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“Would you take one of the glen for me?” My cheeks warmed as his stare intensified, but I lifted my chin and soldiered on. “It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever been.” I lied a little. This place was also special because of what we’d shared.
He didn’t call me on it, only stepped around me and raised his phone to tap at the screen.
As he moved past me again, I said, “Thank you.”
He grunted.
But I smiled. It had been his happy grunt.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Raxnor
The valley opened out to my right, the sun peeking over the mountain tops to cut across the space in an ever-advancing line of light. A brisk wind swept over us as we left the enclosed glen. The rushing sound of the waterfall fell away, and the tiny chirps of small flying lizards filled the air as they darted from one rocky outcrop to the next.
Where on Zaar, my home world, most life had arisen from a mammalian ancestor, here on Tularia everything was reptile or insect. What was it like where Hyoo-mons came from? “You said that was the most beautiful place you’d ever seen. Did your planet look different than here?”
“Not originally. There are pictures and movies from hundreds of years ago that show mountains and forests and trees and animals.” She fell quiet for a moment, then said, “No, there weren’t any cats as special as you.”
The kreecat let out a satisfied trill.
“I grew up in one of the largest cities on Earth,” Zo-Fee continued. “Los Angeles is trapped on this narrow strip of land between the ocean and mountains. So when the population kept increasing, there was nowhere to build but up. I could see the mountains from my family’s apartment on the eighty-third floor, but I never got to visit them.”
“Why not, if they were that close?”
“They were owned by the mega-rich of Hollywood.”
I frowned as my translator chip skipped over this word. “I do not know this Hull-ee-wood.”
“It’s where a lot of Tee-Vee shows and movies were made.”
My frown turned into a scowl. We’d recently discovered the Hyoo-mon ship and rescued all the females still frozen in sleep. The Hyoo-mons already awake and living on theDaredevilhad been so excited about recovering their entertainment database that they’d started making plans to turn one of the ship’s training rooms into a “theater.” But I liked that we had multiple training rooms. It meant I didn’t need to spend time around people if I didn’t want to.
“What about your world? I assume this isn’t it. You’re like Lila—your coloring’s all wrong for here.”
“You’re right. I’m from Zaar.” Simply saying the name aloud sent a pang through my heart. Even if no one there but my sister missed me, it had still been home. As grateful as I was to join the crew of theDaredevil, it had never quite felt like home.
But if Zo-Fee accepts me as her mate, all of that will change. I’d seen it with my friends. Gravin, Kirel, Sul, and Zol had all found and bound their Goddess-given mates. They were happier than ever before. And more than happy—they exuded contentment, having found the missing piece of their souls.
“What’s it like? Zaar?”
“It’s a lot like Tuluria, though a cooler planet. We have more forests than jungles.” I swept my arm out. “I grew up in mountains like these.”
“So not a city?”
I grunted. “No, thank frek. I don’t know what I would have done if I couldn’t have—” I broke off. I’d been about to say: if I couldn’t have escaped into the mountains to get away from my family. From the obvious way they loved my sister.
And didn’t love me.
I cleared my throat. “I spent a lot of time outdoors as a child and teen. I even went to some special camps on other parts of the planet to learn more about different natural habitats. It’s one of the things that got me interested in learning lots of different environments for the various planets. It’s why I became an infiltration specialist.”
“That is so amazing that you got to do all of that!”
I didn’t disabuse her of her interpretation. It had been good for me to find something I loved at such a young age. I’d found an approval in my instructors I never had at home. It was easier for them—they had no real emotional ties to me that my banishment would break. Intellectually, I could understand my parents’ coolness.
In my heart, it still hurt.
Zo-Fee’s excited voice cut through my sad thoughts, driving them away. “Did you have dragons?”
