by K. D. Jones
“Lieutenant Daniels, what exactly happened last night?” Ren asked.
“I spoke with Prime ConEL briefly at the ball and was worried about him. He was distant and withdrawn. He disappeared from the ballroom while I was dancing with Lieutenant AtOM. I went looking for him and saw him going into the water. I didn’t think…I just went in after him. Jaxon showed up and helped me get him to the shore. We performed CPR, which revived him.”
“You saved my father’s life, twice now. Thank you.” AriELa walked over to her and gave her a hug. It felt awkward. Lucy wasn’t used to hugging people. She patted the other woman’s back.
“It was nothing.”
They all turned as the pocket door to the suite slid open. Prime Medic SydEL and his mate, Prima Medic Katrina, came in. Neither one looked happy.
“How is he?” RendEL asked. Cassie grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze.
Syd shook his head. “He’s… not the same. Physically, he’s recovering. He needs to do physical activities to build back his muscle mass. There are scars that will fade some in time but will never go away completely. But his way of thinking is…not right.”
“Is he a danger to others?” Ren asked.
“No, but right now he is a danger to himself. He will have to be kept under close watch. I would also like to see him go through counseling,” Kat said, walking over to the other couch and sitting down. She rubbed her rounded belly.
“Counseling?” Kyd asked, looking confused.
“Kat says it is where he sits down with someone specifically trained for this situation and talks about his feelings and about what happened to him on the Morin ship,” Syd explained, but he had doubts about the whole thing.
“It doesn’t sound like it would help that much?” TarAK asked.
“Actually, it does help,” Lucy spoke. Everyone turned to look at her. She gulped. “I went through counseling once, a long time ago.” She looked over at Jaxon who nodded for her to continue. “I had gone through a tough time and had to have counseling because I was in a similar state of mind. I no longer cared about my own life. I was in pain and thought the only way to make it stop was to…end my life.”
She rubbed her wrists where she still had scars from when she had tried to kill herself. AtOM stepped up and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. She didn’t look at him.
“I didn’t want to go through the counseling, but a friend of mine kind of forced it on me. It helped me. I think it will help Prime ConEL, too.” She prayed that it would.
Kyd snorted. “Well, that might work for the males on Earth, but I doubt it would work for a Katieran male. We do not need to verbalize every emotion we feel.”
Jaxon smacked his arm. “That’s why you are always getting on my last nerve!”
He frowned at her. “You keep saying that I am getting on your last nerve. How many of those do you have?”
All the women in the room burst out into laughter. All the men frowned, which only made the women laugh harder. When the laughs died down, everyone looked back at Syd for what would be the best method.
“Kyd is right to a degree. Katieran males do not deal with their aggression by talking about their feelings. When we have males who are too out of control like in our teen years, we have them perform warrior training.”
“Why not have him do both?” Lucy offered. “Have him go to warrior training so he can build up his strength and release his aggression. Then have him do the counseling.”
Everyone then turned to AriELa. One minute she was just a child herself, and then she was an orphan. Now, she was responsible for a little brother she had not met before and a father who can no longer think for himself.
“I want my father back. Tor needs him, too. I’ll do anything it takes to make that happen.”
“Then it’s settled.” Ren called an end to the impromptu meeting.
*****
Lucy thought that AtOM would leave her once he escorted her from the eighth floor. Unfortunately, he went with her to the Morning Meal. They got their food and sat at a table just the two of them. They ate in silence for the most part.
“Why would you need counseling?” AtOM asked her.
She sighed. “AtOM, I don’t want to talk about it.”
“But this counseling is all about talking about your feelings correct?”
“Yes, but you do this with a licensed counselor who has been trained to help people with their problems.”
“What kind of problems did you have?” He tilted his head to the side and studied her.
“Look, I like you. But I don’t want to talk to you or anyone else about this. It happened a long time ago. I got the help I needed. I moved on. Let it go.”
AtOM looked at her with a hurt expression on his face. He stood. “I will leave you to eat in peace then.”
“AtOM, wait!” He was already halfway out the door. She stared after him wondering if she was crazy. Here she was, on a different planet with a great looking guy interested in her, but she kept pushing him away. She did that back on Earth, too, after her husband was gone. She would keep herself busy and always made excuses for not getting involved with men. Did she really come thousands of galaxies away to do the same thing again?
She finished her breakfast. She didn’t have to report in to training for another two hours. What was she going to do? She knew what she wanted to do.
*****
ConEL paced the medic room where they put him. He had put his clothes on. They weren’t really his clothes, but some Prima SandELa brought by for him. She tried to talk to him but all he could do was stare at her barely swollen belly. She had recently mated with an Earth male. Was everyone on Katiera breeding? It was something he had once hoped would happen for his people. Now, all it brought him was sadness.
He wanted out of the room, but the security guards were not letting him pass. It was frustrating. He wanted to throw something so he picked up the empty tray that was used to bring in food to him. The males drew their laser gun on him. Yes. This was what he needed, to get them to end his life for him.
“What the hell is going on here?” Lucy walked into chaos.
The security liaisons didn’t lower their weapons. But they did answer her. “Prime ConEL is aggressive and out of control. He threw his tray. We are concerned. You should leave female.”
Female? “Oh, hell no. You guys need to leave. It’s clear the two of you are agitating him. Go out to the waiting area.” Both males shook their heads.
“Go or I’ll tell Prime Leader RendEL you pulled your weapons on his uncle.” The threat worked. When they were gone, she turned on ConEL. “What are you doing?”
He paced away not looking at her. It bothered him the way she looked at him. With pity and concern. He took offense to it.
“Why aren’t you with your mate?” he challenged.
“What are you talking about?”
“The male you were dancing with. You rubbed yourself all over him.”
“AtOM? We’re not mates, but we are friends.”
“The male wants more. I could smell his arousal across the room.”
“Well, he can want all he wants. It doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.”
ConEL snorted. “Why are you here?”
She touched her braid self-consciously. This was a bad idea. “I wanted to see how you were doing.”
“I’m fine. Now leave.”
Guess he wasn’t going to be thanking her any time soon for saving his life. He hadn’t thanked her for getting him and his son off the Morin ship either. She didn’t expect him to. He was angry with her for keeping him alive. Yeah, she wasn’t his favorite person in the world right now and if looks could kill, she would be dead.
Lucy moved to a chair and sat down. She pulled out her digital tablet and started to pull up her training schedule. She smiled to herself remembering Jaxon destroying her digital tablet. Ever since that day, she had never looked at a digital tablet the same way.
“Why are yo
u smiling?!” Con demanded. He kept his distance on the other side of the room.
She looked up at him. “I didn’t know I was smiling. Does it bother you?”
“No.” Yes, it did bother him. Seeing her smile, did things to him. He didn’t like it. He wished she would just leave. She laughed a sexy throaty laugh that wrapped around his cock making his whole body jerk in response. Kitana!
“You are such a bad liar. I know you don’t want me here. You don’t want anyone here do you?”
He looked away from her. How did she know so much about him? They just met days ago.
“I’ll be leaving shortly. Before I do, I wanted to give you some advice. You can take it or leave it. But if you listen and do what I suggest, you’ll be a lot happier.”
He doubted that. Nothing could make him happy again. “What advice?”
“Your family is going to have you participate in two things. One is warrior training—to help build up your strength. The other is counseling—to help you deal with your issues. I would suggest you take them up on it and put your all into doing both.”
He frowned. “Why do I need either? I am no longer a warrior, so training is pointless. This counseling, it does not sound beneficial at all, whatever it is.”
“Do the training. You may not be a warrior right now, but you could be again. If you want to end your life, should it not end as a warrior? It would be easier for your children to accept that way. As far as the counseling, it involves talking about what happened to you on the Morin ship and how you feel about it.” He interrupted her by snorting his disgust at the thought of talking about his feelings.
“I know it sounds ridiculous to you. But I did it once, a long time ago. It helped me.”
He looked at her then. “Why would you need counseling?”
Damn it! She was going to stop sharing her personal stuff with people. What was happening to her? She stood and walked over to the door. “Take the counseling at least to show your family and your people that you are not a danger to them.”
“Any other advice?”
“Yeah, stop throwing things around. It will only have you watched more and your freedom limited.” She didn’t wait for his response. She walked out of the room. When she saw the two security liaisons, they gave her a relieved look. “He’s all yours.”
*****
Damn female! ConEL stared at the door that Lucy had left through. He wanted to follow her and tell her to mind her own business. The problem with that was that it wasn’t his only urge toward the interfering female. He wanted to taste those plump lips of hers.
She was just too attractive for her own good. He growled thinking about how the other males looked at her. She obviously was not aware of her effect on males. He didn’t understand his reaction to her. He didn’t want to feel anything for her at all.
He wanted to throw something else or to punch the wall. But her words haunted him. His freedoms would be limited if he continued to act out of control. He didn’t want that to happen. He ran a hand through his graying hair. He would have to take her advice. What choice did he have?
* * *
Chapter Three
“This is bull crap!” Jaxon complained.
Lucy smiled at her previous Captain. “It’s okay. I would do it over again if given a choice.”
But it’s not fair.
“Who said life was fair?”
Lucy had been called before the Katieran High Council to answer for her having broken one of the Laws of Katiera.
There were five primary laws of Katiera that everyone was expected to adhere to:
First Law - protect all females and young.
Second Law - protect the Prime families.
Third Law - serve the people of Katiera.
Fourth Law - honor the mated pair of Gods.
Fifth Law - protect all natural resources.
Anyone who did not adhere to these laws was subject to banishment or, in some cases, death.
In saving ConEL from drowning, she had broken the Fifth Law. It was silly really. She upheld the Second Law but broke the Fifth one. Shouldn’t that cancel them out or something?
“I just don’t understand why they have such a problem with people swimming. It’s not like they have any diseases that can spread that way,” Jaxon continued to complain as they sat in the meeting room alone while the council members went to another room to confer with one another. Two Security Liaisons stood guard outside the door.
“From what Kat told me, the law to protect the natural resource was created after the virus was first released by the Morins unto the Katieran home world. It spread quickly infecting everything; plants, animals, even their water supply. Their world was dying out,” Lucy said, thinking about all that she had learned since coming to Katiera almost five months ago.
The Katieran scientists worked years in desperation to come up with a way to localize the virus and to try to reverse the effects. The technology they developed neutralized the biggest mortality. It allowed for the next development by the Katieran scientists, which was the revitalization process. It began to change the polluted and infected plants, animals, and natural resources like the water to clean and sustainable. The law on natural resources was then instituted to keep everything protected. This same revitalization process will be used to help Earth with their dying planet.
“Still sucks that you would stand trial for risking your life to save ConEL, but he would not be held accountable at all for his own actions. You wouldn’t be here if he had not tried to…” Jaxon stopped talking as the council members re-entered the room and took their seats. Prime Leader RendEL and Prime Commander KydEL were also with them.
Council Leader TannOR still stood. “Lieutenant Daniels, please stand for your judgment.”
Lucy stood. She felt her knees were wobbly. But she straightened her shoulders and looked them all in the eyes.
“Normally such a breach in the Law would have severe punishment to discourage any others from following in your steps. However, Prime Leader RendEL and Prime Commander KydEL have advocated on your behalf. If you had not broken the Law, Prime ConEL would have died.” He sighed heavily.
“This is the first time that our Laws have been challenged or tested. We realize that we may need to add amendments to our Laws to accommodate our new citizens. But until the amendments have been approved, you will still need to be punished for having broken a Law.”
There was a pause as the council leader passed a paper to be handed to Lucy. She kept her eyes on the council leader.
“For breaking the Law, you are to be given two choices of punishment. The first choice you have is that you may choose to return to Earth to avoid punishment, but your return to Katiera is not guaranteed. The other choice you have is to go to the training facility on the Southside of Katiera for three months to meet out your time. Which choice do you select?”
Lucy did not have to think twice. “The Southside training facility.”
“Very well. The shuttle to Southside leaves in two hours. Pack what you need and say your goodbyes.” The council members all stood and left. RendEL, KydEL, and Jaxon remained behind.
Lucy breathed a sigh of relief. It could have been a lot worse. She turned to the two Prime males. “Thank you both for speaking up for me.”
“You are most welcome. We did not want to repay what you did to save our uncle by allowing you to have a severe punishment,” RendEL said.
Jaxon snorted. “Kyd knew better than not to help and Cassie told Ren she would cut him off in bed if he didn’t help as well.”
Both men sputtered and looked at Jaxon with flushed faces. Lucy didn’t care about the whys. “I’m just grateful.” She turned to Jaxon. “I have to go and pack. My next in command will have to take over my duties while I am gone.”
“I am going to miss you. No one gets my jokes like you do.”
“Your jokes are awful.”
“I know. Stay safe my friend.” Jaxon shook hands with her.
/> *****
Lucy hadn’t planned to do this. She was supposed to go to the landing field to get on the shuttle. However, her feet seemed to have a mind of their own. She found herself at the Medic Wing, standing outside the door to where ConEL was staying for now. She should probably just go.
“I can smell you out there! Come in!” ConEL yelled through the closed door.
Damn him and his keen sense of smell. All Katierans had heightened senses. But the smell thing was one of the strangest. She sat her army bag down on the floor and entered the room.
ConEL sat up in his bed. “To what do I owe this privilege?”
“I came to say goodbye.”
He looked up at her curiously. “Where are you going?”
“Southside for training.”
He snorted. “You’re female, what kind of training are they planning to have you do there?”
Lucy knew it was a mistake to come. He was only going to antagonize her. “Goodbye, Prime ConEL, and good luck to you.” She didn’t wait for his answer. She turned and walked out. She grabbed her bag and headed toward the landing field. The only time she looked back was once she was on the shuttle, she glanced up at the last view of the Prime City of Katiera that she would have for a while.
*****
ConEL paced his medic room. The female left and he was agitated. He yelled at the medics that tried to check on him. He growled at the security liaisons. He hit the wall with his fist until his hand started to swell.
“You need to calm down,” Prime Medic SydEL told him. “Let me check your hand.”
Security must have contacted the Prime Commander. He came into the room followed closely by his mate, Jaxon. Why did he allow his female into dangerous situations? This he would never understand.
“What in Kitana is going on here?!” Prime Commander KydEL demanded.
“Why are you sending females to Southside for training?!” ConEL demanded right back.