Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
NIKKOV
After Noelle and the males from the Brotherhood leave the warehouse, I follow, keeping enough distance to ensure they don’t see me. My sholani stabbed herself, then pressed our bodies together to coat me in her blood and make the males believe she’d stabbed me.
Her sacrifice, her courage, shame me for ever doubting her and give me immense pride. She is everything I thought she was when I first met her… and more. I cannot fail her.
Even as she and J.T. enter a huge circular structure with thousands of seats, I debate my course of action here.
As clever as she is, Noelle could have escaped J.T.
by now, but she hasn’t. I suspect she’s using this opportunity to learn more about the Brotherhood in this region.
If I pull her out now, then I risk destroying her work.
Having a sholani means more than protecting her. It means respecting her wishes.
Sliding from shadow to shadow, I make my way into the curved labyrinth that runs the perimeter of the structure until I hear voices, Noelle’s specifically.
“Can’t,” she says. “Pittsburgh is home. I already told you I’m staying here.”
“I could kill you.”
“Same here. But let’s be real, J.T. The Brotherhood needs someone here who knows this area and the cops. That’s me.”
The confidence I hear in her voice quells my fear. That is when an idea forms. One which will take me away from her for several minutes, which I don’t like. But I have to trust in my sholani’s skills, and more importantly, her.
With one tap of my wrist comm, the charges I set in three nearby locations explode simultaneously. Men stream out of the room where my sholani has been taken.
“That’ll be the local cops,” Noelle says. “You tripped their security around the stadium.”
“There’s no security—”
“Not that you know about. Which proves my point. You know nothing about this region. The cops have had trouble with gangs using the stadium as a base.” She’s figured out what I’m doing, or she doesn’t know I’m here and she’s using the distraction to her advantage.
Either way, my clever female has a plan.
“There’s a reason why the Brotherhood put me in charge here.
You want to move up in the organization?
Find a way to stand out. Do something bold.
Prove your worth to them. This gang-style mentality of taking over a territory won’t work with them.
It doesn’t give them an advantage. They kill people for interfering with their plans and moving those blasters along the east coast is their plan, not mine.
I’m only in charge of getting the pieces past the check points.
So go ahead, cause trouble, but don’t expect me to be a part of it.
Now, tell your neanderthals to let me leave. ”
“You’re not going anywhere. If those are cops out there. You’ll make a good hostage.”
Noelle laughs. “I’d make a better decoy. They’ll shoot me to get to you. Go, J.T. I have no desire to hinder the cause, which is why I’ll save your ass. This time.”
“How?” He sounds skeptical.
“I’ll tell the cops I tripped their security system.”
“And sacrifice yourself to save me? You’re screwing with me.”
“Like I said, I know the cops, how to deal with them. But it’s your choice. Stay here if you’re so sure you can talk your way out of prison. I’m guessing you have two, maybe three minutes before you lose your chance to escape.”
“Fucking hell.”
I slide behind a concrete pillar just as J.T. and three other males race from the room. As their footsteps grow faint, my sholani enters the corridor, her knife in one hand, the other on her side where blood continues to flow.
“Noelle,” I whisper, gaining her attention.
A huge grin crosses her face. “You set those explosions, didn’t you?”
I peel back her coat to see the wound. It’s not life-threatening, but she’s still bleeding. “You shouldn’t have—”
“What? Saved you? It was the only play. One that saved both of us.”
I cup her face. “Never risk yourself for me again.”
“I can’t make that promise.”
“Vekk, female, don’t you realize what you mean to me? I can’t lose you. That would break me.”
Her eyes narrow. “What are you saying?”
I seal my lips to hers, but break the kiss sooner than I’d like. We need to leave, in case J.T. or any of his men return. “I love you, sholani. I never understood the concept before I met you, and the bond deepens the more I learn about who you are.” I scoop Noelle into my arms.
“I can walk.”
“I will carry you. Until we reach a med-center.”
“It’s not a deep wound.”
“No, it is not. But I need to feel you in my arms, to know you are well. Do not ask me to put you down, not yet.” I lean my forehead against hers. “Perhaps not ever.”
Her arms tighten around my neck. “Sounds like a plan, sholani.”
My heart swells when she calls me by the zyanthan word for heartmate, even if it is the wrong gender. “Sholan for males. I am your sholan.”
“Maybe I’ll just call you Santa, at least until Christmas.”
“You may call me whatever you wish. Anything, as long as you are safe and happy.”
“I may never be fully safe, not with my job. But it’s not something I can walk away from. Earth might never have fallen the first time if not for how the Brotherhood undermined our strongest governments. And they’re trying to do it again.”
“Agreed.”
“You really care about Earth.”
“Strengthening Earth and other allies in turn strengthens Zyan. I will not see my home decimated again, even if that means I’m not there often. I go where GI6 sends me, to do what is necessary.”
“After the med-center, will you take me home… and stay?”
I don’t answer, because I’m not sure what to say.
“I get it. You’re leaving. Duty calls.”
“Galactic Intelligence ordered me to withdraw from Earth two days ago.”
“Two days ago…” She chuckles with a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “I guess you better get that ship in the sky before they dock you a week’s pay.”
“My pay remains the same even if I disobey orders. But I risk other missions and lives.”
“We can’t have that.” She squeezes my arm. “I can walk, Warrior.”
Normally I prefer a person use my title, but coming from her now, moments after I told her I must leave, it creates a distance between us.
Reluctantly, I release her, but taking my hands off her proves near impossible. “You’re my sholani. I will return for you.”
Her splayed hand lands on my chest, as she looks up at me. “Go defend the universe. I can get to the med-center on my own.”
I glance at the blood on her right side, above her hip. The sight of any blood, any injury on her, makes my horns rise high. “You’re still bleeding. I don’t like leaving you like this.”
“It’s a minor wound. I didn’t hit anything major. My instructors taught us where the fatal blows are, and where and how deep to cut to fake a deathblow.”
“You will not do this again. Not for me, not for anyone.” I take her hands in mine and lean my forehead against hers. “Aji kali faztov, miz sholani.”
Her hand cups my face as her expression softens. “What are you saying, Warrior?”
“These are ancient words, ones that make you mine, ones I should have said when I claimed you. And they are a promise that I will return.”
“When?” Her eyes no longer shine the way they did before I told her I’d been recalled to Galactic Intelligence.
“Before Christmas ends.” As I look into her eyes, I see the understanding there, the reality that I can’t promise when I’ll return. I only hope she knows I will. Short of death, nothing in this universe will keep me from her.
She kisses my forehead. “Be safe, Nikkov.” Before I can say more, my sholani turns and disappears into the night, her scent fading and leaving me feeling as hollow as a male without a mate.