"She is the one found in the mines."
"Yes. You are to guard her with your life, or I will end yours! She is my True Mate."
"What?!!" Onp and Nroa exclaimed in unison.
"She. Is. My. True. Mate." Nikhil repeated through clenched lips. "She wears my bead." He lifted the braid that now only held his Ashe Bead. "If there are any problems, you are to notify me immediately!"
"Yes, Squad Leader!"
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Mac watched Nikhil until the doors closed behind him, then turned and discovered every eye staring at her curiously. Feeling her cheeks flush, she cleared her throat. "So how are you guys really?" she asked moving closer.
"What was that all about?" Craig demanded.
"What?"
"He kissed you! You talked to him in his language!"
"Yes and yes." She ran an agitated hand through her hair, tucking some of it behind her ear. "Look, there's a lot that we need to talk about. A lot you need to know, but right now you know who I want to see. Where?"
"I'm right here." The low, husky voice came from the back corner. Making her way between the guys, Mac finally found the cape-wrapped, hood-pulled-low person she was looking for sitting on one of the cots.
Mac felt her eyes fill as her gaze settled on her friend. God, had she looked that pitiful when Nikhil found her? No wonder he had rushed her out of that mine. Slowly, she sat down. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. The guys helped get me out of the mine."
"And no one noticed?"
"They were all too worried about some incoming storm."
"Oh." Mac hadn't known there had been a storm.
"What happened to you after the Zaludians took you?" Jen's eyes filled with tears and guilt. "Oh God, I'm so sorry about that, Mac."
"It wasn't your fault," Mac immediately tried to reassure her. "It wasn't anyone’s fault."
"You could have gotten into the cave," Jen whispered.
"And then what? What were we going to do then? Let the Zaludians kill the guys one by one to force me out? Let them find you?" Mac took a deep breath and tried to calm her racing heart as she remembered how terrified she'd been, thinking she was going to be raped like the Jerboaian females had been. She hadn't been, and she forced her thoughts away from what might have happened and looked at the group around them. She needed to help them.
"I was told you received food," she looked up to Craig for confirmation.
"We did," he confirmed. "Packets. Last night and this morning."
"That's what I got too." She didn't tell them how Nikhil had fed her the meal the night before. "And I see they brought you cots and blankets."
"Yes," Craig continued to answer.
"New coverings?"
"Coverings?"
"Sorry. Clothes? They said you were shown the cleansing room and given new clothes."
"We did receive new clothes, but weren't 'shown' how to use the cleansing room. But we figured it out."
"Good."
"Mac...” A thin, pale hand, crisscrossed with scars reached out to grip hers. "Tell us what we need to know."
"I will, but first, let me get a look at you." Carefully she pulled back the hood that covered her friend's face, and felt her breath hitch. Somehow she'd forgotten how bad the damage to the left side of Jennifer's face was. Refusing to let Jen see how her injury affected her, Mac gave her a teary smile. "Hi. I've missed you."
"Oh God, Mac. I've missed you too."
The men closed ranks, even as they uncomfortably shuffled their feet and looked away as the two women hugged. Jen was the first to pull away, and pulled her hood back up. And although she didn't pull it as low, she turned so the damaged side of her face was away from the guys.
"Tell us, Mac," Jen said. "Tell us everything you've learned."
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Treyvon was surprised to see Nikhil enter the training field. He silently watched as Nikhil, stripped to the waist, and put Warrior Parlan through his drills with a single-minded intensity that had the smaller warrior struggling to defend himself. It was not how the Squad Leader normally sparred with those under his command unless he was making a point.
"Squad Leader!" Although Treyvon didn't raise his voice, it was easily heard across the training field, and Nikhil instantly ended his attack on Parlan.
"General." Nikhil turned to face Treyvon.
"A word." Nikhil nodded then looked back to Parlan.
"We will finish this another day, Warrior Parlan." With that, Nikhil walked over to his General.
Treyvon waited until Nikhil neared, then turned and walked to a quieter part of the training field. "I didn't expect to see you here today, Squad Leader. I expected you to stay with your True Mate while Luol completed treating her."