All the oxygen escaped her body in one giant shock wave. No! Surely Michael hadn’t . . . of course he hadn’t . . .
or had he
?
Colorful dots in rainbow hues swam before Kayli’s eyes, gradually closing in to pinpoint black as her mind and body went limp with the thought of losing it all, everything, even her reason for existing.
From far away, she heard Hauk’s voice saying, “Er, Mallet, I do believe she’s about to faint.”
“What the—!” In the next instant, her world dipped and swayed as Kayli felt herself scooped up by solid arms, cradled to Michael’s big hard chest. “Hey, easy now, sweetheart.”
Sweetheart? No, she was not his sweetheart. She wasn’t any man’s sweetheart.
She couldn’t be.
Her pulse raced so fast it made her tremble; she continued to feel woozy with disbelief. Her palms got sweaty and her skin itched with incredulity.
“Probably overcome with joy,” Michael murmured, and even to Kayli’s dazed senses, he sounded amused and mocking.
“Perhaps,” Hauk agreed uncertainly. “But I somehow doubt it.”
Joy?
Kayli thought with near hysteria. How could she feel joy when he wanted to make a union with her?
Oh God, oh God. What was she to do?
“I do like how in tune you are to her,” Michael praised Hauk. He didn’t walk anywhere with her, didn’t seem to strain with her held in his arms. He just stood there, at his ease.
Conversing with Hauk.
With a large part of her colony looking on.
“All polymorphous computers can decipher a wide variety of signals,” Hauk explained, “be they networked, verbal, coded, or physical.”
“And are there a lot of polymorphous computers around here?”
“No.” Hauk’s voice thrummed with pride. “I am the only one in this colony or, for that matter, any of the surrounding colonies.”
Kayli could not believe how cavalier they both behaved, while her entire universe crumbled out from under her.
“Here,” her mother demanded in shrill, almost concerned tones. “Put her down over here.”
“I don’t mind holding her,” Michael said.
“
You’re
the reason she’s in a dead faint!”
“No,” Kayli protested, her voice sounding thin and high. “I didn’t faint.” She wouldn’t do something so weak. She’d
never
fainted before, and she wasn’t about to start now.
Michael grumbled, but he carried her to the settee and lowered her gently to the padded cushions. The seat immediately shifted around her.
Needing a moment to compose her thoughts, to grasp her disappointment and hide her dismay, Kayli rested her head back and kept her eyes closed. She felt limp, but her thoughts churned in a fevered rush.
With malicious accusation her mother said, “Look at what you’ve done to her,” and took Kayli’s hand to pat at it.
“I shocked her a little, that’s all.” Michael’s hand, much larger and warmer than her mother’s, cupped her face. “Come on now, Kayli. Open your eyes and talk to me. No more playing possum.”
He knew! Somehow Michael realized that she’d already regained her wits. But she just wasn’t ready to face him yet.
“She doesn’t want you!” Raemay shrieked. “Surely, even a man as dense as you are can determine that much.”
Oh no, Kayli thought, from bad to worse. Michael was not a man to accept such insults, but as offensive as her mother could be, she was still the Arbiter.
Kayli lifted her lashes and found Michael looming over her, his face a study of deep concern.
Ha!
A concerned man would not have done such a thing to her. Brows coming down, she said, “I’m fine.”
His palm flattened to her abdomen, keeping her still when she would have sat up, and sending a jolt through her already traumatized system.
“Take it easy, baby. Warriors aren’t supposed to lose consciousness over a little thing like a union. I don’t want you rushing yourself now.”
Her eyes closed again.
A little thing?
How could he say that? A union with him would strip her of everything important to her, all she held dear. Didn’t he understand that she’d long ago resigned herself to her life, accepted it, and embraced it?
If he stole that from her, she’d have nothing. She wouldn’t be herself anymore. Worse, she didn’t know who she’d be.
As if her mother divined her thoughts, she clapped her hands to call attention from the council and colony members.
“Everyone, please. Quiet now.” When everyone went silent, Raemay looked at them all. “If our guest claims Kayli, then we have some very serious ramifications to consider.”
Like an impending storm, Michael crackled with energy. “More serious than your daughter’s health?”
“She said she’s fine.”
“I
am
fine,” Kayli assured them both, and again she started to sit up.
Again, Michael held her still.
Her mother rallied. “If you take Kayli in union, she will no longer be eligible for the position of Claviger. She will no longer claim control of Hauk. He will belong to me again, as is right and proper.”
Putting her hands over her face, Kayli struggled to accept the loss—and then Michael said, “Not so fast, Raemay. I haven’t finished yet.”
Kayli dropped her hands to stare up at him. “There’s
more
?”
Dear God, what next? Would he claim her vessel, too? Not that it mattered. It went with the position of Claviger.
Unconcerned with destroying her life, Michael winked at her, and his hand on her abdomen caressed. “It’s your fault I didn’t get it all said right up front.”
Her temper simmered. “My fault?”
“Yeah. If you hadn’t keeled over, I wouldn’t have gotten distracted.”
Raemay rushed into speech. “What else is there to say? You claimed her, she can’t possibly refuse you, knowing what it’d mean to our colony, and so—”
“I want Kayli,” Michael repeated, as if those words didn’t nearly put her into another faint, “but I have stipulations.”
Stipulations?
Kayli felt new hope.
Shoving Michael’s hand away, she sat up to pay attention. “Go on.”
“Stipulations?” Her mother gasped in outrage. “You’re not allowed stipulations!”
Undaunted by Raemay’s statement, Michael touched Kayli’s chin. “You’re okay now, honey?”
“Yes, of course I am.” She’d settled small riots, handled virulent disputes, and faced off with the warring colony.
Never had she “keeled over,” as Michael put it.
Embarrassed over such a weak display, Kayli straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. “I’m quite all right, I promise you. I didn’t get enough sleep last night, that’s all.”
His expression softened. His touch softened. In front of God and everyone, he bent and kissed her lips. “Good.”
In the next instant, he reverted back to a demanding warrior. “I’m taking Kayli—and Hauk.”
“But—” Raemay said.
“I’m taking over as the head of defense,” Michael said. “That means Hauk is mine.”
Kayli’s heart sank. “You’re taking my position?”
He didn’t look at her, but instead addressed Raemay and the Council Mavens. “I’ll do this, but only with Kayli at my side. Because of her experience, expertise, and term of service so far, she’ll retain the official position of Claviger.”
The words felt like a punch to Kayli’s solar plexus. Pride kept her from staggering, but inside, she shriveled. What use would her position as Claviger be without any real authority behind it?
She’d be utterly useless.
A tense hush fell over them all, and why not? Never had anyone dared to make such outrageous demands. For as long as Kayli could remember, the rules had been followed to the letter.
Damn him, she’d
earned
the right to be Claviger, to control Hauk, to head up the defense.
Except . . . Her shoulders slumped as she forced herself to face the awful truth. She had sought out his help, because she couldn’t handle the current situation on her own. And luckily for them all, he was willing.
In fact, his quick adjustment amazed her.
He took charge with ease, accepting the challenge, mixing things up without any hesitation or apprehension. He stood there before them all, defiant, confident in his decisions—rather amazing.
Kayli’s lips felt stiff and cold, but she managed to speak. “A position for me, even in name only, can not be assigned just because you deem it so. Such a thing is not done here.” Such a thing would leave her feeling like an utter fool.
Michael folded his arms over his chest. “It’s done if they want my help.”
Raemay laughed. “Given your behavior, I’m no longer so certain of the worth of your contribution.”
The members of the council inhaled—and waited.
Though he spoke to everyone, Michael stepped away from Kayli and approached Raemay. “My contribution will be to end the sacrifices.”
The crowd stirred, encouraged by his confidence.
Raemay drew back. “That’s impossible! We’ll be destroyed if we try such a thing.”
He shook his head, refuting that. “My contribution will be to bring back those women already taken—if they want to return.”
Raemay backed up two steps, then caught herself and stood her ground, shoulders back, expression stony. “You dare to doubt their dedication to this colony?”
Michael let that go. “My contribution will be to train the defense team to defend the colony against further attacks and kidnappings. I spent a few hours in the media room and I have a grasp on what needs to be done. When I’ve finished training the warriors, no one will have to be afraid, because we’ll be strong and capable.”
“We?” Raemay taunted with a sneer. “You make outrageous demands, and you think that makes you one of us?”
His conviction didn’t waver. If anything, Raemay’s derision only made him more determined. He gave her a chilling look, and stated, “I’m going to call on the men of the colony, too.”
Raemay floundered at that outlandish claim. “The men? But . . . why?”
Michael rolled his eyes. “Why? Because they’re a part of the colony, too.”
“They’re not warriors!”
“Yeah, well maybe that’ll change.”
Lips parted and eyes wide, Kayli stared at Michael in stupefaction. He not only flaunted his disregard for their long-established rules, and harassed her mother, but he planned to enroll the men in defense?
The wives would never stand for it.
The council would send him back to his own time.
She had to do something—but what?
“Hauk,” she said, near panic.
“We examined every angle,” Hauk assured her, “and it’s a solid plan with a high probability of success.”
Oh, perfect. He’d won over
her
computer.
“I know what I’m doing.” Michael held his own against both her and her mother’s skepticism. He turned to look at Kayli. “But I need you by my side. You’ve been one hell of a defense leader. From what I saw, the warriors appear well trained—by you. You know everyone, their strengths and weaknesses. To succeed, it’ll take both of us, babe. I can’t do it alone.”
Was that supposed to be a balm to her lacerated ego after he declared his intent to strip her of everything she held dear?
“What about children?” Raemay challenged. “Do you plan to contribute to the growth of our colony through offspring?”
Everyone saw the surprise on Michael’s face before he pulled in his chin, crossed his arms. “I’ve got nothing against kids.”
He said that calmly enough, but one and all saw that the very idea of children left him thunderstruck.
Raemay sensed the weakness, too, and verbally pounced on him. “And when Kayli is carrying your baby, what then? Would you have her endanger the child just to be at your side?”
Going red with some indiscernible emotion that was at least in part anger, Michael pointed a finger that almost touched Raemay’s nose. “Arbiter or not,” he said, “that is none of your business. It’s up to Kayli and me, and we’ll make those decisions when we need to.”
Which meant . . . what? Kayli sucked in a shuddering breath and waited. She could do nothing else, not after the mention of children—Michael’s children—had almost flattened her.
He turned to face the rest of the assembly. “But while we’re on the subject, you all should know—there’s no way in hell I’d want to bring a kid into a situation as unstable as this.”
A shocked, insulted gasp issued from the crowd.
Kayli covered her mouth with stunned disbelief. They needed children to survive. Without them, the colony would die out.
But Michael wasn’t finished.
“I’ll tell you what else, I’d want my son or daughter to know that I fought against bullies, that I didn’t cower or give in to threats. I’m willing to do whatever’s necessary to ensure that
all
children, mine or yours, will never have to worry about growing up only to become a damned sacrifice!”
Because she’d always felt the same, his assurances bolstered Kayli, taking some of the sting from her sense of loss and betrayal.
Suddenly Michael turned and stormed back to her. If the inferno of heat in his blue eyes wasn’t enough to cause alarm, his stomping stride and clenched fists were.
Not that she feared him. But she definitely respected his strength, and at the moment, she wasn’t at her best.
He snatched up her hand before she could even think of retreating.
Facing the crowd, he raised their clasped hands so high that Kayli went on tiptoe to keep from stretching too far.
“Together,” he shouted to the crowd, “to the best of our combined ability, we’ll protect the colony.”
Michael’s promise, given with so much assurance, won the plaudits of everyone in attendance. The cheers sounded, subtle at first, but quickly growing loud enough to rattle the thick structure in which they stood.
Never had Kayli heard such a roar of approval.