"A Nekeok disclosed this to you?"
"No, he disclosed it to Mackenzie, who told me."
"A Nekeok spoke to Nikhil's Ashe?" Treyvon turned his gaze to Nikhil and saw he had moved to give Gulzar more instruction.
"Yes. He was very respectful to her," Luol quickly reassured him.
"I see. All I can state as truth is that I contacted the Minister in charge of the Nekeoks’ home world when they were discovered and gave them the names of the survivors. Whether they contacted their families, I do not know."
"I see. I will relay that information, General, but I don't believe it will appease Blag."
"It will have to, for it is all the information I have."
"Yes, General."
Luol looked up from his comm to see Mackenzie silently watching him through the open doorway of his office. It was obvious she had heard both sides of the conversation, and she wasn't happy about it. "We've done all that is required, Mackenzie."
"Then you should be required to do more," she fired back quietly, still holding Paul's hand. "How would you feel if it were Maysa and she didn't know that you were alive?"
Luol suddenly felt a kinship with Blag and it shamed him to realize he'd never considered it before. If it were his Maysa that needed to be contacted, he would be tearing down the walls until he was able to reassure her.
"I will see what I can do."
Mac nodded then turned her attention back to Paul. He was lying there so still that it worried her. Had she been that still when she'd worn the educator?
"Yes," Luol replied, and she realized she had spoken out loud, "and Nikhil was just as worried then as you are now."
"He was?"
"You doubt this?" Luol frowned at her. "You doubt your True Mate's commitment to you?"
"I... if it weren't for this," she touched the bead in her hair, "would we even be having this conversation? I've only known Nikhil two days, Luol. Love doesn't happen in two days!"
"It does if it is true," Luol told her. "Is yours?"
"How am I supposed to know that? After everything that's happened, how am I expected to trust that what I'm feeling is real? For either of us? Nikhil is relying on this bead. How can he know it's not a mistake? That it's not just because you've never met a human before?"
"Mackenzie. The Goddess gifted the Kaliszians with the True Mate bead to end the conflicts that arose between males over who their True Mate was."
"What?"
"Was this not in the educator?" Luol frowned.
"No."
"I'm sorry, Mackenzie. I did not realize our ancient tales were not included in the educator." Luol took a deep breath then began.
"Kaliszians are a warrior race. It is our nature to fight for what we want and to defend what we have. Our mates were what we would fight the most violently for. It became a problem when more than one male laid claim to the same female."
"But wouldn't the female just choose then?"
"You do not know our males," Luol told her with a wry grin. "One would never just accept that the female he desired had chosen another. Not without proof."
"But the Dasho bead..."
"Can be offered to any male and as long as the male accepts and wears it, he is her Dasho."
"For as long as..."
"Yes, the Dasho and Ashe beads are the only ones that a Kaliszian can remove."
"They're like wedding rings," she whispered.
"Wedding rings?"
"It's a tradition on Earth that many follow where a male and female will exchange rings. They are worn around a specific finger." Mac touched her left ring finger. "It symbolizes they are committed to one another."
"An unbreakable commitment?"
"No. It can be broken if one or both decides to."
"It is the same way with the Ashe and Dasho beads which is what caused so many deaths and so much pain and suffering. The Goddess finally took pity on us and gifted us with the True Mate bead. An outward and irrefutable sign of who’s one True Mate is. It stopped the conflicts, at least until the Great Infection struck."
"That's when you stopped finding your True Mates," she whispered.
"Yes, and we did not even realize it at first as our attention was on trying to save our dwindling food supply and feed our people."
"You didn't notice?"
"No, not until many years later," Luol's eyes glowed slightly brighter as he looked at the bead she wore. "It is why seeing you wear Nikhil's True Mate bead is so important. It gives us all hope that we might finally find ours."
"I... but Maysa..."
"I believe... No I know Maysa is my True Mate, yet my bead won't accept her." Luol touched the bead he still wore, his eyes full of hope. "Perhaps now it will."
Paul's slight movement had them both looking at him.
"The educator has finished." Luol reached down and removed the device. "He will wake momentarily."
Mac squeezed Paul's hand as his eyes slowly opened and he looked at her. "Hi," she whispered in Kaliszian.
"Hi," he replied in Kaliszian. "That didn't take long."
"I thought the same thing, but it's been two hours, Paul."
"Really?" Paul looked to Luol for confirmation.
"Yes," Luol responded, also in Kaliszian. "Can you answer a few questions for me?"
"I can try," Paul told him.
"Do you know where Crurn is?"
"You mean the planet where the Emperor of the Kaliszian Empire resides?"
"Yes."
"It’s three days from here," Paul answered.
Luol smiled at Mac then looked back to Paul, "That is correct. You have absorbed the educator's information. How are you feeling?" Luol asked as he helped him sit up.
Paul swung his feet to the floor, took a deep breath, and thought for a moment before responding. "Good."
"How's Craig doing?" he asked standing.
"He needs, at least a few more hours in the repair unit. I will contact someone to escort you back to your area and bring someone else back."
"Are you okay with that, Paul," Mac asked rising to stand by him.
"Yeah, I’ll see who wants to go next."
Entering the outer room, they saw Blag rising from the repair unit. Apparently it had completed healing him.
"Blag, are you ready to return to your people?" Luol asked.
"Yes," Blag responded shortly.
"I checked with General Treyvon and was informed he contacted your Minister."
"Minister Klueh?!!" Blag spat. "That means my Ashe still does not know I am alive."
"You don't believe Klueh contacted her?" Luol couldn't hide his shock.
"Of course not. I am not Kaliszian, just a species that lives within your Empire." With that, Blag turned and walked away.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Nikhil was enraged, his fist leaving an impression in the solid steel door of the medical unit that he was locked out of. He'd nearly drawn his blade on Onp when he learned his Mackenzie was no longer where he'd left her. Now he was unable to enter where she was, and heads would roll for it. He lifted his fist to pound again when the door suddenly slid open.
"Nikhil." Luol took a step back allowing the enraged warrior to enter.
"Where is she?" Nikhil growled threateningly.
"Mackenzie is in my office sitting with the human called Eric while he uses the educator."
"She isn't supposed to be here. She is supposed to be where I left her. Where she is safe."
"I'm safe here," Mac announced, walking out of Luol's office hearing Nikhil's words.
"Mackenzie," he breathed. Shouldering his way passed Luol, he pulled her into his arms needing to feel her in them, needing to know she was safe.
"I'm fine, Nikhil." She rested her hands on his chest and was surprised at how hard his heart was pounding. He'd really been worried. "I'm really okay, Nikhil."
"Goddess, Mackenzie." He lowered his head to capture her lips for a quick, hard kiss. "Don't do that to me again. I've only just fo
und you."
"But wouldn't you have known if I was in trouble?" She pulled back slightly. "Because I wear your True Mate bead."
"But I don't wear yours," Nikhil admitted hoarsely.
"What?" She gave him a confused look. "But the educator said the bead connected us."
"That's what happens when the beads are exchanged," Luol said softly from behind Nikhil. "As you have no True Mate bead to give Nikhil, the connection is not complete."
"Nikhil?" She looked up at him questioningly.
"I have to touch the bead you wear to know your condition," he admitted.
"Why didn't you tell me that?" she asked.
"I hadn't had the chance to and..."
"And?"
"And I hoped, that given enough time, the full bond would still form."
"I see." She pushed against his chest putting some space between them. "So you lied to me."
"I did not lie to you, Mackenzie," he instantly denied.
"You just didn't tell me the truth." This time, she shoved hard against his chest and as his arms fell away, she moved out of his embrace. "That's not going to work for me, Nikhil. If I can't trust in you, believe in you, and have you tell me what I need to know, then this," she grabbed her hair that held his bead and it swung out as if it meant to return to him, "is meaningless."
"Don't say that!" Nikhil exclaimed. The heart in his chest that had just begun to settle started pounding even harder than before.
"Why not? It's the truth!" Mac felt her heart break at the devastated look on Nikhil's face. He thought she couldn't feel his pain because he didn't wear her True Mate bead but he was wrong. He'd touched her soul with how gently and carefully he had cleansed her, and how he kept putting her needs first. But none of that mattered if he wasn't honest with her.
"You are my True Mate, Mackenzie," he told her reaching for her again, but she stepped farther away, and he slowly dropped his arms.
"Yes, but you might not be mine since you don't wear my bead and that's what you didn't want to tell me, isn't it?"
"I... yes... some might see it that way," he reluctantly admitted, "but I don't. We have bonded, Mackenzie. I don't need a bead to tell me that. I feel you here." He touched his chest where his heart was still pounding so hard that it seemed to be trying to fly to her, knowing it was safe in her care.
Mac felt her eyes fill at Nikhil's heartfelt words. She could hear his truth in them and it made her want to reach out and comfort him, but she needed that truth to permeate more than just their relationship. She needed it to filter through their entire life. There was so much she still didn't know or understand and if she couldn't rely on Nikhil to tell her, who could she?
"I need to get back to Eric," she told him, turning to re-enter Luol's office.
"Eric?" Nikhil questioned.
"He is the human male currently using the educator," Luol informed him quietly. "Mackenzie insists on sitting with them, so they are not alone as I see to the treatment of those in the deep-repair unit."
"You leave her alone with other males?" Nikhil growled.
"I leave her alone with males that she knows and trusts. She has already spent a great deal of time alone with them, Nikhil. She is loyal to them. They are her friends, and they have bonded because of what they have survived together. That is something you are going to have to deal with and accept if you want your mate to be truly happy.
"They let her be taken, Luol, let her be harmed."
"And she seems to hold no animosity toward them for it. Perhaps you need to find out why." Luol walked away to check on the two in the repair unit.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Nikhil stood in the doorway of Luol's office, ignoring the way his massive shoulders pressed against the frame, and watched his mate sit beside another male holding his hand. His first instinct was to storm across the room and pull her away from the male. She was his. His mate. She should never touch another male. But he knew that would be wrong. That it would drive his mate even farther from him. He tensed as she lifted a hand to gently tuck a strand of the male's hair behind his ear. But as he watched, he realized she wasn't touching the other male the same way she touched him. Yes, there was feeling in the touch, but it wasn't a caress.
Moving across the room, he pulled over a chair and sat down heavily on the other side of the couch. "You care about this male," he said quietly.
"Eric."
"What?"
"His name is Eric, and yes, I do." She lifted her gaze to his. "Very much. Just like I care for all the others."
"Explain to me why."
"What do you mean why?"
"They let the Zaludians take you, Mackenzie." While he spoke quietly, there was no doubting the rage behind his words. "You were harmed because they didn't protect you. How can you still care about them?"
"Is that all you see? How you found me?" She shook her head and looked back to Eric. "You just don't understand."
"Then make me understand." He leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees. "I need to understand, Mackenzie."
"They protected me, Nikhil, when they didn't have to."
"Didn't..."
"They didn't know me. I wasn't one of their group. I was just their guide. The one they trusted to lead them up the mountain and bring them back safely. I failed."
"They can't blame you for what the Ganglians did, Mackenzie."
"They could have, but they didn't. Instead they protected me. When we first got to that mine, the Zaludians took half of us to the cave where we lived and the other half they put to work in the mine. I was put to work. I collapsed when we got back to the cave, and they took the other group. I didn't know what I was going to do. We saw how the Zaludians beat a Jerboaian to death when he collapsed, and then they beat the one that tried to protect him."
"We heard they would do that," Nikhil said quietly.
"You heard right, and as much as I didn't want to die that way, I knew it was going to happen because there was no way I could do that type of physical work... so did the guys. When the Zaludians returned with the other group, they brought food and told us we had fifteen minutes. I didn't eat because I knew I'd be dead soon and it would just be a waste of food the others needed." Her eyes began to fill with tears, and she ran the back of her hand over Eric's gaunt cheek before she continued. "The Zaludians returned and as I rose to go with my group, Eric pushed me down and went in my place."
"He..."
"He was in the group that had just returned from the mine. His only thought should have been to rest until they came for him again. Instead, he took my place."
"He worked back to back shifts?"
"Yes, and when he returned, one of the other guys took his place. They never let me return to that mine, Nikhil. Do you understand now? They all did what they could to protect me."
"And the Zaludians never noticed?"
"As long as they had six bodies they didn't care."
"Then how...?"
"Did they discover me?"
"Yes."
"My fault. You see, I discovered a crack in the back wall of the cave and J..." she cut herself off, realizing she had almost told him about Jen. "I would hide in there whenever we heard the Zaludians coming just to make sure they wouldn't realize I was female. On that day, one of the guys had gotten a bad cut, and I was treating it since I had medical training, when a Zaludian suddenly walked in. Because of the condition of my coverings, he realized I was female. All the guys rose up to protect me, but I told them not to fight."
"What?!!" Nikhil couldn't believe it. "Why?"
"Because they couldn't have won," she told him. "All that would have happened was that the Zaludians would have killed them, and I would have been taken anyway. So I went willingly."
"You were injured." That had been bothering Nikhil all along because there was no reason for the Zaludians to beat her, especially if they were planning on selling her to a Pleasure House.
"That's because once I was far enough away from t
he guys, I tried to escape. I almost made it outside, but then the one with the red beads caught me. He was the one that beat me."
"You tried to save yourself."
"Of course. I wasn't just going to let them take me. Not without a fight."
"You are a fighter, aren't you, my Mackenzie." Nikhil ran a large, rough knuckle carefully over the soft skin of her cheek removing the tear that had escaped her beautiful brown eyes. "One would never guess it because of your size, but I am coming to believe you are the strongest female I have ever met."
"A bigger untruth you have never told, Nikhil Kozar," she said but tipped her head into his touch giving him a sad smile, "but thank you."
"It is not an untruth, Mackenzie, for it takes one truly strong to survive what you have. But it is also for that reason that I never want you to have to be that strong again. I want to take care of you, want to keep you safe."
"I'm not strong, Nikhil, but that doesn't mean I'm weak either. I only survived because I wasn't alone and because I had people I could trust and rely on helping me."
"I want to be one of those people that you trust, Mackenzie. Someone you know you can rely on no matter what."
"Do you?"
"Yes."
"But it works both ways, Nikhil. You have to trust and rely on me too, and you haven't been doing that."
"I... " Nikhil gave her an abashed look. "You are right, my Mackenzie, and I have no excuse except to say that it is not the Kaliszian way, and I am still adjusting to having a True Mate. A very strong, very beautiful, very small True Mate," he finished softly.
"God, if you two get any sappier, I'm going to need a shower," Eric groaned causing them both to look down at him in shock as he reached up to pull off the educator.
"Eric, no!" Mac grabbed his arm stopping him before her gaze flew back to Nikhil. "Get Luol," she ordered.
Nikhil was immediately up and out of the room at her command.
"What's wrong, Mac?" Eric asked.
"Nothing I just want Luol to be the one to remove the educator, Eric. He's the Healer. I don't want to risk you being hurt."
"Nikhil seems like a good guy, Mac," Eric told her quietly, lowering his hand.
"He is."
"Then why are you giving him such a hard time?"