Pain radiated through Chen's shoulder and torso as he hit the metal floor. His first and only concern was to shield Shanti and Hsing from the feeling. He didn't want Shanti to be frightened, and he didn't want Hsing to feel any more burden or stress than what he was already under. From his place on the ground, Chen looked up into the distorted face that he'd known since he was a youngling.
Niao and Nse's father, Ngai, towered over him. The male had survived the debris field, but his body had not come out unscathed. An ugly gash tore across Ngai’s chest. There was a limp to his walk. He wasn't healing for some reason. He looked as though he'd been sick for many cycles.
"Ngai, you are wounded. Let me heal you." Chen came to his knees.
"You will try to kill me."
Chen shook his head. "You know that is not my nature."
"Outside of the binding of Eloh law, you do not understand what your true nature is." Ngai paced, scratching at his heart. "If I can just sever the link between us, then I will be whole."
Chen couldn't understand whom he meant. Ngai’s female mate and Yang brother were long dead, by Ngai’s own hands.
"It is unnatural to bound your life to another living thing. We are born into this world alone. My life should not be dependent on another."
"I can feel your pain, Ngai." Chen didn't reach out too far. Whatever substance ran through Ngai’s veins Chen sensed it was toxic. "Come home. Let us tend to you."
Ngai rounded on Chen. His hollow eyes loomed large in his sunken face. "Give them to me and I will release you."
"Who?"
“Once the children are dead, I will be at peace. They are the last things linking me to this wretched existence.”
Everything inside Chen went cold. Ngai meant Niao and Nse. Chen hadn't realized that there was still a link between the three. In his mind’s eye, Chen could just make out the thread of the link. It was faint and fragile. It appeared like an irritation at the forefront of the disturbed male's mind. It was that link that Ngai wanted severed.
“You are bonded now," Ngai said. "Your first thought is not of yourself. It is of her. You are a slave to them. Mates, children, brothers."
Chen shook his head. "No, Ngai. They provide the balance we need. They are a gift."
"They are a shackle. I see you looking into my mind. It goes both ways. The link to your brother, the bond you cherish, it will lead me straight to the Mothership."
Bile rose in Chen’s throat at the threat.
An evil curl tilted Ngai's lips. "Or perhaps I can trace the other thread of the bond, hmmm? Return to the Womb Rock, to the home of your mate."
Chen's fingers clenched, his jaw tightened. The thought of harm coming to Shanti set his essence aflame.
Ngai laughed. The sound grated against Chen's bones.
"Which road do you want me to take, Chen-Na? Shall I blast the Mothership out of the Heavens? Or shall I take your female?"
Chen lunged. Pain ripped through his shoulder, but he ignored it as he crashed into Ngai. Chen landed a fist across the other male's face. A terrible sound came from Ngai’s lips.
Chen froze at the sound of pain. He'd never hurt another living creature in his life. But the thought of harm befalling Shanti was too much.
From behind, Chen’s dark purple hands grabbed him. Manu, Pakua and Yehfe’s father, held Chen fast. In front of him, Chen realized that Ngai's cries were not of pain. They were of maniacal glee.
"What did I tell you?” Ngai's laugh halted abruptly and his face changed to a dark sneer. "The bond rules you, not your nature. You will kill to protect it. Do you wonder what you would do if those ties snapped?”
Ngai straightened. He rolled his shoulders. Chen heard the bones in his neck crack back into place.
"No worries, little Yang,” Ngai said. "I have no interest in your mate. But I will find the Mothership. And when I do, I will blast every last one of them out of the Heavens.”
Ngai left the room.
Chen felt something cold and hard on his wrists. Manu shackled him to the wall. Chen pulled against the restraints to no avail. He looked up at Manu. The Yin male's face was without any trace of emotion, but Chen felt something within the male when he reached out.
"Manu, let me take you back to the ship. Let us try to heal you."
"I have my own ship." Manu indicated the surrounding metal. "This is my home."
"But this is not your family."
"I tried to replace them; my family. I tried, but it did not work."
"What are you saying?" Manu's words made even less sense to Chen.
"There is no going home," said Manu. "Not after what we have done."
Chen had to shut his heart and mind to the horror of visions that streamed into him from Manu’s mind. Death, destruction, and suffering by Manu’s own hands. Chen shook the visions off and refocused on the face he’d known since he was born. “There is always redemption."
Manu's eyes connected with Chen. "I watched your mother die."
Chen reared back to the wall as though the chains reeled him in for Manu's protection.
"It was not by my hand," Manu continued.
Chen swallowed. He grit his teeth as though closing his own mouth would prevent Manu from saying the words; the words that would confirm his worst fears to be true.
The metal ship was cold, but Chen felt a warmth rise through his chest. He heard someone calling his name. Not someone. He heard two voices calling out to him.
Shanti and Hsing.
They were tapping into the bond link. They were trying to pinpoint his location. Unlike Ngai who was too shriveled inside to pinpoint the exact location of his sons, Shanti and Hsing, the two of them together, could find Chen. They would find him and then they'd be able to take these two marred souls into the ship. Once inside the Mothership, She could heal them, after She healed herself with the algae.
Chen's hand went to the plant inside his robes.
Manu stared at him as though he could see the hope in Chen's eyes. "He is coming for you,” Manu sneered. "I remember your brother. He was unbalanced, arrogant like your father. When you go to the next life your brother will tear apart this universe." Manu's eyes were nearly as large as his head. "He will likely snap your mate's neck and then tear the crew apart by hand."
"Hsing would never do such a thing."
"You were ready to do such a thing to Ngai with the mere verbal threat of harm to your mate."
Chen didn’t want to believe it possible. Not of either of them. Not of any of his kind. Hsing was already so burdened. If they severed Chen from Hsing it would be the last thing he could stand.
Hsing had Shanti. Shanti would offer him balance. Though she could not offer Hsing balance if Manu and Ngai found the Mothership.
Chen knew what he had to do. He could not let Shanti and Hsing find him.
