Page 41 of The Ozar Triad

He had to put it down to the society she’d come from. Their males seemed to lack the inner confidence to let their females shine in their own right. As though keeping them unsure and under control, doubting their abilities, their actions and their words, even their feminism, would ever truly honor a female. Were they so weak and afraid they resorted to those tactics?

Males were built bigger, stronger, and more heavily muscled, but females bore life. Their minds focused on nurture, peace, and harmony. Their whole existence kept masculinity in check and that was more powerful than even that of the crystal. Male aggression, if unchecked, would lead to total destruction.

He shuddered to think a planet of billions of people being ruled by masculinity. It was an absolute wonder the planet hadn’t blown itself up by now. It must have had war upon war, death, despair, and destruction, instead of peaceful and harmonious negotiations where life won overall.

He had to wonder if that was why she fought so well. Living in a male-dominated world would mean war and fighting. Femininity would be an exploited weakness.

He was sure, when Riley fully understood their ways, she would finally be able to break past a life of selfish domination. It was going to be an honor to watch the transformation.

A part of his heart ached knowing that she was only one. That half of her planet’s population was repressed. Humans seemed intelligent. Civilized. Educated. He had to wonder at the erroneous gender imbalance and how far humans might have progressed if that had not been in their culture. Such a sad flaw.

Hissing and clacking echoed down the tunnel. All four of them paused, silent. They edged to the wall and flattened against it. Rujali signaled to shadow him in single file. Riley followed on silent footsteps, like the seasoned warrior she was.

A faint grey light illuminated the rock walls. Now that he’d seen the creatures that had created these tunnels, he could easily see how they had gnawed through solid rock to create them.

Rujali signaled to move cautiously. They edged forward. The strange clicking language of the scaled ones grew louder. If only he could understand them, but the translators didn’t work with their language, which was very strange. There wasn’t a known language in the universe that hadn’t been translated.

They approached a sharp bend in the wall. They flattened against the wall and Rujali peeked around the corner. His mouth was set in a grim line, his eyes dark with rage.

He motioned them to retreat. “Gods.They have all three crystals.”

Klaej reeled as the information sunk in. “Allthree? Gods, our whole Homeplanet is at risk, not just our Homeland. How did they do this? Why did we not hear of it from the other Homelands?”

Of course they might not have heard of it, with the long-term infighting of their planet’s regions. Not only was their region suffering—but all three. If they didn’t retrieve all three crystals, their entire race as a people were in dire straits. Without their retrospective crystals, each Homeland suffered as they did. No mate-bonds. No Quads. No children. No future In the matter of a generation, their species would disappear.

“I do not know, my brother. That is something we must rectify. Our people. Ourchildren.” Rujali choked on a tight throat, “We will get them all back. I don’t care about our fighting. A child is a child no matter what Homeland they are born on.”

Klaej squeezed his brother’s shoulder. Seztan nodded. Their infighting was petty. The decimation of their species put things into perspective. If they had known all three crystal had been taken, they could have worked together for the peace of their entire Homeland. Instead, they’d wasted a decade on their own. “Maybe we would have found it sooner had we worked together. We should be ashamed,” Rujali said.

“Don’t think about that, brother. We are here and we will do what we need to do,” Seztan said.

“We’ll make it right,” Klaej said.

Rujali let out a heavy sigh. “Let us look to the future. Now that we have found ours, we will ensure that for everyone on our Homeplanet. It is the only way forward.”

“So… these crystals are precious then?” An expression stole over Riley’s face. Just a flicker he would have missed if he hadn’t been looking. It was at odds with the expression she wore in the heat of battle. That expression was fierce and full of passion. This one was somewhere between lost and defiant.

Until they had her in their bed in the claiming ceremony, he would maintain his vigilance.

“They are the most precious commodity on our planet. They are beyond priceless. Our planet will not survive without them. Not only will our Homelands die, but our Homeplanet will perish as well,” Setzan said.

“Holy hell,” Riley said, her voice faltering.

Klaej forced his mind back to the task at hand. To hold one of Negari’s crystals meant certain power. To have all three? In the wrong hands, it would spell certain disaster. This was a major catastrophe waiting to happen.

“They have them connected to some sort of a machine. There are about a dozen scaled ones doing something to them, attaching wires to them. We will subdue the scaled ones first, and then retrieve the crystals when it is safe to unwire them without causing them damage. There are more of them than us. They look more like scientific types than the rougher ones that took us from the jet,” Rujali said.

Rujali settled a serious gaze on Riley. Before he spoke, she opened her mouth as an adorable scowl crossed her face.

“Don’t tell me I’m not goin’ in.”

“I was going to say nothing of the sort,” he said.

She tilted her chin, but her shoulders relaxed a fraction. “Because I’m not hiding in the shadows like a coward.”

“You, mate, are the bravest female I know. What I was going to say, as you’re the lightest and stealthiest of us all, that while we attack, you dart in and snatch the crystals once we have dealt with the scaled ones,” Rujali said.

Her brows flickered up and down. “So, you wantmeto get the crystals?”

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