Page 74 of Taken to Heimo
She opens her mouth to answer —argue— but the glider below our feet begins to power down and she falls into me. I grab hold of the railing for support and as Svera clings to me, I know I cannot fall. It might be the only reason I don’t as we finally come to a complete stop and step down in front of a crowd of gathered humans and Voraxians.
“Svera!” The Va’Rakukanna’s voice is louder than the others and she is first to approach. She surges towards us, breaking free of the crowd, her mate at her back. For the first time since I have known him, his emotions slip and his ridges flare bright white. Even his mate looks aghast.
“Stars! What happened to you? Svera, are you alright?”
Svera’s weight sinks into my arms and I catch her as she starts to fall. “Oof,” she breathes. “I’m alright. It’s Krisxox Lemoria needs to see.”
“Holy comets, what in the xok happened to you two?”
Before Svera can answer, another chorus of her name sounds and I’m left staring at the faces of the ones I know created her. And here I am before them, completely xoking naked. I take a step bringing me to Svera’s side and that alone causes the female leading the two males to stop dead in her tracks. Her eyes expand, canvassing my naked body in a way that makes me grit my teeth. I realize in that moment that I have absolutely no idea how to greet a human. If our last interaction was any indication, I better figure it outfast.
I place my hand to my chest in the traditional Voraxian greeting and bow low. “It is an honor to return your daughter to you,” I growl, sounding half-crazed with pain.
“Mom.” Svera breaks the silence and stiffly ambles forward, letting the female and the two males come around her and swarm her in their embrace. Va’Raku comes to my side and attempts to engage me, but I have attention only for her and her kin who she has thislawvfor.
They speak to her in Human but, it isn’t long before her father turns his gaze to me. He approaches me with water in his eyes and, while I clutch my stomach in an attempt to keep my organs all inside, he comes to a stop directly before me.
Then he shocks the xok out of me when he leans forward, takes my shoulders in each of his thin hands and kisses my either cheek.
He says something to me that I don’t understand. I look to the female behind him. “He says that you have our permission,” she covers her mouth with her hands and nods. “You have our permission, Krisxox.”
“Thank you,” I heave, and it’s that final breath that pulls the last of my strength out of me.
Va’Raku catches me, but it hurts everywhere. He starts issuing orders rapidly and soon, I’m being lowered onto a hovering stretcher and rushed over the sands, my Xiveri mate on the stretcher by my side.
21
Svera
Two solars pass and somehow Krisxox is released from Lemoria’s care before I am. It might be that he makes the most surly patient in universal history, but Lemoria insists that it’s because of my concussion.Xoking Ashmara…
As Krisxox would say. The thought isn’t mine and he hasn’t rubbed off on me. Of course.
Krisxox hovers over my side until Lemoria forces Va’Raku and Kiki to shove him out of the chamber and make space for my parents and brother to enter. I’m embarrassed to see them, but when they come in with unshed tears in their eyes — all of them — all my father says is, “We are so grateful to the Tri-God that he brought you home.”
I smile, sure, but not as sure as I once was that the Tri-God had everything to do with it. Xana and Xaneru played their own roles. And Krisxox, Ashmara and Deena should also be mentioned.
Determination.
Pride.
Bravery.
“And mated, no less,” my brother adds. He crosses his arms over his chest, looking irritated.
I laugh and feel heat touch the tops of my cheeks. “I…” I swallow. “Yes, he is my Xiveri mate, but that is only the Voraxian recognition. We’re still not married but, with your permission, we would like to be.”
I reach my hand up and tuck my rat’s nest behind my ear. It’s stiff in places, crusted with gunk I don’t even want to think about.
“And he has it,” Ibra huffs. “I didn’t believe our parents would ever find a male they thought worthy of you, but this?” He gestures at my body, covered in a lush fur and the holo monitors beeping on the wall behind me. “He is worthy and I would be honored to officiate the wedding.”
“So much planning to be done!” My mom is near giddy. She’s beaming ear to ear.
My father raises his hands. “We have time. First, time for healing. Then discussions of plans and officiants can be made later. And this is all contingent on Svera truly wanting the male. Do you, sheifala?”
To this, I grin. My face is so hot. I laugh with the relief that sags out of me. “I love him. He is a disaster, but I love every part of him.”
My mom claps and my brother and father both grin. “He said much the same of you when we ran into him earlier.”
