3013: MENDED (3013: The Series Book 6)

by Kali Argent

  “Does someone want to tell me what the hell is going on here?” General Whitmore did a double take when he noticed Sion. “Why is there a fully shifted Helios on my damn space station?”

  With seven enormous men and one giant cat packed into the narrow corridor, Cami was starting to feel a little claustrophobic. “Lieutenants Becks and Parsons attacked me,” she told the commander. “Becks tried to mark me.” Leaning her head to left, she pointed to the starburst scars on the right side of her neck. “As you can see, I wasn’t theirs to claim.”

  “Shit.” Threading his fingers through his short, auburn hair, the commander dipped his head at Becks and then to Parsons. “Take these two into custody,” he informed the officers. “Navarra, Miss Brighton, I want to see you in my office.” His gaze fell on Sion, and he sighed. “And for crying out loud, someone do something with the damn cat.”

  “What will happen to them?” Tariq demanded.

  “They assaulted a scroll, not to mention another man’s chosen.” General Whitmore spoke to Tariq, but kept half of his attention on Sion. “I assure you, they’re punishment will be severe.”

  “Then why do we have to come to your office?” Cami just wanted to make it to dinner without anyone else being hit, kicked, or bitten.

  “I need you to file an official report.”

  “Okay, I’ll do it tomorrow.”

  “Miss Brighton, I—”

  “No,” Cami snapped. She was sick to death of these men pushing her around and making decisions for her. “I’ll do it tomorrow.”

  A ripple in the air behind her drew Cami’s attention, and she turned to find Sion utterly naked and grinning from ear to ear.

  “I take back what I said.” Sion lowered his head and bent at the waist in a partial bow. “You would make a fine warrior.”

  “Thank you,” she answered, blushing to the tips of her ears and trying to avert her eyes. “Wait.” Only part of that sounded like a compliment. “What did you say about me?”

  “I, uh, what?” Pushing past her, Sion strolled toward their quarters. “Tariq, can I borrow some clothes?”

  “Yes, and I’d suggest you do it quickly.”

  He reached up to cover Cami’s eyes, but she huffed and drew her elbow into his abs. Tariq didn’t even seem to notice, and he growled when she tried to wiggle out of his arms.

  Jealous, irrational, overprotective fool.

  “Wait just a minute,” she called down the hallway, still trying to pry herself out of Tariq’s embrace. “What did you say?”

  She didn’t get an answer, though. Instead, Sion laughed before ducking into the room and letting the automatic door slide shut behind him.

  “Ugh!”

  “Miss Brighton?”

  Cami jerked around with no small bit of annoyance. “What?” It hadn’t been General Whitmore who’d called her name, though. In fact, she didn’t recognize this man at all. “I mean, yes, I’m Camille Brighton.”

  “Commander Maverick Cain.” He stood with his feet shoulder-width apart and his hands folded behind his back as he stared at her with piercing emerald eyes. “I was wondering if I might have a word with you in private?”

  “No,” Tariq answered for her, pulling her back from the commander.

  Cami ignored him. The opportunity to dig around inside Commander Cain’s head and try to ferret out secrets was just too good for her to turn down. “Yes, that’ll be fine.” From the corner of her eyes, she saw General Whitmore glare at her, but she ignored him. “Should we talk in your office?”

  “Actually, your quarters will be fine. I promise this won’t take long.” His inky black locks stood out in disarray, and exhaustion seeped into his voice when he spoke. “Navarra?”

  Tariq nodded slowly when the commander looked to him for approval. “Fine, but I’m coming with her.”

  “I had expected nothing less.”

  Entering the small apartment, Cami offered the commander a seat while she went into the kitchenette. “Can I get you something to drink?” she asked, pouring herself a glass of water.

  “No, no thank you.” His gaze flickered toward the bedroom door when Sion stepped through it. “Did you really shift on my station?”

  “Yes,” Sion answered shortly. Deal with it his tone implied. “Teach your ’leets some manners, and it wouldn’t have been necessary.”

  Setting her empty glass on the counter, Cami moved to join them in the living room and curled up on the sofa beside Tariq. Her mind too tired and her nerves too frayed to be diplomatic or even polite, Cami blurted out the question she’d been wanting to ask since discovering the commander was aboard Station 4.

  “Why are you here, Commander? You’re not due to return until next week, and there is no log of your ship docking in any of the bays.”

  Tariq groaned, and Sion rolled his eyes, but Cami just shrugged. She saw no sense in dancing around the issue, and the quicker they got it out in the open, the sooner she could get some real answers.

  “Call me Maverick, and I’m here because I never left.” He looked around the room, meeting each of their wide stares before continuing. “I saw you accessed the docking reports,” he said to Tariq, “and the fuel logs, as well as the inventory scans. Do you want to tell me what you were looking for?”

  “Ships are being scrubbed from the docking reports,” Tariq answered with only a hint of accusation in his tone. “So how about you tell us what’s going on?”

  “They found it, too. I don’t know if it’s enough, though. It’s all just circumstance and speculations. We need evidence.”

  “It’s okay.” Repositioning on the sofa, Cami leaned toward the commander and rested her elbows on her knees. “You can trust us, Maverick. We want to help.”

  A fond smile curved his lips. “You look so much like your mother, Camille.”

  Taken aback, it took several seconds for Cami to say anything. “You knew my mother?”

  “No, not really.” His smile faded, and his eyes shined with a world of sadness. “Ten years ago, I was a lieutenant stationed at Fort Nacht.” He nodded when Cami gasped. “I was there the day your mother died.”

  “I…I…” Cami didn’t know what to say. Tears stung her eyes, and her chest constricted, making it difficult to breathe.

  “I was told you died from your injuries.”

  Her tears dried at once, and her anguish melted into a cold anger. “Yes, that seems to be the rumor.” Her father had a lot of explaining to do when he arrived on Station 4. Everything else forgotten in the wake of this new information, Cami inched forward on the cushions. “What else can you tell me? How did Derrek escape the base?”

  “Derrek Brighton was a highly trained elite soldier, and the leader of a strike team during his prime. It took six of us to bring him down.”

  No, that didn’t make sense. Surely she’d misunderstood. “You caught him?”

  Maverick shook his head with a furrowed brow. “He was shot and killed near the border of the badlands. I’m sorry, I thought you knew.”

  “No.” She hadn’t spent her entire life hiding from a threat that didn’t exist. “No, you’re mistaken. He escaped. He disappeared into the badlands and no one ever saw him again until a couple of weeks ago when he broke into my house in Light City.”

  The men in the room exchanged glances, but no one spoke. That didn’t mean they were silent, though.

  “Poor girl. No one ever told her.”

  “How could her father do that to her?”

  “I don’t know how to help her. She never deserved any of this.”

  “This would not go unpunished on Helix. These humans are so strange.”

  “Maybe her father wanted to spare her the heartache, but he should have told her.”

  “I’m sorry this happened to you, angel. I’d do anything to take away the pain.”

  “Shut up!” she screamed, pressing her fingertips to her temples. “All of you just stop it!”

  Tariq hung his head, Sion snorted, and the c
ommander stared at her like she’d lost her mind. Cami couldn’t summon enough energy to be sorry about it, though. They didn’t have to deal with people always shouting inside their heads, so they could just cut her a little slack.

  “Now,” she said when all eyes rested on her, “can we get back to the docking reports?” She held her hand up when Tariq started to speak. “Yes, it hurts. Yes, I want to know the truth. There’s nothing I can do about it right now, though, so let’s just focus on one problem at a time.”

  She’s spent a decade in the dark, accepting the lies her father had told her. A few more days wouldn’t change anything.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  The hollowness in Cami’s gaze tore at Tariq’s heart. As much as he wanted to slay her demons, he couldn’t help her if she wouldn’t let him. Ignoring the problem wouldn’t make it go away, but he couldn’t force her to talk, either. In time, she’d trust him with whatever secrets lurked in her past, and until then, he’d be as patient as he knew how.

  “Okay,” she said to the commander, “so your ship is gone, you’re clearly not, and I know you asked the techs in the med bay to keep it quiet. So, what’s really going on here?”

  “About six months ago, I noticed an inconsistency in the logs. After some digging, I found the same thing you did. Fuel and parts missing that didn’t correspond with any ship in our records.” Maverick tapped at the display on his wrist unit. “Like you, I also noticed these incidents happened during times when I was absent from the station.”

  “Do you think someone’s trying to set you up?” Dressed in a pair of Tariq’s jeans and an old T-shirt, Sion settled into the armchair near the window and stretched his legs out in front of him, crossing them at the ankles.

  “I thought so at first.” Maverick spared a cursory glance at Sion, but spoke to Tariq when he answered. “Now, I’m not sure. If that’s the case, they’re not doing a very good job of it. So far, there’s only coincidence, nothing concrete linking me to anything.”

  “You still haven’t said why you’re here, and why you don’t want anyone to know.” Cami held Tariq’s hand, rubbing her thumb back and forth across his knuckles. “Why all the secrecy?”

  “I needed information. I thought if everyone believed I was away for a couple of weeks, it would be easier to get it.”

  “You set a trap.” Adjusting his weight in the chair, Sion nodded his approval. “Did you find anything?”

  “Unfortunately, no. Seven people accessed the logs that day, including you, Tariq. Everyone checks out, though.” He turned his palms up and lifted his shoulders. “As for Dennison’s murder, I have no leads on that. The timing is suspicious, though. The logs for Bay E were last accessed seventeen minutes before the airlock breech.”

  Tariq lifted both eyebrows in question. “That could be our guy.”

  “Or girl,” Cami added.

  Maverick shook his head. “Dennison was the last person to access the logs. So that’s a dead end.”

  Tariq deflated, but Cami sat up a little straighter. “Can I get that list?”

  Maverick shrugged. “Knock yourself out. I doubt you’ll find anything.”

  “Maybe, but I can look where you can’t.”

  Chuckling at the incredulous look on Maverick’s face, Tariq kissed his girl’s forehead and pushed up from the sofa. “Send the list, Commander. If anyone is hiding something, Cami will find it.”

  The commander stood as well, trying to shake out the wrinkles in his uniform with little luck, and followed Tariq to the door. “You’ll have it within the next hour. Let me know what you find.”

  “Oh, Maverick, one more thing,” Cami called.

  “What’s that?”

  “Can I get one of those nifty wrist unit things?”

  With an indulgent grin at Cami, and a wink at Tariq, Commander Maverick Cain nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  As soon as the commander had left, Tariq turned to Cami, interested to get her take on everything that had just happened. “Do you trust him?”

  “Trust?” She shook her head. “No, but I believe him. Either he’s telling the truth or he’s convinced himself of his own lies. His thoughts all lined up with exactly what he was telling us.”

  “I don’t think he knows about Cami’s gift,” Sion interjected. “Did you see his face when she told us all to shut up?”

  Tariq had noticed. He’d also seen the doubt on the commander’s face when Cami had asked for the list of people who’d accessed the logs on the day of her arrival. Information about her enhancements and abilities should have been in her file, and he suspected Commander Cain had seen those records. Like Cami, and maybe even more so, Tariq didn’t trust the guy. Then again, Tariq didn’t truly trust anyone except Cami.

  “It’s late, and it’s been a long day. Let’s put this on the back burner until morning.”

  “Good idea,” Cami agreed. “I’m starving, and even though we missed our group dinner, I’d still like to see my friends.”

  After what had happened with the elites, Tariq had a hard time agreeing to her request. Given his way, he wouldn’t have allowed Commander Cain into their quarters. He couldn’t hide her away forever, though, and even if he could, he wouldn’t do that to her. His girl deserved better.

  “Okay, angel, we’ll go see your friends.” He removed her jacket from the hook near the door and held it open for her. “Don’t give me that look. You know you get cold.”

  “You two are nauseating.” Sion wrinkled his nose and shuddered. “Hurry up, you’re not the only ones who missed dinner, and neither of you had to shift.”

  “Sion?” Stopping him by placing a hand on his elbow when he passed, Cami chewed her bottom lip as she looked up at him. “I didn’t get a chance to thank you. I know you didn’t have to help me, and I’m grateful for what you did back there. I just wanted you to know that.”

  “I give you a hard time, Cami, but the truth is I like you. Even if I didn’t, I’d protect you because you’re important to Tariq.” He patted the top of her hand as he lifted his head to meet Tariq’s gaze. “I’ll always have your back.”

  Understanding passed between them, and Tariq knew without being told that Sion had made his decision. Whether he stayed on Station 4 or not, he wouldn’t be returning to Helix.

  He and Sion talked about inconsequential things as they made their way to the lifts, but it wasn’t until they’d reached the atrium that Cami broke her silence. “I’m going to ask Naira if she has an opening at Starscape.”

  Caught off-guard by her musing, Tariq stumbled half a step before regaining his balance. “Come again?”

  “I want to get a job at Starscape. How else am I supposed to earn credits? Besides, that means I’ll be in the atrium all day, and it’ll be easier to spy on people’s thoughts.”

  It would also be easier for trouble to find her. “I’m sorry. I think my language converter is malfunctioning, because I swear it sounded like you’d just lost your damn mind.”

  Of course, he didn’t scare her at all. Cami took his hand as she laughed at him. “Oh, come on. I’ll be perfectly safe. I have this.” She leaned her head to the side to show her mating mark. “Plus, Naira and Scarlett will be here. You worry too much.”

  Yes, she’d definitely lost her mind. “You do realize what happened the last time you went out on your own?” He pretended to check a watch he didn’t have. “That was what? Half an hour ago?”

  “Well, yes, but Becks and Parsons aren’t a problem anymore, so you have nothing to worry about.”

  “I’m not going to argue with you.”

  “Good.” She beamed up at him. “I knew you’d see it my way.”

  That wasn’t what he’d meant at all, and she damn well knew it. Still, she needed her freedom, her independence. Tariq wanted that for her and so much more, but putting aside his protective instincts didn’t come easily.

  “I think it’s a great idea,” Sion said from Cami’s other side. “She’ll be surrounded by peopl
e. What’s the worst that can happen?”

  Tariq sneered at him. “We’ll talk about it later.”

  “Oh, there’s Scarlett.” Lifting her hand over her head, Cami waved. “She doesn’t look very happy. I wonder what happened.”

  Knowing the female, it could be any number of things. “Maybe someone told her she looks nice today.”

  Cami giggled, even as she slapped his arm. “That’s not very nice.”

  “Probably not.” He gave her a little push. “Go see what happened.”

  “Okay, I’ll go ahead and place our order. Do you want your usual?”

  “Perfect.”

  “You two really are disgusting,” Sion said when Cami jogged away. “It looks good on you, though. I’m happy you found her.”

  “So am I.”

  It was hard to believe he’d known her for less than two weeks. In some ways, he didn’t know her at all. Tariq didn’t know her favorite color, what she liked to read, her hobbies, or any of the little things. He knew all of the important things, though, all of the things that mattered.

  He knew her eyes crinkled at the corners when she laughed. She always stole the blankets, she kicked in her sleep, and sometimes, she even snored. He knew Cami had the biggest heart of anyone he’d ever met. He knew she always tried to see the good in people, and that she made the universe a better place just by being in it.

  “I like her. She’s not physically strong, but she more than makes up for it with personality.” Sion chuckled under his breath. “The way she jumped into the middle of that fight and told us both to back the fuck off?” He laughed again. “She’s something else.”

  Cami always put others before herself, especially when it came to those she cared about. She exuded kindness and selflessness, almost to a fault, and she brought out the best in him. So maybe he hadn’t known her for long, but he already couldn’t imagine what he’d do without her.

  “Hey, hold up.” Before they reached the restaurant, Sion stopped and turned his back to the people waiting for them. “What do you think about this Commander Cain? Do you think he’s telling the truth?”