Sentinel: Galactic Gladiators: House of Rone #1

by Hackett, Anna

  “And the baby?” Quinn asked carefully.

  Ever’s face glowed with an inner radiance. “She’s the love of mine and Magnus’ lives.”

  “You’re safe now,” Magnus said.

  “We’ve been searching for you for weeks,” Jax said.

  Suddenly, there was a commotion at the door. Jax turned, just as Mina and Tannon arrived.

  “Oh, my God, Mina.” Quinn leaped to her feet, awkwardly shoving her drink at Jax. He managed to take possession of the mug before its remaining contents spilled.

  Mina rushed over and threw her arms around Quinn. “Quinn!”

  The pair hugged and started to cry. Not loud sobs, just tears that tracked down their cheeks. Jax had never cried, even at the worst of what the Orionix had done to him. He watched the fluid on Quinn’s cheek with interest.

  “I’m so glad you’re safe.” Mina gripped Quinn’s hands hard.

  Quinn smiled. “God, you too. I am so glad to see you.” Then, Quinn’s face fell. “Are there others from the Helios here?”

  Mina’s smile faded and she shook her head.

  “God.” Quinn looked at the floor.

  “It’s not your fault, Quinn.”

  “I was security chief, it was my responsibility to—”

  “We were attacked by more advanced aliens, Quinn.” Mina screwed up her nose. “There was nothing you could do. Nothing any of us could do.”

  Quinn swallowed and looked past Mina to where Tannon stood.

  Mina shot the man a smile. “This is my babe-a-licious, Tannon.”

  The stone-faced man didn’t even blink at the nickname. The dark, deadly head of security for the Dark Nebula just looked at Mina, warmth in his diamond-bright eyes.

  He lifted an arm and Mina went to him, sliding in like she knew where she belonged.

  “How did you get here?” Quinn asked. “After our last escape attempt, the Edull dragged me out of a cell and sold me to a scavenger called Sleeja.”

  “My memories were tampered with and my appearance altered,” Mina said. “I came to Kor Magna thinking I was just another desert dweller. I started work at the Dark Nebula Casino.” She looked up at Tannon.

  “I’m head of security for the casino,” Tannon added.

  “My memories started to come back, and I kinda exploded Tannon’s orderly life to pieces.” She grinned.

  Tannon squeezed her tighter. “An understatement.”

  “You fell in love with him,” Quinn said quietly.

  Mina smiled. “I sure did.” Her gaze locked with Tannon’s. “He made me feel safe for the first time in forever. And he likes me just the way I am.”

  “Troublemaking tendencies and all.”

  Mina turned back to Quinn. “I’ve been doing what I can to help Jax with the search for the others.”

  “Quinn, do you remember anything that we could use?” Tannon asked. “About how many other people from Earth are here on Carthago? Or anything about the Edull city where you were held prisoner?”

  Quinn nabbed her ocla from Jax and drank again. Then she let out a shaky breath. “Bari Batu.”

  Jax felt compelled to step closer. He didn’t touch her, but he was close enough that their arms brushed. He thought he saw her straighten a little. “What’s that?”

  “The name of the Edull city.”

  The men in the room all traded glances.

  “That’s excellent,” Tannon said. “We can get our intelligence networks searching for it.”

  “There are others, but they kept us all separate.” Quinn shot a rueful smile at Mina. “Mina and I managed to break out of our cells and find each other.”

  Mina grabbed Quinn’s hand and squeezed.

  “I did talk with another woman. We talked through the cell wall. She was a scientist on the Helios. I didn’t know her well. Dr. Jayna Lennox.”

  “Astrophysics,” Mina said.

  Quinn nodded. “That’s her. She has long, brown hair with a curl to it. Golden-brown skin, curvy. Always had music on when she worked. I’d hear it from her lab. She preferred rock and roll.”

  Mina nodded. “She wore lots of silver jewelry, too.”

  Quinn’s chest hitched and Jax couldn’t stop the instinctive and unfamiliar need to reach out. He touched the small of her back. She glanced sideways at him, but didn’t move away.

  “They’d tortured her. She said they were running tests on her. Then, one day, they took her, and they didn’t bring her back.”

  “We’ll find her,” Jax said. “I promise.”

  Her gaze caught his. In it, he saw the haunting pain that perhaps Jayna hadn’t survived her captivity. The guilt she was drowning in.

  “You need to rest now,” Jax said. “I’ve organized a room for you.”

  Mina leaned forward and gave Quinn another hug. “See you soon.”

  “We’ll come and see you later, Quinn,” Ever said.

  “I’d love to hear more about your story, Ever,” Quinn said. “And meet the others from Earth who are here.”

  “Sure thing.” Ever took Magnus’ hand, and they left with Tannon and Mina.

  “Come,” Jax said.

  She followed, and he showed her to her new room, just down the hall from his. She walked inside, spinning around to take it all in.

  “It’s beautiful.” She touched the bed, stroking the fabric, then the carved wood of the headboard.

  For a second, Jax’s mind filled with the image of her fingers stroking his body in the same way.

  Drak. Fighting back the inappropriate images, he showed her the bathroom. She moaned.

  “I can shower? Get clean?”

  “Yes.” He strengthened his dampeners to fight off more inappropriate images of a naked, wet Quinn. “I’ll find you some fresh clothes.”

  “Thank you.” Her voice was filled with emotion. She pressed a hand to her mouth.

  He frowned. “Quinn?” Was she overwrought by the shower?

  She waved her other hand. “I’m fine. Just give me a sec.”

  Again, Jax felt the unfamiliar need to alleviate her distress. “You’d be doing us all a favor, since you smell like the bad part of the desert.”

  A laugh burst out of her. “Did you just make a joke about me smelling bad?”

  “Many will tell you that cyborgs don’t joke.”

  She snorted. “Right.”

  “Go. I’ll find you some clothes.”

  She slipped into the bathroom and closed the door. It didn’t take long for Jax to track down some clothes from Ever. He also stopped by the kitchen to get her some food, and his last stop was the small garden off the kitchens to grab one other thing.

  When he returned to Quinn’s room, he heard the shower running. He paused, glad she was enjoying something nice. But thoughts burned once more through his dampeners. Images of water falling over golden skin and darkening her blonde hair.

  He couldn’t stop memories of that kiss hitting him. The taste of her, the way her lips had moved on his. He wanted to kiss her again.

  He blew out a harsh breath and shook his head. She’d just survived hell, and here he was fantasizing about her. Sandsucker.

  Jax had no time for dalliances. He was committed to finding the survivors from Earth, and shouldering as much work at the House of Rone as he could. Magnus needed to spend time with Ever and Asha, and taking on more work was something that Jax could do for him.

  Quinn Bennett seemed to cause an even greater cascade of emotion in him. He needed to find a way to control his response.

  Jax lay the clothes on Quinn’s bed, and set the food down, as well. He moved to leave the flower he’d picked on the bedside table—he’d noticed that Ever enjoyed flowers and wondered if Quinn might as well. He doubted she’d seen any flowers in the desert. Then he spotted several twists of wire on the bedside table. He set the flower down and picked the metal up.

  It was the same wire she’d been hiding in her old robes. But now it was twisted in the small form of a windswept tree.
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  Quinn had made this. He stroked it with his thumb.

  He remembered having his own room when he and Magnus had first come to Carthago. It was small and dirty, but it had been his. He’d had nothing of his own before that.

  Quinn had been held captive, everything stripped from her. And yet, she’d found a way to have something of her own.

  He set the small object down, arranging it beside the flower.

  The sound of the shower shut off. With one glance at the bathroom door, Jax slipped out.

  Chapter Seven

  Wearing her beautiful, clean new clothes, Quinn paced her new bedroom.

  She was on edge. She was trying to relax, but all she could think about was Jayna and the others. Trapped, tortured, or worse.

  Quinn blew out a breath. She’d never known that guilt had a taste—bitter and choking.

  She stroked the lovely shirt she was wearing. It was a gorgeous, rich blue, the same color as the wall hangings she’d seen in the halls of the House of Rone. She also had a pair of supple trousers that clung to her legs, made of some butter-soft leather. Her belly was full. She’d gorged herself on the interesting foods that Jax had left for her.

  Then, she picked up the flower that she’d found beside the bed. She stroked the delicate, red petals.

  He’d left all this for her.

  It was thoughtful. Caring. She felt tears well in her eyes. God, a few acts of kindness and she threatened to fall apart. She breathed her tears back. No one had looked out for her for a very long time. She’d been so horribly alone for so long.

  Instantly, she thought of their kiss.

  To tell the truth, she hadn’t stopped thinking about it. He hadn’t tried to take control of the kiss, in fact, he’d been hesitant, but damn, he had the best lips she’d ever tasted.

  Shaking her head, Quinn strode to the windows. She was free, and she had a right to enjoy that. But a crippling flood of guilt washed over her. Jayna was still out there. Along with how many others? All of them still slaves. Quinn fisted her hands, struggling not to feel guilty about enjoying her beautiful, new room, when they were no doubt locked in cells and chains.

  She opened her hands. She needed to be doing something to find them.

  She strode across the room and yanked the door open. She pulled up with a start.

  Jax stood on the other side, his hand lifted ready to knock.

  “Oh, hey.” Just looking at him packed a punch.

  His small smile made her gaze drop to his lips. He was a man clearly honed to a lethal edge, and yet, he had gorgeous lips. Desire curled in her belly.

  “How was your shower?”

  Shower? Oh, right. “Great. And thanks for the clothes and food.”

  “Everything to your liking?”

  “Yes. I…” She spun away, pacing across the room. “I don’t want to seem ungrateful—”

  “But you want to find the others?”

  “Yes.” She spun back, so grateful that he understood.

  He nodded. “I understand, but you do need to rest. You need to regain your health and energy before you can help them.”

  Frustration made her angry, and she lashed out. “You’re a powerful cyborg. What do you know about regaining your health and energy?” Terrible images danced in her head, taunting her. “What do you know about being a slave? You’re second in command around here. You run this place.”

  Something flickered in his eyes. “Once, I was a slave, too.”

  Quinn gasped, her arms dropping to her sides. “What?”

  “I was created in a lab, part of a cyborg program to create the best fighters. I was bred to fight and kill for the Orionix Military.”

  Her gut curdled. Babies raised to be killers. Her gaze fell on his shoulder and the metal embedded in his skin, then the tattoo covering his other arm. Babies experimented on like they were machines.

  “We were tools, weapons.” A muscle in his jaw worked. “We had no lives and were allowed very little autonomy.”

  Quinn swallowed. God, she was an idiot. “I’m sorry, Jax.”

  “It was a long time ago. I escaped, or rather, Magnus rescued me. I was malfunctioning and had lost my leg on a mission.”

  Her gaze dipped and she took in his sleek, black pants. She couldn’t tell he had a cybernetic leg.

  “I was going to be terminated.”

  She hissed in a breath. “Magnus got you out?”

  Jax nodded, past nightmares a brief flicker on his face before he locked them down. “We ended up here, on Carthago, but it took time to adjust to my new life. Give yourself some time, Quinn.”

  Emotions—so many of them—rose up to choke her. She nodded.

  Then, she was in his arms. She gripped onto him, pressing her cheek against his chest. “I don’t want to be weak.”

  He made an angry sound. “You aren’t weak, Quinn. You survived the worst of circumstances.”

  “I still feel off kilter.”

  His arms tightened. “Then lean on me. Just a little.”

  “I never lean.” She’d been the sturdy one in her family, and she’d gone into security because she liked taking care of others. But she let herself relax against him.

  “See,” he said. “It’s not that hard.”

  Slowly, she started noticing the heat of him, the scent of warm skin and leather. Desire trickled into her, leaving her belly tight.

  Oh, God, men, desire, and sex should be the very last things on her mind right now.

  He shifted, his face pressed against her hair, and she realized she really wanted him. Wanted to tug all the leather off him and spend time exploring every inch of his skin and the metal implanted into it.

  Time. That one word had guilt rushing back in, full force. She stiffened. “I don’t have time to lean or get back to full strength. Jayna and the others might not have time.”

  Jax touched her cheek. He was so tall, so powerful. “We won’t abandon them. I understand your need to continue to work to find your friends.” He cocked his head. “In fact, that’s why I’m here. We have a meeting with the House of Galen. They contacted me to say they have information on the Edull.”

  Excitement flared. “Okay.” As he turned, she grabbed his arm. His skin was warm under her fingers. “And Jax, thank you. For everything.”

  He nodded and lifted a fall of blue fabric. “You should wear this. Blue is the color of the House of Rone and warns people that you’re under our protection.”

  She took it, rubbing the silky fabric through her fingers. “How come yours is red?”

  “Red is the general color around the arena. Sometimes, we don’t always want to announce our house allegiances.”

  Her lips quirked. “You mean you don’t want to appear weak.”

  He smiled back. “You are a smart woman, Quinn.”

  “No, I just understand the fragile egos of men.”

  Moments later, she found herself walking beside Jax, the cloak whispering around her legs as they moved through the tunnels beneath the ancient Kor Magna Arena.

  Workers bustled past, most of them seeming clearly busy and happy. The majority of people they met nodded at Jax, but a few eyed him under eyelashes with curiosity. A couple looked away with fear, and one woman eyed him like she wanted to lick him all over. They also passed several gladiators, and she noted multiple different species of aliens, and the varied colors they wore. Each one nodded respectfully at Jax.

  “The arena has been here for centuries,” Jax said. “There are dozens of houses that work to train the best gladiators for the fights.”

  “Surely not to the death?”

  He shook his head. “In the past that happened, but these days, the fights are meant to be displays of strength and skill. A chance for spectators to feel a rush, and wager some credits.”

  More akin to professional sports, Quinn realized. She watched another huge, muscular gladiator pass them, a giant sword sheathed at his hip. She amended her thought. Professional sports with a lot more
danger and blood.

  They turned a corner, and came upon a set of large doors emblazoned with the image of a helmeted gladiator in profile.

  Jax nodded. “The House of Galen.” When he continued past them, she frowned.

  “Isn’t this our stop?”

  “Galen is up in the arena.”

  As they walked up a sloping tunnel, a rumble like thunder reached Quinn’s ears. Her steps slowed, and she realized the sound was a large crowd—cheering, clapping, booing. “There’s a fight on?”

  “The House of Galen versus the House of Davon.”

  With a touch to her back, Jax nudged her through an arched doorway.

  A wave of noise and energy hit her. They had emerged in the middle of the arena stands. Tiers of seats, all packed with spectators, ringed the huge stadium.

  She took a moment to absorb the impact. Jeez, so many people. There was an electric energy to the crowd. She briefly scanned the masses, then turned her head, drawn by the clash of swords.

  The arena floor was large and covered in sand.

  And gladiators.

  There were a lot of sweat-slicked muscles on display. She watched two huge gladiators crash giant axes together. Beside them, a strong, athletic woman tossed a net that flew through the air to engulf a staff-wielding gladiator.

  “God, it’s amazing.”

  “A deadly display.” He waved a hand up the stairs.

  “Do you fight in the arena?”

  He shook his head. “Cyborgs are banned, but the House of Rone has some of the best unenhanced gladiators in Kor Magna.”

  She heard the pride in his voice. As she moved up the stone stairs, she saw they were heading to what had to be private boxes at the top of the arena. He led her through a doorway that was decorated with the same logo as on the doors of the House of Galen.

  When they stepped inside, the first thing she saw was a man wearing a black cloak, with a black eye patch covering one eye. He was kind of like a black hole, pulling all attention toward him.

  Jax stepped forward, and he and the man clasped arms.

  “Galen.”

  “Jaxer.” Then Imperator Galen’s ice-blue gaze moved toward Quinn.