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Vrax head up his hands. “Never mind. Even though we’re related, there are some things I don’t need to know.”
Zaandr appreciated that his kinsman didn’t insist on a full explanation, although he knew all the Dothveks had picked up on his sudden connection to Tegan. Since they’d all taken mates who weren’t from their home world, they understood better than most what it was like to fall under the spell of humans—or in Vrax’s case, a Zevrian.
“I owe you and Tegan an apology.” Vrax sighed deeply. “And most of all, Rixx. The only reason any of this happened was because the Zevrians were still bitter over how things ended when Tori and I were on Kurril. It didn’t occur to me that enough of them would have remained here, or that they’d take Rixx thinking he was me.”
Zaandr patted the Dothvek’s shoulder. “The only ones who deserve blame for this are the Zevrians.”
Vrax’s guilt and regret pulsed off him in waves. “I should have been the one taken and the one…” His voice trailed off as he surveyed the rubble.
“He is not dead,” Zaandr said with more force than he felt.
He couldn’t bear to think that his friend had sacrificed himself so that Zaandr could survive and be with Tegan. When they’d been standing together in the window and acrid smoke had been making it hard to speak, Rixx had refused to go first, even though he was the one who’d been held captive and was injured. His friend had given Zaandr a hard, fast hug and told him that he needed to go first.
“You have someone waiting for you, Zaandr, and unless I’ve lost my touch at reading females, she has something she wants to tell you.” When Zaandr had hesitated, his friend had given him a shove. “If you don’t get on the back of this green chicken, I’m going to push you out the window myself.”
Zaandr’s throat had been tight as he’d gotten on Pog’s back, and the goodbye between them had felt more final than he had wanted it to feel.
But Rixx had slapped Pog on the rump and forced himself to smile through the coughing. I’m right behind you, brother.
Then Pog had leapt into the air, unfurled his wings, and the building had emitted a deafening roar behind them moments before it collapsed.
“It is not your fault either.” Vrax’s voice snapped him back to the present, and Zaandr realized that the Dothvek had been sensing his thoughts.
“He should be here. We came here to rescue him.”
A sense of dread washed over him, and Vrax’s face contorted as he obviously felt the same thing. They both looked over to where the twin Dothveks Dev and Trek were standing over something, their expressions somber. Zaandr stopped breathing as grief sunk its sharp talons into his heart.
Rixx.
Chapter
Twenty-One
Tegan looked up when Zaandr entered their quarters. “Any luck?”
Since returning to the ship, she and the Dothvek had made their bonding public, and had been given a large room to share. She’d thought it would be strange to suddenly share quarters with a guy—and one so large—but they’d adjusted to living together without much fuss. Of course, Zaandr had spent almost every waking moment searching for his friend.
The Dothvek shook his head, kicked off his boots, and flopped onto their bed. “We pawed through every bit of the rubble, and I’m not convinced any of the bodies are Rixx. No matter what the others think.”
She stood from the desk where she’d been making notes about the various pregnant females on board and updating her estimates on their due dates. “And you still can’t sense him?”
Zaandr scowled and didn’t answer.
“There are lots of reasons you might not be picking up on his thoughts,” Tegan said, even though she didn’t fully believe what she was saying. “The Den of Thieves isn’t exactly quiet. Between the crowds and the criminals, the emotions must be a mess to sort through.”
“They are,” Zaandr admitted, “but I should have picked up something by now.”
Tegan sat next to him on the edge of the bed and rested a hand on his leg. “You and the others have done everything possible to find him.”
Zaandr scraped a hand through his long hair. “It’s like he vanished into thin air.”
From what Tegan had heard, if there was any place you could disappear without a trace, it was Kurril, although usually those who disappeared were trying not to be found. Rixx had no reason to hide from his fellow Dothveks.
She believed Zaandr when he said that the bodies they’d found weren’t his friend, even though some had been burned so badly it was impossible to discern any features. If he believed Rixx was alive, then so did she. Still, she knew his faith in finding his friend was flagging.
“But you’ll keep looking, right?”
A low sound rumbled from Zaandr’s throat. “We can’t. K’alvek heard the guards at the shipyard gate say that a Zevrian fleet is approaching. If they’re looking for the ones who are responsible for the death of their people, we can’t be anywhere near here when they arrive.”
