“Yes.”
They walked into the bathroom, and she picked the third sink from the right to wash, but debated touching the handle because of the gore on her hands. Hudson handed her some soap, then turned on the sink for her. As she lathered her hands, he walked over to a corner of the room and pulled a T-shirt out of a pile of neatly folded clothes.
The basin turned crimson, yet, her hands still remained red. Would they ever come clean?
Hudson gently gripped her shoulder. “When your hands are clean, you can put this on. It’s fresh and it will be too big, but at least you can get out of the clothes.”
She nodded and concentrated on her hands.
Beverly’s voice reached the bathroom from the gym. “Hudson?”
“In here, Bev!” he called.
A moment later, she appeared at the door. “Axel needs blood.”
Eden turned, thankful to be able to finally help. “I’ll do it.”
Beverly’s gaze flickered over to her. “It would be better if he had pure SR44ian blood.”
She headed for the door, determined to give Axel what he needed. “Why? If he needs blood, he can have mine!”
Hudson stepped in front of her, blocking her. “No, Eden. If he’s going to fully recover, the blood needs to be pure.”
Well, who would he get that from? Hudson certainly wouldn’t offer his, not with his hatred of Axel.
“Can Macy give it to him?” Eden asked.
Beverly shook her head. “No, honey. She can’t give blood and heal him. It would be too much on her system. The healings are hard enough.”
Eden tried to think of the other pure SR44ians in the silo besides the Warriors… Liberty? Was Annis here, or had she gone with the men?
Hudson grabbed her shoulders again. “I’m going to give him the blood, Eden.”
Her eyes widened as she stared at him. Had she misheard him?
“What?”
Hudson began rolling up his sleeves. “I’m going to give him my blood. I’m here, I’m pure SR44ian. I’ll help him.”
He turned and followed Beverly out of the bathroom. She stood stunned, unable to move as she tried to process what had just happened.
Her father, who had tried to kill her lover—not once, but twice—was now giving his lifeblood to save him.
She fully expected to see a pig fly by at any moment.
Chapter 36
Axel came to consciousness slowly. Every inch of his body ached, except for maybe his big toe on the right foot. It hurt to breathe, each rise of his chest an exercise in agony.
He opened his eyes to see Beverly sitting in the corner to the right staring at her phone. He realized the left side of his body seemed very warm, and then, he smelled her.
Looking to his left, he found Eden lying next to him, her body flush with his, her arms wrapped around his bicep. Her hair splayed across his torso, but he could see she slept soundly. Relief washed through him to find her safe.
“She wouldn’t go to bed.”
He glanced up as Beverly approached him.
“How are you feeling?”
He shrugged, and immediately regretted it. Normally, he wouldn’t show weakness, but damn, this shit hurt.
“Like I’ve been in a fight with a dinosaur.”
“I’ll get you some pain meds,” Beverly said with a grin. “Macy healed you up as best she could, but you had some serious internal injuries and she couldn’t mend everything. Cohen said to call him when you wake, and he’d come down and continue the healing.”
He nodded, and Beverly turned to a small table. She slid a needle into his arm and hooked up a bag. A few moments later, he wondered if the Earth had lost its gravity function as he couldn’t feel anything—not even the mattress below him. It seemed the only tether he had were Eden’s hands wrapped around his arm.
“Your friend Foster is an interesting guy,” she said as he closed his eyes, unable to speak.
Axel wanted to tell her that if hadn’t been for Foster, he would have died on that street, and Eden would have suffered God-knows-what at the hands of Judas. However, getting the words from his brain to his lips seemed to be an impossible task.
Beverly’s voice sounded so far away, like she resided in another galaxy. “Sleep now, Axel. When you wake up again, I’ll call Cohen.”
He didn’t need to be told twice. Sleep rolled up on him like a steam engine.
When Axel woke again, Eden was no longer by his side, and it kind of felt as if his left arm had been removed.
Beverly, however, hovered above him as soon as she noticed his eyes open.
“How are you feeling now?”
High. As. Fuck.
“Pretty good.”
“Those painkillers will do that to you,” she said with a smile. “Are you ready for another healing?”
He really didn’t think he needed one because everything was really perfect in his world. However, as he tried to sit up, the room began to spin, so he lay back down. Yes, the painkillers did seem to make everything all right, even though it clearly wasn’t.
“Sure.”
A healing would do him some good, then he wouldn’t need the painkillers.
Beverly took out her phone and waited. “Hey, Cohen. He’s ready.”
He closed his eyes, and a few minutes later, Cohen appeared at his side.
The male gazed down at him and smiled. “I hear you took some heavy shit in the city.”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s get you fixed up.”
While Cohen shut his lids and concentrated, Axel tried to do the same, but his thoughts kept wandering. Where had Eden gone? And Foster … oh, shit, where was Foster?
“Concentrate, Axel. Can’t do this without you.”
He focused on the ceiling above him as Cohen took both their energies and mended his wounds.
After a while, Cohen opened his eyes. “You’re damn lucky to be alive.”
“Where’s Foster?”
“He’s upstairs with the other males. He seems to have fit right in, and he and Blake are like two happy turds in a drum. It’s crazy how they took to each other.”
Axel couldn’t help but grin as relief washed through him. Foster had always reminded him just a little bit of Blake, except the opposite of him. Where Blake talked too much, Foster tended to remain quiet. However, the fact they got along so well didn’t surprise him. They both had that streak of fuck you that ran deep, maybe even deeper than his own. At least, no one had taken Foster out to the desert and shot him.
Cohen glanced over at Beverly. “And … well, Hudson wants to see you.”
Beverly moved to the foot of the bed. “Not now. He’s still high from the pain meds. Let him sleep those off, and then we can talk about having other visitors.”
It sounded like a plan to him, except he wanted to see Eden.
“Can I still see Eden?”
Beverly grabbed his big toe through the sheet. “Of course. But that’s it, for now.”
“I’ll let her know you’re asking for her,” Cohen said. “You’re one brave motherfucker, Axel, and based on your injuries, it’s really apparent that you live and die by that female.”
He couldn’t put a name to the surge of emotion that cascaded through him at Cohen’s words. As he watched the male leave, he tried to place it, but couldn’t. Maybe it was gratitude that someone realized how much he loved Eden? It definitely wasn’t pride in his actions, because he really didn’t think he’d done anything that special. He wished Eden was present so he could ask her if she saw any colors around him and what they meant.
Beverly walked over to the bed. “By the way, I saw the tattoo on your back when we were cleaning you up.”
He met her green gaze, waiting for her to say something else, and bracing himself for the worst.
“May I speak freely?”
He always appreciated honesty. “Yeah.”
Beverly sat down on the side of the bed. “Axel, just because you put a beautiful, i
ntricate portrait of someone on your back doesn’t mean that you love them. You have to feel it in your heart, in your soul. It has to make you feel good when things are going well between the two of you, and you have to want to make things better when they’re not. You have to be able to forgive, and you have to be able to say you’re sorry. You must not only listen to what your partner says, but you must hear it, and come to compromise, even if you don’t feel like it. The tattoo is stunning, but it’s a very small step in having a good, solid relationship.”
His chest clenched with concern as he thought about all those things, about how they all involved relating to another person. Maybe she was right. Maybe he just wasn’t equipped to handle the bad times.
He really didn’t have anything to say, but turned his head when he heard the double doors open. Eden strode in, a huge smile on her face. His own lips tugged into a grin and the worry disappeared. Yes, he had a lot of work to do in trying to relate to others, but Eden understood him, and that was all that mattered.
“Axel, I’m so glad you’re okay!”
She rushed over and laid her head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her on top of him. He pushed her hair back and palmed each side of her face. He could look into those dark eyes for the rest of his days and never become bored.
“Are you okay, Eden?”
She nodded and traced her finger down the side of his face. “I am.”
“I’ll leave you two for now,” Beverly said as she stood. “Be good down here.”
When he heard the double doors shut, he glanced around to make sure they were truly alone. Eden lowered her mouth to his, and he sighed with complete contentment.
“You scared me, Axel,” she murmured against his lips. “I thought I was going to lose you.”
He chuckled, still feeling a bit high, but much better after the healing. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
Her face turned serious. “I never want to get rid of you.”
His chest clenched again, but instead of worry, it was love. “Then you won’t.”
“Good,” she said as she rolled off him and tucked herself in at his side.
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, feeling happier than he ever should be allowed.
They laid in silence for a few moments, then she spoke. “Foster seems to be fitting right in.”
“That’s what Beverly and Cohen said.”
“They’ve told him everything.”
Now, that surprised him a bit. “About SR44? About what we really are?”
“Yes.”
Interesting. Noah would never allow that to go down unless he trusted Foster completely, and he wondered what had happened to bring on that confidence.
Shutting his eyes, he figured one more nap and he’d be ready to get up and move around a bit. His body felt good, but the damn painkillers Beverly had pumped into him still made him dizzy. Once those had left his system, he’d be good to go. Not one hundred percent, but he’d be up and around.
Then, he needed to talk to Hudson. He didn’t deserve Eden, and she could do so much better than him, but if she’d take him, he wouldn’t leave her side ever again.
Chapter 37
“Wake up, asshole.”
Axel cracked his lids to see Foster standing over him, a big grin on his face.
“You okay?” Axel asked, trying to sit up.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t move, though. I’ll pull over a chair.”
He tried to shake the sleep from his brain, but the painkillers still had him muddled.
Foster appeared in his line of vision again, carrying a chair. “I just wanted to say goodbye.”
“Headed back to Phoenix?”
“Nah. I got bigger fish to fry, Axel.”
He furrowed his brow. “Where you going?”
“Well, like I was telling Eden while you were busy dying in the car, I think you and I kind of took to each other right away.”
Couldn’t argue with that. “And?”
He leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees. “I’ve always had this dark side of me, Axel. Some days, it’s hard to remain on the good side. Some days, the urge to kill gets pretty strong. It’s probably why I did so well in the military.”
Although his mind felt fuzzy, he thought he understood where Foster headed. He’d often felt the same thing, and he knew someone else did, as well. “Are you saying what I think you are?”
He nodded. “If you’re considering that I may be part Colonist, then yeah. That dude Cohen went inside of me and found markers on my DNA.”
For some reason, this didn’t surprise Axel in the least bit.
“He said it’s the same markers that Blake has. He’s my half-brother.”
Now that … shit. He never would have seen that one coming in a million years, but then he realized it made sense. Foster had, after all, always reminded him of Blake a bit.
It also explained why everyone had been so accepting of Foster. He was one of them.
“Wow.”
“Yeah,” Foster said with a chuckle. “I found my tribe.”
Axel shook his head. “You said you were headed somewhere?”
“Noah’s been in touch with this other organization called Operation Underworld. They can use someone like me.”
Axel smiled. “A half-Colonist badass? Hell, we can use you here.”
“I’ve already accepted the position. But I’ll be back.”
Foster stood, and they clapped hands.
“You take care, my brother, and I’ll see you soon.”
As he watched Foster walk across the gym and out the door, he wondered what Operation Underworld consisted of, and when he’d see Foster again.
Shutting his eyes, he allowed sleep to pull him under again.
He didn’t know how much time had passed, but he knew he was being watched. Opening his eyes, he found himself surrounded by all the male Warriors. His fight or flight reflexes kicked in as he quickly evaluated the situation, and he knew he couldn’t kill all of them as they were highly trained, but not as proficient as him. Therefore, he’d take a few down before they ended him.
“You can relax. No one here wants to hurt you.”
He glanced at the foot of the bed to see Hudson. “They’re all here because I asked them to come down. There’s no other reason.”
Axel relaxed a bit.
“How are you feeling?” Hudson asked.
He sat up and rubbed his face. Just as he’d predicted, he seemed better, and his head had finally cleared. “Okay.”
“Can you get up?”
He nodded and pushed the covers away. Noah and Nico stepped aside so he could get his feet on the ground. He stood, not caring he was naked, and walked over to the chair that had some sweatpants and a sweatshirt neatly folded on it.
“That’s one hell of a tattoo,” Noah said among a few whistles.
Axel ignored him and kept his back to everyone as he slipped on his sweats. Let them look. He had finished hiding his love for Eden. As far as he was concerned, they could all go fuck themselves, especially if they had anything negative to say.
“You’re making the rest of us look bad,” Blake chimed in.
He turned around and placed his hands on his hips. No one said a word, and the silence grew until it became uncomfortable. The others began to squirm a bit—not meeting his gaze, tapping a foot, taking an interest in a spot on the ceiling—but not him. He’d been uncomfortable his whole life, and a few more minutes of it wouldn’t faze him. He’d be just fine waiting it out to see what they all wanted.
Hudson was the only one who kept his stare on him, his arms crossed at his chest. After a moment, he stepped forward until they stood about two feet apart.
“I have wronged you, Axel, and I’m here to atone for my misjudgments and wrong doings,” Hudson said, his voice loud and strong.
Axel gazed into the dark eyes and watched as they slowly turned yellow. The sun must have set. He had no idea
what he should say to the male as he couldn’t recall anyone apologizing to him before, except Eden.
What would the appropriate response be? It’s okay. No worries. Go fuck yourself. None of those felt right, except the last one, and that’s probably the verbiage he should avoid.
“You almost died protecting my daughter’s life, and I am forever indebted to you. I have provided you with life-saving blood, but I still feel I owe you more.”
Wait a minute. Hudson had given him his blood? No one had told him that, but it made sense. He’d been shot and stabbed and had lost a lot, so it would need to be replenished, and he would have healed quicker with pure SR44ian blood. Why Hudson had been the one to offer up a vein, he didn’t know. He’d have to ask Eden.
Hudson handed him a knife, then slowly unbuttoned his blue, silk shirt, and slipped it off his torso. After placing it on the bed, he spread his arms to his sides. “I would like to atone, now.”
Axel glanced down at the knife, then at Hudson’s wide chest. What the hell was he supposed to do? Stab the guy?
Hudson spoke in their native tongue. “Please, cut me. Let my blood flowing from my body be my apology. Let it signify the renewal of my bond to you as an SR44 male, as a fellow Warrior. Let these males present be my witnesses to my cleansing and my regret.”
Oh, hell. He’d heard about these atonement rituals, but never actually seen one, or ever thought about participating in one. He’d been wronged so many times, and no one had bothered to try to say sorry, let alone atone for what they’d done. He found the whole thing dumb.
Maybe for someone else who had not been used for hundreds of years, this shit meant something. For him, it almost felt insulting. No one had apologized for the atrocities he’d suffered. What he’d been through to save Eden had been nothing more than a hangnail in comparison to the horrors of his past.
Axel rolled his eyes and tossed the blade on the bed. “I’m not cutting you. That’s just fucking stupid.”
A few of the Warriors chuckled as Hudson lowered his arms. “I’m trying to repair things with you. I’m offering my apology.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Fine.”
The room remained quiet, and he grunted just to hear a noise. Finally, he spoke, deciding to clear the air right here and now.
Axel Page 18