Page 22 of Devin (Warriors of Etlon #5)

Devin

T he sound of Terran screeching echoed in his ears. For such a puny form, Charlette could let out a deafening cry that went on for a good five minutes. He should not have presented her with the one remaining portion of her mate that was left.

Devin had never had anything against Haxit personally.

He was just the wrong fit for the job. And of course he mourned the passing of any of his Mahdfel brothers, but Devin just couldn’t figure out why Haxit had been at the construction site in the first place.

He’d ignored all safety protocol, and gotten so deep into one of the building footprints that his last lunge had been just short of safety.

Had he not extended his arm, Haxit would have disappeared entirely, and no one would have known where.

They would have probably just assumed he’d been dragged off into the jungle and eaten by something.

Glorious stories and songs would have been written in his honor.

But there was nothing noble in being squashed by a building that you knew was coming.

Devin had scooped up the hand, used his scanner to determine the unlucky Mahdfel and presented it to Haxit’s mate.

He’d expected some tears, yes, but then a calm ‘thank you’, for giving her some sense of closure.

Besides, everyone knew Charlette was not that fond of her mate anyway.

What he got was a full minute and a half of uninterrupted screaming until Jane rushed in with a sedative that put Charlette out like a light.

“What the fuck, man?” Jane said. The others had begun to gather.

“Haxit is dead.” Devin held out the arm as evidence.

“No shit, Sherlock.” Jane rolled her eyes and pointed. “Put that thing away. And do not under any circumstances let any of the other women see it.”

Devin stared down at the severed limb. Unfortunately the other mates were fast approaching, and he had nowhere to hide it.

Meadow was the first to ask. “What is that behind your back?”

“For all that’s holy, trust me. You don’t want to see it,” Jane said.

Devin began backing away from the mates.

“Really, I do,” Meadow assured her.

“It’s Haxit. What’s left of him,” Jane said.

“Really, I don’t.” Meadow’s face turned white, and she looked as if she were about to fall over herself.

Where were the other Mahdfel? Surely if it was their mate that had screamed, he would have had a knife in his belly by now.

And he couldn’t assist her with his hands behind his back.

Devin began to walk backwards slowly. Once he got far enough away, he flipped around and took off to the command center at a sprint.

“What’s that? Who’s that?” Goru said as he got a look at the arm.

“Haxit. Where is everyone?”

“Where’s the rest of him?”

“Under a building, presumably. Where’s Kave? Where’s everyone?”

“He and Zenik… everyone else is doing inspections.”

“I need you to go put Charlette in her quarters,” Devin instructed.

Goru’s face betrayed what he thought of Charlette.

“I can’t leave my post,” he said.

“Meadow looks like she’s about to pass out too.” Devin knew that mentioning his precious Meadow was all that was needed to get Goru out the door. Devin gently placed the hand next to a console and began a search.

It didn’t take long to locate Kave and Zenik.

They had left in the shuttle nearly the moment after he’d come back to base camp.

The others were dutifully following his orders and checking the foundations and structural integrity of each structure.

So far, the data coming in was all looking good.

Everything was within expected parameters.

Except Haxit was not an expected parameter.

It was not acceptable in the least. Devin had never lost a warrior under his command, and no amount of computer scanning gave Devin the slightest clue of why Haxit had been standing in the middle of the building’s footprint to begin with.

The noise alone would have alerted him to the tons of building material falling from the sky.

Had he been unconscious? Then why had he been running out of the foundation? The doctor would need to do a full chemical analysis to determine what had gone wrong, if the Mahdfel immune system hadn’t scrubbed traces of it from his system already.

“What the fuck?” Jane stood in the doorway, arms crossed over her chest, her large belly protruding out in front of her. “I’ve seen a lot of screwed up shit, but I’m really not in the mood for this today.”

Devin looked down at the arm. He lacked anything handy to cover it.

“And if you say accidents happen, I’m gonna be pissed,” she continued.

“Even Haxit was not that stupid. His death can’t have been an accident.”

“Are you saying someone murdered Haxit?”

Devin thought about it. “He could have been accidentally poisoned, but chances are slim he’d end up directly in the path of a structure unless placed there.

“Then you’re saying he was murdered by a Mahdfel? None of the women could have budged him, not even me in my current condition. I’d trust every Mahdfel here with my life and the life of my unborn child.”

It was unthinkable for a Mahdfel to kill another warrior in such a dishonorable manner, but Jane was right. None of the Terrans possessed the strength to move him without help. But there was no other explanation. Jane stared down at him, like she expected him to disagree.

The console beeped. The field reports were in.

The bones of his city were solid. It should be a time for celebration and joy, but Devin only felt the urge to collapse like a female and wallow in his despair.

It was unseemly. It was Val’s fault. He missed her.

It wasn’t natural to be separated from a mate after one night.

Kave stepped off the craft. He was not the jovial never-take-anything-seriously Mahdfel that Devin had come to know. His skin was flashing with grief and rage and for the moment, it was centered on Devin.

“This is your fault. You didn’t like him. You wanted him gone.”

It was true, but before Devin could open his mouth, Kave punched him.

That didn’t bother Devin. He deserved that.

What bothered him was the screech that came from behind Kave, a screech that made his breath catch in his throat.

It was unnatural, and it took Devin a moment to realize that it wasn’t just his mate that had made the cry.

Val came hurtling down out of the shuttle with a ball of fluff on her heels.

Val went straight for Devin. Nivy went straight for Kave.

It bit him on the ankle then scurried up and away onto Devin’s shoulders.

It let out a fearsome hiss at Kave, daring him to attack again.

Devin didn’t know who to comfort first, his upset mate, the hell kitten or himself.

Kave took a deep breath and deflated. “It's my fault. I’m the warlord. I left.”

“No.” Devin shook his head. “It is my project. I was distracted.”

“But I dishtracked you.” There was a glazed look growing in Kave’s eye.

“Nivy is venomous. You should return to your quarters.”

“No, we must give rites to Haxit. I must shpeak with hish mate.”

Jane finally stepped in.

“Charlette is out like a light. Zenik, help Kave to his quarters,” she said, motioning for her husband to support the warlord. “Rites will wait.”

“Whash a Nivy?” Kave slurred.

Before Devin could answer, Zenik scooped his head under Kave’s arm before the warlord passed into total unconsciousness and half dragged Kave back to his quarters and mate.

If they were going to keep Nivy, they’d need a vaccine against his venom. He couldn’t have the thing biting anyone that disagreed with him. He turned to the med bay to get started. He would not have another innocent thing slaughtered just because he failed to do his duty. Val followed him.

“What are you doing?” she finally asked as he took a blood and saliva sample from the purring kitten.

“Putting the computer to work on an antivenom. If one cannot be designed for mates, Nivy will have to go back to the jungle.”

“Oh. Good idea. I can’t imagine having to leave him by himself without his mother.”

Even after claiming her as his own, her scent was having arousing effects on him once more. He needed to… he needed her, and that was unacceptable at the moment. Once he set the computer to its task, he strode away, back to his - their quarters. She followed along as did her damning scent.