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My words were met with a menacing growl. “Clara, you know what I mean. You left me to do something on your own when you could have asked for help.” He held up a hand before I could tell him I’d gotten there moments before they’d lit the cooking fires. “You did a good job rescuing your kin. It was impressive. But even the best warriors do better with backup.”
“Oh.” That wasn’t what I’d expected to hear, and I didn’t know how to react.
“From now on, we take care of family matters together.”
My heart swelled at the thought. Family. It was true. Being mates was like being married; we were family.
Then I remembered the treaty. “Oh fuck! You attacked a transport today. What if they—”
I couldn’t even form words as the image of nukes dropping onto the stronghold filled my brain. No. This was exactly what I’d been trying to avoid. All these people could be in danger because of me.
“Calm, my mate.” Krxare rubbed small circles on my back. “We are not in danger. I know you care very much about the people here, and it fills my heart with happiness. The treaty stated no Kadrixan may step foot into the colony and the surrounding areas, including the small settlement you call Utopia as well as any vehicle or road owned by the colony. The only instance I broke the rules was when I stepped into the transport, which they do not have proof of.”
I frowned. “Everything is recorded inside the vehicles. Even after it malfunctioned, the officers each had their phones, which I'm sure recorded everything.”
“Your brother turned off all recording and transmission from the transport. According to the transport’s history, someone inside the vehicle overrode the programming and took over manually, then drove into the wilderness before everything went black.”
That was convenient. The colony would suspect one of the officers. I’d never known Chris had the knowledge to do that, but, then again, he’d been working most of his adult life to gain the upper hand.
“Anyone arriving at the location will find the transport destroyed by wild animals. There was a pack of fanged wild kintars in the area when we left. There will be nothing left to suggest it was our doing,” Krxare continued. “Some of the officials may be suspicious, but they’re always suspicious. They will not have enough evidence to void the treaty and start a war, especially if it means soiling the very resources they have their eyes on.”
I relaxed. Krxare was right. The colony was greedy and wouldn’t go scorched-Earth, spoiling the land and its resources, unless they were losing a war already. The leaders and officials were a proud bunch.
“You worry about bringing trouble back to the stronghold. That was why you left on your own. Why you lied about being unhappy here.” He held me away at arm’s length.
Suddenly feeling like a kid who got caught stealing sweets, I looked down at my hands. “I thought I could handle things. I was going to come back. I wasn’t leaving you. I just didn’t want anything to come back to the stronghold.” I twisted the sheets. “They boast about the nukes they have on you guys to keep you from attacking the colony.”
“We know about the weapons and their secret island. They won’t destroy an entire continent as long as they have their eyes on the ore inside the mountains, the fresh water from our springs, and the fertility in our soil. But even if they let the weapons loose, there would be no losses here. We are well-shielded. While we would need to find another home, there should be no casualties.”
“Oh. I didn’t know.”
“Now you do. From now on, you and I are a team. Your problems are my problems, and you will bring them to me. We find solutions together, as mates do.” His hands tightened in my hair, pulling my head back so I couldn’t hide my eyes from him anymore. “You need to trust me. Do you understand?”
“Yes.” I was more than happy to say it.
I was still shocked that I’d actually saved my brother. I’d never done anything like that before; I wasn’t hero material. I’d always followed the rules the best I could, until very recently, and had never understood why my parents sometimes did things that were wrong. Like Potluck. I was glad to have had her, but I’d never understood why they’d put themselves and us at risk for a toffer. I understood now. They’d done it for us, so we could experience life the way it was meant to be.
Living in the colony, it was hard to trust anyone. Your neighbors could rat you out. Like in my case, when a co-worker had reported my choice words about the colony’s decision to route much-needed food to the rich. In spite of that, it was time I learned to trust.
He grinned, showing his sexy fangs. “Good. Now, how about a soak in the hot spring?”
That sounded perfect to me.
Chapter 29: Krxare
It had taken the two human males only several days to convince nearly every female in our stronghold that rescuing those stuck in the facility they called Utopia was a good idea. I understood that many of the females here had chosen to join us for our rut instead of going to the settlement. What I hadn't realized was that many of them had lost family and friends to that facility.
After losing contact with their loved ones for years, many had thought them lost forever. But the information the two had gotten from the prisoner before leaving him for the wild beasts had proven that those people were still alive. Beaten down and mentally downtrodden, but still alive.
The most important thing to my warriors was that we keep these females happy. So, we took the matter to heart and started a plan to infiltrate the facility and find its weaknesses.
“If those humans are unhappy at the facility, freeing them will help us as well,” Vostak said from across the table in our war room. “If life at the facility is really that bad, then there will be many females there willing to join with us.”
He was correct. Some of the females we might free could very well be our future mates. This had gotten many of our warriors invested.
We wouldn't be able to take in all the survivors, nor would we want to. We needed to keep the stronghold safe for the females who chose to live with us. This was why Chris and Mark planned on starting a new settlement nearby—close enough to trade and visit but far enough to have their own independence.
Instead of trading with the colony and their corrupt officials, we would trade with the settlement, provided we were successful in freeing the indentured colonists.
