Heather felt tremendous relief knowing that Devlon was going to be okay. She wiped away a few tears that had fallen without her realizing. She looked down at Devlon’s handsome face smudged with dirt. “I love him.”
Kyle smiled at her. “I know.”
She blinked in surprise and looked up at Devlon’s youngest son. “You do?”
“Hell yeah. All of us knew how the two of you felt about each other but you were trying so hard to fight those feelings. We were taking bets on which one of you would cave in and say it first.”
“I haven’t told him yet.”
Kyle pointed down at his father, who was now wide awake and smiling up at her. “I’ll go make sure that no one else got hurt and that the area is secure.” Kyle left the two of them alone.
“You love me?” Devlon asked, drawing her attention back to him.
“Yes. You could have died.” She choked up at the thought of how quickly his life could have ended.
“Shhh... I’m here, and I’ll be fine. I love you too, Heather.”
The emotions she’d fought so hard to keep inside burst forth as she leaned down and hugged him, crying with.
“Easy, honey. I’m not fully recovered yet.”
She eased off, worried that she might have caused more damage. Now that she knew he was safe, she began to feel anger like she’d never felt before. “Don’t you ever jump in front of a gun again!”
Devlon just shook his head. “He was trying to kill you, and I wasn’t going to let that happen. I lost one woman that I cared about, I wasn’t about to lose another.”
Her anger fizzled out and she reached for his hand. “You can’t get rid of me that easily. Devlon, I love you more than anything, but I don’t know yet if I want to go to Drasta with you. I do know that I don’t want to be without you...ever.”
“We’ll work it out, my love.”
God, it felt good to have someone call her that. She’d never been anyone’s love before. It filled her heart with warmth and joy.
Epilogue
A week later
Heather smiled, standing next to Devlon watching the workers get back to building the apartment buildings. In a few weeks the first floors would be completed and the upper levels could be worked on. It was happening much faster than she’d expected. That was greatly due to the other tribe leaders sending their own people to train and help build the buildings. It would save training time for the Drastans and allow the other tribes to start work on their locations simultaneously. It all could have ended so badly, though, if the rebels and Leonard had been successful.
At first Leonard refused to talk, but after she threatened to cut off his dangly parts, he spilled the beans on just about everything. He told them how he’d been approached weeks ago by rebel sympathizers about taking control of the tribe. He gave dates, times, locations, and even a few names—none of the names were that of the rebel leader, though. He claimed that he’d never met the leader. Thanks to Leonard’s inability to stop talking, they were able to confiscate several stockpiles of explosives and weapons. It wouldn’t eradicate the threat of the rebels, but maybe it would delay their efforts a bit.
Devlon wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “Why do you have such a serious look on your face?”
She turned to face him. “I’m just thinking about how I’ll miss this place and my people when I leave.”
He froze and looked down at her in surprise. “You’ve decided to come with me?”
“Yes, if you’ll have me.”
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “You know my answer to that.”
“There’s just one thing.”
“What is it?”
“I want to ask Mona to come, with her kids and with Kiki. I just don’t know how she’ll feel about traveling to an alien planet.”
He smiled down at her. “She says she’s looking forward to feeling sunlight on her face again.”
She blinked in surprise. “You asked her already?”
