unfolding. He had another task to do first.
“It turned out someone was looking for you, too, Bysshe. Her name is Quen.”
