Page 5 of Ruarc
Falon tugs on his long ponytail in frustration, “Are you all trying to get me killed? Slavic and Einar will string me up if I show up with their mates.”
Ruby flings her beautiful red hair before grinning evilly at Falon. “You let us handle our men, Falon. I promise Slavic will grumble and bitch in the beginning, but I’m pretty good at bringing out his good side. All you have to do is drop us off and leave.”
“The frack, I will. You have all given me the perfect reason to disobey their orders. Bikar and Murgul do not need me here. They are perfectly capable of circling Deapra on their own, but when I brought that up to Slavic, he was adamant that the three of us stay on board. I think originally it was because of all of you, but now I can say that I caught you trying to steal the ship and that you forced me to fly you down to the surface.”
Heather starts laughing just as she playfully bumps him with her hip. “Uh huh … just how did the four of us force someone twice our size to do anything?”
“I will think of something. Do you females want to keep discussing this or leave before Bikar catches on?” When no one says a word, he smiles. “Great, take a seat and let us go see how much trouble we can all get into.”
The next thing I know, the shuttle is turning, and we are exiting the Zenith. I can see a red light flashing on the console, but Falon seems to be ignoring it. He maneuvers the shuttle a safe distance away from the Zenith before accelerating. Pinned back in the seat, I grit my teeth while Ruby laughs like she is having the time of her life.
Quickly, it feels like we are in a free fall away from where the Zenith was orbiting Deapra so closely. It doesn’t take long for us to enter its atmosphere, and Falon finally hits the red button, and Bikar’s voice surrounds us.
“Falon, you dumb fracker! Slavic will have your head when you land with those females.”
“Hey, they promised to handle him for me. I will be fine, and they were going to come one way or another. At least this way, they will get there safely and at the right location.”
“Well, just to inform you, the landing is going to be rough because one of the arms on the landing gear is bent. That is why I had it in hover mode while docked, because I cannot seem to locate the parts to fix it.”
“Frack … I will take care of the repair planetside if possible, and thank you for the timely notification, brother.” Turning in my seat, “You heard him, females, buckle in, it might get bumpy.”
CHAPTER 4
KALLEN
Heaving a sigh of relief, I relax back into my seat. Even though the descent through the atmosphere was a bit shaky, Falcon maneuvers the shuttle expertly, landing us right beside the other one. However, the ramp is not even halfway down before Slavic stomps his way onboard, his voice booming in the small confines of the shuttle. “Falon, what is the meaning of this? I demand you all return to the Zenith immediately!”
Ruby leaps out of her chair, practically climbing his enormous frame before he can get another word in. “My love don’t be cross with Falon. Aren’t you happy to see me? You have no idea how upset I was this morning when I realized you’d left so early. I felt so alone, it took everything I had not to break down and cry.”
The devastation on his face is priceless, and I must bite my lip to keep from laughing out loud when she discreetly motions behind her back for us to leave while she has Slavic thoroughly distracted.
Rowan is quietly snickering as she slides by until she sees her own mate standing at the foot of the ramp with his massive arms crossed over his even bigger chest, a fierce frown creasinghis normally jovial countenance. She runs toward Einar, and he catches her mid-air before swinging her around playfully. “I should have known you would find a way, my little Starshine.”
“The very thought of spending a night without you was just too much to bear. We were going to steal the ship, but Falon caught us.”
“I see you talked him into disobeying direct orders.”
“Einar, we can be very convincing when we need to be.” The big male shakes his head ruefully before smiling down at her in bemusement, and I feel jealousy and some resentment welling up for what they have that I do not.
Walking down the ramp, I look around for Ruarc, only to sigh with a heavy heart when I realize he is nowhere to be seen. I cannot believe he missed the chance to snarl at me. Shaking it off, I turn away from the ship and the others to make my way down a familiar path that leads to one of the main planting fields. Before leaving the shuttle, I had prayed that what Slavic and the others found was false, but they were right; the fields are empty. Before I can make my way toward the small hut I lived in before the Velgriddix attack, someone grabs my arm, snarling.
“What the frack are you doing here?”
Yanking my arm out of his grasp, I bark back, “Same as you Ruarc, looking for my people.”
“You will get back on that shuttle immediately.”
“No,I Will Not!!You have no say over me or what I do. You gave up that right when you denied our bond.”
“Kallen, we have talked about this.”
“No, we have not! You have told me … but there has been no talking involved, no matter how many times I have tried.”
“What is there to talk about? You are a princess, and I am a mine worker, a mere peasant in your family’s eyes. There is no future in that because we are from two very different worlds, Kallen.”
“You and your excuses. I am the Princess of Nothing, Ruarc. I have no subjects, no wealth, no so-called castle high above the rest of you. All I have is the same name as the royal family. The very same name the king, my uncle, would gladly strip from me if he could, as there was no love shared between him and my sire. You are punishing both of us, simply because of who my parents were! Should I hate you because yours rebelled? We cannot control the paths others choose; we can only control the choices we make for ourselves, Ruarc. You are denying the one good thing the Gods have blessed us with because of some sort of misguided notion about belonging to different worlds.”
“If this bond had appeared on Viri 9 or Uzrul, your sire would have had me executed. He would never have allowed my blood to tarnish your lineage.”
