would just have to see if the abandoned ship held a laser cannon to step in front of.
After a moment, Connell repeated the vow, his voice hushed and reverent.
“What happens now?” Stone asked.
“Um… we’re supposed to seal the deal by mating.”
Stone discovered that fishing line and blankets made an excellent partition between Pearl’s cradle and Connell’s bed.
Chapter 6
“Come back here, you!” Stone dashed across the sand, chasing a giggling, four-year-old Pearl. Usually so serious, the big man’s demeanor totally changed around the child who’d tied both of them around her finger. He still hadn’t answered the question of a mother; whenever Connell asked, he merely shrugged and replied, “She’s ours.”
Vrrrt, vrrrt, vrrrt! Connell dropped the sled harness and stood stock still. That wasn’t the terror warning; besides, the creatures had learned to stay away, thanks to Stone.
Stone snapped to attention. “The alarm! A ship’s approaching orbit.” He raced forward with lightning speed, snatched up Pearl, and handed her over. “Make for the caves.”
The last Connell saw of his mate was the man in full armor, climbing the hill to the beacon.
“I have news,” Stone said after he’d come to reclaim his family. “The Federation is revisiting duty laws. Some within the Federation itself complained about destroying colonies.”
“About time if you ask me,” Connell replied, “but how do you know?”
A rare, non-family generated smile dimpled Stone’s cheeks. “The ship. An S-type cruiser, very intelligent. We spoke.” He tapped his helmet with a fingertip.
Sometimes Connell forgot his mate came from another place. For four years he’d seemed happy here in the middle of nowhere. What would happen if he grew bored and wanted to return to civilization?
“Stone?” Connell asked.
“Yes, Connell?” Stone stopped on the narrow track leading to their home. Pearl’s legs dangled over his arms where she lay sleeping in his embrace.
“Do you ever think about leaving here?”
He answered by shifting Pearl to his shoulder and enclosing his family in a hug, kissing them both soundly on the cheek. “I cannot.”
“Why not?”
“I belong here. With my family.” All humor fled his face.
“Are you ready to tell me yet why you deserted?” Connell told himself he wouldn’t ask, but the words slipped out before he could stop them. Whatever happened before lay in the past. Did he really want to know what atrocities Stone might have committed in carrying out the Federation’s vengeance?
“Something happened,” Stone replied, his voice as hard as his name. “I questioned all I’d been told.”
“What was that, if you don’t mind my asking?”
A pained look appeared in Stone’s eyes. “I’d take back all my years of service if I could. Every life I took from a colonist, every village I laid waste to.”
Connell’s heart gave a painful lurch. He’d heard of entire colonies being wiped out by the Federation, but didn’t want to imagine Stone, his dear, sweet Stone, carrying out such orders.
“I was wounded,” Stone said, staring off into space. “My commander warned that cave crystals would block our communication, but I went in to find who’d shot me.” He nodded toward the child in his arms. “I don’t know who fired the shot that killed her mother, but the woman died protecting her child.”
Moisture leaked from the corner of Stone’s eye. Connell pretended not to notice.
“I needed to protect the young one, and I promised her dead mother that I would.”
Connell squeezed underneath Stone’s arms, giving his mate a hug. “Thank you for telling me.”
“Do you think less of me?”
Children entered training camps to train day in and out for years, their systems flooded with chemicals to produce the perfect, obedient killing machines. And somehow, Stone managed to break his programming, abandon the only life he knew, for Pearl. “How could I think less of you, when you gave up all you knew to save our daughter?”
A brief flicker of a smile chased away the clouds on Stone’s face. “I did, didn’t I?”
“Yes, you did. As you’ve done every day since.”
“Connell?”
“Yes?”
“Is this one of those times we should kiss?”
“Yes, Stone, I believe it is.”
Stone shuffled from foot to foot, holding out his helmet. “I want to show you something. I’ve made modifications to my helmet. You’ll never bond as I do, can’t join your mind to mine, but maybe my present will work.”
“Present?”
“Trust me.”
Connell’s breath caught in his throat when his mate lowered the heavy helmet onto his head. Tiny tendrils tickled the hairs on the back of his neck, turning into pinpricks. Oh, shit! They were burrowing into his head! Images flashed before his eyes.