My assailant was an enormous man, like some freak out of a movie. Dog tags hung from his neck, identifying the reason why. He’s like the soldier Raikidan and I ran into the day we visited the temple. Were the two related in some way? If they were, were they the new experiments I’d heard about? If they were, it was obvious Zarda no longer cared about how the experiments looked as long as they had the modifications he needed. He would be able to use the looks as a reason to get rid of them in the end.
That didn’t matter at the moment. The throbbing pain in my arm, as well as the numbness ebbing over my hand did.
The man who grabbed me let go and pulled away, his buddies staring at him. “What did you do?”
The hulking man took a step back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I–it was an accident.”
“You idiot!”
I stared at my arm, cradling it gently. He crushed it. He crushed my wrist.
“Make him pay!”
“You asshole!” Ryoko roared. She launched herself at him, slamming her fist into his chest as hard as she could, uncaring if it harmed him or not.
The man stumbled back, coughing. He’s a Brute class. No doubt about it. He can take those hits. Ryoko’s rage blinded her, and she continued to assault the man. But her attacks weren’t hurting him like it would another person, not even any Brute I knew. Something was not right.
The hulking man grabbed her and threw her to the ground, but she bounced back and body-slammed him. The other two men talked to each other, trying to figure out what to do—and figure out how Ryoko was able to stand up to this Brute. You’d think everyone in the military knew her.
People behind the soldiers pushed their way through, their dog tags clearly identifying them. One look at Ryoko engaging with the Brute, and then me holding my arms, they knew what went down.
One looked to the man who had accosted me. “What the hell happened here?”
“I don’t know. It happened so fast,” he said. “Who is that woman?”
The first man’s brow rose. “How do you not know of Ryoko? She’s one of the best former Brutes we’ve ever had in the military.”
The man who had accosted me swore, the name now ringing bells.
I looked behind me when patrons shuffled away and watched Raikidan and Rylan push their way through. Raikidan reached me first and looked at the way I held my arm. The immediate pain had dulled to a throbbing, but I also couldn’t feel my hand at all. His eyes darkened, and his lips curled back into a snarl before he focused on the man Ryoko was beating on.
Before I could think to stop him from getting involved, he charged over to the man just as he threw Ryoko off him. Raikidan’s fist slammed into the hulking soldier’s gut. He choked and then fell to his knees, struggling to breathe and holding his abdomen. Raikidan pulled his arm back and then threw his fist into the man’s face, my ears picking up the snapping of his nose. Ouch, nice hit.
Raikidan continued to hit him over and over again, his face filled with rage. An odd feeling fell over me as I watched him beat this man up because of me. It was warm and had some sort of pulling effect toward him. It confused me. Most feelings were confusing for me, but I’d never experienced this one.
Blood splattered across the floor. No one jumped in to aid the Brute, and the Brute soldier couldn’t catch his bearings between Raikidan’s swings. If this continues, Raikidan may just kill him.
“Rai, stop,” I called out.
He halted mid-swing and his attention snapped to me. His muscles tightened when his eyes landed on my held arm.
“Please, no more. He gets it.”
Raikidan looked down at the Brute, now spitting out blood on the floor, and hit him one last time before stalking back over to me. Azriel, along with what looked to be his entire bouncer staff, pushed their way through the patrons. He assessed the damage and barked out orders to get the soldiers out. Rylan left me to give a hand. Ryoko offered to help, but Azriel declined and requested she help me. She nodded, but upon seeing Raikidan reaching me, she winked and stayed put for a bit longer. Thanks, Ryo…
Raikidan looked down at my arm and scowled. “How bad does it hurt?”
I looked away. “My… body is in shock. I can’t feel my hand and there’s a dull ache in my wrist. Pretty sure he crushed it. If I don’t get it fixed up before the shock wears off, I’m going to be in excruciating pain.”
His lip pulled back and some sort of sound came out of his mouth, but I wasn’t able to discern what. I assumed it was some sort of Draconic. “What needs to be done to heal that right? I can go find—”
I let go of my bad arm, flinching from the slight movement, and placed my good hand on his chest. “It’s going to be okay. Azriel is a former military medic and has many medical clearances. I’m sure he has something here. And if not, we can talk to some other unconventional contacts.”
“Why did you have me stop? How can you be so calm after what he did?”
“Because I didn’t want you to kill him. It’s not worth going to jail for.”
He held my gaze. “Yes, you are.”
My heart skipped a beat and my face warmed. What? I looked away and went back to cradling my arm. He was wrong. Whatever messed-up reason he had for saying that, he was wrong. I’m not worth anything.
Ryoko came up to us then. I suspected she’d seen enough and didn’t want things to get anymore awkward between us. “Ray, you should go give Azriel a hand. Some of the soldiers aren’t cooperating, and I think having the guy that beat up a Brute could spark them to listen.” She placed her hand on my back. “I’ll get Eira situated in Azriel’s office for when he can tend to her.”
Raikidan nodded, giving me one last look before walking off. Ryoko gave me a gentle nudge and the two of us headed through the club to the back.
Azriel’s office was just down the hall, past the kitchen. It was a rather large room, with a mahogany desk and comfortable chair, couch for lounging, and a few bookshelves filled with various items.
I sat down in Azriel’s chair while Ryoko fetched some towels. When she returned, she created a comfortable rest for my arm and then pulled up a chair for herself. “How are you feeling?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I don’t know what to make of what happened, and I’m feeling pain and numbness in different parts of my arm.”
She nodded. “From the sound of it, he got you good, but it didn’t look like he grabbed you all that hard.”
“I saw another Brute like him in the city my first week back here. He smelled like tank water. If it weren’t for the smells here, I’m sure I would have gotten it off him, too.”
“So, a new Brute. Why would he be here, then? It’s protocol for them not to be in such settings with civilians until five years after release.”
I grunted. “My guess is the group assigned to show him around wanted to have their own fun when they weren’t supposed to, and hoped he’d behave himself.”
Ryoko snorted. “That wouldn’t surprise me.” She looked at my arm. “As bad as it is to say, I’m glad it was you that he grabbed and not some civilian. There wouldn’t be a way to save their limb.”
I agreed. Civilians, as advanced as they were compared to an ordinary human, didn’t take too well to the types of accelerated medical treatments we experiments could.
Ryoko’s eyes softened and her ears drooped. “Sorry I was the cause of this.”
I shook my head. “Not your fault they wouldn’t listen.”
“Yeah, but you had to jump in.”
“Well, I didn’t have to. Rylan was going to, but since he decided not to take you up on the dancing offer, I thought it wouldn’t be right for him to play ‘white knight.’”
She shrugged. “He didn’t have to. He’s not interested. It is what it is.”
“Except he is.” I pointed at her when she went to open her mouth. “Don’t even try to say he’s not. I know what I saw when we first arrived.” I pointed to my head. “I know what I felt. He just has far more c
ontrol than Blaze.”
She pursed her lips, and then smiled wickedly. “Regardless, had he jumped in, then your hot date wouldn’t have been able to swoop in and beat the snot out of that guy.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Ryoko, he’s not my date.”
“Not with the way he looked at you when we first arrived.”
“He didn’t look at me any different than he does every day. Indifferent and uncaring, as he should.”
She nudged me. “Stop being a pain and just admit that some guy likes you and you’re totally okay with it.”
I let out a long sigh. “Ryoko, I’m in too much pain to deal with this right now. Just stop for once.”
She frowned and studied me. “You’re not telling me something. Something about him.”
My mouth spread into a thin line.
“What? We always tell each other stuff.” She thought for a moment. “Does he have a girlfriend?”
I sighed. “No. And he’s not into men as far as I know, so I wasn’t lying to Azriel, either.”
She chuckled and then leaned forward. “Then tell me what’s going on.”
I frowned. “I’m sorry, Ryo, but I can’t. I gave him my word it’d stay between the two of us.”
“Oh…” She sat back up. “Okay then.”
She accepted that a little too easily. I knew Ryoko far too well. Despite her placating tone, this topic was far from done with in the future.
The door to the office flew open and Azriel strolled in, a medical kit in hand, and Raikidan close behind. The latter looked extra-irritated. Azriel, on the other hand, looked excited. “All right, doctor is here!”
Ryoko and I laughed. That explained it.
He came up to me, placing the medical kit on the desk. “Now, be good for me, Laz, and I might give you a lollipop.”
I snickered. “No promises.”
Azriel rummaged through his kit, pulling out various tools and devices. I noticed Raikidan take up position by the door, leaning against the wall, as if he were expecting trouble to come through any minute.
Azriel pulled out a cylindrical object from the kit. “Let’s get a good look at what we’re dealing with.”
He pressed a button on the side of the cylindrical object, and used both hands to pull it apart. Thin rods of metal on the top and bottom connected the two parts, and a hologram projected in the center. He held the object over my wrist. The hologram distorted and displayed an x-ray view of my bones. As I thought, there wasn’t a single bone that had more than an inch of unbroken length.
He sucked in a tight breath. “That’s… bad. I’m going to use a regenerative serum. It’s the only way you’re going to get that fixed at this rate.”
I chewed my lip, not liking the idea. “How much better is that serum than in the past? I know natural healers that would make this process better than that stuff.”
“Don’t worry. It’s leaps and bounds better than when we were active military. Nowhere near as painful, and does a better job. Will still take about an hour with the damage you sustained.”
Ryoko let out a low whistle. “Not even I knew it improved that much. That’s amazing!”
I agreed, but still didn’t like the idea of using the serum. Azriel didn’t care. He rummaged around through the medical kit, pulling out a small gun.
“Grab her! Don’t let her get away.”
I watched him carefully as he looked for more items and pulled out a small cloth, a bottle and a vial of clear liquid, and a needle sealed in a bag, aware of my increasing heart rate.
“No, don’t!”
“We’re not here to hurt you. This will help you.”
“Leave me alone!”
I swallowed, unable to look away from the needle. It’s okay, Eira, it’s not like that. But even so, I wasn’t going to enjoy this.
“Stop this right now! This isn’t going to do her any good.”
“She needs these.”
“No, she doesn’t!”
Azriel soaked the cloth with the liquid from the bottle and lightly wiped it over my wrist. He was gentle, and the strange-smelling liquid left my skin more numb than it had been before. Perspiration dripped down the back of my neck. Azriel then loaded the needle and small vial into the gun. I tensed.
“Let me go! Let me go!”
Ryoko got to her feet and rested her hands on my shoulders. “I’ve got you.”
I looked away from Azriel and my arm. “Thanks…”
“Please, don’t…”
Azriel grasped my arm gently and pressed the gun to my arm. My free hand clenched tightly, and I flinched from the pain when the gun silently went off. Although the numbing solution did well for numbing the top layer of my skin, it did nothing to numb everything underneath. I felt the needle slice into my flesh and the solution spread through my arm as Azriel continued to press the trigger. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling, to say the least.
I counted until the vial was empty. I knew because I felt the needle retract, and Azriel let go of my arm. I took a deep breath before I turned my head back to him. Azriel ejected the vial and needle, placing them in a bag to be disposed of. He put the gun back into the medical kit and pulled out a roll of white bandages. Picking up my hand, Azriel quickly and precisely wrapped up my arm.
“That should do it.” He set down my arm. “In an hour, you shouldn’t have anything but a small scar to show for this night.”
My pulse started to slow back to normal. Ryoko let me go and stepped back. “So, that’s it then? She was the last thing to be dealt with?”
“Well, no.” Azriel began to pack up. “I’m waiting for those boys’ commanding officer to show up. Actually”—he looked at her—“if you’d be so kind as to help me with that, I’d appreciate it.” He glanced at Raikidan. “Your new friend here was more interested in beating up the soldiers than helping. Of course, since this is because of Laz, I can’t say I blame him. So, I thought it best he keep an eye on her instead of getting into trouble.”
Ryoko grinned. “I’d be happy to assist.”
While I agreed with Azriel’s perspective, I knew what Ryoko was up to, and I didn’t like it. She went over to Azriel, a skip in her step. Azriel tucked his medical kit under an arm and then allowed Ryoko to hook her arms into his free one.
He glanced back at me as they left. “Behave now, you two.”
I flipped him my middle finger just before he shut the door. Raikidan came over and sat down in Ryoko’s chair. An air of silence fell over the room. I focused on my arm, playing with a part of my cloth wrap as I thought about recent events. This Brute we dealt with was an anomaly. Ryoko wasn’t the toughest Brute out there, but she ranked near the top, and even he had outclassed her. And if my suspicions were correct in his relation to the other Brute Raikidan and I ran into, I wondered if these were some of the new soldiers we were told about by Aiden. If so, Zarda wasn’t keeping to any visual appeal standards. I wouldn’t doubt he’s using it as an excuse to get rid of them later when he’s bored.
Raikidan looked at me. “You don’t expect me to talk, right?”
I chuckled. “No. I much prefer comfortable silence over idle chit chat.”
He nodded and silence fell over us again. That is, until my arm spasmed. The uncomfortable sensation made me cringe and instinctively I grabbed the good part of my arm.
Raikidan bolted out of his seat. “What’s wrong?”
I shook my head and waited for the episode to subside before speaking. “Nothing’s wrong. That’s just the effect of the serum. It’s mending all the tissue and bone damage incrementally. I’ll be fine.”
He sat back down and then frowned. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to you sooner. I thought you’d be fine to handle the problem.”
I chuckled. “Trust me, I didn’t expect this, either. You have nothing to apologize for.”
He pulled his chair closer and rested his forehead in the crook of my neck. “Yes, I do. I need to keep you safe. I failed to do so.”
I s
at there, rigid from the close contact. But as uncomfortable as I was, a strange sense of calmness spread over me. No, calm wasn’t the right word. I felt more okay with this than I thought possible. What’s going on with me?
“R–Raikidan, what are you doing?” I finally managed to ask.
He pulled away, a frown on his lips. “It’s a calming gesture for us dragons. I guess humans don’t work that way?”
My lip twitched. “It might work for a normal human, since they’re okay with being close to others. But I’m not normal.”
“So that didn’t help you at all?”
I shook my head. “No.”
His brow knitted as he went to thinking. “Can… can I do it again? It helped me.”
I chewed my lower lip. Was it okay? He wasn’t human. Nothing weird would happen because of that fact. “Sure.”
He rested his forehead against my neck again and took slow breaths. I focused on my wrist, a pulsating sensation making its way up my arm. I’m going to be hit with another spasm. As if on cue, my arm twitched as a healing spasm took hold. The sensation of pain shot through my arm, and I clamped down on my lip so as to not cry out.
I exhaled when everything subsided. Raikidan’s arm reached around me suddenly and pulled me closer, burying his face deeper into my neck. An uncomfortably warm sensation flooded over me.
“R–Raikidan, what are you doing? We didn’t agree to this.”
He didn’t respond, and his grip remained tight.
I glanced back at him. He didn’t look at me and his whole body appeared tense. My brow knitted. “Is this situation really affecting you that bad?”
He nodded.
“Why?”
He tilted his head to look at me, those deep sapphire pools snaring my gaze. “Why wouldn’t it? I failed to keep you safe when I told you I would.”
“No, you told me you’d help me get revenge.”
“And as a Guard, I swore to protect you. I’m not going back on that while I remain here.”
My cheeks burned, and my mouth dried a little, and I didn’t know why. I didn’t understand what this dragon did to me. No one had been able to get me to react like this. That’s a lie. I pushed the memory away. I told myself to never think on that. It was for the best…
Destiny (Experimental Heart Book 1) Page 53