Free Nikhil (Kaliszian Book 1) by M.K. Eidem Page A

rest."
    "Wait." That one soft word from Mac had Nikhil pausing. "The female..." Mac turned tear-filled eyes to Treyvon, who had risen when Nikhil had. "The one the Ganglians abused... What happened to her?"
    "Emperor Wray Vasteri of the Tornian Empire was able to save and heal her. She is now his Empress."
    With a nod, she laid her head against Nikhil's chest, and he carried her away.
    ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
    Nikhil carefully laid his Mackenzie down in the center of his bed, then pulled the other covers over her, and felt his heart clench at the tears that were streaming down her face. He didn't need to touch his True Mate bead to know she was in pain.
    "What can I do, Mackenzie?"
    "Hold me? Will you just hold me for a little bit?"
    "I will hold you for as long as you wish." Reaching down, he quickly removed his boots then climbed onto the bed with her, and pulled her into his arms. "I am here, Little One, I am here."
    ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
    "We need to get more information from her, Treyvon," Gryf said.
    Treyvon looked through the door that Nikhil had forgotten to close, and watched his most powerful warrior pull the crying female into his massive arms with more care than a mother cradling her newly presented offspring. "Not tonight, Gryf," he replied quietly.
    "But..." then cut himself off when Treyvon turned his glowing blue eyes on him.
    "If that was your True Mate," his head gestured to the couple on the bed, "would you put anything before what was best for her? After all that she has been through? Even us? We have been here six weeks, and unfortunately, I'm coming to believe she has been here a great deal longer than us."
    "That can't be," Gryf denied. "She is too small and fragile to survive the mines. She couldn't have been there that long."
    "She has because no Ganglian or Zaludian ship has landed on Pontus since we have arrived. Unless you believe they have been able to slip through our defenses."
    "Impossible! We can identify every ship within a half a day of Pontus."
    "So what does that tell you, Gryf? I know what it tells me."
    "And what is that?"
    "That we have underestimated these humans, just as the Ganglians and Zaludians did."
    ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
    Treyvon sat back in his chair, tapping his fingers against his lips thinking about everything that had happened and what he had learned. The female, Nikhil's True Mate, Mackenzie, while similar to the female he'd briefly met weeks ago, the one the Tornian Emperor had claimed. She was not the same. Her hair color was the major difference, he had never seen hair the color of flame before, and that's what the Emperor's Kim had. Mackenzie's was more a brown and that wasn't uncommon for a Kaliszian, although she had it covering all her head.
    None of his warriors had met the other female as they'd been with a different group searching for the Emperor. Only he had seen her. Only he knew what Emperor Vasteri had threatened. Him and Liron, his Emperor. He needed to contact Liron. Leaning forward he entered the code that would connect him directly to his Emperor and friend.
    "Treyvon, what are you doing up so late?" Liron asked, knowing that Treyvon was one of his few General's that drove himself relentlessly, trying to make amends for acts he was not responsible for.
    "We discovered another site," Treyvon told him.
    "Daco!" Liron cursed. "How bad?"
    "Bad, the worse yet. Liron..."
    Liron didn't like the way his General and trusted friend seemed to hesitate. "What is it Nikhil?"
    "They had a female."
    "What?!!" Liron exclaimed in shock. "Why? Zaludians can only join with females of their own species."
    "She wasn't Zaludian."
    "She was Kaliszian?"
    "No. Liron... she says they are called 'humans'."
    "Humans... I've never heard of them."
    "Neither have I but while she is very different, she also resembles the female Emperor Vasteri discovered on the Ganglian ship."
    "The one he has declared his Empress?"
    "Yes."
    "The one that Wray threatened to end all the food transports to us if