seems that an ancient race experimented with a
virulent virus to commit genocide on what we
believe to be the Hienials. We believe it attacked
the genes in our bodies that determine the sex of a
fetus." Drace nodded to the other Drakonian while
he continued with his explanation, "It seems the
virus worked all too well. It attacks the sex
determining genes in every shifter race. The only
people who seem immune to it are humans. Since
they cannot shift, they do not possess the affected
gene. Either that or they possess a natural
immunity to the strain."
Damir glanced at Drace then nodded to his
companion. "This is my best friend and second in
command, Kaylen Di'nios." He looked past Drace
to the transport. "You have your mate with you."
It wasn't a question. "That is why you were so
suspicious." He looked back toward Brandy who
was already administering first aid to an injured
woman. "You are lucky. She is beautiful. I don't
blame you for being so careful with her safety."
Drace looked back over his shoulder and
smiled. "She is beautiful. I forget to notice that
sometimes." He smiled at the incredulous and
almost angry looks of the Draconian males. "But
Brandy is not my mate. She is my sister." He
shrugged. "My adopted sister, but still not one I
could ever look on with lust. To me she is still the
young frightened girl my father saved from
certain death on a faraway planet. One that he
swears is teeming with fertile females."
Drace didn't miss the speculative looks the two
men gave his sister. He wasn't sure he liked the
idea of his little sister participating in the kinds of
escapades he and Fury had when they were
younger, but if these two men were ready to claim
her as mates, he would not stand in their way.
He turned back to the transport just as Kiri
rounded the corner and stood in the doorway,
glaring at him, her hands on her hips.
"It's about time you returned for me." She
raised one copper-colored brow. "Have you
determined it is safe for me now or do I have to
wait here in this sweltering transport twiddling
my thumbs for another hour?"
"We feel for you, sir," Damir said with a grin.
"Her tongue is nearly as sharp as a Drakonian
female's."
She stepped from the ship to stand beside
Drace. "What makes you think I'm his mate?" she
asked stubbornly thrusting her chin in the air.
Kaylan chuckled and pointed at Drace who
stood looking extremely uncomfortable. He
looked as though torn between hugging and
chastising her. "Because only the sharp words of a
mate can put that look on a man's face."
Kiri's face turned a lovely shade of red at that
comment and Drace laughed, joined by the two
Draconian males. He decided he just might like
these people.
* * * *
Kiri's face burned as she wished the ground
would open up and swallow her. Why did men
always stick together? Even when they knew
nothing of each other they still sided with the
males. She attempted to shrug off her
embarrassment and moved closer to Drace. She
wasn't sure why she felt more comfortable
standing closer to him with these other males
around, but she did. It wasn't as though she felt
evil from them. On the contrary, she felt they were
good. Very good. And they possessed a form of
magic as well.
She'd watched with her heart in her throat, as
the two dragons dove from the air above Drace.
They headed straight for him. Just before their
giant feet touched the ground, they both shifted
forms in midair to land behind Drace fully clothed
and armored.
When she stepped up beside him, Drace
wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her
close. She kept her usual panic at bay by telling
herself that Drace would never harm her, never
force her to do something she didn't want to do
and he would never allow these two males to
touch her either.
Crossing her arms over her breasts, she put a
hand to her throat and nodded at the other two.
Her ire and courage suddenly deserted her and
she smiled at them nervously.
Soothing warmth spread through her mind. She
darted a glance to Drace who still looked upon the
other two males with a degree of suspicion while
he protected her with his body.
There is nothing to fear from us. We can even erase
the horrible memories buried within your mind if you
wish. We realize you belong to him...and another. We,
meaning all of our males, will honor your choice.
Her sharply drawn breath caught Drace's
sudden attention. "What is wrong, Kiri?"
She glanced at the two strangers and licked her
lips. "They have magic. Did they tell you this,
Drace?"
"We haven't had the opportunity to say much
of anything, actually," one of the Drakonians
answered.
"What do you mean?" Drace asked her, giving
her his full attention. "Why do you think they
control magic?"
"Because they shifted instantly in midair and
clothed themselves before their feet even touched
the ground. And..." She allowed her words to
drift off, unsure whether she should say anything.
What if Drace took their attempt to comfort her as
a personal affront? He would never survive a
battle with two such large and fierce warriors--
especially if they shifted into their other forms.
How much power, how much pure magic did it
take to shift into a form with so much more
physical mass than the forms they usually
possessed?
"What else do you need to tell me, my love?
You never need fear me in any way. Surely you
know that."
Nodding, she swallowed thickly. She didn't
fear Drace. She feared for him. "They can speak
into my mind." Her gaze darted over the city, the
buildings not so different from her own. Their
method of transport so similar she could have
been on any other planet. "Each of them just
offered to remove my memories of the many
Hienial violations I have suffered." If they did that
though, she would lose so much more--her
memories of her son, and his mother Ryanza. She
would also forget the other women--friendships
born and forged in fire. She may even lose the
inner strength she'd earned in the process. Moving
back, she allowed Drace to step in front of her. She
couldn't allow them to remove her memories.
Without them, she wouldn't be the same. She
would be a stranger, even to herself.
The pained wailing of the wounded finally
drew her attention and she looked out over the
crash site. The ship lay on the ground, list
ing to
one side. Large gouges were ripped from the side
where it hit the side of a mountain in the distance.
A long, mile-wide swath of destruction lay in its
wake. Trees and buildings lay smashed and
broken. A wide trench of ripped landscape littered
with debris lay behind it.
Women and children huddled together,
cowering away from the monstrous Hienials as the
creatures tried, in vain, to maintain a least a bit of
order. It was impossible. Hope shone in the eyes
of the captives as the mighty dragons flew over
their heads, attacking the evil Hienials. The older,
more hideous of the creatures seemed to have a
perverse taste for torture. They wielded whips
against their captives, even the children, until the
dragons swooped down from the sky and grabbed
them in their great claws, carrying them to the
skies and a horrific end.
The younger Hienials didn't seem to have
acquired a taste for such abuse--yet. The young
ones backed away from their older counterparts,
alternately horrified and entertained by the
violence that surrounded them. Kiri moved
toward them, a whimper of understanding in her
throat.
Drace protested, grabbing her arm when she
attempted to approach a young male who fell to
his knees clutching his middle as he laughed and
cried at the same time. "He is Hienial. He is not
worth your time."
Kiri turned, glaring at him. "Ryo is Hienial. Are
you saying I should treat him with less kindness
because of who his father was, how his father
would have treated him if he'd been taken?" She
shook his hand off with a scowl. "There is still
good in him. If the Hienials have not destroyed all
of the goodness in him, there is a chance to reach
the human child still within." Reaching out, she
placed her hands on the adolescent's head and
closed her eyes.
Searching through the torture, the humiliation,
the boy had been subjected to as a `hideous'
human, she poured warmth, love and human
compassion into his soul. His aura became visible.
Cloudy at first, it swirled with darkness, showing
the evil the Hienial adults attempted to instill in
him. Tears ran down her face as she saw his
memories of them raping his mother continually
in front him. She felt his shame, his feelings of
utter despair that he was too weak and too
frightened to stop those who attacked his mother
until she'd gone completely mad.
She left the boy unconscious, healing from his
painful exposure to those who would claim to be
his kin. Moving on to the next, she did the same.
One after another, she healed the Hienial
adolescents, ridding them of the evil inherent in
the adult Hienials, while Brandy healed the women
and children they had kept as slaves. The
powerful dragons still flew overhead, dipping and
swirling, ferreting out the evil adult Hienials as
they attempted to hide amongst the boys.
Kiri felt for the adults, exposed to evil for so
long, they could remember no other way of life.
She could find no goodness to cultivate in any of
them. Every time she found one too far gone to
heal and passed him up for another, a dragon
would swoop down and end his life.
"They merely put them out of their misery,
Kiri," Drace said, his hand moving in soft soothing
circles over her back. "You should stop this now.
You have already helped too many. They will still
be here tomorrow. You must rest."
"No. I can't stop. I can't stop until I've healed as
many as I can this day."
"How will you know when to stop, Kiri? When
you fall to the ground exhausted?"
"If that is what the Lady Goddess has ordained,
then yes, when I collapse. There is one out there,
who must be saved. He is so close to being lost.
When I find him, today's task will be through.
Then and only then will I rest."
She moved through the people huddled around
her, healing as she went. Her energy waned as she
continued to touch every Hienial she saw, insisting
on healing their emotional and mental turmoil.
After healing twenty-six of the hopeless
creatures, she stumbled. Drace grabbed her by the
arm and began to drag her back to the transport. It
was then they heard the bloodcurdling scream
that sent Kiri to her knees. She stood. Wrenched
her arm from Drace's grasp and ran toward the
horrible sound.
Several Hienials stood around one of their own,
torturing him. "You will kill when we tell you to
kill!" They hit him several times with a laser whip.
"You will reproduce with the females of your
choice. They have no say in the matter!" Again,
they whipped him. He fell to his knees and
nodded his head.
Kiri felt the goodness leaving him. The evil the
others attempted to brainwash him with took over
more and more of his consciousness. With every
crack of the laser on his back, shoulders and legs,
evil filled his mind. Their ideas began to take root
and she screamed. "No!"
The incredibly loud sound of the dragon's
screeches over her head, and the flapping of their
wings beating the air as they descended on the
and pulled the three into the sky. She blocked out
the sounds of the screams and ran to the one
kneeling on the ground. What little good left
inside him slowly seeped through the holes in his
mind where the pain receded to blessed darkness.
She reached for him.
Placing her hands on his cheeks, she lifted his
head and stared into his eyes. "You will not lose
yourself to the monsters. You are strong. Come
back to us." She drew the pain from him, even as
it filled her and she began to shudder from the
weight of his burden. The welts of the laser whip
grew faint as she returned the kindness back into
his heart.
Kiri's back and legs began to burn as his welts
became her own. She sobbed aloud as she took his
incredible pain inside her and returned it with
peace and love. Her grip on the boy's face
tightened when Drace would have dragged her
away. "No! Leave me! He is the one."
She stared into the boy's eyes. "I won't leave
you, Keahi." She shook him. "Do you hear me? I
feel the good in you. They haven't driven it out of
you, yet. I feel our mother's goodness in you.
What those animals did to her, to you, is an
unspeakable thing." She hugged him, pressing his
head to her shoulder. "She escaped them all those
years ago and hid you here with us, with her
people. Our mother knew your capacity to love
would overrule their hatred, their evil. Her
kindness liv
es within you." She placed her hand
over his heart. "Here. It lives here. Come back to
me, Keahi. Come back and love me. Love my son,
Ryo. He also needs you. He will need your love
and guidance in the years to come. He, too, is the
product of those beasts. You must live. If you ever
truly loved Ryanza, you will come back to me and
love her son."
Keahi's eyes cleared as a part of him
remembered his half sister. Slowly, he raised his
hand and ran a finger down her cheek. "They told
me they killed you. They told me they killed your
son."
Tears streamed down Kiri's cheeks and she
nodded. "They did kill Zahur. He wasn't whole
and they killed him."
Keahi guessed the rest. "And they ate him in
front of you. Don't try to spare me the details, Kiri.
My hate for them helps. They tried to teach me to
despise you, to loathe the others. The more they
beat me, the more they convinced me their way
was true. It changed me, making me want to kill
you and those like you." He squeezed his eyes
closed and tears streamed down his face.
Kiri dropped to her knees, still keeping her
hands on him, still exchanging his pain for her
kindness, her love. The evil she drew from him
filled her, made her feel dirty. The oily sensation
of pure hatred washed through her as she
cleansed her brother of the taint of the Hienial
deceit. They had almost convinced him that
torturing those he'd once loved was a way to end
their misery a way to cleanse their souls before
death.
"I love you, Keahi. I need you in my life. Do not
fight the goodness within you. Embrace it," she
whispered, before she collapsed into Drace's arms.
* * * *
Standing with Kiri in his arms, Drace nodded to
the two dragon leaders. "Watch over him for me,
will you? It seems he is to be my brother by
bonding. I propose a friendship. I offer you the
help of my people and my trust." He looked over
his head at the still circling beasts above. "I can see
you are strong, but I would still make a strong
adversary or ally. I would prefer the latter."
He looked down at the boy, who only moments
before had small boils covering his body. As the
evil that had begun to distort the youthling's good
looks left his body, the boils and markings of a
Hienial left him as well. One would think that
perhaps the boy would be handsome once again.