Chapter Seventeen
Jax
H er blood was on my hands, sticky and warm. She was losing it too fast, it was pooling on the floor of the infirmary where I’d carried her. My Father was yelling at one of the crew to help him stop the bleeding. He’d pulled the shrapnel out, and was trying to make sure there weren’t any other pieces before he sewed her up.
And all I could do was watch, helpless and gutted, as the life drained from my mate.
She is mine…I can finally admit that. And it might be too late.
Alarms went off, Narrou’s lights above me flaring in a chaos of symbols.
“What’s going on?”
“She’s got more shrapnel buried in her,” my father said, “but I can’t get to it without causing more bleeding.”
“Da…? You…you have to save her.”
“I’m trying, son,” he replied, a hollowness in his voice.
Thanh was losing too much blood, her heart rate wasn’t normal, and Narrou said that there was an irregularity with Tohm-Tohm that was making it hard for the symbiote to heal her. There was still more shrapnel stuck in her stomach; the small pieces weren’t bleeding that much but they weren’t helping things either.
“She needs a healing pod,” my father said. “Help me strip her down.”
Father and I cut off Thanh’s clothes while the crewman took the boots off. I realized too late that my father hadn’t been warned about Thanh’s back and when he saw it, a stream of swear words in three languages spewed out of him.
“Son…what happened to her?”
“It’s a long story,” I said, trying to avoid to telling him that I had no idea.
“That metal,” he said, “it’s fused to her skin. Narrou, are you going to be able to work with that?”
Narrou let out a series of chimes and low tones to say that they could, but there was something about it that they didn’t like. I didn’t really care right now; we could figure all of that out after Narrou healed my mate.
I picked her up carefully as Father held what had to be the dozenth wad of quickly-soiled gauze to her side. Along the wall in the infirmary were three different pods, parts of Narrou’s inner body that they allowed us to use as healing pods when injuries were particularly bad. Their body’s inner fluids, combined with the unique chemistry of their symbiote, meant that they could repair bodies quickly and at a cellular level. If anyone could help her, it was Narrou. But it did mean that their energy stores would be depleted more than usual. We’d have to be careful to find an adequate source of solar energy as soon as possible.
My father fitted a respirator over Thanh’s face and with the greatest care slid her into the pod that Narrou opened. Within seconds, the egg-shaped compartment closed and flooded with pinkish solution. I could see through the outer shell, but the solution was so thick that it obscured my view of her body. But Narrou sensed my distress and after they’d filled the pod, they allowed the solution to thin around Thanh’s head, giving me a glimpse of her. She’d stay sedated while the solution, and the Xenocor of Narrou’s symbiote, did their work.
“Narrou wants to know if they can take the metal off her back?” my father asked.
“I…I don’t know. Da, I don’t know what was done to her but whatever it was, she’s not well from it.”
Narrou chimed and I let my tears flow freely as I pressed my hand to the pod.
“Whatever you have to do, just save her,” I pleaded.
My father’s hand landed heavy on my shoulder and I leaned into him.
“You can’t do anything else, best to let Narrou do their work now.”
I shook my head as the devastation of what I might lose started to seep its way into my blood. She did this for me, to protect me when I should’ve been the one protecting her. It was my duty as her mate, whether she knew or accepted the bond or not. I would always be driven to take care of her and I had failed at the most basic job a Zorestran male had.
Mother walked in and began speaking with Father in quiet tones that I didn’t bother to try and overhear. Nothing mattered except staying with Thanh, being here when she woke up.
Because she would.
She had to.
“Jax,” Mother said, coming to stand next to me, “Sherrod has just docked.”
I saw red, quite literally.
He did this.
He told her something and made her reckless.
It was just like last time when his selfishness almost cost me everything, and everyone, I cared about.
“Where is he?” I growled.
“You’re in no condition see him right now.”
“ He did this.” I jabbed a finger at the healing pod. “It’s his fault she’s in there. Now tell me where he is.”
“Teneras,” my father interjected, “he deserves to have it out with the bastard. It might even help things, to just get it all out now.”
Mother pressed her lips into a thin line.
“Fine, but if you kill him, then this is all for nothing, remember that.”
I cracked my knuckles and followed her out of the infirmary. It was an odd feeling, this clarity coupled with blinding fury. My blood was heated as my heart pumped it fast through my body, and all I could think about was how good his bones crunching against my fists would feel. When I happened to glance down, I noticed that I hadn’t washed Thanh’s blood off my hands yet. It seemed fitting that soon Sherrod would be wearing it along with his own. I didn’t even care that I was still shirtless and barefoot, all I wanted was to make him pay.
Mother led me to one of the guest quarters but instead of the usual door, Narrou had created bars to keep him in. I grinned viciously when I saw it, especially when Sherrod frowned at me through them.
“Finally,” he said. “Can you tell Narrou that this really isn’t necessary?”
“Narrou?”
The bars drew up like a gate and I stepped inside, not letting Sherrod pass even though he tried. The bars descended behind me and I advanced on Sherrod without another word.
“Wait, Jax I didn’t —”
I laid into him mercilessly, hammering his face and stomach before Sherrod was even able to raise his own hands in defense. When he did, there was anger etched into his handsome features.
Good, let him be pissed. Make this a bit more fun.
In any fight with someone smaller than me, I would pull my punches, careful not to unleash my full strength. But this time, I didn’t give a shit. My fists pummeled him hard enough to toss him off his feet at one point, and he scurried back.
“Fuck, Jax listen to me!” He tried to run but the space was too small.
“Jax, remember, we need him alive,” Mother said at the door.
“Yeah, listen to your —”
He gagged as I picked him up by his throat.
“She almost died because of you,” I hissed in his face.
“I…didn’t…mean…for that…”
His face was turning purple and soon Mother would come in to stop me. I didn’t want that, so I dropped him to the floor. He coughed and clutched his throat, scooting on his ass away from me.
“I don’t care that you’ve got something we need.” I followed him around the room as he tried to find a defensible position. “If you come near her again, I will kill you.”
“Got it,” he croaked.
I punched him hard across the face and then threw him up against the wall, my forearm on his throat.
“Do you?”
“Jax, that’s enough,” Mother said.
I ignored her, my eyes boring into his.
“Do you really?”
There was real fear in Sherrod’s eyes then, something I had seen very rarely when we had been together. And I grinned at him, pushing all the worry and hate I could muster into that look.
“You’ll stay in here,” I continued, “and you’ll only leave under guard. You’ll explain everything you said to Thanh, and when the time comes, you’ll do as you’re told for this job, am I clear?”
“Yeah,” he whispered. “Crystal.”
I pressed a little more before easing up and letting him drop to the floor. He wheezed behind me as I left. It wasn’t until the bars had slid back into place that Sherrod dared to speak to me.
“You must really love her,” his voice was hoarse.
I stopped, tempted to go back in there. Instead, I turned back around and glared at him. Sherrod backed away from the bars with a loud gulping swallow.
Father walked up to me with a small kit and a wet rag for my hands. I cleaned the blood off, never taking my eyes from the piece of shit in front of me. As my father treated my split knuckles, Mother began to interrogate him.
It was all stuff I expected. His excuses, vague answers about why he wanted in on this job. All of it grated against my mind, and I just wanted to get back to Thanh, even if there was nothing I could do except just stand there and stare at her.
Then he got to the part about what he’d told her at the club, and I was suddenly far more interested. Father had finished with my hands by now, and I crossed my arms in front of my chest, only realizing then that I hadn’t changed out of my club clothes.
“We’ve had some problems with Thalanites for a few months,” Sherrod said. “They’re looking for certain people. Sometimes they would have that scanner they had tonight, and when they did, the damn Aliens found their marks every time. I started asking around, trying to separate myth from the truth. But as it turns out, the myths are mostly true.”
“So they can see the future?” Mother asked.
“To a degree, yeah. From what I’ve heard, it’s called chrono-locking. That device they had allows them to predict within a certain amount of accuracy what someone will do for the next few hours. They need some kind of cellular samples, spit, hair that sort of thing to make the chrono-lock work. Though each chrono-lock scan only lasts for a few hours, once they have someone's DNA, they can do a lock at any time. The more they've scanned you for a lock, the easier it will be. At least, that’s my understanding.”
“And you told Thanh that,” my voice was low, deadly, “so she took risks to protect me.”
“That was her choice.”
I let out a menacing growl and Sherrod’s eyes widened.
“Enough!” Mother snapped. “We need to know what we’re dealing with. If they’ve got your DNA and can predict your movements, that complicates everything.”
“Word is that they’re wanting to get the engine before anyone else,” Sherrod continued, his neck starting to bruise. “And since you’re going for it, I would venture to guess that they see you as the number one competition. They want to eliminate you.”
“Or…they want to work with you,” my father suggested. “Think about it, they’ve never tried to actually kill you, have they?”
“No,” I said, trying to calm down enough to consider what he was saying.
“They want to capture you, I’d say,” Mother added. “Which means that maybe you’re the key to getting it.”
“And they would know that if they can see the future,” Father agreed.
“That’s definitely one way to look at it,” Sherrod said. “But you won’t know unless you talk to them.”
“And why would you want that?” I asked sarcastically.
“Look,” he sighed. “I get it, I’m the least trustworthy person as far as you’re concerned. But for the moment, we need each other. I can’t get what I need without you, and you can’t get to the engine without me. It does me no good to eliminate you this early into things.”
His ruthless assessment was far more honest than how he approached things last time, but that didn’t make me any more inclined to trust him.
“I could arrange a parlay,” Mother said.
“No!” Panic clutched me with cold claws. “Thanh is already hurt because of him, I don’t want you to be also.”
“I understand your hesitancy, but we have to figure out how to eliminate this threat. Whether that’s working with them, or finding a weakness and exploiting it. And since you are what they’re after, I can’t have you going. I’ll arrange a meeting. So far they haven’t harmed any of us, so there’s no reason to assume they will start.”
“I don’t like it,” I said.
“Me either,” Father agreed. “Even if it does make sense.”
“I’m open to other suggestions,” Mother said with an arched eyebrow.
When no one spoke up, she gave us all a short nod.
“Then it’s settled. How do I get in touch with them?”
Sherrod let out a long breath.
“I have a feeling they’ll be getting in touch with you, since Jax is onboard.”
“Perfect. We sit around and wait to be attacked. Again,” I groused.
“Why don’t you go get some sleep,” my father suggested. “You’ve had an ordeal.”
I shook my head.
“I want to be there when she wakes up.”
“That won’t be for a while.”
“Then I’ll wait.”
Sherrod snorted in his comfy cell and if there hadn’t been bars between us, I would’ve pummeled him again.
“Go,” Mother ordered, then turned to Sherrod. “And if you keep antagonizing him, I’ll have Narrou sedate you. Understood?”
Sherrod raised his hands in surrender.
“Yeah, got it.”
With every step I took away from him, all the anger and worry came creeping back up. Thanh had trusted him with very little effort. But trusting me, her mate, was almost impossible. I hated how that stung, hated that I felt like I was competing with Sherrod for something that should’ve been mine without question.
But that was definitely the mating instinct talking. For years I’d been just fine not being trusted, or even liked, by her. Now it was painful and infuriating.
I stopped by my room to shower, maybe get some sleep, but restlessness had me climbing the walls before I’d even washed my hair. So I dressed and went to the infirmary. The moment I saw her floating in serene quiet, some of my discomfort settled and I could breathe again.
“You’re a real pain in my ass, you know that?” I whispered at her. “Of all the people the Ancestors could’ve chosen, they picked you to torment me. And I hate to admit it, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
I was desperate to do something to distract myself, knowing that my mating instincts wouldn’t let me get too far from her. It had to be something that would also possibly help her, though what that might be…
Then I remembered how she’d been so impressed when I quoted Hamlet. And I was sure she’d been perusing my books in my room because a few of them had been on the wrong shelves.
“What was your favorite book in that Earth lit class…?” I grinned up at her. “Pride and Prejudice.”
I ran to my room and snagged the version in Zorestran. There had been a run of Earth books printed in Zorestran after they’d joined the GUP and I’d gobbled up every copy I could get my hands on.
“Okay,” I said, settling into the chair again, “I’m going to try and translate from Zorestran for you, but it might not work so don’t get testy.”
My chest pinched and I swallowed. What I wouldn’t give for her to wake up and give me that withering look as she complained about the translation.
I cleared my throat, and began, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife….”