Lindsey’s reaction was anything but…adaptable. She stiffened, her welcoming smile changing to something hard and brittle.
“Is that what you did? Adapt?”
Kristin tilted her head oddly, her eyes darker, more serious than I’d ever seen them. We’d only known each other a few months, both of us new to the planet, but we were close. We had to be to work together. But not close like Lindsey and me. Not close like Kristin and her Prillon mates.
Lindsey seemed hypnotized as Kristin spoke. “True love is a rare gift and I found it here.” Her gaze darted to me, then back to my mate. “You can, too.”
She shook her head once, definitively. “No.”
“Why not?”
“I have to go home.” Lindsey kept her hands busy, straightening the already perfectly positioned chair, adjusting the camera, checking the light.
“Why?” Kirstin lowered her voice. “Why? What’s so important you have to get back? Are you married or something?”
I listened closely, honing all my senses to hear Lindsey’s answers. Kristin was asking the questions I wanted so badly to ask my mate, but knew she’s shut down, turn me out.
“God, no.” Lindsey’s instant denial chilled my rage at even hearing the suggestion that she belonged to another. But she wouldn’t look at me, wouldn’t look at Kristin.
And gods be kind to Kristin Webster of Earth. I realized what she was doing now. She’d been an investigator on Earth, a member of an organization that hunted criminals, as I did. She was very, very good at asking questions, digging for answers, for the truth.
I remained still and quiet so she could continue.
Lindsey wiped tears from her cheeks and everything in me went on high alert. What the fuck was going on with my mate?
Part of me wanted to harm Kristin for making my mate feel any kind of sadness, but I stifled it. It wasn’t Kristin wounding her, but whatever the fuck it was on Earth that held her. Pulled her back.
Fascinated, I watched the women interact. Something strange was going on here, but I didn’t understand the nuances of human communication well enough to decipher their conversation.
Apparently, Lindsey had decided that was enough, that she would not offer more. She ignored Kristin and turned to me, her eyes overly bright, her smile too wide to be real. “Okay. Where are the five human soldiers? I’m ready.”
Kristin met my gaze with a half smile and I nodded my thanks. She’d tried to break through Lindsey’s walls, and I appreciated the effort. But if anyone was going to see into her soul, it was going to be me.
Kristen yelled to Rezzer to bring them in—Maxim had been swift with his orders to organize the interviews—and the giant Atlan walked to a smaller room and opened the door. The five human warriors living on Base 3 walked into the dining hall and took seats at the table across from my mate. Their odd collection of Hive implants and skin grafts, gadgets and silver flesh on display.
All of us wore the same battle armor. While it wasn’t required—only Krael was the one to bring danger to us—it seemed we all felt more comfortable in the Coalition attire. It wasn’t mentioned, but perhaps we were all prepared for harm to come to us again.
Lindsey introduced herself to wary, yet calm handshakes. It was not a custom on Everis, but since each male did it with Lindsey and Kristin didn’t comment, it was a familiar action.
But not too familiar. None of them looked at Lindsey with a hint of heat. They held zero sexual interest in her. Curiosity, perhaps, at the Earth woman who’d arrived outside of protocol.
I watched my mate begin asking them her questions. She wanted to know everything about each warrior. Where he was born. Where he went to school. Why he volunteered for the Coalition Fleet, and how they ended up here. In hell.
My pride grew as she coaxed the men to talk about horrors none would willingly relive. If Kristin was good at intimidating people into answering her questions, Lindsey was a master at seducing their secrets from them. They told her everything, breaking down in tears, describing their capture and torture in detail as she watched them with those wide, compassionate eyes.
She touched them lightly. A hand on a wrist or shoulder. She touched them, held their hands in her own, comforted them…and I allowed it because I could see in them the same thing I felt when she touched me.
Peace. Acceptance. Hope where there had been none.
When she was done, they filed out in a quiet line, calmer than they had been. Perhaps relieved, even glad that their stories would be told. Was it because she was human that they’d shared, that she’d understood? While each one’s story had varied, the basis was the same. They’d come from Earth, fought and had been captured. Tortured. Escaped. Brought here to live out their lives in whatever semblance of comfort they could find.
There was no difference in that because they were from Earth. No, my story was similar, almost identical. Same went probably for the Prillons and Atlans, too. Was what they shared enough for her? Would the men’s stories be what she needed for those on Earth? Would it be enough to send back without her leaving?
Was the story why she was adamant about going home? No, home wasn’t Earth for her any longer. Home was with me. I paced back and forth, breathed deeply.
Rezzer stalked over and sat in her interview chair, submitted to the same round of questions.
“What are you doing, Rezz?” I asked, confused. He wasn’t from Earth. Far from it.
He looked from me to my mate and rubbed his huge hand over his head. “Telling the truth. They need to know what’s out here. We need warriors to fight. We need brides to heal. Earth needs to do its part.”
Rezz and Lindsey connected as she asked him about his home planet, Atlan. He partially shifted into beast mode for her, showed her what he was. Gave her his truth.
My mate was like a truth magnet. None seemed able to resist her lure, the soft safety and understanding offered in her green eyes.
Rezz was the last and Lindsey’s shoulders slumped when she was done with her last question for him. The suns had set and the room had lost its warm glow. The interior lights were harsh and overly bright. She didn’t meet my eyes and I could sense she was upset. Emotionally ragged. She tugged at the equipment to no avail, her movements awkward. Inefficient.
I came to her side, put my hand on top of hers. “Let me get that for you, mate.”
“Don’t.” Tug. “Call.” Tug. “Me.” Tug. “That!” She yanked the camera piece from its dock and it flew back, taking her with it. I caught her before she could fall and pulled her to my chest. Tears streaked her face and I waved Kristin, Rezz and the others away with a flick of my wrist. They responded quickly and silently to settle at a table at the far side of the room. She’d respected their emotions, they’d respect hers.
“Shhh. I’ve got you.” I offered comfort, but she wanted none. I wanted to give it to her, to hold her as she recovered herself.
“I didn’t know. I had no idea what it was like out here.” She sobbed, the hours of pain she’d just shared with the wounded warriors here obviously wore her down. She cried against my chest, wrapped her arms around me and clung tight as if she needed me.
I held her and I let her cry, put my cheek on top of her silky hair. It was my honor, my great privilege to be hers, to be her protector and comfort. Her soft heart and obvious concern for my brothers-in-arms made me fall even more in love with her. She was goodness and light, hope and healing. She touched the untouchable. Held their hands. Offered them solace when there was near to none to be had on this gods forsaken planet. She couldn’t solve their problems, but she could listen to them, respect them.
“I never should have taken this stupid job.” Her whisper was soft, but vehement.
Never taken this job? What the hell did that mean? She didn’t want to be here? She never wanted to travel to the Colony. To meet me. To be with me.
“Why did you?” I asked.
“I—” She pulled away from me, wiping at her cheeks with stiff fingers.
“Never mind. I have a headache.”
If she was unwell, I would tend to her. It was a simple proof that I would cherish her. “Then I will take you to medical.”
“Oh. No.” She tried to push back, but I refused to let her out of the circle of my arms. “I didn’t mean—“
“I insist.” If my mate was in pain, the doctor would heal her. I lifted my hand and motioned my team closer once more. They rose as a group, came over silently. “I must take Lindsey to medical. Please be sure this equipment is sent to my quarters for Lindsey.”
“Sure thing, boss,” Kristin said.
“When do we return to the hunt?” Rezzer asked, hands on his hips. “The deep cavern sensors detected motion in section five twice in the last six hours.”
That was news to me, and information that needed to be acted upon. Ever since we’d discovered Hive infiltrators on the Colony, and the traitor Krael had cost us the lives of half a dozen warriors, including Captain Brooks from Earth, we’d set up additional sensors, especially in the miles of natural caves that ran beneath the base. Every lead had to be investigated, even if my mate was now with me.
We couldn’t afford to lose more men to the Hive. Every death brought down morale on the base. Our lives were bad enough without adding the threat of Hive capture back into the equation.
Rezz raised a brow and I knew he was right. It couldn’t wait. If it turned out to be Hive, we put the entire planet at risk if we delayed. Yet I’d just found my marked mate and did not wish to leave her. I looked to Lindsey.
“What is it?” she asked.
“We have a traitor among us, the one who killed Captain Brooks. And others.”
“And you have a lead?”
I nodded once. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rezz nod as well.
“Then you should go,” she said. “I understand.”
I had never been torn in two like this before. My instinctive need to Hunt was strong. Powerful. It had driven me my entire life with my complete focus. But now, my need to be with Lindsey was even greater. “I can’t leave you like this.”
“You can,” she said. “You must. For Captain Brooks and the others. You must see justice done.”
She understood, but that didn’t make it any easier.
“Really,” she added, placing her small hand on my arm. Her pale eyes held mine and I didn’t see any wavering. “I’ll be fine.”
“I will take you to medical,” I said, finding a compromise. “See that you are in good hands and then I will go.”
“All right.” I glanced to my team, who agreed. Except for Kristin, who responded very enthusiastically.
“Finally!” She bowed to Lindsey, and me. An apology for her outburst. “Sorry, it’s just that I’m about to go stir-crazy. Tyran and Hunt seem to think I should spend less time at work and more time in bed.”
Yes, I could understand her Prillons’ interest in keeping their mate in bed and beneath them. That was all I wished to do with Lindsey.
Rezz laughed, the sound a deep booming chuckle that made my mate smile.
“Come, mate. I will see you well.”
“Then you will go catch the bad guy.”
I looked down at her, considered the Earth term. Bad guy.
“Yes, we will catch the bad guy and I will come back to you.” I leaned in close, whispered in her ear. “And then I will make you scream my name.”
***
Lindsey
“What is that?” I asked, my eyes following the blue wand Rachel waved in front of my face. The headache I had from hearing all of the men’s stories, the horrors they’d faced at the hands of the Hive, had my head throbbing.
I sat upon an examination table in the medical wing of Base 3. Kiel had left me, grudgingly, but Rachel herself had assured him she’d take care of me and see me safely back to his quarters. Only then did he kiss me and leave.
Within seconds of the blue light moving back and forth, the pressure behind my left eye eased and the dull ache began to go away.
The Earth woman tended to me with a skepticism I recognized. In her green medical uniform and her brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, she was all business. I’d messed with her planet, with the safety of her mates and the others. While she didn’t have children, she was very protective of everyone. Mated to the Governor, she saw one of her roles as guardian. I’d come and brought the possibility of harm to her people in a way she hadn’t imagined. From a place she saw as hers as well. Earth was going to screw with The Colony and it was my fault. Or, at least, I was a tangible reminder of what could happen if the lies continued.
Yet, she was a biochemist. A very smart one, it seemed. She had more schooling than I would ever have. Years and years more. She was pragmatic, but she was also reasonable. I had no doubt I wasn’t her favorite person, but she wasn’t kicking me out either. It was because I was Kiel’s mate, not because I was from Earth. Her alliance was to The Colony now.
She stopped moving it about, held it out to me. “It’s a ReGen wand. There’s a fancy, scientific explanation for what it does, but pretty much, it recognizes damaged cells and heals them.”
I was afraid to reach out and take it, to hold it and study the tool that might be able to heal Wyatt.
“It can heal anything?”
“If you cut your arm off, no, it’s not powerful enough.” Her dark eyes held mine. “In Earth terms? Any major organ damage, probably not. Cuts, burns, broken bones. Pretty much anything an Urgent Care could tackle the wand can heal. Worse than that and you have to go in a ReGen Pod.” She turned and pointed to a row of long, metal boxes. They were like the exam table I sat on, but each had what looked like a metal coffin on top. The lid was clear so whomever was inside could be easily seen.
“ReGen Pod?” I asked.
“ReGeneration Pod. Someone gravely injured goes in one of those. There’s more blue light, much more healing power than the wand.” She held it out for me and I took the small device.
“Can it heal cancer?”
“Yes.”
“Diabetes?”
“Yes. Almost everything that people die from on Earth can be cured.”
I hopped off the table, gripped the wand, paced. “Then why aren’t these on Earth? Millions could be saved! Suffering—” I thought of Wyatt and the long days he’d cried in his hospital bed asking his mommy to make the pain go away. I’d held his hand and begged the nurses to drug him, to help him. But that was almost worse. His eyes would be glassy and he couldn’t talk to me like a normal little boy. He was out of it, sleeping for so long I worried he might not wake up. Hot tears filled my eyes as I looked at this thing, not much bigger than my TV remote back home, and wanted to scream. “Why? It could help so many people.”
Rachel sighed, leaned her hip against the side of the exam table. “True, but Earth isn’t ready for this technology. Your presence here, your story is proof of that.”
“Me?”
Rachel raised both brows. “It can heal, but it can also kill. Cause cancer. Create illness. Kill people and it would all look a hundred percent natural. Heart attack. Cancer. Strokes. Liver failure. Dementia. They could fry someone’s brain just to make sure they forgot whatever it was they needed their victim to forget.” She watched me for long minutes as I squirmed. “Do you honestly believe the governments and corporations on Earth would use this for good?”
I was a journalist. I wasn’t exactly a globe-trotting war reporter, but I wasn’t one to wear rose-colored glasses all the time either. As a single mother I didn’t have that luxury. No, the news fed a steady diet of corruption and war. Murder and terrorism. Rachel was right. The Coalition was right. But that just made my heart burn in my chest. Everyone would suffer because the greedy and corrupt, the evil on Earth had not been eradicated or controlled.
“Humans truly are savages.”
Rachel sighed, and the sound nearly broke my heart. “Yes. We really are.”
“But I need it. So many people are suffering. Can’t
you sneak one back and not tell anyone? Give it to someone trustworthy? I’d never tell a soul, I swear. I’d destroy it as soon as I was—” I thought of Wyatt and waved the wand in the air. “This? This little thing could save my—”
I pinched my lips together, turned away. Tears spilled down my cheeks and I frantically wiped them away. I’d said too much, but my emotions, my need to heal Wyatt made me fierce. I’d do anything for him, even beg this human woman who didn’t like me much for help.
“Save your what, Lindsey?” Rachel asked. For the first time, her voice was missing that hard edge.
I didn’t reply.
“You’re not an investigative journalist. No offense, but they’re sneaky. Ruthless. Mean. Hard.” Her hand came to rest on top of my shoulder and the gentle touch made me jump as she continued. “You’re none of those things. I mean, you were discovered at the fighting pits. The entire base is talking about the way Kiel fought for you. No one trying to be sneaky gets exposed like that.”
I laughed at my own stupidity. “Well, I am a journalist and a blogger. It’s just that I usually don’t work on this kind of story. I’m more the hospital benefit, parenting articles kind of writer. So, yeah, I’m pretty bad at being a spy.”
“Why are you really here?”
I turned to face her. “To get the truth. To find out what happened to Captain Brooks. His uncle is a Senator. He was from a rich, powerful family that thinks the Coalition is lying about what’s going on up here. So, they sent me. That is the truth.”
Rachel’s eyes were serious, but not hard. “I was a whistleblower. I discovered the CEO of the company I worked for was putting out bad medicine and it was killing people. I reported it and because of that, was set up to take the fall. I was convicted to twenty-five years in jail.”
My mouth fell open. Holy shit.
Cyborg Seduction (Interstellar Brides: The Colony Book 3) Page 9