Independents: Taoree Trilogy #2

by Michele Notaro

  I pulled my hand away from his skin and whispered, “I’m sorry… I didn’t realize—”

  He grabbed my hand and put it flat over his heart, over that awful scar that could’ve only been made by something terribly painful. He whispered, “It’s okay, Renuella. I want to tell you, and you’re allowed to touch me… anytime, anywhere, always.”

  “I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories, Orrean.” I pulled up the arm I was lying on so I could trace his chin with my fingertips. “Or ruin the mood.”

  He smiled gently at me. “You didn’t ruin anything… is it okay if I tell you?”

  “Of course.” I kissed the corner of his mouth.

  His eyes softened at me, but then they hardened again as he started speaking. “Thelonious used to give Ozias and I ‘special training,’ but really it was just an excuse to beat and torture us whenever we spoke out against him. I suppose he didn’t want to kill us, like he did to others that spoke out, but he used to force us to that damn lab and test some of his tools on us, then keep us down there in cages or chained to a table while our bodies tried to heal. He kept the injuries on our torsos so we could cover them in front of his Elite Taoree.”

  I swallowed, trying to keep the bile down from picturing him being tortured, so I decided not to focus on that part. I’d seen enough of Thelonious’s torture experiments to last me a lifetime, and my nerves, as well as Orr’s, were too frazzled to go there right now. “But… I thought Taoree healed naturally. Why do you have scars?”

  “It’s true that Taoree heal quicker than humans in general, but unless we use a juhere, we still scar.”

  My brow furrowed. “But you healed me without a juhere and it didn’t leave a scar or anything, and I’m human.”

  “You are my Balu, and my specialty is healing. We can heal one another well… most Balu can.”

  “Oh… if your specialty is healing, why didn’t you heal yourself?”

  “I was usually too weak, and the few times I successfully healed myself or Ozias, well.” He sighed. “Let’s just say that it was better to leave the wounds we’d already collected than to suffer more and far worse ones.”

  “Fucking hell, Orr,” I said and ran my fingers over the soft skin of his cheek, then over his hair. “I’m sorry you had to go through that,” I whispered before deciding I needed time to process all the information he’d given me. I leaned into him and hugged him to me, holding him tight and praying that one day we’d be able to put all this shit behind us and just be.

  When we settled down a little, I leaned back to look at him again. “I was going to go take some art supplies to the new refugees today. I’m hoping that letting them draw and paint might help them a little.” I shrugged. On the days we were home or got back from a mission early, I often went to the common room to teach some of the kids—and a few adults too—how to paint and sketch. It was a nice way to relieve some stress, not just for me, but those that I taught, too. “You know, take their minds off everything and do something fun and happy. Would you like to come with me?”

  He took a shuddered breath before saying, “I’d love to. I have to meet Ozias later, though. So maybe I can come with you and you can come see my brother with me later?”

  I narrowed my eyes at the strange facial expression he was making, but then I realized why he was making it. “You only want me to go with you because you don’t want to face your brother alone, don’t you?”

  He sighed. “That’s part of the reason, yes. But I’d also like to spend time with you… when we’re not being attacked or killing things.”

  I shot him a half-smile. “Okay. We’d better get going, then. We need showers, and we’re supposed to have a family dinner again tonight… that you have to come to.”

  “I was upset last night and I didn’t think I could handle being around you… without being with you. I’m sorry I didn’t come.”

  “I’m sorry about… being a douchebucket and everything.”

  Orrean smiled at that, then leaned in and kissed me.

  I wanted to see what he looked like—what all of him looked like. So I stripped his sweatpants off. It didn’t surprise me that all of his skin was that pale color—even his dick—and I also wasn’t surprised that he was, in fact, completely hairless. His cock was much larger, much longer than any I’d ever seen before, and it had what looked like a second and third ridge underneath the head. So similar, yet so different, and I couldn’t wait to explore it further. He pressed me to the bed and kissed me fiercely after I got a quick look.

  “We really need to get ready,” he said into my mouth.

  I could only nod as he kissed me again.

  When we finally came up for air, I had to force myself to move away from him. Otherwise, we’d never leave the room, and we had important shit we needed to do. It didn’t stop me from pulling him across the hall into the bathroom, though. And it sure as hell didn’t stop me from pushing him into the shower with me and jerking us both off while I kissed him and savored his taste, his skin, and the feel of his hair around the back of my neck as it wrapped around our shoulders, keeping us close together—as if I’d want us to part.

  It was fucking awesome. And I was fucking happy to finally bring some joy to those sad purple eyes.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Did you want some paper and pencils?” I asked one of the young Taoree we’d rescued yesterday. I recognized him as the little kid I’d found in a cage with burn marks all over his torso. He was currently wearing a shirt, but I could still see some of the scars on his neck and on one cheek. I smiled at him when he sat across from me. “I’m Jeremy. What’s your name?” I asked in Taoree.

  He started looking around, scanning the room. His dark-blue eyes were dull because he was so unhealthy, the poor little guy. He cleared his throat and looked down at the table, his voice quiet and wavering as he said, “Tenj.”

  I smiled even though he still wasn’t looking at me and kept speaking in Taoree in case he didn’t know English. “It’s nice to meet you, Tenj.” I pushed some paper and a set of pencils toward him. “Here’s some supplies, if you’d like to draw.”

  He glanced up at me, then down at the paper and timidly reached for them. He mumbled, “Domewhee.”

  “You’re welcome,” I replied, earning a glance from him.

  He tilted his head, examining me, then said in Taoree, “You saved me yesterday.”

  I replied back in Taoree, “It was me that helped you, yes.” His eyes went wide, and I figured it was because of my language skills. It wasn’t like there weren’t other humans that spoke Taoree, even before everything, but I’d been told by many that I didn’t have an accent, which was apparently very strange.

  “Is this place for real?” the kid asked me.

  “What do you mean?” I figured I knew, but I wanted to check.

  “Are they really fighting back against the emperor?”

  “They are,” I said, using my pencil to scratch under my hat. “We’re going to beat him, too.”

  He looked like he didn’t believe me, but he nodded a little, then grabbed a pencil and pulled a sheet of paper to him, though he didn’t start drawing, he just played with the pencil. I didn’t want to push him after fuck knew what all he’d been through, so I just picked up my own sheet of paper and pencil and started drawing. I didn’t even think about what I was doing, my mind, and my heart, automatically went to the same place it always did. When I looked down, I realized I’d started to draw Colt.

  “Who is he?” Tenj’s quiet voice made it over to me.

  I looked up at him and swallowed. “He’s… he was my boyfriend.”

  Tenj nodded. “He died.” It sounded like a statement rather than a question and my heart broke a little at that… at this poor young kid that already understood what a cruel place this world was.

  “He did,” I confirmed.

  “My dad died after they killed my mom and my older sister… I watched them all die.” He said it so matter-of-factly, lik
e he was devoid of emotion. “That’s why they burned me. They went through my mom and sister first, then came to me. They did it to torture my dad, to get information out of him. But then they killed him anyway. I heard them say they were saving me because I still had some good… parts left.” He swallowed thickly at that. As if some of the emotions he was clearly holding back were finally rising to the surface.

  I didn’t know what to say. What could I say to someone that was tortured and forced to watch his family die? “I’m sorry,” I whispered, but the kid just nodded and went back to drawing.

  The bench I was sitting on shifted when Orrean sat beside me, straddling the bench seat. “You okay?” he asked.

  “Huh?” I blinked at him. “Sorry, just lost in thought, I guess.”

  Orr nodded, then looked at my drawing. “That looks just like him.”

  I looked down at the sketch, then stammered, “I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking and I—”

  Orrean cut me off with a finger on my lips. “Don’t ever be sorry for remembering him,” he whispered. “He loved you, and you loved him. He should be remembered.”

  He let go of my lip, but I had to take a moment to get my emotions under control before I could whisper, “Thank you.”

  He smiled gently at me, then grabbed my hand and rubbed his finger over the back of it before giving it a squeeze and releasing me. I looked away, a little overwhelmed, and noticed that Tenj was staring at us in open curiosity. I cleared my throat and changed the subject. “Orrean, this is Tenj. Tenj, Orrean.”

  Orr smiled at the kid. “It’s nice to meet you, Tenj. Your father was a great man. I’m very sorry for your loss.”

  I’d had no idea that Orrean would’ve known his father, and from the surprised look on Tenj’s face, he hadn’t expected it either.

  Orr smiled at him. “Your father and I went to school together when we were young. I hadn’t seen him since before you were born, though.”

  Tenj nodded, then went back to drawing again. Orr grabbed his own sheet and pencil.

  We sat there together, the three of us, drawing and taking peace from it. We stayed that way for a couple of hours. Tenj didn’t talk much, but he definitely listened when Orrean or I did. When he did speak, it was always quiet, but I’d seen him smile a couple times when I messed with Orr. Eventually Tenj’s stomach growled, so we found him some food, then headed out with a promise to visit again soon.

  We only had maybe an hour before we had to meet our family, so we quickly made our way to the control room in search of Ozias. I kept shoulder bumping Orrean as we walked through the hall and Orr smiled at me. “You look happy today, Renuella.”

  I smiled at that. “I am happy.” I laughed a little. “Are you finally ready to tell me what Renuella means?” I could’ve had one of the other Taoree explain what it meant, but for some reason, I’d never been inclined to ask anyone else. Since it was the nickname he’d given me, and there was no direct translation, I wanted his impression of the word.

  He made a face, then ran his hand over his forehead. “It’s… an endearment… like ‘Baby,’ ‘Sweetheart,’ ‘Honey,’ or… ‘Love’ is pretty close. There really isn’t a direct translation.”

  “You were calling me ‘Love’ months ago? Before we even made it here?”

  He blew out a breath. “Yes… it just naturally came out. And then it made you smile, so I never stopped. I’m sorry.”

  I elbowed him. “Why would you be sorry?”

  He shoulder roll-shrugged at me. He looked really nervous and uncomfortable with the admission, so I grabbed his arm, pulling him to a stop. Then I leaned up on my toes and kissed the side of his neck as I rubbed the other side of his neck with my hand. Then I kissed the corner of his mouth and leaned back to look at his shocked eyes. I rubbed his cheek and smiled softly at him before grabbing his hand and pulling the dazed alien down the hall.

  I laughed when he stumbled, but he seemed to finally snap out of it because he shot me a grin.

  When we finally walked into the control room, I automatically looked for Nolan since he seemed to spend most of his free time in there, but I didn’t see him. I didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. He’d been gone by the time Orr and I left my room, so I’d thought he’d be here. I had no clue where the hell else he would’ve gone, but I was glad he was taking a little time after yesterday.

  “Brother, hello,” Ozias said in Taoree before looking at me. “Jeremy.”

  “Ozias,” I said with a nod.

  He grinned at me. I’d only heard my family and I call him by his first name. Most everyone else called him ‘Commander’ or ‘Zhidante’ in Taoree. I’d hardly spoken to the guy, but for some reason, I didn’t feel the need for the formality.

  Ozias looked at Orr and said with a serious look on his face, “So you finally decided to come see me, did you?”

  Orrean shoulder-rolled at him. “Whatever, Ozias. It’s not as if you’ve been listening to me anyway.”

  Ozias sighed. “It’s not that I don’t listen, it’s that I don’t agree with you and you get irate and run off.”

  “You do realize that we found three of our spies in that factory yesterday, don’t you? And two of them were dead. The other is still in medical and unconscious.” Orrean’s voice took on that cold quality he’d had when speaking to his brother for the past few months. “Do you really think that’s a coincidence?”

  Ozias started looking around the room, then he waved his hand toward the door. “Walk with me.” I started to follow and Ozias looked at me. “This is private.”

  Before I could even blink, Orrean said, “I have no secrets from Jeremy and I never will. He walks with us.”

  Ozias eyed me, then his brother, then grinned a little before looking serious again. “As you wish.”

  Orrean nodded and the three of us walked out of the control room. Ozias led us to his quarters, which I was surprised by, but as soon as we stepped inside, he said, “I sweep this suite for cams several times a week myself. We can speak freely here.”

  Orrean just stared at Ozias, but as I examined him, I gasped. “You believe him, don’t you?”

  Ozias sighed. “I’m starting to.”

  “How long have you been sweeping your room for cams?” I asked.

  “About six months.”

  “So since Orr told you his suspicions.”

  He sighed again.

  “Why didn’t you just tell me?” Orr asked.

  “I can’t just go around accusing people of spying, or even showing my suspicions, now can I? It was better to have you pissed and suspicious of me. I figured you’d get over it eventually once we found the mole.”

  Orr eyed his brother, then he sighed. “You could have told me. I’ve been a spy for more than half my life, it would’ve been easy to act angry with you, you know.”

  Now Ozias eyed Orrean, and I was struck by how much they looked alike. They were identical twins, but I usually didn’t think they looked alike for some reason. Ozias seemed so young and free, and Orr seemed so serious and stoic, that normally they looked like completely different people to me. But right now, they both seemed a little run down, worn-out.

  “You’re right,” Ozias said quietly. “I should’ve told you.”

  Orrean simply nodded like he wasn’t surprised by Ozias’s admission. But I was hella surprised that he’d admitted he was wrong so easily.

  When neither of them talked for over a minute, I spoke up. “Sooo… do you have any idea who the mole is?”

  Ozias shook his head. “No, not really. I have a list of who has access to the information about our spies, but without knowing what other information he’s passing to Thelonious, it’s hard to narrow it down. We don’t even know when this information was given to him, so it’s not like we can go back and check our recordings or anything like that. I’m at a loss for who has betrayed us.”

  “May I see the list?” Orrean asked.

  “I don’t have it written down. I have it m
emorized. I didn’t want a paper trail that could lead back to me.”

  “Okay,” I said. “So tell us your list.”

  He cringed and didn’t say anything.

  Orrean sounded a little amused, but also annoyed when he said, “I’m on your list, aren’t I?”

  Ozias nodded. “I had to consider the possibility.”

  “I mean, you’re on our list too, so whatever, but why would you even suspect Orr when he’s the one that brought this to you in the first place? You weren’t even looking or thinking about a mole before he said something,” I said, a little annoyed.

  Ozias looked at me. “You’re right, but I had to be thorough. I kept him on the list simply because he had access to all the spies and their locations.”

  “That’s not true,” Orrean said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You forget that I’ve been undercover for many years. It’s true that I know many of the spies from when we were young.” Orr looked at me and quietly said, “The boy, Tenj. His father was my friend and fellow spy.” I cringed, but the information didn’t surprise me after what Tenj had told me downstairs. Looking severe and expressionless, Orr looked back at his brother. “I knew what division many of our old friends were at because I was a commander for Thelonious, but that’s as far as my knowledge goes. I don’t know where they were supposed to go after the Qiren activation began, or whether or not they were even still spying for us. I stuck to my job, passing intel on to you about Thelonious’s movements and plans. It was safer for all involved if I didn’t have contact with those on our side. If even one rumor would’ve started, Thelonious would’ve taken me and anyone I spoke with.” His eyes turned hard again. “You know what he does to those that turn on him.”

  A shudder ran through Ozias’s body and his eyes glazed over, clearly lost in a memory, but he nodded.

  I gave him a moment to get his bearings, then I said, “Tell us your list. We can compare it to ours.”