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Chapter One

D arik had had enough. He was a man of action and clearly nothing else, including waiting and hoping nature would provide an answer, was going to resolve the problem. He wasn’t going to lose his mate. Having made his decision, he marched to the landing area where all the valley’s flyers were kept and boldly took one. No one challenged him since he was one of the most senior soldiers in the packs and well respected. The control tower did ask where he was headed but he growled at them and said, “Secret mission for the Alphas. Can’t say any more.”

Lying to anyone but the Khagrish was an anathema to a Badari but Darik was pushed to his limit emotionally and determined to follow his chosen course of action.

He did the minimum evasive maneuvering once he left the valley and then headed straight for his destination. Darik was beyond caring about the rules and regulations right now. It was several hours flying time to the original lab where his pack and two others had been created and he flew right above tree level most of the way, hoping to avoid Khagrish scans. He landed the small flyer in a wooded area about a mile from the lab’s ruins and took the time to camouflage it thoroughly before he loped off into the underbrush.

Darik didn’t stop at what was left of the lab complex because the ruined buildings weren’t his destination. He kept going, running at the ground covering pace which was standard for Badari soldiers, until he entered the area which had been the Preserve, where his kind spent their laughably titled ‘free time’ in between experiments and deployments.

The grove of the Great Mother came into view and he sprinted the last mile until he stopped right outside the circle of towering trees. He caught his breath and waited for his heart rate to settle, taking the time to bathe his face and arms with water he’d brought for the purpose and then when he felt calmer, he set aside his weapons and strode into the tree line.

It was peaceful among the trees, with only bird calls and the breeze disturbing the silence. He tried to quiet his emotions because if the goddess would deign to see him, he needed to be able to present his case for help coherently and the subject was difficult. Even thinking about what had happened was like a knife to the heart.

He’d wanted that child so badly. Had imagined a miniature Nicolle, with her bright eyes and soft wavy hair. He’d have been wrapped around her finger the moment she was born and he’d do anything to protect her while she grew into the extraordinary woman he’d been sure she’d become. With Nicolle as a mother, how could their daughter be anything but outstanding?

He'd had his secret doubts though, right from the first time he and Nicolle became aware she might be pregnant. Mateer, Aydarr’s top enforcer, had spoken with awe many times of how he smelled the beautiful fragrance of Spring when his mate Megan became pregnant. Darik had never had that revelation. There’d been a floral scent, yes, but faint and wispy.

He and Nicolle had had a few days of excitement, hope and planning and then it was over, as she had a heavier than usual period and the floral scent vanished, no matter how hard he tried to recapture it.

Of course they’d gone to the human doctor, Gemma, mate to Camron, who actually was a specialist in women’s health. She’d done her exams and scans and tests and told them there was no way to be sure but statistically many human pregnancies began and ended this mysteriously with no explanation. Darik knew next to nothing about the subject of course but even Nicolle had been surprised. Being a Badari was a mixed blessing in this situation because Gemma said many human women didn’t even know they were pregnant when a pregnancy ended this early but of course a Badari became aware of the new life within hours of impregnating his mate.

“It wasn’t meant to be,” the doctor had said gently. Gemma assured them there was no reason they couldn’t have a baby but as time passed, nothing changed for them. Or for any other Badari mate. The only new baby in the valley was born to a Badari/Badari couple and while Darik rejoiced with everyone else, his own sorrow and frustration intensified.

Dr. Garrison, mate to Mateer, who was the mother of Hope, the only such child in all the packs, told them at one visit that yes, they’d done the blood transfusion, which had conveyed many of the aspects of being Badari to Nicolle, but it was no guarantee of pregnancy. “We don’t know to this day what exactly the Khagrish did to me when they gave me Mateer’s blood,” she’d said. “They may well have added enzymes or trace elements or chemicals we have no access to. There’s no way for us to know. MARL said there was no record. When we do the straight across blood transfusions for Badari and their mates, we have nothing to add, no magic ingredient, if one is indeed what was required.”

Darik cursed the fucking Khagrish scientists and their constant tinkering with the Badari DNA and the alien predator DNA each man or woman carried. His kind was designed to be sterile so it was a literal miracle that two babies had been born.

He and Nicolle had wanted desperately to be the lucky third couple to bring new life into the world and give fresh hope to the packs.

Suddenly he was out of the trees and walking across the lush green grass in the circle, going to the large boulder which was the goddess’s chair when she chose to appear. He knelt beside the rock and bowed his head, praying for her to grant him an audience. For a long time there was no answer, only silence. Even the birds had stopped singing as if they too were waiting for the Great Mother to arrive. A purple-and-white butterfly hovered near his face, flitting to land on his shoulder while he sat still so as not to scare it.

When it lifted off, he raised his head to watch it flutter…and land on the outstretched hand of the Great Mother who now sat in her chair.

His adrenaline spiked and he had to take a deep breath to prevent himself from rushing into speech.

“You wish to make a request?” she said, her voice pure music to his ears.

“With all due respect, my lady, I pray for my mate and me to have the gift of a successful pregnancy,” he said. “To have a child together.”

“I see into your heart, Darik. You’re angry at me for not allowing the first pregnancy to proceed.” She touched his shoulder and a wave of cold swept over him, followed by calm such as he and his beast had never achieved before.

“Yes,” he admitted, reeling a bit from the effect of her power.

“It wasn’t meant to be, not in this time or any other.”

Her voice was kind but he got to his feet without permission and gazed into her face, which no Badari ever did unless he was ready to die. “Then why?—”

“I don’t direct every single moment of every single Badari’s life,” she said. “Contrary to what some believe. In your case, nature decreed the pregnancy couldn’t proceed to term. There were…problems.”

Darik was mesmerized by her, despite his best intentions, but he remembered his purpose in risking this approach to the goddess and words came. “Then let us try again. Help us with whatever the issue is.”

“So I should grant your request and intervene?”

He had the feeling this was a weighted question but he nodded affirmatively. “Please, my lady. I know we have it in us to be good parents.”

“And then I should sit here on this so-called chair of mine and wait for every mated Badari to come with the same request and put forth my energies to influence the fates?” She shook her head while he contemplated what a safe response would be. Her silver hair glittered in the sunlight and her lavender blue eyes grew darker. “The universe doesn’t work that way . I don’t work that way. Your people are special to me and I watch over you and help when and where I deem it appropriate.”

“We’re grateful,” he said and meant it.

“What would you do to resolve this problem?” she asked.

“Anything you ask of me.”

She settled into the seat more comfortably and gazed at the butterfly. “Would you risk yourself to obtain the solution for all the Badari?”

“Of course.” Darik had no idea where this was going but he resolved to do whatever was necessary for himself and the others. Was she going to ask him to infiltrate a Khagrish lab and steal secrets perhaps? A daunting job for one man to accomplish but he’d do it to meet her price for ending the current situation.

“The original Badari had issues with fertility at times,” she said in a conversational tone. “There was a sacred place where the waters would enable a woman to conceive and carry her man’s child, if she could but drink a tiny portion. Difficult to reach, guarded by monsters but if the man—or woman—could overcome the difficulties and reach the spring, the reward was huge.”

“Superstition,” he scoffed before he could bite his tongue. “We’re dealing in real world issues here.”

The goddess wasn’t disturbed by his doubt, merely shrugging. “One race’s magic is another’s science. Trace elements, your Doctor Garrison said, didn’t she? Who is to say the water in this spring I speak of didn’t carry such extra content? Let me assure you the issue which was inherent in a number of the original Badari has carried down through time to you and your brothers, whether the Khagrish in their oh-so-clever, oh-so-evil pursuits of their science knew it or not.”

Darik pondered what she’d said so far. “Either way, the planet of my long-ago ancestors doesn’t exist anymore.”

“Yes, the enemy destroyed it.” The Great Mother leaned forward. “I can send you there.” She held out her hand. Resting on her palm was a tiny crystal flask, doublesided, with an amethyst stopper wedged into the top on each side. “One dose for your mate, one dose for your doctors to study and isolate the necessary magic, or elements if you prefer the term. Fill the bottle at the spring of new beginnings, sip from the waters yourself and you’ll return to your own place and time with the flask. You have seven days.”

The suddenness with which she presented the quest took his breath away. “If I fail?”

“You’ll die.”

Now he understood why she was allowing him to see her face so clearly. He voiced his final concern. “Nicolle isn’t Badari though so this water wouldn’t help her.”

“Isn’t she?” The goddess raised her eyebrows and the sky darkened. “She carries your blood, her immune system is now Badari, she has the gift of longevity—she has the mate bond, although the two of you have allowed it to become sadly tattered and fragile, which is a thing I never expected to see.”

“I love my mate,” he said, barely refraining from giving voice to a howl of rage. His inner predator was pacing and angry at the implied criticism but the goddess merely spoke the truth and he knew it.

“And she loves you, but the distance between the two of your hearts is vast right now.” Thunder boomed in the distance. The Great Mother placed her hand on his cheek as if to console him. “All these things can be worked out in time but you must talk to each other. You both mourn in your own ways, neither wants to hurt the other by bringing up the topic, she blames herself?—”

“It wasn’t her fault, she did nothing wrong,” Darik said and now there was definitely a growl in his voice. His talons were trying to edge out of their sheaths.

“Talk to her,” the goddess said softly, patting his cheek before withdrawing her hand. “If you complete the quest.” Head tilted, she studied him. “Have you decided to take the risk?”

“I’m going.” His jaw was clenched so hard his head ached. “And yes, Nicolle and I will talk when I get back. Because I am coming home with the special waters.”

“I believe you.”

Suddenly Darik was reclining in the cool, cushioning grass, with the Great Mother standing over him. He couldn’t move and his eyes were growing heavy. She sprinkled a handful of her flowers over his body and said, “Travel where your need takes you, Darik of the Badari, with my blessings.”