by Bethany Aan
This world was so lovely. She had to admit that it was also very nice to be one of the few women in the population. What would happen when the warriors were reunited with their families? With other women of their kind? Would the matings that they had formed with her group be nullified? Would she and her women be discarded?
“Never,” Hunter breathed in her ear, having come up behind her. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, resting his chin lightly on her head as he held her back to his front and looked out the window with her. “I would not set you aside, nor would I ever try to replace you.”
“Surely you had a woman you were interested in back on Thorsan,” she mumbled. He chuckled and she felt his head shaking.
“No, little one. I think my heart always knew there was something better waiting for me. I had wonderful companions for short periods, of course, but I never fell in love. Somehow, I always sensed that you were out there, waiting for me to find you. I never questioned it, I just looked forward to the day I would finally meet you.”
She sighed happily, reassured a bit by that. He believed what he was saying, with all his heart. She could feel his emotions, his feelings for her. She had to stop doubting him. And she needed to stop doubting herself, as well. Hunter’s joy and the thoughts of his family swirled into her mind, mingling with her own hope for his people. Her body stiffened suddenly, as a strange feeling swept through her. She looked up through the window, toward the sky. Something was out there. Something strong, powerful, and… coming this way.
“Hunter,” she breathed, clutching his hand, opening her senses so that he could feel what she felt. His breath caught as he explored the strange energy. But in her ear, he merely whispered, “Say nothing, until we know what it is.” She nodded, then cast about for what they had been talking about before she got that feeling.
“So what does this mean, now that the beacon is working? Will someone rescue you?”
“No,” Gust said, joining them at the rail in front of the window. “We have nowhere to go. We have made a home here, have established a colony that our people will be proud of, if they ever find us. We will be allowed to stay here, if we wish, and create a new society. Hunter will be in charge, unless he retires.”
“What is retirement age for you big guys?” Arianna asked, turning around to rest her back against the rail and look at the two handsome warriors. Gust grinned down at her.
“Three hundred?” he said with a shrug, looking at Hunter. “Four? It really depends on when you get tired, broken, or just wish to spend more time with your family. I’m a century older than the Commander, here, but I’m nowhere near retirement.”
Arianna gaped at him.
“You don’t look much older than him at all, and he looks younger than me!” she exclaimed. Then a thought occurred to her and her face drained of color. “Hunter, my people only live about eighty, ninety years!”
“Shhhh,” he said, laying a finger over her lips to still them. “Do not worry about that. I believe that you will live longer, with our technology to aid in keeping you healthy and fit.”
She wasn’t convinced, but she’d talk to Jace about this later, get some answers. She couldn’t bear the thought of growing old and wrinkled and tired, while her beautiful men went on being beautiful and healthy and virile.
“Commander, Lady,” a soldier addressed them from the doorway of the bridge, “If you’re done here, we have prepared the mid-day meal for you and your guests.”
The rest of the afternoon was spent socializing and working with her new friends over yarn crafts, while Bev charmed the computer engineers on this side of the mountain and asked endless questions about the running of the ship’s systems. Hunter conferred with the team leaders of various sections, getting progress reports and making decisions that the teams didn’t feel they should make on their own, or simply confirming that their choices were the correct ones.
Spent from the excitement and her psychic exertions, Arianna fell asleep against his chest before they’d crossed the mountain. Hunter chuckled and held her close as they made their way home.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Hunter dropped Ri off at the residential building, then went to the command center to run a quick long-range scan, following up on that feeling they had both had in the ship. Arianna climbed the stairs to their quarters a bit wearily, but with a smile on her face. She had seen her first space ship and it had been wonderful.
The conversation she and Hunter had at the memorial yard had given her a bit more insight to his life and his heart, and the depths of both. It gave her a lot to think about. They had both lost so very much. She stopped and sighed, resting her head against the door to their suite.
Those issues had reared their ugly heads today, full force. Why in the world had she automatically assumed that when Hunter’s people found them, he would cast her aside? This was not like her. Well, not until recent years. The loss of her family, coupled with the loss of her baby, her fiancee, and then her ability to have children… those had been mighty blows, one seemingly right after another. She had been such a different person, before all that had happened. The Ri-that-had-been would never have assumed that a man would leave her as soon as something better came along. But since Jeff’s disappearing act after her hysterectomy, she had lost much faith in mankind in general, and men in particular.
But she wasn’t back home, that wasn’t her life anymore, and she had a very real chance to make herself over. She had a chance to be who she was meant to be, with men who truly wanted her just for herself.
Smiling, she traced a finger over the wood-burned symbols on the door that she now knew spelled out Hunter and Jace. Two very different men, two very different hearts, but so similar in so many other ways, and she loved them both so very much. She cast her Reader senses out, wondering if Jace was home. He was, and he was sleeping. She smiled and pushed the door open slowly. She crept into the apartment, sliding her shoes off at the door. She closed the wooden slab door silently, her mouth curling upwards in anticipation of finding a sleepy and disheveled Jace in his bed. She knew just how she wanted to wake him up, something naughty to make up for his absence on their adventure today.
Intent on surprising him, she made no noise as she headed for his room. But the moment she crossed from the kitchen’s stones to the thick mossy carpet of the living area, she stilled. The thick, leathery cylindrical thing she’d put her foot down next to was not something she’d ever seen before, nor was it part of the usual décor. Thinking about all the strange creatures on this world, many of which Hunter had yet to tell her about, she wanted to be careful. Without moving, she looked down, her eyes widening to see something like a cross between a snake and a stingray, with legs that ended in long, sharp claws like a lizard’s, writhing slowly on the floor.
She stood perfectly still, wracking her brain to try to remember what the creature was, if Hunter had ever told her about it. The thing hissed at a chirp from a bird on the balcony, rearing up on its long, thick tail, standing nearly as tall as she was. Arianna sucked in a startled breath, wondering if she should back away, wondering what she should do. Testing the limits of their bond, she called to Hunter with her mind.
“No!” Hunter breathed in horror, nearly dropping the piece of equipment he’d been handing to Trey to put away in the command center’s supply room. Trey, Rom, and Erik, still with him from the trip over the mountain, stopped and went instantly into warrior mode, hands moving to their weapons before they even knew what was going on.
“Sir?” Trey asked softly, recognizing his leader’s slightly unfocused gaze that meant he was Reading something.
“Ri,” Hunter was saying out loud. “Don’t move. Don’t make a sound. We’re coming!”
“Commander?” Erik asked, stepping toward his leader. Hunter came back to them, his face pale and clammy.
“There’s a slider in our suite,” Hunter said grimly. Trey gasped and the other two men cursed. “Silent alarm, and I want the zoo team up
there now. I’ve got to get the thing away from her, so she can get out, and I need the damn creature dealt with before it hurts someone.”
“Aye, sir,” Erik said, slapping a small panel on the wall as Rom headed out to signal the crypto-zoological team. Hunter stopped long enough to grab a few weapons from the arming rack then hurried out. He paused on the steps from the command center, proud of his men and the training that had them all silent and prepared within moments in the courtyard, awaiting his orders. The women had already been gathered away from the residential area, the men cautioning them to silence.
Amid all the tension and confusion, one mind radiated amused satisfaction. Hunter followed it to its source, but the woman’s mind slammed shut against him before he could figure out who it was. But one thing was now certain. The slider in his living room had been put there deliberately. If Amy hadn’t been so docile lately, Hunter would have thought it was her. But he had been assured that she was firmly in hand.
Someone would pay for this if anyone was hurt by the highly venomous and very easily agitated creature.
Growling a very low command, he and his men made their way up the stairs to his quarters, their leather boots making no sound on the stones. His door was closed, but he’d seen a bit of Arianna’s mind and knew what she had been up to when she shut it. He could feel her fear just on the other side of the door, and sent her a burst of reassurance.
It’s coming closer, she told him through their bond.
He urged her to remain still just a bit longer, to keep absolutely silent.
Turning, he signaled his men to fall back. When they were a safe distance away, he issued new orders.
“The thing has her trapped. She can’t move. It’s looking right at her, waiting. We can’t go in through the door, even silently.”
“The window?” Rom asked, already stripping out of everything but his pants. Hunter nodded once in approval. The agile young warrior had an affinity for climbing and acrobatics. If anyone could get around to the balcony and distract the beast, it would be him. As Rom nodded back and hurried into the next suite to access its balcony, several of the men with medic training rushed to follow. Two of them stayed with Hunter, in case they were needed in his suite. One other ran to get a team together below the balcony, in case Rom had to jump to avoid being bitten. Or in case he was attacked and fell. There was a very small window in which the venom could be countered. Sliders were incredibly fast, dangerous, and violent. When they attacked, they did it with lightning speed and with venom pouches loaded.
Hunter took a deep breath, reaching out with his Reader senses to see if anyone else was nearby that needed to be warned not to make a sound. Just as he was about to sigh in relief, there were two different minds that his touched. One was Jace, who was in his bedroom, just waking up. Dear gods! He’d stumble into the bathroom first, Hunter was sure, and make noise without even realizing that Arianna was in the suite, that anything was wrong. And if he made a sound, would the slider go after Arianna first, or Jace?
Either was unacceptable to Hunter. But before he could wonder which way it would go, the other mind exuded triumph then there was a loud clatter from within his apartment. A masculine shout of surprise and pain from within, Arianna’s cry of denial and fear, then the sounds of a fight.
Hunter roared and burst through the door.
Chaos reigned for several long moments as Rom wrestled with the creature on the floor, holding its fanged head away from his body as its claws raked every bit of flesh they could find. Arianna was on her knees beside Jace, fumbling with the med kit they kept on the kitchen counter. She was sucking in huge breaths, trying to keep herself alert and calm as her hands flew to find the syringes and inject them into Jace. Hunter signaled two of his men to help Rom, and the crypto-zoology team swept in with their specialized capture equipment. There were a lot of scratches, curses, and grunts of pain, but eventually the slider was muzzled, netted, and subdued.
“It bit him,” Arianna said to Hunter as he knelt at her side, her voice clipped and calm, though her hands shook. The medics were working on Jace, checking his signs and every so often giving him another injection. Hunter wanted to take Arianna away from his brother while they worked, but she was holding Jace’s hand, gripping it tightly, her eyes locked to his brother’s face. Her entire body was bowed with the mental effort she was expending to keep hold of Jace.
Realizing what she was trying to do, Hunter moved closer to her, putting one hand on Jace’s head, the other over Ri’s where she’d placed it over Jace’s heart. The medics were working on the other side of Jace’s body, but didn’t ask either Ri or Hunter to leave.
Joining his energy with hers, Hunter swept into his brother’s mind, catching the fleeting wisp of energy that was Jace’s life force and augmenting it with his own. Ri’s was already entwined with Jace’s energy, but once Hunter’s joined, Jace’s life-force began shining more brightly.
“Whatever you’re doing, Commanders, keep doing it. We’re giving him as much as we can, but the slider must have hit him hard, and more than once. He’s fighting, though.”
Hunter heard the medic’s voice as though from a distance. He was too focused on bolstering Ri’s weakening hold on Jace’s life-force. Quickly, realizing that he needed to do something else, Hunter moved to gather Ri into his lap with one arm. He joined his hands with hers, lacing their fingers together, and holding her tightly as he rejoined their energy with Jace’s.
For long moments they stayed like that, waiting, holding Jace’s mind though the agony in his body was horrific. Only a small part of it was being relayed to Hunter and Arianna, but it was enough to have tears of pain streaming freely down both of their cheeks.
Finally, with one last injection, something seemed to snap inside of Jace and his energy swelled. He stayed linked with his brother and their mate for another precious moment, then managed to open his eyes and look up at them.
“Ow…” he said, then grinned lopsidedly as he passed out.
But the danger had passed. The medics went back to work, inserting IVs and placing monitoring tabs on his body before extending a stretcher beneath him and strapping him to it. Any able-bodied warrior helped to carry both Jace and Rom out of the quarters, headed for the med center.
“But Jace is the lead doctor,” Arianna protested weakly when she realized that they were taking him away. Hunter kept hold of her, letting the men do what they needed to do. “Who’s going to help him?”
“It’s all right, Ri,” Hunter sighed, leaning back against the kitchen’s island, exhausted. “He’s not the only physician we have. He’s the most brilliant, yes, and he’s the highest ranking, but we have several doctors here. I trust any of them with my brother’s life. Or yours. Now calm down, little warrior. You kept him with us long enough. He will be fine.”
She breathed deeply for a few minutes, wanting to go after the medics, but she felt too drained and shaky to do so. When she felt like she could breathe again, she looked at Hunter’s ashen face and became inexplicably angry. Launching herself at him, she stunned them both by beating on his chest with her fists.
“Why do people keep getting hurt?” she demanded, crying angrily as she hit him. The medics behind her stared at the tiny woman beating on their commander, but when they would have moved to sedate or restrain her, Hunter held up a hand behind her back to stay them.
Instead, he held her shoulders as she rained blows down on him. She had been scared out of her wits, for herself and then Jace, and she needed an outlet for the adrenaline that had built up in her system. Her little fists and meager strength wouldn’t hurt him, and he’d much rather let her spend her anger and fear on him than be drugged and not deal with it. The medics, knowing they were no longer needed, left the quarters. Only the crypto-zoologists remained, inspecting the area, each entrance, every little hole and nook and cranny, trying to figure out how the slider had entered the quarters.
When Arianna’s anger was spent, she lay on Hunter�
��s chest, heaving great deep sobs and shaking with the after-effects of the short but terrifying ordeal. Hunter shifted her so that he could sit back up, cradling her against him as he spoke to the crypto team.
“Report,” he ordered grimly.
Crig, the leader of that team, nodded and came closer.
“I have no idea how the slider got in, Commander,” Crig said, sounding truly puzzled. “We know they don’t like noisy areas and this one would have had to have come through the training area to get here. It never would have done that on its own.”
“When I was in the courtyard, I sensed that someone was amused by all the commotion. Somebody knew what was going on and was looking forward to the results.” Hunter’s face was hard, his body tightening.
“Sir, we’ve found something else… strange.”
Hunter got up, leaving Arianna leaning against the island, though he sensed that she was okay without him now. He walked to Jace’s doorway, saw the pile of metal utensils and trays that someone had placed all along his bedside, obviously so that Jace would trip over them and make noise. Hunter’s head filled with rage. Everyone had known that he and Arianna would be gone most of the day, and it wouldn’t have been hard to find out that Jace had left the med center to rest before his shift tonight.
So whoever had set this up had been targeting his brother. But who would do such a thing? He knew that none of his men would. They all owed their lives, in one way or another, to the medical staff and to Jace. Besides that, Jace was well-liked for his playful and engaging character. No one would wish him harm, and many would willingly give their lives for his.