86. Chapter Six
Chapter Six
T arrex
Considering I contemplated going into the priesthood for most of my life, I’m surprised by my newfound anger at my God.
I never felt an iota of outrage when I was informed at a young age I could never have a mate. I took it as gospel and never questioned why no female would want a male who could read her mind.
I never railed against the necessity of having a null by my side to blunt my emotions enough to allow me to get through the day. Nor did I feel forsaken when I was abducted and forced to do things my God prohibited. I couldn’t control any of that.
I contained my outrage when Maleen was struck down in a match on Galgon. In that one moment, I lost my oldest friend as well as the guardian of my sanity, but I never cursed my God.
I want to renounce him now, though. One day ago, I was ready to meet him. I had few regrets and was ready to cast this body aside.
Then I met Savannah and experienced this amazing connection. And what happened in this bed? How do I even describe the heights of bliss I’ve experienced over the past few hoaras ? After all the times I prayed to be relieved of my mortality, now that I want more than anything to live, my life, as Savannah put it, has an expiration date.
I kiss her everywhere. It will be my mission to kiss every ince of her silken skin before I go on my assignment. I’m selfish. I know my soft kisses will eventually wake her up, but we have so little time left. I want to savor every moment.
“Mmm,” she wakes and turns toward me immediately, then gifts me with a slow, wide smile.
More, Tarrex? She grabs my palm and places a perfect kiss in the center of it.
Yes. More. Should I let you cut my hair and then share time in the shower? I believe you mentioned a desire for that location right before you took a nap. You say you were a warrior? Yet my puny Earther needed a nap so early in the festivities. I scold with a smile on my face. But I guess I can’t be too critical, I needed one too. I have to admit that the rest I just had with you in my arms was the best sleep I’ve ever had.
Great idea, Tarrex. Haircut, shower, sustenance, then bed.
Savannah
I grab a pair of scissors from the dresser drawer where I keep my sewing supplies, and soon I’ve got him seated and shrouded in the sheet that we’d already dislodged from the bed.
“Your hair is gorgeous. I’m not cutting much off, just enough to even out the hack job you gave yourself.”
“I think I did pretty well considering the helmet, the lack of a mirror, and the fact I did it with a sword.”
“Seriously?”
“Absolutely.”
“How did you do that?” I ask, having trouble imagining accomplishing anything other than accidental decapitation.
“I saw your sword in the corner, warrior female. I’ll show you.”
“You can just throw me a mental picture,” I tell him.
“I want to show off.”
“Ahh.” I grab the sword standing in the corner behind the dresser. I’ve taken to keeping it, a laser pistol, and a laser sword in my room after Rygel Khour and her henchmen boarded our ship a month ago. If they gas us into unconsciousness it will do no good, but it makes me feel safer nonetheless. Well, that and the oxygen mask and canister I keep by my bed.
“Stand back,” he warns.
After handing Tarrex the sword, I step back and watch him twist into a partial sitting backbend, slide the sword between his skin and his hair, and while holding the ends of his hair with one hand, pull outward with a hard slash with the other hand. It makes a terrible mess of his already choppy hairline, but he did manage to cut his own hair.
“You belong on America’s Got Talent ,” I say under my breath, then kiss his cheek. The kiss turns into many. His cheek is abandoned as I move to his mouth. Since I’m standing and he’s sitting, I get to enjoy the feeling of claiming him rather than vice versa. He doesn’t seem to mind, he seems to simply love my touch.
When I grab the scissors and get down to work, I notice a thin line of blood on his nape.
“Tarrex. You sliced yourself. It’s a wonder you made it to the age of majority,” I scold. It’s little more than a bloody scratch, but I feel a tremor of fear imagining how he might have really hurt himself as I wipe the line of blood away with the edge of the sheet.
“I didn’t feel a thing,” he insists as I snip away.
Moments later, my little trim job is complete and I stand back to admire my handiwork.
“Enough,” he says as he stands, all the hair falling out of the sheet and onto the floor. “You promised me a shower, then food, then bed. Although if you’re not hungry, we could skip that part.”
“Rascal!” I laugh and slap the hand that was reaching around my waist to pull me close. He bats my hand away, grips my nape, and pulls me in for a kiss.
“Savannah?” he asks as he removes his hand and looks at the smear of blood on his palm. He turns me around, lifts my hair, and inspects.
“What is it?” I ask.
“A straight line of blood. It’s little more than a scratch. This long,” he says as he places his hand in front of my face and shows me the distance between his thumb and forefinger.
“Odd,” I say, not knowing what to make of it. “Maybe it’s a casualty of the bed wars,” I joke.
“It’s so minor, it would have scabbed over while we were napping, but it’s still bleeding.”
It dawns on us both at the same time, or maybe one of us kens to it first and transfers it to the other by our telepathy.
We don’t have to exchange any words. He knows what he needs to do. I follow his lead as he sits, then I watch as he picks up the sword that was lying on the table and draws it across his naked thigh.
We both watch in awe as a crimson line appears on my skin in the exact location of his new cut.
“Tarrex? Too weird.”
By his slack jaw and widened eyes, I don’t need to ask him if he’s seen anything like this before.
At first, I believed I only received the cut but was spared the pain, but I feel it now. I’ve experienced this before, a delayed reaction to pain. Sometimes when a blade is sharp, you don’t feel it for a moment.
You feel it? he asks.
I nod. All this melding of minds can make things confusing as to whether I’m experiencing my own feelings or his. I know one thing, that’s definitely my blood oozing along the cut on my thigh.
I’m freaking out , I tell him, although I’m certain he must feel it rolling off me in waves of confusion and fear.
“Savannah?” It’s Callista’s voice over comms. She took over the comms post shortly after we commandeered the ship and loves hanging out on the bridge and fooling around on interstellar comms. She says it’s like very long-distance eavesdropping. “Captain Zar requested you and our newcomer come to the dining room for a meeting. He said Shadow and Dax would be at your door in five minutes to collect you both.”
“Tell them we won’t be able to come out for fifteen minutes. Computer close comm link,” I say. “They can wait for us. We both need showers, and I need fifteen minutes to calm the fuck down.”
The shower I’d imagined would be a prelude to more sex becomes no more than a perfunctory cleanse. I think Tarrex and I are both still in shock.
“Shall we tell them?” he asks.
“Not sure. I’m still trying to parse through all the permutations of what this means.”
You’re thinking about my mission? He asks. Even in my head, his tone is hushed.
“Yeah. I haven’t thought through all the possible outcomes, but…” I look down at the red line on my thigh, “I think there’s the very real possibility that your suicide mission might result in my death.”
Tarrex’s face becomes a mask of pain as he gathers me into his arms. With one large hand spanning my waist and another wrapped around my shoulders, he whispers into my ear. “We’ll fix this, Savannah. Captain Zar won’t force me to go if it will harm you.”
He pulls the showerhead off the wall and hoses me down, then turns off the water. “Let’s get to that meeting and whatever they have to say, we’ll make certain you come to no harm.”
Dax and Shadow are waiting for us when we palm the door open. We should have taken an extra minute to neaten the room. The bed is a shambles. If either of them glanced into the room, they’d have no trouble figuring out what Tarrex and I have been doing since we were locked in here hours ago. Although, even if the bed were neat as a pin, one good whiff and they’d have all the information they needed.
For most of the walk to the dining room, I’m not worrying about the two new cuts on my body or even the possibility of my imminent death-by-psychic-connection. I’m wondering if I should slip my hand into Tarrex’s and declare that although we walked into my cabin as simply an empath and his null, we’re now much more than that.
When we arrive and sit down at what is clearly a war council, I still haven’t made up my mind. All but one of the gladiators still on board are here. Braxxus must be in the pilot’s seat. Surprisingly, Callista is here as well. She’s a happy blond who can seem ditsy when she’s having fun, but knows how to get down to business in a hurry.
“Welcome,” Captain Zar says, his face serious, his feline lips pulled tightly over his fangs. “Callista? Would you tell everyone about the latest turn of events?”
“I’ve barely slept since we found the Diabolus . I’ve been listening for any intergalactic scuttlebutt about the ship, their crew, or our males. I’m one-hundred percent certain Doctoré and Theos haven’t left the ship. Of course…” Her gaze flicks to her lap and she struggles to swallow. “We don’t know if they’re still alive, but they weren’t taken to the slave pens.”
She goes on to tell us that she and Zar suspect the two males are still alive and onboard the Diabolus because Khour would want to use our males to bargain with. We were all originally MarZan cartel property, and she believes she still owns us. She wants to ensnare us by using Doctoré and Theos as bait.
Through her intergalactic eavesdropping, Callista found that a Mr. Manjib had made an offer to buy the deadly feline K’ta r in Khour’s hold. It's a scheme to bring notoriety to his gladiator facility. After consulting with our pirate friend Thantose, who knows every piece of information that he might use against anyone worth blackmailing, Callista and Zar came up with a scheme.
Mr. Manjib has also been in negotiations to buy one of Thantose’s rare, stolen antiquities, the sword of Aristhenese. We’ve already put out feelers and Mr. Manjib is willing to retract his bid for the K’tar to be able to buy the sword at a fraction of its asking price.
We’ll have to compensate Thantose for his loss, but that will leave us as the only bidders on the K’tar .
“This means Tarrex can contact Khour, make the winning bid on the K’tar, and walk right up the ramp to meet with her on the Diabolus .
“That,” Zar says, “will put you on the ship. Once you’re there, Tarrex, your empathic abilities will help you find our males and help them escape.”
“That’s not much of a plan,” I say. “More like a hope. I mean kudos for figuring out how to get Tarrex onto the Diabolus , but then what? We know Khour’s ship is full of mercenaries, well-trained ones. We know she’s cruel and doesn’t tolerate anyone who crosses her. How can one male fight her entire crew?
“We have one man walking into the lion’s den with no weapons. I want to rescue our males, and I understand you think Tarrex’s offer to go on a suicide mission was the answer to your prayers, but have you considered that not only might he die, but he might cause our two males to suffer Khour’s wrath as well?”
Zar scratches his mane, purses his feline lips, and thinks.
“Show me vids of the K’tar ,” Tarrex says forcefully.
Although no one knows why he’s asking, Callista uses her computer pad to call up some stock video and display it on the screens gracing three of the four walls in the dining room.
We watch the animal as it slinks from one side of its cage to another, its blades moving gracefully along its body as it walks. I’m terrified just looking at the animal. It’s a walking death machine. The somewhat feline K’tar looks like half animal, half machine.
I don’t know if it was the result of genetic engineering or some freak of evolution, but its skin looks composed of metallic blades. Its five-inch fangs also look sharper and more numerous than any animal I’ve ever seen, and I used to watch Shark Week religiously on TV. I never want to be in the same room as one, that’s for sure.
Random vids are still playing on the screens when Tarrex says, “I’m an empath. I can not only read other humanoids’ emotions and thoughts, but I have other abilities. One of those is animal communication.
“I never pursued the ability. There was a male in my grade at seminary who was much better at it than me, and I didn’t feel the calling as strongly as him. I threw my efforts into reading and healing people.
“When I was at the ludus , though, I had little else to do in my downtime. At most of my placements, I was housed in decrepit barracks that barely kept us sheltered from the elements. Vermin of all types had free range in our cells.
“I can’t communicate with insects, but I have a knack with mammals. The little rodents were fun to interact with. I don’t hear their thoughts exactly, but I get feelings. I didn’t want to show off my abilities, but when everyone was asleep, I could get them to do my bidding.
“The K’tar is a mammal. I can communicate with it,” he says with finality.
“Which is great,” I say, “but what if that mean SOB doesn’t want to do your bidding?” There are a thousand working parts to this so-called plan, and of the few we have discussed, most of them aren’t under our control.
“Khour is going to take me to the hold. I can get her to open the cage, then between the animal, me, and the two males from your ship, we’re going to break out.”
You don’t have to do this. Do you really want to die? I know you did earlier, but…
Is what I’m feeling for him one-sided? Is he still eager to die?
Savannah, I don’t want to die. But I gave my word.
“There’s one more thing everyone should know as we sort this out,” I say as I pull our clasped hands out from under the table and rest them on the metal surface. “Tarrex and I have… bonded.”
I don’t glance up to see the censure in the males’ faces. They’ve got to be shocked. I’m sure they all assumed Theos and I were a couple.
“Theos and I haven’t mated for a reason,” I inform them levelly. “We don’t love each other. We never have. We are good friends. I love him like a brother. My relationship with Tarrex has no bearing here except for this.”
I walk into the adjoining kitchen and return with a paring knife and give Tarrex the picture of cutting his forearm.
We both put our left arms on the table and he makes certain everyone is watching before he makes a slow, clean slice along his inner arm. Everyone watches as blood appears on both of our arms.
“What is this?” Dax asks, his thick brows lowered in confusion and skepticism.
Dax rises and stalks to Tarrex, his chest puffed out, looking ready to go ten rounds. “You pushed your mind into her, knowing you’d put her at risk like this?” The bearded gladiator is so angry little flecks of spittle are lodged on his lips. “She’s like our kin! How dare you put her in harm’s way?” His meaty fists are balled in fury.
“It’s not like that, Dax. Stand down!” I rise so quickly I have to grab my chair to keep it from tipping onto the floor. “No one knew this would happen. It wasn’t this way with his previous null. He’s never heard of it before.”
Dax continues to curl and uncurl his fists for the longest minute I’ve ever experienced as his gaze flicks between Tarrex and me. He finally stalks to his chair, obviously not convinced but willing to let it go. For now.
The war council continues well into the night as we discuss the pros and cons of the mission while we snack on food we snagged on a kitchen raid. Zar is firmly in the camp of abandoning the rescue. “Too many variables, too risky. We’re already down 20% of our fighting force. I can’t forbid you, but I can’t…” his voice cracks with emotion, “I can’t send anyone to help you if you’re in trouble.”
During a bathroom break, I take a moment to think. Was it less than 24 hours ago I’d never heard of a male named Tarrex? I breathe deeply and center my thoughts. Perhaps because we’re not sitting next to each other, I discover the ability to push his mind completely out of my head.
I’m alone with my thoughts now, and I have some soul-searching to do. I’ve been gone from the discussion so long, the males must wonder what’s happened to me, but I take all the time I need to sort things out.
Not only does Tarrex have an expiration date—I flash to the calendar with the big red X—but Theos and Doctoré have one, too.
Commander Rygel Khour isn’t going to keep them forever. If we wait for the perfect moment to rescue our males, that moment will never come. To me, as crappy as the plan is, it’s now or never.
I vowed to myself that although I don’t love Theos in the way I’d love a mate, I do love him as a brother. He needs to be rescued and I think Tarrex is the male to do it. Because of our bond, it appears that if he dies, I’ll die too. That’s not the only reason for me to go with him. He also needs me to control the onslaught of thoughts and emotions. If this mission has any chance of succeeding, I need to accompany him on it.
I walk to the foot of the table where no one is sitting. This allows every male in the room to see the firm set of my jaw and my narrowed eyes as I tell them, “Tarrex and I are going on this mission. Tell Callista to make arrangements that Mr. and Mrs.…” I think for a moment. “Smith are interested in the K’tar .”
I’m glad I’m in my fatigues and combat boots. This is a war council, and I just declared war on Rygel Khour. By the harsh look on my face, I’m communicating very clearly that I won’t be deterred.
“No. It’s too dangerous,” Zar says with the full force of his resonant growl. Tarrex stands beside me and lays a supportive hand on my shoulder. I firm my resolve as I stand in the face of Zar’s displeasure.
“I was the closest person to Theos on this ship. Would any disagree?” I look every one of them in the eye. “This is my choice. You know I was a warrior. Our motto was ‘leave no one behind’. I’m honor-bound to try.
“Tarrex needs me to calm his thoughts and emotions so others don’t overwhelm him. He was in a helmet for a reason when he came aboard this ship—he doesn’t just work better with a null, he needs one. We operate well as a team. We’ll keep practicing. If things go sideways, I want you to leave atmo and never look back. Tarrex is a male of honor and will keep his word to walk onto that ship to rescue our males. It’s my choice to go with him.”
I say again with conviction, “Together we are stronger and have the best chance of success.”
Every male around this table is my friend. We’ve lived together and fought together. None of them are happy with my declaration, but every one of them rises and strikes his chest with his fist as they give me the ultimate sign of respect and acceptance. Gratitude and affection for these males fill my heart.
Don’t do this! Tarrex’s thoughts are so loud in my head it’s as if he’s shouting.
It’s already done.