Warriors of Phaeton: Paine and Rowe

by Leora Gonzales

  “I remember perfectly well what happened.” Rowe dropped his fists with a smile. “Poppy did not talk to me for two days.”

  “Exactl—”

  “And those were the most peaceful two days I’ve had in some time,” Rowe interrupted, followed by a heartfelt sigh. Drying his face on a towel, he stepped out of the sparring room and into the corridor.

  Ever since they’d received their new orders from the council, the pair had been sparring and training. Their designation as the highest ranked paired fighters had been earned. Of course, part of it was due to their enhanced genetics, but the other part was simply because they were them.

  As close as brothers, the pair could anticipate each other’s moves and, occasionally, even thoughts. They were so synchronized in their deadly efficiency that it didn’t take long before they were handpicked by the council for the higher priority missions that they dealt with.

  “Don’t let Wheaton hear you say that.” Paine looked around the hall just to confirm they weren’t being overheard. “Ever since his progeny was born, the man is on edge. Insult his wife and he may not take it too well.”

  “As if I would ever be stupid enough to say such a thing in front of him.” Rowe chuckled, casting a glance over his shoulder. Other than the usual number of warriors moving about, there was no one in particular paying them close attention.

  “Did you just check to confirm he wasn’t behind you?” Paine asked, not bothering to hold back his laughter.

  “Of course, I did.” Rowe snapped the damp towel he had at his friend. “Actually, I think I’d be more worried if Poppy overheard me. She would kill me. Literally.”

  Rowe had to admit that he’d also hate to hurt her feelings. He’d come to admire her and the other brides and considered them friends—regardless of how much they drove him crazy.

  “You’re right. Poppy would be much worse than Wheaton,” Paine agreed with a laugh. Drawing a line across his neck, he stuck out his tongue, making a dead man’s face.

  “What are you two doing?”

  The hushed voice came directly from behind, making both of them jump. Turning around, Rowe winced when he saw that it was Dathrow who had interrupted them.

  Unsure how much he’d overheard—and completely sure the other warrior wouldn’t keep anything from his wife, who happened to be Poppy’s sister—Rowe began coming up with excuses.

  Combined with Paine, who was doing the same, they began loudly talking over one another.

  “We were just finishing—”

  “We weren’t doing anythi—”

  “Stop. Talking.” The two words were bit out between clenched teeth as Dathrow stood completely rigid in front of them.

  It was then Rowe noticed the small bundle snuggled to his chest in a sea of purple blankets. Zipping his mouth closed, he held out his hands in peace.

  “Sorry,” Paine whispered the apology before mimicking Rowe’s stance.

  “Is it asleep?” Rowe asked just as quietly, afraid of the answer—no matter which one he received.

  “She was asleep,” Dathrow hissed, his eyes a little wild. “Pixie told me to take the baby for a walk and try to get her to sleep because she needed a break. I don’t know how long ago that was. I’ve walked all over this ship,” he said quickly, most of his words running together. “I even visited the med center, but Tamin and Rodin were no help. They said that Kaine had stopped by looking for you before they practically kicked me out. I am pretty sure they’ve forgotten their medical training when it comes to their mate. Every time she moved or made even the slightest noise, they thought the babies were coming. I don’t blame them though. She’s much bigger than Pixie was, and Pixie was huge.”

  Dathrow fell silent, looking from both Paine to Rowe and back again.

  “I will kill you if you ever repeat that,” he warned, his hand cupped over his baby’s tiny ear to keep her from hearing the threat.

  “Understood.” Paine nodded.

  “It never happened,” Rowe added.

  “Good. I’m too tired to kill anyone today.” Dathrow turned his attention down to the little bundle resting on his chest. He leaned down to drop a kiss on top of the dark curls covering her head before breathing in the powdery smell that Rowe caught a hint of on the air.

  Rowe felt more than a small amount of jealously towards the other man as he watched. Dathrow was the walking embodiment of everything the pair wanted. He had an adoring mate that he obviously treasured, and they’d been blessed with healthy offspring.

  A little angry—judging by the sound coming from the tiny bundle—but still healthy.

  Dathrow rocked in place and patted the tiny back under his hand. “Shhhhh. Shhhhhhh. Shhhhhh.”

  “We’ll just—” Paine took a step back.

  Rowe copied the move and hoped he wasn’t too obvious about it. The last thing he wanted was to draw Dathrow’s attention. The man appeared on the brink of murdering someone, and Rowe did not want to be that someone.

  “She’d just fallen asleep when I found the two you,” Dathrow snarled only to end the sound with a gentle rumble as he rocked the baby.

  Rowe looked to his brother, unsure what to do. The last time they’d been in a situation like this, they’d been staring down a furious animal, which was honestly not far from where they were now.

  Should they run? If they ran, would Dathrow chase them? Was he armed with anything other than his tiny little hybrid offspring?

  “We are sorry we woke her,” Paine whispered, his face solemn.

  Rowe nodded in agreement, hoping to keep his skin intact, before he remembered Dathrow’s ramblings. “Wait? You said Kaine is looking for us?”

  Dathrow glared back at the pair as he continued rocking his child while making shushing noises. His demeanor was the opposite of the gentle sounds and motion he was making. Rowe would have found it all amusing, if he weren’t currently fearing for his life.

  “Kaine is in the council chambers. Waiting for you.” Dathrow turned on his heel and walked away, whispering to the soft bundle in his arms.

  “We were lucky he was tired. Otherwise, we would have probably had to go back into the sparring room.” Rowe was grateful it hadn’t come to that point, considering they were scheduled to leave for their next mission as soon as they got the go-ahead.

  Falling in step, they began the trek to the council chambers.

  “Wait.” Paine looked back over his shoulder. “Did Dathrow have that baby strapped to him somehow?”

  “What do you mean?” Rowe frowned at the odd question. “Like a weapon?”

  Paine had a puzzled look on his face for a split second before it cleared. “Exactly like a weapon.”

  “I could not say for sure, but I did observe quite a bit of purple fabric wrapped about him,” he offered, his mind on other things. Rowe checked the band on his wrist and frowned. This was the last thing they needed to deal with. “My band is malfunctioning again.”

  Paine tapped the metal on his own wrist as they began to walk faster. “Same here. I’m guessing it came from the blast we took on Euphoria.”

  “You may be right. Who knows how many alerts we’ve missed? It’s a good thing we weren’t far from the council chambers. After allowing the Djaromir to leave with the brides on the last mission, I do not want to chance angering any more of the council,” Rowe added. “After we see Kaine, we should visit the med center to have them looked at.”

  “I agree.” Paine nodded. “The doctors may be a little annoyed if we interrupt their fawning over Andi, but it needs to be addressed now before we run into more than just a missed summons.”

  Walking swiftly, they made it to the council chambers within moments and were greeted by one of the clerks. The councilor was in another meeting, so they were directed into a room to wait for him.

  “Why do you suppose Kaine has called us to another briefing?” Rowe asked as they entered the chamber. He was unsure what more the councilor would have to add to their already arranged mi
ssion to Djaromir. The longer he thought on it, the more he wondered what had happened to bring them here. “Did he say anything about it to you?”

  Paine shrugged but wouldn’t meet his eyes, leaving Rowe to wonder if his partner had done something to get them into trouble again. “No idea.”

  “Paine,” Rowe said his friend’s name on a heavy sigh, “what did you do?”

  “Why do you think I did something?” Paine asked, his voice as innocent as could be, yet his face showed the opposite. The expression would have gone unnoticed by others, but Rowe knew Paine well enough to detect even the slightest trace of guilt on his visage, regardless of how hard he tried to mask it.

  “Because I know you,” Rowe hissed out, upset at the possibility that his friend had gotten them into trouble yet again with the Phaeton council. It had taken them this long to achieve the elite honor of serving the council as paired warriors, and it wasn’t something he was prepared to give up. “How much trouble are we in now?”

  “There is no trouble!” Paine snapped, whipping back around with his hands on his hips.

  Rowe studied him, surprised at Paine’s uncommon display of temper. “I apologize, Paine.” Slapping his partner on the back, he made to move past but was stopped by Paine’s grip on his tunic. “What?”

  “I am not aware of any trouble…” Paine hedged, his eyes darting back and forth as if he were nervous.

  Rowe watched his friend closely, unable to shake the feeling that something big was about to happen. “Paine, what have you—”

  “Rowe, is there a problem I need to be aware of?”

  At the sound of Kaine’s voice, Paine immediately let go of where he was holding onto Rowe.

  Despite being caught off guard at Kaine’s abrupt entrance, the men immediately stopped their bickering. Arguing in front of a senior council member was not something either of them wanted to do. Especially considering they had just been placed on one of the most important missions ever to be handed down by the council.

  “There is no problem, sir.” Rowe slapped Paine hard on the shoulder. He hoped his friend understood that he wasn’t going to let whatever he was hiding be kept secret for long.

  “Good.” Kaine passed both men and went to take a seat at the large conference table that the council used for their meetings.

  Unsure what was happening, Rowe followed the senior councilman to the table and stood at attention in front of him with Paine mimicking his actions.

  “You are curious as to why you have been called to this meeting.” Kaine leaned back in his chair with an amused expression.

  “Yes, sir,” they answered in unison, easily falling back into soldier-mode in the blink of an eye.

  “We needed to talk more about the mission.” Kaine leaned forward and set his elbows on the table, prompting both men to relax their own stances slightly. “The council received new information not long after the mission briefing. After some discussion, it was decided that you should be made aware of the evolving situation.”

  “What situation?”

  “What information?”

  The questions came out simultaneously as they looked back and forth at one another. Rowe was glad to see that Paine looked just as confused as he felt.

  “Your application for the bridal pact was matched.” Kaine slid an unmarked file across the table.

  Rowe couldn’t help but suck in a breath at the news. With one big step of his heavy boots, he was close enough to pick up the thin folder that held the identity of his future.

  No, not just his.

  Theirs.

  Looking over at Paine, he waited for his partner to nod before he thumbed the file open. It was only a second before his friend was at his side, eager to see for himself.

  “Indigo Marchant,” Rowe breathed out in reverence, savoring the feel of their bride’s name on his tongue.

  “Why does that name sound familiar?” Paine asked. His brow wrinkled as he studied the page.

  The chair in which Kaine sat creaked as he shifted back. “Because she is one of the missing brides.”

  “Wait, what?” Rowe asked automatically, unable to believe what he was hearing. “I thought the stolen brides were unmatched.”

  Paine reached for the file which Rowe handed over easily. As his partner continued to scan the file, Rowe’s thoughts were scattered.

  “From what we can gather, the liaison submitted each bridal application before immediately canceling the match requests using a code that is designated for a human female that has changed their mind. It doesn’t happen often, but according to our records, there have been a few instances where the applicant has gotten something called ‘cold feet.’”

  “What does that even mean?” Paine glanced down at his boots as he asked the question.

  “Who cares?” Rowe snapped. His anxiety climbed at the thought of their bride on a planet full of women-starved miners. “If the applications were pulled, how do you know she is our match?”

  Kaine swiped a hand through his hair. “After receiving the files from Maggie and Hix, the council decided to add them into the system. Out of the thirty files entered, six came back as positive matches.”

  “Six matches?” Paine’s face showed his shock. “And ours was one of them?”

  Rowe could feel his excitement build as he thought about the beautiful bride pictured in the file. With short blue-black hair that curled around her face, Indigo Marchant was a sight to behold. Not because of her sparkling brown eyes or the barely-there dimple that graced her left cheek.

  No, that wasn’t the reason why Rowe was so captivated.

  He was entranced because she was theirs.

  Theirs to care for. Theirs to protect. And most importantly, theirs to love.

  “Now you know why you were called to this meeting,” Kaine said, interrupting Rowe’s thoughts. “The council believes that knowing one of the brides is a match for your pairing would be the most effective incentive needed to make sure your mission is a success.”

  Both fighters cast each other a quick glance that could only be interpreted as “no shit” before grinning at one another.

  “Paine, I believe it is time for us to go rescue our bride.” Rowe reached out his arm to the warrior who would stand beside him in caring for their future wife.

  There was no hesitation on Paine’s part as he reached forward to roughly grip Rowe’s forearm in a warrior’s handshake. “Well…what are we waiting for?”

  Chapter Two

  Djaromir Mining Planet…

  It was just her luck, right?

  Indigo, pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried to figure her way out of the mess—and closet—she’d found herself in. At least that’s what she thought she was barricaded within, but with the lack of light, she couldn’t be a hundred percent positive.

  Not long ago, she’d woken up on an alien planet—not the one she’d planned on going to—and since then, things weren’t much better.

  “Will you open the door?” Charlotte asked once more, the words muffled but still clear. “Please?”

  “Tell me again,” Indigo ordered, tapping her foot against what she assumed was a stone floor. It wasn’t as if she had an opportunity to take a good look at her surroundings before making her move. From the glimpses she’d gotten, she thought she was in some sort of cave.

  Everything had happened so quickly. She was still trying to figure out all the steps that landed her where she was currently at. It didn’t help that she felt extremely sluggish, both mentally and physically. The brain fog she was experiencing reminded her of how she always felt after a really hard nap. She felt bogged down with a gross, sweaty, still-tired-yet-not-quite-awake fog that was lingering no matter how much she tried to shake it off.

  Considering how she felt, it wasn’t that hard to believe that they’d been trying to wake her up since yesterday. In fact, she did have the vague recollection of someone saying her name on repeat as if they were trying to wake her up, but she’d been too t
ired to respond.

  “Eva, our liaison, kidnapped and sold all of us,” Charlotte repeated, saying the same thing she’d already told Indigo multiple times before. “There are almost thirty of us that she planned on selling.”

  “She did sell you,” Saber added this time, breaking up the monotony of the earlier replays. “We rescued you.”

  “Shush! Stop freaking her out!”

  Indigo pressed her ear against the door to listen to Charlotte snap at the male who’d been the one to startle her. It hadn’t been his fault—or really anyone’s, for that matter. The first things she’d seen when she’d opened her eyes had been a man standing over her. He’d been speaking, but what he said was anyone’s guess, considering she wasn’t paying any attention at all to the words coming out of his mouth. Her eyes had simply taken in a large figure standing over her and she’d been taken right back to the moment of her kidnapping.

  Except, this time, she was able to move.

  In a windmill of arms, legs, and probably even some of her hair, Indigo had used whatever part of her body she could as a weapon. Still waking up, it wasn’t pretty, but she was running on instinct alone at that point. Her brain had convinced her body to go into immediate defense mode based on the three split-second observations she’d made the moment her eyes had opened.

  The guy standing over her was big. He was muscled. And he was most certainly not human.

  Thus, the throwing of hands.

  “I’m the one with a bloody nose here,” he defended. “How can I be freaking her out if I’m the one bleeding?!”

  “Don’t be such a baby,” Charlotte said with a sigh. “Come here and let me see the damage. And don’t act like you don’t know what freaked her out.”

  “Ouch!” There was a slight pause. “I can’t think of what else you could be talking about. She woke up and started swinging. I only said a few words to her, and I never touched her.”

  “I know you didn’t touch her, jackass! You said, ‘I’m Saber, first guard of Hamuir.’” Charlotte’s voice dropped low as she mimicked the man she was reprimanding. “Then, you pointed at me and said ‘she’s mine. I’ve claimed her’ in that dumb caveman voice! How the hell was that not supposed to freak her out?!” Charlotte half-yelled. “Hell, your answer freaked me out!”