Chapter 28
Zahn shifted restlessly in the medical bed he lay in. “Least they could do is allow me to go to my own quarters. These beds are so thin my bones ache after lying in one position for too long.”
“It won’t be long,” Au'revele said.
“Am I hearing you right? Are you in here giving these doctors nothing but complaints?” Vor asked as he entered Zahn’s hospital room.
Zahn broke into a wide grin. “Vor!”
“How are you, Zahn?” Vor asked, as they clasped hands and did that manly chuffing thing that most Alpha males did when they truly cared for the welfare of another male.
“I’m ready to be anywhere but here!”
“Maybe I could help with that,” Vivian said as she, Kail, Rel, and Asl strolled into the room.
“Sirena, it is good to see you,” Zahn said.
“It is good to see you conscious and sitting upright,” Vivian said. She walked over to Au'revele and hugged her. “You alright?”
“Yes. Just anxious to get home and start taking care of Alexandrus. Speaking of, where is he?”
Vivian rolled her eyes. “He’s running things in Eula’s quarters. And with Kitty by his side, I’m fairly certain that no one stands a chance but him and Kitty.”
“Kitty has met him, then,” Zahn said.
“Yes. Turns out Kitty has a girlfriend,” Vivian said. “But once he figured out that Alexandrus had arrived, he sat completely enthralled for all of about five minutes, then started snarling at anyone who tries to touch him other than me, Eula, and of course Quin.”
“He snarls at Sire Zha Quin as well,” Vor admitted .
Vivian laughed. “He does. And Quin is not impressed. But he’s also aware that Alexandrus is so very safe with Kitty hovering in addition to all the new security he called down from the ship that even he is more relaxed.”
“And obviously you are, as well, to have come to visit me without him,” Zahn said.
“I have no concerns at all. How are you feeling?” Vivian asked.
“I need to get up out of this bed but they keep telling me that I must rest.”
“If I could arrange for you to be moved back to your quarters, would you promise to rest until they release you?” Vivian asked.
“I will,” he said firmly.
“I don’t believe him,” Vor said. “He’d be up and dressed and trying to force me back to the ship.”
“He would,” Kail added. “He’s not the most patient of us.”
“I am the most patient of you.”
“No, that’s Vor,” Zahn said. “I hear you are finally mated.”
“I am. And everything about Li’Orani was and is worth whatever wait I was forced to endure.”
“No regrets?” Zahn asked.
“None at all. I’m completely happy. Or, I was.”
“What does that mean? You’re not giving up Li’Orani?” Vivian said somewhat alarmed.
“Oh, no! Never. But now that I’ve been here for a while, I’m remembering how different life is down here. I’m realizing how different our lives could be.”
“You cannot have my job,” Zahn said, realizing exactly where Vor’s comments were going. “I will fight you for it,” Zahn continued, trying to throw the sheet off of his legs so he could stand up to fight Vor.
“No, I will not fight you — yet. But I have an offer for you and for our Sirena. And for the rest of you, as well,” Vor said, looking around at those he’d guarded Vivian with since she’d first been found and brought onto Command Warship 1.
Everyone watched Vor, waiting for his proposal .
“If Li’Orani agrees to move to the palace, I would like to share the status of Captain of the Sirena’s guard with you. It will allow me to do what I’ve been more rewarded by — guarding our Sirena — and build a life with my Ehlealah here on Cruestace. I believe she would quickly adapt to and flourish here on Cruestace rather than living on Command Warship 1. Further, since you’re now mated,”
“Not quite,” Au'revele reminded with a smirk.
“Almost mated,” Vor corrected, “if we shared the position, it would give us both a fair amount of time to be on duty, and a fair amount of time to be off duty so that we can spend more time with our Ehlealahs.”
Zahn immediately looked at Vivian who was grinning at Vor. “Sirena?” he asked.
“I want the two of you to do whatever is best for the two of you, and therefore the best for all of you,” she said, turning to glance at Rel, Kail and Asl. “But if it’s my blessing you’re looking for, you have it. I would love nothing more than to have all of you here in the palace with me. You’re all my family, my friends.”
“When will you be moving to the planet permanently?” Zahn asked.
Vor smiled his characteristic wide smile. “As soon as Li’Orani agrees.”
“This is good. These are very good changes taking place,” Zahn said. He reached for Au'revele’s hand and held it in his. “Good changes.”
“We’ll all be together again,” Asl said, as he and Kail and Rel all shook hands with Vor to welcome him permanently back.
“Does anyone remember Sirena Vivi pushing over the shelves on top of us as she ran around the ship evading our every effort to protect her?” Rel asked.
“You were not an easy female to protect,” Zahn told her.
“You all are still just offended by the fact that a little human outsmarted you,” Vivian said, grinning at each of them. “I’m going to speak with the doctors about releasing you. But you won’t be alone. You’ll have to have someone taking care of you to be sure that you follow their instructions to heal properly. ”
“I will, Sirena. If you can just get me out of here I will be forever grateful and do whatever it is that you say I should do,” Zahn said gratefully.
“I’ll see what I can do,” Vivian said, starting for the door on her way to speak to the physician in charge of his care.
Vor launched into the story of how she slipped past them and stayed hidden on the ship for hours.
“Sirena, may I come with you, I have something to discuss with you,” Au'revele said.
“Of course,” Vivian answered, pausing at the door to wait for Au'revele.
“So, you’re going to tell me you don’t want to nanny for Alexandrus any longer?” Vivian asked, anticipating that’s what Au'revele wanted to discuss.
“Oh, not at all! I’m looking forward to it. What I was thinking is living arrangements for myself and Zahn. Since, we’re, you know,” she said, bashfully.
“I would think that either his quarters or yours would work well, but if you’d rather find something else…”
“I like my quarters, and their placement allows me to do my job efficiently. But I wasn’t sure if it would be acceptable to have Zahn living in my quarters since my quarters have access to the nursery and by default yours.”
“Actually, I think that it would be safer for all involved if Zahn lived there with you. So, I’m fine with it. We could offer Zahn’s quarters to Vor and Li’Orani. It just makes sense. And if you ever want a larger space, we can find that, too or simply enlarge the rooms you have now.”
“I think it would be fine as is. There are two bedrooms, a cleansing chamber, a kitchen, a comfortably sized sitting room. I can’t imagine needing more,” Au'revele said.
“Well, then it’s settled. Speak to Zahn and if you both agree, I think it’s a great idea. He’s got unlimited access to our home anyway, there’s no reason he couldn’t live in a connected quarter as well.”
~~ ~
Rokai strode down the narrow streets between the metal buildings near the docking station of the space station he was on. He noticed several males watching him go by, sizing him up. Whether they knew him from reputation or simply thought him an easy mark, didn’t matter. What he needed was someone to give him a chance to prove that he was everything he’d always been. The black skin-tight leathers he wore emphasized the weight and muscle he’d put on in his three years aboard Command Warship 1. He was heavier, and just as deadly, if not more so, than he’d once been. There was just more of him to back it up now — not that he needed the extra size, but it was nice to have it anyway. It made him look even more intimidating than he once had.
As he turned the corner, heading toward a familiar drinker, two of the males he’d noticed moments before jumped out of the shadows at him. Not even flinching, he took one down, striking quickly and efficiently before he shoved the unconscious male to the ground. He smiled as he beckoned the second male toward himself. “What’s wrong? Are you afraid?” Rokai asked, puffing his lower lip out as though he was pouting. “Come on, I won’t hurt you, too badly.”
The male rushed Rokai, who caught him and lifted him up off his feet, tossing him against the wall of the right side of the alley.
“Rokai ahl. I never thought I’d see the likes of you again.”
Rokai turned, his facial expression deadly before he saw the male speaking to him. His defenses dropped and he smiled. “One can only pretend to be on the straight and narrow for so long. Then ultimate boredom sets in and you have to kill someone.”
“How are you my friend?”
Rokai made a big show of inhaling deeply, pushing his chest out and lifting his face to the polluted air around them. “Gar Rh’en, I must admit, I’m better now. I’m home,” he said.
“Come. Let me buy you a drink. ”
“Buy one? Just give me a damn drink. I don’t plan to buy anything, at all,” Rokai said.
Gar Rh’en laughed. “And there is the Rokai that I know.”
“Perhaps you should make it clear to these two idiots,” Rokai said. “If they wake.”
“They’ll wake. Pay them no mind. They think they’re so much more than we ever were. Once they find out who they’ve attacked they’ll skulk away and hide until you’re gone, or have forgotten. Whichever comes first.”
“Then they shouldn’t have known who I was?! I’ll beat them all over again,” Rokai said, turning toward the two downed males again.
“They’re not worth your energy. Youngsters, really. Come. Let’s catch up.”
~~~
Ba Re’ lay in bed, his fingertips slowly dragging up and down Elisha’s spine as she lay naked, spread out across his body. Despite the mutual exhaustion that always followed their overly energetic intimacies, he was very awake, his eyes open and focused unseeingly on the wall on the opposite side of their bedroom.
Elisha lifted her head and repositioned it on his shoulder facing him. She watched as he absentmindedly continued to stroke her back, not even realizing that she’d turned her head to look at him.
“Where are you?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Ba Re’ heard her voice and turned his head to look at her. “Hmm?”
“Where are you? You seem a thousand miles away.”
“I’m right here, with you, my Ehlealah,” he said, offering her a loving smile .
“You’re physically here, but your mind is somewhere else. Is there something bothering you?”
He knew it was pointless to lie to her. “Yes, there is.”
“Is there anything I can help with?” Elisha asked.
He sighed. “Bart cannot find Mirilla.”
“The female that they thought was involved with planning an attack on the baby?”
“Yes.”
“Well, that’s because you gave her your credit band to help her escape.”
“True.”
“Why is it a problem that Bart cannot find her? I thought that was the point.”
“Not necessarily. It is true that she needed to get away from Cruestace before too many emotionally charged individuals decided to take her into custody, but he should have been able to locate her by now. He is not without his own military forces and their intelligence reports surely told of a female searching for her brother. She wasn’t headed toward planets — she was planning to search the space ports.”
“You’re worried that she might have come to some kind of harm?” Elisha asked.
“I’m not sure what I’m worried about, just that something doesn’t feel right. They should have found some trace of her by now.”
“Maybe she was smart enough to hide the fact that she’s a woman… it has been done, and successfully I might add,” Elisha said, laughing softly. “Maybe she’s taken on the appearance of a man.”
Ba Re’ nodded, thinking back to when Elisha had masqueraded as a male for so very long that no one had any indication that she was in fact female. He’d even thought she was a male when he recognized her as his Ehlealah and was completely confused until he figured out that she was a female.
“You know, if you want to be sure that she’s okay, why don’t you have someone track your credit band. It would at least give an indication of where it’s been used last, and possibly even located at the moment, then you could tell them where she is.”
Ba Re’ slowly sat up, his arms coming up instinctively to hold her against his chest to keep her from falling off of him to the bed or to his lap. “I could tell Rokai. He would track the band for me and let me know if she is well or not.”
“You could. Or you could just tell Quin.”
“I don’t know if she wants to be found or not. Perhaps she’s found her brother.”
“You mean the brother that set her up to take the fall for the treasonous acts he committed?”
Ba Re’s brows rose.
“She may need saving from her brother,” Elisha said.
Ba Re’ quickly lay her beside him and jumped out of bed. He grabbed a pair of trousers and a loose shirt and pulled them on as he hurried toward their door. “I’ll be back,” he said as he rushed out of the door and slammed it closed behind himself.
Elisha sighed as she stretched her body, before snuggling under the covers and letting her eyes fall closed. “Women should run things… things would be so much easier.”
~~~
Ba Re’ ran down the hallway to the royal residence. He lifted his chin in greeting to Yaghn and Var don. They returned the greeting but didn’t stop him, knowing that he was family to Sire Zha Quin.
Ba Re’ tapped on the door, then eased it open. “Sire!” Ba Re’ called out.
There was no immediate answer, so he stepped inside and closed the door. Moving silently on bare feet across the entranceway and into the living room, he listened for any indication of activity. Murmured voices could be heard from the kitchen, so he went directly there.
“Sire,” Ba Re’ said again .
Quin didn’t turn around, though Vivian and Samuel both did from where they sat at a small round dining table while Quin spooned food onto his own plate.
“I told you I will not answer to Sire when we are alone behind closed doors. You have been a brother to me since we were children and I will not answer to Sire.”
“Remember that you said that,” Ba Re’ said.
Quin turned slowly to take in the appearance of his friend. Barefoot, wearing trousers and a loose shirt. Disheveled as though he’d just awoken. “What’s happened?”
“I know how we can find Mirilla,” Ba Re’ said.
“Oh, really. And how is it that you think you can find Mirilla when no one else has been able to? Not even Rokai has been able to locate her.”
Ba Re’ smirked. “Do you remember questioning why she’d leave her credit band behind when she sought escape from the barrage of accusation hurled at her?”
“You’ve become quite descriptive in your memory of things,” Quin said, “but yes, I do remember wondering at that.”
“If she’d taken it, you could have tracked her band to determine her location,” Ba Re’ said.
“Yes. But she didn’t. So we can’t,” Quin said.
“You could try tracking mine,” Ba Re’ said.
Quin took the few steps over to the table and set his plate on its surface. Then his gaze shifted from his food to his friend. His head canted enough to show his confusion, then his head canted the opposite direction. “Why would I track your credit band to determine Mirilla’s location?”
“Because I gave it to her to use for her escape. It is the reason she didn’t take hers.”
Quin’s mouth opened as though he was going to say something, but instead wasn’t quite sure what to say.
“It was my idea. Leave her band behind so that no one could track her, and take mine instead,” Ba Re’ said, standing tall and proud, still wearing that damned smirk.
Quin took a deep breath and raised a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose between his thumb and his forefinger. “Why? ”
“Because she was innocent and all any of you did was hurl accusations. Then you started talking about locking her away if she couldn’t prove her innocence. She knew the only way to prove her innocence was to find her brother. I happened on her while she was preparing to leave and told her to take my credit band.”
“Why? Why would you give her your band?”
“Because I’ll never spend all the credits on it. She’d be hard pressed to do so herself. I didn’t need it. She did.”
“Ba Re’!” Quin shouted, his voice elevated.
“It was the right thing to do!” Ba Re’ shouted back. “And if you’d been thinking clearly, which you weren’t, you’d have done the same if someone else was making the accusations you were at an innocent female.”
Quin let his head roll back on his shoulder and continued pressing the bridge of his nose.
“Are you alright?” Vivian asked.
“Perfectly fine,” he finally managed.
“Are you sure? Because I’ve seen you do that same exact thing when dealing with Rokai, and it usually means a savage headache is settling in,” Vivian said.
“That is exactly what is happening!” Quin yelled. Then he realized he was yelling in response to a question his Ehlealah had asked. “I’m not yelling at you, Ehlealah. Please do not think I am.”
“I didn’t for one minute think that you were. Because you know better than that,” she said, smiling tightly at him.
“You are correct.” He leaned over and kissed the top of her head, then started toward Ba Re’.
“Where are you going?” Vivian asked.
“I’m going to contact the ship, and then Rokai once I have coordinates,” Quin answered.
“I can help,” Ba Re’ said.
“Noooo! Please do not help. You’ve helped enough!”
“He did help, I think,” Samuel said. “If not for him, there may not be a way to find the young lady. ”
Quin didn’t even respond, he just continued out of the residence, not uttering a single other word.
Ba Re’ smiled at Vivian.
“I think you’re brilliant! You did the best thing by helping her,” Vivian said.
Ba Re’ went from a smile to a wide grin. “That’s what Elisha said. I knew she’d be proud.”
“And that’s why you did it, right?” Vivian asked.
“Kind of. It was the right thing to do regardless, but making Elisha proud is the only reason I ever do anything anymore. Well, that and when I get to train with Rokai.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if you got a chance to return to the ship and serve with Rokai before too much longer,” Vivian said with a chuckle.
“I hope you’re right, Sirena. I mean no offense, but I am anxious to return to my brothers in the Elite forces.”
“And Elisha?” Vivian asked. “I have not had much chance to speak with her since arriving because of everything with Alexandrus. What does she want?”
“She’d like to return to the ship as well where she can serve as an interpreter.”
“Can’t she do that here?” Vivian asked.
“She can, and will to some extent, but they know her aboard the ship and she is very, very respected. She is called upon often to serve there where as here, there are others who have worked in that capacity for a very long time,” Ba Re’ said.
“I understand. Well, I make no promises and I’d hate to see you both go, simply because I love you. You’re family to me, too. But if that’s where you honestly wish to be, I’ll see what I can manage to make Quin understand. I know he wanted to see to retraining you himself, but it’s clear to me in the way that you jumped in to help with security when everything blew up that you still instinctively know what it is you need to do. Besides, you were training with the Elite forces before we decided to move to Cruestace.”
“Thank you, Sirena.”
“You’re welcome,” Vivian said .
“I’ll be in my quarters if he wishes to bellow some more,” Ba Re’ said, unable to contain the smirk that crept back onto his face.
“I’ll let him know.”