by Octavia Kore
“No,” Nuzal growled, looking around him at the humans in the cells. How long were they supposed to suffer because of him? They’d been put through enough by his people and already had to suffer the loss of Layla and Clara.
The male’s eyes narrowed. “No?”
Not long ago, he might have just left them in the cells, unconcerned about their fates, but now, after seeing what they’d gone through and getting to know them, Nuzal couldn’t abandon these humans. “I won’t answer any questions until the humans in here are released into the care of the others.”
The male sighed as he shook his head, waving his hand behind him. “It seems you were of one mind. These two demanded the same thing.”
The moment Nuzal saw his mates step around the male, he was off the bed and kneeling on the floor in front of the glass before he even realized what he was doing.
“Hey, big guy.” Jun smiled at him. “We came to break you all out.”
“We’ll make room for all of you in my home,” the Venium male was saying.
Nuzal could barely focus on the words, but the moment Jun’s hand touched Calder’s arm, he felt the beast inside of him clawing its way to the surface. A loud, rumbling growl filled the cell as his eyes narrowed on her hand.
Mine.
He was vaguely aware of his bondmate’s laughter, and it did nothing but irritate the beast.
“Oh, stop, will you?” Jun rolled her eyes, but removed her hand. “He’s basically Brin’s father.”
Nuzal didn’t care. He hadn’t touched or marked them for too long. He wanted his scent on them, wanted everyone around them to know who they belonged to. Calder reached up, deactivating the lock on the barrier. As soon as it opened, Jun launched herself into his arms, wrapping her legs as far around his torso as she could. She clung to him as he pressed his face into her hair, drawing in her scent. His xines tangled themselves in the dark strands, holding her close as he pushed air through his crest, rattling harder than he ever had.
He got to his feet, backing away on unsteady legs until he felt the bed behind him. She laughed when he dropped onto the thin mattress, bouncing her on his lap before burying his face in the crook of her neck. Her giggling ended on a gasp as he ran his tongue over her skin, using the tip to trace a path up the column of her slender throat.
Brin stepped into the cell, his blue gaze meeting Nuzal’s as he gave in to the urging of the beast and sank his teeth into the tender flesh at the juncture where her neck and shoulder met. The warmth of her lifeblood flowed over his tongue, and he closed his eyes on a sigh, savoring the rich tang. The beast rumbled its pleasure, satisfied that she was adequately marked for the time being. Nuzal released her neck, sliding the flat of his tongue over the wound and smiling when she shivered in his arms.
The satisfaction lasted only a moment. Nuzal jerked his head back, staring down at the punctures he’d left on her skin. When he looked into her face, ready to beg her for forgiveness, he saw no disgust or fear over what he’d just done. Her lips were tipped up into a smile and she cupped his face with her hands before pressing her lips to his.
“Feel better now, big guy?” she asked against his mouth.
“Moderately,” he grumbled, lifting her off of his lap and setting her on her feet in front of him. He eyed the marks wearily. Once again, he’d allowed his baser instincts to take over. He knew his saliva would help to heal the wounds, but that didn’t make him feel any better about making them. Calder cleared his throat, reminding him that they had an audience.
“I understand the need to uh, catch up,” the male gave them a knowing grin, “but if we want the council to release Nuzal and the others into my custody, we’re going to need answers.”
Nuzal blinked, trying his best to chase the beast from his mind. He wasn’t sure when Telisa had arrived or even when Roman and the others had left.
“We’re coming,” Brin told him, offering his hand to Nuzal.
Brin grinned when he took it, pulling Nuzal up from the bed and into a tight embrace. “It’s nice to have you back. Let’s get this over with. I’ve had my fill of the council.”
They followed Calder out of the cells, and were escorted by armed guards into a large room. There were Venium waiting for them there, mostly elders, who tracked him and his mates with their glowing eyes. One in particular, a fierce-looking scarred female, made the beast within him uneasy. He didn’t care for the way her eyes locked onto Jun as if she were prey.
“How nice of you to show up,” the female said as her gaze moved to Nuzal.
“And miraculously unharmed, Brega,” Jun snapped.
Nuzal frowned at the animosity between the two of them. It was obvious he had missed something during his imprisonment.
The female waved her hand dismissively. “I never told you he was injured. I merely said he needed your healing. You made that assumption.”
“You tried to drown me.” Jun growled.
“And yet you live.”
Numbness spread through Nuzal’s limbs and face as his eyes darted to the female Jun had called Brega. She’d tried to drown his mate? The darkness within him begged to be released, wanted to destroy this Venium who had dared to harm her, but he pushed it down.
Don’t let her bait you into acting like the monster they think you are, Nuzal.
He turned toward his mate, and his eyes went straight to the three small slits on the side of her neck, just below her ears. Gills. His mate had gills? They flared angrily just above the marks he’d left on her, and he wondered how he hadn’t noticed them back in the cell.
“I told you before, we needed to know if what you claimed was the truth,” Brega's voice was void of emotion, like she didn’t care whether or not his mate could have died.
“You risked the lives of both my mate and our unborn offspring by forcing the awakening onto her body.” He tried, but failed to silence his growl of frustration.
“Yes, I’ve been properly reprimanded, I assure you.”
His mate huffed beside him. “I sincerely doubt that.”
For the first time, Nuzal was actually thankful Vodk had been ignorant enough to start Jun’s awakening. The male’s selfish actions had saved his mate’s life.
“Why don’t we begin the questioning? I have no desire to be locked in this room with you all for longer than is needed,” Calder grumbled as he took a seat.
The Venium male sitting in the middle of the table puffed up as if he took offense to what Calder said. “Very well. We want information on what the Grutex have done and what they plan to do with the humans they are taking from the planet Earth.”
Nuzal started from the very beginning, telling the Venium exactly what he had told his mates in the records room on the ship, along with everything they had learned from Erusha and his journal. He told them of the testing and the experiments, both past and present, about the engineering of his species, of the injections Erusha suspected were being given to their warriors, and finally, of how they had sterilized Brin and were planning to use what they’d learned about the Venium’s hormones against them.
“These humans that were with you on the ship, they are all the victims of these experiments?” one of the older females asked.
“All of them. Their physical traits are a direct result of the awakening process they were subjected to. Some of them, those with psychic abilities, were already able to use them before the serum was injected, but they were limited.”
“I guess some of those TV psychics might be real after all,” Telisa muttered. “Just a little alien.”
“The Grutex are searching for a way to produce the perfect warrior. The answer doesn’t seem to have come from cloning, so the Kaia has turned to a more natural way.”
“Why would they want to produce a perfect warrior?” one of the males asked.
Brega’s laugh echoed through the room. “Why wouldn’t they? Isn’t that what we all want? Perfection.” Her eyes flitted over Brin for a second before she turned back to her peers. “
They want power, domination, the ability to go wherever and do whatever they want without consequence. It’s foolish to believe the Venium do not want that as well.”
The members of the council shifted restlessly in their seats, as if being compared to the Grutex made them uncomfortably self-aware.
“What are the drawbacks of the cloning process?” Calder asked.
“Memory loss after time, but lately,” he gestured to his lower eyes, “birth defects.”
The male seated in the middle pounded his fist on the table as the others began to talk amongst themselves. “In light of the recent events and the testimony of the Grutex scientist, Nuzal, we have decided to lend our support to the humans in defense of their homeworld.”
Telisa jumped up from the seat she’d taken next to Calder. “Thank you––”
The male held up his hand, cutting off her words. “There is a condition, Senator. Your leaders will allow us to seek out and test humans we believe to have Venium ancestry. These individuals will be asked to travel to Venora.”
Telisa grimaced. “They’ll be asked or forced?”
“We are not the Grutex, female. What they will do here will be discussed with your leadership. It will be your job to convince them to agree to our terms.”
“I can request a meeting with The One World Council,” she told them. “But I can assure you that they will wish to make their own requests.”
“I have no doubt.” The male rubbed his temples as his eyes slid toward Brega. “If that’s all on the subject of humanity, I have other matters to attend to.” Brega lifted her chin in a defiant gesture as the focus of the council shifted to her. “You, General, will be going on a special assignment. Your disobedience has shamed the council. This is nonnegotiable. Stand by for your orders.”
Nuzal watched the female push away from the table, her back straight as a spear as she turned without another word and marched from the room. She’d attempted to murder his mate and their offspring, and she was going to get off with nothing more than a proverbial slap on the hand. He wanted to protest, to demand her head, but he looked down at his mate where she sat curled in Brin’s lap and sighed. For now, he was just grateful to be with them again.
Chapter 38
Brin
“The two of you are going to tell me exactly what I missed.”
They’d just stepped into his room and Nuzal was already making demands. Brin closed the door and stopped as he watched them move into his space. He’d never let anyone aside from Oshen in here, and it occurred to him now just how devoid of life it was.
Unlike Jun’s dwelling, Brin’s lacked any personal items. There were no family trinkets on display, no heirlooms he wished to pass down to his pups, or photos of a happy family hanging on his walls. What did she think when she looked around at the emptiness of his life? Would she be happy here without her family and the life that had been taken from her?
“What is it you want to know?”
Jun ran her hands over the soft blanket Nyissa had gifted him on the first night in this room before plopping down onto the thick mattress with a sigh. That she felt so at ease here made him smile.
“Why don’t we start with you telling me who that female was who attempted to drown our mate?”
“Her name is Brega, and unfortunately, she is the female who gave birth to me.”
His hands began to shake and he scrubbed them over his face as he sighed heavily. When his legs became unsteady, Brin lowered himself to the mattress, feeling it dip beneath his weight. Nuzal waited patiently for him to continue. He smiled when he felt Jun shift closer and rest her hand on his thigh in silent support.
Like he’d done in the cells on board the Grutex ship when he told Jun the story, Brin began with his birth name and the tale of his brother’s death. He told him about how the council had forced Brega and Tesol to produce another pup, about his solars of abuse by Tesol and Brega’s neglect. He also shared with his bondmate the stories from his many solars of happiness with his adopted family, of how he and Jun had met on Earth and that he’d been terrified of telling her who she was to him.
Jun laughed at his retelling of their first meeting, rolling her eyes at his exaggerations and complaining that he made her sound crazy. He skipped forward to all that had happened while Nuzal was in custody. When he recounted the birth of Amanda’s twins and what it had been like to hold Rydel and Zenah in his arms, he didn’t miss the way Nuzal gazed at Jun. Soon enough, they would have a pup of their own to dote on.
“And how did all of this lead to the near drowning?”
Brin turned to Jun with a raised brow ridge. “I’ve wondered the same thing, honestly. One moment I’m watching you snuggle a pup against your chest, and the next I’m trying to understand Caly’s frantic shouts about how she spotted you with Brega near the airlock tunnel.”
Jun groaned as she pushed herself up in the bed and tucked her legs beneath her body. “I went outside to talk to the healer and Brega ran up to me. She was frantic, grabbing me and telling me that you needed to be healed. I hadn’t told the council about my ability then, and I thought if she knew that you must have been the one to tell her.”
Nuzal shook his head. “She never even came to see me. What did you speak with the healer about? Was it about our offspring?”
“Offspring sounds so… clinical.” Jun’s laughter washed over her, and Brin turned to brush his hand over her leg. “The baby is fine. In fact, he or she is tumbling around like they haven’t got a care in the world.” She patted her growing belly. “I wanted to talk with the healer because I needed to make sure that the things I was feeling for the two of you were my feelings and not something the pheromones made me believe.”
“You shouldn’t have gone with her.” Nuzal frowned. “Even if I had actually been injured, I wouldn’t want you to jeopardize yourself for me.”
“I really did think something bad had happened to you, Nuzal.” The material of Jun’s suit shimmered as she moved to her knees on the bed so that she could look at them both. “It didn’t matter who the messenger was, all that mattered was that I thought you needed me and I wanted to be there because I love you––both of you. I can’t imagine what I would do without either of you.”
The tears that had been gathering in her eyes spilled over onto her cheeks. For the first time since meeting Jun on Earth outside of Amanda’s dwelling, Brin felt like he was seeing her without all of the armor she normally wore. Their mate was laying herself bare, allowing them in, and he found this glimpse of vulnerability from someone who was otherwise so guarded to be beautiful. Brin brushed his fingers over her cheeks, collecting the tears and wiping them away.
“I spent my whole life terrified of meeting you, and then you barged into my life and I couldn’t help but love you. I never stood a chance against you, Shayfia.” Brin lowered his head, pressing his lips to her wet cheeks. “You’re the breath in my lungs, the lifeblood in my veins. I’ll get down on my knees every sol and thank the goddess that she put the two of you into my path,” he whispered, looking up to see Nuzal moving across the room toward them.
Jun smiled up at his bondmate, her arms opening for him as he bent to pull her against his chest. Nuzal rattled softly as he slid onto the bed next to Brin, curling his tail around his hips and urging him closer. His gaze bounced between them for a moment before he released a pent-up breath.
“This was my last beginning. I’ve experienced so many things over the course of all my lives, but this is the only one I’ve truly lived.” He reached out to cup Brin’s jaw, bringing him closer as Jun’s fingers trailed over his shoulder. “There was a time before the two of you came into my life that I would have shuddered at the idea of losing the chance at rebirth, but now I look forward to seeing what we do with the time we’ve been given together.”
His bondmate dipped his head as if to kiss him, but Brin pulled back at the last moment to press his lips to Nuzal’s shoulder instead. Jun tugged on his braid, and she gave him a t
eary smile as he leaned in closer. “What’s wrong, Shayfia?”
“Mama and Papa would love the two of you,” she whispered.
Nuzal smoothed a hand over her hair, letting the loose strands slide through his fingers. “What’s your family like, little one?”
“They drive me insane most of the time and they have a horrible tendency to be overbearing and nosy.” She laughed and shook her head, threading her fingers between Brin’s. “But I love them and I wouldn’t trade them for the world.” She told them about her childhood, and how she’d grown up working in the fish market, about helping her dam and sire care for her siblings, and how they’d be so proud of the day she got her nursing degree.
“They’ve supported me my entire life, bent over backwards to give me the opportunities they never had. They don’t even know what happened to me. They don’t know about the kidnapping or that I found the two of you.” She sniffled as she cupped her stomach. “They don’t know that they’re going to be grandparents, and I have no idea when I’ll get to see them or if I’ll ever be able to see them again.”
The look of utter despair in her eyes made Brin’s chest tighten. He wanted to demand that the council send someone to retrieve her family, that they gather everyone she loved and bring them to Venora so he’d never have to see that look on her face again for as long as he lived. They owed Jun that much, surely.
“I wish things were different, Shayfia. I wish we had the power to give you everything you wanted.”
Nuzal’s fingers tangled in her hair and he gently tugged on the strands, tipping her face up so that she was looking into his eyes. “One day at a time,” he reminded her, repeating the phrase she had spoken to them on more than one occasion.
“I’m sorry that I wasted so much time being upset with both of you. I’m sorry that I questioned not only what I was feeling, but what the two of you were feeling as well.”
His bondmate rattled quietly. “I’m sorry for how rough I was with you the day we mated. I shouldn’t have treated you like––”