Arik
“Move,” I snarled. A whisper in the back of my brain reminded me that sending Kat to the clan was what I’d intended, but everything in me revolted, desperate to fight the outcome I’d sought all along. I hadn’t wanted Kat taken from me by force. I would protect her with everything I had in me, for as long as I could. My heart pumped furiously, my griffin clawing to get out, my gaze never stopping as I watched the small group of shifters approach from all sides. “Move!”
“We had to know, Arik.” Sun’s mouth tightened into a firm line, his hands out in a calming gesture he could take straight with him to hell, which was exactly where he was going if he didn’t get away from that door in the next ten seconds.
The shifter Sun had called Azrael approached on my other side. I refused to answer Sun, my gaze on the deadly blond male approaching. There was something off about him, familiar, but I couldn’t figure out what, not with Kat in my arms, her belly to mine, her racing heart a distinct thud against my ribs. I could feel her small hands gripping big handfuls of the back of my shirt. Instinctively I turned toward the wall, uncaring that I exposed my back as long as the move provided some small measure of safety for Kat. With dozen-to-one odds, facing the threat wouldn’t help much anyway.
I inched us closer to the door, to Sun. “We’re leaving.”
“No, you’re not.” Sun nodded to the shifters now surrounding us, every one with a hand on a weapon. “You need us to fight Maddox. If not for you, then for your mate’s safety.”
My eyes narrowed, and I jerked around to face the prince. Mate. Of course they’d sensed it. I’d hoped to keep that secret hidden deep inside me, but the attack on Kat, the threat to her had brought my instincts straight to the fore.
I couldn’t keep myself from protesting. “No.”
I wasn’t protesting the fact that I needed the warriors’ help, and Sun knew it. So did everyone else in the room.
“Yes,” Azrael said behind me, and my breath froze in my aching chest. “You mated her. It was sensed the minute you came through that door. We had to know if it was true.”
A strange, almost wistful smile curved Sun’s lips. “And it is. She fights for you as hard as you fight for her. Your she-cat is aptly named.” The prince’s gaze flicked to Kat, a hint of pain swirling in their depths, then back to me. “Why? Why risk her?”
I love her, you bastard. Why do you think I’m trying to fix my damn mistake? “I have no intention of risking her. That’s why I’m here.” At one time, when I’d seen her as nothing but a weapon, I’d been more than happy to risk her. Now…
“But you don’t intend to keep her.” Basile this time. I really wished all these asshole busybodies would disappear.
Kat stirred in my arms. I pressed closer, surrounding her with my scent, my presence, my essence. Protecting her from harm—and from the truth, if only for a few minutes more.
Ignoring Basile’s accusation, I kept my focus on Sun. “You endangered my mate. How can I trust you at my back?” Even now I felt the hate-filled gazes of the warriors behind me.
“We were trying to protect her, to see what kind of damage had been done. We did not endanger her, not like you intend to.”
Kat stiffened in my arms; her head lifted from my chest. She’d definitely registered that sentence. “What?”
“I will not put my mate in danger!”
The words had no sooner exploded from my mouth than a choked sound from Kat dragged my attention to her. The pale skin of her face had gone sheet-white beneath the scratches and bruises. “‘My mate’?”
All I could do was stare down at her helplessly. Explanations wouldn’t help. Besides, there were plenty of shifters here eager to do it for me.
“Didn’t he tell you?” Sun asked.
But Kat didn’t look at the prince. Caught in her wide eyes, I couldn’t look away either. “I’m…I’m your mate?” Her voice quivered on the uprise.
The room held its breath, the silence unbroken until the sound of a booted foot scraping concrete echoed through the room. I turned toward the threat on instinct.
A female warrior stepped toward us as the others slowly backed away, dispersing throughout the room as if by silent command. All but Azrael and Sun. The female stopped mere feet from where Kat and I stood. Her gaze dismissed me, zeroing in on my mate with intelligence and compassion.
I felt my body go tighter than a drum. Here it comes.
“Kat, I’m Lyris,” the female said.
Although fine-boned and seemingly delicate, Lyris wore the same soldier’s uniform as the males, complete with combat boots and a heavy equipment belt in addition to a collection of prominently displayed knives. A warrior, no matter how feminine her curved body and unlined skin appeared. Straight blonde hair cut in a shaggy style fell to the female’s chin, streaks of silver highlighting the dark gold color and matching her steel-gray eyes. She looked a healthy forty by human standards, which meant she had lived far more years than my thousand. I easily passed for a man not a day over thirty.
This warrior exuded danger despite her sex, but at her nearness, some of the tension squeezing Kat’s muscles relaxed.
Lyris’s gaze was intense, her tone, when she spoke, blunt. “How long have you been bonded?”
“Two days. We… I…”
The sucked-in breaths around the room stopped Kat’s stammering. My animal paced restlessly, male and griffin waiting for the chance to take our mate far away from the threats and pain in this room. But that wasn’t going to happen, was it?
I hadn’t expected the despair that accompanied that knowledge.
Lyris’s head tilted slightly, and she stared deep into Kat’s eyes. “You are…a strange new discovery for our clan, for all the Archai races, not just because females are rare, but because you are perhaps the strongest psych to date, according to our Aomai.”
I felt the rise of Kat’s longing as Grim was mentioned. The two had shared a closeness throughout her healing, but though I knew Kat’s need was for friendship and not love, I couldn’t hold back a rumble of jealousy. I swore Lyris flicked me an assessing glance before returning to Kat.
“Your well-being is important to us, hence our anxiety over your situation.” The female advanced, ignoring the tensing of my body, until she could lay delicate fingers on Kat’s arm. Kat looked at the hand, at Lyris. I felt the telepathic surge as Lyris delved into Kat’s mind. “Is there a threat to you, Kat? Were you forced into the matebond?”
My animal roared at the accusation. I managed to tone it down to a sharp, “Back off, warrior.”
Lyris smiled up at me, unmoving. The smile didn’t reach her eyes.
Kat cleared her throat. “N-no, I wasn’t…” Licking over her dry lips, she tried again, voice faint and confused. “I don’t really understand what a matebond is. I thought…”
Lyris hummed, her power still churning the air. When she finally spoke, her voice had dropped as low as Kat’s, giving the three of us a small measure of privacy. “It is the connection you created with Arik—I know you understand which connection I’m referring to. You didn’t hesitate when I asked you how long ago it happened.”
“But… Arik—” Her eyelids squeezed shut. “You didn’t lie to me about this. You wouldn’t…”
But I had. I had, and now I was paying the price in front of the clansmen I’d hated for the majority of my life.
Lyris continued, seeming unaware of our exchange. “That connection is permanent. A matebond is both a psychic and physiological change. Once the neural pathways form, they allow what is essentially a deeper form of telepathy with one specific individual—and they cannot be closed. They can only atrophy from lack of use.” Lyris dropped her hand but continued to study Kat intently. “You may have another lover, even another husband, but with no one else will you be able to form the deep psychic bond you now have with Arik. Your mind will always seek his, even if he is gone. And yet your mate intends to give you away.” She seemed to weigh her next words. “Do you understand?”
I understood. But Kat would live. I’d known mates whose partner had died. They were happy, healthy. They were fine. She would be fine.
Kat didn’t respond.
When Lyris’s power arrowed into my mind without warning, I stiffened at the pain. “Do you have any idea the hell you’ve sentenced her to?”
“No, it’s not like that. She deserves to have a choice.”
“You took that choice away the moment you accepted her gift.”
I refused to believe that. She should have the right to choose the life she wanted. She would never do that if she believed she was stuck with me.
Kat opened her eyes. She didn’t look at me, choosing instead to fix Lyris with her stare. I felt the swell of telepathic communication and knew Lyris was guarding their words from me. Whatever Kat asked, an almost imperceptible nod answered it.
Sun moved closer. “A mate rarely abandons a bond, Kat. We had to know exactly what we were dealing with here. We had to know the truth. I’m sorry we upset you.”
Abandon. Damn the prince to hell. I wasn’t abandoning her; I was giving her a choice—for a life within a community, a family. The clan would take care of her, giving Kat something she’d never had, a place to belong. What did I have to give her? I might give up my revenge for her, I loved her enough to do that, to ensure her future, but I could never go back to the clan that had betrayed me. She deserved more than total isolation after the hell she’d been through in her short life.
Look at us now. She should be planning a future, not a war. What greater gift could I give her than her freedom?
“Are you saying I’m not going back with Arik tonight?”
“Of course you are,” I growled. The arrangements I’d made wouldn’t take place until after the attack on Maddox’s compound.
Sun, the bastard, had to dig it in. “Didn’t he tell you?”
I rumbled a warning. I had no doubt the prince would put this in the worst possible light. He already had.
“Tell me what?” But Kat’s words were resigned, as if she’d already guessed.
Sun’s gaze softened with what looked like pity. “We’re taking the Anigma compound. Arik gets his target, and we get the psychs. All of them. You included.”
“Sun, stop,” I snarled. Kat looked like she would break apart at any moment. Tentative, unsure for the first time in centuries, I reached through our bond to lightly touch her mind.
And found a wasteland.
Goddamn it, what had I done?
The damn prince ignored my demand. “When Maddox is defeated, you will come to us. Arik will release you to the clan.”
No! It wasn’t like that, but I refused to explain myself here, now, with accusing eyes attacking from all sides. “You’re the one who fucked this meeting up. Arrange another one. I’m taking my mate home.”
“No,” Kat said, her voice small but resolute. “We need them, Arik; you know we do. We should stay.”
I closed my eyes in resignation. When I opened them again, it was to Kat’s empty stare. “I won’t risk you, Kat. I wanted backup, not another threat.” The issue of afterward I left untouched. “We’ll find another way to keep you safe.”
“We?” Shimmering between us was the knowledge that I had given her no say in this decision. I hadn’t dared warn her either, not when she could leave without warning. “This isn’t about ‘we,’ is it? It’s about you.” Turning her head, Kat stared Sun down, and when she spoke, her voice was crisp, neutral, devoid of turmoil or tears. “Promise me, Sun. No more tricks. Let’s get our act together and get out of here.”
Sun stood for a long moment, his gaze locked with hers, until I felt my nerves stretch to the snapping point and contingency plans for getting Kat out rushed through my mind. But my mate, it seemed, had the power to command even royalty. A single nod gave Sun’s promise. He stepped back, turned, and crossed the room, his council parting for him to pass. I looked down at Kat’s red curls and fought the urge to lower my face to them, to breathe in her scent, touch her body and assure myself and my animal of her safety. Instead I lifted her face so our eyes met.
Words left me. In the past weeks, I’d seen many sides of Kat: sexy, wild, sleepy, grumpy. She’d fought and played and cried when she needed to. The past couple of days she’d been a total smart-ass. This Kat was none of those. This was a Kat I hadn’t met before: silent, solemn, secured behind a wall I’d put between us with my decision.
“We’ll talk about this when we get home,” I said, not sure what else to say.
Kat slipped away without answering. The loss of her warmth chilled me deep into my marrow.