Page 4 of Darik's Quest

“He told you?” As soon as she cried out the words Nicolle wished she could yank them back and leave them unsaid.

“Not directly, no but the pack bond’s been unsettled. Aydarr’s been pretty worried.”

“I don’t have time to discuss this now,” Nicolle said, heading for the door and fighting her residual vertigo. “I’m going on the retrieval mission.”

She made it to Aydarr’s conference room with increasing strength and copying Jamokan’s early approach, she opened the door and sailed in, Jill right behind her. “I’m going with you to get Darik,” she said directly to Aydarr. “He’s my mate—it’s my right.”

“Actually, I think it’s a good idea for her to go,” Jill said from behind her, shocking Nicolle. “Whatever’s going on with Darik, the presence of his mate will be calming.”

“I agree,” said a new voice from behind her and Nicolle wheeled to see Timtur the senior healer standing at the entrance to the room. “You told me Darik was at the Great Mother’s grove so we must assume one possibility is she sent for him.”

“I’m not discounting anything,” Aydarr said. “Darik is a good man, one of our best and this is totally unlike him. He’s more than earned our forbearance until we find out what is going on. I told Gabe to meet us at the landing field in ten minutes, so let’s move out.”

The Supreme Alpha lingered to kiss his mate goodbye. Nicolle walked out of the room with Jamokan.

“Darik is one of the people I’m closest to on this damn planet,” the canid pack Alpha said to her as they walked. “I’d defend him to my last breath and I know he’d do the same for me. Stop worrying about pack justice and let’s focus on what’s going on with Darik himself.”

“Are your enforcers going with us?” she asked, a little mollified but not entirely reassured.

“Of course. Aydarr’s are too but because they’re our best soldiers, not to carry out any summary punishment. Mine are meeting us at the landing field.” He squeezed her hand in a comforting manner and sped up to walk with Mateer and Kierce.

Nicolle was happy not to be required to make conversation with anyone else. When she got to the flyer, she was ordered to board and take a seat in the front and the Badari remained outside for about five more minutes, strategizing. Finally she heard them boarding and Gabe passed her, heading to the cockpit. He patted her shoulder as he went. Aydarr and Jamokan came to sit across the aisle from her and she craned her neck to check the seats behind which were occupied by the enforcers. It was rare for all of them to go out on a mission together but with Aydarr’s safety at stake, as well as Jamokan’s, she wasn’t surprised. A trio of the most senior pack soldiers sat in the stern.

Timtur came down the aisle. “May I sit?” he asked.

“Of course.” She wasn’t sure she wanted any company but at least Timtur had raised an optimistic possibility of the goddess herself having commanded Darik to attend her. It would be unusual but her orders would supersede anything else, even Aydarr himself. “Do you really think the Great Mother told Darik to fly to the grove?”

Timtur studied her face. “No. It would be most unusual, especially where he isn’t a healer. The goddess usually appears to us in visions but I felt it necessary to at least mention the thought. And of course the Great Mother is accountable only to herself so she could have chosen to do this.” He put his hand over hers and Nicolle saw the faint green aura which meant he was using his healing power on her. Calm descended on her body like a soft cloak and she took a deep breath, feeling the knots in her chest loosen. “These men love Darik, as do I. We’re brothers and nothing can break our bond. Your mate will be fine, no matter what is going on here. If—and it’s a big if—he’s done anything which Aydarr can’t forgive, any punishment would be minimal, trust me.”

“I do,” she said and not simply because he was saying what she needed to hear. Timtur was known to be a man of outstanding integrity. He’d never tell her things which he didn’t believe just to help her cope with anxiety. “You think he went to the grove because of what happened to us, don’t you?”

“The stone circle we built as a place of worship for the Great Mother in the valley is a beautiful shrine,” Timtur said. “She let it be known the site was perfectly acceptable to her and she has made her presence felt there. But for us, raised in the original lab, nowhere else is as special or sacred as her grove. Whatever Darik needed, whatever he was seeking, could only be found there. Our task now is to get in, find him, and get out before a Khagrish patrol detects his presence or ours.”

* * *

Much to her own surprise, Nicolle napped a bit during the long flight to the original lab. Her sleep was dreamless and she woke refreshed. It had been a long time since her head wasn’t full of the demands and stresses of her job being the valley’s chief administrator, which she’d allowed to pile up to distract from her lingering grief over the loss of the much hoped for pregnancy. Right now, as Gabe maneuvered the flyer over the complex and made his way to the grove, she couldn’t think about anything but Darik and what to say to him when they reunited.

We need to talk about a lot of things we’ve both been avoiding.

Timtur gave her a nutrition drink and insisted she consume the whole thing while Gabe was landing. The fluid was tasty and her energy level rose with every swallow.

Aydarr stopped at her seat as the squad prepared to debark. “Don’t be alarmed at all the weaponry my men are carrying. We have to be prepared for a Khagrish attack. You can come with us into the grove.”

“Thank you.” She rose hastily and fell in behind him. “Darik isn’t answering me. Is he talking to you?”

“No,” Aydarr said. “I can sense he’s here because of the pack bond but there’s no response.”

Nicolle found herself surrounded by grim faced Badari soldiers, with Camron specifically detailed to watch over her. The group dispersed to take up defensive positions outside the grove while Gabe lifted off in the flyer to maintain aerial coverage. Aydarr, Jamokan, Timtur and one enforcer from each pack set aside their weapons and walked into the trees, with Nicolle and Camron moving quietly behind.

She’d never been here before and was amazed by the sheer size of the trees, stretching hundreds of feet into the cobalt blue sky. As she walked among the giants, she felt as if she was already inside a place of worship, where anything was possible. The cool shade was a relief. Her stomach was in knots worrying about what would happen when she reached the glade at the center of the living circle. What should she say? What would Darik say? Would the Alphas give her time alone with him? Was the goddess going to be here?

The latter thought was terrifying.

When she emerged from the shade and stepped into the grassy meadow which was the heart of the grove, Nicolle stared across the wide expanse, shielding her eyes with one hand. Aside from a giant boulder in the exact center, the space was empty. Her heart took an extra beat and she had a hard time breathing.

“There, by the Great Mother’s chair,” Camron said, pointing with one talon. “He lies there.”

She rushed after Aydarr and Jamokan as the Alphas hastened toward the chair and what she could now see was her mate’s unmoving form, lying in the grass, with the purple flowers scattered across his entire body. “Is he dead?” she cried, although the mate bond told her Darik was alive.

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