Part 6 (1/2)
”And you know this for sure?” Thrace asked.
She nodded. ”Positive. Where exactly is a little harder to say-maybe the Northern part? Anyway, it helps narrow things down a bit. And I got a visual-if I see it, I'll know it.”
”Well then, let's go,” Rone said. ”We can take a shuttle down to the nearest HKR and start looking right away.”
”You go get the shuttle ready, honey.” Kate spoke to her husband but she was looking at Thrace. ”I'll be there in a minute.”
Rone gave her an unreadable look but then nodded briefly and left the antechamber.
Thrace frowned. ”I'd better go too. I'm sure my mate-”
”Trin,” Kate said. ”Trin is waiting for you and she doesn't even know the difficult choice you're trying to make.”
”What?” Thrace growled, frowning. ”Just how far inside my head did you get?”
”Farther than I do with a lot of people.” Kate sounded interested. ”Not sure why that is. I just wanted to tell you-what you want to do is the right thing. I know it's tough but you'll be glad you did it.”
”I know it's the right thing.” Thrace was, in an odd way, relieved to be talking to someone about what had been weighing on his mind. ”I made up my mind to do it long ago. It's my mate, Trin-I'm afraid she'll object.”
”She may at first.” Kate nodded thoughtfully. ”But you need to persist. You want to protect her and the Knowing tells me she's going to need that protection in the very near future.”
”Thank you.” Thrace nodded. ”Hearing that...brings me peace. I didn't know if I should bring it up to her or not.”
”Do it.” Kate nodded decisively. ”You'll be glad you did. Okay, well...” She clapped her hands together. ”Rone and I have a girl to go find.”
”Did you know about him when you first met him?” Thrace asked, unable to help his curiosity. ”About his beast, I mean?” It was an intrusive question but since she seemed to know his private business, he had no qualms about questioning hers.
Kate looked thoughtful.
”I knew he was dangerous-the most dangerous man I'd ever met. But I just couldn't keep away-isn't that funny?”
”The G.o.ddess works in strange ways sometimes,” Thrace murmured, thinking of his own situation with Trin. ”Very strange.”
”That's certainly true.” She smiled and nodded at him. ”Well, thanks for your help. And good luck with your other issue.”
”Thank you.” He nodded back. ”I'll take your advice to heart.”
”You do that.” And with a final bob of her curly head, she was gone.
Chapter Eight.
”Where are you taking me? What are you going to do with me? Please let me go!”
”I am not going to hurt you-I swear it by the G.o.ddess,” Tragar a.s.sured her but his promises seemed to fall on deaf ears. Her eyes were wide and golden again, not surprising since any stress was likely to bring her Kit'tara to the surface.
Tragar frowned. It might not be surprising but it wasn't good, either. He had no idea how long it had been since her Tenrah or s.h.i.+ft had started. He'd been watching her from afar for over a solar week but he'd never seen her eyes change color or smelled that hot scent on her before today. Still, she might have been hiding it, trying to suppress it. For all he knew, she could move from the first stage or Kalor to the second stage, Scintil at any moment. And the more upset and agitated she got, the faster her s.h.i.+ft would progress. Seven h.e.l.ls, he'd heard of some Khalla that went through all four stages-from Kalor to Scintil to Vlammen to Hel-all in a single day. And if that happened...
If that happens she'll die.
The thought worried him so much it was hard to concentrate on the controls of his shuttle. He hit the light refracting tech and punched up the thrusters, getting them into the air so swiftly it pulled a gasp from her lips.
”Oh my G.o.d-where are we going?”
”I told you,” Tragar said patiently. ”Back to my s.h.i.+p first. Then eventually to Rageron.”
”But you can't just take me away from my home! I mean, I've never even been to Europe-h.e.l.l, I've never even been to Canada-and now you're taking me away from my whole entire planet? You can't do that!” She watched with wide eyes as the Earth retreated below them.
”I can and I must. Both to protect you from the forces outside that threaten you...as well as the ones within.” He turned to her, letting the autopilot guide the small shuttle through the atmospheric layers. ”How long have you been feeling it?”
”What?” She shook her head. ”What are you-”
”Don't play games,” Tragar growled. ”I see your eyes.”
”My...” She put a hand to her cheek as if she could feel the color change. ”Is...are they doing it again?”
He nodded shortly. ”How long have you been having the waves of heat-those that betoken Kalor, the first stage of Tenrah? Tell me how long you've been feeling them and be accurate-your life may depend on it.”
”I...I don't know.” She shook her head. ”Ten days? Two weeks...maybe more? They came on so gradually. I thought-I hoped-I was imagining them.”
”What about dreams?” Tragar demanded. ”Any prophetic dreams lately?”
”Prophetic dreams?” She s.h.i.+vered. ”No, nothing like that. Just nightmares.”
”They can take the form of nightmares sometimes,” Tragar said grimly. ”They often do.”
”I...” She shook her head. ”I don't want to think about that. How do you know all these things have been happening to me anyway? The dreams, the heat waves...the way my eyes keep going all weird?”
”I was taught to recognize the signs of a Khalla as part of my malehood ceremony,” Tragar said, throwing a glance at her. ”Not that I thought I would ever see one-your kind are extremely rare.”
”Okay, look-what was your name again? Tigger? Taber?” She turned to face him, dragging her gaze from the retreating Earth.
”Tragar,” he supplied. ”Rivin Tragar.”
”Right. So, Tragar, what even is a Khalla?” ”You keep saying it and throwing around all these weird, foreign Kindred words I don't understand. What is it you think I am? Tell me now so we can clear this up and you can take me home before we get out past Pluto or something.”
Tragar frowned.
”A Khalla is a female Beast Kindred, of course. A very special kind of female.”
”But I thought your people didn't have females-isn't that why you inst.i.tuted the draft where all eligible Earth girls have to register and might get called to the Mother s.h.i.+p?”
”The Kindred do have females, they are just extremely rare. But even the other branches of Kindred produce more females than we Beast Kindred do.”
”So Rageron is a whole planet populated only by males?” She shook her head. ”How is that possible? How do you not just die out?”
Tragar gave a soft growl of frustration.