Page 43 of Claimed By Brothers

“It’s a message from Umok,” I reply, my voice low and faded. “He has Valen.”

Her gasp is yet another kick in the guts for me. She covers her mouth with both hands, her eyes bulging with fear as she, too, understands where we’re headed. Where this entire ordeal will eventually end. My knees quiver, but I take a deep breath, determined to pull myself together and stay focused. My son needs me now more than ever.

“What does he want?” she asks, though she already knows the answer.

“You and your friends in exchange for my son,” I reply, somehow numb as I say the words out loud. “If I don’t deliver the four of you within the day, he will kill my son and toss him downstream for me to find.”

Amber breaks down, and I can’t even touch her. I’m too angry and helpless. Umok has my son. He somehow snuck into this place and took Valen while she was down by the river with her fucking friends. The same friends who have been stoking unnecessary fires between us all. I was wrong. I was so wrong about everything. About Amber, about Cynthia and the whole lot. About my ability to handle this situation and my ability to come through for the woman I’ve come to love so deeply.

I underestimated Umok and his sharp mind, too. He planned this as soon as I left his house the other night. He must’ve had me followed. He must’ve learned about Valen. He would’ve had someone watching from somewhere close enough to see us together, to see where we live. All it took was a handful of minutes, surely no more, for Umok or one of his men to sneak into town and snatch my son away from me. He never intended to follow through with our deal.

And now, I’m the wretched fool.

18

Amber

They pulled the search parties back.

Binzen said there was no point now that he knows this is Umok’s doing. The message was painfully clear. Surrender the four human women or fish your child out of the river tomorrow. The Sunnaites are aware that looking for Umok at this point is close to futile. He did his homework. He knows how the Fire Tribe is organized on a daily basis, and he definitely had me followed from close enough to find the perfect window of time that allowed him to steal Valen. My heart is in pieces. My conscience pummels me with regret and guilt. I should’ve been more careful.

I never should’ve given anyone the opportunity to come anywhere near Valen, particularly in these trying times. My eyes sting, but I’ve run out of tears to cry. My feet and my shoulders feel heavy. I wandered through and around the town for hours before I collapsed outside our house before Binzen came home to find his son missing.

The evening falls over the Sun River Plateau in dramatic shades of red and purple, yellow clouds stretching and streaking across the sky like furious brush strokes. The temperature rises, too, as summer settles over the land. It was already hot enough, but it’s going to get worse. I worry for us in the long term, and by us, I mean my friends and me. The humans. Our ability to adjust to this environment. I don’t know how we’ll cope with higher degrees of heat, particularly since I’m growing increasingly concerned that I may, in fact, be pregnant.

I watch the Mal clan people as they set up their defensive perimeter around the town, fighters sharpening their weapons and younglings stacking more sand sacks along the plateau’s lip. There’s a sense of doom and urgency settling everywhere, and I see it in their crimson eyes as it swells and burns like fire. They’re afraid. Hell, they have every reason to be afraid. Also, I’m pretty sure they despise me. Few even speak to me, and it’s usually just a handful of words, just enough for politeness. They blame me for everything. I blame myself.

Binzen is down by the river, sitting on the edge of a flat rock just above the water. The stream whispers beneath his bare feet, his tail flailing restlessly as the darkness of the evening begins to wrap him in maroon shadows. He is beyond upset. He is a ticking time bomb sizzling with the kind of fury and despair I’ve never seen before.

“Can I join you?” I ask, my voice barely a whisper.

He gives me a hard look, the kind of look that cuts deeper than my remorse. “I’m not even sure I want to be around you right now,” he says.

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault Valen was taken, I know.”

“No, it’s not about that,” Binzen replies, gazing at the stream rushing below. “You’re not to blame. He would’ve found a way to get our son, one way or another. No, I’m angry because I’m to blame.”

“How are you to blame? I don’t understand.”

He shakes his head slowly. “I love you too much to see you stuck here, miserable, always looking up to the stars and longing for home. It was my love for you that has brought upon this predicament.”

I can’t figure out an appropriate response because I have yet to make the connection, so I quietly wait for Binzen to finish his statement. I can almost hear the thoughts forming in his head, the conclusions unraveling, and the guilt eating away at him. He is so handsome in this fading dusk light. I would give anything to be able to touch him again, to lose myself in his arms and find comfort in his kiss. These feelings I’ve been fighting, I don’t think it’s the bond that’s truly causing them. I think it’s me, and the knowledge of having hurt the men I love is too much to bear. Izzo will be equally devastated when he finds out. Oh, God, I’ll have to face him, too.

“I wanted to broker a deal with Umok, unbeknownst to anyone—especially my brother. Izzo would never have allowed it,” Binzen finally says. “I sought him out near Cloud Mountain. We were going to meet somewhere else earlier today. I promised him Cynthia, Alicia, and Jewel in exchange for a starship.”

I gasp. “Binzen, why would you—”

“I was never going to hand them over!” he snaps. “I lied through my teeth. I even offered some of our remaining girls and women from each clan of the Fire Tribe in order to sweeten the deal. Umok is desperate for wombs right now, and I wanted him to surrender one of his ships to me in return. When he agreed, I was doubtful, and I was ready for an ambush, too, but he never showed up. Then again, I was going to swindle him, anyway. I guess I had it coming.”

My stomach tightens with anguish and longing. I would give anything to hold him, to kiss his sharp cheek, and let his inner heat soar through me. “What was the plan, exactly?”

“He was going to deliver a ship, and I was going to deliver women for breeding purposes,” he says. “I came back here to find my son missing. I understood then that he never intended to honor the deal, much like I never intended to honor the deal. I was foolish, blinded by my love for you.” He turns to look at me, and the pained look in his red eyes fills me with yet another wave of blistering regret. “I wanted to help you go home, Amber. Without Izzo’s knowledge and with a full understanding of the consequences of my actions. I was ready to let you go forever if that’s what it took to see you happy.”

“Oh, Binzen.”

“And look where that got me? Umok has my son. Our son. When Izzo returns tomorrow morning, I will have to tell him the truth. I can’t even face him. We have already lost Valen’s mother. Now, we are at Umok’s mercy.”

He must feel like a fool. I certainly feel like a colossal idiot at this point. For so long, I have been fighting our bond, constantly telling myself it would be okay, that I could go on living without them, and that my only good option was to leave Sunna and return to Earth. It didn’t matter how crazy and perilous it would be. It didn’t matter that I was leaving Binzen and Izzo behind—these marvelous giants with devilish tails and horns and the fiery hearts of true angels who somehow captured my heart from the moment they set their crimson eyes on me.

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