Cold Mark

by Scarlett Dawn

  "He should have done so to begin with."

  Jax gazed over my head. We watched as the President ran his hands through his hair in continual, rough strokes. He would be bald soon if he kept that up. Jax snorted and shook his head of curly hair. "It took an invasion of aliens for him to realize that mere fact."

  I blinked at his relaxed tone. "Did you plan this, Jax?"

  "Unfortunately ... no. As I said, I hoped to be back on Triaz by now." He cleared his throat and peered back to the door that wouldn't be able to take much more of whatever the Mian were doing to it. The hinges were starting to creak in a squeal of grinding steel. "But, if I said I planned to also steal what the Mian wanted—the fish—and have taken the specimen back with me...that might not be too far-fetched an idea."

  "Holy fuck." I groaned in exasperation and banged my head in a gentle rhythm against his chest. "This is a damned mess."

  His arms tightened around me. "Yes. Yes, it is."

  Shush. Shush. Shush.

  My dark gaze slammed to the side, widened in horror. "That. Is. Not. Good." The edges of the door were now glowing blue, ice forming and misting on the sides, crawling to the middle, the heart of the steel obstacle. "Jax? How is Stiller feeling now?"

  He whispered, "Insatiable. Hungry. Pissed."

  I fisted his shirt with both of my hands. "I think we should take cover."

  The door was completely iced. "I think so, too."

  In a rush, we ran to the far end of the bunker. We fell to our knees on the dusty concrete behind a sturdy desk. I barely felt the bite of pain to my kneecaps before I glanced to the left. I couldn't help but sneer. The President was one desk over with four agents lying on top of him in preparation for the assault. Only the tip of his head showed from under the pile.

  I muttered, "Fucking bullshit."

  His eyes peeked up. Met mine.

  "Yeah, you. You did this to your people."

  Through it all, I still heard him growl, "For our people."

  I countered, "Killed your people."

  "Get down!" Jax hollered, grabbing my shoulders and thrusting me flat on the floor.

  Crack-doom-shh.

  Our last hope shattered. The door fell.

  The lights went out.

  Swallowing in a brutal movement, I covered my ears as a barrage of shots blistered the air.

  A piece of the bunker's concrete roof fell from above and pinged the side of Jax's head. With my heart pounding in cadence to the rapid gunfire, I threw myself on top of my best friend, covering his body. He was out cold, a cut bleeding profusely from his left eyebrow.

  We would not die here today. I wouldn't allow it.

  Coughing on smoke, I grunted in pain as I was dragged away from an unconscious Jax—by my hair. The fist only tightened in my dark locks, threatening to snap my neck if I pushed too hard. Gunshots whizzed past, the struggle still in high gear, though my captor walked at a careful pace through it all. Debris from the fight slammed against my shoulders and legs as I resisted. My shirt tugged back at the neck, and the concrete scraped my flesh. I focused past the stinging soreness, but my feet had nothing to catch on, and any items I grabbed broke apart in my hands, the Mian's weapons demolishing all equipment.

  "Jax!" I screamed. I tried to peer through the haze as fires blazed on the left and right. "Jax!"

  "Be quiet." The paw jiggled my head, rattling my brain. And that voice belonged to ... Malik.

  "Let me go!" I growled, grabbing on the wrist of my keeper. I dug my nails in hard, feeling blood pool around my fingertips. I was his Soul. He wouldn't kill me—couldn't kill me. "Malik, release me!"

  "Shut the fuck up, Braita, before I knock your ass out," he hissed.

  "Jax is back there!" The fires were growing.

  A firm fist smashed against my cheek, and the back of my head slammed against the floor.

  While he may not be able to kill me ... he could hurt me. And he was apparently willing to do so.

  I groaned as my lashes fluttered down.

  Before oblivion took me under, I thought, He pulled his punch ...

  A warm shoulder rubbed against mine. Repeatedly.

  My eyes shot open.

  I blinked once. Twice. Shit.

  I couldn't speak. Not because I didn't want to, but because my lips were covered with tape.

  Same as Jax. He was alive. Sitting next to me. The blood from his wound had dried, but the bleeding had coated the entire left side of his face. He sighed, a great huff of air escaping his nostrils as I assessed his injuries—as if he had feared I was dead, not the other way around.

  The sizzle of the laser-cuffs binding my hands behind my back irritated my wrists, but it wasn't enough to harm. Jax didn't seem any worse off either, his expression quickly altering from relief to a bored mien. We peered out to the Mian, who were searching an office where we sat inside, Jax and my location stuffed into a corner, out of the way for whatever had been occurring while I was out. Though, I ground my teeth together after moving my ankles ... the Mian were different. Smarter than the Humans concerning captives. While I had been unconscious, they had removed the few weapons I'd had hidden in the side of my boots. I guessed Jax was now cleaned out, too.

  Both sets of Plumas glanced in our direction from where they were speaking softly with each other. There were five other Mian, including Stiller, ransacked the filing cabinets and desk—it had to be the President's office. If I had thought Jax appeared gruesome with blood staining his face, then those four were point blank lethal. Blood, some still slick and wet on their black combat attire, covered their exposed arms and necks. Without a doubt, they had gotten their hands dirty in this conflict.

  The President knelt before the four, and with too much pride, he tried to get to his feet.

  Killeg lifted his right leg, placed a large boot on the President's chest, and shoved him back to the ground. Not a care in world. Barely looking at him, and then, oh, disgracing the most revered Human leader. The four Plumas continued on with their quiet discussion.

  Papers flew through the air, littering the ground. Drawers banged open and closed.

  One Mian with yellow hair sat down at the President's desk and started hacking into the server.

  Not moving a muscle, I watched as Stiller rifled through a pile of folders. Within a blink, one of the files went up-and-under the backside of his shirt, hidden from view, before he resumed his silent search.

  What the hell were they looking for? Or more importantly ... what had Stiller just found?

  I glanced out of the corner of my eye at Jax.

  He had seen it too, his head cocked curiously.

  My attention honed directly on Leo when he turned from their conversation. He hovered over the President, who had chosen wisely to not move again. Leo crouched, placing his elbows on his knees, and gazed down directly into the President's eyes. The golden glow shone onto the President's face in a harsh reality ... he was completely at their mercy. Speaking in precise English, Leo asked, "Tell us what Ms. Valorn and Mr. Waterston told you."

  My brows rose slightly, but I stopped it quickly enough. My right cheek was killing me.

  From his back, the President glanced at us.

  Wrong move.

  Malik nailed him in his side with a swift kick that cracked at least two of his ribs by the sound.

  I may not like the President, but I didn't take any joy from his agonized scream.

  "They told me nothing of importance," the President panted, wheezing in pain.

  "Word-for-word, Mr. President," Leo stated, sweetness dripping, a direct opposite from his counterpart. "Or you won't like what happens next." Or maybe not so sweet.

  The President spoke, his words clipped and full of pain.

  I would have applauded the President's memory if we had been in any other situation. He literally remembered everything we had said during the interrogation, down to even the smallest of inflections our faces had given. For someone so damn intelligent, he had royally fucked
up with this situation. And it didn't appear as if he held any remorse for his actions with his finishing words.

  "Kill me if you wish. I won't apologize for deceiving you. My people needed that technology to live." He altered his attention to glare at Killeg and Phila. "Unlike your people. A few deaths from sickness is nothing compared to an extinction from Mother Nature. Your selfishness has caused this."

  Phila ran his fingers gently through his long white hair. He shrugged a shoulder. "Mr. President, you should have planned better. Or perhaps, you should have listened to what Ms. Valorn and Mr. Waterston were saying. Both options would have kept you alive."

  My scream could be heard ... as Phila reached down.

  When he straightened to his full height, he held the President's decapitated head.

  With an uninterested flick, he tossed it aside. "What an idiot."

  I closed my eyes against the gore and death of a man I had once pledged my allegiance to.

  Killeg muttered, "Let's hope the survivors appoint cunning over pride this time."

  "No shit," Leo groused.

  With a chuckle, Malik suggested, "Shall we get those fish before we have to kill all the Humans?"

  "Wait. Should we leave the intel they stole off the hov-craft?" Leo asked.

  I opened my eyes and glared at the four of them.

  As if they could feel my heated gaze, the four glanced at me.

  Killeg hummed quietly, eyeing my features. "We did kill their President. Let's leave them the information as a truce." He stretched his back muscles, his shirt pulling in the front. "I'd rather the Humans not completely die off—by natural catastrophe or by the stupidity of an attack on us. They can be entertaining at times."

  "Plus, we'll have the specimen we wanted," Phila added.

  "Exactly."

  Triaz. I was back on the damned planet Triaz.

  The Plumas hadn't killed us.

  But they sure as hell didn't love us.

  I gripped the ancient bars of the jail cell I was in, the peeling iron stabbing into my palms. I shook the cell door with all my might. "Hey, asshole! I want to talk to the Plumas of the east!"

  The Mian guard flipped a page on his halo-screen, completely snubbing me.

  The door rattled as I jerked it. "I know you can hear me!"

  "Braita, for the love of all that is holy ... shut up," Jax grumbled.

  I glared at the cell across from mine where my best friend lay on a steel cot. "This is bullshit. We've been down here for two weeks. What the hell is taking them so long?"

  He groaned and turned on his side to face me. "Has it occurred to you we may be down here ... indefinitely?" His brows rose at my resulting scowl. "They can't kill you. Stiller won't let them kill me." His stare was pointed. "We're traitors in their eyes, but they're stuck."

  I shoved the door one more time, growling under my breath. I paced the floor of my tiny cell, rubbing my sore back. "I know that." I just didn't want to accept this as my fate. This could not be how I end. I turned and kicked the door with more force, turning my attention to the guard once more. "Hey, cow. I need to talk to the Plumas of the east."

  Jax shook his head in aggravation and rolled again, gifting me his back. "Go to sleep, Braita."

  "We don't even know if it's day or night."

  "Does it really matter?"

  "Dammit!" I shouted to the caged ceiling before I flopped on my cot. My life just kept getting worse. I heaved in five calming breaths. Feeling sorry for myself wouldn't help anyone. I muttered, "Jax?"

  "What?" he groused.

  I closed my eyes. "I don't want to die here."

  Jax had waited a full minute before he responded, his words quiet. "I know."

  Picking dirt out from under my nails, I hissed out, "I stink worse than a Lavano." A full month. An entire month we had been rotting down here in this damned dungeon. The only information I had been able to garner off the rotating guards was that we were in Center. And how the Plumas were still in this city dealing with business, too busy to see us. After much thinking—I had plenty of time for that now—I had decided they were still handling the aftermath of the battle on Joyal. That theory was what got me through my days—and nights. "When did they give us our last shower?" And 'shower' was a generous word for them hosing us down inside our cell.

  "Three days ago," Jax answered while he craned his neck to see the guard's halo-screen. Jax enjoyed this particular fusia-haired guard the most since he always watched shows while on his shift. It gave Jax's eyes something to focus on other than the bars for a good six hours. Too bad for me. I could only listen since the damned guard always sat the same way each time—facing me. Jax tilted his head an inch to the right, pressing the scar on his left eyebrow into a bar. "Two more days until next time."

  "Wonderful," I growled. "I'll just sit here and rot in my own stench."

  Jax's lips twitched. "You still smell better than you did when you housed with an actual Lavano."

  "Hush."

  "I'm merely saying that you stank then."

  "I get it."

  "Like ... stank-stank."

  "Jerk."

  "That's better than stank-stank."

  "Be careful, or I won't flush my toilet for five days. I'll show you stank-stank."

  He blinked, his lashes pressing crooked against the bar. "You're evil."

  I flicked dirt out from under my thumbnail. "When I need to be."

  The brutal spray of water ended. The goosebumps on my flesh would last for hours. Two days ago, I had said I smelled like a Lavano. I would be perfectly happy to smell that way again instead of freezing bone deep. Shivers wracked my body, making my clinging clothing vibrate on my small frame, and my teeth chattered so obnoxiously, the Mian guard holding the hose glared at my mouth with green, glowing eyes. I hollered, "What the hell, asshole?" I hated this damn guard, the original guard. "Cold water this time?"

  The guard's lips tilted up in a wicked grin before he turned his back on me.

  Jax gritted his teeth as the spray hit him full on.

  I crouched in the corner and wrapped my arms around my legs. Tucking my head down, I shivered in the damp coldness of my cell. If I yelled anymore at this guard, he wouldn't give me my next meal. He really was an asshole.

  I ground my teeth together as I heard the water turn off, fully expecting him to turn the water on me once more just for the sadistic fun of it. But my head shot up when I heard the bars on my cell door creak open. The jerk guard walked inside and tossed a clean shirt and a pair of pants on my dripping wet cot.

  He ordered, "Get dressed. You have an appointment in ten minutes with the Plumas."

  My eyes widened. "We're getting out of here?"

  His chuckle was evil, making me shiver all over again. "I didn't say that."

  Jax and I stood against a wall with our hands bound behind our backs with laser-cuffs. I knew this hotel. It was the same one where my Vaq had requested the Plumas of the east bring me after my escape. The thirty guards who had escorted us here didn't even bother me, nor did their continual glares. I cracked my neck and sighed in delight at the heater's vents blowing down on us. The lights were too bright for my eyes, used to having hardly any light in the jail, but Jax and I were warm. And not in jail right now.

  The door across the hall from us opened. My groan was soft. I didn't want to leave this spot yet.

  Rule, a Mian litigator for Triaz, stepped into the hallway. His eyes roved over us in a calming fashion. "The Plumas will see you one at a time." He crooked a long finger at Jax. "You first, Mr. Waterston."

  Jax jerked away from the wall, hurrying to the man. He glanced back at me and saw my surprised expression at his excitement. "Stiller's in there."

  "Ah." I nodded my smile small. "Tell him I said hi."

  Rule gripped Jax's bicep, keeping him from charging into the room. But he peered directly into my eyes. "This isn't a jovial meeting, Ms. Valorn. You should prepare yourself if you think otherwise."

  My
smile faltered, and I snapped my mouth shut.

  He raised one brow. "I think you get the point."

  The door shut after he herded a mute Jax inside.

  I muttered under my breath, "It's better than jail, Rule."

  I walked at a composed pace into the room. Show no fear.

  When Rule had come for me, Jax hadn't been with him.

  I still didn't see Jax anywhere.

  The room was some type of a conference room with a wooden table in the middle.

  Though, there were no chairs. No windows. Another door was located at the end of the office.

  At least, it explained Jax's disappearing act. Stiller was also suspiciously missing.

  Rule closed the door behind us and motioned for me to stand at the end of the table.

  My Vaq stood to my left while the Plumas of the east stood to my right.

  By the tightening of Malik and Leo's lips, they weren't taking delight in this.

  Malik cleared his throat and rested his left hip against the table. "Braita, we'll keep this short."

  "Thank you," I mumbled, keeping my tone respectful.

  He stated, "The litigators of Triaz have formally charged you with treason."

  My brows furrowed, but I kept my silence. Except, damn, I wanted to turn a harsh eye on Rule.

  "You've also been found guilty."

  Okay, I couldn't keep quiet. "That makes no sense. I haven't even been to trial."

  "The rules here contrast with the rules of Joyal." Malik shook his head, his black hair brushing over his shoulders. "For women, no trials are needed if there is enough evidence." He rubbed a rough hand over his chin. "And you've been sentenced ... " He cleared his throat once more. "You've been sentenced to a lifetime in prison."

  "That's shit!" I spewed, shaking my head. "I am no different than a man."

  Rule snorted softly ... and his gaze caught on my heaving breasts. "I would beg to differ."

  "Fine. My mind is just as strong as a man's mind." I peered between my Vaq, pleading into each of their gazes with my own. "I cannot go back to that prison. I cannot." I would find a way to kill myself if I had to live in that hell forever.