“I was coming home.” I rub my chin over her hair, trying to get as much of my scent on her and hers on me as I can. “I would never leave you, my mate.”
Behind me, I hear Darax snort.
“I was told the Ulep had been routed from our galaxy,” I say, without turning around. “But the one who took me, who experimented on me and then attempted to sell me to the Ntahal, was very much here. And not concerned about our presence at all.”
“An Ulep took you?”
“One who clearly had all the access it needed to Vorostor,” I growl. “And given I was the one they took, I’m not the one who gave them access.”
I turn to face Darax, not releasing my Lydia. I don’t think my body would let me. My wings enclose her, my tail is wrapped around her ankle.
“So who did?” Darax snarls.
“It would appear,” Lydia says. “There is a traitor on Vorostor, but it isn’t, and has never been, Deus.”
“So who is it?” My brother says.
“It’s time to go back to our planet,” I respond. “It’s time to unmask the betrayer. And once that’s done, I am coming back to render the Ulep base into its component parts and those parts to mere puddles of what they once were.”
LYDIA
Being back in Deus’s arms is like I’ve never been anywhere else in my entire life. I don’t consider I had a home, but now I do. It’s with him, it’s like this. I never want it to end.
Which means I am not going to let the rest of the Sarkarnii warlords off the hook. They wanted to paint Deus as a villain, and he is anything but. It might be the case I’m still not entirely sure if he really wants me, but I know in my very heart, regardless of whether it might be broken, I want him.
I will never want any other.
Darax snorts a cloud of smoke.
“Are you capable of piloting this ship back to Vorostor?” he growls at Deus.
“What do you think?”
“I think you’re the worst pilot in the fleet,” Darax says, with typical brotherly tact. “And if you crash into any of my ships, I will have your tail.”
Deus thrashes his tail.
“Maybe I got better,” he suggests.
“Unlikely.”
It’s Deus’s turn to smoke heavily, like a steam train at full power.
“When you’re both quite finished,” I say. “The traitor? We need to find them.”
Both brothers growl at the same time. “My mate will stay with me,” Deus says. “On my ship.”
“The one you took from the Ntahal?”
“They tried to buy me,” Deus rasps. “I am not for sale.”
“I’m surprised anyone wanted to purchase you,” Darax replies.
“My mating mix was the best the Ulep had ever had,” Deus says lifting his chin. “I was worth a significant number of credits.”
I shake my head at the pair of them. “What are you going to do with the Ntahal in your hold?” I ask Deus, in an effort to break them up.
“I should release them into space,” Deus growls. “But I will not.” He looks down at me. “On this occasion. We should take them with us to Vorostor. I’m sure Dalox will have a use for them.”
