"You will not touch it!" One instant Mac found herself growling at the Goddess, the next there was an explosion and she was flying across the floor. The largest male she had ever seen was leaning down over her, his glowing eyes glaring at her. He was even larger than Nikhil, and while his eyes glowed like a Kaliszian, his long, dark hair covered his entire head, and his skin seemed to change colors like a chameleon.
"Raiden!" the Goddess exclaimed.
"She harmed you!" he growled.
"I shouldn't have tried to remove her True Mate bead," the Goddess was immediately at his side.
"That matters not! No one harms you!"
"Then tell her to keep her hands to herself," Mac found herself saying, her anger replacing her fear.
The male gave her a shocked look before he stood and an amazing smile transformed his scowling face into one that stole her breath. He was the most handsome male she had ever seen.
"Thank you," he told her, his deep voice seeming to fill the universe.
"He's mine," the Goddess said, stepping between them and the temperature of the room dropped drastically. "My mate."
It was a struggle, but Mac was finally able to pull her gaze from the male to look at the Goddess. "Good. Great. Fine. I've already got a male, and he's all I want."
"Really? Then why did you threaten to cut off his True Mate bead?"
"Because I don't need it to know he's mine." Mac's gaze ran over her. "I see you don't wear a True Mate bead. Are you sure he,” she nodded toward Raiden, “is your True Mate?" she asked raising a questioning eyebrow.
Mac wasn't prepared for how dark everything suddenly became or how the ground beneath her shook, but she felt the rage emanating from both of them.
"You dare question our bond!??" they both roared.
"Sucks, doesn't it?!! To have others question your commitment all because of some bead!"
Raiden was the first of the two to calm, and he gave her a considering look. "You are very brave for one so small."
"Am I?" Mac asked.
"Yes. Few are willing to stand up to me," Raiden told her.
"Perhaps that's because you knock them on their ass first and ask questions later," Mac told him.
"Perhaps." Raiden took a step back, extending his hand to help her up. Mac took it and with that touch understood so much more than she had before. With his touch, he allowed her to see how he and the Goddess fell in love, how a lower God named Daco destroyed the people he had left behind to be with his mate, and how they suffered. Daco hadn't been able to drive Raiden out of the memory of the Kaliszian people as he had hoped though, but they had nearly destroyed themselves trying to find what Raiden had, a True Mate. Because of that, Raiden and the Goddess had created the True Mate bead.
Gasping at the onslaught of information, she ripped her hand from his.
"Now you see," he told her.
"Yes, but the bead you created no longer brings comfort or peace to the Kaliszian people," Mac told him quietly.
"What do you mean?" Raiden demanded.
"When you," she looked to the Goddess, "cursed the Kaliszians with the Great Infection, you didn't just kill the plants that feed their bodies, you killed what they needed to feed their souls! Their True Mates."
"Impossible!" The Goddess moved to stand in front of her mate, her eyes blazing into Mac's.
"But it's true. I am the first person your True Mate bead has transferred to in nearly five-hundred years."
"No!" The Goddess stumbled back looking up at her mate in horror. "Raiden, that can't be true! It was never what I intended."
"I know, my love. I know," he said, pulling her into the safety of his arms.
"What did you intend?" Mac asked. "Because from what I have seen you meant to destroy those you once held dear."
"I was in such a rage when I learned what Emperor Berto did to his young female offspring... How others allowed it... I wanted to punish them, make them hurt as much as I did, as those young females had."
"You caused the Great Infection," Mac said quietly.
"They caused it!" she immediately fired back, and then her shoulders slumped. "But I created it."
"Goddess..." Raiden wrapped comforting arms around her. "We can not undo what has been done."
"Why not?" Mac asked. "You are Gods, aren't you?"
"Because the offenses were real and until those that allowed them to happen prove they have recovered their honor, I can do nothing!"
"How does an entire race prove they are honorable?!!" Mac demanded. "That's impossible!"
"It's not about the entire race. It’s about those that caused the original crime."
"Five-hundred years ago?!!” Mac looked at her in shock. "They're dead!"
"But their descendants aren't! It only takes one, from each species, to end what I have wrought!"
"But..."
"I am trying to bring all those together that can do this, but I need your help."
"My help?"
"Yes, you are a caretaker, one that protects the land and what grows on it. The Kaliszians will need you."
"That makes no sense. Nothing grows in the Kaliszian Empire because of you!"
"This is true, but because of you and those with you, I have been able to sow the first seeds of change. I need you there when they begin to appear."
"You're saying life is going to return to Pontus? To the Kaliszians?"
"Yes, but before that happens, I have to correct a great harm. The Kaliszian people need to know they still have True Mates. That I have not forsaken them."
"But how?" Mac questioned.
"You will see." The Goddess touched the braid that held Nikhil's True Mate and Ashe beads. "Love well, Little One. May you find as much happiness with your True Mate as I have with mine."
With those words, the Goddess kissed Mac gently on the forehead and Mac's world went dark.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Nikhil pressed his forehead against the cool glass of the closed deep-repair unit, wishing he were touching his Mackenzie instead. Luol had taken one look at the bloody mess in Nikhil's arms and rushed them to the unit, activating it to it's highest level.
"She will recover, Nikhil," Luol tried to reassure him. "You got her here in time."
"It should never have happened," Nikhil said. "I have failed her."
"You haven't," Luol quickly denied.
"Her face," Nikhil's voice broke and he turned devastated eyes to Luol. "Her beautiful face. He struck her, Luol."
"I saw that, but you can thank the Goddess that the Zaludians never use Tornian steel in their gloves. The unit will repair the damage. She won't even have a scar. Her skin will be as beautiful and as flawless as before."
"How much longer?" Nikhil demanded, his gaze returning to Mackenzie, struggling to see her through the thick, white vapor that was swirling in the tube.
Luol knew for Nikhil it felt like an eternity since the unit had closed, separating him from his Ashe, but it had been less than thirty minutes. Mackenzie's facial injuries had been extensive, and he wasn't going to rush the unit. He knew Nikhil was struggling with not being able to see her, but Luol had introduced a strong sedative into the unit. He didn't want Mackenzie waking while the unit was still closed. He wanted the first thing she saw to be Nikhil. She would need him as she struggled through the memory of the attack.
"It won't be much longer now," Luol assured him. "She is responding well."
"She'll never forgive me, Luol. I have broken my vow to her."
"What?"
"I vowed to keep her safe, that the Zaludians would never harm her again."
Luol understood Nikhil's concern a Kaliszian warrior never gave his vow unless he meant to keep it. It was a matter of honor. For him to not keep it was one of the few offenses that could destroy the True Mate bond. But Mackenzie was unlike any other female he had ever met, and he did not think she would see it that way.
"No one could have known the Zaludians would be desperate enough to return
and attack."
"That does not matter," Nikhil muttered.
"I believe it will to your Mackenzie. She is a very special female, Nikhil."
"She is, but even she has her limits."
"I do not believe this will be one of them." The signal from the unit had Luol looking back to the control panel to see it had finished and was about to open.
"Luol?" Nikhil looked to him.
"She will be awake shortly. Stay close to her, Nikhil. The first thing she will remember is being attacked by the Zaludians. She is going to need to see you to know she is safe."
Nikhil held his breath as the tube retreated and he got his first glimpse of his Mackenzie. Her hair was still a matted, bloody mess as were her coverings, and while there was still blood on her face, all the damage caused by the Zaludian's fist was gone.
"Thank you, Goddess," Nikhil whispered with a shuddering breath as he lowered himself onto his forearms, his forehead coming to rest on hers. "Thank you."
"Nikhil?"
Mackenzie's faint, hesitant voice had him pulling back just far enough to look down into her beautiful, brown eyes filled with confusion. "I'm here, Mackenzie. You are safe."
"Where..." Suddenly it all came back to her, the explosions, the Zaludians, the studded fist coming at her and the pain. She jerked in Nikhil's arms, crying out in fear, her feet trying to gain leverage as her gaze flew behind him searching for her attacker.
"They're gone, Mackenzie." Nikhil wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close knowing why she was afraid. "The Zaludians are gone. You are safe."
"They are?" she asked looking up at him, her gaze full of fear. "I am?"
"Yes."
"Vow it," she demanded, but when he hesitated her eyes widened. "I'm not safe... they’re still here!"
"No!" Nikhil denied, his arms tightening around her holding her still. "They aren't!"
"Then why won't you give me your vow?!!" she demanded.
"Why would you still believe it, believe me, after I have failed you so completely?" he questioned and felt Mackenzie go completely still.
"What?" she asked looking up at him.
"I failed you! I left you unprotected, and you were harmed! The Zaludians harmed you!"
"Nikhil..." she reached up framing his face with her hands. "How can you possibly think that?"
"Because it is truth!" he told her.
"No, it’s not!" she denied. "You left me in the middle of a military base surrounded by armed warriors. How is that unprotected?!!"
"Because I wasn't there and you were harmed! I broke my vow."
"Nikhil..." Mac's eyes shined up into his with unshed tears. She knew how seriously Nikhil took those vows he gave her. "You think I would blame you for an attack no one could have predicted?"
"Of course. You are the most precious thing in my life. I should never have left your side."
"And you are the most precious thing in mine," Mac told him, "and nothing is ever going to change that, especially not some stupid attack by the Zaludians. I will always believe in you, Nikhil, always trust in you and your vow. It's like your love for me, strong and unending. Give me your vow."
Nikhil felt his own eyes fill with his True Mate's words. He hadn't lost her. She was still his."
"Always," Mac whispered, and he realized he'd spoken out loud.
"I vow to you, Mackenzie. The Zaludians are gone, and they will never harm you or any of your people again."
"I know..." she pulled his head down and kissed his lips. "I know we are all..." Suddenly, she remembered she hadn't been the only one harmed and she jerked back in Nikhil's arms. "Oh my God! Jen!"
"What?" Nikhil frowned down at her. He and Mackenzie had lain in bed every night, and she told him about every male that had been treated. There had been no one named Jen.
"Jen! We have to get to Jen!" she pushed at Nikhil's shoulders trying to get him to let her up. "He threw her against the wall after she jumped on his back trying to protect me."
"She?!!" Nikhil's gaze flew from Mackenzie to Luol and saw he was just as shocked.
"Yes! She! Oh God, we have to get to her. She hit that wall so hard! She hasn't been treated by the repair unit yet!" Mac covered her mouth with a trembling hand. "Oh God, Nikhil! I have to get to her! She stopped that Zaludian from taking me!"
Nikhil stood, ripping his comm from his belt. His eyes remained fixed on Mackenzie as he contacted Treyvon. "General!"
"What is it, Nikhil? Has your Ashe recovered?"
"Yes, General, but she has just informed me that the humans have been concealing another female. That the female was seriously injured during the attack!"
"What?!!" Treyvon's shout echoed off the walls even through the comm.
"Are you still in the survivors’ area?" Nikhil demanded.
"Yes! I will find her! Tell Luol to have a repair unit waiting!"
"Yes, General!"
"Nikhil..." Mackenzie's eyes remained locked with his and she could see the hurt in them.
"You lied to me, Mackenzie.”
Mac's eyes widened at how hard and cold Nikhil's voice had become. "I didn't!"
"You just did not tell me truth," he fired back. "Is that not something you said was unacceptable to you?!!"
"Yes! But this is different." When Nikhil would have moved away from her, she grabbed his arm. "You didn't tell me about something that was personal that affected us. You and me!"
"And this doesn't affect us?!!" he looked at her in total disbelief.
"No! Not like that! This was about someone else! The guys protected Jen, just like they did me. When you rescued us, all they did was continue to protect her because they didn't know how you would treat her, and they couldn't risk it!"
"You knew we would never harm her!" Nikhil shouted at her.
"I did!" Mac told him, wincing slightly that he was shouting at her; not because she thought he would hurt her, but because she knew he was hurting. "I tried to convince Jen to let me reveal her presence. That's why I wanted you to take me there while you were gone. So I could try again, but she wasn't ready, Nikhil, and I couldn't force her."
"How badly is she injured?" Luol demanded from the control panel of the other repair unit.
"From today, I don't know." Mac felt her eyes start to fill as she remembered what had happened. "I barely saw her jump on that Zaludian's back before she started stabbing him with one of Nikhil's blades. I was clawing at the hand that was wrapped around my throat," Mac's hand went to her throat as she remembered. "Jen made him drop me, but then he ripped her off his back and threw her against the wall. She hit it so hard... and when she hit the floor she didn't move. I don't know how she managed to stop him. She'd been so severely injured in the mine. Broken bones.... scars... "
"What?!!" Both males looked at her in shock.
"I don't know how she survived," Mac whispered, her tears flowing down her face. "I did what I could, but when she started to run a fever I thought we were going to lose her."
Before they could question her further, Treyvon shouted as he came rushing into the room carrying something wrapped in a gray cape.
"Luol!" he roared.
"Oh God! Jen!" Mac was up and moving to her friend.
"Get back!" The rage in Treyvon's snarled words had Mac stumbling back in shock and Nikhil pulled her protectively behind him.
"Do not attack my Ashe!" Nikhil snarled back. Stepping forward he bumped his chest against the General.
"She put a female at risk!" Treyvon roared at him.
"Stop it! Both of you!" Mac shoved her way past the two males to get to Jen. "None of that matters right now. What matters is Jen. Luol?" She looked up at the Healer with pleading eyes.
"I need to see how badly she's injured before I activate the unit, Mackenzie." Luol moved to Jen and couldn't contain the gasp of horror at what was revealed when he pulled back the hood that had fallen over the female's face. While there was no sign of recent injury, her face was ravaged with healed scars that coul
d only have been caused by the spikes of a Zaludian glove. "She was able to recover from this? In the mine?"
Luol's question had the arguing males looking at Jen and they immediately ceased fighting.
"This and more," Mac told him, her tears starting again. "They threw her into the crevasse with all the other dead bodies. She shattered her ankle on the way down, and there are more scars on her body from where the rocks sliced into her." Mac opened the cape further, revealing them to Luol.
"Goddess..." Mac wasn't sure who said that.
"Can you help her, Luol?" she asked looking to the Healer.
"I will do all I can for her, Mackenzie." He immediately moved back to the control panel. "Step back I need to start treating her immediately if I'm going to save her. She is fading fast."
"Oh God!" Mac's trembling fingers covered her mouth as she leaned back into Nikhil's arms when she felt them envelop her in comfort. "She's been in such pain, Nikhil. Every day I saw it, but she never gave up. None of us would have survived without her.
They all watched as the unit closed and a dense blue vapor filled it.
"What's that?!!" Mac questioned.
"It's to ease her pain and help her stay relaxed while the unit works. I don't want her waking while the unit is still running. She might harm herself."
"Do you know how long?" Mac asked.
"Your first treatment took nearly six hours, Mackenzie," Luol informed her.
"It did?" Mac hadn't realized that.
"Yes. She, I believe, will take much longer." His fingers continued to fly over the controls as he spoke. "I vow I will do my best for her, Mackenzie, and while I do, you need to go with Nikhil and rest."
"I can't do that!" she immediately denied. "I need to stay with Jen."
"There is nothing you can do for her right now." Luol's fingers finally stopped moving, and he gave her a hard look. "You need to rest and recover from your own injuries, or you will be no good to her when she wakes."
"I'm fine," she told him but even as she said it, she let Nikhil tighten his embrace.
"You are not," Luol told her bluntly, then looked to Treyvon whose gaze was still locked on the closed repair unit.
"Nikhil, you are relieved of your duties," Treyvon told him in a hard voice. "See to your Ashe. That's an order."