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Rose came up to them and hooked an arm under Tegan’s, seeming to know that she was about to collapse. “Rixx was being held by Zevrian mercenaries. We rescued him.”
Tori’s brown skin paled a few shades. “Zevrians?”
Rose flicked a quick glance over Tori, no doubt registering that she was also Zevrian. “They’re all dead.”
“Good.” Tori turned her attention back to the building as Vrax muttered something in Dothvek.
Tegan’s pulse quickened when she spotted Pog in the window with a Dothvek on his back, although she couldn’t tell through the smoke which one. As much as she didn’t wish Rixx harm, she hoped with all her heart that it was Zaandr on Pog’s back.
Pog leapt from the window, but just as he did, the building behind him gave a groaning shudder. The walls cracked and came apart, lingering in the air for a fraction of a heartbeat before collapsing with a roar as if they were alive and being torn apart. Smoke and dust rushed up in a billowing cloud, as Tegan was pierced through with blinding pain that wrenched a tortured scream from her lips.
Chapter
Nineteen
Tegan sank to her knees as the building collapsed into a pile of smoking rubble. A sob escaped her lips as she fought not to let despair consume her, but she couldn’t sense Zaandr anymore. She’d never been able to read him like he could her, but she’d enjoyed the faint hum of his emotions mingling with hers. Now, she couldn’t feel anything.
“Vrax!” Tori called after the Dothvek as he ran toward the remains of the building, but he didn’t slow. She growled, scowling at her mate’s back. “Stubborn Dothvek.” Then she raced in after him, her wild curls flying behind her like a mane.
“This is my fault,” Tegan said, as Rose crouched with her on the ground. “I cursed him.”
“Are you a witch?” Rose asked.
Tegan shook her head. “He was fine before he met me. I was fine before I met him. But this is what happens when you care too much.” She waved a hand at the smoldering rubble. “If you care about someone too much, they leave. They run away, or they die, but it never ends up well. It’s a curse.”
Rose gave a sad shake of her head. “Loving someone isn’t a curse, and none of this is your fault.”
Tegan’s scratchy throat constricted. “I didn’t even tell him…before I left him in that burning house. I couldn’t tell him.”
Rose put an arm around her shoulders. “I don’t think you needed to. Anyone with eyes could see how crazy you were for him.”
Rose’s words didn’t make Tegan didn’t feel any better. She should have told Zaandr, but she’d been scared of exactly what had happened. It had been too fast and too real, and it had petrified her.
No matter how hard Tegan had tried to shield herself, she had still been left broken hearted. She had still lost him. She had still been left alone.
More Dothveks appeared, running toward the smoking remains of the building, along with residents of Kurril, who appeared with buckets of water to douse the flames still burning. Even the wounded resistance fighter was pawing through the rubble with her one uninjured arm.
Tegan pushed herself to her feet. She couldn’t fall apart. Not when Zaandr and Rixx were in there somewhere. She gave Rose a hug and thanked her as Cat rushed up to her, and her two Dothvek mates kept running toward the wreckage.
“We heard,” she said, as she caught her breath, motioning to her head. “Well, the Dothveks heard like they do.”
“They felt us all the way from the ship?”
Cat shook her head. “Not felt. They got a call for help—from Zaandr.”
Tegan’s heart stuttered in her chest. Zaandr had sent a mental message to his Dothvek brothers for help? “When?”
“I don’t know. As long ago as it takes to run full-out from the shipyard. All the guys got it and took off.”
Tegan hadn’t sensed any call for help, but she wasn’t Dothvek. Plus, she’d been in a state of panic and distress. She didn’t know how Dothvek mind reading worked, but she was sure her near hysteria didn’t make it easier.
Then she spotted a flash of green. She waved her hands in front of her to dissipate the smoke as she walked toward the green, expecting to see a bird with lots of feathers. Instead, there was a green creature with a long trunk spurting water at the fire.
“Pog!” She rushed to him, her gaze scouring the area surrounding him. “Where’s Zaandr and Rixx? Where’s the Dothvek who was on your back?”
“That’s Pog?” Cat asked, blinking rapidly, as she pushed her curly hair from her face. “Are you sure?”
Pog swung his trunk and blasted water onto a limp, gold-skinned body a few steps away.
