by Lea Kirk
“I wish….” She stopped herself. Wished what? That none of this had happened? That her parents were alive? That she’d go home tonight, open the door and smell Mom’s world-class lasagna baking? Of course she wished all that, but what good would it do?
Gryf shook his head. “To live dwelling in what could have been is not a life, Alexandra. This helps no one.”
“I want to help.” The words were out of her mouth before it hit her how true they were. She wanted—needed to do something to help. Gryf’s expression softened. He must have figured out that this was what she wanted before she had. And he’d gotten her to recognize and vocalize it too. Cripes, he was good.
“You are a healer for your people,” he stated. “There is someone who could use your expertise.”
Moments later Alex sat on one side of Dennis’s slumbering form and Dante on the other. Gryf had taken a spot on the floor just behind her. “I know I don’t have a Gift like you, Dante, and I feel a little primitive because of it...but, if there’s anything I can do to assist you, I’d like to.”
“I would very much welcome the opportunity to work with and learn from you, Alex.” Warmth shone in Dante’s brown eyes, and his expression was almost fatherly.
Her heart lifted. Dante had a power unlike anything she’d ever imagined, and he wanted to learn from her?
“In the ancient time before The Leaving, physicians from both our races sometimes worked together. Terrians could enhance the power of a Matiran’s Gift, especially in difficult cases. You see, it was not only the guilt we bore for prematurely exposing you to the galaxy that drove us to protect you, it was also this connection we share. Our races complement each other.”
“So you think that if I participate, you can put more power behind your healing, and we may have a better chance of fixing Dennis’s foot so that Kotas doesn’t kill him?” Was it possible that what Dante wasn’t able to do alone, they could accomplish together?
“My hope is such.”
Her heart thrummed with excitement. “But how? What would happen?”
“I cannot say with any certainty, having never tried healing in this manner,” Dante admitted. “It would be new territory for us both.”
She wet her lips. Yesterday’s experience with Gryf had been painless. She’d felt an awareness of him, and the sensation of ocean waves, but nothing nefarious. To the best of her knowledge, she wasn’t under any sort of mind control, and her behavior seemed as normal as ever. Could she take a personal risk to help save a life? Alex checked over her shoulder. Nicky was still asleep. If he knew what she was contemplating, he’d blow a gasket.
It’s not his choice to make though, is it?
Dennis sighed in his sleep.
“Time runs short, Alex,” Dante murmured. “Dennis will awaken soon. Dormio will keep him from feeling pain as we put his foot back together.”
Alex held Dante’s gaze for a heartbeat. If there was a chance, no matter how unconventional, shouldn’t she take it?
“Okay, I’m in.”
Dante gave her a quick nod and patted the floor next to him, suddenly all business. “A point of physical contact is necessary,” he explained as she moved to sit next to him. “Your hand on my arm should be enough. We will go slowly for all our sakes. Doing too much during a session could cause excess swelling, decreasing Dennis’s blood flow, and leading to a whole new set of complications.”
But what would it do to her and Dante? She rested one hand on his forearm, and Dante placed his hands over Dennis’s foot. “When you are ready, Alex.”
She licked her lips. Okay, this was a little intimidating, but medical advances weren’t made by people who sat in their rooms picking their noses. “Okay, I’m ready.”
The healer gave her a reassuring smile, then murmured, “Pes.”
The faint healing light she’d seen yesterday glowed again in Dante’s eyes and hands. It wrapped itself around her hand, and the white, puffy clouds she associated with Dante invaded her senses. There was a gentle pull at the core of her being, and she inhaled as the inner workings of Dennis’s foot became visible to her like a full-color x-ray.
“I can see inside his foot. It’s...all the bones are shattered. How could anyone fix this mess, Dante?”
“Just watch.” Using his forefinger, Dante drew a line over Dennis’s foot and a bone fragment moved until it butted against and fused to another fragment. Oh! He was rebuilding the bone structure like a difficult jigsaw puzzle. Brilliant.
Ten minutes passed before Dante’s light faded and he released Dennis’s foot. “That was excellent. Thank you, Alex. We are not yet finished, but I could not have done half as much on my own.”
She couldn’t help sharing his kid-like grin over their accomplishment. Successful healing session and she felt perfectly normal. Didn’t get much better than that.
Blackness swooped in like a vulture, tunneling her vision. Oh, crap, not again. A firm hand shoved her head down to her knees, and the gentle clouds were back.
“Come back, Alex,” Dante’s voice said.
Her vision cleared, and she blinked at the dull grey floor. The world stabilized, and the darkness whisked away in smoky ribbons. A hand stroked her back. Gryf. She’d all but forgotten he was there. Rats. He must have seen her faint.
“Alexandra?” Gryf’s voice was gentle next to her ear.
“I’m sorry.” In. Out. Slow and steady.
“Worry not. Even as a youngster first learning to use my Gift, I too fainted. It is not unexpected, and will get better with experience.”
Gryf had fainted? That seemed hard to believe.
“Will you be ready to sit up?”
“I think so.” As she straightened, Gryf kept his hand on her shoulder for balance.
“Why would Alex faint if she does not have a Gift?” Graig’s grey gaze scrutinized her. How did he do that? Just appear from nowhere when she least expected him?
“Exposure,” Dante replied. “As the Gift can overwhelm a Matiran child’s first experiences, so can it overwhelm someone exposed indirectly. It is a potent force to anyone with no experience.”
That made sense. The power which had drawn energy from her had been potent.
Alex pursed her lips. “This won’t always happen, right?” If it did, then her ability to help would be limited, and that wasn’t acceptable.
“I do not believe so.” Dante gave her an understanding smile. “It may take several exposures, or just a few for you to adjust. We shall see. In the meantime, I do believe we have stumbled upon something that will be advantageous to both our peoples. Together we made more progress today than I could have on my own in three days. It will still take several sessions to repair all the damage, but there is hope. Are you willing to try again later?”
“Of course.” Dennis’s life was on the line, and failure was not an option.
Dante nodded, satisfaction gleaming in his eyes. “Captain, I request permission to proceed with this project with Alex.”
Gryf’s fantastic blue eyes locked with hers, and he smiled. A genuine smile. Her heart thudded in her chest. Wow.
“Permission granted, Chief.”
Chapter Six
The Pacific Ocean sparkled brilliant and blue under the midday sun. It was a jackets-need-not-apply kind of spring day. A glorious time to be alive. Alex’s feet trod the glittering sidewalk in her comfortable nursing shoes, closing the distance from work to lunch with her brother.
The sunlight dimmed. Her heartbeat elevated, pounding in her head like a bass drum. Along the horizon, a white cloud billowed, separating the water from the sky. It stretched as far as she could see in either direction, accelerating toward the coast with more speed than any cloud she’d ever seen. The closer that cloud got, the darker the sky became, until the entire town of Damon Beach was engulfed in its sinister shadow.
The cloud evaporated, and in its place was a floating horror. A colossal foreign object blotting out the warm sunshine and bringing night to noonti
me. Lights strobed along the bottom of the floating nightmare, strafing the street, turning asphalt into rubble. Buildings imploded, turning to dust as they crumbled in on themselves. People screamed, ran, but there was no escape from the death raining down from above.
The metallic monstrosity’s vibrations shook Alex to her core, as though determined to jolt her soul free and steal it away from her. She fell to her knees, begging for it to stop, but it didn’t. A scream welled in her chest and rose to her throat, demanding release. Her lips parted….
A firm hand clamped over her mouth. “Alexandra.”
Her eyes flew open. Eyes as deep and blue as the Pacific bore into hers. She knew this man.
“I am Gryf, Alexandra. It is over. The invasion is over, and you live. Your brother lives. Remember?” He kept speaking, repeating his words until a switch seemed to flip in her head and her brain tuned back into reality.
It’d been a dream; her memory replaying the events of the attack. Again. A tremor wracked through her. Four days in this cell, four days of horrific dreams every time she dozed off. It was getting to the point that she was afraid to fall asleep.
Gryf released her, his hand moving to stroke her hair away from her face. Why was he so good at calming her after these bouts? Better even than Nicky. Could that have something to do with his Gift? She was still unclear what his Gift was, as Matirans didn’t seem to be big on advertising themselves.
She leaned into his palm and let her eyes drift shut.
“It is okay now, Alexandra,” he crooned.
“It’s not.” It never would be again.
“It is.”
Her eyes snapped open. “Gryf, have you ever seen an Anferthian? They’re massive, cold-blooded killers, and they….”
“Shhh. Not all of them are so.”
Sure they weren’t. She twisted her mouth. “I haven’t met one I like yet.” Not that she’d encountered many. Just the one who’d knocked her out.
“I imagine not.”
And he had? He had a lot more intergalactic experience than she did, so maybe it was possible. But she wasn’t buying into that one without absolute proof—which didn’t exist. Those green bastards were evil. She drew a deep breath and exhaled the last vestiges of her nightmare.
“Are you well?” Gryf asked.
“Yeah, I’m okay.” As okay as she could be, given present circumstances. His hand moved to cup her head just behind her ear, and tension eased from her neck and shoulder muscles. Amazing. “Gryf, may I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“Is there any hope of escape?”
His lips compressed into a grim line. What would they feel like if she traced them with her fingers? Cripes. What was she thinking? They were prisoners on a slave ship, waiting to be shipped off to God knew where, and she was fixating on this alien’s lips?
Gryf’s hand brushed her hair back in a soothing gesture that calmed her further. “This cell is at the heart of the slave holds of the Premiere Warden’s ship. Short of a miracle, escape is impossible. The Anferthians do not want to lose me. Yet, this does not mean I...we...are not watching for an opportunity.”
She should be disappointed at the mixed news, but damn if she didn’t want to keep him talking. And touching. “Why….” Her voice cracked and she cleared her throat. “Why aren’t there more people crammed in here with us?”
“This ship was originally a floating prison, not a slaver. It can hold thirty-five thousand prisoners.” His fingertips paused at her jawline. “It may be there are not enough Terrians left to warrant more than ten people to a cell.”
Gryf’s words barely registered as she stared at his bearded face. Wonder what he looks like under that facial hair? Dad had had a beard; felt it was part of his academic persona as a professor of ancient history. What were the rules regarding beards in the Matiran military? Gryf’s beard wasn’t full and kept like Dad’s; in fact, it appeared to be a recent addition.
Gryf jerked his hand away, and she startled. “What?”
“Dimmi...forgive me, Alexandra.” Was that a note of panic in his voice? He rose and gave her a brisk nod. “I shall check on you later.”
She blinked in rapid succession as he strode away. What just happened? Had she fallen under a trance? If she had, it sure looked like he had too. And was he sorry for jerking his hand away as if she’d burned him, or because he was sorry he’d touched her in the first place? She shook her head. That couldn’t happen again. They were too different. Hell, they were different species, right?
Her gaze trailed down the straight line of his back. He did have one fine looking butt, though. Too bad it was attached to another planet.
A throat cleared next to her. She tore her gaze from Gryf’s backside and peered up into the hard grey eyes of a less welcome cellmate.
Commander Roble regarded her with a cool look, his arms folded across his chest. Figures he’d show up now. Damn, his gaze was unnerving. Was he trying to intimidate her? That jerk. Well, two could play at that game.
She gave him a fierce scowl. “Did you want something, Commander, or are you just trying to dissect my soul?”
His eyebrows rose and surprise flickered in his grey eyes, but then the mask slammed back into place. “I must ask that you not distract Captain Helyg from his duty.”
“Huh?” Had he really just said that? “What do you mean?”
“Am I not clear?”
Alex pushed off the floor to face him on more equal footing. She folded her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes, imitating Mr. Wonderful to a T. “What I hear you saying is that your captain is easily distracted and incapable of doing his job, and that I’m some insipid woman who needs to be ordered about.”
He looked utterly offended. Good.
“On the contrary, there is no captain more capable than Captain Helyg, and it is my great honor to serve as his security commander. Also, I hold women in the highest esteem. In my experience, insipid women simply do not exist.”
Alex gaped at him. First he insults her, then—what? Was that supposed to be a compliment?
The commander inclined his head with stiff politeness, turned on his heel and walked away. Argh. How like an egotistical male. If he decided the conversation was over, then it was over. Alex ground her teeth together and glared at his back. Well, this was fun. Not only did she have to figure out men from her planet, now she had to figure them out from someone else’s planet too. This had to be the greatest cosmic joke ever.
~ * ~
Gryf frowned. Having a private conversation in the confines of this cell was difficult at best. Surely Graig’s words to Alexandra had not been meant for his ears, yet he had heard them. And they had set poorly in his heart and mind. This must be resolved, now.
“Commander.”
Graig met his gaze and Gryf pointed two fingers at his friend, then to the far corner. An unspoken request for private speech that Graig would honor.
Once in the corner, Gryf pinned Graig with a hard glare. “Off the record, Graig, do you have feelings of the heart for Alexandra? Is that why you warned me away?”
“Off or on the record, sir, my answer remains the same,” Graig replied. “I have no feelings of the heart for Alex. My heart remains my own and I am disinclined to entrust it to the first female I meet. I was completely honest with you as to my reasons for you not to become involved.”
Gryf dared not examine the relief stirring in the vicinity of his own heart. Haesi’s betrayal had come at a price for Graig. Of course he would not be interested in kindling a relationship with another so soon. Haesi had kept him apart from the others for several days after the fall of the Guardians. Whatever had happened between them during that time was still a mystery, and Gryf would not press his friend for details. The Oath of the Guardians ran deep and strong in Graig, and he would remain true to that oath, even at personal cost.
“I appreciate your honesty and concern. You are my right hand, Graig, but you must have faith in my abi
lity to discern between my duty and my personal life. Now more than ever, we must work as a team if there is to be any hope of saving the few Terrians who are left.”
“It will not happen again, sir.”
“I trust it will not. Dismissed.”
Graig gave him a nod and retreated. Gryf allowed his gaze to drift to the knot of Terrians and Matirans in the opposite corner from where he stood. Nick’s arm lay across Alexandra’s shoulders, the siblings no doubt deriving comfort from each other’s familial closeness. Once, Gryf had shared such a bond with his cousin, Ora. Sweet Mother, what he would give for the same with Alexandra.
Setting his back against the corner, he slid down the wall to sit cross-legged, and closed his eyes. Why had these five particular Terrians been incarcerated in this cell? There was little question of Kotas’s hand in the arrangements. The traitor must have hand-picked each of the Terrians to use against Gryf. A desperately injured Terrian male, two beautiful women, a six-year-old child, and a youth with the potential to rebel against authority. It was even possible that Kotas was aware of Alexandra and Nick’s relationship. A most unpleasant prospect. No doubt Kotas would bide his time and allow Gryf’s natural instincts for guarding and protecting them to grow. And then….
Gryf forced his jaw to relax. If he continued to grind his teeth together, they would become nubs. There was only one thing he could do. He must not allow himself to become personally attached to any of the Terrians.
But it was too late, was it not? He frowned. Despite what he had told Graig, Alexandra’s welfare concerned him the most. He could not stop this instinct any more than he had been able to stop the destruction of his fleet. As long as he did not act on that instinct, she would be safe.
And there was another issue. By now the populace of Matir would know of his failure of duty. His own dishonor in their eyes did not bother him as much as the pain his parents would endure because of him. But there was nothing he could do about it. Now his duty was to protect the survivors until the Defense Fleet could arrive.
And to find a way to escape.