Khyron's Claim Read online

  “A male?” Logan shifted his gaze to the upper level of the rocks. “Why would anyone want to live out here alone?”

  “He may be a loner, possibly a survivor of the war.” I could only imagine the horrific things that must have happened to cause one of my people to seek solitude rather than the aid of his people.

  “Should we go after him, take him back to the city with us?” Thrayn asked.

  “No, we will allow him his privacy. He has to be aware there are others living nearby, and if he wanted to make his presence known, he would have done so already.

  “There is something else.” Garyck opened and reached inside the small pack he had strapped to his shoulder. He held out a long piece of dried skin. “I found it this morning.”

  Burke leaned closer to get a better look. “You’re telling me you found a shedding from the scales of a luzardee out here?” He rubbed his nape. “That’s impossible. In all the years we’ve been here, they’ve never ventured into this area.”

  I understood Burke’s frustration. “As I stated last night, the war changed many things, survival for some is more difficult. We need to anticipate and be prepared for new possibilities.”

  “Do you think it is a coincidence or related to the attack on Jardun?” Burke asked.

  Jardun had contacted a group of luzardees before sending Garyck and Zaedon to meet with Burke. After the luzardees gave Jardun the information he needed to find Vurell, they betrayed him, then turned around and arranged a payment from Burke for his release. It was during his rescue that Jardun learned large amounts of cradassons were being offered for the vryndarr.

  “Is it possible the luzardee sent someone to follow Garyck and Zaedon to the settlement hoping to capture them for the bounties?” Thrayn asked.

  “The shedding Garyck found is only a day or two old,” Zaedon said. “If they had followed us, it would be a lot drier and would crumble to the touch.”

  Garyck grunted his agreement.

  My tail twitched. This was something entirely different, though no less disturbing. Judging by their stiff stances and the frowns furrowing their brows, Burke and Logan were not happy to hear the news either.

  “How the draeck did he get past our patrols?” Red rose along Burke’s throat and cheeks.

  “The luzardee have the ability to climb and move undetected.” I swept my hand toward the wall of rock. “This border might deter humans but can easily be scaled by a luzardee. We will need to train your males on what to look for and alert everyone that one or more of the males may still be in the area.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Celeste

  My body had been rippling with tension ever since we’d found the laser blasters. Actually, finding the weapons had been upsetting, but the main source of my anxiety was Khyron. My emotions had been in turmoil ever since I’d walked into his sleeping quarters back in the city. They’d gotten even worse after I realized he’d been about to kiss me until Fuzzball pounced on his tail.

  If I hadn’t been frustrated about missing the kiss and distracted with thoughts of what would happen during our next meeting, I’d have been watching where I was going and not slammed into Vince’s firm chest. Either he was more perceptive than I thought, or I’d been doing an awful job of disguising my stress. Whatever the reason, he’d asked me if I wanted to meet with him later to do a little sparring.

  My friends and I never knew what kind of danger we’d encounter when we traveled, so training with the guys was a great way to stay in shape and keep our skills honed. Vince was a good fighter but nowhere near the challenge I got when I did hand-to-hand with Burke and Logan. Those two were ruthless when it came to training. I’d end up wearing bruises for days every time I had a session with either one of them.

  “Celeste.” Vince’s raised voice snapped me back to the present. “You need to focus. You should have blocked that move easily.” He took a step back, bending his knees, preparing to come at me again.

  Focus, right. Not so easy when all I could think about was Khyron. I remembered the desire in his eyes, could feel the warmth from his hand on my cheek. Deep down, I realized he was still the same person I’d known years ago. I’d watched him the night before, the way he handled himself with Burke and the other guys. The way he interacted with the vryndarr, the way he’d earned their respect. They weren’t just his protectors, they were his friends.

  He genuinely cared about what happened to my people. He’d demonstrated his concern more than once since he’d arrived. He might have been related to Sarus, but he was nothing like his uncle. He was a strong leader, honorable, determined to protect and unite all the races.

  So if he was all those things, then why hadn’t he kept his promise to return to me?

  “I’m fine. Let’s go again.” Only I wasn’t fine and continued to wonder if Sloane and Laria were right. Was I letting the guilt of not being able to save my family keep me from learning the truth about what happened after Khyron left?

  “Does your lack of concentration have anything to do with the drezdarr?” Vince grinned, dodged to the side and avoided my punch. “You two couldn’t keep your eyes off each other last night.”

  “I thought we were here to work out, not discuss things that are none of your business.” I smiled with satisfaction when he grabbed for me, and the kick I planted in his side sent him sprawling on the floor.

  “I know I’m not Laria or Sloane, but I grew up with two older sisters.” Vince rubbed his side after he got back on his feet. “If you ever need to talk, I’m a decent listener.”

  Vince was single and had left his family back on Earth to take a job working security on the Starward Bounty. He’d been assigned to Burke’s team during the flight, and after the ship crashed had ended up in the same settlement with him. After the war started and Burke put together his band of rebels, Vince was one of the first to join.

  “Thanks, I appreciate it.” I held up my arms to fend off his next swing.

  “Yep, the guy’s really into you.” He sidestepped to the right.

  Vince might be a good listener but was also chatty and sometimes ignored boundaries. “What part of none of your business…” I mimicked his move, then threw a punch that missed his shoulder and grazed his arm.

  He chuckled. “I think there’s a good chance he thinks you’re his ketiorra.”

  I gasped. “What makes you…” I didn’t react fast enough to his next swing and ended up on the floor.

  I quickly rolled to my feet, narrowing my gaze at his annoying grin.

  “You know…his mate.”

  “I know what ketiorra means,” I snapped, making the novice mistake of reacting with my emotions when I should have been using my brain. I realized too late that he’d been purposely baiting me, trying to mess with my concentration. My swing missed him entirely and I didn’t get my arm up in time to prevent his elbow from connecting with the side of my head.

  Vince was bigger and a lot stronger than I was. Luckily, he’d been holding back, or I would have ended up flat on my back and possibly unconscious. As it was, the blow had taken me to my knees.

  “Damn, Celeste. I’m so sorry.” Vince knelt next to me, his voice laced with regret.

  I winced. “My. Fault,” I managed after taking several deep breaths.

  “Are you okay?” He gently cupped my chin and examined my face. “Do you want me to get Nayea?”

  A loud male growl filled the room, followed by heavy footsteps. “Remove your hands from her at once.” Khyron grabbed Vince’s shoulder and yanked him away from me, then shoved him to the ground.

  “Khyron, stop!” I yelled, launching myself at Khyron before his fist connected with Vince’s jaw.

  I caught him in the side with enough force to push him away and force him on his back. Before he had a chance to react, I straddled his midsection and pinned his wrists to the floor. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “Zadierra, I…” Khyron could have easily tossed me aside, but he remained motio
nless, his blue gaze locked with mine, apologetic, yet expectant.

  “Celeste?” Vince moved into a low crouch. He was prepared to attack but wouldn’t interfere unless I asked him to.

  “I’m okay.” At the moment, I was more worried about Vince’s safety. “You should go.” I tipped my head toward the doorway.

  “If you’re sure.”

  I knew in my heart that Khyron would never hurt me. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

  Vince hesitated a few seconds longer, then got up, grabbed his boots and left the room. He cast one more concerned glance at me before disappearing down the hallway.

  I shook my head and glared at Khyron. “If we’re going to be working together, we need to have some rules.

  “I agree.” He was being too accommodating, and if I hadn’t been so angry, I might have paid better attention.

  “First of all, I want you to know that I can take care of myself.” Since all ketaurran males were proud and had a thing about protecting females, I expected a snort, an argument, or some sort of disagreement. When he remained silent, I felt the need to explain. “Vince and I were training. He never would have gotten close enough to hit me if I hadn’t been distracted.”

  He raised a brow. “Distracted by what?”

  I held back a groan after realizing I’d revealed more than I should have. Khyron had always been exceedingly perceptive, sometimes to the point of being annoying. I was torn between telling him it was none of his business and having that long-overdue talk Laria and Sloane had insisted I needed. Finding out the truth about why he’d abandoned me and getting some much-needed closure, whether it was painful or not, won my internal struggle.

  “You, all right? You’re the distraction.” I couldn’t think clearly, not with him this close, and not with the warmth that started between my legs and was currently radiating through the rest of my body. I released his wrists and rolled off him, putting at least three feet between us. “You can wipe the smirk off your face. I didn’t say it was a good thing.”

  ***

  Khyron

  I did my best to hide the smirk Celeste was threatening to remove from my face. I never wanted her to suffer any pain because of me, but to hear her admit she was distracted by my presence was encouraging.

  I had arrived in the training room seconds before Vince’s elbow connected with Celeste’s head. I was well aware that she could take care of herself and would never argue the point. Nor would I inform her, at least not at the moment, that my rage was a result of seeing the way Vince examined her face.

  Celeste was my ketiorra, whether she wanted to be or not. Having another male touch her tenderly, when I had been denied the privilege for so long, had been unbearable. And so had been having her legs spread around my middle. She’d removed her boots, and the clothes she wore clung firmly to her body, exposing her arms and the soft skin around her middle. I’d barely resisted the urge to roll her on her back, to claim her, to show her how much I cared for her.

  Once she rolled away, I knew it was time to make amends for the past, to tell her the truth, even if she hated me for it afterward. I pushed off the floor and stayed sitting where I was, ensuring she had adequate space so she did not change her mind about talking and decide to leave, then patiently waited for her to begin.

  Celeste slid her palms along her thighs, then placed her hands in her lap. “When we first met, why didn’t you tell me you were related to the drezdarr, that you would eventually be the drezdarr?”

  It was not the question I expected her to start with, but it was one that needed to be answered. “You mean when you were threatening my life after you knocked me into the water?” I hoped my teasing would help make our discussion a little less stressful.

  “No.” Even though she rolled her eyes and huffed, there was a hint of a smile on her lips. “You know what I mean. You could’ve told me later.”

  “Times back then were difficult. My sire’s brother was responsible for so much bloodshed, and many humans hated my people.” I swallowed the lump rising in my throat. “I was afraid if you learned who I was, you would blame me for… That you would never consider me suitable.” As it was, I had lost her anyway, thought she was dead, and, until a few days ago, had believed she was gone forever.

  “You aren’t your uncle. I never would have blamed you for what he did, or pushed you away.” She fisted her hand as if she’d meant to touch me, then changed her mind.

  “I realize that now, but it was not the only reason I did not reveal the truth about my identity.” I inched a little closer. “Until I met you, I had spent my life not knowing if a female cared about me for the person I was or if they returned my attentions because I was the son of one of the most powerful males on the planet.” Several strands had pulled free from her braid, so I tucked them behind her ear. “You were different.”

  “How so?”

  “You captured my heart from the moment you pushed me into the water. One sniff of your skin and I knew you were the only female I would ever care for, my ketiorra.”

  Though I had never told her about the connection we shared, she no longer seemed shocked by my admission.

  “If I was your ketiorra, then why didn’t you come back?” The disappointment and despair in her voice nearly crushed me.

  I craved her nearness, knew it was the only thing that would relieve the tension rippling through me, ease my fear of losing her after my explanation. I scooted closer, stretching my legs on either side of her. “It was not common knowledge, but during the war, my sire fought with his soldiers to protect all his people, including the humans.”

  I had been proud of my sire. He was a good leader and a strong warrior. “The day I left he had sent word that a band of Sarus’s males were nearby. I was supposed to meet him so we could battle Sarus together, to keep him from reaching any of the settlements, but we were ambushed.” I fisted my hands, struggling to keep the vivid memories of that day out of my mind. “The attack had been brutal, many lives taken, including the life of my sire. If not for Jardun, I would have been one of the casualties.”

  She placed her hand over mine. “Oh, Khyron.” The rasp in her voice sounded close to a sob.

  I wanted no more secrets between us, wanted her to know everything. “I was unconscious for several days, and when I woke, my first thoughts were of getting back to you. I was not well enough to travel, so I sent soldiers to retrieve your family and you.”

  “You did?”

  “Of course.” I squeezed her hand. “I made you a promise and meant to keep it.” Along with the admission came painful memories of the past. I swallowed hard and continued. “When the soldiers returned, I was told they found nothing but bodies, that your family along with others in the settlement who had not escaped before the attack were killed.”

  Saying the words out loud was the same as reliving the agonizing experience all over again. “I refused to believe I had lost you, so once I was healed, I returned to your home, or what was left of it after Sarus’s males burned everything to the ground.” Even after seeing all the devastation, I had not given up, and spent several more weeks searching for her. “With my sire dead, I was the new drezdarr, and our people needed a leader. I put my personal needs aside and did whatever was necessary to end the war.”

  I gave her a few moments to contemplate what I said before asking, “Unless it brings you too much pain, will you share what happened after I left…please?” I already knew most of it, but I needed to hear the words from her lips, hear what my prolonged absence had cost her. And hoped that sharing would lead to forgiveness.

  I worried her lengthy silence meant she had no interest in closing the breach between us. When she finally raised her caring gaze to mine, I released the breath I’d been holding. “It was pretty much as you described. Two days after you left, Sarus’s males attacked the settlement. My mother and father were scientists, not skilled fighters. They fought back, but their attempts were useless against males armed with blades.”

 
Several tears streamed down her face. I wanted to pull her into my arms, to comfort her, but knew in order to heal, for us to have a chance, she needed to finish telling me everything.

  “My parents made me take Maria into the wooded area behind our home and told us to hide. Not that it did any good. Maria got away from me and… One minute, she was screaming and running back toward our house; the next, she was facedown on the ground with a soldier’s blade in her back.”

  Celeste swiped at the moisture on her face. “I knew I was too late, that there was nothing I could do for any of them, so I stayed hidden until the soldiers left. After that, I avoided all the access roads and made my way to the next settlement, where I was reunited with Laria and Sloane. Then we met Burke, and he helped us find a home and taught us how to fight.”

  I brushed my thumb along her jaw, wiping away the tear she had missed. “Is that how you became a warrior?”

  She smiled. “I don’t know if I would consider myself a warrior, but yes, learning to protect my friends and myself was a big motivator. After what happened to my family, I promised myself I would never be that helpless again.”

  “And now you work with Burke,” I said.

  “Yes, and sometimes what we do is dangerous, but it can’t be helped if we want to survive.” There was a defensiveness in her tone.

  “I understand.” I was not thrilled that what she did put her life at risk, but it was a part of who she was, and I did not want to change her. If not for her connection to Burke—something I greatly appreciated—I would never have found her again. “Is Burke the one who taught you how to wield a blade?”

  “No, that was Logan.” She absently place her hand on my leg.

  “Is he as good as you?” I slid my tail across her lap, happy when she appeared amused but did not ask me to move it.

  “Better, and way more lethal.”