“Please, I—”
She saw a shadow of movement in the field just beyond them, and turned her gaze that way. It was Mrs. Nashor. Her long, full skirt swayed around her ankles as she walked toward the barn with some tools in her hand.
“Oh thank goodness,” Cindra breathed. She wouldn’t have to track her down now.
Mrs. Nashor saw her and then her eyes moved to the four Spygians surrounding her. The smile that had begun to creep to her face died, melding into an expression of concern.
“She’s right there.” Cindra pointed at her. “I’ll be right back.”
Bannor frowned but stepped aside so she could race over to where Mrs. Nashor stood.
The woman dropped the tools, grabbing hold of Cindra’s shoulders as she came to a halt. “What’s wrong, dear? Are those offworlders bothering you? I’ll—”
“No. No,” Cindra interrupted, furiously shaking her head. “Some Malucons have arrived. Their race…they destroyed my people. They saw me and…well, now they’re chasing me.”
The concern on Mrs. Nashor’s face turned into full-blown alarm. “Oh dear, I had always suspected something of that nature had happened to you. Whatever shall we do?”
“The Spygians.” Cindra gave the merest glance to where they stood awaiting her. “They’ve offered me sanctuary. A way off this planet. I must go with them.”
Mrs. Nashor studied the four men for a moment, clearly measuring their worth. She appeared to understand the gravity of their situation, because she finally nodded. “Go, Cindra. Be safe.”
“I…thank you.” Cindra threw her arms around Mrs. Nashor, putting the full force of her emotions into that one final hug. “You gave me a home when I had none and I’ll always be grateful for that. Please explain to Adamon after I’m gone. I…I can’t bear to say goodbye.”
Mrs. Nashor nodded and released her. “Go, child. Go now.”
Holding back a sob, Cindra turned.
“Cindra.”
Stopping at the woman’s voice, she faced Mrs. Nashor once again, memorizing the lines of the older woman’s kind face.
“Guard your heart, Cindra,” Mrs. Nashor murmured. “Guard it well.”
Cindra’s breath caught. She’d always thought Mrs. Nashor to be a clever woman, but perhaps she saw even more than Cindra had realized. “Take care, Mrs. Nashor. Goodbye.”
Choking back the emotions clogging her throat and blurring her vision, Cindra ran over to the Spygians, who’d begun to fidget in their clear impatience to be gone from this place. Swallowing hard, she met Bannor’s eyes. “I’m ready.”
With an emphatic nod, Bannor lifted his wrist once again and pressed a button on his cuff. Static electricity crackled the air. The space surrounding the five of them rippled, and within a matter of moments, the familiar landscape was gone. She wasn’t on Keulot anymore, but on a Spygian ship.
And her life had just irrevocably changed.
Devan deftly maneuvered the ship away from Keulot until he could finally activate the hyperdrive, sending them shooting into deep space. Given that the Malucons didn’t have the same level of technology when it came to entering other planets’ stratospheres—they used much slower space shuttles, rather than transporters, while keeping their larger, unwieldy ships floating out in space—they should be long gone by the time the Malucons even made it back to their ship.
His gaze hard, Bannor reentered the control room. Shortly after they’d transported up, he’d left Devan in charge of navigating while he gave their mate a quick tour of the ship and then showed her to her rooms.
Devan’s heart clenched in empathy when he recalled the shell-shocked expression on Cindra’s face. The events of the past hour had been understandably trying on her. Hopefully she could get some rest.
Bannor strolled to the commander’s chair and took a seat. He let out a deep sigh, cracking his neck in a weary gesture. “We’re responsible for the Malucons traveling to Keulot, aren’t we?”
“I’ve no doubt we are,” Stefon muttered from his chair. “When their ship passed by and took note of ours, they must have grown curious and decided to investigate.”
Stefon only confirmed what each of them had already realized when they’d returned to their ship and spotted the Malucon ship nearby. Thankfully it appeared to have been deserted. This group of Malucons must have traveled in an unusually small number for their kind.
Devan resisted the urge to growl. His fingers tightened on the controls. “If Cindra learns that we’re responsible for her being spotted, she may very well hate us.”
His jaw tight, Bannor glanced straight ahead through the clear, impenetrable shield protecting the opened front panel of the ship. “I must tell her. If she learns it from someone else, she will hate us for sure.”
Yes, Devan had feared Bannor would say something like this. He clenched his teeth to resist the urge to protest. Bannor was their leader and his orders were law. Besides, as much as Devan wished it weren’t so, Bannor was right. Their mate needed to learn from them that it was their carelessness that had led to her being found out.
“We should have faced the Malucons on the spot,” Tempos growled from his seat on his chair. “Had we killed them, no one would be left to know of Cindra’s existence. Now they’ll spread the word to other Malucons.”
“We didn’t know how many of them there were,” Bannor pointed out, his voice defeated. “Had we engaged them and there had been more Malucons on their ship, we would have been slaughtered. And now it’s too late to go back. No doubt they’ve already communicated with others of their kind.”
Devan let out a sigh. Bannor was right, of course. Their best option at this point was to get their mate back to Spygia, where she would be safe.
After a long, tense silence, Tempos let out a dry chuckle. “At least we accomplished our mission. The method may leave much to be desired, but she’s ours…as she should be.”
“She’s here with us now,” Bannor responded, his voice weary, “but that doesn’t mean she’s ours. She has not agreed to mate with us.”
Stefon straightened in his chair, his expression growing concerned. “Is there a question as to whether she’ll stay?”
Devan’s jaw locked as he exchanged a look with Bannor. Stefon and Tempos didn’t want to acknowledge the very real possibility that they’d bungled their entire courtship with Cindra, and he couldn’t blame them for that. But neither could he nor Bannor lie.
“Until she specifically agrees to become our mate,” Devan finally said, “anything is possible.”
And the knowledge of that made his gut clench with fear.
* * * * *
The next several days passed by in a haze for Cindra. After they’d escaped, Bannor had given her a tour of the spacious ship while Devan, Stefon and Tempos took care of navigating away from Keulot. Even through her shock, she’d been awed to see the sheer size and luxuriousness of the ship, complete with dining hall, greenhouse, library and a training room. And the quarters they’d built for their mate. For
her
…
Gods, it was exquisite. She hadn’t seen its rival since fleeing her world, and she had to say, it was a room fit for a princess. A huge, soft bed—the biggest she’d ever seen—boasted dusky rose satin sheets and a comforter of the softest down. She trailed her fingers along the fluffy fabric. No doubt she and all four of her Spygians could easily fit on this bed.
The adjoining bathroom had a sunken tub that could easily accommodate four or five. And the large closet was stuffed full of traditional Spygian wear for women, which consisted of low-cut silken tunics in all colors and lengths. No surprise to her, however, that most of them were really, really short.
It had been beyond her expectation, and the fact that these men had gone to so much trouble to build such quarters and obtain such finery for their mate before even meeting her spoke volumes. Their mate was clearly a pivotal part of their lives, and it saddened her that she couldn’t be the woman they deserved…that she couldn’t stay.
Distressed by that truth, she’d fled into her quarters where, with the exception of the meals she shared in the dining hall with the men, she’d for the most part stayed. Thankfully the men had given her space, acknowledging that she needed to be alone with her thoughts.
Late during the afternoon of the third day, there was a soft knock outside her chamber. Rising from the bed, where she’d sat staring out the window into space, she turned toward the door.
“Come in.”
The door panels slid open to reveal Bannor. He strolled in, and her chest tightened when she saw him in his customary dress. That happened every time, making her fear she’d never grow accustomed to it. But then, how could she? The man wore nothing more than a tiny white loincloth. His honey-toned chest glimmered under the lighting of the ship, its silken beauty highlighted by locks of the dark, waist-length hair that flowed over his shoulders. Having supper with four men dressed in this manner was a study in restraint. All she wanted to do was launch herself at them and tear those poor excuses for clothing from their body. She might have indulged if she didn’t know that doing so would bind her permanently to them.
But no…she couldn’t stay here. Not when she was a ticking time bomb. If she stayed, they’d be caught in the crossfire when the Malucons eventually caught up with her. And now she had no doubt they would.
Bannor stopped just a few feet from her, an empathetic expression on his face. “How are you, Cindra?”
She tried to force a smile to her face, but it wouldn’t come. Finally giving in to the urge to sigh, she collapsed onto the bed. “I’m adjusting.”
“Anything you want to talk about?” Bannor took a seat on the bed beside her, so close that his arm brushed her shoulder.
She stifled a shiver and crossed her arms over the silky fabric of the emerald-green tunic she’d donned. It came only to mid-thigh, but she’d found that all the longer tunics were too large, and far too low-cut for her liking.
“I just can’t believe I’ll never return to Keulot,” she finally said.
Bannor sighed, his shoulders slumping. “Cindra, there’s something I must confess. Much as I would like to wait until you are feeling more yourself, I don’t want to hold onto this any longer and have you think I’ve kept it from you.”
Her throat constricted. She turned her head to gaze on his profile. “What is it?”
Casting his gaze downward, he said, “I believe we are responsible for the Malucons traveling onto Keulot. Relations between Malucons and Spygians are strained, to put it mildly. Their ship was near ours, which leads us to believe they spotted it and decided to investigate the reason we’d landed on Keulot.”
Her breath caught at his words. So they, rather than her, were responsible for her being found out?
She waited for the fury and condemnation to come, but they didn’t. And the reason for that was obvious.
“It’s okay,” she finally said.
Eyes wide, he looked at her. “What?”
Shrugging, she gave him a weak smile. “Ultimately you did me a favor. I didn’t have the sort of life there that I’d thought. In the end, I would have probably been quite miserable.”
His eyes glittered like silver beams in the harsh lighting. “Why do you say that?”
“Adamon,” she whispered. “He wasn’t…”
“Wasn’t what?” Bannor prodded softly.
“I saw him in the barn when I was fleeing,” she confessed in a rush. “He was having a…a lover’s quarrel. With a male farmhand.”
Wow, now that she’d gotten that out, she sort of felt relieved. It had been a lot to keep bottled up within her.
Bannor’s brow lifted. “A lover’s quarrel with another man?”
“Yes.” When Bannor said nothing, she added, “I don’t know how things are in your world. In Chivea same-sex relationships were fairly common and readily accepted. But in Keulot it’s an unforgiveable offense. His parents would disown him.”
Bannor stiffened. “So he sought to marry you as cover for his sexual proclivities.”
She nodded. “Apparently.”
When Bannor’s hand closed over her back, gently rubbing in a gesture of empathy, she said, “I don’t blame him. Not really. He was given quite a difficult lot in life.”
“I can’t imagine being forced to hide the identity of the person you love,” Bannor murmured.
“Exactly.”
“Still, it wasn’t fair to you. I’m sorry.”
She met Bannor’s gaze, feeling as if his magnificent eyes were drawing her very soul into him. “I didn’t love him. I thought I did, but when I discovered his secret, all I felt was…pity.”
“You’re entitled to feel rage, you know. He used you. Perhaps there were some true feelings on his part as well, but ultimately he used you.”
She nodded. “I know, but that’s the thing. I didn’t feel anything, other than very sorry for him. Maybe, deep down, I knew all along. Not that he favors men, but that
something
was off. I…I suppose I just wanted the security a life with him would bring. I wanted to feel safe again.”
“Oh, Cindra.” Bannor leaned closer, his head grazing hers. “We can make you feel safe. I vow it.”
His proximity made her lightheaded, and she could do nothing more than stare at his full, luscious lips. But when he leaned further in, she forced herself to pull back.