His Mate to Keep by Ivy Sparks

21

Merrit

Daphne sneeredat the giant body stretched out on the platform. It took several Kavian warriors to hoist it and drag it back into the mountain cavern. “What in God’s name is that thing? It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”

Xavier, who stood at my side, answered immediately. “The skin comes from the Zort and these creatures use some of the Zort’s fighting style. The eyes come from the Braxilons. I fought them in the experimental battle room, but…”

I waited for him to say something else, but he didn’t. He kept glaring into the distance and refused to look at anyone.

“What are you saying?” Daphne asked. “Is this some new species or something?”

“Hybrids,” I answered as it dawned on me. That was what the experimenters were creating all along. A hybrid species to help conquer other civilizations.

The instant I said that, Xavier stalked away into the colony. He didn’t come back. Everybody watched him leave. I didn’t understand what was bothering him, but it must be something pretty serious.

Garath turned to me, paying Xavier no mind. “Thank you for your quick thinking at the turret. If not for you and Xavier, the cavern would have been overrun. We might all have been wiped out.”

“We have to figure out what to do about these,” Tennar added, waving his arm at the dead beast. “If they found us once, we can expect them to come back.”

“We have the turret working,” Daphne remarked. “Thanks to Merrit, we can get the control panel working. We might even be able to automatically shoot them when they enter orbit.”

I wasn’t listening anymore. I kept looking at the spot where Xavier disappeared. If something was bothering him that much, I had to help him. “Would you please excuse me?” I asked Daphne.

When she nodded, I darted away and hurried up the gangway. I had to search nearly everywhere before I found Xavier. He sat on a wet rock under the waterfall where no one could see him.

I inched closer. “Are you all right? Did you get hurt in the battle?”

He stared into the falls and didn’t look at me. “No, I’m not hurt.” He jerked around and his sharp eyes pierced me to the core. “I love you, Merrit. I should have told you sooner. Told you before the battle. What if I had lost you before then?”

I swallowed hard. I didn’t know if I could say it, but I’d come too far to back out now. And Lord knows I felt it. “I love you too. You know I’d do anything for you.”

He turned back to the falls. “I know.”

I couldn’t stand him turning his back on me like that. I hated thinking he was shutting me out. “Is there something I can do for you—something you need from me? Maybe there’s something I can do that no one else can do.”

He shut his eyes and blew out a long, agonized sigh. “I have a problem, Merrit.”

“What—just one?” I laughed nervously, then stopped myself. “Sorry. That was rude.”

He didn’t laugh. “Those ships… They followed us here.” He gave me a pointed look, a dangerous look. “They followed us here, to this cavern—not to the runner. They knew our exact location.”

“How could they?” I asked. “This mountain is so secluded, and you couldn’t possibly see Caverncall inside it from the sky.”

“We must have an implant in us. Or at least one of us. Do you remember them injecting you with anything?”

I shook my head. When they examined me, they didn’t implant anything under my skin.

Xavier continued, “I remember them injecting me. It was after my first escape attempt. I didn’t know what it was at the time, but now I have a suspicion, and it isn’t good.”

“Where did they inject it?”

“I don’t remember. I was mostly out of it. You need to help me find it, and rip it out.”

I gulped again. What could I do—operate on him? I didn’t even want to think about it. But with that tracker in him, we’d never be able to escape the sentinels. I straightened up and squared my shoulders. “All right. I’ll do what I can.”

I took his hand and led him back to the healer’s hut. I didn’t know what I would do until I got there and discovered that my pack was next to my bed. Someone must have brought it back from the turret position.

“Sit down,” I told him, then I examined his chest. Scars crossed all over him. Some were bigger than others. Some blended into his tattoos, while some were almost too small to see. “The device could be anywhere. If it was sticking out anywhere, you would have noticed it. I would have noticed it.”

“What can we do?”

“I think I have the solution.”

I started to dig into my pack, but Xavier stopped me. He laid his hand on my cheek and turned me to face him. He kissed me and breathed into my mouth. “Thank you.”

“What are mates for?” I tried to drop it casually, but no luck.

Did he feel guilt for this? For possibly bringing the sentinels to a Kavian sanctuary? Did he not want the rest of them to know what he might have done?

“None of this is your fault,” I told him.

“I should have known the experimenters would do this.”

“The Kavians would have taken you in, regardless. They seem to protect their own.”

“They do. But still, good warriors died.”

I didn’t have a response to that. He threaded his arms around me and drew me into his lap. He drew me into his strong, protective embrace and his lips pulled me into that other world where only he and I existed.

I let my head drop onto his shoulder. Ancient memories came back to me of being held like this, of being protected and cared for against any danger. Those memories came from the forgotten mists of the past.

He pressed his cheek against my hair and kissed my forehead. “My mate.”

“My mate,” I whispered back, and I knew it was true. We were joined for all time. I never wanted to live without him. I would destroy anyone or anything that tried to separate us.

We might be scrappy, prickly orphans with a lot of baggage between us, but we had each other. We were two of a kind, and whatever the future held, we would meet it together.

I would have stayed there in the shelter of his arms forever, but he pushed me upright. “Let’s do this,” he said.

“All right.” I sat down on the ground and pulled out the tracking configuration from the runner and pointed it at him. He frowned. “Is that…?”

“It’s a tracking configuration, but I can remodulate it to act as a sub-dermal scanner. It should pick up any non-biological material…” The scanner started whirling, and I gasped. “There it is! I didn’t believe it, but…”

“Where?” he blurted out. “Where is it?”

I followed the signal to a spot on his back, just under the shoulder blade. I touched smooth skin. “Here. It’s buried under the bone.”

“Get it out. However you have to do it, just get it out.”

I lowered the configuration. “I… I can’t. It was implanted in the ligament. If we try to remove it, your arm will be ruined.”

“I can’t be chased by the sentinels for the rest of my life. Do whatever you must.”

I dropped the configuration. He sat down with his back to me, waiting. But how could I? How could I cripple him like this? A lump wedged in my throat.

Just then, the tent flap whisked aside and Daphne stepped in. She stared at us with huge eyes. “There you two are. Is something wrong?”

“Xavier…” I waved at him before I realized I was holding a knife in my hand. “He has a tracking device implanted in his back. The experimenters used it to follow us here. He wants me to remove it, but I’m afraid he’ll be maimed for life if I try. This isn’t exactly my line of expertise.”

Daphne’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? Show me.”

I held up the configuration so she could see the device. “It’s under the scapula. I would have to cut the ligament.”

Daphne stared at the configuration readout. “It can’t be!” she whispered. “It’s impossible.”

“What?” I croaked. “We can leave if we have to. We won’t put the entire colony in danger.”

“We won’t put them in danger because we’re going to destroy it,” Xavier snarled.

“Stay here!” Daphne jumped to her feet and raced away.

As soon as she left, Xavier twisted around and fixed me with a fierce stare. “Cut it out, Merrit. You know you have to.”

I did my best to swallow that lump cutting off my breath. He was right. We had to cut it out, even if it meant he was left with one arm. The colony was more important than one person.

I raised the knife, but at that moment, Daphne dove inside along with Garath, Nissaya, and Tennar. She held a different device in her hands. She turned it on and pointed it at Xavier’s back.

I frowned at the scanner in her hands, seeing its readings flashing red. “What does that mean?”

Daphne froze. “We’ve seen this pattern before. See the crystalline matrix? It’s Ranxi technology. This is a Ranxi tracking device.”

“Ranxi!” Xavier’s face went white. “That’s impossible.”

Garath and Tennar both shared shocked glances with each other. Daphne concluded, “The experimenters who kept you in that lab… They must have been Ranxi. They must’ve been the bastards who destroyed the Kavian home planet.”

“Did you ever see them?” Garath asked. “Did you see the aliens that held you prisoners?”

Xavier and I both shook our heads, but at this point we didn’t need to have seen the experimenters. It was all too clear who we were dealing with. And if the genocidal Ranxi implanted this tracking device, we had to remove it no matter the cost.

“Lie down, Xavier.” Daphne turned to me. “Don’t worry about his shoulder. We can fix that. He’ll make a full recovery, and he’ll regain the use of his arm, but this is more important. Here. Drink this, Xavier. It’s a painkiller.”

She handed him a gourd, and he drank the contents. Then he stretched out on his stomach and folded his hands under his head. “Do it.”

“Would you like me to do it?” Daphne asked me.

I shook my head. “I’ll do it. He’s my mate. If anyone is going to do this, it will be me.”

Those words steeled my resolve, and I bent over him with the knife. Daphne held her scanner near Xavier’s shoulder so I could see exactly where the tracking device was.

I gritted my teeth and started carving into his skin. He wanted me to do this. I kept telling myself that as I sliced through the ligament and pried up the shoulder bone.

He didn’t make a peep. Once, Daphne asked, “How are you doing, Xavier?”

“Fine,” he replied. “Those are some pretty good painkillers you have. I could have used them in the lab.”

I tried not to listen. At least he wasn’t in pain. The scapula peeled away from the ligament and I stared at the tiny device swimming in a pool of blood. I sliced it free and pulled it out.

I handed it to Daphne and dropped the knife. She handed me a bandage of the healing leaves, and I pressed it against the wound. Nothing mattered but making Xavier better.

Daphne pointed her scanner at the device and nodded. “This is definitely Ranxi technology.”

“We should destroy it,” Garath decided. “That’s the only way to keep the colony safe.”

“Not so fast.” Xavier pivoted upright. “There’s a better way. We can use this to our advantage.”

“What do you mean?” Garath asked. “If other Ranxi pick up this signal, it could be the death of all of us.”

Xavier shook his head. “We can use this against the Ranxi. We can turn their own technology against them.”

I cocked my head. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

He grinned at me, and when I looked into his eyes, I knew we understood each other. Fated mates had an understanding beyond words, after all.