“Very well. Master at Arms, bring your omega to your quarters. Immediately.”
Rath brought his fist to his chest in another sharp salute and then turned to Savannah. “You’ve walked more than enough on that leg already. I will carry you.”
She nodded. “Yes, please.”
Scooping her into his arms with care, Rath cradled her against his chest and began to parth. His lovecall soothed her, and within a few steps Savannah pressed her head to his chest and parthed back, her lovecall rolling through him like a song only he could hear.
Feeling ten feet tall, Rath walked behind the Lord Overseer, aware of the interest from the small group that tried to follow them. Tane growled and motioned them away, until only he and the healer accompanied Rath and his omega.
That was good. Savannah needed to see the healer. T’kinn would know why her wound hadn’t healed as it should. And maybe he could explain why his omega was no longer in heat. It should have lasted for several long, glorious days that could end with her carrying his child. He wanted to see her round and full and fertile, providing him with sons and maybe even a daughter. His grip tightened at that possibility—a daughter of his blood.
It didn’t take him long to reach his quarters, and he swept in behind Lord Tane, making straight for the couch in front of the windows. It was long and low, comfortable enough for his omega, and had the added advantage that he wouldn’t have to suffer the scent of another male in the bedchamber around his omega. It was bad enough they were here in the outer rooms.
“Shhh, shar’ai,” he murmured when Savannah complained at being separated from him. “You are safe. I am here.”
Soothing her filled him with male triumph, both at the fact that she automatically turned to him for comfort and that the other males had seen her. She was his. His claim was undeniable. No one would challenge him.
“She was injured escaping from the raiders who took her. I have treated it, but the wound has not healed properly.” He looked at Kinn. “Fix her.”
“I’ll send someone for my things while I examine her,” the healer announced and took a step toward Savannah.
She hissed at him.
“I have given him permission to tend you, shar’ai. I don’t like it either. But you are hurt. He can heal you.” Rath lowered his voice to a growl. “And he will not touch you any more than is absolutely necessary.”
She looked at him, their gazes catching, and he saw the fear there. The depth of it took his breath away. What had the xarthing L’crav done to these females? Quickly, he took a step closer, setting himself up as a sentinel by the side of the couch. He knew Kinn would not hurt her in any way, but, if she needed... wanted the reassurance of his presence, he could do that. Would do that. For her.
Her breathing still quickened as Kinn moved toward her, her entire body tense as he reached for her leg.
“Which idiot put this on her?” the healer growled in irritation.
“The only one in the area,” Rath shot back. “And do not growl at me, healer. If you upset my omega, I will tear your arms off, beat you with them, and then leave you to find a way to reattach them on your own.”
Tane snorted. “Ignore them both, little omega. You will speak to me. Have you been in hiding all these years?”
“Obviously. I only came out of hiding to get water.” Savannah’s voice was soft and tinged with fear, but she gripped his hand and kept speaking. “I knew it was a risk. Especially since we were low on...” she hesitated. “On food. I was too weak to run fast. It was a risk I had to take, though.”
“You should not have been at risk at all. I issued orders that no omegas were to be taken.”
“It would appear that your orders are not being obeyed, Overseer.” She lifted her chin in challenge. Rath closed his eyes. Of all the people to backchat, she had to choose the Lord Overseer.
Tane’s jaw tightened and his gaze landed on Rath. “Indeed.”
“Don’t you blame him! He wasn’t one of the assholes who hurt me and many others. He helped me, saved me.” She growled, full-on growled, at the lord and that was it, Rath thought, both their lives were over.
Tane watched her for long moments, utterly still and devoid of movement. Then his lips twitched and he barked a laugh.
“Okay, little one, spare me your fierceness.” He frowned, obviously confused by the confrontational little omega. “You seem familiar to me.”
“I’ve never been to Zabor T’ah in my life. Every omega knows that to come here is to court death… or worse.”
Rath decided it was time to take his lord’s focus off Savannah before she got them both killed. “They’d rather risk starvation than trust us, Lord Tane. They fear us so much they are willing to die before submitting.” He pulled the little curled knife out of the pouch he kept it in and held it up for Tane to see. “She tried to kill herself with this when I found her. It’s not a defensive weapon. It’s made to open arteries. We’ve seen them before on the bodies of females out in the woods. We didn’t know what they were, though.”
Tane snarled and took the blade from him. “Omega. How many of you have these?”
Savannah looked at the blade in Tane’s hand and something primal flickered in her eyes. Darker than the blackness of the heat, it was the blackness of despair and misery. “Some. All? I don’t know. We stay away from each other most of the time. It’s too dangerous to be together. You hunt us.”
Her expression seemed to stall Tane in his tracks, his fingers stilling as he held the crude blade in his hand.
“We do not hunt you, little one,” he replied, his voice softer than Rath had ever heard it. “Those here before us did. We, the H’thor, do not hunt you. We want to protect you.”
“He speaks the truth, little one,” T’kinn confirmed. “You are the most precious thing in the worlds to us.” His voice hardened to its usual dry tone. “Even if your alpha is in need of remedial medical training.”
“I had to make do,” Rath snapped. He’d been at a safehouse he couldn’t even admit existed. Supplies were limited.
“Then you need better medical supplies. I’ll see to it.”
“And once she’s better, her heat will return?”
Both males turned to stare at him. “She was in heat?” Tane asked.
“And it stopped? What did you do?” Kinn demanded.
“I brought her here to get treatment.”
“You,” Kinn growled, “are an idiot. You do not move a female once she is in heat.”
“I told him I didn’t want to come,” Savannah added, an edge of grumpiness in her voice as she shot him an “I told you so” look. “I liked where we were.”
“You should have been kept there,” Kinn grumbled, bending over Savannah’s wounded leg. “But... with your mate’s abysmal medical abilities, I can see why he brought you to me.” He looked up at Tane. “She needs S’tranisaa. It’s all I can give her that won’t overwhelm her system and interfere with her heat.”
“Get it. Whatever she needs. Fix her. That’s your job.” He looked at his lord. “And no one told me not to move an omega. Perhaps we need our healer to be more forthcoming about what we’re supposed to do since these omegas are not like the ones we are used to?”