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began, not looking at Ajaska but up at the clouds as they drifted by. “I don’t know if I can explain this so you can understand…”
    “ Just say what is in your heart, proud warrior,” Ajaska encouraged with a squeeze to her slender hand.
    “ Twice now I’ve almost lost the only family I have here. If…” Her throat closed as the emotion of almost losing River and her sister swept through her again. “If the assassin and Tai Tek had been successful, I would have been alone here. Alone on an alien world.”
    “ You fear being alone on our world?” Ajaska asked.
    Jo nodded her head before she shook it in frustration. Standing up, she threw her arms out in aggravation. How could she explain everything when she didn ’t understand it all herself.
    “ Yes, no, I don’t know,” she cried out confusion.
    “ You mentioned your parents,” another voice said quietly. “You miss them. You are worried about them. That is why you wish to leave, isn’t it?”
    Jo turned to look at Manota as he stepped onto the path. She bit her lip and slowly nodded. She took a tentative step toward him.
    “It isn’t you,” she said softly. “Think of how your father and brothers would feel if they lost you. Then, think of how your father would feel if he lost all of you… Torak, Jazin, and you. If he had no idea if you were alive or dead. If he searched and searched but he was searching in the wrong place and never knew it. How would you feel if you were on a strange world and suddenly found yourself all alone? How would you feel if there was no way to let him know that you are all right?” She asked, begging him silently to hear what she couldn’t explain.
    “ I do not want to imagine it,” Manota admitted quietly. “For the pain of losing everything would be a heavy burden to carry.”
    Jo bit her bottom lip again and nodded. “It is,” she replied. “It is my fault we were in the mountains. Star wanted to go to the Bahamas but I didn’t want to be around a bunch of tourists. If we had gone…”
    Manota gently laid his fingers over her lips to silence her. “Then I would have never found you and the ache inside me would have grown because you are the only one who can fill the emptiness inside me.”
    “ Well, there is only one solution then,” Ajaska said as he stood up.
    Jo and Manota turned to look at him. She flushed as she realized she had forgotten he was there the moment Manota spoke. She stiffened at first when Manota wrapped his arm around her waist and drew her closer before relaxing.
    “I will not allow you to send her back,” Manota growled out in a deep voice that rumbled with menace. “I have claimed her as my mate, she stays with me.”
    Ajaska threw his head back and laughed. “No, I will not send her back. I am sending you both back – for her parents,” Ajaska said with a mischievous look in his eye.
    “ What?” Manota and Jo both said together, startled.
    “ I am ordering you to return to her world to retrieve her parents. It is important that my daughters are happy,” Ajaska said turning to head toward the South House. “And bring me back a mate as well while you are there! I could use someone for myself!” He called out never turning around.
    Jo looked up at Manota with hope and excitement. Manota was still staring after his father with his mouth opened. She didn ’t know if he was shocked at the order to go get her parents or the last comment about bringing him back a mate. Either way, she couldn’t squelch the excitement building inside her.
    “ Manota?” She asked breathlessly.
    Manota slowly turned his gaze down to his mate. The hope and excitement in her eyes melted his resistance at the thought of returning to her world. He never wanted to take the light out of her eyes.
    “I guess we are going to your world,” he said with a stunned smile.
    “ YES!” Jo squealed with delight, throwing her arms around his neck and pressing small kisses all over his face before sealing