The first touch of the dark gray restraint was cold against my skin, and I blew out a breath. Closed my eyes, but a growl and a funny eep sound had them popping open.
Captain Erick went flying, as in across the room, three feet off the ground, flying. Before me stood Isaak. He lifted a hand to my cheek. “Are you all right, gara?”
I couldn’t answer. I was paralyzed. Shock? Rage? Fear? Relief? I had no idea how to feel. “What are you doing? Why did you do that? Now you’re in trouble.”
“My parents are used to me being defiant. It is not new. No one is taking you anywhere.” He pulled me into his arms, and I went willingly, shocked that he had defended me, was protecting me against his own family. He turned his head, looked at his father. “She is innocent. You will not touch her.”
“Son, be reasonable for once in your life.” Isaak’s father didn’t raise his voice, which somehow made his chastisement worse. In my arms, Isaak stiffened. Captain Erick was back on his feet, space gun drawn and pointed at Isaak.
“Fark reasonable,” Isaak countered. “Councilor Bertok murdered Naron, sold Zara to Cerberus and, even now, plots to destroy Bakkarholt.” Isaak moved us both, placing me behind him when Captain Erick took a step forward. “Don’t do it, Erick. We grew up together. You were like a brother to me. But if you touch her again, I’ll kill you.”
“Isaak!” His mother’s voice was full of shock.
“I mean it, Mother. Zara is innocent, and she has suffered enough.”
“She has not been claimed, son. She has not been adorned.”
Yeah, that had been obvious when my own nipples had been on full display. I’d told Isaak I couldn’t let his parents see me this way. But noooo.
“You have no right to place her under your protection.” His father’s deep voice still had not changed. Condescending, that’s what I would call it. Like he was explaining things to a child, as if he was used to doing this with Isaak.
“Think about what Bertok is spreading about her. She transported from Earth, and Naron was dead within minutes.”
Isaak looked to me for confirmation. I nodded.
“How would she get to The Dome? Why would she even go there? She was a processed bride not a Coalition volunteer. She was matched to Naron through the testing. She had no idea she would even be matched to Trion.”
I’d first thought there’d been a mistake being matched to this planet. Now I needed to send the warden a thank you note. Although my troubles weren’t behind me yet.
“If what you say is true, Naron’s brother would be her protector now,” Isaak’s father said.
Naron had a brother? And by Trion law I would belong to him? Or if not belong to as his mate but be under his family’s control? They called it protection, but I knew the truth. Isaak stood fully clothed, as did his father. His mother and I? Half naked. Dressed like this, we wouldn’t be able to fight our way out of a paper bag. My fingers itched for my titan stick. That would get the guys to see me differently.
For the space of a few seconds, I thought this would be the moment Isaak claimed me as his mate. This would be when he confessed that he had feelings for me, that what was between us was more than just sex. That he’d come back to Trion for more than just being a rebel.
“I gave her my word that I would keep her safe and help her bring justice to Bertok,” he told them.
That was not romantic. Not at all. And now I was blinking back tears for an all new and more painful reason. A reason I shouldn’t be considering.
Isaak didn’t want a future with me. He wanted to get this thing with Bertok done and go back out into space to hunt his robot parts and live on that tiny little spaceship.
I didn’t want that. I wanted a home. A family. I wanted to take walks with my kids and look for butterflies—assuming they had something like that on Trion. I wanted a new life. Something completely different than the shitshow I’d struggled through on Earth.
I wanted Isaak, but what was that stupid saying? Want in one hand, shit in the other.
At least I wasn’t going to be hauled off to jail. Yet.
That would have to do for now.
I’d make sure Bertok was punished for Naron’s death, say good-bye to Isaak, and worry about the rest later. I would survive. That was what I knew. That was the one thing I was good at. I’d survive. I always did.
13
Isaak
Behind me, Zara shook. I had seen the sheen of tears in her eyes, watched her shoulders droop as my father’s captain of the guard, my boyhood friend, Erick, had moved toward her. In the moment her gaze lifted to mine, I’d seen something I never wanted to see in her beautiful eyes again when she looked at me. Disappointment. Pain. Resignation.
Even when she’d stood beside Jirghogis, she’d looked fierce and determined.