Authors: Bianca D'Arc
Hara grinned and pretended to give the matter due consideration.
“In the past, it was improbable, but there were special occasions when such a thing happened. From what we have learned of recent matings between humans and Alvians, it is more than likely to occur here. I personally believe this is due to the limited number of females with emotion. Perhaps, as more of our people change, the numbers will equalize. Until then, nature has made allowances and three-partnered relationships might be the norm rather than the exception.” Hara’s gaze pinned Harry in place. “Of course, Harry knows more about such things than we do, having grown up with three father figures. And his sister is in a well-known triad with a human male and Chief Engineer Davin. Isn’t that right?”
Grimly, Harry nodded. “My human fathers were three brothers with the surname O’Hara. All three have strong psychic gifts. The middle brother, Justin, is my biological father. Caleb and Mick O’Hara are technically uncles, but when I was small it didn’t matter which had actually fathered me. They were all ‘daddy’. And from testing done when my sister married Davin, we know that my human mother, Jane, Hums with all three.”
“But your mother is Alvian,” Ro reminded him, a puzzled frown on her face.
“Mara 12 gave birth to me, but without any feelings for me whatsoever she is only technically my mother. Mama Jane gave me love and affection. She raised me. To Mara 12, I was just another experiment.”
Percival reached out and touched Harry’s arm with one strong hand. “I’m sorry you had to go through that,” he said softly, surprising Harry with his understanding.
As a child, it had been hard to understand why his tall mother didn’t hug him and pick him up and smile at him the way Mama Jane did. He’d needed Mara 12’s love and had never felt it. As he got older, being shuttled between the two women who were so very different, he’d begun to understand. The hurt didn’t go away for a long time, but he’d come to know what to expect from each of the mother figures in his life.
Hara’s expression was grim. “No child should have to question his mother’s love for him.” The frown reached the ancient’s eyes and communicated his displeasure and resolve. “We will put an end to this barbarism.”
“Tell us about your sister, Callie,” Percival prompted. Harry sensed he was trying to lighten the mood and steer the conversation back to happier matters.
“Callie Hums with both Davin and Rick,” Harry confirmed, returning to his breakfast.
“She is true mate to two men?” Ro seemed to want to clarify.
“According to the Alvian tests of Resonance, yes, she is,” Harry confirmed.
“Then it is possible,” Cormac whispered, and his mood seemed to lighten. Harry could feel a burden of doubt lift from Cormac’s shoulders with his empathic sense.
“There are other such triads,” Percival put in helpfully. “A lab tech who disappeared with two male human prisoners mated with them both.” Harry looked at him sharply. That information was a closely held secret. “And a very highly placed Alvian soldier recently formed a triad with a human male and one of your human
Zxerah
operatives.” He nodded toward Roshin. “A woman named Gina, I believe.”
“How do you know this?” Ro demanded, clearly concerned at Percival’s top-secret knowledge. Harry was concerned too, but he had his suspicions about the ancients’ capabilities to learn things by both mundane and psychic methods.
“It gets boring in stasis,” Percival said with a mischievous wink at Harry. “We’ve been monitoring every living being on this planet for a very long time. Only in the past century or so have things gotten really interesting. Although, watching humans progress from feudal times to a highly technological society was fascinating, of course. We hadn’t quite realized how much potential there was in the indigenous population when we decided on this planet for colonization.”
“It is a regret I will bear for the rest of my days,” Hara added quietly. Harry could feel the weight of his guilt and could only imagine what it must feel like to know his decision to claim this world for displaced Alvians had ended the population of the entire planet’s way of life and killed billions of people.
“I Hum with both Harry and Cormac.” Roshin’s bald statement took everyone by surprise.
“Yes, dear,” Hara replied as if agreeing with a child stating the obvious.
“I find it…upsetting,” she went on. “Exciting too, I believe, but also worrisome.” She seemed to be testing out the words that went with feelings she was only just beginning to understand.
“You wonder if your mates feel the same,” Percival prompted.
“I do,” Cormac replied at once. “After last night, I have little doubt Roshin is my Resonance Mate. I will do all in my power to keep her with me for the rest of my days.”
Harry was impressed with Cormac’s surety. Harry had felt mostly confusion from Cormac over the past days, including last night, but now he felt Cormac’s determination. It brought out Harry’s competitive spirit, though his heart was troubled.
He didn’t want an Alvian mate. Whenever he’d thought about his future, he’d always pictured a human woman with a caring heart—like Mama Jane or his half-sister, Callie. A human woman who understood emotions and didn’t need to be told what he was feeling and how to react. Someone who could comfort him when he needed it and whom he could comfort in return.
This relationship—or whatever it was with Roshin and Cormac—well, it was very lopsided to Harry’s way of thinking. If he wasn’t careful, he’d be the one doing all the giving and teaching and comforting and he’d get very little in return.
Did he want to live like that for the rest of his life? The prospect looked bleak, though Harry couldn’t argue with the fact that the sex romp last night had blown his mind on a galactic scale. He’d never had better and knew last night’s pleasure would be hard to top. But was that enough of a basis for a long-term relationship?
Harry wasn’t ready to commit to that.
Instead of answering, though he felt the pressure of everyone’s gaze bearing down on him, Harry rose and took his plate to the sink. He could feel the smug satisfaction coming off Cormac, along with hurt and dismay from Ro. Hara was more speculative and Percival was downright disappointed.
They could all go to hell as far as Harry was concerned. Especially that bastard, Cormac. Harry might’ve gotten off on being watched as he fucked Ro last night, but this morning he was full of confusion and anger of his own at being manipulated.
These damned Alvians were trying to tell him who he would spend the rest of his days with. They’d already ruined so much of his life. Taken so much from him and his family. Now they had to pick a mate for him too?
Harry needed some space. He stormed out of the galley and headed for the exercise area. If he couldn’t leave this damned ship, he could at least work off a little of his angry energy by hitting things in the gym.
“Ah. Apparently Harry isn’t as sure of his feelings as our friend Cormac here,” Percival said as soon as Harry exited the galley.
Roshin was feeling all sorts of…disagreeable things. She didn’t have names for all of the emotions flooding her heart with a rush of…pain? How could feelings make your heart physically hurt?
Percival reached over and patted the back of her hand. “Don’t take it too hard. Harry has faced many difficulties in his young life. He’s more like Hara and I than like you modern Alvians. It was not always easy to navigate emotion, as you will no doubt learn for yourself.”
Percival drew his hand back and returned to eating his breakfast. Hara took over the conversation, surprising Roshin. To this point, Hara had been less eager to talk than his friend Percival.
“Harry’s human half is often in conflict with his Alvian side,” Hara observed. “No doubt he never thought of finding his mate in the Alvian way. Resonance—even though he’s seen it at work in his own family—is not something he believes in. It will be up to you to make him understand it, Roshin. And you too, Cormac.” Hara turned his gaze to the other man. “You may want to keep our little Rose here all to yourself, but if she resonates with both you and Harry, she can never be completely happy with only one of you. Keep that in mind. A true mate wants what is best for his mate, not what he perceives is best for himself.”
Cormac looked thoughtful, for which Roshin was grateful. He’d been alternately hostile and chiding to Harry this morning even after the wonderful night they’d all spent together. His behavior puzzled Roshin. She didn’t understand the emotions coursing through her body, much less how Cormac was reacting.
“Ronin Prime calls me Rose,” she said, surprising herself with the observation. Her words seemed to surprise Hara as well. He returned his gaze to her, his eyebrows raised as he regarded her.
“I know, dear one.” Hara’s voice gentled. “I have long monitored what went on with the Brotherhood. I know Ronin thinks of you as a daughter.”
Tears formed inexplicably in her eyes. “He does?”
Hara reached one hand out to cover hers on the table. “Never doubt it. He has a touch more emotion than some others. Probably because the Ronin’s genetic line is of warrior stock. He doesn’t quite understand it himself, but he has written of you in his journal. Each Patriarch keeps a journal they pass down to the next Patriarch when it is time. That is how subsequent generations learn from previous ones. I thought it only fair that since the current Patriarch has read my journal from back when I founded the Brotherhood, that I be entitled to read his. He doesn’t know.” Hara smiled and winked at her. She thought she was coming to understand the nuances of that gesture. It seemed both playful and somewhat intimate—as if they shared a secret.
“I must prepare to speak to my men.” Cormac stood from the table, cleaning as he went.
“I wish to speak to you before you do,” Hara said, also rising. “It is about time we put our plans into motion. Percival and I are ready to go physically, and if the digging has proceeded far enough, I believe we should try to make our move sooner rather than later.”
Roshin was intrigued by their words as the two men left the room, but she was not invited to join their conversation, so she could not go with them. Instead, she finished her drink and began to clean the galley.
Percival came to her as she was standing by the sink and put one comforting hand on her shoulder.
“Things will move very quickly once we are free from this icy prison, little Rose. Maybe you should go warn Harry. I think he’s probably calmer by now and perhaps you can talk out some of the issues between you.”
“But I don’t understand why he rejects the bond. We are supposed to be mates.” She knew the anguish she was feeling showed in her words, but she couldn’t seem to help it.
“In the Alvian way. But he is half human. The only emotion—the only love—he’s ever known has been from humans. Humans do not have the advantage of knowing their perfect mate by prearranged tests. In times past, humans had to stumble around and try many different people before they found one they could love and live with for the rest of their lives. Many tried and failed. Not all marriages were happy. But Harry has probably always expected to find his match from among humans. He didn’t expect you, little Rose. And he sure didn’t expect Cormac. I think our Harry’s probably feeling a little overwhelmed.”
“Overwhelmed?” She didn’t understand. What did he have to be overwhelmed by? She was the one who was experiencing emotion for the first time in her life. If anyone was going to be overwhelmed, it was her. Her and Cormac.
And not Harry?
The thoughts circled in her mind, confusing her.
“Even those of us who have had emotion all our lives can still be overwhelmed by them at times. More often than you would think, in fact.” Percival’s smile was kind and Roshin responded to it, a warm feeling entering her heart.
“I did not realize that was the case,” she said in a small voice.
“It’s all right. I know this is all new to you. But try to understand that a lot about this situation is new to Harry too. Try to give him some of the compassion he has shown you. It’s what mates do. They care for each other and help each other. They love each other.”
Roshin heard the ring of truth in his words, but she wasn’t sure she was equipped to be what Harry might need at this troubling time. Still, she knew she had to try.
“I’ll do my best,” she promised Percival as she finished cleaning and turned to find Harry.
“Do that, little Rose. Harry needs your understanding. Prove to him that an Alvian mating can be all he ever dreamt of and more.”
Percival’s words followed her as she walked out of the galley and down the hall in search of Harry.
Chapter Nine
Cormac had been keeping in touch daily with his men on the outside through the portal. He still couldn’t cross, but he could see Liam 24, his second in command, and the lead climber, Fergal 51. Liam 24’s voice was muffled through the barrier of the energy shield, but he was ferrying communications back and forth from Cormac to the Council.
Liam 24 had to climb out of the crevasse and travel some distance from the site in order to communicate with the Council, then reverse the process to talk to Cormac. It made it difficult to get anything done, but it was also helpful in stalling. Cormac, at Hara’s command, had to keep the Council and Cormac’s own men in the dark about Hara’s existence. Instead, at Hara’s urging, Cormac reported some archaeological finds, giving reports of databanks and archives he was able to access containing ancient information.
That, Hara believed, ought to be enough to stall the Council while Fergal 51’s team continued to excavate around the pod. Hara wanted the pod freed. He didn’t say exactly why, but Cormac wasn’t stupid. This pod was fully operational from everything he’d seen. It would fly. Once it was free of the ice, Hara and Percival could take off and go wherever they wished.
Cormac assumed they wanted to surprise the Council by dropping in on them unannounced. And wouldn’t that be an interesting development?
Cormac didn’t have any particular love for the current Council. He’d never much thought about them one way or the other, but now that he had emotion, he felt somewhat negative about their shortsightedness on a number of issues Cormac had brought before them in the past.