by Rena Marks
Ungh.
“I’ll kill you all!” A deep voice snarled.
“Hold him,” someone else snapped.
“She’s conscious,” Arian yelled. “Tess, stop the electricity.”
“Shala!” The same deep, male voice boomed. This time, the voice boomed in her ears, not in her head. Something was different.
“Let him up,” Jax commanded.
There was movement she could sense around her, and then someone took her hand.
“Shala, baby, open your eyes,” that deep, rumbling voice said. Who could that be?
She tried to open her lids, but they seemed glued shut. The barest fraction of bright light seeped through, and she moaned at the invasion.
But there were no Zetans here. No, she recognized Arian. Jax. Echo. Rune. Sifahn. Dieroc. All were bloody and disheveled.
And the one closest to her, the one in her face. He was so handsome. Sexy. But try as she might, she couldn’t recall his name. Everyone else, she recognized. This one—blank.
“Who are you?”
Chapter Six
Serepto thought his world ended when Shala asked who he was. By the sudden silence in the room, everyone else did, too. As if they suddenly regretted their impulsive behavior, their sneaky plan to implement the experimental technique he’d refused.
He’d dropped Shala off in sick bay for her muscle stimulation. He realized something was up with the way the others avoided his eyes. He returned to sick bay to find the doors locked.
It dawned on him then—they were going to zap her brain against his wishes. He fought every one of them, but here she was. Looking up at him with those beautiful blue eyes framed by long, thick tangles of lashes.
She looked worried and her eyes darted back and forth between him and the others that she did recognize. He only wanted to soothe her, so he took a deep breath to make his voice as gentle as he could.
“I am your…mate. My name is Serepto. I protect you, and will never allow harm to come to you. Your safety comes before all else, including my own.”
“I—I don’t remember you.”
“Tess?” Arian called out. “What’s happening?”
The computer voice answered in her annoying voice. “Her mind protects her from trauma. There is much we do not understand about the brain. Perhaps it will release the lock on her memories in time. Perhaps she will need to make new memories.”
Though his heart felt as if it were breaking in two, he smiled gently at her. “New memories are fine, Shala, my love. May I take you to our quarters? I feel the need to wash all this blood from me, and I do not have enough control to leave you with—my brothers.” He fought against the way he wanted to spit the term.
Shala looked a bit frightened. It was like before, when the AI first landed on her planet. The larger bodies of strangers had intimidated the Protected, and above all else, he wanted to ease her stress.
“I—I will return?” she asked. “To everyone I know?”
He involuntarily tensed before he forced a smile, trying to get her to relax. “Of course. Just in time for dinner. We have a little over an hour.”
“Okay,” she said.
Arian detached the electrodes from her head, and pulled the tiny, hair-like needles from her body, where she was supposed to be receiving a stimulus treatment. When she was freed, he bent down and scooped her up gently, glaring over her head at the rest of the crew.
“We’ll see you all at dinner.” If his voice held a threat of warning, so be it.
He walked down the long hallway to the lift, where the doors opened automatically for them. Then he stepped inside, where the metallic walls were rubbed to a mirror-like finish. It was the most beautiful image he’d ever seen, that of Shala held in his arms. Awake and staring up at him.
“Aren’t I heavy?” she whispered.
“Heavy? You’re nothing but a wisp.”
She seemed to like the way his voice rumbled from his chest, placing her palm over the spot.
“Why don’t I remember you?” she asked.
“Because you love me so much, your heart can’t take it,” he teased.
Her blue eyes were huge on her pale face, and he dropped a kiss to the top of her head just as the doors opened. Gods, he’d have given anything to have her again. Now he had his wish. Shala was responding. It didn’t matter that she couldn’t remember him.
When they reached their quarters, he had her place her thumb on the scanner.
“How about if I set you in a warm bath while I shower?” he asked.
She looked up at him. “But—I’ll be—“
“Naked? I bathe you daily since we’ve been back on the ship, Shala. And many times before that.”
“I’m sorry. It’s just that I don’t remember.”
“It’ll come to you,” he said, setting her on her feet.
He flipped on the taps, not even needing to touch the water for the right temperature. He had it programmed. She liked it overly warm, with lots of bubbles.
He turned to her, aware of how her lashes dropped to sweep over her cheeks. He reached behind her to untie the loose gown and let it drop to her pink polished toes.
“My toenails are pink?” she asked, staring at them.
“Yes.” His cheeks felt warm, afraid she’d ask who did it. It was the last thing she wanted at the trader post where she’d been abducted. A tiny bottle of pink nail polish. He’d found the damn thing in his pocket, having survived the crush that his legs didn’t. The other bottle—the surprise he’d left her on the dresser—was the lighter shade for her nails. She’d never found it, instead finding the wristwatch. Very gently, he picked her up and lowered her into the soapy water.
“It’s so warm. Perfect.”
“Of course, Shala. You may not remember, but I always care for you. I know exactly how you like it.”
He turned his back toward her and adjusted the shower spray in the nearby showering compartment. Then he dropped his uniform.
She gasped.
Without turning around, he said, “My legs are a slightly different color. They were replicated from a Cyborg. We didn’t have time to make them pretty and match the rest of me. I just needed them functional.” He stepped into the shower, letting the water sluice down his face. That way, he was able to close his eyes, and not look at her.
“How did you lose your legs?” she asked, her voice impossible to ignore over the shower spray.
He switched it off and flipped the switch to dry. He turned around slowly, allowing the heated air to hit his entire body. He was aware when she averted her eyes.
“They were crushed by a rotary chopping mechanism. It was turned on in order to cut a hole in a spaceship wall. But you were trapped in a capsule that was about to eject, and the robotic chopper was in your path.”
“You saved me?”
“Yes.”
“But…wait. I remember…well, I’m confused. I’m not sure what I remember or what I’ve dreamed.”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “We can clear up any confusion at dinner. You can ask any questions you want. Anyone will answer you truthfully.”
He flipped off the dryer, and turned to kneel near the tub. “Let’s wash you up and get to dinner.”
Because quite frankly, being alone with her was stressing him out. He had a rock hard erection he masked with the edge of the tub. He couldn’t even think of her that way. She was so…fragile.
She was quiet, but she didn’t protest his gentle bathing of her body. He pulled the plug from the tub and wrapped her in a thick blanket, drying her tenderly.
“Now that you’re moving, you’d probably like some real clothes,” he said, moving to a closet and sliding open the door. He pulled out a loose skirt and blouse, instead of the thin cotton gown she’d been wearing.
He helped her dress, and then turned to her. “Would you like me to carry you?”
“No. I feel weak. I need to get my muscles moving again.”
His gut cl
enched. Shala always wanted his arms around her. But to her face, he smiled and nodded, holding out his arm for her to take.
Her hand wrapped around his forearm as he led her down the hall. She kept herself distanced.
When they entered the dining hall, he seated her at the long table without flinching at the glee in her eyes as she recognized everyone else.
Everyone but him. Slowly he backed away, but ran into Arian.
“Are you all right?” she said softly.
He nodded. “I wanted to talk to you.”
“About what?”
“To thank you. For having the strength to wake her. I was wrong in refusing the procedure.”
“I love her, too, Serepto. I would never hurt Shala, but being in that unconscious state— fed by tubes—was no life.”
He inclined his head. “I hope I did not scare you.”
“You’re terrifying,” Arian said, with a laugh. “But even at that, I love you, too.”
With that, her arms went around him, and her tiny head went to his chest, holding him tight, while he looked across the room to catch Jax’s grin.
He cleared his throat, and patted her head. “Thank you.”
Her loud, ringing laugh echoed as she headed back to Jax.
Shala never looked up, the way she would have in the past. He knew her memory loss was his fault. He was the reason she had blocked her recollections. He’d scared her, viciously slaughtering the Zetan before her eyes. He wasn’t thinking. He should have known Shala couldn’t take that violence.
Arian brought a steaming bowl to the table, plopping it right in front of Shala.
“This is your favorite, Shala,” Arian said. “Look. Macaroni and cheese, with a bit of broccoli.”
“You’ll spoil me,” Shala said, smiling.
Serepto took his seat next to her, even though he had no appetite.
Across from her, Echo sat. “Shala, I’d like to point out that I was always your favorite AI. And that you always share your dessert with me,” Echo said, fork raised toward the pie on the small plate to her right.
“I remember quite well our dinner times, Echo. That is so untrue.”
“Well, we were getting to that point,” he grumbled. “You were about to start sharing them with me.”
Shala rolled her eyes, making everyone laugh.
“Actually, there are some gray areas I’d like cleared up,” Shala said.
“Shoot,” Echo said, biting down on his steak.
“Why was I unconscious? Dreaming of the planet Zeta?”
Somewhere, someone’s fork clattered to their plate. A sudden quiet swept the room.
What do you wish to tell her? Dieroc asked him.
The truth. As long as she asks for it.
“Are you talking amongst yourselves?” Shala asked, looking at him. It made him smile. She wasn’t as timid as she had been the first time she’d met AI.
“We are,” he agreed.
“Well, that’s not fair. It’s not like Arian and I have private conversations at the dinner table,” Shala said.
“That’s precisely what I told them, Shala,” Echo said.
“You did not,” Dieroc groaned.
“Suck up,” Vann said.
“We were simply discussing how much you should be told,” Serepto said.
“And what did you decide?” she asked.
“The truth as long as you wish to know it.”
“Then, please. Tell me. Why was I unconscious instead of awake?”
“We think you couldn’t deal with your biggest nightmare,” Jax said. “Being back on Zeta.”
Her head whipped to Arian, eyes wide. “Zeta? It wasn’t a nightmare? I was really back there?”
“Yes.”
“And how do I know I’m not dreaming now?”
“Excuse me?” Arian said.
“This is what I thought. That I was dreaming of being on the ship because I couldn’t really be here, not if I’m on Zeta. So how do I know what is real and what is imaginary?”
“I suppose it will take time to assure yourself that this—“Arian swept her hand around the room “—is real.”
“Maybe it will help if you talk about what you remember about being there, so we can possibly fill in what you don’t.” Serepto’s voice was deceptively soft.
The other AI council members all moved their chairs away from him in one perfectly synchronized sweep.
“I—I woke up on a ship. I heard voices, talking about the beam being successful. I didn’t understand what that meant. Then I was gassed and I only remember bits and pieces. Fighting someone off me. Pain. Next thing I remember, a bag was whipped off my head and I was on the auction block again. The exact same way as Zetans do it, females in cages, abdominal tattoos exposed, teeth checked—“
“Tattoos?” Serepto asked.
“Each time a woman’s stolen egg results in a viable birth, her abdomen is tattooed with a small dot. It increases her worth,” Arian said.
The AI were all silent.
Shala looked his way. “If you are my mate, how were you not aware of my abdominal markings?”
“I’m very aware of them. But you had never told me what they represented, and I never pushed.”
She tore her eyes from him. Underneath the table, he clenched his fists. He wasn’t quite sure how he felt about not knowing what those tiny dots meant.
Shala continued her story. “I was purchased by a mixed breed. He was high up in the ranks.”
Arian gasped. “They’re more vicious than first-line Zetans. While the primary goal was to breed emotion back into their race, the mixed breeds grew up without a mother’s love. They’re catered to—becoming spoiled, prone to breaking their toys. They’d have no remorse for a slave’s loss of life.”
Shala nodded, her eyes becoming distant. “That’s when I realized I was handed a death sentence. That Serepto lost his life for nothing—“ Her plate fell, crashing to the floor as she scooted backward, clutching her head.
“Shala!” He reached for her, hauling her onto his lap, where she rocked herself frantically. “It’s okay. Let it go. Let the memory wash away.”
He stroked her back while she calmed. But now he realized that was the trigger. For a brief moment, she remembered him. She had thought he died. That was what caused her to block him from her mind. She couldn’t deal with the pain of losing him.
After a few moments, she spoke. “I’m sorry. Did I scare you? I don’t know what I remembered, a brief tendril of something and then it was gone.”
“It doesn’t matter,” he murmured. “Let it go. You are safe here, safe now. We will fill you in on what you are missing.”
Over her head, he glanced at Arian, silently asking her to take over the tale. She nodded. “The Zetans have developed a beam that works on people, remember? They’d trapped you into a shuttle. Once you were in space and away from our shields, they beamed you onto their vessel and transported you to Zeta. That’s where Orion and Tian come in. The AI worked on sneaking onto the planet, while my sons worked on hacking the beam. The Zetan shields were set to prevent any outside sources from beaming in, but because it was their own system, beaming out worked just fine. But because it was a hack, there was a small window of opportunity before the tracking was discovered. In the small time frame, Serepto had to get close enough to touch you so that when everyone was returned, you came along as an extension. We didn’t expect that you locked your consciousness away in your mind by that point. You were in a vegetative state once you arrived on the ship, and have continued to be. It was no way of life.
“Orion wanted to try an experimental procedure of shocking your hypothalamus, which would disrupt your sleep cycles and possibly wake you up. Serepto refused to allow it, afraid we would fry your brain. We had to trick him, making him think you were being prepared for your daily muscle stimulation while we performed the procedure instead. We knew the risk was that we could cause your death. But we also knew you wouldn’t want to live
that way.”
“No,” Shala said. “That was my biggest horror. That Zetans would find a way to keep my body alive for breeding purposes. I would never want to live as an empty shell.”
Then the tiny woman did the unexpected. She slipped her small, delicate hand into his and said, “Thank you for always keeping me safe. But it was a good decision for them to try the experiment.”
He cleared his throat. “I realize that now. In my grief, I wasn’t thinking clearly. I couldn’t let you go. I treated you as a living doll, but didn’t take your choice into the matter.”
She didn’t pull her tiny hand from his.
The front doors opened, showing a large, gray shape. Shala shrieked, trembling in his arms.
Chapter Seven
It took two steps for Orion to walk through the doors and reach their side.
“Shala?”
Orion dropped to his knees, his head bowed in a submissive gesture. “Shala, it’s me. It’s Orion, baby.”
Shala trembled uncontrollably in his lap. For a moment, Serepto was confused and then he realized she was frightened of Orion’s Zetan features. Before he could snarl for the fool to leave the room, Shala reached out.
The rest of the people shushed, as silent as a collective, on a drawn-in breath.
She stroked his hair, feeling the texture between her fingers, then so very slowly, trailed her touch down the side of his face, lifting his head.
Arian’s son had huge, glassy eyes that threatened to spill over with the proof of his emotion.
“Orion,” she whispered, carefully stroking his cheek. Her heart was broken, the emotion sounding through in her voice.
Without any sudden movements, he brought his hand up to cover hers, holding her locked against him, as he clenched his eyes shut.
It was Shala that made the next move. With a sudden clamoring, she reached out with both arms, bringing Orion to her. Her arms were locked around his neck as if she’d never let go. Orion held her just as tightly, and for a few moments, simply rocked with her in place. It was then that Serepto realized how much they’d been through as a people. How many horrors they’d endured to get to the planet that enabled them some freedom for the rest of their lives.
