Page 9 of Rhaz's Redemption
He put Hai down and she led him by the hand into the main cavern.
My heart twisted as I wondered if I’d ever have a tender moment like that with Rhaz. I didn’t necessarily want a tender love, but I wanted tender moments. Which was probably for the best. Even if Rhaz did like me, he wasn’t the type to love tenderly. There was an intensity to him that was as awe inspiring as it was intriguing. He had the ability to either lift you up to the clouds with his love and support or leave you in the cold with his distance. There was no middle ground with him.
I glanced over at Rhaz and found him looking at me with the same pained look the new sirret male wore. Was it such a burden to be bound to me? And if so, why did he go out of his way to collect racka leaves? Nothing about him made any goddamn sense.
The badger shifter followed our guests into the main cavern like everyone else. Apparently even Rhaz wasn’t immune to the pull of gossip.
The sirret female looked over all of us humans with wide eyes. “I didn’t realize there were so many of you. Are you all mated?”
“No,” Tarak shook his head. “But we’ve been blessed with five couplings so far.”
Interesting choice of words from our leader. He could have said there’d been six luminescense pairings but that would only lead to confusion and a very awkward conversation about how Rhaz and I had been bound by fate, and yet chose to remain apart. I was grateful he’d decided to choose his words as thoughtfully as he did.
Tarak glanced over at Rhaz and myself and a flash of sadness crossed his face. He quickly suppressed it under a smile as he turned to everyone and announced, “May I introduce two of my oldest friends, Holey the priestess’s acolyte and Zander, a fine hunter from the other dekes.”
Zander had been eyeing Fatima when his name was called and it nearly startled him. Fatima had been eyeing him as well, but while she seemed more curious than anything else, he seemed openly enamoured with her.
“You’re wearing the priestess’s pendant,” Neelu pointed out. “I thought she never took it off.”
“She doesn’t,” the acolyte said nervously as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “I had to take it off her while she slept.”
“You defied Kahina,” Drondia stated with a tone of approval.
“Yes, she and I aren’t as unified in our beliefs as we once were,” the young sirret woman confessed.
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Neelu smiled and bid the young female to come sit by her.
“I am thankful that you came, Holey,” Tarak began then glanced over at Zander who was still doing his best to look at Fatima without looking like he was looking at her. “However, I don’t understand why you are here, Zander.”
The weathered hunter straightened and faced our Savrix. “I understand the confusion, but I felt that I had to come. I saw Lumod approaching the Priestess’s cabin and requested to join him on his journey back.”
“I am glad to see you,” Tarak assured his friend as he reached out for his daughter. Tabby settled into his arms looking as sweet as the day she was born. “If you feel that you no longer have a place in the other dekes, you are welcome to join us here.”
“No,” Zander shook his head. “Not yet. Since the death of my parents, I’ve been responsible for my sister’s upbringing, and she’s adamant that she doesn’t want to leave the valley, but I’m afraid soon we will have no choice. Dameron has grown even more unstable since Drovo and Brexl’s escape. He fears you. He knows your dekes is stronger than his and he suspects you are lying about the number of females you have here.”
Zander looked around the main cavern and saw for himself that there were far more of us than what Brexl and Drovo had said there were.
“He is planning to demand that you bring your entire dekes to the next offering or he won’t let you participate at all. He wants to see for himself how many human females you’ve acquired from that crashed ship.”
Tarak held his daughter even tighter to his chest. From what I’d heard Dameron was a dangerous male and not one to be trusted. I wouldn’t want to bring my newborn child anywhere near him and it looked like Gabby and Tarak felt the same way.
“It’s a trick!” Drovo exclaimed as he protectively held Kayla in his lap. “We can’t bring our females to that evil male.”
“He isn’t looking for the truth, he’s looking to take what isn’t his.” Brexl added.
“We can’t just forfeit our right to the offering,” Lumod argued.
“Can’t we?” Axon spoke up. “Would it really be so bad to keep all the food we’ve gathered for ourselves?”
“That’s easy for you to say,” Sozu growled. “You’ve already got everything you want. What do you need the goddess for?”
“The goddess doesn’t give and she doesn’t take away. She doesn’t even exist!” Axon shouted and Sozu stood to challenge him, but before their argument could lead to a physical altercation, Rhaz stepped between them.
He’d shifted into his badger form. Soft brown fur cascaded down his back. His nose became more rounded like a snout, pointed ears sprung from the sides of his head, claws extended from his fingers, fangs hung down from his mouth, and his entire body was covered in a dark brown fur much like a werewolf.
“I will speak with Dameron.” His voice was softer than I’d expected as if the words themselves were condemning him to a fate he did not want. “I will speak with my sire.”
All of the human women gasped and the world seemed to tilt as Rhaz’s confession sunk in. I’d heard Neelu and Drondia speak of the other Savrix and how he had a mate and son, but no one would say who that son was. Suddenly all of Rhaz’s anger made sense. I’d be angry too if my father kicked me out of my community along with all of my friends. How could one man possibly be so cruel?
