His Mate to Keep by Ivy Sparks

Epilogue

Xavier

I haltedon the ridge and gazed down the mountain toward the entrance to Caverncall. The jungle looked clear from here, but looks could be deceiving. I learned that lesson the hard way.

While I scanned the terrain for anything out of the ordinary, Garath, Tennar, Kovo, Zixor, and the rest of our patrol advanced from behind. They stopped on the ridge next to me. “Any sign?” Garath asked.

I shook my head. “Nothing. There’s no sign of the Ranxi.”

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Tennar remarked. “If they know where we are, why don’t they mount another attack?”

“They’re probably perfecting their hybrid warriors in the lab,” I told him. “That’s what I would do if I were in their place. We made short work of the ones they had sent.”

“We’ll double the patrol again,” Garath decided. “With every day that passes, they could be expanding their army.”

“I wish…” I began, then broke off.

“Don’t even say it,” Garath snapped. “This isn’t your fault.”

“And regardless,” Tennar added. “You and Merrit are the ones giving us a fighting chance against the Ranxi, now that we have the turret up and running. So what if you alerted them to our location? They would have found us, eventually. Now quit moping and come on. I’m hungry.”

The group started forward. I followed more reluctantly. I tried to volunteer for more patrols. I wanted to do everything possible to protect this little colony from the Ranxi, but Garath wouldn’t hear of it. He kept insisting I belonged at home.

We entered Caverncall, and I headed for the house Garath assigned to Merrit and me. Of course, she wasn’t there. She felt as responsible as I did for protecting our new home.

I put my weapons away and went to the house next door. I walked through the entrance, but I didn’t see her there, either. Just mountains of scrap piled to the ceiling, with tiny aisles twisting through the debris.

Voices came from the back of the building. “What is that?”

“I already told you. Why do you keep asking the same question over and over again?”

I followed the sound and discovered Merrit seated at her desk. More dismantled components, panels, and parts scattered the surface. She bent over a large panel, screwing a wire into the coupling.

Obi sat on the bench next to her. Garath and Daphne teased Merrit endlessly that their young son spent more time with her than he did at home—and it was true. “It doesn’t look like a tracking configuration, though,” he insisted.

“Because it isn’t. This is the navigation array.”

“It isn’t from the runner,” Obi theorized. “It isn’t Bigviat.”

“Ten points to you, kiddo,” Merrit muttered. “It isn’t Bigviat. You get another ten points if you can tell me what species it’s from.”

Obi furrowed his brow, thinking about it as I approached the table. I ruffled the kid’s hair as I said, “Maybe you should pour cold water on your head before your wiring bursts into flame.”

Merrit leaned back to reveal her swollen belly. Our child was growing strong. She grinned at me. “Look who’s here. I thought you’d stay out for at least another week.”

“I would have.” I picked up Obi and sat down in his place. I put him on my knee so we could both watch Merrit work. “But Garath dragged me back here bound hand and foot.”

“My dad did not!” Obi sneered.

I chose not to mention my worries about the Ranxi—not with the king’s child around. “You’re right. I came back here to see my lovely mate.”

“Ew,” Obi whined. “No mushy stuff.” He pointed at the device in Merrit’s hands, returning to the question from earlier. “So what species is it from?”

Merrit smacked her lips. “Come on. At least guess.” Obi shook his head. “It’s Travian.”

“Travian!” I exclaimed. “I didn’t know they had technology like this.”

“Well, they do, and some of them must have traveled to this planet at one time. Zixor found a wreck near the glade. This is the navigation array from it.”

“So what are you doing with it?” I asked.

Instead of answering, she stretched four wires from the navigation array. She touched them to the Ranxi tracking device she took from my shoulder. “Watch and learn.”

The navigation screen lit up and showed a layout of the surrounding area. The tracking device showed exactly where Caverncall was in relation to other landmarks.

“That doesn’t help us,” I remarked. “Anyone can see where we are.”

She shot me a crazy grin. “Not if I do this.” She moved one of the wires and the tracking signal migrated across the landscape. “Anyone tracking you will see that you’re moving. We’ll change your position every few days. They’ll think you’re traveling and go after the false signal instead of going after us.”

My eyes widened. “You can do that?”

She laughed. “I just did. It’s only a matter of time before they launch another attack. When they do, they’ll attack the false signal. That will give us time to launch a surprise counter attack. I’m also reverse-engineering the lasers we took from the sentinels. I should have enough to arm everyone in the village.”

Just then, Daphne’s voice called from behind the mountains of scrap. “Obi! Time to come home!”

He hopped off my lap and bolted around the nearest pile. “Coming!”

Silence descended between me and Merrit. She tinkered with her new toy. After a minute, I ventured, “Now that you’re having a child, you should think about slowing down some.”

“Me? Slow down?”

I laughed. She was right. If anything, having a child growing inside of her only made her stronger. As if that were even possible.

I kissed her and rubbed her stomach, and for a moment I wondered if our child would be a boy or girl. Our child would be fierce, whatever was the case.

Merrit beamed at me with her eyes shining. “I’m glad you’re back. I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” I bent down and kissed her stomach. “I have no doubt that our child will be a mighty warrior.”

I basked in this moment, as all felt right in this world. Whatever the Ranxi might throw at us, they’d have a hell of a time getting in our way. We were strong. We were resilient. And our numbers were growing.

And now that I was with my fated mate, I knew anything was possible.

The End

* * *

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