Determinant -Guardians of Vesturon [3] (35 page)

“Have each of you seen enough?” His impatience rolled off his tongue as his eyes flicked around the room. “I am quite aware of my appearance so either put a cork on your thoughts or leave this room.”

Maddie ran up to him and threw her arms around him, but he shrugged them off and backed away from her reach.

“Xarrid!” Rayn admonished curtly.

“Look, I didn’t come here for a little social gathering or love session. I took a huge risk leaving, and I’ll take another one when I return. I’m not sure any of you get it! Xanthus is a pressure cooker right now and it’s not getting any better!”

“I believe you underestimate our intelligence brother. We have been most concerned about you and Therron and Maddie can hardly sleep at night due to her concern over you and Saylan’s disappearance,” Rayn said.

“How touching. Now quit wasting my time and get to the point. Why did you call me here?”

“There is someone...or rather an entire species that you are unfamiliar with that may be interested in furthering our cause in stopping the Xanthians,” Rayn began.

“Go on.”

“We have recently been introduced to them. They are known as Praestani.”

“What’s so special about them?”

“You shall see,” Rayn said.

“Okay, well, this has been great, but I have things to do, places to go...you know the line.”

He held up his shadar but was interrupted by a popping noise. The room became electrically charged as Jurek and five of his men appeared.

January immediately ran to him and all but threw herself at him. His entire demeanor changed when she reached him. His face lit up and his eyes even changed color.

And so did mine. I could feel them darkening as each second passed.

“Stop fretting Guardian. You have nothing to worry about where January is concerned. She is your female through and through.”

All eyes swung to me and I could feel my face burn. I was sure it was a mottled shade of purple by now.

Jurek whispered something to January that I did not want to hear or speculate on, and then she was back by my side, squeezing my hand.

Xarrid’s eyes were fixated on us and I noticed the muscle in his jaw twitching.

“Xarrid, this is January, but the way,” I introduced them.

He nodded curtly, and then swung his head to Jurek.

“Who are they?” Xarrid demanded.

“I am told your rear end is in a sling and we are here to help you get it out. For a large fee of course,” Jurek smirked.

That male had the most irritating way about him.

“Jurek!” January admonished.

“I speak only the truth.”

“Well, aren’t you full of yourself?” Xarrid mocked.

“No. Just honest.”

“What makes you think you can help?”

“Because we are powerful, nearly indestructible, and know how to properly treat the Xanthians.”

“Okay. Rayn, this has been an amusing little diversion, but I cannot afford to waste any more time. It’s been nice...”

Xarrid had gone to use his shadar to teleport, but before he knew what happened, Jurek was holding it in his hand. Xarrid was staring at his own naked wrist.

“Looking for this?” Jurek wanted to know.

“What the...” His eyes bounced between his wrist and Jurek several times. “How did you do that?”

“As I said, we are powerful. You cannot stop us. You cannot kill us.”

Xarrid stretched out his arm and boomed, “I command you to your knees.”

Jurek looked back at him and smiled. “Your Powers are also useless on us, even Command.”

“How can that be?”

“Accept it Xarrid for it is the way of things,” I said. “Jurek and his people are gifted, in a much greater way than Vesturions ever dreamed.”

“How so?”

“Would you care for a demonstration?”

No sooner had the word, “Yes,” left Xarrid’s mouth, he found himself stretched out and suspended in midair, trapped and unable to move. Jurek hadn’t moved so much as an inch.

“Enough!” January shouted. I arched a brow at her, interested in her rescue of my brother.

Jurek shrugged, “No worries, friend, he is in no pain,” and Xarrid was back on his feet.

“How do I know that’s not the extent of your so-called powers?” Xarrid questioned.

Jurek instantly shifted into his alternative form and brushed against Xarrid, dropping him to his knees, sending him into fits of agony.

It only lasted a second, but it was enough to convince Xarrid of Jurek’s powers. After he recovered from his brief contact with the Praestanus, Xarrid was ready to strategize on how Jurek’s men could take out and destroy key areas on Xanthus. Even though Xarrid was livid when he discovered it was Jurek and his men who were responsible for the pandemic on Earth, we persuaded him to accept the Praestani’s help on ending this war sooner.

*****

Hours later, Xanthus’ weaknesses were bared to the Praestani and plans were established to disable all their power generating stations. Ten teams of Jurek’s men would go in and disable all available ships in their docking stations so they would have nothing to transport them to other planets. They would be effectively stranded on Xanthus.

They were targeting the Xanthian rebel headquarters to gain information on the allies they had established so they could initiate a breakdown of those relationships. They would sabotage everything the Xanthians had put into place thus far, making the Xanthians appear to be even more untrustworthy than they were.

Jurek would send a contingency of his men to Earth to make sure the Xanthians there were rounded up and sent back to Xanthus. We did not know how many of them had infiltrated Earth, but we wanted to make sure we didn’t give them an opportunity to establish any kind of strong hold.

I observed Xarrid and Jurek interact and it struck me as odd, but they reminded me of each other. Xarrid’s tough persona was a new experience for me, but Jurek seemed to get him. It was amazing to see these two warriors planning covert missions and they even laughed a few times at shared remarks.

I still had trouble wrapping my brain around Xarrid’s transformation. As I stared at him he caustically remarked, “Look pretty boy, if you don’t stop staring at me, I’m going to start thinking you have a thing for me.” Jurek sputtered at his words.

I, on the other hand, gave Xarrid a scorching look and fumed, “That is disgusting Xarrid and you well know it. What in the bloody hell has gotten into you? What has happened to the brother I knew so well?”

Xarrid threw his shadar down and thundered, “I’ll tell you what the bloody hell has happened to me! I’ve been trying to survive in a bloody war zone for the last several months, while you’ve been living the high life, chasing your mate around laughing and carrying on. I’ll tell you what the bloody hell has happened to me! I’ve been existing on the barest hours of sleep, trying my damnedest to find Saylan, searching every possible corner of Xanthus and coming up empty handed. I’ll tell you what the bloody hell has happened. The love of my life—my mate—has fallen off the face of the planet and no one seems to know a bloody thing!” By the time he finished speaking, he was in my face, poking me in the chest with his finger, and screaming in anger.

I wrapped him in my embrace and he struggled at first to break free, but I held on, not allowing that. The harder he fought me, the tighter I held him, until I felt the fight flee him and he returned my embrace.

“Bloody hell Rykerian, what am I going to do?” he sputtered onto my shoulder. “I’ve searched everywhere and I’ve done everything I know to do. It’s like she simply vanished into thin air. Even her tracer came up blank!”

The pain in his voice tore me apart. I know exactly how he felt, for I had been there with January.

“We will find her Xarrid. Dead or alive, we will find out what happened to her. She didn’t just vanish. She is
somewhere
and we will find her. I promise!”

I glanced across the room and Jurek caught my eye. My mind was instantly infused with his thoughts.

“I need a description of her along with her last location, living quarters, complete name and history with the Guardians. I will send one of my men right away to begin a search for her. We will locate her.”

I nodded back at him and he left the room.

“Come. Let’s get out of here for a break.”

“Yes, I could use one. Sorry for being such a jerk to you. I have no excuse except I
am
a jerk. Please forgive me?” he asked.

“There is nothing to forgive, brother. I know exactly how you feel. Trust me.” We made our way back to the palace.

Later that day, January and I sat on the terrace overlooking the Vesturion mountains. I knew she would love it here—I just hadn’t realized how much.

“I want us to get married right away. I don’t want to wait. I know this may sound selfish and this is a terrible time for your family, but we could do it right here with just us. If we don’t do it now, it may be forever, with the situation being what it is.” She stopped talking and took my hands in hers and asked, “Rykerian, will you marry me?”

“Yes!” I kissed her quickly then said, “Follow me.”

We went up to the family living quarters. Rayn, Maddie, Tesslar and my parents were all sitting there.

“I’d like to discuss something with you please. January and I have decided to have a private unification ceremony.”

Everyone did their obligatory “Oohs” and “Aahs” and patted me on the back and congratulated us.

“This is a terrible time for Vesturon now and it does not look like it will improve anytime soon. So we thought a private ceremony with just us on the back terrace would be appropriate.”

Everyone was smiling and happy. My mother asked when.

“Tonight.”

You would have thought a blaster went off. It was total silence and then a million questions.

“Please. Hear me out. There will not be a good time for this in a very long while. We don’t want to wait. Our souls are bound together so why not tonight?”

“Well, why not indeed?” my father asked.

“Exactly!” I said.

“I second that!” Rayn said.

“So, can you get a clergyman?” I asked my father.

“What time?”

*****

Several hours later, dressed head to toe in traditional Vesturion formal white attire, I stood at the edge of the terrace waiting for her to appear. My father, Rayn, Tesslar and Xarrid stood beside me. Across from us stood Maddie and my mother. Victus, the clergyman stood with us as well.

January had insisted on three things: Jurek escorting her down the aisle; Pachelbel’s Canon in D playing when she walked down the aisle; and finally, carrying a bouquet of freshly cut flowers. That wasn’t normally done here, but she was so fond of them, and to her point, Vesturon had stunning flowers, she had gotten her way.

Jurek swelled with pride as he held her hand on his arm, and as he did so, my thoughts flew back to the day I discovered her at death’s door. My how she had changed! Gone was the timid, ghost girl of the past and in her place was a stunningly beautiful golden princess. Everything ceased to exist but the two of us as I gazed at her while she made her way toward me. Could this truly be happening? Was this ethereal nymph going to be my mate...now and forever?

My mother and Maddie had helped January decide on what to wear. She had no interest in donning the traditional wedding attire Earthlings commonly wore, so they had settled upon Vesturion garments...and they could not have been more perfect for her.

She was dressed in a white fitted tunic that stopped above her knees, showing off her shapely legs. The tunic was trimmed in silver and gold and had hints of those threads woven into it, which set off the magnificent color of her hair. The neckline plunged into a deep V, allowing her bare neck to be adorned in rows of beautiful sapphires, intensifying the unusual hue of her eyes. Her hair had tiny braids intricately twisted throughout it. She was exquisite. The bouquet she carried held a multitude of shades from, blues and greens to bright pinks and purples. The complete effect was perfectly gorgeous.

She beamed as Jurek handed her to me, and her hands clasped mine, indicating to me she would never let me go.

The ceremony was simple, yet meaningful, as we had written our vows to each other. They were filled with promises of hope and love and we vowed to walk side by side for the remainder of our days. Her eyes shimmered as she spoke them, but I knew she was filled with joy. When we were pronounced as true soul mates, I lifted her in my arms as my lips sought hers. It took Rayn’s elbow in my ribs for us to break apart, so engrossed in each other we were.

When our lips separated, everyone applauded for us and we both grinned unabashedly.

We celebrated afterward with a delicious meal and toasted with champagne. I couldn’t help noticing the amount of time Xarrid was spending with Jurek. The two of them seemed to have become fairly close within the brief time they had known each other. January had remarked on this as well.

“Maybe it will be for the best when the time comes for them to go to Xanthus and do what they’re planning to do.”

“Perhaps. It is strange to me though.”

“I think it’s because you don’t like him Rykerian, so you don’t want anyone else to.”

“Most likely you are correct.”

“Uh hum,” she said as she placed a kiss on my lips. “That’s my goal you know.”

“What is?”

“To get you to like him.”

“Hah! It will be a cold day in hell before that will happen, my lovely bride! Have I told you how beautiful you look my love?”

“Only about a hundred times!”

“Well, that is certainly not nearly enough. I will have to make a point to tell you more often!”

“I think you’re trying to spoil me!”

“You have no idea, January. It starts today and will continue for the rest of your life,” I told her, kissing her.

Maddie came up to us and said, “Well, Rykerian, I suppose hearts will be breaking all over Vesturon today when news of your unification breaks.”

“Do not count on it. It was Rayn who broke all the hearts when he took you as his mate,” I countered.