Okay. It was a corny speech put together as a last-minute peace offering to make up for his previous callous comment. But, last-minute peace offering notwithstanding, it warmed her right down to her toes.
* * * * *
With only a skeleton crew of Taurans remaining behind to guard the fortress, Junkie and his two companions were able to move pretty freely inside the walls that ringed the Iron Palace along with its many associated buildings, only drawing attention to themselves when they approached the alehouse. Proclaiming their need for a drink, they were barred entrance by the Tauran who stood guard at the alehouse doors but not before they glimpsed a handful of Earther blastukas leaning against the wrought iron bar inside. Just as Junkie had predicted, their interest in the weapons earned them a trip to the training arena, the entrances of which had been closed off with an electrical security curtain. It was clear that anyone who attempted to step through any of the four wide, unbarred entrances would be immediately fried by an arcing bolt of electricity. Evidently unable to reach the power source or any of the wiring that produced the security curtain, both the Alliance’s Spaceforce officers and eYona’s warriors were trapped inside.
But Lacey made short work of the electrical force field, drawing off the power into her hands and forming it into a crackling ball which she then used on the four guards who had marched them to the makeshift prison. As though prepared for just such an opportunity should it present itself, men and women immediately poured from the arena and went to work reclaiming the fortress. Armed with the stunners they’d appropriated from their Tauran guards, Lacey and Jason along with Gray and Jed led the charge to the alehouse while Junkie stayed behind with Lieutenant Maloney to help with the wounded.
* * * * *
A few hours later, grimy and dust-covered but otherwise none the worse for wear, Junkie stood in the Medops waiting room. The building had been appropriated by Spaceforce immediately upon their arrival two weeks earlier to house their Advance Medical Unit. According to all sources, the Alliance’s medical science far outshone that of eYona and Junkie hoped that was the queen’s truth. Because he’d seen Danjer carried from the training arena. And only a miracle would save him.
As Junkie leaned against the white plaster wall with Olan at his side, Saxon paced the room anxiously, sat down next to his wife, then rose to pace again. The fifth member of their band, Hard and Fast, wasn’t there and Junkie felt his absence like a fist gripping his heart. Scratch had died in the initial attack, at the first exchange of fire. The loss was devastating. Scratch gone and Danjer fighting for his life. These were the men he had toured with, played with, written music with. And during the civil war, these were the men who’d fought at his side. Danjer had been his unit captain before his promotion to the position of Iron Duke!
Rubbing a rugged hand over his face, Junkie dragged his mind back to the present.
He’d learned from Maloney that the Hexapods responding to the Tauran distress call had been captured in space, rendering them helpless to aid the eYonans in the attack that followed. With the gunships out of the picture, the Taurans seized the spaceport and flashed their men down to the planet’s surface. With their superior weaponry and the element of surprise on their side, they quickly overwhelmed the eYonan forces who hurried to mark and protect their females while trying to fend off the attack. All the captives, including pilots, officers and warriors, were rounded up and placed in the training arena.
When Junkie asked how Velvet had fared after her capture, fearing that her husbands hadn’t been able to mark her if she’d been flying alone in one of the hexapods, Maloney gave a wry smile. Without elaborating, he pointed out that he hadn’t had time to shower before responding to the early morning distress call and he doubted Velvet had either.
Enough said. Velvet had probably gone into space wearing the scent of her two husbands.
With Danjer down, Graham Hamm had taken command of the captives in the training arena, dividing them into three groups—one to care for the wounded, another led by Matchstick to seek a means to shut down the security curtain, while the third party prepared to break out the moment a curtain went down.
Of course, Lacey had arrived and taken out the curtain before Maloney had found a way to breach the security device. And though the battle which followed had raged for half an hour, the Taurans holding the Iron Palace were overpowered without any further loss of life—Lacey and her enhanced powers being the major factor in turning the tide.
The handful of Taurans that had eventually straggled in from Nahita Moruu was met at the gates by armed Earthers. An Inter-Gal ship had been dispatched and was on its way to collect them. The Tauran Board of Governors had expressed their horror over the incident, thereby casting Higblith and his captain to the wolves. The captain would be tried in Intergalactic Court for piracy. Higblith was one of the Taurans who hadn’t made it back from the sand wastes. The captured Taurans were still gabbling about their leader’s death which had evidently been especially brutal…and probably particularly fitting. But that was little solace to Junkie and the three others who waited anxiously for news of their critically injured friend.
“He’ll be all right,” Junkie murmured, glancing at Saxon while Pink looked on worriedly, obviously as concerned for Saxon’s well-being as she was for Danjer’s.
“Of course, he’ll be all right,” Saxon growled as though no other outcome was acceptable. “If only he’d been sensible and surrendered the fortress. But no, he had to fight to the finish. Being Danjer, he had to go down with his ship! Stubborn fucking madman,” Saxon snarled. Pressing his thick wrist beneath his nose, he turned to Junkie and demanded, “Why are Earthers like that?”
Junkie gazed at the big man’s face, his rugged features creased with a terrible weight of fear. Junkie wished there was something he could do to console him. Unfortunately, he felt like he had a good idea of what Saxon was going through. Because what Saxon felt for Danjer was probably the same thing Junkie felt for Jason—and not a whole lot different than what he felt for Lacey.
“I don’t know,” Junkie answered with a sympathetic shake of his head. “But I think it’s part of the reason we find them so…admirable. Part of the reason we love them.” Gazing at the worried man in front of him, he could only be thankful that Jason and Lacey had come through the rescue mission unharmed. He’d checked on them after he’d seen the injured safely moved to the Medops Unit. Still, he couldn’t help wishing they were there with him now, so he could see them and hold them and reaffirm the fact that they were indeed safe and whole.
The door cracked open and everyone turned anxiously toward it, hoping for some encouraging word about Danjer, terrified of learning the worst. But it was Jason and Lacey who slipped silently into the room. They were back in uniform, though Lacey still wore Junkie’s leather coat instead of her regulation jacket. Wrapped in the soft black leather, her hair dark again, she looked so perfectly small and feminine it made his heart do things that weren’t quite in keeping with his persona of a tough eYonan warrior. Pushing away from the wall, Junkie moved toward them as they rushed forward, both of them embracing him at the same time.
“Are you okay?” Jason asked.
Junkie hid his face in the padded shoulder of Jason’s regulation wool jacket. “Thanks for coming,” he said roughly, surprised to find that it hurt to use his voice. Ruffling a hand through Lacey’s hair, he pulled her into his chest.
The door opened again and he held tightly to his two friends as a senior medical officer stepped into the room. He heard Pink’s sob of relief as she saw the doctor’s face. The white-clad officer was smiling.
Danjer was going to be okay.
After the medical officer had reported on Danjer’s progress, Saxon and Pink were ushered away to sit at his bedside. Feeling as though eighty pounds had just been lifted from his shoulders, Junkie accompanied Olan from the Medops building while Jason and Lacey followed behind. After sharing a long hug of relief with Olan, they separated out i
n the yard.
Jason and Lacey stood off at a slight distance, waiting for him as he turned from his longtime friend and looked at them. As he stood watching them with the low rays of the afternoon sun warming his back, it was acutely obvious that he’d never get his fill of Lacey. That he’d never be ready to move on. He wanted to stay. To always be with Lacey. And Jason. Somehow Jason had become as important to him as Lacey. Danjer’s injury had brought that fact home to him.
It wasn’t all that strange, he told himself. Multi-relationships were fairly common on eYona. It wasn’t unusual for two women to share a husband or for two men to share a wife. Danjer and Saxon happily shared a wife and Junkie was ready to do the same.
He was ready to make a commitment to both Lacey and Jason. He just hoped it wasn’t too late and that there was room in their hearts for another real love. Because he wanted it all. He wanted Lacey’s love. He wanted Jason’s unconditional acceptance. And every last ounce of emotion that would come with the complicated relationship.
With his hands shoved deep in the pockets of his leathers, he strode toward them, so many words on the tip of his tongue he hardly knew where to begin. But, before he had a chance to say anything, Jason spoke. “Thanks for getting Lacey and me together,” he said, drawing her toward him and settling her back against his front as he nuzzled his mouth into her hair. “Lacey has agreed to a one-on-one relationship.”
For a moment he just stared while all those unspoken words piled up behind his tongue and made his throat ache, his mind a jumble of panic while one ugly fact stood out in his consciousness. He wasn’t going to be a part of their lives. Then, realizing it was too late for any of his words to make a difference, he reached deep inside himself for grace. “I’m glad,” he managed to choke out. “I’m glad for both of you.”
“Thanks,” Jason murmured, his tender gaze slanting downward on the gleaming strands of Lacey’s hair. “I got a chance to talk to Gray before heading over here and he filled me in on the details of our…training mission. He told me you were supposed to get us together in order to keep Lacey happy.”
Junkie nodded while searching the sandy ground at his feet. It seemed ages ago since he’d made that pledge to Gray. So much had changed since then. But he couldn’t bring himself to take anything from Jason. If a one-on-one relationship was important to him, he deserved to have that chance with the woman he loved.
“I…hope it all works out,” Jason said, his expression turning somber as he turned his gaze on Junkie. “I hope Lacey doesn’t change her mind. I’d hate to start all over again…with another man. It was hard enough getting used to you.”
Junkie saw right through his rough attempt at humor. “You’ll be all right,” he said in a strong eYonan burr. “Either way.” He turned to Lacey. “If you change your mind about a second lover…don’t rush Jason into it,” he said, uncertain as to whether he was delaying the moment for Jason or for himself.
A pale glow powdered her cheeks as she turned her face and gazed first at her fair-haired airman then at him. “You don’t mind…parting ways, Junkie?”
He held up a hand and took a step backward, though backward was not the direction he wanted to be going. It hurt to move away from her. Hurt like the heavy weight of a stone chained to his heart. “Not at all. I got what I wanted. I was about ready to move on, anyhow.”
“That’s what I thought,” she said, her tone weighted and solemn.
“You know me,” he continued, firing off lies as rapidly as he could think them up. “I’d never be content with one woman. It wouldn’t have been long before I started looking around for something else.”
“I’m glad you don’t mind,” she said, her voice rising as though to drown him out.
“Mind? Fuck, no. You’re doing me a favor.”
“Well,” she clipped out, her voice steely as she crossed her arms over Jason’s and held on tight. “I’m glad to be able to do you a favor. All the best then.”
Moving forward one step, he brushed his lips across her forehead. “All the best, Y Nahita.”
At the sound of those words rasping on Junkie’s lips, Lacey’s heartstrings trembled so violently it was as though someone had plucked them with thick fingers. It was only a common endearment, she reminded herself. Still, she could barely breathe. It had to have been her imagination but Junkie’s scratchy low voice, speaking those words, sounded exactly like that of the man who’d made love to her two nights earlier. But that wasn’t possible! That other man had shoulder-length hair. Of that she was absolutely certain. And Junkie’s long black braid hung halfway down his back. She watched it swing between his shoulder blades as he turned and stalked away toward the men’s barracks.
Chapter Thirteen
After emptying his footlocker in the men’s barracks, Junkie headed for the recently installed lift station on the west side of the Iron Palace. Keeping his head down, he hoped to avoid Olan on the way there. With a little luck, he’d be able to flash up to eYona’s orbiting spaceport and get off-world in a small rental without subjecting himself to a shitload of emotional goodbyes.
That was his plan.
But he’d forgotten he was no longer a simple eYonan warrior. As a Spaceforce lieutenant, he was informed by the men guarding the lift station that he needed a pass to travel off-planet. And that meant he’d have to request the required permit from his immediate superior, Lieutenant Commander Graham Hamm. Damn. He hated having to ask that guy for anything!
To make matters worse, Hamm wasn’t alone in his room upstairs at the palace. Jed was with him. Adopting a relaxed expression that belied the turmoil boiling inside him, he kept up a casual conversation with Jed while the lieutenant commander prepared his pass.
“You know who the Taurans were looking for when they attacked the Iron Palace?” Jed asked. He was slouched in a comfortable chair, one of his long legs hooked over its upholstered arm.
Junkie rolled his shoulders in a lazy shrug, his mind elsewhere—on Lacey and Jason and everything he was about to give up. “The prince.”
Jed’s smile was wry. “They were probably working for the Grundians who no doubt thought they could ransom his royal ass.”
Junkie snorted. “If I’d thought he’d bring more than five intergalactic bucks, I’d ransom him myself.”
“You set a low value on the nobility,” Jed drawled.
“That isn’t exactly news to anybody who knows me,” he countered. “Though I’m as loyal to the queen as anyone else.”
“Then you should know as well as anyone else that the queen loves her brother.”
Junkie nodded. “I know that,” he admitted quietly.
“So,” Jed said, gesturing with one finger to the pass that was printing out on Gray’s workpad, “where are you going?”
“I don’t know. See the universe, maybe. I’ll start at Delta Base Twenty and work my way up from there.”
Suddenly alert, Jed slipped his leg off the chair’s arm and leaned forward. “Alone?”
Junkie rolled his shoulders again. “I was thinking about looking up that pretty ‘droid in Geveena. Maybe install some working parts in her and take her along.”
“When will you be back?” Jed demanded, ignoring Junkie’s perfectly good entertaining comment.
“I don’t know,” he muttered, impatient with Jed’s lacking sense of humor. It wasn’t exactly easy thinking up witty ripostes when your whole fucking world was falling apart. “When the parts need replacing.”
But again, Jed refused to humor him with a laugh. “What about the band? Danjer won’t be happy when he knows you’re gone. Hard and Fast has already lost…their strings section,” he argued after a painful pause, avoiding the use of Scratch’s name.
Thinking about Scratch didn’t do much for Junkie’s mood, which was already pretty much on the rocks. “Saxon can play strings better than I can. Danjer has been talking about Jake joining the band. He can take over percussion. They’ll be okay.”
“What…shall I te
ll your family?” he asked seriously.
“Tell them to give me twenty years before they start looking for me.”
“Twenty years!”
As Jed rose to his feet, Gray plucked the pass from the workpad and shoved it at Junkie. Afraid that Jed might try to intercept the pass, Junkie snatched it from Gray’s fingers. “And tell them I love them,” he added grudgingly as he backed away toward the door.
“But…we were planning a medals ceremony. For you. And Lacey and Jason. The way you guys busted us out. You guys are…heroes.”
“Good,” he grunted. “Make sure Jason knows that. Make sure he knows he’s a hero.”
“Is there…anything else I can do for you?” Jed asked, plainly stalling for time, clearly trying to figure out what exactly was going on and how to stop it.
“Yeah,” he said with a rough laugh that didn’t sound the least cheerful. “When you asked me to keep my identity a secret from Lacey, I kept my end of the bargain. Do me a favor and leave it that way.”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t tell Lacey who it was in her room that first night.”
Jed’s mouth turned down at the edges. “Don’t make me do that, Junkie.”
“You owe me that much,” he stated. “And tell Olan goodbye for me.”
Jed rubbed a hand over the deep ridge that had formed between his brows. “Okay,” he murmured, then moved quickly across the room.
After sharing a fierce hug with Jed, who by this time must have understood that he wouldn’t be back anytime soon, Junkie sent a cool nod in Gray’s direction. Resettling his duffel bag on his shoulder, he stepped from the room and stalked down the wide corridor, growling as he passed the door to Lacey’s room, the place where all of this had started.
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