Page 132 of Dancing for the Minotaur

“Not yet.”

Something about those two words chilled him.

“Not yet?”

“The male intends to draw her to him.”

Taurex felt his blood turn cold.

“Then I have to reach them before she does.”

“Yes.”

He thought of Terra facing the man who had stalked her, photographed her children and put his hands on her against her will. Of course she would go to him if he had Cody and Lisa. Terra would walk straight into the Seven Hells themselves for her younglings.

And Orlov knew it.

“Please, My Lady, tell me if there is anything else I need to know,” Taurex said urgently.

For a moment, the Goddess said nothing, and Taurex had the strange sensation that She was looking at him—not at his body but through every layer of him, seeing his grief and his love and all the things he had tried unsuccessfully to bury beneath work.

Then Her voice filled him one final time.

“Do not concern yourself with whether Terra will choose you when this is over. Do not concern yourself with Bonds or mating or what you believe you have lost. Go because two frightened younglings need a warrior, and because the woman you love needs help whether she asks for it or not.”

Taurex closed his eyes briefly.

“Yes, Goddess.”

For one instant, the Goddess remained, and he felt as though warm arms were enfolding him in a comforting hug.

Taurex lowered his head.

“Thank you, Goddess.”

A warmth unlike anything physical moved briefly through his chest.

“Go, warrior.”

And then She was gone and the shuttle suddenly felt very small and very quiet.

Taurex sat motionless for perhaps two heartbeats before all of his training took over. He made a call to the Monstrum Mother Ship and informed them that he needed the fold in space redirected to Earth’s orbit instead of to Mars. Then he engaged the new flight path, pushed the engines to maximum safe output and raced toward the fold.

His grief was still there. Nothing had changed between him and Terra. She might still want nothing to do with him when this was over, and Taurex would accept that if it was her choice.

But none of it mattered now.

Cody and Lisa were in danger. Terra was in danger. And somewhere on Earth, Viktor Orlov believed he could take the woman Taurex loved by using her children against her.

Taurex’s nostrils flared as a low growl filled the shuttle.

Orlov was about to discover his mistake.

“Hold on, younglings,” he murmured as the stars ahead of him began to bend and the fold point opened like a dark wound in space. “I am coming.”

Then Taurex drove his golden shuttle into the fold and headed for Earth.

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