Stolen: Warriors of Hir, Book 3 (23 page)

“I didn’t hate Hir . . . Okay,” she admitted, shutting her eyes briefly. “I did hate it there . . . at first.  But things are different now.” She took a step closer. “If we were together, you and me and Emma . . .”

“You are willing to live there with me, on Hir, raise Emma there?” he asked sharply. “She has a father—a
human
father—here.”

Summer grabbed the papers from where she’d left them on the dining room buffet and shoved them at him. “Do you know what this is? This is an agreement—signed by Dean—that waives all parental rights to Emma.”

His glowing eyes blinked. “I do not understand what that means.”

“It means that he’s given her up.” Summer laid the papers down. “That he didn’t want to be her parent anymore, be responsible for her anymore.”

Ke’lar’s head reared back. “That is not possible. Why would he do such a thing?”

“Because it’s the heart that makes a dad so really, Ke’lar, he isn’t her father.
You
are. You were willing to do whatever it takes for her. And I’m willing to do whatever it takes for us to be together—all of us—because we’re a family.” She gave a short laugh. “Just one that’s going to live on an alien world.”

“Emma . . .” He swallowed. “She will grow up among the g’hir. Not among the humans.”

“Jenna’s daughter, Anna, is half-human and that other woman—Heather or whatever—she’s human and expecting a baby, that’s another half-human. Emma will grow up on another world but she’ll be loved.” She wet her lips. “Won’t she?”

“Yes,” Ke’lar said instantly. “She will be adored—protected—by all of my enclosure.” He searched her eyes. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure that I can’t be without you. I’m sure that you will love Emma like a father should. We’re a family. We can be happy—together.”

He took her hands in his. “I do not regret bringing you home, seeing our child safe, but I am a warrior. I always intended to return, to face them all—my clan, my father, Ar’ar—to stand before them to answer for this crime as a man of honor. But when I stole you from your lawful mate, when I brought you home to Earth—it was not with the thought that you would ever wish to return.”

“Wait.” She stared. “Are you saying I
can’t
go back?”

He shut his eyes for a moment. “You can return.”

“You mean return as Ar’ar’s mate,” she said for him.

His grip tightened on her hands. “I will fight him,” he growled and his jaw worked for a moment. “But if I do not win you will belong to Ar’ar again. And he will have another moon cycle to convince you to stay. You and Emma.”

“Boy, you guys are really stuck on that whole moon cycle thing, aren’t you?” she grumbled.

“It is our way,” he reminded. “If you are to come with me to my clan’s enclosure, if we are to live honorably, this must be done by Hir law.”

Summer chewed her lip for a moment. “Couldn’t we go somewhere else? Just go live in the city or someplace no one knows us?”

He gave a faint smile at that. “A g’hir warrior with a beautiful golden human mate and child? There is no place on Hir or even on our colonies where we would not soon have renown. The Betari would come to take you back.” He shook his head. “This must be done if we are to be together. I must challenge Ar’ar for you—and win.”

Twenty-five

“Momma!” Emma cried, pointing. “Look how big Belle is!”

Summer glanced at the ship’s holoprojector playing a decidedly two-dimensional but very large recording of Emma’s favorite movie as she joined them in the ship’s main living section.

“Nice resolution,” Summer commented, wondering how he’d managed to rig the xenari system to play the film at all. “Please tell me you didn’t reroute life support to do that.”

Ke’lar gave her a half chiding, half-relieved look and stood. “I was worried for you, my Summer. You are late.”

“I was just up at the cabin,” she reminded.

They’d both agreed that it would be best for him to remain hidden within the ship while Summer settled things enough that she could leave. Summer knew he delighted in having Emma with him and he positively doted on her. He’d insisted she be put under when the translation chip was implanted so she would feel no fear or discomfort, and waking up to find she could finally understand him just convinced Emma that he could do magic. He enjoyed his time becoming acquainted with his daughter, but he was still a g’hir warrior and anxiety gnawed at him when his mate had to venture out to what he considered a dangerous and primitive world without him. “And it was worth it to finish up today.”

“Then you have concluded—” Ke’lar glanced back at Emma still singing along with
Lumière
. “Everything?”

“My lawyer pulled some strings at the family court and got everything signed before the holiday break,” she confirmed quietly.

He let his breath out. “Then by Earth law, too, she is my child.”

Not exactly true since Ke’lar hadn’t—
couldn’t
—adopt her here but having Dean’s paperwork filed with the court and signed by a human judge satisfied his g’hir sensibilities.

“And”—her voice brightened as she lifted the container she held—“I brought something to help us celebrate.” She set the container on the table and lifted the top with a flourish. “Lemon pie.”

He inhaled deeply and a fanged smile lit his face at the sight of his new favorite dessert. “When did you make this?”

“Oh, believe me, the lemon pie was the easy part, it was everything else that took the whole day. Let’s see—” She pulled plates and some of the weirdly shaped forks and a slicing knife from the xenari galley as she counted things off.  “My lawyer also has power of attorney to sell the Alexandria house and its contents to put in a trust. Sarah Jane bought my car.” Summer sliced the pie and placed the pieces on plates, topping them with homemade whipped cream and candied lemon peel. “I resigned from my job. Hmm,” she said, licking some of the filling off her thumb. “Of course my boss wrote back and implied that he had always intended to make me Director of Marketing in the new year, which is a bunch of bull; he’s just being catty.”

Emma appeared at her side. “Can I have pie in there so I watch the movie?”

Summer said no at the same time Ke’lar said yes.

Then she had two sets of blue eyes, one human, one glowing, looking at her pleadingly.

“Oh, fine.” Summer gave a sigh and handed the girl a slice. “Go ahead.”

She handed Ke’lar a plate with an extra large slice of pie as Emma ran to her place in the living area. Not that it would matter—she knew he’d wind up finishing the rest of the pie off—but it looked nicer to serve it to him sliced and topped each time.

“I called the daycare,” she continued. “Told them Emma won’t be coming back after the holidays. They were pretty nice about it, though. They even refunded the new year’s registration fee.”

She couldn’t help grinning at the rumbling sound of happiness that he made as he took his first bite of the pie.

“It’s love that makes it so good. Well, actually,” she amended, spearing a bite from her own slice, “love and gobs of fat and sugar.”

He gave a huffed laugh. “And your uncle?”

“Yes, I got hold of him—finally! Real estate agents
live
on the phone so he doesn’t carry his cell on vacation but I got him at his place in Florida. ’Course I had to call him at six this morning to do it, which he wasn’t thrilled about. But he was happy for me and my new boyfriend, the anthropologist—”

He raised an eyebrow. “Anthropologist?”

“—and that Emma and I were off to exotic places with him to explore cave paintings and such. You know,” she said proudly, “that whole thing with Ezzari might have really helped. I think Uncle Lester actually bought it. And I just finished cleaning and closing up the cabin . . . that’s all of it.”

He scraped the plate, finishing the last of his pie, and put the plate down.

“I can take you home,” he rumbled softly, his eyes warm on her. His brow creased. “You are worried.”

“What’s to worry about?” She put down her half-eaten pie, brushing her hands on her jeans. “Just your clan, and the Ruling Council and the Betari clan and Ar’ar . . .”

He took her hands in his. “Nothing will take you and our daughter from me,” he promised. “Nothing.”

“I know,” she said, leaning against him. His arms went around her; with her check against his chest she could hear his heart beating strongly.

But even you can’t fight them all . . .

“If you keep looking back at her like that you’re going to crash this thing,” Summer chided, the forest of Hir speeding by below.

“The proximity detector is engaged. I cannot crash.” Ke’lar faced front again, his fingers never leaving the transport’s controls. “And I want to be sure Emma is strapped in properly.”

“You strapped her in yourself,” Summer reminded. “She’s fine.”

She really was too. With a child’s innocence, Emma simply accepted that that carpets could fly, candles could sing, and glowing-eyed men could show up one winter night and whisk them both off into the sky.

Emma had been dazzled by the stars, accepting spaceflight as easily as she would a plane ride. She had Ke’lar so wrapped around her tiny finger Summer was surprised he hadn’t just turned over the ship’s controls to her.

“Do they know we’re coming?” Summer asked quietly. She’d actually been surprised that they hadn’t been arrested at spacedock, that they’d been permitted to reach the capital city at all.

“My father has long since ordered my return to the clanhall. He sent the message as soon as we were known to be missing.” His fingers moved calmly over the controls. “I have acknowledged his command. They will be expecting us to arrive shortly.”

Summer’s stomach clenched and she looked out over Hir’s forests as they sped toward the Erah enclosure.

“This is really a beautiful world. Your clanhall is amazing. Emma’s lucky she’ll get to grow up there. No clanhall climbing though.” She threw him a mock-warning glance. “Not till she’s eight.”

He smiled faintly. “Perhaps nine.”

“How much longer?” Emma demanded. “I want to see the castle!”

“What castle, baby?” Summer asked.

“The castle!”

“But what—oh. No, sugar, it’s a
clanhall
, not a castle.”

“Daddy said ‘castle,’” Emma insisted.

She had taken to calling him that almost immediately. A shrink would probably blather on about grieving the parental bond and attachment and whatnot, but Summer figured none of them ever had an alien warrior in co-parenting sessions so what the hell did they know?

“No, he didn’t.” Summer frowned at Ke’lar. “Did you say ‘castle’?”

He gave a sheepish half shrug. “They are not so different.”

Summer shook her head a little at him fondly. “We’ll be at the castle soon, honey.”

She was trying to hide her anxiety from Emma, from Ke’lar too, but the journey was far too short and her stomach clenched when the clanhall came into view.

It didn’t help that the entire Erah enclosure seemed to have turned out for their arrival, standing in grim-faced formal assembly as Ke’lar landed the transport.

Mirak was there too, waiting for them.

As was Ar’ar.

“I will not fail you,” Ke’lar rumbled, meeting her eyes squarely.

Summer’s throat tightened. She was far more worried about him getting hurt.

“I know you won’t.” That was quite a crowd of g’hir waiting for them and this situation was tense enough. She gave a nod. “Okay,” she said, unfastening the safety straps that held her to the seat, then undoing Emma’s. “Let’s go.”

“Is this the castle, Momma?”

“Sure is,” Summer agreed, taking her daughter’s hand. “So we have to mind our manners, okay?”

Ke’lar hit the control to open the door and extend the ramp and the bright light of Hir’s suns filled the transport’s cabin. He went first and every eye was on him until she and Emma emerged behind him.

A ripple ran through the crowd.

Ar’ar, his expression thunderstruck, stepped forward to stare at Summer and Emma beside her.

Standing with Ra’kur and the other Erah clanbrothers on the steps of the clan hall, Jenna’s mouth parted in shocked understanding, her gaze too riveted on Emma.

On the steps near Jenna waited a handful of females as well, possibly all the g’hir women of the Erah enclosure. Two were white-haired, one bent with age, and one was the dark-haired young woman she’d seen before when she and Ke’lar had first arrived at the clanhall, but beside her stood another woman accompanied by—

“Are they the princesses?” Emma said excitedly, her attention fixed, of course, on the two little girls. “Their eyes glow too but they have hair like mine!”

The eldest looked to be about seven, her sister perhaps four or five. Obviously beloved, they stood sedately beside their mother, their rounded, soft faces pink with health as they stared back at Emma. Their hair was blond, like their mother’s, but darker than Emma’s, more gold than white blond, and entirely
un
like her daughter these two had hair that was braided and beribboned.

Summer wondered wryly how their mother got the girls to sit still for all that styling when she could barely manage to get Emma to sit still long enough to have her hair combed. Emma wore jean overalls but these girls wore miniature versions of g’hir ladies’ gowns and jewels sparkled on their fingers and throats.

Emma waved. The eldest girl stared but the younger one smiled, showing dainty little fangs, and waved back.  Her mother tugged at her hand in silent rebuke and swept Summer’s attire with a disapproving gaze.

I should have worn Jenna’s dress! I look like a goddamn lumberjack.

In fact, realizing she was out in Hir’s spring weather but had dressed for winter in North Carolina in sheepskin boots and a sweater made her want to slap her hand over her eyes.

Ke’lar strode to where his father waited and Summer and Emma followed. Rotin seemed to have aged five years in the short time since Summer had seen the Erah clanfather.

Ke’lar inclined his head to his father. “I have obeyed you and returned.”

“After five days’ absence!” Mirak burst out. “After shameless thievery of my son’s mate!”

Rotin bared his fangs. “This is an Erah matter.”

“Hardly,” Mirak spat.

“This—” Ar’ar began, his throat working. “This is your child, Summer?”

Ke’lar was right next to them but Summer couldn’t help drawing Emma a little closer to her. “Yes.”