“Okay.” Lauren nodded.
“Good.” Kat turned and rapped briefly on the glass. Xairn opened the door and she and Lauren stepped out. “Hey, guys, it’s okay. He’s all right,” she said, nodding at the big Scourge. “Lauren says he’s a perfect gentleman.”
“I am a what?” A look of incomprehension creased Xairn’s stern features.
“It means you’ve never taken advantage of her,” Kat said tactfully. “Or hurt her.”
“Of course I haven’t.” Xairn lifted his chin. “I would rather die.”
Deep gave him an appraising look. “You sound like one of us—a Kindred warrior. We also would rather die than hurt our females.”
“Physically or emotionally?” Kat gave him a penetrating look.
“We have no time for bickering,” Xairn reminded them sternly. “We must leave this place quickly, while my father is still in his Souda. I was going to take one of the abandoned ships from the battlefield and return Lauren to Earth. But now…” His red-on-black eyes flickered over Kat, who still had her arm around the shivering Lauren. “Perhaps…perhaps you should take her with you.”
Deep raised an eyebrow. “I thought you didn’t trust her with another male.”
Xairn’s eyes flashed crimson. “I don’t. But I see now that she needs the comfort of her own kind. And…” He looked at Deep and Lock and back at Kat again. “No matter what you say, I do not believe the two of you have any interest in another female besides your companion.”
“You’re right about that,” Lock said quietly. “We have no interest in Lauren—although we will swear to protect her.”
“She has kin aboard our Mother ship,” Deep said. “We’ll see that she gets there safely and is reunited with her family.”
Xairn nodded. “Then she shall go with you. Come.” He turned to lead the way out but Lauren called his name.
“Xairn, please,” she said softly.
“Yes?” He turned to face her.
“What about you? Will you…come with us?”
His rough voice gentled. “No, Lauren. I cannot.”
“But why? What are you going to do?”
“Take a ship and get as far from my father as possible.” He jerked his head in the direction of the doors. “Come. Time is running out. My father will not remain in his Souda much longer. And if he finds us, none of us will get anywhere.”
“True enough,” Deep growled. “Let’s quit this place. We can come back later when it’s deserted again.”
“Or not at all,” Lock muttered.
Kat felt a great surge of relief. We’re leaving. We’re not going to do it. Not going to cut the bond! Up until that moment, she hadn’t realized how very much she didn’t want to be separated from Lock and Deep. She had forced herself to think it was all right because it was so clearly what Deep wanted. But now that it was no longer an option, she couldn’t help hoping that he could be made to see reason. That he could learn to care for her as Lock did and the three of them could be happy together.
Stupid, whispered a little voice in her head. You can’t change how he feels. You need to give up that idea right now because there’s no way it’s going to work. But despite the negative self-talk, Kat couldn’t help the hope that bloomed in her heart. She kept feeling that there was something about Deep—something standing in his way. And if she could just find that last barrier and remove it, maybe—
“Well, well, how very fortuitousss…it ssseems we have visitorsss.”
The soft hissing voice froze all of them in their tracks. Kat turned her head slowly, dreading what she was about to see but completely unable to help looking.
It was the AllFather—or the outline looked like him, anyway—encased in a huge, slimy, blackish-red bubble of blood. And he was surrounded by four of the hugest creatures Kat had ever seen—no doubt the vat-grown soldiers Xairn had mentioned.
Kat couldn’t be sure, but she thought the AllFather might be smiling—or maybe it was just his eyes glowing with eagerness and greed as he looked them over.
Oh my God, we waited too long. He’s here and now we’re trapped—what the hell are we going to do?
Chapter Thirty-two
Xairn felt like the marrow in the center of his bones had suddenly frozen. How could he miss his father’s entrance so completely? And how much had the AllFather heard of what they were saying?
“Ssso the Complex is sssecure, is it?” his father demanded, drifting closer in the glistening dravex.