Brexl did not wait for a reply. He turned, shifted into his beast form, and left, running south toward the beach.
I stepped outside and sniffed the air. Brexl was correct. Taylor’s scent had mixed with three others. Did Scaron think he could force her to mate? Then what? Return to the valley once she carried his young? I shuddered at the thought and found myself moving back to Kayla’s side.
“Come, let’s get you home.”
Jelly was tied up to a tree nearby, along with the chariot I had made. My brothers must have brought him here for us.
Kayla sat down in the chariot, and I placed my pack in the storage compartment. “Ready?”
“Ready,” she smiled at me and I was mesmerized by the beauty of her brown skin shimmering in the orange glow morning sun.
I nodded and turned to lead Jelly toward the trail that would take us home.
It was a long journey, but as the sun set on the second day, we crossed into the clearing that surrounded our mountain.
“Kayla?” Hai’s voice could be heard from the ridge. “Kayla!” The small human disappeared into the mountain, then re-emerged from the entrance.
“You’re back!” Hai jumped onto the chariot and hugged her friend. Kayla laughed and hugged Hai back.
“What took you so long?”
My mate’s smile faded as she took my hand and faced her friend.
“Let’s go inside. There’s much to tell.” I lifted my mate from the chariot and for a moment I was tempted to carry her in my arms, but Kayla wouldn’t like that. She liked to appear strong on the outside, even if that wasn’t how she really felt.
Instead, I took her hand, and we braced ourselves for what was to come.
It was nice to be back in the safety of the mountain, back home.
Gabby stood up as soon as she saw us. Her rounded belly had grown even in the short time we’d been gone.
“You’re back!” Gabby strode up to us and gave Kayla a hug.
Tarak must have heard her announcement. Shortly thereafter, he entered the main cavern and joined us.
“Wait, where's Taylor and Brexl?” Gabby looked behind us as if she might see our missing friends walk in at any moment.
“They took Taylor, and Brexl went after her.”
“Who took Taylor?” Fatima asked, sounding alarmed. A crowd had gathered around us, and it looked like nearly the entire dekes was in the main cavern now.
“The other dekes,” I supplied.
Tarak wrapped his arm around Gabby as if the mere mention of the other dekes might put her in danger.
“We ran into them exploring the spaceship. They forced us to go to the valley with them,” Kayla added, and filled in the rest of the details. Everything from how they didn’t believe we were mates to them tying up me and Brexl.
“Wait, but you're not luminescence mates, so how did you get away?” Talia asked jumping, ahead of the story.
I wrapped my arm around my mate and proudly announced, “We are now.”
Everyone gasped.
“We’re mates.” Kayla added, and my heart swelled.
Congratulations sounded from around the room until Kayla added, “Taylor and Brexl luminesced too.”
Tarak looked pained at this news. He and Brexl had always gotten along well. They both shared a quiet disposition that complimented each other. So he knew all too well the inner struggles our friend faced.
