ARMOR [New World Book 2] by C.L. Scholey Page B

ones. The tiny females
like you. It would be best if you came.”
    Talsk’s entire demeanor
changed and he smiled. “Meg has promised to give me a little female of my own.
I want to be a father. I can’t wait to see how a child that size comes into the
world.”
    “I think babes are smaller,”
Dasks said, though he had never seen one.
    “Smaller?” Talsk said with
surprise. “I can’t imagine anything being smaller than Lisa.”
    Dasks shrugged. “Come on,
Cobra is waiting.”
    They left Meg sleeping and
went to collect the woman and her children. It wasn’t long before they stood in
the large cabin where Cobra conducted business.
    The woman standing before
Dasks was thin but taller than Amy. Long blond hair flowed almost to her waist.
She was a beauty. Leah stood ramrod straight in front of Cobra. Eyes the color
of her son’s centered onto their leader.
    Dasks admired the woman’s
spirit. Cobra was three thousand years old, never mated but had one son, Rask.
Rask had been left in charge of Dargon while his father was away. Cobra wasn’t
leader of the Castian army for nothing. Their commander was fair but tough.
    “I gave my word that if you
lived your son could stay aboard with you. It’s only fair to tell you that he
has no protection,” Cobra said.
    Leah paled and Dasks scented
her worry.
    “Will your men hurt him?” she
asked quietly.
    “No. My warriors will not
harm him. They have his scent and have been reminded of children.”
    “Reminded?” Leah asked,
looking confused.
    “Our memories of scent go
back hundreds of thousands of years. Because we are all connected emotionally,
if one Castian male has ever had the scent of something all Castian males would
remember the smell as well after being reminded. Such as lying. Most Castians
have never been lied to, but some have. One smell of deception or something
unfamiliar and we search for the scent. It’s very important that you never lie
to me,” Cobra warned.
    Annoyance oozed from the
woman.
    “I’m no liar. I just want to
make certain my son will not be harmed,” she snapped.
    “A Castian warrior would
never kill a child. By having no protection I mean we will be unable to shield
him if we are ever under attack. We are at war with the Tonans, who are without
honor and would kill a child—male or female. A warrior can shield a female
child, but not a male. My men are mating with the women they have brought
aboard for their own protection. Only a mate, his male relatives and his
warrior mate can shield a grown female. They bind with blood.”
    Dasks shifted his feet and
Cobra gave him a sharp look. Dasks nodded in understanding. For Amy’s sake he
needed to mate with her. It was her only real way of being safe from harm. Once
mated, their connection would warn him if she were ever under any duress. No
matter where she was or how far away, he would be able to sense her emotional
and physical state.
    “Why won’t you shield him?”
Leah asked.
    Dasks heard the pleading
tremor in her voice.
    Cobra lifted his hand to the
woman’s face. The backs of his fingers glistened when he touched her. Oddly
enough the woman didn’t calm. Cobra frowned. It was apparent he wasn’t
expecting that.
    “It isn’t a matter of won’t
but can’t,” Cobra explained. “A Castian male has his own protective armor. We’re
born with it. A warrior has never needed to shield a Castian male—there are no
memories of it.”
    “But my son isn’t Castian.”
    “Exactly.”
    “You say that like it’s an
important factor when the real importance is he’s aboard your ship and you are
responsible for him,” Leah raged. “Now stop telling me why you can’t
keep him safe and start telling me how you will keep him safe.”
    She has guts. The last person to snap at Cobra almost went through a
steel wall.
    “Talsk, take the female
children to a familiar person,” Cobra said.
    Leah grabbed her girls and
son and pulled all three children to her. “They are my