“Ty, you and I both know she needs to be the one to communicate with them. Do you really think they will be comfortable knowing that aliens exist and have their friend hostage? Because that is exactly what they’ll think. We need her to come with us.”
Ty sighed. “Fine. Jarrod, I want Natalie’s ship fixed and ready to go tomorrow. Get all your best people on it immediately. This is priority.” He turned and walked away with his guard before turning back one final time. “Oh, and Jarrod? You get to make your own punishment for their disobedience, too.”
Jarrod gave an evil grin as he looked at Tali and Natalie.
“Thank you, Your Highness.” He walked away, rubbing his hands together. He turned back, walking backwards as he said, “I’m glad you two are alive, and I am even gladder I get to pick your punishment.”
“Crap,” Tali and Natalie said at the same time, before turning back to the men of Team One.
Andris shook his head and said, “I’m glad you are alright, and that you did help, but neither of you are trained and you could have gotten any one of the Teams killed. Don’t pull that stunt again,” before he walked away.
Aaden and Aaren just clasped their shoulders, giving them small nods of their heads and following after Andris.
Hannan chuckled and gave them both hugs. “That was badass. I don’t care what people say. You were on fire. I’m impressed. Unfortunately for you, Team Two is waiting for you, in case you’ve forgotten.” He pointed behind them and chuckled again. “Good luck.” He walked away, toward where the other men had disappeared.
They turned around and sure enough, a group of four tall women waited by another door that lead to yet another training room. The tallest woman, a beautiful redhead, gestured with her head for them to follow and the group walked into the room and disappeared.
I’ll see you later. Then we will talk.
Taavi gave Natalie a brief kiss and left.
“Well, I guess it’s time to go get our butts kicked by some of the scariest women on the planet.”
Tali grabbed Natalie’s hand and together they walked into the training room.
~ ~ ~ ~
He stared at the beautiful alien and gave her a nod before leaving. He didn’t want to attract her attention. It was better if he stayed in the shadows. To think, her and that Tali ‘saving’ them from the Nezleans, people praising them and thanking them for their service. Little did anyone know, he was going to be their saviour.
It was time to talk with Alpha.
He made his way down to the jail in the depths of the mountain, their usual meeting spot. Just as he knew he would be there, Alpha was pacing the small dead ended hallway in agitation.
“So, what happened? Did the king put them in jail?”
He scoffed. This man, this stupid old man, knew nothing.
“No, I don’t believe so. He thinks of Taavi and Tali as his siblings, do you really think he would send Tali, and Taavi’s mate, to jail? No, I’m not sure what he planned, but I know it won’t be that.”
“Damn it!” Alpha swore, pacing once more. “There goes that plan to take the alien from jail. It would have made it so much easier.”
He rolled his eyes at Alpha’s plan. The man had the intelligence of a gooka, stumbling about, not sure of what was going on. He had his own plans, but maybe it was time to see if Alpha had what it took to get things done.
“I actually have a plan, if you’re interested.”
Alpha stopped pacing, his face red with anger or exertion he wasn’t sure which. He puffed out a breath.
“Tell me this grand plan. If you think you can beat mine.”
After he told Alpha his plan, he could see immediately what his response would be. And he was correct.
Alpha sputtered and cursed.
“No. No way will we ever partner with that… that filth. That scum. How could you even think it? No. We won’t do that. That was a dumb idea. Think of another.”
He got up in Alpha’s face, enjoying his flinch and the fear in his eyes.
“Do not ever call my ideas dumb. One of these days, you might just find yourself needing these ‘dumb ideas’, as you put it. Or one of these days, I might decide to do my own thing.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” Alpha breathed.
“You keep failing, I won’t have any choice but to take matters into my own hands.”
“I’m Alpha! You cannot speak to me like that, you stupid man. I will ruin you.”
“I would be careful with the threats. Do you remember that ‘accident’ you asked me to arrange for you? You could easily have an ‘accident’, too.”
He walked away from Alpha, sick to death of incompetency. It was time to take matters into his own hands, without the Alpha’s knowledge.
It was time.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“I’m Beckara,” the red headed Amazon spoke. “I’m Trystan’s second. This is Nashala,” she pointed to the shortest of the bunch, who had light brown skin, amazing blue eyes and brown hair. “Girana, who prefers Gigi,” she nodded toward a stunning woman with pale skin like Natalie, who had no hair and beautiful golden-brown eyes. “And this,” she went and stood next to a woman with her light brown hair slicked back in a super tight bun and dark brown eyes, “Is Kirish. We are Team Two, aside from Trystan of course.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Tali, and this is Natalie.” Tali introduced, nodding at each of the women.
“So, you want us to train you do you?” asked Gigi. “What do you want to know? We’ll demonstrate whatever you want first, and then it will be your turn to try.”
Tali turned to Natalie. “You choose. I’m the one who set this up. It’s your turn to do something.”
She gave Natalie a shove.
Natalie rolled her eyes. “Fine. Okay, I’ve always wanted to know what I’m supposed to do if someone ever got me on the ground and was on top of me.”
Gigi raised her eyebrow. “Would you be tied down, or would this be during a fight?”
“Let’s start with a fight first.”
“Okay. Nash, come here. Let’s show them the cross choke and go from there.”
Nash stood over top of Gigi as she lay down on the mat, and then got between her bent legs.
“Okay, so Nash is my enemy or someone trying to hurt me. I’m going to show you this move that will render her or anyone unconscious in roughly six quai – if you do it right. We’ll show you what the move is, and then we will explain it step by step.”
Gigi lay on her back as Nash leaned over her, her elbows and forearms above Gigi’s shoulders. As they struggled, Gigi grabbed Nash’s shirt, did some fancy moves and choked Nash using her own shirt. Nash tapped out and gulped in air.
“Did you see that? In about six quai, your opponent will be unconscious. Let’s slow this down.”
They got back into position with Nash on top of Gigi. Gigi blocked Nash’s arms with her own elbows as Nash tried to punch her, wrapping an arm around Nash’s head and keeping her own head close to hers.
“See how I’m controlling her head and arms? She can try and punch me, but I’ve got control of her one arm and my head is close to hers and on the other side of her free arm. This is where closeness would be your friend. You’ve got control.” Gigi reached down with her left hand and gathered Nash’s shirt up her back, near her neck. “You have to grab her shirt like this, in a good grip. Then you’ll bring your right hand around and grip the shirt, palm up. Your left hand will cross overtop of your right and you’ll slip your thumb inside the shirt and grip that, palm down.” She demonstrated, slowly so Tali and Natalie could see each small movement. “Now, I’m going to use my foot on her hip and push her away, creating some distance, so I can swing my left forearm in front of her throat. Now that I have a good tight grip, I squeeze my forearms in an X, with the help of her shirt, to choke her. Remember to keep your head close while you do this. You don’t want to give someone the opportunity to punch you.”
She squeezed her fo
rearms together while Nash tried to get away.
Her face turned red and she tapped out.
“Whoa. That was intense,” Tali murmured. “I want to try it first!”
~ ~ ~ ~
They made their way back to the apartment after an awesome training session with the Team Two ladies. They really were badass. They had shown Tali and her some amazing and dirty ways to fight.
No one would mess with them now.
They were both aware that Taavi was going to be there waiting for their ‘talk’. They walked into the living room and stopped as he rose from the couch. He slowly walked toward him, expression unreadable. He stopped in front of them, looking from one to the other.
He put his hand on Tali’s shoulder and squeezed.
“I’m still really angry at you two. I could have lost you, Tal. My baby sister. I couldn’t protect you.” He ran his other hand through his hair. “But, I understand why you did what you did. And I have to respect that. You did save a lot of people and for that, I’m really proud of you.”
He tugged her into his arms and hugged her.
She wrapped her arms around him and mumbled, “I actually didn’t do anything. I sat there, terrified. Natalie did all the work.”
“You went with her, supported her, and made sure she wasn’t alone. That’s very brave, even if you were scared. Now go,” he gave her a shove toward the hall. “I need to talk to Natalie. Alone.”
“Yeesh, I help save the world and get sent to my bedroom,” Tali muttered as she walked down the hallway and into her room.
Taavi turned to Natalie, his face once again a blank mask.
Natalie couldn’t hear what he was thinking or feeling, so she was in the dark. She walked over to the couch and sat down, waiting for Taavi to walk over and crouch between her legs.
“Do you know what I’m going to say?”
“No. You’ve completely blocked me.”
“Good, then you won’t be expecting this,” he said as he leaned forward and planted a kiss on her lips. He deepened the kiss when Natalie gasped in surprise, twining his tongue around hers before pulling back.
“Now that I have your attention, and you’re caught off guard, I’ll tell you this. I hate that you did that. I was terrified, Nat. You could have died. What would I have done then? We’ve had this conversation before, but I don’t really think you’ve been listening. Think of me dying up there. Can you imagine me, gone to you forever?”
Natalie gasped as pain infused her, stealing her breath.
“Don’t say that,” she grabbed his face and leaned her forehead against his. “Please don’t say that. You’ll jinx it somehow. I couldn’t live if you died,” she whispered as tears ran down her cheeks. “It would be too much like before.”
Taavi gently wiped each and every tear away, and gently kissed her again.
“You mean when your family died?”
At Natalie’s nod, Taavi sat down beside her and pulled her into his arms.
“I know we have danced around the topic of their deaths, but I think now is a good time for you to tell me about what happened, if you can.”
Natalie stuttered in a breath, saddened that he was right. They had spent so much time talking about their childhoods, their hopes and dreams, and everything in between, but she had never went into detail on what happened the day her family died.
“It was an awful day, but it started out so well. It was my first time back home since moving to Alpha Station on Neptune. I had spent all of two days with them before the accident. Mom and Dad had left me at a restaurant to pick up John, who was getting me a surprise present – though I didn’t know that until after they died. Anyways, I guess a rich kid had gotten his hands on a car that ran on actual gas in his fathers’ collection of antique cars, and decided to take it out on the roads. He actually drove it, while drinking, and crashed it into my parent’s car.
“It killed my mother and John instantly, according to the doctors, but my father stayed alive long enough for the paramedics to get to him. There was nothing they could do for him though – his legs had been severed – but he was able to give them a message for me. His last words were “We love you, baby girl. We are so proud of you. There is something out there, waiting for you to find it. So find it, honey, and be happy.” And then he died.”
She sat there in Taavi’s arms as he rocked her back and forth. She felt almost numb reliving the worst day of her life. Like it was happening again.
She shook her head to dispel those thoughts and focused on Taavi as he rubbed the tears off her cheeks.
“I couldn’t just stay here and do nothing while you went up there. I already know what it feels like to be left behind, and I wasn’t going to chance that happening again. I need you to understand that. I wouldn’t have been able to go on if something had happened to you. At least you would have your family to live for. I don’t even have that, not really. I mean I love Tal and your parents, but it isn’t the same thing as having my parents and brother back, or even Ben and Kayla. That’s why I did what I did. I had to protect you. Even if it was a slim chance of protecting you, I had to at least try.”
Taavi gave a small smile and nodded his head.
“I understand, I do. Thank you for telling me, Natalie, and I’m so sorry that happened to you – and them. But that just means you know how I would have felt if anything had happened to you. I know you think it was the same as watching me leave, but I’ve had years of training, Natalie, years of experience. You even told me yourself that you’ve never had to fight anyone because your planet was so focused on its own survival. If you had training, I would still have worried, but I would have known you were ready and could handle yourself. Today, I could only guess and hope that you could handle yourself. So please, until you’ve got some training under your belt, do not do anything so stupid again.”
“I won’t. I promise. But this means you need to get someone to teach me. I want to learn. This is going to be my new home, and I won’t stay at home or visit friends while everyone else is doing something productive.”
“I never said you should. But I agree, you’ll learn, when I can find someone to teach you. And when you aren’t banned from the hangar anymore.”
“Ugh! I understand that they had to do something about us not listening, but this sucks. I would say it’s unfair if I wasn’t as mature as I am.”
Taavi snorted which earned him a glare and a punch to the stomach.
“Oof. Wow, you pack quite a punch. Speaking of, how did training with Team Two go?”
Natalie shook off her annoyance and sadness, too excited to be mad at him.
“It was so good. So, so, so good. I loved it and Tali was right, they taught us stuff you’ve probably never had to learn because you’re not a woman.”
He pulled her up and led her to their room.
“Is that so? Do you think you could take me now?”
Natalie scoffed, “Of course I could. Tali and I would dominate you guys.”
“You think so? Why don’t you ladies prove it then? Tomorrow?”
“Can’t. We’re going to the wormhole tomorrow, remember? So we’ll battle some other time. Until then, I want a nice hot shower with my man, followed by a nice comfortable bed to sleep in.”
They walked into the bathroom, taking turns undressing each other.
“You just want a shower and sleep?” Taavi pouted as he removed her bra. “I bet I could change your mind,” he said as he took her nipple into his mouth.
Natalie moaned. “I bet you could,” she gasped, fisting his hair as he nipped her.
As much as she wanted this, she was stinky and sweaty, meaning the shower took precedence.
She shoved him away, bending over to take her underwear off, loving his groan as she did it. She put a little more swing in her hips as she made her way to the shower and turned it on. Stepping beneath the hot water, she tipped her head back, letting the water run through her hair. She knew Taavi was watching her through
the glass, so she decided to have a little fun with him.
She moaned as she rubbed her hands slowly down her body, over her breasts and down her stomach. She bent over to grab the shower gel she usually used, squirted some on her hands and lathered them up, moving her hands once more over her body.
She started at her legs, going so slowly she felt silly, but from Taavi’s carnal thoughts, she was doing it just right. She washed her thighs, slowing even more when she cleaned between her legs, grinning when she saw Taavi’s mouth fall open. She slowly washed every nook and cranny of her body, finishing with her hair, when Taavi finally decided to join her.
He tried to grab her but she danced out of his arms, leaving him in the shower as she grabbed a towel and wound it around herself. She looked back at him over her shoulder and grinned at his dumbfounded expression.
“What? You thought I was going to let you have your way with me? I would have pruned. Not my fault you took so long.”
She went to the sink and brushed her hair and teeth, laughing at Taavi when he slipped and cursed, trying to rush through his shower.
She had just finished brushing her teeth when the shower went off and wet feet ran across the bathroom, landing behind her and then she was up and in his arms.
“Tease,” he growled, soaking wet, dripping water in a trail behind him as he made his way into the bedroom. He dropped her on the bed and whipped off her towel, giving himself a cursory wipe, before flinging it away.
“Now, it’s my turn to tease.”
And he did exactly that.
All. Night. Long.
And it was heaven.
Chapter Twenty-Six
They made their way back to the hangar the next morning.
Natalie was almost vibrating with excitement, hoping and praying that today would be an amazing day where she would be able to contact Ben and Kayla. Taavi said he was confident that they would make contact, so she was feeling very optimistic.
Jarrod and his team had apparently worked tirelessly the previous day and night, because when they arrived at the hangar, her ship was once again sparking and beautiful. No char marks anywhere.
Destiny Found (Epsilon Chronicles Book 1) Page 20