Arrival

ADIRA

We’re walking down the corridor, the med bay behind us when I grip on to Fer’ro and stop.

His ba’clan bristle and he pulls me to his side.

“You are safe, Adee’ra.” His low voice seems heightened with the walls on either side of us. “It ca

I put a smile on my face as I wrap my arms around his waist. “I know.”

I don’t know why I stopped walking. I just need to feel grounded, I guess.

Even with the Gryken in the tank, hardly moving, just standing before it took all the strength I had.

A few Vullan approach on the other end of the corridor and pause when they see us.

I’m about to pull away when Fer’ro’s arms tighten around me.

I just know he’s glaring at the them when their ears hit the sides of their head and they avert their gazes.

They salute us, their foreheads hitting their palms, as they continue on their way, but I don’t miss the glances as they pass us or the low clicks that echo down the corridor once they are out of sight.

That’s another thing.

They’re all going to know about Fer’ro and me.

My eyes widen a little.

Sam and Mina…

How will I explain that I’ve fallen in love with—

Fallen in love?

I gulp as the words settle within my mind.

But they don’t feel wrong.

They feel…right.

And I realize something.

Missing is the anxiety and second-guessing I’m usually doing when I fall too quickly for someone.

I’m not scared about moving too fast with Fer’ro.

I’m not scared of him getting bored of me, or of him leaving me for someone else.

What I feel is calm security that I’ve never felt before.

I blink up at him as I realize this, my gaze searching his.

I’m still holding on to him when a door materializes to our right and a huge Vullan steps out, blocking our path.

Ga’Var.

I recognize him only because of his burgundy eyes.

“Oh, hi Ga—” I’m easing off Fer’ro to greet the other male when the words cut off in my throat.

A chill fills the air as Ga’Var’s blades appear across his entire body, his ba’clan on edge.

He isn’t looking at me, he is completely focused on Fer’ro.

In one movement, Fer’ro places me behind him and out of the way as his blades extend too.

My eyes go wide.

“What’s—”

There’s a low rumbling that fills the corridor and it takes me a moment to realize it is the two of them snarling at each other.

It’s a suddenly vicious scene.

Both look like they’re ready to fight.

Before I can say anything, Fer’ro launches himself through the air.

He’s so quick, he’s but a streak of flying black.

He’s airborne, pure rage on his face as Ga’Var charges forward as well.

But Fer’ro is faster.

He lands on Ga’Var and they both skid across the corridor.

My heart slams against my chest.

I don’t know what the hell is happening.

“Fer’ro!” I scream his name as Ga’Var uses one of his bladed arms to swipe at Fer’ro, almost slitting Fer’ro’s throat.

“You’ve mated with her!” Ga’Var roars. “Do not lie to me or I will rekking kill you right here, right now!”

Fer’ro snarls. His fangs look even longer than usual. His eyes blood red as he flips Ga’Var and throws him across the hall.

Ga’Var smashes into the wall but he doesn’t get to recover before Fer’ro is on him again.

A dangerously long blade appears on Fer’ro’s arm and with one hand, Fer’ro pins Ga’Var against the wall while the arm with the blade is brought to Ga’Var’s skull.

If either of them so much as move the wrong way, the blade will pierce Ga’Var right through the brain.

I’m ru

“You mated her!” Ga’Var roars again, his fangs also looking longer than usual, and his rage-filled gaze on Fer’ro.

“Yes,” Fer’ro answers. “I mated her. More than once I mated with her and I intend to do so many, many more times.”

Fer’ro’s words stop me in my tracks.

They are talking about me.

Ga’Var roars again.

“How could you? She does not want you!”

This fight…is because of me?

“She is my mate!” Fer’ro roars.

“You forced yourself on her!”

Fer’ro roars again and throws his brother to the side.

Ga’Var collides with the hard wall and I see dark fluid swell inside his mouth.

He coughs, but he staggers to his feet.

I…I can’t let this happen.

He’s heading for Fer’ro again when I step in between them.

“Stop!”

Ga’Var pauses. “Get out of the way, little female.” More blades seem to appear around him. “You do not have to fear my womb mate any longer.”

I blink at him.

“I don’t fear him. He’s done nothing but take care of me and…” My cheeks warm as I glance behind me at Fer’ro. His blades have still not retracted either. “And…he’s right. He didn’t force me.”

Fuck.

I don’t think I will ever get used to their sense of smell.

Ga’Var finally looks at me. Studies me.

And slowly, his blades begin to flatten.

“You gave yourself to him?”

There’s a note of regret there. I don’t know if I’m imagining it, but I nod.

“He didn’t force me.” I try to keep my voice level and calm. Despite that they aren’t pointing blades at each other, there’s so much tension between the two I could cut it with a knife. “You, of all people, should know he is not like that.”

Ga’Var’s gaze flicks down me slowly and Fer’ro growls at my back.

“But you are so small. Surely, you would not want to mate with my kind?”

The end of his words lilt in a question even though it sounds as if he is making a statement, and I wonder what is going on in his mind.

He’s looking at me strangely now.

“Your size doesn’t matter.”

My cheeks blaze.

It really, fucking, does.

Ga’Var studies me some more and as the seconds tick by, I feel Fer’ro relaxing behind me.

“Your kind is…compatible with mine?” Ga’Var’s gaze flicks to Fer’ro and then back to me.

I’m trying to understand where he is getting at but I answer his question in the affirmative anyway.

“Yes…?”

I glance up at Fer’ro for some help but I only catch him glaring at Ga’Var so intently, it is a miracle Ga’Var doesn’t combust.

“And your kind…wants to mate with my kind?” Ga’Var’s gaze sweeps down me again.

Fer’ro growls louder this time.

“I wouldn’t put it that way…” I answer cautiously.

“But…it is a possibility.”

My eyes narrow a little as I nod. “Yes…?”

Ga’Var straightens then, his gaze flicking from Fer’ro to me and back, and I wonder more than ever what he is thinking about.

“I see I may have been mistaken about what has transpired between you two,” he says.

Bending, he places one palm on top of the other before resting his forehead on them.

“Accept my apologies. I was merely concerned my womb mate had lost his mind.” He pauses. “But now I know.”

As he lifts his head, there’s still that strange look in his eyes, and he wipes a line of blood away from his mouth.

He gives Fer’ro one final look before he turns and does the strange bow again.

Then he is walking away down the corridor.

I watch him go, my eyes never leaving his back till he disappears around a corner.

My shoulders sag with pent up tension I didn’t know I’d been holding.

“What the hell was that all about?”

I turn toward Fer’ro but I’m suddenly being pushed backward till my back hits the wall.

Fer’ro dips his head to my neck and inhales deeply.

His hand finds my center and he cups me there.

Heat floods my soul.

“Fer—what are you doing? Anyone could see us right now!”

“Ga’Var wanted to mate with you.”

His words disintegrate everything I was about to say.

“Before, when we first found you, he wanted you for himself.”

I blink as Fer’ro rubs his nose into me.

“Would you have chosen him and not me?”

I shake my head, even though the revelation has me surprised.

“No.”

And it’s the truth.

The only Vullan I’ve been drawn to is the one before me.

I wrap my arms around his wide back as he pulls me into him.

“Good,” he whispers.

For a few moments, we stay like this and I find it curious that no one else passes through the corridor even though I constantly hear clicks of conversation of approaching Vullan.

“So no more fighting between you two?” I brace back so I can look into Fer’ro’s not-so-alien eyes. He blinks at me with that secondary eyelid and I smile. He looks a little different now, with his hair no longer caught together behind his head, and the locs fall to the side of his face. “Now that he knows I’m willing, there’ll be no more fighting, right?”

Fer’ro clicks at me and I assume it is a yes.

“And the others? Will they fight you too? Do I have to a

“No. They wouldn’t dare. Only my obstinate womb mate would dare attack me like this.”

I nod as I smooth one of his locs back.

“We should go,” I whisper. “I’m pretty sure everyone knows we’re pressed against each other in the corridor…and I’m begi

Fer’ro breathes in deep as he eases off me and there’s a click somewhere down the corridor.

“See,” I whisper.

Fer’ro makes a slight trilling sound as we begin to walk again. “They are excited.”

I huff a laugh through my nose. “Excited for what?”

When I look up at him, his eyes are like fire again. “For the new era,” he says.