Page 9 of The Arabis Triad

Paxt lead Coltan and Ashir back to the downed craft. They’d rigged up enough traps around the immediate area to ward off even the tiniest insect. Tomorrow, once they’d cared for their mate, made sure she was healed, fed, and washed, they would scout a larger area and search for food and water. They would probably be here a few days while they waited for Trum to come and retrieve them, and he would make it as comfortable as they could. For her.

Paxt mentally shook his head. He didn’t even know her name and yet she’d changed him. All of them. Their Trio had become a Quad. A family unit. A cohesive whole.

When he’d listened to their mother talk about finding her mate, he’d only heard her with half an ear, certain that she’d was embellishing the truth.

He had thought it would be a case of simple biology, that nature would choose a woman for them to produce hearty and healthy offspring. He had no idea the impact it would have on him. He didn’t think it would affect his soul.

“Do you feel it, brothers?” Paxt said.

There was a moment of silence. A moment where he thought that he was the only one feeling this connection. That he might be the odd one out.

“I feel her. In here.” Coltan thumped his chest with his fist. “She’s there. I can feel her essence. A new part of me has opened up. I never thought…”

“I thought our parents were full ofdrumasturd. Guess I was wrong,” Ashir said. His gaze darted between Coltan and Paxt. “Don’t tell me you didn’t think the same thing about them. Always kissing. Always hugging. I didn’t understand it then, but it is all I can do…” He broke off, as if not knowing how to properly describe it.

“To not touch her,” Coltan finished. “It’s as if forcing yourself to keep your hands off her is a physical injury.”

“And that touching her will be the best fracking thing in the entire universe,” Paxt said.

They all shared a smile.

“Come. Let’s see how she is healing.” Paxt said.

They headed onto the craft and toward the medi-bay. The medi-bed was set to heal her through the night, keeping her sedated enough so that she would be completely restored in body, if not mind.

His heart rate sped up in anticipation of laying his eyes on her. It would soothe the anxiety that was building in his chest. He could only imagine what he would feel like palming her smooth, warm skin, kissing her, sinking his cock into her wet, heated depths—and watching his brother do the same to her. The erotic thought had his cock standing to attention within the close confines of his leathers. Not the most comfortable of feelings, but one he embraced, nonetheless. It meant he was fully alive for the first time in his life.

He rounded the corner of the room, brimming with anticipation—and stopped short.

The bed was empty. The tubing retracted.

Ashir roared, striding over to the bed, chest heaving. “What happened?”

Coltan stepped to the control panel. “The process was interrupted. She woke and touched the tubing. It’s programmed to release a patient upon waking so they don’t become panicked.” He sent Paxt a searing look, his eyes dark. “She is not fully healed.”

“Where did she go?” Ashir asked.

The room wasn’t disturbed. Nothing was amiss. It was as though she’d just disappeared into the ether. But that was impossible. Females didn’t disappear without reason.

Two strides took him to the cleansing room. A second glance told him a towel was missing. If she’d been abducted, he didn’t think her kidnapper would stop to clothe her.

“She can’t be far away. Check the craft. Every room. Every storage area,” Paxt said.

“You don’t think she’s been taken again?” Ashir looked as devastated as he felt. They’d failed her, and their life together had barely started, yet how could any of the scaled ones come onto their craft? They hadn’t heard a thing. It was more possible she’d woken and was confused. The situation was still dire.

“A towel is missing. She is still injured. She can’t have gone far.” Paxt spun from the cleansing room and into the corridor. “Find her, brothers. And be gentle. She will be scared and might not trust us.”

“How can she think we will harm her?” Coltan said.

Paxt laid a palm on Coltan’s shoulder. “Rujali told me that at first their mate didn’t understand the bond. Humans don’t feel the same thing. Not at first. She had been taken from her planet. Treated worse than an animal. We will need to go slowly.”

It was a distant cry from times of old, when mates once found, disappeared into the closest house for days on end. It was cause for celebration. All parties knew what it was and what it meant, but times had changed with the theft of the crystals. The natural order of their planet had been disrupted and they had to make concessions for that.

Coltan nodded. “It is to be expected.”

“I will handle her with the utmost care. She means more to me than anything,” Ashir said.

Paxt nodded at his brothers. “As will we all. Let’s separate. We can look faster that way.”

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