“Ezah!” I screamed with terror. “Ezah! Help me—”
Master mercilessly beat me, he even used his mechanical arm to inflict pain upon me. I mentally called out for Ezah even though I knew he was too far away for a connection to be made. I tried to fight Master’s blows off, but one by one, they connected, and the pain that filled my body was like nothing else I had ever experienced in my life. I looked up at his face just as his original fist connected with my jaw, and instantly, darkness claimed me.
“Levi,” a voice whispered. “Levi, wake up.”
Ezah, no.
“Levi, please, wake up.”
I groaned, and when I turned to my mate to tell him to let me sleep, pain radiated up and down my body and brought me straight into awareness. I gasped as my eyes darted open. I groaned in pain, the sound filling the small space I was in.
“She’s awake?”
“Yes, Master.”
“Good,” he answered. “Did ye feed the brat to shut up her wailin’?”
“Yes, she’s tucked up and asleep.”
I struggled to sit upright, but when I did, I realised I was on a cot of sorts. I blinked my eyes into focus and took in the space around me. It was a craft, not big but not small either. Daylight beamed in through a viewing pane that I could see through. A clear blue sky caused my pulse to spike.
“What ...? What ...?”
Master moved into view. My eyes flicked to him, but I couldn’t turn my head completely. My body felt broken. Everything hurt so much. I couldn’t stop the tears that flowed freely down my face. Master reached his hand out, and I flinched, but he only brushed the hair out of my face.
“Ye look so much like yer mama.”
I said nothing as I stared up at him. He glanced over his shoulder when voices shouted different things. “Three girls, one an infant!” Master shouted. “Add them to the census. They’re my girls.”
I shrank when I flicked my eyes to the person who appeared behind Master. It was a dark-skinned human man. He was wearing a navy uniform that had “Watchmen Patrol” printed in white across the chest. I knew this man was one of the watchmen that Master had paid off to look the other way. The man wouldn’t even look at me.
“Ground transport is secure,” the man said. “The dock master will see to the craft. Once you pay your monthly docking fee, the craft’s maintenance will be top level.”
Master said something to the man that made him nod. He left before I could blink, and Master returned his gaze back to me.
“Are we …?”
“Yeah, Mud.” Master grinned. “We’re on Terra.”
I whimpered.
“This, Mud … this is home.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ezah
Ezah, Father’s voice entered my head. Come to the flight control chamber.
The flight control chamber? The last time I was there was so I could watch when Kol landed the Ebony on the viewing panels six moon cycles ago when he first brought the human females to Ealra.
On my way, Father.
“My father requests my presence,” I said to Nero. “Go and fetch Levi from my mother for me. She left the feast hall with her over an interval ago. They’re around the palace somewhere. I want my female by my side.”
Nero nodded and said nothing further.
He was annoyed with me for hitting Kol because when he stepped in to stop our impending fight, I hit him, and two of my other brothers as well. Aza laughed at that, so Nero punched him, and before I knew it, there was a massive brawl that I had started and actively participated in. I couldn’t help it. I was still too newly mated to act rationally when it came to Levi. My brothers looked at her for a second too long, and before I knew it, I had attacked. It scared Levi. I felt her fear, and it infuriated Nova, who had attempted to attack me with her little fists.
Before I could calm either female, my father commanded all the females to leave the hall and for me to heal my injured brothers for starting the brawl in the first place. Kol and I were not allowed to leave. Our king commanded us so.
“Think of this like training your instincts,” Father had said to us. “You’re both newly mated. I remember what that was like, but I did not attack every single male who looked at your mother like you both do. I did not allow my instincts to rule me, and you both will learn to do the same. I’m implementing weekly sparring sessions that will start at one interval long before growing longer so you can both form some barrier to your instincts, so you aren’t wild when a male glances your female’s way.”
“I don’t want to be away from my female,” I told my father. “I just found her.”