“She is not,” Daen agreed. “Her eyes were wild. She looked at me with such fear and hatred.”
This was far beyond Jax’s comprehension. What reason could Lottie have for displaying such venom toward Daen? While the rest of them may have been harsh and demanding lovers, his youngest brother had shown her nothing but tenderness. Something about their mate’s behavior seemed suspicious to him. Screaming like that was over the top and so unlike Lottie who resisted what she saw as weak feminine impulses. If she’d punched Daen, he might have believed her anger was real.
He looked along the corridor toward Lottie’s room and saw Victoria hurrying toward them. Allik hung back, speaking to someone on his communication device.
“I am sorry, but she’s overwrought and needs to get some rest.” Victoria gave them a sympathetic smile. “You should go home. I’ll make sure someone lets you know if she changes her mind about seeing you.”
The way his brothers’ shoulders stiffened told Jax they liked the idea of leaving as little as he did. He wanted to be close to Lottie, especially since there was something strange going on with her.
“We will stay,” he said.
“That will not be possible.” Allik strode toward them, beckoning for the Taar-Breckian guards to join him.
Dread settled at the pit of Jax’s stomach.
“Why not?” he demanded.
“Charlotte Calder has requested sanctuary here on Taar-Breck and Commander Rossingham is considering it. You and your brothers are to return to the living quarters assigned to you. Until the commander has made his decision, you are not to approach Miss Calder.”
“You are asking us to stay away from her?” Jax could not believe it.
“No,” Allik said, his expression somber. “I am telling you to stay away. Until the commander has decided how to proceed, you will not leave your quarters. If he grants Miss Calder sanctuary here, you will be required to leave Taar-Breck immediately.”
“Is this some kind of joke?” Jax demanded.
“No. Miss Calder has made allegations of mistreatment against you and the commander takes those very seriously.”
Shocked to the core, Jax could think of nothing to say. Far from mistreating Charlotte, he and his brothers had ensured her every comfort, seen to all her needs, including her deep desire to be punished whenever she stepped out of line. Was that what she was calling mistreatment? Looking at his brothers, he found them just as stunned as he was by this turn of events.
“Go back to your apartments and think things through,” Victoria advised. “It may not be as bleak as you imagine.”
“Victoria.” Allik sounded weary. “Keep out of it.”
Jax wasn’t sure why Victoria was being so sweet all of a sudden, but he was grateful to her for acting as the voice of reason. His instinct was to lash out at the Taar-Breckians who had surrounded them and no good could come of that.
“Very well.” He held up his hands in mocking surrender. “We will leave.”
Signaling to his brothers that they should come with him, he turned and walked toward the exit, flanked by several guards. It was overkill, considering they had agreed to go peacefully. They would head back to their quarters as instructed and take stock of their situation. Knowing they were not among friends here on Taar-Breck, they would need to be smart if they wanted to get Lottie back. Retreat was never Jax’s favorite plan of action, but for now, it was the only choice they had. He could tell by the tension coming from his brothers that they did not agree.
“We should just march in there and take her,” Marc suggested, switching to their own language so the Taar-Breckian guards would not understand. “Our mate responds to a firm hand.”
“I agree,” Ren said.
Jax rolled his eyes. When had there ever been a time when Ren didn’t go along with his twin brother?
“We do not want to find ourselves at odds with the Taar-Breckians,” Jax reasoned. “We need their support if we are to take back our homeland.”
“Fuck taking back Bylanthia!”
That outburst would have shocked Jax if it had come from Marc or Ren but coming from Daen, it was so unexpected he barely knew how to respond.
“You cannot mean that.”
“I do,” Daen said with conviction. “The only thing that matters is Charlotte. The thought of losing her in death was bad enough but to know she goes on living without us would be unbearable.”
The murmurs of agreement from Ren and Marc told Jax he was walking a knife edge here. If he did not calm their rising tempers, they were liable to do something stupid.
“Leave it to me,” he told them. “I will arrange a meeting with Taryn Duff to find out what can be done.”
“You think he will help us?” Marc asked.
“He has acted with honor so far, and I trust him,” Jax said. “But be assured, if he will not help us, I will find another way. Charlotte is our mate and she will be returned to us.”
Thankfully, the conviction in his voice seemed to appease his brothers. As they got into the transport that would take them back to their quarters, they appeared less agitated. Now all Jax could do was pray that Taryn would have a solution for them because otherwise they were going to have to take their mate back by force.
* * *
Lottie rolled over onto her side and stared out of the window at a sky that was the most beautiful shade of purple. Warm and bright, it was different than the stormy gray clouds over Bylanthia or the pale blue above New Cambridge. She wondered if the rest of Taar-Breck was like this, so vivid in color. Perhaps she would get to see some of the city once she’d recovered enough to leave the medical facility.
She hadn’t managed to get much sleep last night. After her little performance with Daen, she’d been restless. Although she was certain she was doing the right thing, regret nipped at her conscience. She couldn’t believe Daen was the one they’d sent in here to speak to her. It was a sneaky move and not one she’d expected. Her mates had probably thought she’d be reluctant to send him away and they were right. Hurting him was one of the hardest things she’d ever had to do. If it had been Jax barging into the room with hackles raised, demanding she rescind her plea for asylum, it would have helped steel her resolve. It was easy to get mad at Jax when he acted all heavy-handed. Daen was a different story. He was so quiet, gentle. Cross words had never passed between them. She’d hated shouting at him and the look of anguish in his eyes when she told him she never wanted to see him or his brothers again had almost been her undoing.
Still, she hoped her ripping into Daen had sent the message loud and clear that she no longer wanted to be with them. At the end of the day it was what was best for all of them. Once she secured asylum on Taar-Breck, her mates would be left with no option other than to head back to Bylanthia without her. Hopefully, they would be able to turn their disappointment into anger and use it to win the war.
She glanced over her shoulder as the door opened and Victoria came back into the room. Her friend becoming a medic had not surprised her at all, but the happiness she seemed to have found with her Taar-Breckian warrior did. She would never have imagined Victoria settling into a relationship with such a dominant male. Of course, her friends probably thought the same thing about her and she’d been involved with four of them.
“Are you sure you want to continue with this charade?” Victoria asked without preamble. Lottie sat up and folded her arms across her chest. She knew that tone of voice. Victoria was spoiling for a fight.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“I mean, are you going to carry on pretending you never want to see your mates again? Are you going to keep claiming to be afraid of them?”
“I don’t want to see those brutes again, and I am afraid of them.”
The expression on Victoria’s face was one of skepticism.
“They seem like good men,” Victoria said. “Okay, so they annoy the hell out of me with their overbearing attitudes—Jax, especially—but they’ve do
ne nothing that makes me think they could ever harm someone they love.”
“They don’t love me.” Even to her own ears, the words sounded false. “I’m nothing more than a possession to them.”
“That’s a steaming pile of shit and you know it. Those men are head over heels in love with you. They were distraught when they thought you might die and overjoyed when they heard you’d woken up.”
Lottie had no response to that. Her men cared for her, of course they did. They’d demonstrated their love for her over and over again. Having to throw that in their faces was hard, but there was no alternative.
“You know, Vicky, it sounds like you don’t want me here.” Lottie decided to go on the attack. “You’re so afraid of the competition, you’d rather see me trapped with four men who’ve humiliated and abused me.”
“That’s not true,” Victoria protested. “I just don’t want to see you making a huge mistake. I know you well, Charlotte, and I know when you’re lying. It’s written all over your face.”
“I’m not lying,” Lottie replied with more conviction than she felt. “They frighten me and I want to stay here with you and Lucy and the others. I just have to convince Commander Rossingham to let me.”
“You’ll get your chance to persuade him in three days.”
“As soon as that? I’ve only just regained consciousness.”
“Yes, but thanks to the advanced medication we have here on Taar-Breck, you’re lucid and with a few more doses, you’ll be fit and ready for anything.”
Lottie snorted. Perhaps she would be fit by then, but she doubted she’d be ready.
“But in the meantime,” Victoria said, “the commander’s asked me to take some preliminary notes.”
“Why?”
“He needs to know what your complaints against your mates are and he thought it would be easier for you to tell me than one of his men.”
“How thoughtful!”
Lottie wasn’t sure she liked the idea of making her case to Victoria. With a stranger, she would be able to sob and wring her hands in despair. She could act the part of the weak and feeble woman in dire need of protection. There was no way Victoria would fall for it if she tried to play the damsel in distress.
“So,” Victoria said with just a hint of challenge in her voice, “tell me everything. What exactly have your mates done to make you so desperate to escape them?”
* * *
Jax looked at the words on the tablet in front of him and shrugged. His people had no written language of their own and he had never bothered to learn how to read the words used by other races. He recognized some Taar-Breckian when he saw it, but he found these English scribbles indecipherable. Fortunately, Taryn seemed to understand his predicament.
“Shall I summarize?” the Taar-Breckian offered.
“Please.”
“Miss Calder accuses you of abducting her from her home in New Cambridge and forcing her into a relationship with the four of you.”
“That is a damned lie!” Marc spat out, eliciting angry murmurs of agreement from the others.
Jax raised a hand to silence his brothers so Taryn could continue.
“She alleges she has been treated with cruelty, and that she is nothing more than a sex object in your eyes,” Taryn said. “She says she has been punished harshly for the most minor transgressions but can provide no specific examples of times when she was caused undue pain by any of you.”
“Of course she can’t,” Daen blustered. “We have never hurt her.”
“We have loved her since the moment we first claimed her as our mate,” Ren said angrily. “We would never cause her pain.”
“Well, beyond the sting of the cane once in a while,” Marc added. “But that is about discipline. Everything we have done has been with her consent.”
“That is correct,” Jax confirmed. “We have disciplined her for her transgressions but always with the understanding that we do so out of love and concern for her wellbeing.”
Taryn nodded and Jax was quite sure the other man knew exactly what sort of punishments they dished out to Lottie. He kept his own mate as a pet, after all.
“So, it is your contention that you have a normal, loving relationship with Charlotte and that she has no reason to fear you.”
“Yes, you saw for yourself. When you were on board our ship, did you see anything that caused you concern?”
“No, I saw a woman in love with her mates.”
“So, why would she say these things?” Daen asked. “I don’t understand it.”
“Victoria thinks it may be some reaction to being unconscious for so long, some confusion. Or, perhaps she feels she is not the same young woman you fell in love with.”
“Because of her scars?” Marc asked.
“Perhaps.”
“So, what happens now?” Jax asked.
“There will be a hearing with Commander Rossingham. Charlotte will appear and answer his questions. He will decide whether or not he is prepared to offer her sanctuary.”
The thought of what might happen terrified Jax. If Charlotte persisted with these lies and Rossingham believed her, there would be little they could do, short of invading Taar-Breck and trying to take her back. His brothers might be up for such action, but he knew it was not a fight they could win.
“Can we be at this hearing?”
“No, but you may observe from another room in the Citadel. If Commander Rossingham needs to ask you anything, he will send for you.”
Jax might not like how things were unfolding but he had to admit, the Taar-Breckians were fair in their dealings with such matters. Perhaps this concept of holding hearings to determine outcomes on important issues was something they should adopt in Bylanthia. But that was something to think about in the future. Right now, he had to focus on getting his mate back. When they had Lottie by their side once more, everything else would fall into place.
Chapter Four
As soon as she entered the room where the hearing on her request for sanctuary was to be held, Lottie started to regret going down this route. Actually, that wasn’t quite true. There had been niggling doubts there all along and as soon as she’d arrived at the Citadel her misgivings had intensified. Something about being in this building made what she was doing more real to her. This was an austere place where important events took place. The rulers of Taar-Breck had living quarters within its walls, but it was also where they governed their people from. As soon as she saw the place, Lottie had wanted to turn around and go home—wherever that was.
She’d imagined gaining sanctuary on Taar-Breck would be easy. After telling Victoria she’d suffered unspeakable cruelty at the hands of her mates, she’d thought all she would have to do was meet with Commander Rossingham and plead her case to him. She expected it to be straightforward, given that she’d claimed Jax and his brothers had been beating her senseless and depriving her of food and water. The laws here allowed women to leave their partners if they were mistreated, after all. Now that she was at the Citadel, she realized this was not going to be as simple as she’d first believed.
The room was set up as though a trial was about to take place. On a raised platform at the front was a long table with several high-backed chairs behind it. Whoever sat there would be looking down on two smaller desks where those wishing to argue a case were to sit. Having someone scrutinizing her from on high would be seriously intimidating. Again, it crossed her mind that she should leave, but where would she go? Back to the clinic? Impossible, now that she’d been declared fit and healthy. Could she go back to Jax and his brothers? She had no idea if they would even want her after she’d accused them of harming her. No, it seemed her only option was to press on with her plan to build a life for herself here on Taar-Breck.
As she stood there contemplating what her future might look like, she heard the door closing behind her.
“You sit on the right.”
She looked around as Taryn Duff came into the room and proceeded to mak
e himself comfortable at the table on the left.
“I’m sorry?” Lottie was caught off guard by this unexpected arrival.
“The table on the right is for the party who is bringing the case; the left is for those who wish to state their opposition.”
Lottie blinked several times. She’d missed something because she really didn’t understand what was happening here. It was beginning to sound more like a trial than a meeting to determine whether she could stay here.
“Opposition?” she queried. “You mean you are going to ask Commander Rossingham to deny my request for sanctuary?”
At Taryn’s nod of confirmation, her stomach dropped.
“Why would you do that?” she asked. “What possible reason could you have for not wanting to let me stay here?”
“I can think of several reasons.” Taryn flashed her a deceptively benign smile. “Like the fact you’ve lied about your mates’ treatment of you and stained the reputation of good men. You’d clearly be a bad influence on our women.”
“What makes you think I lied?”
“Several things; the main one being that I witnessed your affection for your mates with my own eyes. I have also interviewed Jax and the others extensively and I find their denials of your allegations compelling, as I’m sure the judges will.”
“Judges?” Lottie gulped nervously. This whole thing was beginning to sound a lot more formal than she was happy with. “Am I on trial?”
“You’ve broken no specific laws.”
That was a noncommittal answer if ever she’d heard it. Lottie rubbed her palms on the skirt of the plain white dress Lucy had lent her. She realized then that he’d said judges, in the plural. She’d thought it would just be Andrew Rossingham she would have to face.
“Who are the judges?” A tremor in her voice betrayed her crumbling nerves.
“As you know, Commander Rossingham will be present as spokesman for our ruling family. William Barron will also attend in his capacity as ambassador for Earth’s High Council. They have shown an interest in what happens here today.”
That couldn’t be good. Lottie had hoped her presence on Taar-Breck would escape the notice of the High Council. The last thing she needed was their interference in her life. What if they tried to insist she be sent back to New Cambridge? For the sake of the fragile peace between them, the Taar-Breckians might accede to their demands. If she ended up back on Earth, she’d be imprisoned, or worse.
Tamed by Her Mates Page 4