Immersed: Interplanetary League, Book 2

by Liz Craven

  She watched him walk away, his purposeful stride carrying him down the hall. She appreciated the view of his tight ass flexing as he moved, and her insides clenched with desire at the thought of caressing that ass. Lying to herself never got her anywhere, so she admitted she was looking forward to “later”—and this time “later” would include a real bed.

  Chapter Eleven

  Thane rapped once on Ilexa’s door and let himself into her room only to draw up short. She sat cross-legged on the floor with Quatres. Their knees and foreheads touched with hands resting on each other’s shoulders.

  He didn’t remember moving, but found himself across the room holding Quatres to the wall by the throat with one hand. The boom behind him indicated he’d slammed the door in his charge to rip the medic from Ilexa.

  Thane bared his teeth at the gurgling man. Before he could rip the man’s head from his shoulders, Ilexa wormed her way between them.

  “Have you lost your mind?” She shoved ineffectually at his chest. “Put him down.”

  “He was touching you.”

  She didn’t appear impressed by his fury. “I was touching him.”

  His blood pressure rose even higher at her admission. “There’s going to be nothing left for you to touch.”

  Quatres gurgled again, but made no attempt to struggle.

  “I’m a healer. Touch is important.”

  A thin blade of reason edged his rage, enough to loosen his grip and allow the man to breath. “Then why aren’t you in medical?”

  “This is something Quatres isn’t ready to make known.”

  Shit. “Perhaps I’ve overreacted.”

  “Perhaps? Perhaps?” If not for the rains, her shriek would have altered the migratory path of local birds.

  “Lex—”

  “Put my friend down.”

  Friend? He realized he still held Quatres by the throat. Oh yeah. He lowered the medic to the ground and watched him crumple to the floor.

  Ilexa knelt next to him and began to straighten his sprawled limbs. “Quatres?”

  “I didn’t hold him long enough for him to be unconscious.”

  “He wasn’t conscious when you grabbed him.” Ilexa’s silver eyes held shards of ice when she glared at him.

  “He was touching you.” The Deity himself couldn’t have stopped Thane from growling at her.

  Ilexa sat at Quatres’s head and cradled it in her lap. “He was in a healing trance.”

  Thane held himself in check, managing to not rip the unconscious man away from Ilexa. “Healing trance?”

  Ilexa smoothed the hair from the young man’s forehead, seeming oblivious to Thane’s rage. “I think Quatres may have the gift of healing. If so, he’s the first offworlder blessed with it. He came to see me tonight—finally willing to give it a try. I wasn’t about to put him off.”

  “And this is a secret?”

  “If Quatres is a healer, he can’t be a warrior. If he embraces the gift, he’s afraid he’ll no longer be Hakimu, because he won’t be able to fight or train.”

  Understanding and something akin to guilt burned in Thane’s chest. “I see.”

  “Then you’ll keep his secret?”

  “Yes.”

  “Fine. Be quiet and let me heal and wake him.”

  “Heal¾?”

  “Be quiet, Thane.”

  He shut up. Ilexa’s eyes unfocused and took on that strange, healing glow as he watched. After a minute, Quatres came awake and jolted up, coughing and sputtering.

  “Easy,” Ilexa soothed.

  “What happened?” Quatres looked around with a bleary expression until his eyes came to rest on Thane and fear crept across his face.

  Ilexa shifted so that she faced the medic, drawing his attention. “You did it. You achieved a healing state.” She shot a glare at Thane. “We were interrupted before I could ascertain your level, but it seems high enough to train as a full healer.”

  Quatres glanced at Thane and showed self-preservation by inching away from Ilexa. “You’re sure?”

  “Yes, but let’s try this again without interruption. Tomorrow after lunch?”

  “And if I am a healer?”

  “If you want to pursue your gift, it would be best if you went to N’yota to train.”

  “You can’t train me here?”

  “I could.” Reluctance lined her face. “But you’ll learn more working with other students than you ever would from a teacher.”

  Quatres rose and nodded to Thane. “This doesn’t mean I’ve made a decision.”

  “Of course not,” Ilexa reassured him. “But there is nothing wrong with exploring all your options.”

  Quatres hesitated.

  “Thane won’t say anything.”

  “Not a word,” he concurred when Ilexa shot him a warning look.

  Quatres left without saying anything else.

  “He seems well,” Thane mused.

  Ilexa rounded on him. “No thanks to you. Would you care to explain yourself?”

  Thane saw the lack of satisfactory explanations in his arsenal. He went straight to groveling. “I’m sorry. I overreacted.”

  “Yes, you did.” Her eyes narrowed at him. “What were you thinking?”

  Oh no. He wasn’t dumb enough to answer that one. “I saw another man’s hands on my wife and didn’t stop to think. I apologize.”

  She opened and closed her mouth several times before she managed, “I’m not your wife.”

  “You are. You just lack the ceremony to believe it.”

  “You are unbelievable!”

  “Not at all. I have no trouble believing you are mine.”

  She glared at him for a silent moment before grinding, “Get out.”

  “No.” He sat comfortably on the bed. “We need to talk.”

  “We’ve already had this talk.”

  “Did you speak to Talon?”

  “No, Lia.” She eyed him with suspicion.

  “So she told you about the complications?”

  “She told me she’s supposed to stay off her feet, but isn’t quite on bed rest.”

  “There’s more.”

  Ilexa moved to sit beside him. “You mean the increased threat to her life?”

  “How did you know?”

  Ilexa rolled her eyes at him. “Lia told me. She’s not stupid.”

  “Talon doesn’t want her to know.”

  “She knows he doesn’t want her to know. That’s why she’s not letting him know that she knows what he doesn’t want her to know.”

  “What?” She’d lost him.

  “Talon feels better if he thinks he’s keeping this from Lia. So she’s letting him believe it.”

  “Security could be tighter if Talon knew she—”

  “Thane, it’s not up to us to tell him.”

  That was debatable, but Ilexa looked so serious he swallowed his protest. “There’s something else we need to discuss.”

  “I can’t wait to hear this.”

  He met her eyes and resisted clearing his throat. He couldn’t believe how embarrassed he suddenly felt. “Something occurred to me on the trip back to the keep.”

  She raised her brows. “Really?”

  “Lex, who’s primarily responsible for birth control on N’yota? The man or the woman.”

  “The man. It’s easier and less damaging to the body to kill sperm in the—” She cut herself off and faced Thane with wide, alarmed eyes.

  “In the military, birth control is universal. There’s something in the food that works on men and something in the drink that works on women. On Dunia, women have always held the responsibility for birth control. It’s something I didn’t think about before.”

  Ilexa remained silent for a moment, and Thane found himself proud of her for taking the news so well. Then she shifted—and fell off the bed.

  “Lex—?” Her fist cut off his concerned question. He rocked back on the mattress, but recovered in time to catch the next fist she threw at him again.
“What the hell?”

  “I am going to kill you,” she thundered, leaping up from the floor.

  It took no effort for him to catch her around the waist and flip her onto the bed. In less than a second, he had her pinned snugly beneath him. He ignored the pleasure her wriggling caused, “I thought healers couldn’t do violence.”

  “This isn’t violence. This is anger.”

  “So a temper tantrum isn’t violence?”

  “I am not having a temper tantrum.”

  “Oh? What would you call it?”

  She glowered at him. “I can’t believe you didn’t mention this to me!”

  “I’m mentioning it to you now.”

  “You couldn’t have mentioned it before?”

  “I didn’t think about it until we were on our way back. You weren’t speaking to me then.”

  “You couldn’t have thought of it earlier?”

  “You didn’t think of it either,” he pointed out in a reasonable tone.

  “Prophetess! This is not happening.” Ilexa stopped struggling underneath him, and her head fell back, eyes closed in despair.

  Now he was offended. “Carrying my child is hardly the end of civilization.”

  Her eyes snapped back open. “Do you want me to be carrying your child?”

  “I’d rather you be married to me first, so your brother doesn’t kill me, but yes, I want you to be carrying my child. I’ve thought of little else since the possibility occurred to me.”

  Her mouth fell open, but no words came out.

  “You can’t heal yourself, but would you be able to sense if you are pregnant?”

  She shook her head.

  “Then tomorrow, you can run a pregnancy test in while you’re at work.” He smiled wickedly at her. “Tonight, we’ll just have to do things that won’t get you pregnant. Tomorrow we’ll use birth control, at least until you are ready.”

  He started to lower his mouth to hers, intending the kiss to be passionate enough to ignite an evening of inventive passion. He’d put some serious thought into the night’s activities, but the panic on her face threw his plans out the window. Calming her fear became the most important thing in his life. “Ilexa, do you want to go to medical now?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

  “Don’t worry about me.” He shoved his upper body away from her. “We’ll go now.”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  “I don’t want you worrying about this.”

  She wrapped her arms around his lower back. “I’ll worry, but the test will still be in there in the morning.”

  He furrowed his brow in concern. “I don’t want you worrying.”

  “Then maybe you should distract me.”

  Beneath the worry, he saw a silver spark of desire in her eyes. He captured her mouth with his, before she could change her mind.

  ***

  She turned the corridor to medical and saw Thane pacing outside the main entrance, worrying his lower lip. Her face flushed with heat as memories of what he’d done to her with those lips during the previous night flooded her mind. He caught sight of her, and she knew he saw her blush when his expression became cocky.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  His brow lowered. “I’m here to hold your hand.”

  Her heart turned over. “That’s sweet of you, but I’ll need my hands to run the test.”

  “I’m still going with you.”

  He sounded defensive, and for some reason she’d never understand, she found that touching. “Fine. I’ve been using the closet we were keeping Zavian in as my office,” she explained as she led him towards the small space she’d claimed as her own.

  His large hand closed around her biceps. “Slow down. It’s not a race, and you are attracting attention.”

  She breathed deeply and measured her pace. After an eternity, she reached the closet and shut herself and Thane inside.

  “They are going to be wondering what you are doing in here with me,” she realized.

  Thane snorted a laugh. “They won’t ask. Aren’t you medical people discreet?”

  “Discreet? Yes. Nosy? Hells yes,” she grumbled, turning to pull a small kit off the shelf behind her.

  To her everlasting embarrassment, her hands shook as she tried to open the sample kit. A sharp rap on the door startled her. She shrieked and jumped, sending the kit flying into the air. Thane caught it with one hand and dropped the other onto her shoulder and squeezed.

  “Come in.”

  Quatres poked his head around the door and slipped in. He locked it behind himself and held out his hand. “I’ll run the test.”

  “Test? What test?” Was her voice always so high and squeaky?

  Thane pulled the hand holding the kit from behind his back and deposited it in Quatres’s palm. “I think our secret’s out.”

  Quatres grinned. “It wasn’t hard to guess after last night. Everyone else thinks you are being treated for a bravani sting you received rescuing Ilexa. Given the location of the sting, she’s treating you in private to spare your pride.”

  Ilexa breathed a relieved sigh. “Thanks, Quatres.”

  “What are friends for?” he asked cheerfully as he stabbed the side of her finger.

  “Ouch!”

  “You can’t just do a scan?” Thane asked curiously, leaning over to study the blood sample Quatres collected.

  “Too soon. The blood test for hormonal changes will be more accurate,” Ilexa explained, putting her bleeding finger to her mouth.

  Quatres added two drops of clear liquid to the test strip, and Ilexa’s breath caught in her throat. The strip turned green. She met the medic’s sympathetic gaze and didn’t even try to stop the tears from brimming.

  “What? What does green mean?” Thane asked, a hint of alarm in his voice.

  Tears scalded Ilexa’s face, leaving cold paths in their wake. “I’m not pregnant.”

  Thane wrapped his arms around her and let her cry into his chest while Quatres patted her shoulder awkwardly from behind.

  When her tears turned to sniffles, Quatres asked, “Do you want birth control?”

  She nodded into Thane’s chest and listened to Quatres moving around.

  “Arm?”

  She nodded again. Quatres pushed up her sleeve and the injection stung the flesh above her elbow.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “I’ll leave you two alone,” Quatres said, and she heard the click of the lock followed by the door opening and closing.

  Thane wrapped his arms tighter around her and rested his cheek on the top of her head. Rocking her gently, he asked,” Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Liar.”

  And he just held her.

  ***

  Thane was waiting outside her door after her session with Quatres. He walked with the medic partway down the corridor speaking in tones too low for her to hear, before turning and striding purposefully back to her room.

  Karia opened her own door and stepped out to waylay Thane, resting a slim hand in the center of his chest. “Hello, my dear,” she purred, shooting Ilexa a triumphant look out of the corner of her eye. “Did you come to escort me to lunch?”

  Gods help her, Ilexa didn’t mean to laugh but Karia’s behavior was so over the top, she couldn’t stop herself. The woman’s expression showed her loathing and Ilexa quickly ducked back into her room, knowing as she did so it was too late to hide her amusement.

  She was resting her back against the closed door trying to snuffle her laughter when the door flung open, sending her sprawling onto the floor. Thane closed the door and turned an annoyed expression on her.

  “That wasn’t wise.”

  “I couldn’t help it,” she said between giggles.

  “Karia is a powerful warrior, and not someone you want as an enemy.” He frowned. “I didn’t like the look on her face when you laughed.”

  She fou
nd his concern adorable, and it brought another round of laughter.

  He extended his hand and she let him pull her to her feet. Getting a grip on her laughter, she asked, “What brings you by? Aren’t you supposed to be out hacking at someone with a sword or yelling at other people who are hacking at someone with swords?”

  “I wanted to check on you.”

  Her cheeks burned in embarrassment at her meltdown that morning. Especially since she couldn’t understand why she had been so upset. To his credit, Thane had said nothing further about wanting a child. He clearly wanted her to handle it in her own way and put no pressure on her. He’d even made her apologies to Vardin when he saw the Inderian off so she didn’t have to say goodbye.

  “I’m fine,” she assured him, but ducked her head shyly. Desperate to fill the awkward silence, she asked, “What did you say to Quatres?”

  If Thane heard the nerves in her voice, he ignored them “I asked about the healer testing. He seemed a little stunned.”

  “He’s got a strong gift. I think he’ll find it lies with pain management and comfort, perhaps some system strengthening.”

  “Not everything, huh? So you’re still our only healing prodigy?” Thane teased.

  “He’s got it in him to be a mid-level healer, Thane. That’s a real gift, but he’s conflicted. He can’t embrace healing and be a warrior. True violence impedes our healing.”

  Thane pulled her into a hug. “I also told Quatres he was excused from training while he makes his decision.”

  Damn it. There he went again, reminding her why she loved him. And had loved him since she was a girl. Could she make him love her? And could she survive if she couldn’t?

  Thrusting away the heart-wrenching questions, she said, “I’m sure he appreciates it.”

  “It would help if we could establish guidelines. A list of things he could and couldn’t do as a healer.”

  She pushed free to pace. Her mind consumed with worry for Quatres. “That’s the problem. There isn’t a checklist. The goddess seems to handle each healer differently. I’ve clobbered most of my brothers without a problem—”

  “Most?”

  “Talon is too dignified to ‘clobber’. Him I hit.”

  Thane laughed and settled onto her bed, one ankle hooked over his knee. “I’ve given into the urge and ‘clobbered’ Talon a time or two.”