Chapter 667 Chapter 667
Deva leaned against the rail and tried to relax. She should be happy and living on the high of what they had done. The boy’s camp was no more. Jett’s team made sure of that. She didn’t know the details. Twenty-one people had been taken off the island. Calum’s mother was found after being gone for a few decades. Journee hadn’t found her sister, but she’d found her niece. Even a water clan child had been found, not to mention Konner finding out that there was still his kind in the salt water. She didn’t know how many of his kind still existed, but finding any was great news. All of this should have had her feeling so good, but she wasn’t, and she didn’t know why. She was anxious and tense. Her cat was all over the place, too, and usually, that meant she sensed something. She looked around. They were in the middle of the water—what was there to sense?
“Deva.”
She turned to see Amari behind her.
“Illias says the other team’s op is going down in five.” She looked excited.
“I’ll be in shortly.” Another snowstorm had delayed the team’s plans by an hour. They’d be hitting when it was almost light out. Deva looked up at the sun and then at her bare arms. She wasn’t missing the snow, that much she knew. She leaned on the rail again and looked down at the water. They were all headed to a location that was set up somewhere up the coast. She didn’t have the details, really, but assumed that once there, the team would break up into smaller groups, and they would transport everyone to where they were going. She’d overheard a conversation with Calum and Shaelan on her way out here, and it made her even more sad. Most of the children recovered had no idea what clan they were from and didn’t know who their mothers were. It made her hate Aiden Tomas even more, and that she never thought possible.
“You are good?”
Turning her head, she watched Taggart come toward her. “I’m processing.”
“Ah.” He came over and stood beside her, putting his back toward the water. “I do no know this word. Processing.”
She looked back at the water. “It means I’m thinking about everything that’s happened.”
“Ah, ja. That is a lot but is good. No more on the island or camp.”
“It’s good, but some parts of it are sad.” She glanced to see he was looking at her and probably didn’t understand what she meant. “The kids that don’t know their mothers or their clan.” She pushed away from the railing and stepped back. “The little girl that had no name.”
“Is sad, but now she get to has a life.” He frowned. “That is the right word, ja?”
Deva nodded. “It is. Yes, she does get to have a life.” She thought of how Terah had carried her and hummed. “She will be very loved.”
“Loved is important.” He tapped his chest. “To know love is better than all other things.”
Deva inhaled, so that she wouldn’t get all weepy-eyed again. “It is.”
“You know, when I fight to save my peoples and fail, I no think about love or happy things; I keep going so that even with my clan gone, I can help others to own clan. The family and the little childrens, to has freedom.” He nodded. “Is important to me to do this.”
She looked at him and watched the emotions going through his eyes. He had put his own life at risk for years, as far as she could figure to help others. “It’s wonderful that you have.” She nodded. “I joined the alliance to help others, but what I’ve done doesn’t compare to what you’ve accomplished.”
“What I have done is just point of iceberg, you know? There is much to do.”
“Tip of the iceberg.” She smiled. “Where did you learn English?”
His smile was slow. “The comic, uh, cartoons and talk radio.” He nodded.
“Well,” she grinned, “that explains a few things.”
“That remind me. I need to explain when I say you a little mouse.” He frowned. “I no mean to say, to call you a rodent.” He leaned closer. “I mean to say that you are cute in the way you do thing and what your face do when you do them.” He smiled. “It make my heart grow each time.”
Deva felt her cheeks flush. “Oh. I should have known what you meant, but with the emotional roller coaster this trip has been and the way my cat is lately,” she rolled her eyes, “I’m a bit of a mess.”
“A,” he smiled, “emotional ride, ja?”
Deva blew out a breath. “I’m sorry if I keep making it harder for you to understand.”
“No.” He reached over and brushed the hair back from her face. “Is good. I need to learn more English.” He gave her a serious look. “I can no communicate with my mate if we no speak the same language.”
She held his look, seeing more in his dark eyes than she thought possible to see in someone’s. He’d lived a life that she knew she couldn’t even imagine. He’d seen things that would give her nightmares. She didn’t know how she knew this, but she did. “I don’t even know what to do about this, Taggart.”
“This?” He leaned back against the railing, bringing their faces level.
“Being mates.”
His expression lightened. “Ja. It is no something I has in my head.” He took her hand and tugged her closer to him. “When my clan was—” He shook his head. “I think once that I would never have a mate, you know? After years and the things I do, is no in my head again.” He looked down at her hand in his. “I need to con-cen-trate on what I do so I still be alive.” Lifting their hands, he kissed hers. “Then you come from plane, and is like I hit in the head.”
She couldn’t help smiling. “It was a surprise.”
“Ja. A big, good surprise.”
Her cat was right there, taking in every word he said, each breath he took, and just this one time, Deva admitted to herself that as far as luck of the draw went, she couldn’t have asked for a fiercer and more compassionate mate. She watched him studying her. He wasn’t hard to look at either, she thought. Dark and dangerous.
“I need to make sure you understand.” He paused until she looked at his eyes again. “I think in my head what is like for my sister if she find her mate and what I would like for her when it happen.” He looked at her mouth, which made her lick her lips. “I don’t want for her to be rushed and not want it. So, I think, for you should be the same.” He nodded.
It took her a minute to translate what he was saying. “You don’t want to rush this.”
“Ja. That is it.” He tilted his head to the side. “This okay?”
Deva nodded. “It is very okay because I’m still in the stage of I-have-no-idea-what-to-do-about-this.”
“We wait for right stage then, ja?” His expression was caring and soft, even with the darkness that lingered in his eyes.
“Okay.”
He looked amused. “My cat is no okay. He is shut up your head stupid.”
Deva laughed. “So far, my cat is agreeing with me.”