Chapter 28 #2
The Vorsa encircled the ship and its pilots, hovering in place and shimmering with pulses of what might have been carefully controlled rage. A green tendril I believed was Ka floated directly between us and the intruders.
“What the fuck is going on?” the reptilian male bellowed in Fortusian. Like his companion, he wore a stained coverall and several empty weapons holsters. “Release us!”
Forux bared his teeth and growled. He was perhaps the least deadly being in this clearing, but I could not fault him for his courage.
“Who sent you?” I asked in Fortusian. The language felt and sounded strange in my mouth.
The reptilian male spat in my direction. “Our clients pay for confidentiality.” So someone had hired them.
I shrugged, though it hurt. “Suit yourself.” I turned to Ka. “Guard them, please,” I said in Alliance Standard, since I did not know if the Vorsa understood Fortusian. “If they attempt to free themselves or attack, you may remove one of their limbs each time they try.”
Ka dipped once.
The intruders shouted curses in several languages as I carried Elena to the lift doors.
Just before I placed my hand on the scanner, the furry male shouted, “Your father sent us.”
Stunned, I turned. “My father sent you? Why?”
The pilot hissed at his companion, but the furry male ignored him. “Rich man wants his asshole runaway son back, we don’t ask why. We take the contract and go get him.”
My back and shoulders radiated agony, but I did not want to put Elena down. I clenched my jaw and returned to confront the captives.
“My father is not wealthy,” I said, my voice strained. “You have been misled.”
He shrugged and winced when the branches squeezed tighter. “He paid our asking price without haggling. Premium rate to get it done fast and quietly.” He scoffed and glared at the pilot. “This shit planet seemed quiet enough until we landed in a sinkhole.”
“I didn’t land in a gods-damned sinkhole,” the pilot snarled. “The scanners would have detected it.”
The other male snorted. “Looks like a sinkhole to me, asshole.”
I had no patience for their squabbling. “Did you meet my alleged father in person?” I demanded.
“Of course not,” the furry male snapped. “You think we got an office? We hear about a job through a friend of a friend, we get offered a contract, we take half the money now and the other half on delivery.”
“Delivery to where?”
He spat at me. “Some place near Bar’uto. Said we would get the coordinates when we had the target.”
Pyru’s compound was twenty kilometers from Bar’uto. And I had a very strong suspicion who my supposed “wealthy father” really was.
“My father is destined to be disappointed,” I told the mercenaries. “This is one contract you will not be fulfilling.”
The pilot hissed and struggled against the branches, to no avail.
“You have two choices,” I said. “One, I let this planet bury you and your ship so far underground no one will ever find you or know you were here.”
The pilot hissed again. His companion snarled and displayed a mouth full of serrated teeth.
“Option two,” I continued, “you board your ship, leave this planet, and do not come back. If you persist in trying to kidnap me, I guarantee you will die. This entire planet guards us.”
“We are businessmen,” the pilot rasped. “We don’t like taking losses.”
“Keep the money my wealthy father gave you as compensation, then,” I said. “If your lives are not enough profit.”
“We don’t skip out on clients and take their money,” he ground out. “In our business, that gets you a bad reputation. Or dead.”
“You have a better chance of surviving taking your client’s money than if you come back here.” My back hurt so badly that it was difficult to think clearly. “I will leave you to discuss it. Should I check back in the morning?”
The pilot cursed again—this time in Hardanian. “Your father was right,” he snarled. “You are an asshole.”
I ignored him and carried Elena into the lift with Forux at my side. The doors closed, cutting off the pilot’s tirade. Blessed silence.
I buried my face in Elena’s hair, as desperate for her rich, earthy scent as I was to get her to the medbay. The smell of her blood and burns would haunt me all my life.
The only reasons I did not go back to the clearing and ask Ka to bury those heartless mercenaries alive were my need to tend to my mate’s injuries and the knowledge she would not want them to suffer that fate, if only because they were our only link to the person who had hired them.
In the medical bay, I placed Elena into the emergency medpod. My own fluids would heal her, but more slowly than the medpod could. As much as it meant to me that I was made to heal her, I wanted her well again as quickly as possible. I also needed to know the extent of her injuries.
The broken arm, sprained knee, bruises, lacerations, and burns she had received from falling into the stun net turned my stomach, but scans revealed our abrupt separation had caused deep bruising and tears.
None were very serious, but the intimate nature of those injuries and the knowledge I had caused them, albeit inadvertently, left me gutted.
As the medpod healed Elena’s wounds, I wrapped a thermal blanket around my waist, brought a chair to her bedside, and sat.
Forux immediately jumped into my lap and curled up. I rested my hand on his thick fur. His rumbly purrs eased the churning in my stomach.
Once we were healed, I would take Elena to our apartment, wash away all the blood and dirt and grime on our bodies, and cradle her in bed while she rested. Until then, I would stay at her side as I had promised, cooing to comfort her and so she would know I was nearby.
But every time I closed my eyes, I saw her face at the moment the net gave way beneath us: the bright blue-green rings in her eyes that told me she was seeing all of Vorsa World and had likely reached out for help when we were captured, and her expression of pure terror when we fell.
And every time that image flashed across my mind, I flinched and my stomach heaved.
Yes, I had gotten us down to the treetops safely, but I had not been able to spare her from utter terror. And I would not be able to banish her memories either, no matter how much I wanted to. I would not blame her if she never again wanted to fly with me.
But even as I thought that, I knew she would ask me to fly as soon as I was healed and able to carry her.
Fierce Elena did not let fear keep her from doing what she wanted.
She would want to replace these bad memories with better ones.
I knew that as certainly as I knew my body, hearts, and soul belonged to her.
So despite today’s horrors, I would count the hours until we could return to the sky.
The equipment in the medical bay healed most of our physical injuries in less than four hours.
Elena’s broken arm and sprained knee and all our cuts, bruises, and burns healed most easily.
The damage to muscles, tendons, and ligaments in my wings, back, and shoulders would require up to a month of recovery.
I would likely not be able to fly with a passenger for at least two weeks.
My hearts ached at the prognosis. Flying with Elena had become my greatest joy.
The pod also healed the injuries Elena suffered when we were forcibly separated.
Even so, when she woke late that night from her healing sleep, she still ached and felt extremely tender.
After another set of scans, the medbay’s prognosis was that time and rest—and a break from physical activity and intimacy—would be required for a full recovery.
I made dinner in the kitchen and brought it to our quarters so we could eat in bed.
Then I left the dishes stacked on the table in the living area, confirmed with a glance that the Vorsa still guarded our prisoners and nothing was amiss, and made the window opaque to block the view and tomorrow morning’s early sunlight. My mate must get plenty of rest.
With Forux curled up at the foot of the bed, I held Elena against my chest with my wing draped over her and my tail coiled loosely around her calf.
“Elena—” I began.
At my tone, she raised her head and glared. “If you apologize one more time, I am going to own a pair of dragon-hide boots.”
I closed my mouth.
Her expression softened. She cupped my face and stroked my jaw gently. I closed my eyes and focused on her touch and scent.
“This is not your fault for giving me your knot,” she said for the third or fourth time. “It is also not your fault that you weren’t able to hold on to me or coo when we hit the net. That was impossible. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s those men outside and whoever sent them.”
She tapped my nose with her index finger as if I were an errant young dragon. “Don’t take blame that doesn’t belong to you. I won’t let you.”
Given the fierce way she stared me down, it was beyond my ability at the moment to defy her. I stroked her hair. “What can I do to help?”
Elena rested her head on my arm. “Well, the medbay has done what it can and now I just need time to heal. If that’s what I have to do, so be it. But…” She raised her eyebrows. “Willing to try an experiment, Doctor? For science?”
“Not for science, but I am willing to do anything for you.” I kissed her temple. “I am very much not a doctor of anything right now, Elena. I am just your dragon, and my hearts hurt for you.” I stroked her soft cheek. “What would you like me to do?”
“I’m not quite healed yet, but maybe you can help with that.” She laced our fingers together. “There are three basic options if you are willing to provide one of them.”
I would do anything for Elena; there was no question about my willingness. She needed and wanted me to heal her. But as for the method…I felt at a loss.
Regardless of her assurances that she did not blame me, I could not bring myself to pleasure myself or to ask her to do so after what she had endured. And it was her body, not mine, so I did not think it should be up to me.