Page 80 of Alien Storm

Thaleo’s chin lifted slightly.

“I have no reason to hide this. I knew that by inviting your party here, which included his mate, that he would come and call a taklok.”

“Well, maybe we should have predicted that, too,” Valeria said. “Gahn Errok does seem to be a bit of a loose cannon.”

“No!” I said, whirling on her. Errok had been right. Gahn Thaleo’s plan had worked out perfectly. Thaleo came out looking stoic and noble while Errok came out looking like the insane, violent one who couldn’t be trusted. The loose cannon. Which he kind of was, to be honest, but not in this specific instance.

“That’s not true, is it, Gahn Thaleo?” I looked at him once more. “Tell them that this had nothing to do with Errok’s personality and everything to do with your culture and ways. Tell them that he had no other choice but to call a taklok to preserve his honour. Your men know it’s true, but my people don’t. So, tell them how you used me to lure Errok here so that you could have the chance to kill him in the taklok without making it look like you’d done something wrong in the eyes of the alliance.”

Valeria stiffened beside me. “Is this true, Gahn Thaleo? That by bringing us,her, here you forced Errok’s hand?”

“Yes.”

I blinked, shocked he hadn’t even tried to deny it.

But he kept going, which shocked me even more. I wasn’t sure I’d ever heard him put this many words together at one time.

“I knew Errok would call a taklok the moment you entered these mountains, yes. Our ways demand such a response. No man, especially a Gahn, would allow his enemy to take care of his mate like I had done. However, I did not simply bring you here to lure Gahn Errok.” He passed his eyes over our group, his gaze lingering on Nasrin as he continued. “Enraging Gahn Errok was not the only, or the most specific, reason I brought you here. I truly wanted to show you my mountain. Wanted to foster trust and peace between us. Wanted to offer hospitality and care. The fact that I might have gotten the chance to finally shoot Gahn Errok was rather a bonus of it all, but it was not the main origin of my motivations.”

Valeria let out an annoyed breath. My heart pounded furiously at the way he’d so easily admitted he’d wanted to kill Errok. There was a small amount of comfort knowing that he hadn’t specifically invited us here just to instigate the violence, that we weren’t entirely pawns in his twisted game. But it wasn’t enough to cool my anger and the sense of betrayal.

“You said you wanted us to trust you. How can we trust you after this?”

The question came from Nasrin, making me swivel to her, surprised.

Gahn Thaleo’s reply was controlled thunder in the space.

“You cannot understand. You are not of our world and do not know our ways. And you were not at the negotiations. But she was.” He gestured his tail towards Valeria. “You askmeto tell them all the truth? Valeria, you must do the same. Tell them how, when Errok learned that the storms had battered my people and decimated our hunting grounds, he still refused to allow us to hunt in neutral territory. He would have let us starve before he’d bend to help us.”

My blood ran cold.

No, he wouldn’t... Would he?

Gahn Thaleo kept on going, every word like an arrow in my chest.

“You think I used you?” he asked, speaking to me this time. “Perhaps your own leaders should tell you how they dangled you in front of Gahn Errok’s nose in order to get him to submit to the terms of the alliance.”

“Now, hold on!” Valeria snapped. “That is not a fair characterization of what happened.” She turned to me. “We told Errok the same thing every Sea Sand Gahn’s been told. That he’d never see his mate if he didn’t uphold the peaceful terms of the treaty. We never used you as bait. There was no guarantee he’d ever get to be with you. Just see you. That’s it. It was the only way we could get him to agree to let Gahn Thaleo expand his territory to hunt and keep his people alive long-term.”

I took a shaky breath, nodding. I knew my people wouldn’t sell me out. Chapman, Valeria, and all the others had always been adamant about the fact that no woman would ever have to be with a man she didn’t want to be, mate or not. But even so, the idea that I was part of the negotiations without even knowing it, that I was the only thing that made Errok bend his iron will to keep Gahn Thaleo’s people from starving, felt prickly and ugly in my guts.

It got even pricklier when it made me understand Gahn Thaleo’s actions just that little bit more. How could he not want to kill the man who would have turned his back while his people starved?

“I have to go,” I said. Fiona tried to grab for me, and Valeria called out to me, but I ignored them. I stumbled into the tunnel, turned my feet towards Errok’s cave, and ran.

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