As she continued to struggle, Raine held her face closer to his chest. It had reached a point she could no longer breathe. Her struggles turned into a life or death fight. She frantically twisted her body in an attempt to loosen his grip on her face in order to grab a breath.
Alex could feel her strength wane, her last thoughts were of Tarsea. “I love you, Tarsea,” she helplessly pushed into the soul mate channel. She would die without ever saying those words to him, knowing he would not be able to hear her through the soul mate link.
She felt Raine release his hold on her head as he placed her on a bed of leaves and twigs. He pulled the napkin out of her mouth. Alex gasped, filling her lungs with much needed oxygen. Raine’s full weight pressing against her body, adversely impacting her ability to regulate her breathing. Both her arms were pinned underneath her, she could not pull them free. With one hand, Raine grabbed at her clothing. His other hand was once again covering her mouth, preventing her from screaming.
Raine was pulling at her leggings, as Alex tried one more desperate attempt at communicating through the soul mate channel. “Tarsea, please help me. Raine is going to rape me if you don’t get here in time.” She had to have faith the soul mate pathway was everything Tarsea said it was. Although Raine did a number on her head, the soul mate pathway would be the first channel to repair itself.
She continued to fight as best she could, but she knew she was fighting a losing battle. Her strength had been negatively impacted by her temporary loss of air. Raine’s hand was caressing her upper thigh. He kept muttering in her ear words she could not comprehend.
“Alex, where are you?” She heard Tarsea’s voice in her head. Thank God, the pathway repaired itself. He had been in the bar area of the restaurant when the chaos began, if he was still there, he may not be able to get to her in time.
“I am somewhere off one of the walking paths. Raine dragged me back here, but I could not see where he took me.” After communicating with Tarsea, Alex had her second wind to intensify her struggles against Raine. She just needed to buy some time.
“Alexia, please, stop struggling,” Raine pleaded. “I love you. We were meant to be together. Let me touch and taste you, nothing more. Our first time together will be on satin sheets, I promise.” His mouth replaced his hand over her mouth.
Alex deepened his kiss, hoping he would think she was now interested and slow down the urgency of his attack. He must have been surprised by her response, because he pulled back and lifted his head to look at her.
“I know you are my soul mate, Alexia. If we spend some more time together, I know the telepathic channel will open between the two of us.” Raine proceeded to kiss her again. Alex did her best not to show her revulsion to his kiss and his touch. His other hand continued to caress her thigh, but did not breach her panties.
Suddenly she felt the pressure on her body lessen, as Raine was lifted off her. In the dim light, she saw Tarsea and Starc dragging Raine away.
“Alex, take my hand. I will help you up,” Tolfer said. He was once again at her side after being attacked by Raine. She grabbed his arm and slowly stood up. It was not surprising she was a little light headed.
Not far away, she heard Tarsea giving orders. “Koel and Starc, guard the pathways. I do not want to be interrupted.”
“What is going on?” Alex inquired. She looked and saw Tarsea and Raine squaring off. “Are you insane? Turn him over to the authorities, let him rot on the penal colony world.” She could not believe her eyes.
She started to make her way over to the two men, when Tolfer held her back. “You know we cannot do that, Alex. There would be inquiries and questions asked.” Damn, he was right. However, there had to be a better idea than Tarsea fighting the man one on one. Raine Narmouth was a snake and she did not trust him to fight fair.
Alex watched as Raine took a swing at Tarsea. He dodged the attack and initiated a jab to Raine’s left side. Unlike Tarsea, Raine was not fast enough to avoid the blow. Unfortunately, Tarsea had come in close to his opponent to make contact and was immediately hit in the jaw with a right hook. He let out a moan as Raine made contact.
Instinct took over, Alex stepped in to aid Tarsea. Tolfer held her back yet again. She could not understand how the other men would let Tarsea fight him alone. They should have ganged up on Raine and made mincemeat of his face and body.
As she was struggling against Tolfer’s hold, Raine yet again connected with Tarsea’s face. Where did that bastard learn to fight? Tarsea recovered quickly, connecting with Raine’s midsection. Both men pulled back, no doubt determining their next strategic move. She could see Tarsea’s face was beginning to bruise and blood was running from his nose.
She needed to stop this somehow. “Solfa, you need to come to the Gathering Place walking paths. Tarsea and Raine are fighting. You need to stop this and arrest the bastard who tried to rape me.” Alex used the warrior link, she did not want to alarm her aunt or Solfa’s mother.
Her soul mate was built like a bull, compared to Raine’s height and his reach. Tarsea charged Raine with his mass, forcefully slamming Raine into a trunk of a tree. Alex hoped that would momentarily disorient Raine, giving Tarsea additional time to finish off the job. Tarsea took the advantage and punch the bastard in the face.
Alex’s sigh of relief was short lived when she saw Raine reach behind him and pull out some kind of object. Through the warrior channel she could hear Tolfer yell, “Knife, look out, Tarsea!”
What happened next almost appeared to occur in slow motion. Alex watched helplessly as Raine drove the knife into Tarsea. “No!” she yelled, as Tolfer released her and she made her way to her soul mate. She watched in horror as Tarsea fell where he stood.
Raine had backed away from Tarsea, as Alex fell to her knees next to her love. The knife was embedded in his side. She was never good at anatomy and was not sure what major organs may have been impacted by the knife. Alex sat helplessly, not knowing what to do, other than comfort her soul mate.
“It is going to be all right, baby,” Tarsea told her just before he passed out.
“Oh God, what do I do?” Alex asked no one in particular. Tolfer was kneeling next to her, seeing to his brother’s injuries to the best of his ability. He removed his tunic and carefully wrapped it around the protruding knife, trying to control the bleeding.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Raine turn and run, only to come in direct contact with Starc. The men were going to come to blows, just as Solfa arrived.
“Arrest this man for assault,” Solfa ordered the two men that followed her.
“I was only protecting what is mine,” Raine replied. “Childers attacked me, I was defending myself. You did not hear anything in the communal pathway from Alexia asking for help. She was with me willingly. It is my word against his. I am a Crystal Telepath Guard Captain, I demand respect!”
“My cousin does not belong to you. No man would treat the woman he loves the way you treated her tonight.” For the first time, Alex looked down and was horrified at how exposed her body was. Her sheer tunic was ripped in a number of places and there was little covering the front of her chest. Frankly, she was too concerned about Tarsea to care.
“There is nothing your father or your mind control telepathic brother can do for you now,” Starc added to the conversation.
“Get him out of my sight,” Solfa ordered her subordinates. She knelt next to Alex and examined Tarsea.
As they forcefully led Raine Narmouth away, Alex could hear his pleas for her to stand up for him. The man was delusional. Everything he shouted fell on deaf ears, all white noise. Her world had collapsed to just the man bleeding in front of her. She was thankful Koel was following the men that took Raine away. He would assure Narmouth did not escape on the way to where ever they were going to hold him.
Solfa made short work of her exam
ination of Tarsea. “I need a med-tech immediately,” she shouted to one of her officers. “We have technology you could not fathom for injuries such as these, Alexia. Our first consideration is to make sure he does not bleed out before the tech arrives. It looks like Tolfer had done a great job doing just that.”
With Raine Narmouth no longer a threat, Starc came to squat on the other side of Tarsea. He proceeded to take off his tunic and handed it to her. “Put this on, Alex,” Starc said. “We do not want Tarsea to wake and have to kill us all for basking on your beauty.” She smiled as she slipped on his tunic.
“Thank you, Starc,” Alex replied. “My Tarsea would do exactly that.” If Tarsea would just be all right, she would never complain about his possessiveness again. She prayed, for the first time in years, for her soul mate’s life.
A man all in white arrived and knelt next to Starc. “Everyone needs to back away from the patient. I need room to examine and work on him.” Alex sighed with relief. She got to her feet and moved to stand behind the man, as he started working on her soul mate.
The med-tech pulled out what looked like a tablet and directed it toward the wound. The display showed what appeared to be a live action x-ray. Although she was no doctor, it did not appear that any of the organs were cut by the knife. She waited for the med-tech to provide some kind of prognosis. He pulled out a bag of fluid and stuck the needle attached to the bag into his arm. Alex did not know what was in the fluid, but she took it as a good sign.
“I am going to pull out the knife now. Can you gentlemen hold him down, just in case he awakens while I am removing the blade? We do not want him twisting and doing additional damage.” Tolfer and Starc did as the med-tech requested, while he pulled out the knife in one swift motion. “Hold the tunic against the wound.”
The med-tech reached for what looked like a sonic screwdriver from an episode of ‘Dr. Who.’ The tool started to glow as he pushed away Tolfer’s hand holding his tunic against the wound. He placed it against the exposed area and Alex watched in wonder as the cut flesh started to close. He continued to hold it over the repaired skin. Alex assumed it was healing the internal rip that the knife caused.
After several minutes, the sonic screwdriver was put away and the med-tech gave Tarsea an injection. “What was that for?” Alex inquired.
“The medication will accelerate the production of blood by the body ten times the normal rate. A wonderful drug that was brought back from the Nightshade universe. Wounds such as these are easily healed, assuming the patient does not bleed out or an organ is damaged beyond our ability to repair. He should be coming around any time now.” She had heard the words earlier, but seeing was truly believing. The med-tech started putting away his other equipment, as Tarsea started to wake, just as the tech said he would.
“Are you all right, Alex?” were Tarsea’s first words. Her emotions got the best of her and she started to cry.
“Am I all right? You were the one stabbed, you stupid man. How can you endanger yourself like that? There were four of you. Why did you have to fight him alone? You should have beat the crap out of him and then sent him through the portal to some hell hole of a universe. Just like Starc recommended the other day.” Words just spilled out of Alex’s mouth. Her internal filters generally in place when she was in control were non-existent.
The med-tech pulled the IV out of Tarsea’s arm. “Let us see if we can get you standing,” he said. The three men helped Tarsea to his feet. It appeared his stability was good, as they released their hold on him. “I think my work is done here. Just take it easy the next couple of days. Drink as much fluid as possible.”
Alex went up to the man and hugged him. He had saved her soul mate’s life. A simple ‘thank you’ seemed inadequate. The man simply nodded and walked away.
“Starc, take Alexia home. Tarsea and I still have a long evening ahead of us,” Solfa said.
“You cannot be serious,” Alexandra cried. “He was just stabbed! Tarsea needs to go home and rest. We have had enough for one night. Between you and Tarah, you should be able to get a confession out of Chartail and Stephano. I am taking Tarsea home.” Alex grabbed Tarsea’s sleeve and started to pull, expecting him to leave with her.
“It is not that easy, Alex,” Tarsea said. “As long as the brain is not impacted or an organ is not severely damaged, our technology enables almost immediate recovery from injuries.
Alex stared at her soul mate, dumbfounded. The events of the evening played over in her head. Just moments before she was leaning over what she thought was her mortally wounded love. She looked at the blood that covered the ground upon which they stood. “Look at that,” Alex pointed to the crimson soaked ground. “You were bleeding out, Tarsea. The med-tech gave you some fluids and an injection, but that is it. You need to be in bed.”
Solfa placed her hands on Alex’s shoulders. “You are in the Troyk Universe now, stop thinking like someone from Ginkgo Terra. The communal channels know we arrested two suspects in the assassination attempt. Jeryl Jarlyn will expect an interrogation and confession this evening, with Tarsea involved. He is healed and ready for duty based on our standards.”
“Go with Starc, I will be fine,” Tarsea said. He brought Alex into his arms and kissed her forehead. He then addressed his brother, “Thank you, Tolfer. I owe you a new tunic.”
Alex stared in disbelief as Tarsea and Solfa walked away. As soon as she thought she had figured out her new world, a curve ball was thrown. There was still so much to learn.
She looked at the man standing next to her. “Starc, what happened between you and Raine Narmouth?” Alex asked. His tunic almost came down to her knees, another reminder the violence that occurred tonight. Nothing would make her happier than to have Raine sentenced to the penal world. Originally, she had been horrified by the idea of such a place, but now it seemed like an appropriate place for the man.
“I really do not want to talk about it. Let us just say that you are not the first woman he attacked. You at least had the ability to fight him off.” A cloud fell over Starc’s face. Alex imagined he was thinking about that other woman.
“What happened to her?” Alex asked, she really wanted to know. It bothered her that Raine had a violent history against women, but she was not warned with more particulars not to date the man.
Starc stopped and looked at Alex. “Please, I do not want to talk about it.”
Alex had to respect Starc’s wishes, although her curiosity was piqued. For a fraction of a second she considered reading his mind. She quickly dismissed that thought. Starc was a friend. When he wanted to share what happened between them he could. Best to change topics. Might as well learn more about the workings of the Troyk world as they made their way home.
“So, Starc,” Alex continued, “tell me all about what it means to be a Crystal Telepath Guard.”
She listened to Starc’s explanation, hoping to also pick up chatter in the warrior link. Was Tarsea really all right?
Tarsea drew in a deep breath as Starc communicated they were heading to his parents’ house. He had seen the hurt and confusion in Alex’s eyes as he left her behind to continue the mission. He had planted Darden and Koel close by in case the mission went badly. Tolfer was there just for Alex’s protection if necessary. There was no question he had spent a good part of the operation watching Alex’s surroundings. She was a different type of target wearing that damn tunic that exposed more of her than he liked. With all his precautions, Raine was still able to get to her tonight. Had he hit her head a little harder, it was possible the soul mate channel may not have repaired itself in time for him to reach her.
He had not missed Raine Narmouth coming into the restaurant. The man appeared to be on a date, but he kept an eye on him as well. Alex had seen him, but correctly did not voice anything in the warrior channel. It was a crowded restaurant, so she would be perfectly safe. Besi
des, she was dining with her cousin, who, if the rumors were true, could be as lethal as any man. He also had his three men outside the restaurant as back up if Narmouth tried anything.
When Stephano made his move and pandemonium resulted, he had lost sight of Alex in the rush of people exiting the restaurant. At that point the mission was scrubbed in his mind. He tried to find Alex in the rush of people. As if the patrons of the restaurant and bar were not enough to deal with, a crowd gathered outside, curious by all the commotion within the communal pathway. He kept trying to reach Alex through the soul mate channel, but could not connect with her. Tarsea had a pretty good idea that Narmouth must have caused some kind of head injury to her, preventing her from reaching out for help.
It had only been eight minutes of silence within their link, but it was an eternity to him. He and his friends searched among the crowd and the surrounding area for her. Tarsea had even sent Darden to Narmouth’s residence in case he took her directly there.
Relief flowed through Tarsea when he finally heard from Alexandra. When he found his soul mate and saw Raine on top of her, a rage he had never experienced overcame him. He was going to tear the man apart. Tarsea positioned Koel and Starc on the path so he would not be interrupted. However, he had not expected Narmouth to be as good a fighter as he was. He had finally had the fight going in his favor when the bastard pulled a knife. Tarsea had heard Tolfer’s cry, but the blade was driven into his side before he could react.
The pain of the knife lodged in his side had caused him to lose consciousness, or maybe it was the loss of blood. He will always remember waking and seeing Alexandra kneeling over him. It tore him apart when he had to leave her, in order to complete the mission. During all the chaos, both Chartail and Stephano had been apprehended and arrested. He needed to fulfill his obligation and participate in their interrogations.
The Chameleon Soul Mate Page 19