Zandian Pet (Zandian Masters 7)

Veck. How long had it been there? Had it registered the training pod?

He flicked on communications to the training pod.

“Rok, this is Erick speaking. I have a tail. I don’t know how long it’s been on me, but I suggest relocation of Freedom.”

“Copy that. Can you lose it?”

“Yes, and I will, although there’s no point. The palatial pod coordinates are well known. But this isn’t the first time I’ve been followed. There must be a tracker on my ship.”

Part of him hoped Mina would show interest. He could put her on the task of finding the tracker, give her a sense of purpose. But she just sat there like the carved statues that used to adorn the palace in the capital of Zandia.

“Get rid of it. We’ll update the prince with the new coordinates.”

He ended the communication and for the sheer sake of outflying his followers, he put the ship into turbo mode and zipped around Ocretion airspace several times before landing on the palatial pod. He would have the ship thoroughly searched for a tracking device, but he knew what it meant—war with the Finn loomed bright and close. And, if they were smart, they would strike first, now that they had the galactacarriers.

As uncomfortable as the flight had been, he didn’t want it to end. He knew, instinctively, that the moment Mina walked off his ship, their relations would be over.

“Mina—Tara—” he called to her as she zoomed toward the hatch.

She stopped but didn’t look back, just hung her head.

Seeing her so defeated vecking slayed him.

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” she snapped, turning and slumping her back against the hatch. She pushed her pale hair out of her face.

It took all his self-control not to crowd her, not to get up into her space, cage her against that door, press his body against hers and remind her how good—how incredibly good they were together.

“I don’t want to be purged along with whatever happened back there that you don’t want to think about. I want to know Tara, too. Is that possible, beautiful female?”

There was a pleading quality to her gaze, but she shook her head. “Maybe… I don’t know.” Her shoulders slumped. “I don’t know, Erick. But I don’t think so.” She turned back to the hatch and hit the button to activate the doors.

He waited until she’d left before he punched the wall, denting the metal with the force of his frustration.

He needed to let her go. She couldn’t have been clearer. After all the times he’d failed to respect her boundaries, this time, he had to do the honorable thing.

Even if it killed him.

~.~

Mina hated herself for hurting Erick.

And she hated everyone in the damn palatial pod. She hated the adorable babies and the laughing children. She hated the doting servants and every male who went out of his way to

talk to her or flirt.

She hated her sister for being happily wrapped into Tomis. No, that wasn’t true. She was thrilled for Talia, even though she had baby fever and had started talking about her fertility and annual cycle.

Mina lay curled up in her sister’s room on her hoverdisk, watching her try on clothing from the shipment of goods the servants had ordered for the two of them.

“Aren’t you going to try anything on?” Talia asked, looking at herself critically in the mirror.

“I’ll look through whatever you don’t want.”

“Daneth says we still have a few more weeks of breeding season and my chances are excellent. Even if I don’t conceive this cycle, he can force a second season in a few lunar cycles, and I can try again.”

“That’s great.”