Lily said their reunion had been awkward, since they were strangers, and unlike Lamira, she hadn’t spent a lifetime looking for a sister. She’d chosen to remain on the training pod with Rok, rather than accept the invitation from Prince Zander, her sister’s mate, to stay at his pod. As the planet rotations passed, though, she’d felt guilty over shunning a relationship with her newly discovered sister and the mother she barely remembered, so Rok had arranged a visit.
It had been on the tip of Cambry’s tongue to confess her own family situation to Lily. Their stories weren’t the same, but she might understand the pain Cambry experienced at being separated from her own sibling, the need to find him, as Lamira had needed to find Lily.
But then she remembered Lundric. Would you like to be mated to me?
He’d been jealous of her love for another. She’d seen the spark of possessiveness when she hesitated answering his question about whether she loved another. If she told him about her brother, would he suspect her plans to find him? He read her so well.
Precious Mother Earth, she felt like her insides had been torn apart. Nothing made sense to her anymore. She didn’t know if her judgment could be trusted when it came to Lundric. This mission of fighting for Zandia was still a death mission. Just because she’d found solace in a wonderfully attentive Zandian warrior didn’t mean she should give her life for his cause.
Or did it?
No, it couldn’t. Because she had to find Tal. He needed her. She was his older sister. She’d held him in her arms as a child and promised they’d always have each other, no matter what the factory foremen did to them. And if she gave her life for this hopeless Zandian cause, Tal would be alone. And she would’ve broken her promise to find him.
She needed to get away at the first possible chance. She was becoming too attached to the Zandians and her pod mates. Far too attached to Lundric, her incredible
warrior. The longer she allowed him to believe she would mate him, the more he would hate her when she left. She needed to go before both their hearts broke at what she had to do.
Unfortunately, her heartbreak was already a foregone conclusion.
She finished flight training, and they exited the battleship and went back to the training pod. Lundric was waiting for her at the entrance, his face tense. The tension drained away when he saw her, and his fists unclenched.
For fun, and to challenge him, she ran and launched herself at him, full speed.
He grunted as he caught her, his forearm hooking under her ass to hold her straddled around his waist. “I should get you into the sparring room,” he growled against her neck. “You could use a sound thrashing, couldn’t you, pet? Instead, I’ve spent all afternoon helping my master exorcise his demons.”
“What demons?”
“A female, I believe. Lily’s mother. I’ve never seen him like this.”
She nibbled on her lip. She’d had very few examples of loving relationships in her life. People in the factory used one another for sex, or clung together out of necessity—shoring up against weakness, the way she and her brother had. But after exploring amorous relations with Lundric, watching Rok and Lily, and now hearing of another Zandian who cared deeply about a human female, she wondered what she really knew about relationships. Nothing, it seemed.
“How did your training go, little female?”
“Wonderfully.” She was surprised to hear how cheerful she sounded. And the truth that anything had been great in her life surprised her. But she felt exhilarated by what she’d learned and accomplished in a short time. She ran a fingertip over one of Lundric’s horns.
He groaned. “Be careful, little rebel. You’re about to get yourself vecked in short order, and I was going to see if you wanted to fly some more.”
“You were?”
He lowered her to the ground and adjusted his swollen cock. “I wanted to murder Vokart for taking you out when it should have been me. Do you want more practice?” He smiled at what must be the goofiest grin on her face. “Yes?”
“I’d love that.”
Lundric changed their direction, leading her back the way she’d come. He put a helmet on her, adjusting the strap under her chin with care that made her belly flutter. They exited the pod, but when Cambry boarded the battleship Lundric indicated, he didn’t follow her on. “I think you’re ready to solo, little rebel.”
She stopped breathing.
“Can you handle it? I’ll be right here on communications if you have any questions or problems.” He tapped the comms unit attached to the helmet.
“U-um. Yes. I’m ready. Let’s do it.” Her heart thundered, hacking its way right out of her chest. Oh stars. This was her chance. She could shut the hatch on this battleship and fly away. Get back to Ocretia and find her brother.
Lundric gripped her helmet and pulled it forward to tap his in a forehead kiss of sorts. He must have misunderstood the conflict raging inside her as nerves because he said, “You’ll be fine.”
“Yeah.” Despite the oxygen pumping through her helmet, she couldn’t drag enough air into her lungs. “Thank you, Lundric. Thank you so much.” She didn’t want this to be their goodbye, but how else could it be? If she acted strange, she’d lose this chance. Even so, she wished she’d left him a gift or a message, or somehow been able to show him how much he’d meant to her.
He grinned like she was being silly and gave her a little shove. “I’ll see you when you land.” He slapped her ass. “You know what you’re doing.”
It vecking broke her heart that he stood there cheering her on while she was about to betray his trust and fly away. She didn’t want to leave this way, but a window of opportunity had appeared, and she had to take it. They didn’t come around often enough.