Why were they asking him these questions? And why wouldn’t they tell him where Maya was?
“Yeah. I stole it off a slaver. Now, where is my mate?”
Vasek frowned down at him. “Channa is long gone, brother.”
“No,” Ranek growled. “Not Channa. Maya. Where is Maya?”
The two exchanged another long look. Ranek knew what this one was for. They thought Maya could not be his mate. But she was. Even now, after remembering Channa, he still knew that Maya was his mate. In fact, he knew it even more now.
“She is not here,” Ulkin finally said.
Ranek blinked. “What? I swear I heard her voice. And I smell her in this room.”
“She left.”
“When?”
“After you woke the first time,” Vasek said. “She was here and demanded to stay with you until you woke. When you did, you asked for Channa, and she left. I’m sorry.”
“I… I don’t remember asking for Channa.” He tried hard to remember the foggy moment. “I remember seeing you. And… I remember being so excited to tell you that our curse could be broken. That Channa hadn’t stolen my one chance at a happy life. That I found my true mate in Maya.” Ranek’s heart sank into his stomach.
He’d tried to say all that, and all that had come out was that cursed name, and Maya had been there. She’d thought he was asking for Channa.
“I have to go after her.” Ranek shoved himself off the medical bed and almost collapsed when his knees buckled.
Ulkin was there instantly, putting him back on his feet. “You’re not going anywhere in this state.”
“I can walk,” Ranek insisted stubbornly.
“I mean, you are naked. And neither the males outside nor I need to see your dick swinging.”
Vasek guffawed before turning to Ulkin, more serious. “Have you heard of something like this happening before?” he asked.
“If you mean two true mates, then no, unless they are a triad, and then there are two males for each female. But that’s not what's happening here. But if the first bond was incomplete, I have heard of Talleans finding another later in life.”
“That was what I had thought,” Ranek admitted. “But I do not have time for this. I need to find Maya.”
“Maya left a while ago,” Vasek said. “You’ve been asleep and healing since. She is already on her way home to Reka 5. Luckily for you, that's where Dawn and I were heading when Ulkin called me in. We will take you there.”
“But my shuttle—”
“You are in no condition to fly. We’ll tow your shuttle behind. But you’ll need to offload some of the loot.”
“I can do that now.” He wondered how long it would take for them to make a few changes to his vessel, like having a proper sleeping area reconstructed for overnight space travel. He’d removed that in favor of more room for cargo.
“Not so fast. You haven’t been cleared to leave. So sit down and let me take a look at you. The faster we do this, the faster you can go after your mate.”
His mate. Ranek had a mate.
Once he had her in his arms again, he was going to beg her forgiveness. And then he would never let her go.
Chapter 25
Maya
Maya sighed and leaned back on the couch to watch Commander Chaos explore the staff room of the kennel.
Gallus and Miranda had ended up bonding with Princess Peach and decided to keep her instead of Commander Chaos, which meant he, along with Butterball, was out of a forever home.
