Kaalen pointed to a heavy metal hatch, urging her to enter. She hated closed spaces but did as told.
“What if they hurt Dhiro?”
Ella hated that all this was happening because of her. The last thing she wanted to do was get Dhiro into trouble. Now his family was forced to get involved, too.
“Dhiro is the eldest. He is capable of taking care of himself.” He closed the hatch behind her.
Ella stayed locked in the hatch for what felt like days. She became sweaty and her muscles cramped. Her desperation for fresh air became overpowering. Still, she refused to make a noise. They wouldn’t leave her here, would they? After what must have been over an hour, everything around her jostled. The deafening sound of metal on metal made her cover her ears. It felt like the entire hangar was unhinged. There were muffled voices she couldn’t make out. Had the uniformed men found her? Should she call for help?
She tried to brace herself as the building shifted again, knocking her to her back. The air grew even thinner, and a deep desire to sleep overtook her. Maybe all of this had been a dream. Maybe she’d awake on Earth and realize Dhiro and Trenu Zel were all a figment of her imagination.
Chapter Eight
“You did what you had to do,” Kaalen said.
Dhiro glared at his brother. “I can’t talk about this right now.” He took a step back from his brothers. Bronn and Kaalen were not supposed to be joining him. “What is going to happen to Mother now? She is going to be furious with all three of us.”
“No, Mother told me I was going to have a big adventure and that I was to follow my heart, not my loyalty,” Bronn said. “You know how cryptic Mom can be. She is always making these … predictions. I’m certain if it wasn’t for our father, they’d have committed her to one of the wards years ago. So, tell me about Earth.”
Dhiro wasn’t exactly in a talking mood. After fighting off the blockade of men, his rage hadn’t ended there. His ship, his father’s ship that had been passed down to him, had the engine completely removed.
Never in all of his years as an adult male on Trenu Zel had his privacy been so heavily invaded. They were not like the humans, and yet, that was exactly what had happened, and he was still so annoyed. Ella had been with him. She wasn’t strong like him. They could have hurt her.
“You need to calm down.”
“Do not tell me to be calm in a situation like this, Bronn. You have no idea how very screwed we are.”
He ignored his brother’s grim expression. His ship hadn’t been able to withstand the journey and impact of Earth.
His brothers’ project aircraft wasn’t exactly any better.
“I think you need to go get some sleep. You’re not going to be helpful with that negative kind of attitude.”
Dhiro didn’t argue with them. He was so angry with the whole situation. He couldn’t just sit around and pretend like nothing happened.
The ship his brothers had built was amazing, he couldn’t doubt their skill. Their father had taught each of them so many unique skills. His brothers had learned the art of crafting a ship, while he’d been taught how to repair everything.
This was one of the reasons why his failed mission was so hard to accept. He hadn’t even been given the chance to explore or change what had happened. Ella shouldn’t have had a time limit.
She deserved so much more than that.
He was exhausted as he made his way toward the back of the ship where there was a small room with a tiny bed.
His brothers clearly hadn’t thought about comfort or long voyages when they crafted this ship. They were going to need a lot more than a single sheet on a bed.
Lying down, he stared up at the ceiling.
He was never going to return to Trenu Zel. How could they have viewed Ella’s life so basically? She was more than a vessel. Yes, she was human, and from his personal experience, she was very … emotional. Not that it stopped his love of her. Far from it.
From the stilted reactions and emotions of his planet, he found Ella’s range of feelings exceedingly addictive. Even mating with her was a huge high for him. Seeing the way she let go, never holding back her feelings or emotions, giving in to the need. Even now, thinking about it, he was aroused.
He ran a hand down his face, but it didn’t matter what he did, nothing was going to rub the upset of their current predicament from his mind.
His mother had been convinced of his success with Ella. Whatever his mother predicted had come true, and now, he didn’t know what direction to take. He loved his woman and couldn’t leave her.
A life on Earth didn’t sound very appealing to him, far from it.
Get a grip, Dhiro. This is your life now.
He heard the hatch open where Kaalen had stored Ella, and he sat up listening.
“Where’s Dhiro,” Ella’s voice asked.
She sounded sad, strained.
He hadn’t taken her from the hatch as she’d looked so peaceful while she slept.
Getting to his feet, he opened the door and stepped out, but he saw the raw sadness of his mate, and he couldn’t stay away. He closed the distance between them, wrapping his arms around her.
“I’ve got you.”
She released a gasp. “Dhiro, you’re here?”
“Of course, I’m here. Where else would I go?” He pressed a kiss to her temple. “I’m always going to be here for you.” He was never going to let her go.
“I thought you were back on Trenu Zel.”
“I was never going to leave you, and I’m not going to start now.” He kissed her head again. “Where you go, I go. You’re my mate.”
“They think I’ve failed, haven’t they? Your … people.”
He cupped her cheeks and wiped away the tears that were slowly pooling in her eyes and starting to slide down her face.
“Don’t. They are not important.”
“Dhiro, don’t do this. Don’t make it sound like you’re not upset about what’s going on. I know the truth and so do you. You hate this. Don’t lie to me.”
He wanted to keep on lying to her, but the truth was, he couldn’t. “They … were going to send you back. I couldn’t let that happen.”
“But my fertility. I’m your planet’s last hope.”
“And after all this time, they had hoped to see something more, but you are not expecting. You are not pregnant.”
Ella growled. “Seriously? I haven’t been with you very long. I didn’t know I had a time limit.”
“Several moon cycles. Long enough to get pregnant.”
“Okay, fine, I admit that it is taking a little time, but that’s normal for a female. We don’t always catch at the same time. These things can take months, if not years. I was taken from my own planet, put on an alien one, where I was considered the outsider. My life took a huge change, and that can affect so much. I know a woman who took nine years to get pregnant.”
“Ella, you do not have to worry.”
She stepped back from him and shook her head. “Wow, you think the same as them, don’t you?”
“We think you two need to have a little more privacy. We are concentrating on not ruining our ship too early, and we’re navigating through a series of comets here,” Bronn said. “A little respect would go a long way.”