Found(130)

“I love you, Xairn. Please be careful. Please come back to me—swear you will.”

He held her tight and she felt his big form tremble and knew he was crying too. “I will,” he whispered, his voice hoarse with sorrow. “I swear it, Lauren, I will come back to you. I will.”





Chapter Thirty-five





“So he’s going up there alone unless someone will help him.” Lauren’s voice was choked with sobs and from what she could see on the viewscreen, it looked to Kat like she’d gotten dressed in the dark. Her blouse was inside out and her hair was wild. But that was to be expected when your man went off on a suicide mission, she supposed.

“Oh Lauren,” she said, wishing the other girl was up on the Mother ship so she could put her arms around her and comfort her. “I’m so sorry.”

“I’m sorry too.” Lauren blotted her eyes with her inside out sleeve. “I know this is a horrible thing to ask you but I didn’t know who else to turn to.”

“You did the right thing, calling us.” Deep stepped up behind Kat and Lock joined him. “We will answer the call for help and come to the aid of our brother.”

“What brother? Who are you talking about and why did you call us?” Baird and Sylvan suddenly crowded into the viewing room, followed by Sophia and Liv. “What’s going on?”

“Xairn is going to confront his father—er, the AllFather right now at the Fathership,” Kat explained, feeling numb. “He’s going alone unless he gets some help.”

“He is not going alone,” Deep said. “I’m going with him.”

“As am I.” Lock nodded.

“Going to the Fathership with only a few warriors is a suicide mission,” Baird objected, frowning. “I know you helped each other on the Scourge home world, Deep, but just because this Scourge has chosen to sacrifice himself is no reason for you and Lock to join him.”

Deep shook his head. “You don’t understand. I have to help him—I was ordered to do so.”

“Ordered?” Sylvan raised one blond eyebrow. “By who?”

“By the Goddess.” Deep spoke in a low voice as he met each male’s eyes in turn. “You all know that I was on the brink of death—in fact, I was dead—during the last joining that Kat and Lock and I participated in before we were bonded. But what I haven’t told any of you—not even Kat—was how I was saved.”

“Are you saying the Goddess herself rescued you?” Baird asked, frowning.

Deep nodded. “My spirit was caught in the AllFather’s grip and I knew I would never be able to return to my body. I was ready to die and then…she saved me. While I was in her presence she told me she had a special interest in Xairn. She said a war was coming—a conflict with the AllFather that would make all our battles up until now seem insignificant.”

“And you think this is what she was talking about?” Sylvan asked. “This confrontation that Xairn is going into with the AllFather?”

Deep nodded again. “Her exact words were: ‘I charge you, Warrior, that you give him aid if he asks it of you. That you help him in any way you can. And that you not speak of this until the time is right.’” He lifted his chin. “I think now the time is right. I hope you understand, brothers, why I have to go.”

“I do.” Sylvan nodded. “And I think I must go as well.”

“And me,” Baird said.

“Baird?” Olivia’s face was white as a sheet and she cupped her rounded belly protectively. “Do you…you really have to?”

“Lilenta…” Baird drew his pregnant wife to him and kissed her tenderly on the forehead. “I know this is a frightening thing but I feel it’s meant to be. The Goddess has touched all our lives in one way or another since I first called you as my bride. I think she means for us to take part in this conflict.”

“I feel the same way,” Sylvan said thoughtfully. “She has made herself known to us in ways that most Kindred do not get to experience. We should consider ourselves blessed.”

Sophia’s green eyes overflowed with tears. “I always knew something like this might…might happen,” she whispered, clinging to Sylvan. “I guess it goes with the territory—marrying a warrior and all. But…I didn’t think it would happen this soon.”

“I didn’t either, but it has.” Kat took a deep breath and lifted her chin, trying to be strong. “Girls, I know we hoped it would never come to this but it has. And if our males are brave enough to go face this threat, I think we have to be brave enough to let them. And I think—I hope—that the Goddess will protect them through it.”