Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 83946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
I stopped to let Selina clean me up as much as she could because I did not want my brother, or the rest of my people, to see me this way. Tortured, mangled, and injured. It had nothing to do with pride, and everything to do with my mate. When I introduce them to my mate, I want to appear whole, or … as whole as I can, because I certainly don’t feel whole right now. But this is a moment I have waited all my life for, to bring my mate to my family, to the Hallans. I will not have the focus be on my pain instead of the joy I feel. When I heard that roar, though, I knew whatever she had managed to do for my injuries would have to be enough, because my brother’s already nonexistent patience had clearly run out.
Halun may be the future king, but he’s also wild and bloodthirsty. Ruthless in protecting his people and planet. That roar lets me know he’s done hearing whatever the males who surely descended on him and the other Hallans have to say. That roar means he is right on the edge of bloodshed. As I run, I try to decide if I want to stop him from spilling blood or help him drain them all.
“Right through this tall grass,” Selina says, pointing to a spot to the right of the dune we’re coming down. I don’t answer her because, even though I follow her directions, my eye is on the sky now.
So. Many. Ships.
Far too many for the number which would have been sent out for responding to a beacon, even if it was to recover one of Hallalah’s princes. And to come to a planet with horns blaring, Hallans giving a deafening war cry that warned anyone to beware what was coming. Even though there was nothing this planet could do to stop the Hallan advance.
“Lazu de ami rajun!” Halun shouts.
His voice carries, his words clear to me even though I can see we have some distance until we reach the shore.
Where is my brother? His demands continue to roar. And knowing Halun, he doesn’t give a damn that he knows they can’t understand him.
“Lazu de Bothaki!”
We race beside the water now, my feet sinking into the damp sand, but we have to go past where the shore curves, where I see many ships are hovering. But the water that I see ripples with the power of his voice. I can barely make out someone, clearly a human, trying to yell something back. Their words will have no effect on my brother just as they wouldn’t on me if it were I standing in Halun’s place.
“They will have guns,” Selina warns me. “Whoever The New Order sent.”
I nod at her reminder, turning the front of the square on my chest. I have to bite down on my tongue to muffle the scream that tries to leave me when the suit molds to my skin. It burns even more than whatever it was that Selina put on my wounds when she cleaned them. My mate is utterly unprotected, though, and I slow down some, wondering if it’s best to leave her here and go to where the Hallans and humans are facing one anther alone. I have already failed to protect her, the wound on her head is evidence enough of that. And that I could do nothing to protect her from her father’s abuse, from those despicable males holding her down. The shame of that haunts me more each time I think of it. If I were to fail her again, she may decide I’m not worthy of her. The pain of that would hurt much worse than anything her father did.
“Why are you slowing down?” she asks.
“I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“You can’t think I’m going to leave your side now.”
“I have no suit for you. If something happened …” I can’t even speak the words, and I refuse to give life to them.
“You will protect me.”
Her confidence in me stuns me after I have not protected her today. How can she place such trust in me after everything? But although the need to protect our mates is a compulsion among Hallan males, respecting the decisions they make is also something we are bound by. Selina has stated she will not leave my side, so I will respect that. I begin running fast again, but I don’t need to run much further before my eyes come upon an almost unbelievable sight. A legion of Hallans, each of them wielding our traditional weapons, a spear in each hand and a sword at each back. Our more advanced weapon, a gun that with one shot can laser through anything, or anyone, at each hip. To see my people, their marks bared proudly, wearing clothing that feels like home, black eyes narrowed at the humans standing across the shore from them, the very essence of my being feels at ease. Finally. My heart, though, will not feel that ease until my mate is on Hallalah with me.