by RK Munin
“Halin, you need to stop fighting,” she tells him. At her touch he stops moving. His eyes focus on her again. He doesn't talk, just growl and rubs his face against her hand.
“I'm right here, but you need to stop fighting,” she repeats. She pushes at the man holding Halin by the torso. He slowly releases his grip and steps away so she can bring her body closer to Halin.
Halin drops his head closer to her and takes a deep breath and gives another small ticking growl.
“You don't smell right.” His voice is raw.
“I will in a minute,” she promises. Without breaking eye contact with Halin, she addresses the other men in the room. “Why doesn't everyone go ahead and move away so Halin and I can talk?”
“No!” A man rushes into the room, and Halin reacts quickly and violently. He uses the distraction to shove several of the men off of him and grab Mian to his side. The men still holding him try to regain ground, but they’re worried about hurting her in the process.
“Everyone, back up!” Mian screams out. Halin's hold on her is causing enough pain to make her pant, but she doesn’t struggle. He doesn’t mean to hurt her, but his aggression is getting the better of him with all the other men crowding in the room. She knows he doesn’t realize what he’s doing.
She ignores the pain and forces her voice to remain calm and controlled. “Back up. I’ve got this.” No one moves, so she locks eyes on Revin. “Get them out or I swear I'll hunt each of you down and cut something precious off with a dull knife.”
“He's dangerous,” the man who just rushed in yells out. “You need to get her away from him. He's not rational. He'll hurt her!”
Sarin grabs the new man by the arm and pushes him away, “You're going to need to move away, Mender. Right now, he's got her, but if you get closer, he might do something we'll all regret.”
“I told you this was a bad idea!” the Mender nearly screams in Sarin's face.
“And you also told me using any stronger drugs to sedate him might stop his heart,” Sarin reminds the man grimly.
Fearful they will try and drug him Mian pushes herself hard against Halin's side. “Out!” she shouts at all of them, ignoring the painful hold Halin has around her belly. “Out, NOW!”
“But Captain Sorrow,” the Mender begins, and she turns her angry gaze on him.
“No! You give me a chance to calm him down or I'll get my hands on a plasma rifle and start shooting!”
“She's good. I wouldn't challenge her,” Revin states with grim humor.
“We're letting go,” one of the men holding Halin announces in a strained voice. “Timon, Somen, do you hear me? We're all going to let go and back up.”
Halin gives a low growl but doesn't move. The moment his other arm is free, he brings it around to pick Mian up and hold her high against his chest with her legs dangling. She gives a little gasp and smacks his arm. He turns and pushes her against the wall, putting his big body between her and the other men in the room.
“Can't breathe,” she pants. With a grunt he loosens his grip a little, and she takes in a deep lungful of air while the other men all start backing toward the door.
“Lock it behind you,” she calls out to them. “No one comes in without asking permission.”
“I'll stand guard,” Sarin assures her.
“We'll stand guard,” Revin tells her, eyeing Sarin. “Both of you need to be kept safe. Do you understand, Mian?”
It’s clear he’s telling her he doesn’t trust Sarin to make the hard choice between her safety and Halin’s life. She understands impossible choices like that and vows she’ll do everything in her power to keep Revin from needing to making that kind of decision.
“I'll call for help if I need it,” she promises and feels Halin growl against her back, but he doesn’t tighten his hold, so she relaxes a little. Revin doesn't say anything more, just nods and starts moving everyone out of the room. Once he has the men out, he gives her one last look, a torn and tormented expression on his face, then he turns and closes the door behind him with a soft click.
The moment they’re gone Halin drops her on her feet and rushes to the closed door, pushing several heavy pieces of furniture against it. She watches with raised eyebrows as he barricades them in. When he's finally done, he turns to her with a determined expression.
“You don't smell right,” he declares and grabs her up in his arms again.
She gives a little squeak, and soon she's sitting on the floor in the corner of the room while he's ripping off her clothes. She expects him to suck on her breast or dive between her legs, but instead he just starts rubbing his body on hers. With a small sound of frustration, he rips at his own clothes until he's naked from the waist up. He pushes her back and spreads his body on top of her, rubbing and growling. After a few minutes he sighs with satisfaction, and when he meets her gaze, she can see intelligence now.
“I was dying without your smell,” he whispers. “I don't know what's wrong with me. I managed to keep my sanity yesterday, but today it was worse. About halfway through the day I couldn’t take it anymore. I decided I couldn't wait any longer to see you, but they wouldn't let me leave. They drugged me, but the drugs never lasted long. I couldn't think straight. All I could focus on was getting free and getting to you.”
His body relaxes against hers and she taps his arm. “How about rolling on your side? I'll cuddle, but you're a little heavy to be on top for long.” He rolls off of her and gathers her to him, holding her tightly but not so bad that she can't breathe.
“You know, something's going on with me too,” she confides. “The guys are telling me my scent is getting stronger. I had to bathe three times today with this scent neutralizer Povin gave me. Something strange is happening to both of us.”
“My memories of today are hazy,” Halin admits. “By the afternoon I don't remember much except fighting and being in pain. I remember the Menders saying they don't understand what’s wrong with me. They’re worried.”
“Too many drugs. They could hurt or kill you,” Main states grimly. “We aren't going to let that happen. If I need to hang out with you here all day to keep you calm, we can do that, no problem.”
Halin is silent for a long time, and Mian, tired from a full day of activities and an evening spent worrying is just starting to drift off to sleep when he speaks. “I fear I might hurt you.”
His words make her tense up. Suddenly she’s wide awake. Fear of bodily harm tends to do that to a person.
“Do you feel like you need to hit me?” she inquires cautiously.
“No, I'd never do that. But I'm not in control when you're away from me or there are all these other males present. I fear I might inadvertently damage you. I couldn't think earlier. All I could see was you. I would’ve killed those other men if you hadn't stopped them. I wouldn't have even thought twice about it. I didn't even recognize Sarin until you were touching me and I could think again. Even then, if he tried to pull you away from me, I would have seriously injured him and not cared that he’s my own brother.”
Mian takes a deep breath. “You weren't like this before. Even when you got so angry on Wint and threw Moriv, you were more rational. It's almost like the possessive primitive part of you is being exaggerated somehow.”
Mian thinks about everything they've done. All those days spent with Halin in the close confines of Fortune. His easy charm and playful attitude. That all changed very soon after the visit to the Bicoma. Could both of them have been infected by something on that planet?
“I don't deserve you,” Halin tells her, his words are sudden and surprising.
“Probably not,” she agrees with a grin, and he gives a tired chuckle, the sound making her heart feel lighter and easing the ball of worry that settled in her stomach the moment Sarin knocked on her door earlier. If he can have moments of lucidity enough to laugh, then there’s hope.
“Looking back, I can see I was already acting irrationally when I got back on the ship after visiting Bico
ma,” he says, echoing her own thoughts. “I was consumed by the idea that you might slip away from me. All I could think about was keeping you with me. Keeping you safe. Getting you back here. Then we got back here, but nothing felt right. There were too many males. Too many eyes watching you.” A little growl escapes his throat. He coughs trying to stop it and then sounds a soul weary sigh. “My own people had to save you from me. I can’t believe I kept you in chains.” He makes a sound of pain deep in chest. “I was a horrible abusive male to you.”
She waves off his comment with a snort. “I think you’re right. I think you picked up some kind of virus or something back on Bicoma. That means you’re not to blame for whatever caused you to go caveman.”
“Caveman?”
“It’s an Earth thing Mom said whenever Dad acted too macho and annoyed her,” Mian explains. “The answer to all of this has to be on Bicoma. Something from that planet is affecting us both. I didn’t smell so strong before Bicoma, and you were a perfectly rational Hissa. We need to go back there and see if they’ll talk to us. They might be able to fix it if we tell them what’s going on.”
“It took years of diplomatic exchanges before they agreed to allow us to visit the first time,” he tells her glumly. “Even if we get permission quickly, the Council won’t let us both go. They won’t want to risk you.”
“What's our other option, watch you slowly go insane? You're doing well now, but what's to say you're not going to get worse even when I'm with you?”
“They need to put me down,” he declares, his voice flat.
Mian slaps him with enough force to turn his head. Shocked, he looks at her with wide eyes. “Did you just strike me?”
“And I'll do it every time you say anything that stupid,” she warns him. “I'm not going to let anyone put you down. If they won't let us go, then we don’t bother asking. We’ll get aboard Fortune and go to Bicoma by ourselves. I'll fire on any Hissa ship that tries to stop me.”
“Our military is large and strong. They’ll chase you and maybe even fire on Fortune to disable her. They could kill you trying to stop us. I won't allow it,” he says, gripping her against him.
Mian gives him a steely-eyed look. “No, they won’t fire on the Fortune at all. They’d never risk killing a precious female who could have Hissa young,” she points out, showing him her cold, calculating side. “I haven’t seen a doctor, er Mender, yet. They don’t know I’m sterilized. For all they know I might already be pregnant.”
“True,” Halin says with a slow nod.
“That means we get on Fortune, and if they try to do anything, we just threaten them with me. If they get too close, I warn them I'll go to extreme measures to escape. I'm sure you showed them my bounty hunter records from Fortune. There were a couple of close calls where Fortune and I almost didn't make it out. They know I'm determined. They'll have to let us go. We just need to get to my ship.”
“I might be able to help with that,” a voice says, startling them both. Halin reacts first, jumping to his feet with Mian in his arms. He sets her down in the corner and puts his back to her, ready to use his own body as a shield.
Sarin is standing in the room, holding up both hands to show they are empty and staying as far away as he can and still be in the room with them. Peering around Halin, Mian notices an open maintenance grate and looks up to Sarin with a raised eyebrow.
“When things went quiet, I got worried,” Sarin explains. “I only meant to look in and make sure you were both alive, but then I heard you talking. Halin sounded like his old self, so I thought I’d be safe to enter.”
“Nice to know you care,” Mian retorts. Halin says nothing, instead he gives a low warning growl and shows Sarin his fangs. Mian strokes his back. “Easy, Halin, that's your brother over there. He's family. He'd never hurt you or me.”
There’s no reaction to her words. It’s as if he can't hear her. Having another male in the room has flipped a switch in his head. He’s only instinct and emotion now.
Damn.Reasonable thinking Halin has disappeared, replaced by feral Halin.
“It's me,” Sarin says, his face full of concern and pain. “We grew up together. Trained together. We competed in everything. We held our sisters and mother while they died. We stood together in grief after our father killed himself. You’re my only family left.”
Again, there’s no indication that Halin understands anything Sarin is saying. If anything the growling gets more intense. Mian sighs and looks over to the devastated man.
“You're going to need to get us to my ship,” she tells him. “And you're going to need to figure out how to do it without us coming into contact with any other males.”
“Do you think you can drug him?”
“Isn't that dangerous?”
“If we had to drug him consistently, then yes it would weaken his heart until he died. One more time shouldn’t damage his heart. The last dose the Menders gave him only lasted an hour. On most Hissa his size it should've lasted almost six. But an hour gives us enough time to get him on a shuttle and back to your ship.”
“Make the plans, then get me the drug,” Mian orders him. Sarin gives a sharp nod and leaves, closing the grate behind him. The moment he's out of sight Halin relaxes and turns to wrap his arms around her. He breathes deeply, so she knows her scent must be coming back because he makes happy soft noises. She relaxes into his arms and lets him just hold her, waiting for him to be able to think again.
“What just happened?” he asks, bringing his head up and blinking. “We were on the floor cuddling, and now we're standing.” Before she can answer he pulls in a deep breath with his nose and a beatific smile uncurls across his face. He leans over and kisses her neck and then runs his tongue over her skin. “By the moons you smell good,” he groans.
“I need you to focus,” she tells him, ignoring the way his actions are making her all melty. “Sarin was just here. He's going to get us on Fortune and I'm going to take us back to Bicoma. Those guys are bizarre but powerful. I'm sure they can figure out what’s going on with the two of us.”
“Two of us?” he questions, meeting her gaze with slightly unfocused eyes.
“Do you remember the conversation we had before Sarin came in?” she asks. Frustration fills her when he shakes his head. “Right, then you're just going to need to trust me.”
“I trust you,” he states simply. “Even when I can't think I know you're there.” His voice is raw from all the roaring, and she feels him quiver against her. “If I die promise me you will find another male to protect you.
She rubs her hands up and down his back, trying to soothe him. “Don't be an idiot,” she murmurs. “We're going to be fine.”
He buries his head against her, giving off a small growl. “Promise me,” he insists. “The thought of you being with another male makes me want to rip things apart, but the idea of you alone fills me with terror. Promise me you will stay on Hissa if I don't survive. Promise me you will let another comfort you.” Obviously, he doesn't remember the plan to leave Hissa and seek help from Bicoma.
Annoyed, she slaps a hand over his mouth to silence him. “Shut up. What you're talking about is a non-issue, so just shut up about it because we're going to figure out what's wrong and fix it.”
He goes quiet and just holds her. A sound behind them spurs Halin into action. He grabs her up and pushes her into the corner again, shielding her body with his own. A drug gun comes skittering across the floor, stopping when it bumps against the wall next to her foot. She waits until she hears the grate close again.
“Halin?”
He takes a deep trembling breath and his hold loosens. She pulls back just enough so she can see his eyes. “I know we were talking, but I can't remember what we were talking about,” he admits, dropping his head and resting it against her shoulder. “All I feel is aggression and possessiveness. I want to bed you, but I can't. The instinct part of me is too afraid someone will sneak up on us while I'm distracted.” His body is hard
against hers, nothing but tense muscle ready to fight.
“I just need you to trust me,” she whispers, stoking his chest and reaching up to capture his lips with hers. She gives him a chaste kiss, but he grabs the back of her head and deepens the kiss. They’re both panting by the time she pulls away from him.
“Do you trust me?” she asks and draws him down until they’re both sitting on the floor. He gives a little growl of disapproval. He doesn't like sitting because it's a vulnerable position. She makes soothing noises and kisses him again.
“Trust you,” he growls out. She shows him the drug gun and his growls become louder, but he doesn't move. She presses it against his neck, and he doesn't flinch. “Always trust you.” She triggers the gun, her eyes never leaving his.
His eyes close, and she tries to catch him as he slumps sideways. She manages to keep his head from banging on the floor. “It's going to be fine,” she promises him, feeling tears prick her eyes. “I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
She gives herself a moment to just hold his head in her lap, running her hand over the scale pattern on his head and murmuring comforting. Reluctantly she moves his head off her lap, placing it gently on the ground. At best the drugs will last an hour, but she has a strong suspicion they won't last that long. There’s no time to waste.
“Sarin,” she calls out. “He’s unconscious.”
She hears movement, and then the door to the room is being forced open, slowly pushing the barricade back. Then Sarin, Revin, Dacon, Povin, Veran and two more men are streaming through the mangled door and upended furniture.
“We don't have permission for this,” Sarin tells as he and another man reach down to lift Halin's limp form. “We need to move quickly.”
“Just get me to Fortune. I can do the rest,” she assures him as she scrambles off the floor to follow. Revin grabs her shoulder, halting her progress for a moment. His nostrils flare, dropping her hand he takes several hasty steps back.
“You can't take him there by yourself,” he insists. “We need to go with you to keep him from hurting you.”