Chapter Two
Chapter Two
Leaving home was the hardest thing Doriena had ever done. A little more than a week after she’d left the relative peace and tranquility of the royal estates, explosions flashed and boomed all around her. Men shouted orders and fired all manner of exotic weapons at an enemy none of them could see.
Doriena should have been at least a little bit scared, or excited, or… something.
What she was, was pissed as hell.
None of it was real.
This was a Gothe’maran military academy. Gothe’marans never did anything halfway. Until she joined the Academy. This was the first exercise where live ammunition wasn’t used. Ever.
At first she thought it was because she was a woman. Her mother had alluded to that assumption several times, but in recent months, she had discovered it was because she was the daughter of General Kahn Mak’un. One simply did not put the general’s daughter in harm’s way. For any reason.
Which was why she knew she’d never go far in Military Command.
Which was why she was doing this to begin with. She’d always hated being told “no.”
The night sky lit up like day with brilliant flashes of light. Noise bombarded her, and all she wanted to do was look around her and laugh hysterically, but she couldn’t. If she was ever going to prove to her teammates she wasn’t a fragile porcelain doll, she had to do it better and faster than everyone else.
The exercise today was an obstacle course. She had to climb fences, through razor wire -- blunted, of course -- and swim pools without getting her gun wet. She had to fight “enemy soldiers” hand to hand and hit moving targets with flash grenades and blunt laser flashes from her destabilizer gun.
And she just knew there was no way she would fail. The Academy couldn’t afford to let the daughter of its favorite general flunk out.
“Doriena! Move your ass!” Bakac yelled as he boosted another soldier over the wall in front of her. He was senior instructor for this exercise, and it was apparent he was also her personal bodyguard. Much as she really wanted him guarding her body, this wasn’t exactly what she had in mind.
Ignoring him, Doriena looked around her. There were a few men shouting orders, a few struggling with the wall, the stronger ones shoving the weaker ones out of the way and using them as stepping-stones when necessary… it was literally every man for himself. Well, if she couldn’t fail, she’d help out a few of her classmates.
One very large warrior pulled a man off the wall when the smaller man impeded his progress not two feet from her. If not for Bakac’s presence, and who she was to begin with, she had no doubt she would have been the one pulled off that damned wall.
“Soldier!” Her voice carried more authority than she thought possible. “You will stop your advancement and help your brother!” When he only looked at her, smirked, and continued upward, Doriena ran to the wall and jumped as high as she could. Without a second thought, she grabbed the man’s ankles and hung on for dear life.
“What the fuck are you doing?” The warrior yelled down at her as he tried to shake her loose. Once she got a solid grip on one ankle, she braced her feet on the wall and threw all her strength into pulling the man from the wall. With a mighty battle cry, Doriena gave one more tremendous yank. The man’s grip let go and both of them fell to the ground.
Which was the one part of this she hadn’t thought out. The man was probably twice her size and weight, and he landed on her chest from about eight feet up. The breath left her body in a whoosh , and she felt the sharp snapping of many ribs. She couldn’t breathe.
“That should teach you, you little bitch,” the man hissed. “Just because you’re the general’s daughter doesn’t mean you can tell the rest of us what to do. You are not my commanding officer, lady.” Standing, he spat on her before leaving her to scale the wall.
Every breath was a struggle. She tasted blood and knew she had probably punctured a lung. But there was no way in hell she was going to let that big thug get away with what he’d just done.
Once again, she jumped for the warrior, who was already almost as high as he was before she pulled him off the wall. This time, however, she climbed up his body and put herself on above him. Her body screamed in pain, but she climbed every inch. Once she was above him -- him swearing at her and threatening her bodily harm all the while -- she stomped his hands as hard as she could. Her boots were thick with sole and tread, so she knew every blow had to be misery for him. Still, he held on for several minutes before he finally let go and fell to the ground a second time.
Doriena lowered herself before jumping. Landing on her feet with a thud, she crumpled to the ground. The warrior was getting to his feet, but it looked as if his hands were useless.
That didn’t mean he was helpless, though.
He came at her with murder in his eyes. Doriena struggled to her feet, but didn’t make it before he kicked at her. Falling back to the ground and rolling quickly, she managed to avoid his kick, just as she’d been taught. When he roared his frustration and came at her again, she rolled to one side before he would have reached her. Using his own weight against him, she stuck out a foot and shoved hard as he passed her, and he stumbled a few steps before finally falling.
He would have gotten up a third time, but Bakac placed a booted foot on the man’s head, shoving it back into the ground. “I could kill you for what you did, soldier.” He had to raise his voice to be heard above the noise, but Doriena was certain only the soldier and she heard Bakac’s words. “Not only did you attack a member of the Mak’un family, but you pulled another soldier off that wall to save your own ass. Cowards are not welcome in Military Command.”
“It’s just war games!” the soldier panted, rolling over when Bakac removed his foot. “No one was in any real danger, and he was slowing me down. I was working on a record time.”
Bakac moved so quickly, Doriena almost didn’t see him. He dropped down to one knee and backhanded the soldier so hard Doriena heard his cheekbone crack. “This exercise simulates a real battle, you bakkara ! Had you been in a real battle, you would have condemned that man to death. Which means your life would have been forfeit.”
Doriena winced. Bakac never swore at his troops. He told her it was demeaning and served no purpose other than to show disrespect and earn him a healthy dose of resentment. For Bakac to have called this man the Earth equivalent of a son of a bitch meant he was very angry indeed. And that this man was probably looking at his last day at the Academy.
“But it isn’t a real battle,” the downed soldier managed to get out as he spat blood from his split lip. “They’re not even using real munitions.” He glared at Doriena. “Because of her , none of us will get any battle experience before we actually get in the field as part of Military Command.”
Again, Bakac backhanded the man. His already broken cheek sunk into his face even more. Bakac looked at him as if to say, “Go ahead. Say something else stupid.” Wisely, the soldier kept quiet, probably more from pain than common sense.
Bakac turned to Doriena. “Let’s get you to Medical.”
“I have to finish the exercise.” Even to her own ears, she sounded too weak to continue. But she knew that not finishing even one exercise, no matter the reason, would knock her out of the Academy completely. The Gothe’maran didn’t give second chances under any circumstances.
“You can’t. You’re not physically able.”
“I will finish this, Bakac.” She tried to make her voice firm, but she wasn’t altogether certain she succeeded.
“You can try.” Bakac nodded as he spoke. “And when you finally collapse, I’ll take you to Medical and you’ll still not complete this course. I’d be willing to bet you have ten minutes at best before you’re unconscious from blood loss or lack of oxygen.” When she opened her mouth to speak, he added, “And that’s with you sitting still. If you try to continue on, you’ll go down even faster. Either way, I’ll be taking you to Medical and I think you’d prefer to enter under your own power. Yes?”
“I really hate you sometimes, Bakac.”
He smiled. “No, you don’t. You just hate to lose.”
“But this isn’t just losing. This is my entire career.”
“Listen to me, Doriena.” Bakac knelt and brushed one fiery red curl from her forehead. “I have no doubt in my mind -- have never doubted -- that you would make one of the finest officers in Military Command since your father retired from active service to concentrate on governing Gothe’mar. But this isn’t you. You have too gentle a soul to expose yourself to this kind of violence.”
Doriena was starting to feel the effects of her injuries, but she needed to finish this conversation. “I --” she began and had to stop for breath. “I am as --” Another breath. “-- tough as you and Alex put -- put together.”
“Undoubtedly,” Bakac said without hesitation. “I’d not be so foolish as to question that. I just think that your soul would be better suited for peace instead of war.”
Something in the way Bakac looked at her gave her pause. There was something she was missing, but she couldn’t quite figure it out. “I think I need to get to that healing tube, Bakac.”
“Yes. I think you do.”
She expected he would have helped her to her feet, or worse, tried to carry her off the faux battlefield, but he simply stood there. He offered a hand when she needed one, but let go of her as soon as she was steady. He let her walk until her legs simply wouldn’t hold her any more. Then he simply scooped her up and ran as hard as he could to Medical Command.
She passed out long before he made it.
? * * *
“If she dies, I’m going to kill you.”
“It’s not like I made her go after a warrior almost three times her size. I got there as quickly as I could.”
“You should have anticipated!”
“Could you have?”
Blessed silence.
“It doesn’t matter. I gave you one set of instructions. One simple task and instead of keeping her out of harm’s way, you almost let her get killed.”
There they go again.
Doriena had been listening to Alex and Bakac go at it for nearly an hour. What she couldn’t figure out was how she was doing it. She was in the healing tube. Had been for several hours if what the two men were saying wasn’t exaggerated. She should have been oblivious to the outside world, but here she was, privy to the conversation of two insufferably stubborn and infuriating men.
Alex blamed Bakac, Bakac refused to accept blame, when in reality both men felt guilty as hell. They just didn’t want to admit it to the other.
Drugs. It must be the drugs. She was bound to have been given drugs of some kind when she was placed in the tube.
Fine. If she was hallucinating, she’d damn well play along.
If the two of you don’t shut the fuck up and give me a little peace and quiet, I’m going to kick both your asses when I get out of here.
Again, silence.
Did you hear something, Alex?
Err… no. I absolutely did not hear anything. Especially not Doriena.
I thought not.
Maybe it’s your guilty conscience playing tricks on you.
And there they went again.
She was definitely going to kill them both. Once she figured out what the hell was going on.
? * * *
Bakac sat at Doriena’s side. He had been there since they had removed her from the healing tube a little more than one day ago. He glanced to his left to find Alex with his head propped on his hand, his elbow resting on Doriena’s bed. Neither of them had spoken since they first took her out of the tube, and it was likely they wouldn’t.
Neither of them knew what to say.
Doriena had clearly spoken to both of them while in the healing sleep of the tube, and they didn’t really know what to make of it. Several times, Bakac had thought to ask his father’s brother, Kiril, what that meant, but he had always backed down.
Mainly because he already knew the answer. The problem was what it meant for Alex and him.
He loved Alex like a brother, but he didn’t think he could actually have a sexual relationship with the man.
Sorry. Not his style.
Getting up, Bakac paced the room several times before stopping at the window. The view was breathtaking, even for a native of Gothe’mar. Nothing could compare to an average day at the Northling Valley, the northernmost city of Gothe’mar.
Winter kept the city in mostly darkness, but summer yielded the most beautiful auroras in the known galaxy. Stunning light displays arced the length of the horizon in a myriad of exotic colors.
And all he wanted to think about was how Doriena would look by the Crystal Lake in this same light. He wanted to see the lights reflected in her hair and to hear her cries of joy as he made love to her all evening.
He’d tried too hard to keep his interest in Doriena to himself. She was his best friend’s sister for crying out loud! He also knew how Alex felt about him pursuing a relationship with Doriena.
Hands off!
“What are we going to do?”
Bakac looked over his shoulder at Alex. He should have known the other man would have been smart enough to figure out what was going on between the three of them.
“I’m not sleeping with you.”
Alex snorted. “That’s okay. I’m not sleeping with you either.” Alex looked at him for a long minute. “And I don’t want you sleeping with my sister.”
“She’s not really your sister, you know.”
“Yeah, I know. But I still have to protect her. Quite frankly, I don’t want her doing with either of us what we do with other women. It’s a little unsettling.”
Bakac snorted. “It’s a lot unsettling. You think I don’t feel this overwhelming need to protect her too? Why in the Universe do you think I agreed to act as bodyguard to her during the more vigorous exercises? Not because I like you that much.”
There was silence between them for a moment. Alex opened his mouth to speak, but Dr. Mara Jenson entered the room. “Good evening, gentlemen.” She was always so bright and cheery. Almost too much so for Bakac’s taste. He cringed.
Mara stopped and looked at Bakac. “Something wrong?” Just like that, her demeanor changed. She still smiled, but Bakac could sense the warrior stretching her arms for battle.
Damn ! No wonder Kiril loved her. She was a woman with a warrior’s heart.
Just like his Doriena.
“Nothing, Doctor.” He cleared his throat to keep from smiling. “I was just thinking how I couldn’t stand your bubbly personality. I think I prefer the warrior woman.”
Mara blinked a few times, as if trying to decide whether to be insulted or not. Then she chuckled. “Well, you are Kiril’s nephew. I suppose that is to be expected.”
Alex stood to embrace the older woman. “It’s good to see you again, Mara.” When he let her go, he turned back to Doriena. “Will she be okay?”
“Oh, of course.” Mara waved off his concern. “She’s perfectly fine. She just needed a little more rest than normal.” She frowned slightly. “She didn’t rest well in the healing tube. Her body tried to, but it was like something kept waking her up.”
Bakac looked at Alex and the other man met his gaze squarely.
Mara looked from one of them to the other. “What?”
“Nothing,” Alex mumbled and paced to the other side of the room from Bakac.
“Well.” Mara continued to look at Alex. “She should be waking up shortly. I’ve contacted Kahn and Anna. They will be here soon.”
Alex groaned. “Damn.”
“Hey, I gave you guys two days’ reprieve. It’s time to take your medicine now.”
Bakac had to smother a grin. Oh, he knew he was probably in a world of trouble as well, but he doubted he was in as much trouble as Alex.