Clan Beginnings: Clan and Crave - Chapter Three, Scene One

 

Releasing May 31. Pre-order now: Amazon, Amazon UK, Nook, Apple, Kobo, Smashwords, print

Conyod's bid for freedom has serious consequences.

* * * *

Conyod, age 15

Conyod scowled at the law enforcement psychologist who’d been grilling him for almost two hours. “I got tired of being bothered about chores and schoolwork. I wanted a break, so I left.”

“Two weeks ago.”

“Like I said.”

“Here’s the problem, Conyod.” The psychologist, a Dramok who’d introduced himself as Tyaru, leaned toward him. He smiled confidentially, as if they were old friends who trusted their secrets to each other. “You’re too thin for someone who’s been on his own for two weeks. Especially for someone who admits he brought a week’s worth of food when he ran off. You have the look of a boy who’s been neglected for a long time.”

Conyod bristled. “Hardly. Until I snuck off, my family knew where I was every second of the day. They run a successful kestarsh ranch. We have plenty of food. I just don’t eat much.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not hungry!”

“No need to get excited, Conyod. Prior to leaving home, when did you last get a decent night’s sleep?”

Stupid questions, and Tyaru kept asking them over and over. Why didn’t he just call Conyod’s parent clan to pick up their runaway son? What was he trying to prove?

At least Sletran had been true to his word and the authorities had allowed him to stick close. The Nobek sat next to Conyod in the small conversation area in a corner of Tyaru’s small, dingy office. When the young Imdiko looked at Sletran, he gave him a smile of encouragement.

It was as if the soldier actually cared. Conyod doubted he did, but he appreciated the show. Sletran was obviously a good man as well as the perfect protective Nobek. Conyod found himself wishing he could move closer to him and have Sletran put his arm around him for comfort.

“Conyod? How well do you sleep at home?” Tyaru pressed.

“Like shit.”

His profanity elicited no reaction from the psychologist. “Why not?”

“I have nightmares. Don’t you ever have bad dreams?” He was becoming confrontational, but he was tired of the interrogation. Send me home and leave me alone.

“I have nightmares. Every night? No. Is that how often you have bad dreams?”

Try two or three a night. Conyod was done answering his questions, however. “I want to com my parents. It’s time they came and got me.”

“Letting you go home might be impossible, I’m afraid.”

Conyod stared at him. Was he in trouble for stealing produce from the farm? A vision of him stuck in a containment cell, surrounded by criminals, stabbed ice in his heart. “Why? Am I being charged? I took only a couple handfuls of berries!”

“Easy, Conyod. You aren’t in trouble.”

“Then why can’t I go home?”

Tyaru glanced at Sletran. “Well, it may be your parents aren’t doing their duty by you as they should. They did report you missing, but you’re underweight, a sign of neglect. Perhaps the issue is inattention to your needs. Something’s obviously wrong at home, especially since you ran away.”

Conyod sat staring at him, his mouth hanging open. Neglect? Tyaru thought his parents weren’t paying attention to him?

Laughter surprised him as much as Tyaru and Sletran, but once it started, he couldn’t stop. He sat on the cushion, whooping peals until his ribs hurt and tears flooded his cheeks. He howled laughter until he nearly passed out from lack of breath. Sletran did put his arm around him then, to keep Conyod from crumpling full-length on the floor.

“Oh, ancestors,” he wheezed when he finally began to regain control. “That’s…that’s incredible. Neglect. Oh, you…you actually think…”

He had to stop or he’d give in to hysterical mirth again.

Sletran helped him sit up. “What’s going on at home, Conyod? An Imdiko minor running away who’s in the shape you are is serious legal trouble for his parent clan. If they’ve done nothing wrong, you need to tell us.”

His warning sobered Conyod. He hadn’t realized his bid for freedom would have such repercussions on his parents.

“They aren’t neglecting me. It’s the opposite, in fact.” He spoke to Sletran instead of the therapist against whom he’d develop a serious case of mistrust and antipathy. “They’re always there, watching every move I make. Yeah, I don’t eat well, but it isn’t because they don’t feed me. They’re constantly bugging me to put on weight. All day long, it’s ‘Conyod, where are you going?’ or ‘Conyod, finish your steak,’ or ‘Conyod, you can’t go visit your friends since none of us are free to go with you.’ I can’t take a breath without someone there to notice it. I wish they would neglect me, at least for a few seconds!”

Sletran regarded him throughout his diatribe. Watched him closely, in fact, but didn’t scrutinize him as his parents did. The Nobek showed mere interest, unworried Conyod might suddenly vanish into thin air. “You ran away because they paid too close attention to you?”

“I only wanted to escape the constant supervision for a while. I felt like I’d explode,” he admitted. “They love me, but it’s driving me crazy. Our house, the ranch, those damned mountains…they all feel like they’re closing in.”

“Have they always been so overprotective?”

Tyaru’s voice came from a distance. For Conyod, there was only Sletran. Kind, understanding Sletran, who saw him sitting there instead of a would-be vacancy.

“Ever since my brother rode to the mountains and didn’t come home, they’ve been scared the same thing would happen to me. Which is hilarious because I hate the mountains. I wouldn’t go there if you paid me every cent the Imperial Clan has. Especially now since the ghost started roaming the area.”

“Ghost?” Sletran’s brows drew together.

“Yeah, all the ranch’s hands talk about the boy in white who’s been sighted on several occasions on our land. They’ve seen him near the corral or on the plain, staring at the mountains. Most think it’s the spirit of Hoslek, my brother.”

“Have you ever seen it, Conyod?” Tyaru asked.

“No. I’m never allowed out of the house after dark. I’m not allowed anywhere my parents aren’t.”

“Breathe,” Sletran whispered. His big hand rubbed the back of Conyod’s neck. “Relax and breathe, Imdiko.”

“All I want is to breathe. They keep me cooped up. They won’t give me any room. I feel like a prisoner in my own home.” The tears that came this time weren’t from a hysterical laughing fit. They sprang from the ache of having his every move under constant scrutiny, of love gone suffocating. “I can’t breathe. They won’t let me have any air. That’s why I left.”

* * * *

He needed a hero and found two. Can love rescue him again?

Nobek Sletran never took Imdiko Conyod’s infatuation seriously when he rescued him years before. When Conyod shows up in his life again as a strong and successful man instead of a traumatized victim, Sletran has to reconsider the one he once rejected and now can’t imagine life without.

Conyod has never given up on the man he considers his hero. Sletran is all he’s ever wanted for a clanmate, and he’s determined to win him at last. But the past refuses to be laid to rest. When Conyod convinces Sletran to see him for who he’s become, will who he was resurface and destroy the love they’re building?

Sletran’s commanding officer Dramok Erybet is instantly fascinated by Conyod when the soldier brings his love on base for a visit. However, Sletran isn’t the Nobek Erybet feels is right for him. When he rejects the Nobek, he risks losing Conyod too.

Against the backdrop of heartbreaking childhood tragedy, a ghost who haunts Conyod and his grief-stricken family, and military brass determined to oust Erybet from the rank he’s worked so hard to reach, three men must come to terms with who they are. When tragedy strikes, the nightmares of the past must be faced and buried once and for all. Conyod, Sletran, and Erybet must dare everything to find redemption and hold on to each other.

Releasing May 31.  Pre-order now: Amazon, Amazon UK, Nook, Apple, Kobo, Smashwords, print