Chapter Forty-One Davix
Corrina has refused to see any of us for days, and I am beside myself with frustration.
In the wake of being denied routine access to the base, I have taken to sneaking over the fence in the dead of night and hiding out on rooftops just to try and catch a glimpse of her.
She is short-tempered and irritable, and even Curran gives her a wide berth.
I desperately wish to speak to her, to apologize for my actions, and to beg her for forgiveness.
I would do anything to take back my foolishness and return to the days of being close to her however I could.
I am cursing myself when I hear a siren in the distance.
I smell smoke before I see it rising up on the far side of the base.
The last time I saw Corrina, she was close to where I am now, but panic rises up in me at the thought of her in danger.
I move silently and swiftly across rooftops until I catch her scent in the air. But she is not alone.
“You know, you really made this almost too easy,” a male voice is saying to her. “Everyone knows about your little lover’s quarrel with those green-skinned monsters. And now at least one of them is going to get blamed for your death.”
I leap to the next building in time to see Corrina’s foot collide with a man’s stomach. He grunts and staggers backwards. Despite my concern, I am filled with pride at Corrina’s strength and grace.
“You’re out of your mind,” Corrina barks, landing a blow to the man’s face. “What’s going to happen is that I’m going to kick your ass and then have you thrown in a detention cell.”
The man chuckles. “Those videos you provided? Gave us the chance to really study the claws of those three,” he says, pulling a glove from his pocket.
He slides it over his hand and flexes his fingers, and I realize that the metal claws on the fingers are a perfect match for my own.
“It’s going to be a terrible tragedy the way one of them savaged you,” he says pulling on another glove.
“Absolutely brutal,” he continues. He lashes out clumsily with the claws, and Corrina moves out of the way effortlessly.
He slashes out again, barely grazing her skin.
A growl rumbles from my chest, but Corrina seems unfazed.
If I were not so worried about making her more upset with me, I would be on the ground with the man unconscious before me.
“Those will be great evidence,” she says, dancing in a circle around the man.
“I bet they weren’t easy to get made. Should make them easy to track back to the supplier and then whoever ordered them.
My money is on Vertage, but feel free to correct me.
” As I watch, I notice the slightest misstep in her normally graceful movements.
“There it is,” the man mumbles. “That paralytic you avoided in the cupcakes? Works as a contact poison too. You didn’t think I was going to take a chance on a fair fight, did you?
” Corrina’s eyes widen, and she stumbles again.
Before I can launch myself from the roof, the man steps forward and slashes at her repeatedly with his metal claws.
Corrina’s hands go to her stomach as blood begins to pour from the wounds.
She stares at the man dumbfounded as she drops to her knees.
I am on the man before he can strike her again, jerking his head sideways to snap his neck.
Corrina’s eyes are glassy as she stares up at me. “Davix?” she mumbles.
I scoop her up in my arms, and then I am racing for the nearest doorway.
I sprint down familiar corridors, cradling Corrina as gently as I can as I barrel past soldiers.
Since my accident, I have never regretted my inability to speak, but I regret it now.
I don’t know how I will explain to whoever is in the medical bay that I did not do this to her, that I could never do this to her.
I only hope that they will be able to save her, regardless of what happens to me.
“Davix?” Wenschel exclaims as I skid to a halt in the med bay. “What are you…Oh my stars, is that the Commander? Put her down here,” she says, motioning to a bed.
“Ryder!” she yells. “I need you!”
Wenschel takes a pair of scissors and begins cutting off the Commander’s clothes. “Shit, these are deep,” she mutters to herself.
Ryder bolts to the Commander and then stares at me. “What did you do to her?” he hisses.
“Don’t be stupid,” Wenschel says. “Davix would never hurt the Commander.”
“Those wounds say otherwise,” Ryder insists, pulling open supplies and pressing something to Corrina’s wounds.
“There must be some explanation,” Wenschel insists. She is sticking a needle into Corrina’s arm. “Davix wouldn’t hurt her. He cares about her,” she adds.
Those words settle in my chest at the same time as I hear yelling from behind me. “On the ground!” a voice yells, and I extend my arms and press myself to the floor. I feel a sting in my leg, and then darkness descends.
???
I hear familiar voices as I wake, though I cannot immediately identify them. I try to sit up and realize that my arms are chained down. I lift my head and see my legs are similarly restrained.
“Good, you’re awake,” a voice mutters. I blink my eyes and Curran’s face comes into focus.
“Because I don’t know how to communicate with you, I’ve allowed Zann onto the base under guard.
But I am going to need a very good explanation of why it looks like you tried to gut my commander and why there’s a dead guy with on my base or you are going to stay chained up for a very, very long time. ”
I nod my head and tug on the chains on my wrists. Curran nods, and a soldier releases the chain from the bed, though my wrists remain chained together. I notice another soldier, one of our former guards named Jurr, standing with a weapon aimed at my chest.
“Davix,” Zann says. He is standing out of reach, and his eyes are desperate as he looks at me. “Tell me what happened.”
“Is Corrina safe?” I sign. Zann nods almost imperceptibly, and I let out a sigh of relief. And then I begin to explain to him what happened, from hiding on roofs for days to the fight, to killing the man who hurt our female. Zann looks relieved as I tell him, and I hear Curran let out a grunt.
“You can stand down,” he says to the soldier who lowers his weapon. “In fact, you’re dismissed,” Curran continues with a wave of his hand before turning to face Zann and me again. “I know Corrina’s been avoiding you lately. You want to explain to me what that’s all about?”
I hesitate and glance at Zann. “Corrina is upset with Davix for something he did,” Zann offers carefully.
“Yeah, no shit. What did he do?”
Zann explains in halting terms my attempt to tell and then show Corrina how I feel about her and how she has refused to see any of us since. Curran grimaces and puts his face in his hands.
“It was a mistake,” I sign, and Zann translates that as well. Curran glances sharply at Zann and then me.
“A mistake?” he asks angrily.
I nod. “A mistake,” Zann agrees. “Krish or I should have spoken to Corrina first about our desire to make her our female.”
“Wait, what? Your female? Like all three of you?”
“Of course,” Zann says. “We all care for Corrina, and we are brood brothers. We share in everything.”
Curran’s eyes widen and then he starts to laugh. “Shit, that’s going to be a hell of a conversation when she wakes up,” Curran says. He shakes his head.
“I don’t have any reason to hold you, but emotions are running pretty high on base right now. I’m going to have someone escort you both out, and I’m going to need you to stay out,” he says, glaring at me.
“What about Corrina?” Zann asks.
“She’s recovering,” Curran replies. “Beyond that, let me worry about her for now. I need you the hell off my base before there is an incident that we’ll all regret.”