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  It didn’t matter, he told himself. Only Holly mattered.

  He tried to swallow, but could not. There was a rumbling in the distance. He hoped it was not the beetles or the giant centipede, but if it was, he could not run. His legs were so heavy he could barely lift them. Racing away from the swarm had been too much. He attempted to lift the water skin to his mouth, but his vision was blurred, and he could not find it on his belt.

  If only he could drink. He groped for the leather pouch of water as he dropped to his knees. The roaring grew, shaking the ground.

  Only a short rest, he thought, as he fell to the trembling sands.

  Thirty-Two

  “Are Dothveks always this paranoid?” Holly asked, as she rode her jebel up alongside Caro and Bexli, who were riding together.

  Both K’alvek and Kush had been scanning the entire horizon, and back behind them since the suns had risen, their expressions tense.

  “Well, we did sneak out of the village with a bunch of jebels after the clan leader expressly told them not to,” Caro said, flipping her dark ponytail as she turned to face Holly.

  Bexli yelped as the hair hit her in the face. “Watch it with that.”

  “Sorry,” Caro said, then turned her attention back to Holly. “I don’t know what kind of trouble they can get into, but I’m guessing it’s serious. I wonder how many of their laws we’ve broken by doing this.”

  Holly peeked over her shoulder at the empty desert behind them, as Caro continued to wonder aloud about Dothvek law. When Caro was nervous, she talked more, and if her chatter was any indication, the pilot was very anxious. Holly tried not to let her friend’s nerves make her worry more than she already was, but that was easier said than done.

  She squinted behind her. The village was now so far away they couldn’t see it, and the suns were high in the sky. “You think the Dothveks will send guys after us?”

  Bexli nodded, but Caro shot her a look and shook her head. “Probably not. They know K’alvek and Kush wouldn’t steal the animals.”

  “But they’re also not idiots,” Bexli said. “If we’re all gone, they’ll know exactly where we went.”

  Holly pressed her lips together, glancing over her shoulder again. Even though she saw nothing, her stomach did an uncomfortable flip. She had to find T’Kar, and being intercepted by a bunch of angry Dothveks hell-bent on bringing them back to the village was not an option.

  She nudged her heels into her jebel’s side. “Do these things go any faster?”

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were—” Caro started to say, but the last part of her sentence was drowned out by Holly’s own shriek as the creature beneath her surged forward.

  She fisted her hands in the thick fur, but she still slipped to the side as it began running, its wide feet kicking up sand behind it. Caro and Bexli yelled and coughed, no doubt getting facefuls of sand as her jebel tore away from them. She shouted for it to slow down as it thundered down a sand dune, almost pitching her over the top.

  Holly saw both Danica’s and Max’s shocked faces as she plowed past them, her teeth rattling as she slammed up and down on the jebel’s back. “Can’t stop it,” she yelled.

  So, this was how it was going to end for her, she thought. Killed by a runaway jebel. This was definitely less romantic than how she’d previously imagined her death. And way less glamorous.

  A loud voice reverberated through the air, and the creature came to a sudden stop. Holly, however, wasn’t so lucky. The momentum sent her flying over the jebel’s head, and she landed facefirst in the sand.

  Lying still for a moment, she finally lifted her head as she heard the other jebels reach her.

  “I’m fine,” she said, sitting up and brushing sand off her face and spitting the fine grains from her mouth.

  Danica slid down onto the sand and rushed over to her, her face a mixture of concern and amusement. “Are you sure?”

  Holly’s cheeks burned, more from embarrassment than sand burn, although landing in the sand the way she had hadn’t been as soft as she’d expected. “Totally.” She cut her eyes to her jebel, who was being held still by K’alvek. The furry thing actually had the nerve to look bored.

  Max joined her and Danica, helping Holly up and giving her a quick once-over. “You look fine.”

  “No thanks to that thing,” she said, scowling at her unconcerned jebel.

  Danica grinned. “Yeah, they’re pretty ornery, even if you don’t kick them.”

  Caro and Bexli both ran up.

  “I told you not to do that,” Caro said, her almond-shaped eyes narrowed, as she shook her head.

  Bexli grinned widely. “Oh, I don’t know. It was pretty fun to watch. You really caught some serious air when you went over the top.”

  “Why did you kick him again?” Max asked.

  Holly shook her hair, and powdery gold sand cascaded down. “I don’t know. I panicked when I started thinking about T’Kar out here on his own, and the Dothveks coming after us and making us turn around.”

  Danica put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “It’s okay. I get it.”

  Max glanced over her shoulder at Kush who was walking up the next dune, his face solemn. “You’re not the only one who’s worried. I can feel how tense Kush is.”

  Danica nodded. “Same. K’alvek hasn’t been this anxious in a while.”

  “They did just defy their leader,” Caro whispered. “They’ve taken a bigger risk than any of us.”

  “I know,” Holly said, her gut twisting. “I didn’t want them to risk their positions in their clan. That’s why I wanted to sneak out without them.”

  “Yeah, they weren’t going to let that happen,” Danica said, looking fondly at her mate. “They’d rather risk their position in their clan than risk us.”

  “What if we don’t find him?” Holly asked, her voice cracking as she looked at her friends. “What if I’ve risked everyone, and I still lose him?”

  Max put an arm around Holly’s shoulders. “That’s not going to happen. We’ll find him. Kush is the best tracker in the clan. If your guy is out here, he’ll locate him.”

  K’alvek left the jebels and strode past them to join Kush. Both warriors disappeared down the dune, and Max and Danica exchanged looks.

  “What’s going on?” Bexli asked.

  Max grabbed Holly’s hand and tugged her forward, and all the women followed. They trudged through the sand, their feet sinking ankle-deep, until they crested the slope.

  Holly slapped a hand over her mouth. Below her, in the valley between the dunes, lay T’Kar. Kush and K’alvek were beside him, slapping his face and clearly trying to revive him.

  Holly ran forward, not caring when she slipped down the sand on her ass and skidded to a stop at the bottom. She heard the other women following behind her, but she wasn’t focused on anything but reaching T’Kar.

  “Is he…?” She couldn’t finish the question when she finally knelt beside him.

  “He’s alive,” K’alvek said, unhooking a water skin from the strap across his chest and lifting T’Kar’s head slightly so he could pour a stream of water into his mouth.

  Holly scanned his body, registering the fact that the gash in his side was significantly smaller, and the skin seemed to have somewhat knitted itself together. The blackened scorch mark on his chest—the one that had marred his tattoo—was gone. The skin was smooth and gold again, the intricate markings forming a breastplate over the top of his chest.

  Her pulse fluttered at the sight of him, and the knowledge that he was alive. She didn’t know how he’d survived the blaster, or how he looked better than he did when the scavengers had pulled her off of him, but she didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was that he was alive. They’d found him, and he was going to be okay.

  “I have never seen a Crestek with markings,” K’alvek said, once he’d gotten water down the man’s throat.

  “He is different,” Kush said, giving him a pointed look.

  K’alv
ek grunted in reply, but tipped his water skin into T’Kar’s mouth again.

  “Hey, big guy,” she said, pressing a hand to his chest. “It’s me.”

  His eyes opened sluggishly, finally focusing on her face. His pupils widened and he tried to sit up, before sagging back down. “Holly? Is it really you?”

  “It’s really me.” Her voice broke. “I didn’t know if I’d see you again.”

  K’alvek stood and handed the water skin to her, as he and Kush moved a few steps away.

  T’Kar smiled weakly. “I was on my way to find you, but you found me first.”

  “You didn’t think I was going to leave you out here, did you?”

  “The scavengers?”

  “Gone. They took me to the Dothveks, who scared them off.”

  His brow furrowed, and he tapped his ear. His translator earpiece was gone. It didn’t matter. She knew he could sense what she felt.

  He smiled and nodded. “That’s what Rukken said would happen.”

  “What?” K’alvek was at T’Kar’s side again. “Who said that would happen?”

  T’Kar’s expression grew confused, although she knew he understood Dothvek, even if he didn’t understand English. “Is this a Dothvek hunting party?” His hand drifted toward his blade, and he pushed himself up on his elbows.

  “No hunting party,” she told him. “K’alvek and Kush came with me to help find you.”

  T’Kar grinned weakly. “Kush. I know Kush.”

  “Who told you what we would do to the scavengers?” K’alvek asked again, the dark slashes of his brows forming a V as he frowned.

  Holly glanced over at the Dothvek, suppressing the urge to elbow him out of the way. “What’s wrong?”

  K’alvek twisted his head to lock eyes with his cousin, then he scanned the horizon. “Nothing.” He stood and joined Kush, the two Dothveks peering across the sands.

  Okay, that was weird. She watched Danica and Max join their mates, and the foursome huddled in hushed conversation.

  She turned back to T’Kar, helping him sit up and handing him the water again. Color had returned to his face, and his amber eyes were sharp.

  He lifted a hand to her face, cupping her chin and brushing a finger over her lips. “I could feel your touch even when you weren’t here, but the real thing is much better.”

  She lowered her lips to his, feeling heat pulse through her body as he kissed her softly, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into his lap.

  The sound of throat-clearing made her pull away from him and look up.

  “We need to go,” Kush said, giving T’Kar an apologetic look.

  “You sense it, too?” T’Kar asked, standing quickly and pulling Holly up with him.

  Kush cocked his head at the Crestek, his confusion evident.

  “I’ve sensed it for a while,” T’Kar said, “but I was not sure it wasn’t just the heat.”

  “Someone is following us. Or you,” Kush said.

  T’Kar nodded, squaring his shoulders and looping a protective arm around Holly’s waist. “And watching.”

  Thirty-Three

  T’Kar tugged Holly closer to him, her ass bumping up against his cock as the jebel trotted over the sand.

  She twisted her head and gave him a look. “I thought you almost died from heat stroke.”

  He shrugged, enjoying the feel of her curves against his hardness. He couldn’t understand her words, but he knew what she meant. “Almost.”

  The caravan of animals was going up and down the powdery dunes at a rapid pace, and he kept his arms wrapped tightly around Holly as she gripped the thick fur in front of her. K’alvek and his mate were in front of them, and Kush and Max were bringing up the rear, with the other two women between them. Sand rained a fine mist behind the jebels’ hooves, but they left no trail behind them, the sand shifting swiftly to cover the animal tracks.

  There had been few words between him and the Dothveks as they all mounted their jebels and taken off for the village. There had been no need. He could sense their unease.

  Even though the emotions were faint, they were there. They’d been there the entire time he been running across the sands in search of the Dothveks and Holly. He did not think it was Rukken—why would the outcast track him after he’d left him to complete the journey alone?—but he could not be certain. He was hesitant to mention Rukken’s name again, after seeing K’alvek’s reaction. Rukken had been good to him. He had no desire to give him up to his old clan. Especially since he could not be sure it was him who was watching.

  Rukken had been curious. Whomever was watching and following wanted something. Both Dothveks could sense what he could. He could tell by the way they held their mates, their arms wrapped possessively around them. If someone wanted their females, they would have a hard time getting them.

  T’Kar did not know what was desired, although the thoughts felt male to him. Dominant and possessive and determined. The want had shifted into desire, and had intensified. T’Kar could almost feel the arousal thrumming through his own body.

  Of course, it did not help that Holly was pressed up against him, her curvy body tucked in his arms just where he liked it. He shifted, and she inhaled sharply.

  “You’d better stop doing that, unless you want me to come right here,” she said.

  Heat coursed through him. He definitely knew what she meant now. “I would not mind.”

  She wiggled her ass, and he groaned. “Don’t start what you can’t finish, big guy.”

  She no longer wore the filmy dress that had been easy to slip his hands underneath, but he liked the loose, leather pants she had on. She and her crew mates all wore the clothes of the Dothveks, and he preferred Holly dressed like a warrior.

  He slipped a hand under the waistband of her pants, keeping the other hand curved around her stomach. “You were saying?”

  She leaned back into him as his fingers slipped between her hot folds, saying something in a whisper he could sense. She had missed him.

  He found her swollen nub and circled it.

  She let out a sigh, gyrating her hips against the rigid bar of his cock. “I really, really…” Her breath hitched in her chest as he slipped a finger inside her and moved his thumb to stroke her slick nub.

  “Yes?” He murmured against her neck, dragging his finger in and out, knowing she was telling him how much she’d missed him, as she rocked back into him.

  T’Kar knew that, although no one in behind him could see what he was doing to Holly—his body blocked any view of her smaller one—both Dothveks would have no problem picking up what was going on. He could already pick up on their slight amusement, and he saw K’alvek shift in front of him.

  But he didn’t care who knew he had his fingers snug inside his mate. Holly was his, legally bonded to him, and then his through claiming. He crossed the sands to find her, and he wasn’t going to waste one precious moment with her.

  He sank a second finger in her as he shifted a hand up to cup her breast, her nipple a hard point under the linen shirt. Holly’s movements against him were urgent now, and her breaths shallow.

  “T’Kar,” she gasped.

  She arched back, her head on his shoulder as he leaned over her. Her eyes were closed and her lashes fluttering as she began to quiver around him. He held his fingers tight inside but kept stroking her slick little bundle of nerves as she jerked against him, her body clamping around him.

  Biting her lip, she sagged against him with a throaty moan. “Who knew jebels could feel that good?”

  Her thoughts confused him. “Jebels?” He swiveled his fingers, and she sucked in a breath.

  “Okay, maybe it wasn’t so much the jebels.”

  “Maybe not,” he said, kissing the curved top of her ear and pulling out of her.

  “Even so, this is by far the best jebel ride I’ve ever had.”

  He pulled her close, savoring the glow pulsing through her. “I am glad.”

  “Of course, I did get thrown
off on the way to find you, so it wasn’t a hard bar to meet.” She ground her ass into him. “But speaking of hard bars. . .”

  Now it was his turn to groan. He was wondering if he could turn her around to straddle him when he felt Holly stiffen. Then he felt a wave of tension pass from K’alvek and Kush to him. Peering over the rolling sands and toward the sinking suns, he spotted a patch of green.

  Trees sprung up seemingly out of nowhere ,with a blue pond to one side, and high-peaked tents gathered underneath them. It was the Dothvek village, and it was even more entrancing than he’d imagined with the sounds of animals braying and bells jingling.

  His heart leapt in his throat—until he saw the warriors gathered on the edge of the sands, faces fierce and blades drawn. He knew now why K’alvek and Kush were so tense. It was clear they had violated some Dothvek code by bringing him there, and possibly for rescuing him in the first place.

  “Shit,” Holly said, her euphoria evaporating almost instantly.

  “Maybe this was a mistake,” he said in a low voice.

  She straightened her shoulders. “No fucking way. If they have a problem with us going after you, then they can deal with me.”

  He felt her defenses rise. This was the fierce female he loved.

  “No,” Max said, as she and Kush rode up beside them. “They can deal with all of us.”

  T’Kar was not sure what odds he would give three warriors and five females against the entire Dothvek clan, but he felt glad to have them on his side.

  One Dothvek stepped forward, his eyes blazing fury. His glare seemed focused on K’alvek before he spun around. “Bring the traitors.”

  Thirty-Four

  “What are you doing?” T’Kar put out a hand to stop her, as Holly moved to follow him.

  The Dothvek warriors had parted once Zatvar had strode back to his tent and commanded that they be brought to him, but they stood watching the Crestek with open curiosity. They seemed even more shocked that she held his hand.