Page 63 of Taming the Alien Outlaw
Mak nudges me and whimpers, almost as if she’s reassuring herself I’m okay. I don’t release Janik, but I glance down at her and give her head and ears a comforting stroke.
“I knew you’d find us.” It’s for both of them.
“You were right about my moth…about Mohneek.” His voice is filled with immense pain.
“I’m sorry.” She may be an evil bitch, but she’s also the only mother he’s known. I’m not sure it’s a betrayal he’ll ever recover from. “You spoke to her, then?”
Janik nods. “She stole me as a youngling in order to raise me as part of her plot for revenge against the king after what he did to her.”
“What did he do?” Horek and Quinn approach us, neither appearing to want to let go of the other either.
“According to her, he was visiting Noleska when the mating fever struck. He went mad and attacked my mother’s father, almost killing him. When she intervened to try and save his life, the king turned on her and was so overcome with mating lust that he…used her violently. After it was over, he dumped a pouch of credits next to her and left the city immediately.” Janik recounts the story his mother had told him. “She told me she gave birth to a sickly son who died. I was taken, because she wanted the king to suffer as much as she had. She raised me to despise both Danik and Alik, to think them corrupt. Her goal was to get me to go to war with the prince, killing him in the process. She thought having all the riches afforded to her as the mother of the newest prince was the least she deserved.”
“Jesus,” Quinn rasps out.
My heart breaks at his pain. I try to feel bad for Mohneek, but it’s difficult after everything she’s done. Who knows, though? Maybe if I’d been raped and the child that resulted from it died, I might have wanted revenge against the man who wronged me,too. Either way, it’s clear the poor woman isn’t well and hasn’t been for a long time.
“That’s not possible,” Horek says.
“What isn’t?” I ask, confused.
“King Danik wasn’t on Bohna before he mated Queen Veroneek. He and several high lords of the Bohnari council had traveled to Kovari in order to arrange a trade agreement,” Horek explains. “The Kovarians were being difficult and the negotiations took place over an entire anum. He remained on their planet for the duration to prove he was sincere in his desire to broker a deal.”
I glance at Janik and back to Horek. “If it wasn’t the king, then who was it?”
Neither males have an answer. Will Janik ever discover the culprit?
Approaching footsteps catch the attention of both males and the phinnek. They push us behind them and prepare to defend us. A small retinue of guards burst around the corner. With them are several males wearing the uniform I’ve seen on all the healers.
“Commander,” the guard in the lead says.
Horek breaks away from us to speak with his men while Janik drags me back into his arms. Devon and Lindsey join us, while the other women remain huddled together against the wall of the nearest building.
“I’ve never been more glad to see a bunch of guards as I am to see them,” Lindsey says. She stares at the bodies strewn about and shudders. “Are all those guys dead? Did you guys know I’ve seen another dead body once before. Although that one hadn’t been quite as recently dead as those over there. I mean, it doesn’tmake any of them more or less dead just because the one I saw had been dead longer than those over there.”
Devon gently clasps the sides of Lindsey’s head and draws her gaze away from the bodies. “Look at me. Nowhere else, okay? Just look at me and breathe. Nice and slow. In and out.”
Thankfully, Lindsey does what Devon says. They stare at each other, with Devon leading their breathing until the other woman’s slows and evens out. Lindsey shudders again and for a second I expect her to start bawling, but she manages to keep herself together far better than I think I would.
“Okay, now?” Devon asks her, and she nods.
Slowly, she releases her, but puts herself in a position so that Lindsey isn’t able to see the bodies, not all of whom appear to be dead. In spite of everything that’s happened, I’m sure that’s a relief to Janik and Horek. Alik, as well, even if he’s not aware of what’s going on.
The other six women finally appear to be snapping out the shock that’s held them, because a couple are crying, while Cadence, Molly, and Geneva join our small group.
“Do you think the others are okay?” Cadence asks.
“The guards will find them,” Quinn replies, although it’s not really an answer.
I guess that’s all she needed to hear, because she nods. Speaking of guards reminds me about Bannik. I glance up at Janik, who still hasn’t released me. Not that I’m complaining.
“One of Horek’s guards was the one who took me out of the camp and brought me back to Preska. I’m just not sure if he’s Team Alik or Team Janik.”
Janik goes rigid. “Who?”
“Bannik.”
My mate curses. “He is part of the rebellion.”
