Free Fire's Touch (The Enlightened Species Book Three) by Wendy S. Hales

Della loves both her daughters, I’ve seen it, but she is queen . She is responsible for the life and future of thousands of people. They are all her children. When I mate Mattie, they will become my people as well.”
    They sat in silence for a while, both lost in thought. Umbrae turned to him curiously. “Why did you tell me this?”
    Hans shrugged. “I think I needed to tell someone I love her, needed to say the words out loud to another person since I’ll never be able to say them to her.” He hugged baby Harmen tighter.
    “What you need to do is go see her. You know how I feel about the word ‘never.’ There is no such thing as never . You may not have said the words to her yet. Either way you need to face her.” Umbrae’s reasoning filled him with a sense of yearning, but what if she disappeared again?
    “Mattie wants me to go talk to her.” He laid Harmen on his sleeping mat with a kiss to the baby’s forehead.
    “Whether you love her or not, she’s still your friend, Hans.” Her gray eyes rimmed with moisture. Hans took a deep breath and lifted Umbrae’s scarred knuckles to his lips. Fates love her, Umbrae was right … but could his heart take looking at Cassie’s beautiful face even one more time?
    ****
    “You think you can hide from me? I will kill you slowly, my son.” Mick heard his father’s voice loud and clear before he slammed his mental shields up against it.
    “I’m sorry, what?” Mick asked Gil. His father’s interruption had caused him to lose part of the conversation.
    Commandant Gilgamesh narrowed his eyes at Mick. “Yer father?” It had been a while since Osiris’s voice had broken through, and Mick felt shaken. He swallowed hard and nodded. “Ya get any sense of where the bastard might be?”
    Mick shared everything he knew and continued to remember with the SOSC. Well, most of it. Something’s were too horrible and personal to share. How many times had Osiris rooted into Mick’s psyche? New memories continued to bubble up from his mind. At first it happened all the time. One minute he’d be fine, the next some memory his father had compelled him to forget would resurface with agonizing clarity. Others trickled back slowly over time or in dreams.
    Mick swallowed down the bile that rose into his throat. “No, just threats … and the feel of his rage.”
    Gil leaned back in his chair and locked his finger behind his head, emphasizing the male’s giant arm muscles. Mick liked Gil, though Gil’s bloodmate, the Presiding Oracle Innanna, scared the shit out of him. “Ya know ya can keep yer job here. Bein’ on the mainland will make it so Osiris can get closer ta ya physically even if he can’t breach the weave. It might make shieldin’ harder.”
    Mick knew that. Staying in Meshy Hell would be safer, but Mattie was worth the risks. “My cousin Umbrae’s there. It will give me more time with her to work on my shields. It’s difficult to coordinate time with her now that she has children.”
    Gil nodded with a knowing grin. “I’m sure ya have more reasons than that. Well, just know ya will be missed around here, and yer always welcome back.”
    Mick thanked Gil and headed to his last class at Meshy Hell. His replacement had arrived the night before. Mick needed to go over the class schedule and help his students get familiar with their new teacher. Just a few more days. He shoved his father’s voice to the recesses of his mind and tried to focus on the future. At least with the SOSC he had a future, unlike all his brothers he’d seen die either for his father or at his father’s hand.

Chapter Eight
     
    When Stacey stepped out of her plane with silky, thick black waves flowing down her back, a trim-fit navy skirt that ended at her knee, matched with a blazer and cream silk shirt, Conlon had felt his heart thud in his chest. Meeting him at eye level, she sashayed across the concrete floor, her cream-colored heels clicking unerringly with each step, making the