Alien hope, p.25
Alien Hope, page 25
In the centre of that circle, protected from the wind, was a bright, smooth stone.
No. Not a stone. An egg.
The Vrika watched me with unblinking, endless eyes. I reached for the egg, hesitating, wondering if I was doing something wrong, if this was real, if the Vrika had really meant to call me at all. But the Vrika made no move to stop me.
So, I took the egg.
I held it carefully in my claws, gently, the way I would hold Keir. I stared at its surface. I knew that when the Kell summoned Bitter Sea warriors, it granted the mate vision on the surface of one of its fangs.
But the surface of the egg gave me nothing at all.
“I do not understand, Vrika,” I said, puzzled by the blank white shell.
My heart sank. What if this means I am meant to have no mate at all?
Or maybe this had nothing to do with a mate vision. Maybe the Vrika was doing something else entirely, and I was too ignorant to understand.
“Am I supposed to eat it?” I asked, looking down at the egg once more. Just holding the egg didn’t seem to be accomplishing anything. And the more I thought about it, the more it made sense I needed to open the thing. The shell of an egg was not important. The life, the essence, was inside.
Holding my breath, and hoping that I was not wrong and about to commit some great, unholy atrocity, I broke the top of the egg’s shell off at its narrowest point.
I stared into the swirling, milky depths of the egg until something appeared. No, not something.
Someone.
Someone I knew well. Someone I loved.
“I see her,” I breathed, entranced by the vision of my mate’s blinding beauty. “I see her!”
I already loved Abby. The sudden rush of the mate bond was not new. But it was powerful, all the same. A thrashing roar in my chest and my blood, thundering just a little louder than before.
“What is it, Kohka? What do you see?”
Grim’s voice ripped me away from the mate vision. I turned to find both his and Valeria’s faces at the shuttle’s open door, looking out at me.
“Abby!” I called back. “My mate.” Abby was already my mate, vision or not. But calling her my mate now, before the Vrika and these others, felt like I was uttering some holy vow. Abby and I chose each other. Forged our own destiny. And in the process, we’d found ourselves on the path, in the place, that we were always meant to be.
The sincere joy that Thaleria and Grim showed in response to my words moved me. I smiled, lifting my snout and breathing deeply. I let the winds pummel me, let the sun drench me, thanking this world for letting me exist at the same moment Abby did. Though I was right at the edge of the highest peak in these mountains, I no longer feared the idea of falling. I had a mate and a family even the Hakah could not order me away from, now. I was the luckiest male to walk this world.
And males as lucky as me could not fall.
“Thank you, Vrika,” I said, laying the pieces reverently back in the place I’d taken the egg from. The great creature said nothing in reply. It laid its massive head down on the curves of its body, watching in repose as Thaleria drew her shuttle nearer the peak again.
“Come on, Kohka, get in! I’m taking you home to your family,” Thaleria said, grinning, her blunt white teeth shining in the bright sunlight. “And on the way, we’ll call the Sea Sands ship.” She pushed her eye-shells up onto the top of her head, mirth plain in her eyes. “It’s time to talk to Hakah Gog.”
CHAPTER FIFTY
Abby
I woke up in an empty bed to the sound of Keir gurgling and cooing. I slipped out of the bed, padding over to Keir and picking him up.
“Good morning, sweetie pie,” I murmured, nuzzling my nose against his tiny one. “Where’s Dada?”
It wasn’t unusual for Kohka to be gone when I woke up. Sometimes he’d go get me some food before I woke. He usually came back quickly, though, not wanting to be away from us for long.
But this morning was different.
The sun trekked upward through the sky, and he didn’t return.
And that scared me.
He’s probably fine. He’s probably just talking to Gahn Errok or Lerokan or something...
The words didn’t help, no matter how many times I said them to myself. A horrible thought occurred to me, a thought that maybe he’d already left for the Sea Sands, that he’d gone away without saying goodbye...
No. Kohka wouldn’t do that.
I changed Keir’s diaper, then left him safe in the centre of the bed as I quickly dressed. I was just tugging on my boots, about to march down to the hall with Keir to find Kohka, when I heard a sound at the entrance to the cave. I whirled, then shuddered with relief.
“Kohka!”
He stared at me almost as if he’d never seen me before. Or, rather, he stared at me the way he had that first time he saw me. His gaze was so intense, so penetrating, as if he worried that a single blink would make me disappear.
“Where were you?” I breathed, rushing over to him. I placed my hands on his chest, staring questioningly up at him. When he didn’t reply, the relief I felt turned to worry once again. “What is it?”
Kohka’s snout smashed against my mouth. I flinched at the sudden contact, then melted open for him. His arms clasped me against his chest like iron bars, as unyielding as his ardent tongues.
A loud, squeaky sound from Keir made us break apart.
I dragged the back of my hand against my tingling, wet mouth.
“Come,” Kohka rasped. “I want to tell you this while holding our son.”
My heart thumped, wondering what the hell he had to tell me. He’d already dropped the bomb about needing to leave here. What else could there be, now?
Kohka scooped Keir up, cradling him tenderly.
“Hello, young one,” he murmured. “I have missed you. Have you been good to your mother this morning?”
“Kohka, please, what is it?”
Kohka’s bright silver eyes flashed up to mine.
“You do not need to be impatient, perfect mate. We have all the time in this world. Our entire lives together.” His gaze deepened. “I was gone this morning because I was summoned by the Vrika. I went to its peak. It granted me a mate vision.”
My heart stopped. I didn’t breathe.
“It was you, Abby. I saw you. As I always knew I would, one day.”
My breath stuttered. My heart flip-flopped back to life.
“So... That means...” I said shakily, my throat dry.
“It means I do not have to go. I have already spoken with Hakah Gog.”
“Oh my God,” I said, smiling through a sudden haze of tears. “You’re staying! I can’t believe it!” I swiped at my eyes, worried I was in some kind of dream I was about to wake up from. I reached a trembling hand out, stroking Keir’s downy head. No. This feels real...
“I didn’t know the Vrika could grant mate visions for people other than the Deep Sky warriors,” I said slowly, processing everything Kohka had just told me.
“Neither did I. When I first told Hakah Gog, he refused to believe such a thing had even occurred. Luckily, Grim, Thaleria, and Tok all saw me get summoned.”
“This is crazy. But then again, maybe it isn’t,” I said, my thoughts flying around my head. “The Kell, The Lavrika, and the Vrika are all obviously similar beings. They have the same healing fluids. Maybe they’re all connected somehow. I mean, they granted human mates to the males here and we aren’t even from this planet! Maybe it makes sense that, if you stay in the lands of one of the other deities long enough, it could give you a mate vision instead of the one of your homeland.”
“Perhaps you are right,” Kohka rumbled. “I also get the sense that the Vrika is somewhat more likely to assert itself into the affairs of men from other tribes. It healed Varrow on the battlefield, and Razek said such a thing had never been done before by their Lavrika. I do not know of the Kell ever doing something like that, either.”
“Whatever the reason, I’ll take it!” I laughed. I hugged Kohka, squishing my cheek against the top of Keir’s head. “If I ever see the Vrika, I’m going to say thank you.”
I said it silently, even though the creature was nowhere in sight.
Thank you, Vrika. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
When Kohka and I made love that night, him driving into me from behind, there was no desperation or sorrow in the action. No fear that, too soon, we’d be gone from each other’s sides. No hurry, no rush. There was only the sensuous heat of our joining, the loving scrape of his scales on my skin, the surge of his seed in my pulsing core.
There was only tumbling pleasure. Love. Joy.
And hope.
Want the next Sea Sand Warlord book? Get book 15, Alien Champion, here!
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Until the next Sea Sand (or Bitter Sea, or Deep Sky, or Stone Sky) love story,
-Ursa
FATED MATES OF THE SEA SAND WARLORDS
BOOK 1 ALIEN TYRANT
“If you should flee, no matter where you run, I will always follow.”
Book 2 ALIEN ENEMY
“They call me the Mad Gahn. But I never felt truly mad until I saw her face...”
Book 3 ALIEN ORPHAN
“I have trained, battled, and fought my whole life. But winning my mate’s love is the greatest challenge I have ever faced...”
Book 4 ALIEN REJECT
“She is a difficult creature, my tiny Kat. But I have never met with a creature I could not tame...”
Book 5 ALIEN EXILE
“Beneath all that makes me strange to you, my heart recognizes yours...”
Book 6 ALIEN HUNTER
“Now that I have found her, I refuse to lose her...”
Book 7 ALIEN VICTOR
“I found her, I saved her, and once I am Gahn, I will claim her. There will be no other tribe left for her but me...”
Book 8 ALIEN SHIELD
“I have always been a patient warrior. But now that I have her in my sights, I cannot wait to claim her...”
Book 9 ALIEN KEEPER
“I will be her keeper, her guardian, her guide. And I will keep her safe no matter the cost...”
Book 10 ALIEN CLAW
"I will go wherever you are. Even if I have to follow you forever. Even if I have to hunt you down..."
Book 11 ALIEN HEART
"I had nothing left to lose. Until her.”
Book 12 ALIEN MASK
“I never wanted a mate. Until this troublesome human showed up and changed everything.”
Book 13 ALIEN STORM
“I will make my human mate see that I am strong enough to win her. Even if she makes me feel weak for the first time in my life...”
Book 14 ALIEN HOPE
“She may not be my mate. But I will do whatever it takes to stay by her side...”
Book 15 ALIEN CHAMPION
“I not know how to win Fiona, but I do know how to fight. And I will fight for her with everything I have...”
BRIDES OF THE STONE SKY GODS
Book 1 ALIEN GOD
“My human prisoner wants freedom. There’s only one way she’ll get it: marry me.”
Book 2 BERSERKER GOD
“I've been trapped in the darkness of berserker rage for eons, with nothing and no one strong enough to drag me back into the light. Until her.”
Ursa Dax, Alien Hope
