This Wraith wasn’t like the others. Instinct told her that it was in command, that it had been the one to take Van from the compound. She lifted her laser rifle higher, looking down the sight at the room. The moment the Wraith appeared, she aimed for its right hand side and just as she pulled the trigger moved her aim across it to its left. The Wraith moved straight into the path of the round and let out an unholy scream as it tore through its arm. Amerii grinned.
Her victory was short lived as the Wraith appeared in front of her, grabbed the arm of the Heavy Armour and hurled her towards the far wall. She hit it face first, cracking her head against the inside of the helmet. A warm liquid trickled down from a throbbing hot patch on her right temple. She screwed her eyes shut as her mind spun, waiting for it to come to a halt. The blood reached her cheek. It tickled but she couldn’t wipe it away with her hands inside the suit.
When her mind had stopped spinning, Amerii picked herself up and then picked up her laser rifle. The heavy gun had taken a beating, but it still seemed to be functioning. The sensors on the Heavy Armour showed that the Wraith had disappeared. Was it waiting for her to try to reach Van again?
It seemed to enjoy hurting her.
She turned to face Van where he still knelt on the floor. He looked terrible. She could barely recognise him through the blood that coated his face and neck. It seemed the Wraith had enjoyed hurting him too. Her mate.
She shouldered her rifle again.
The Wraith would pay for that.
Just as she took a step towards Van, the Wraith appeared in front of him. It seemed more real this time, more than just a drifting cloud of white. It had form, shaped like a humanoid but at least twice as tall as any species she knew. It had eyes, hollow holes that held no emotion, and a smile that set her teeth on edge.
It bent towards Van and grabbed his hair, hauling his head up.
“No!” Amerii shouted and ran at the Wraith, the Heavy Armour’s steps like thunder on the dusty ground. She took aim. Her finger closed around the trigger. Her heart missed a beat.
Before she could release the round, the Wraith was in front of her, past the muzzle of the rifle. She could only watch in horror as it reached towards her, everything moving in slow motion, and its hand moved straight through her visor and into the helmet. Hot burning fingers closed around her throat.
Amerii stared up into its hollow eyes.
As it squeezed her throat, she brought the gun back and fired.
A dark smile crossed the Wraith’s face and then faded. Amerii’s breathing quickened as she blinked and stared up at it. The hand disappeared from her throat. Its face turned elusive and began to disintegrate, drifting away in the breeze. She stared into its eyes as they narrowed and then blinked out of existence.
She still stared long after it had gone.
Her heart beat hard.
Her breathing was shallow.
Her body felt numb.
A noise snapped her out of her shock, bringing back the sound of gunfire outside the old building and the bright sunshine that beamed down at her from the hole in the ceiling.
She turned and lowered her head to look at Van. He was conscious, looking up at her as he knelt on the floor.
Her heart clenched at the sight of his face so beaten and bloodied. A cut split his lip and it had swollen. His left eye was almost closed from the swelling around it and a nasty gash ran across his eyebrow, over the tender skin of his eyelid. Long strands of his hair had stuck to the blood on his face. She wanted to clear them away and look after him. She wanted to tell him that things would be fine now that they were together again.
There were cuts on his throat and in the fabric of his suit on his arms and chest. She thanked Iskara that the suit seemed to have sustained the bulk of the damage and protected him. Tears filled her eyes but she fought to hold them back. This wasn’t over yet. They still had to get him back to the compound and she had lost the other Varkan soldier.
Walking towards him, Amerii smiled when he moved so he could continue to look up at her, even though he probably couldn’t see her through the darkened visor.
She knelt down on one knee. It hit the dirt hard, sending a jolt through her. It wasn’t easy to perform delicate moves like kneeling in the Heavy Armour.
Reaching around him, she broke the metal restraints on his arms, the Heavy Armour making them look as brittle as glass.
“Thank you, soldier,” Van said and gripped the arm of the Heavy Armour, pulling himself up onto his feet.
She held him steady when he wobbled and frowned.
“I owe you much,” he said, voice quiet and hoarse. “Give me your rank and I will see to it that Varka hears of your bravery.”
There were bruises on his throat, as though someone had been throttling him. She swallowed, feeling the ache in her own throat. That Wraith had paid for what it had done, but she didn’t feel any better. She wanted more. She wanted to bring it back so she could fight it again and make it truly pay for inflicting such terrible injuries on her mate.
“Soldier?” Van said.
Amerii smiled to herself when she realised that he thought she was a Varkan. She pressed the two sides of her helmet and it extended outwards and then opened up to reveal her face. Van stared at her, his eyes wide and his lips parted in shock.
“Amerii?”
She nodded, amused that he needed her to confirm that.
“What are you doing out here?” he said and then frowned. “You are hurt.”
He stepped towards her and she closed her eyes briefly as he wiped the blood from her cheek and temple. The sweep of his fingers was gentle, tender. It filled her with warmth and drew her tears out of her. She sniffed them back and told herself to be strong. The sight of Van so hurt scared her though. She wished she could hold him, could feel his arms around her, but she couldn’t in the suit.
Looking at him, she found he was staring at his fingers and the blood coating them. His eyes brightened to vivid crimson. She could see the battle within him.
“I’m fine,” she said, wanting to alleviate his anger and soothe him. He looked at her, right into her eyes, and his frown melted away, his irises darkening back to normal. “I’m just glad that you’re okay.”
Her brow furrowed as she looked at him, seeing all his injuries and wishing there was something that she could do about them.
The Varkan officer she had lost came thundering around the corner.
He walked into the room and kneeled before Van. Amerii noticed that his suit barely made a sound as his knees hit the dirt. He clearly had better control over the Heavy Armour than she did.
“We came to rescue you,” she said with an affectionate and soft smile, holding her hand out to Van. “If you’re ready to go, I really think we should. I could carry you if you wanted.”
Van frowned at her and the Varkan soldier looked up in her direction. She didn’t need to see his face to know that he would be scowling too. Insinuating that Van was weak was becoming quite amusing. She liked how he reacted to it. She liked the way he looked when he frowned. It added to his handsomeness.
He touched the hand of the Heavy Armour, frowned again, and then touched her face instead. His hand was warm against her face, soothing as he held her cheek and looked into her eyes. He nodded.
“I am sure I can last the journey back to the station.” He glanced up at the sun, his eyes narrowing to slits, and then looked at her and the soldier. “We will need to hurry. The sun is a long time from setting.”
She closed her helmet and then turned to lead the way. She knew what that meant and even though her heart said to, she couldn’t refuse him. If he wanted to run, then they would run. She wouldn’t risk the sun damaging his eyes by making him walk.
“Keep between us. Lyran fighters are waiting outside to cover us.”
Amerii walked back out into the corridor, her eyes on Van for a moment where he walked between her and the Varkan officer. She would see him back safe. She wouldn’t let anyt
hing happen to him.
Never.
***
Amerii walked into the infirmary, smiled politely at the nurses, and went into the small room where they were holding Van. Holding was the right word. They’d had to restrain him to stop him from trying to leave the bed. He was nowhere near ready for duty again, even if he insisted that he was.
She snuck into the room, as quiet as she could so she didn’t wake him. He looked better today. Many of the cuts were now healed, the swelling had disappeared, and his skin had a little more colour, or at least as much as she had come to expect of it. It had been four days since the Wraiths had captured him.
The Lyran fighters had escorted them back to the complex and had then returned to blanket bomb the North Sector. She had gone with Van to his vessel, but not before her captain had taken her aside.
It seemed she had finally impressed him and that he was recommending her for a long overdue promotion. His apology had been so sincere that she hadn’t been able to speak for several minutes and had only been able to salute him.
He had also given her leave to remain by Van’s side until he recovered. She was grateful for it but even if he had refused, she would have gone anyway.
She sat beside Van on the black covers of his bed and stroked the hair from his face. The monitors above him showed him as stable now. A red gauge read ninety-seven. Apparently, it meant he was close to being completely healed.
She gave a shy glance at her wrist and the marks on it. In the shuttle en route to the ship, she had fed Van. The Varkan officer who had rescued him with her had told her that even a small amount of her blood would help increase Van’s healing speed.
She had given him all she could without passing out.
“What are you thinking?” a drowsy voice said, the sound of it warming her right down to the marrow of her bones.
“About you,” she said and looked into Van’s eyes.
Their dark red irises still spoke of fatigue. She smiled and caressed his cheek. His hand came up and claimed hers, bringing it down to his chest.
“I wish you would not worry so.”
He could say that a million times and it wouldn’t change a thing. She would always worry about him.
“I’m not the only one who worries,” she said and moved closer so she was sitting near his ribs. He rested one arm across her lap, holding her hand with his other. “Regis is en route.”
Van rolled his eyes and sighed.
“He claimed it was so Sophia could see me as planned, but I think it’s for your sake that he’s coming. Sophia said he was packing the moment he heard you were injured.”
Even though Van looked unimpressed, she could see that Regis’s concern had touched him.
“I didn’t tell him,” she whispered, afraid to raise her voice now. His gaze shifted to her throat, to the marks hidden beneath the collar of her tight blue and black flight suit. “I thought it was best you told him and it was done face to face.”
“Have you told anyone?”
She nodded.
“My captain knows. Your crew knows. And when you were... while you were sleeping... I contacted my parents.”
His hand tensed against hers. “And?”
She smiled at the tremble in his voice. Her fearless Varkan was afraid of the one thing in the universe that she would always be able to protect him from—her parents.
“My father wishes to know if all Varkans claim their women first and ask for their hand after.”
“Is that a bad response?” he said.
“He wished to meet you. I told him that he already had. My mother reminded him about a certain young Varkan who had spent half the night talking to his daughter. He remembered you rather vividly then. It seems he has heard all kinds of positive things about you. Regis has been talking to my uncle, Sebastian, and in turn, he has been telling my father. It sounds rather like a plot to me.”
Van frowned. “Regis.”
“You didn’t happen to mention why you wanted to learn love, did you?”
He shook his head. “He also noticed that I had spent a long time talking to you though.”
“You’ll have to thank him for the groundwork on my father. It seems he approves of you and will be looking forward to discussing tactics with you at our wedding.”
“When we return to Lyra?”
She shook her head this time and patted his hand. “He’s on his way here. We’re already heading to Varka Prime where the ceremony will take place. Regis will meet us halfway and we will transfer to his ship. You’ll have around six days to prepare to meet my father. Will it be enough? I had always read that Varkans were fearless...”
His eyes narrowed into a glare.
“I do not fear your family,” he said with a grim expression.
“That’s the spirit.” She smiled even though he frowned at her.
“How did your captain find out?”
Pulling the collar of her blue and black flight suit down, she touched the marks on her throat. “I showed him these.”
Van’s eyes brightened, sending a flush of heat through her.
“Hungry?” Amerii whispered, her own and different form of hunger rising. He looked at the door and she glanced there. Before she could stop to consider how naughty the thoughts crossing her mind were, she was at the door and locking it. She crossed the room back to Van and moved to kneel on bed. He groaned when she straddled him.
His eyes followed her hand and she lowered the fastening of her flight suit to just past her breasts. She pulled the collar of it to one side to expose her neck.
He pulled her down to him, his grip on her waist firm and his tongue caressing her throat. Closing her eyes, she leaned into him, sighing out her breath.
“Are you well enough for this?” she whispered, afraid that she might hurt him.
“Stop worrying so much,” he muttered and she did when he kissed her, his mouth warm against hers, his kiss persuasive and electrifying.
Returning the kiss, her lips caressing his and her hands pressing into his shoulders, she thought about her future now.
She was sure that when she reached Varka Prime, she wouldn’t want to leave it again. She would want to remain there with Sophia and her family, and with Van.
Her father’s wedding gift had been leave from duty and she intended to spend it on Varka Prime. He had given it to her when she had admitted how frightened she had been on the battlefield against the Wraiths, and how horrifying the sight of death was.
She had almost asked her father to discharge her.
Before she could voice that request, he had told her of his first experience in close combat, and how scared he had been on seeing death for the first time and being injured.
It had made her realise that he had grown from his experience, and he had found a way to deal with the things that happened in war. It had changed him, but for the better. He had become stronger, and she knew that she could become stronger too.
Instead of asking him to discharge her, she had requested a transfer to one of the ships that would remain in Varkan space assisting the rebuilding of the base station on Varka Two. Van would be heavily involved in the project and it would mean that they could spend time together and she wouldn’t have to give up her dream of becoming a captain. Perhaps she would even make it to the rank of general one day.
Daughters of Lyra: Heart of a Commander Page 11