Page 25 of Sevan

Chapter Thirteen

Sevan stared up at the electromagnetically charged village fencing system. “With the amount of panic that wells up at the very mention of this Stegian’s name, and from the sight of what lengths they go to in order to keep him out, I’m beginning to think he’s fifty feet tall.”

“At least,” Jordan said, arching a brow as he tossed a rock towards the fence. It bounced back hard and fast, nearly taking Jordan’s head with it as it went. Nina appeared behind him and caught it with one hand so effortlessly that both Sevan’s and Jordan’s jaws dropped.

She smiled. “Careful, boys, it would be most unpleasant to find you decapitated by your own hands.”

“See,” Jordan adjusted his navy-blue off-duty shirt collar, “told you she cared.”

Nina laughed. “If caring means I will have to spend my evening gathering outsiders’ heads off the ground before a child can wake to find them, then yes, I do care.”

Unable to hold his laughter in, Sevan let it loose as he watched his brother do his best to play off the obvious blow to his ego. Nina walked up to them slowly, eyeing Sevan in a way that left him unsure if she was about to turn on him as well.

“You never made it to the quarters that were arranged for you, Captain.”

“Uh,” he murmured, drawing a blank instead of an explanation. Somehow, he didn’t think she’d want to hear that he’d spent the night bunked with Lorelei, holding her in his arms and making love to her again and again as he had in his dreams.

“Want to tell us about this Stegian guy?”

“Not particularly.” Her lack of emotion took him by surprise.

Sevan shifted awkwardly at first before deciding he had a right to know. “Excuse me, but after the report I received about someone sabotaging repair efforts on my ship and the encounter with the were-creature yesterday, I think circumstances warrant us being informed about the situation, in full.”

Nina drew in her lower lip, an action he’d seen Lorelei do in many dreams. “I see. So, I take it you believe it was one of our people who tampered with your vessel?”

“I can assure you it wasn’t one of my own.” Even as Sevan said it, he wasn’t sure he believed it. If what they had told him was correct, and Stegian really did have the power to control men’s minds, then it could very well have been one of his own. The thought left him slightly chilled.

Nina merely smiled, not appearing offended in any way by his comment. “Captain, how well do you know your people’s history?”

Jordan snickered and Sevan shot him a nasty look. He shut up. “Well enough. Why?”

“Do you know of Project Exorcism?” she asked, arching a dark brow as she ran her fingers over a set of blue markings on her forearm. For a split second, Sevan was sure that they began to glow. It was gone so fast that he wasn’t positive if it was his mind playing tricks on him or not.

Jordan cleared his throat. “What does Earth’s removal of supernatural beings have to do with Stegian? Of all the vessels sent out containing paranormal payloads, only one survived.”

A horrible thought occurred to Sevan. He gasped, not wanting to believe it to be true. “No, brother. Only one made it to the predetermined destination. The rest were presumed lost—destroyed by the meteoroid shower.”

Nina nodded. “I see that you’re a fast thinker, Captain.”

“Are you telling us that Stegian escaped from one of the vessels before it was torn apart?” Jordan asked, stealing the question from Sevan’s lips.

“No.” She let out a soft laugh. “No escape pods were necessary. The vessel made an unauthorized emergency landing just outside of our village almost a hundred and fifty years ago.”

“Nina.”

Sevan looked behind him to find Christian standing there, his blond hair tied back at the base of his neck and wearing only a pair of dark brown pants. He locked gazes with Nina, and the look he gave her was anything but friendly. “The man you assigned to do morning systems checks has not completed them or reported in. I sent Pheebes to look into the matter.”

“Hey, Chieftain,” Sevan said, not caring how sarcastic he came across. “How’s your day so far? Anything evil take your mind over and try to make you hurt my wife?”

Nina and Christian both stared at him with wide eyes. It was Nina who finally spoke. “Your wife?”

Jordan tipped his head, looking past Nina and smiling as he locked eyes with Sevan. “Smooth way to let them know.”

“Let us know what?” Christian asked, his already deep voice suddenly sounding even lower.

“Jacquelyn!”

Sevan glanced around and did his best to figure out what was going on. They’d all mentioned Jacquelyn several times since he’d arrived, but he had yet to meet her.

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