by Kali Argent
“So good,” she repeated. Leaning her head back, she winked up at him and lifted her pizza in a mock toast. “Laissez les bons temps rouler.”
Vane didn’t know what the words meant, but he liked the way it sounded in her subtle accent and sweet lilt. Resisting the urge to touch her, he moved to the other side of the counter to put some space between them as he bit into his slice of pizza.
A bitter, offensive taste immediately assaulted his tongue, and Vane spun toward the sink to expel the food from his mouth. “Stop,” he ordered before spitting into the sink again. “Don’t take another bite.”
“Why?” Charlotte lowered her half-eaten slice into the open box and frowned.
“What’s wrong?” Xavian demanded, though a hint of concern laced his sharp tone.
“We have to go.” His heart sank to the pit of his stomach as he shared a look with Xavian and shook his head. “Those aren’t mushrooms. They’re devil’s angel.”
Technically, they were mushrooms that grew only in the moonlight at the base of the mountains on Nekron, and they even resembled the fungi Earthlings found so delicious. They had no scent, and Charlotte probably hadn’t noticed the difference, but with Vane’s heightened senses, devil’s angel had a bitter, acrid taste. While he wouldn’t suffer any ill effects from the one bite, the mushroom was nearly always fatal to most anyone not from his home planet.
“Fuck,” Xavian cursed.
The word had barely passed his lips when Charlotte wrapped her arms around her midsection and doubled over in her seat with an agonizing groan. The blood drained from her face, leaving her as pale as death as she gasped for oxygen.
When her eyes rolled back in her head, and she began to sway, Vane hurried around the counter to catch her before she could fall. Lifting the female into his arms, he cradled her protectively while his mind spun with the dark fate that likely awaited her. Reddish circles bloomed under her closed eyes, and the soft pink of her lips transitioned to an alarming shade of blue.
“V–Vane.” She managed only the single word before she began to cough, spraying drops of blood over his shirt.
“Don’t talk. It’s going to be okay, prya. I’m going to make it okay.” He held her tighter, pressing his lips to the top of her head. “Xavian.” Vane said his friend’s name quietly…pleadingly. “Help me.”
“I can take some of her pain, but I can’t heal this.” Xavian lifted his right hand, producing a dancing, lime-green flame that he passed over Charlotte from chest to hips. “She needs a doctor, Vane.”
Human doctors couldn’t heal her. Fuck, she’d be dead before they even figured out how to treat her. It was forbidden, against every rule of every galaxy, but Vane didn’t have a choice.
“She needs our medicine.” Turning, he moved toward the exit, but he made it only a step before he found his way blocked. “Move,” he growled.
“Vane, think!” Holding his hands up in the universal gesture for calm, Xavian sidestepped with him when Vane tried to go around him. “This is what the Morphling wants. Hell, we might as well giftwrap her and set her on his doorstep.”
“Move,” he repeated, his voice tight and strained. He could no more let Charlotte die than he could rip out his own heart. “You can come with me or stay, but I’m going home.” At that moment, he didn’t care which option Xavian chose. “And I’m taking the girl with me.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Nekron, Year 2984
“What the fuck were you thinking? Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
Standing with his feet shoulder width apart, Vane clasped his hands behind his back and stared straight ahead while his commander raged at him. “She would have died, sir.”
“And then our problems would be solved.”
Resisting the urge to growl, Vane gritted his teeth until his jaw ached.
“You better pray to every deity you know that this doesn’t have consequences,” his father continued as he paced back and forth in front of his chrome desk.
“She would have died,” Vane repeated. “Bringing her here won’t change anything. The timeline won’t be affected.” As far as history would be concerned, Charlotte Rousseau had died inside her cramped, second-floor apartment.
“And what of the Morphling renegades?” The commander stopped pacing and leveled an angry glare at Vane. “Not to mention the Atreans. You know who she is. The Morphlings want her, and the Atreans will come for her when they discover what we already know.” His chest expanded as he sucked in a deep breath and released it through his parted lips. “Son, the only way this ends is with bloodshed.”
“Then I’ll shed it!” He’d cut down whole armies to protect Charlotte, and he’d do it without remorse. “Let them come,” he challenged. “Let them try to take her.”
The commander tilted his head to the side and folded his hands together behind his back. The harsh lines of his face softened, and a curious expression tilted one side of his mouth. “You care for this human female.”
“I do.” He saw no reason to deny it now, not after he’d just threatened violence to an entire race to protect her. “She’s important to me.”
The entire time he’d been on Earth, he’d tried to deny it, to push away the part of him that ached with need. Holding her in his arms, watching the light fade from her eyes as she struggled for breath, he hadn’t been able to pretend any longer. He didn’t just want her. He needed her.
With a tired sigh, Commander Schiva looked up from the contemplation of his boots and nodded. “That would explain why she’s been asking for you.”
Vane’s heart pounded up into his throat. “She’s awake?”
“Off and on. She’s still weak, but Doc says he thinks she’ll make it.”
Charlotte had passed out in his arms just before he’d reached the cathedral steps, and Vane had feared she wouldn’t survive the trip through the portal. By the time he’d rushed her into the medical bay beneath the compound, he’d been nearly out of his mind with worry. Though the rational part of him knew Charlotte needed help, he hadn’t been able to let her go, snarling and yelling at anyone who came near her. It had taken two nurses, the doctor, and finally Xavian to talk him off the edge.
“She’s going to be okay.” He repeated the words twice.
The commander’s expression softened. Right then, he wasn’t Vane’s commanding officer. Bael Schiva was simply a father worried about his son. “You’re going to have to go before the elders. Even if this female is your familiar, there will be consequences. I’m sorry, Vane.”
“My familiar?” His mate. It explained why he felt compelled to be near her, why the mere thought of something happening to her sent him into a violent rage. “I feel like I should have figured this out before you did.”
His father chuckled, something Vane had only heard him do a handful of times in his very long life. “If you’ll remember, I’ve been mated for a few thousand years now. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for your mother.” The smile slid from his face, and his eyes narrowed. “Even break about fifty fucking laws.”
“I’ll accept the consequences for my actions.” He’d take whatever punishment the elders handed down without complaint. “I’d like to see Charlotte now.”
His father nodded. “Go on. We’ll discuss this more after you’ve had some rest. Oh, and son?”
“Sir?”
“She’s your responsibility now. Understood?”
Vane nodded. “Understood.”
“Good. Dismissed.”
Exiting the office, Vane pressed the transmission button on his earpiece as he followed the maze of brightly lit tunnels that ran beneath the compound. “Lieutenant Xavian Tira.”
“Calling Lieutenant Tira,” the robotic female voice informed him.
“No,” Xavian said by way of greeting. “I know what you’re going to ask, but I won’t do it.”
“How do you know what I’m going to ask?”
“Because I got the same lecture I’m assuming you
did, but it’s not happening.”
“It’s a little late to be having second thoughts. You didn’t have to come with me to the med bay,” Vane reminded him. “You’re in this, whether you like it or not, brother.”
Bringing Charlotte under his protection meant placing himself between her and anyone who wanted to harm her. News would spread of the resurrected Atrean royal. No doubt the Morphlings were already planning their next attack, and the Atreans would surely demand the return of their princess. It wouldn’t end there, though. Others would come, and they wouldn’t do so peaceably.
“Xee, look, I need your help on this.”
“You know I always have your back, Vane.” An audible sigh drifted into his earpiece. “You brought Charli through the portal, though. She’s your responsibility.”
“I’m not asking you to take responsibility for her. I’m just asking you to keep her safe when I have to go before the elders.” His trial could take several days, and his punishment even longer, depending on how creative the elders wanted to get. During that time, he wouldn’t be allowed to see Charlotte, and he needed to know she was protected. “Xavian, she’s my familiar.”
A long string of curses followed his confession. “Fine,” Xavian said at the end. “You have my word. I won’t let anything happen to her.”
“Thank you. One day, I hope I can return the favor.” Vane stopped walking and rubbed at the stubble on his chin. “Hey, where are you anyway?”
“My quarters. I thought I’d grab a shower and a change of clothes before I meet you back in the medical bay.”
Vane slowed as he neared the sliding doors of the underground hospital. “I’m here now, so I’ll see you in a few.” Then he disconnected the call and held his badge up to the laser scanner.
“Welcome, Lieutenant Schiva.” The same robotic voice that had connected his call greeted him from the overhead speakers as the pressurized doors slid open. “Are you in need of medical attention?”
“No, I’m here to see to see a patient, Charlotte Rousseau.”
A strip of blue, blinking triangles illuminated on the wall to his left. “Thank you. Please follow the arrows to your destination.”
The flashing lights led him to a room at the end of the hall in the critical care unit where he found Charlotte sitting up in bed with the mossy green blanket pulled up to her chin.
“Hello, Charlotte.”
Dark circles shadowed the skin under her eyes, and she still looked sickly pale, but a brilliant smile lit her face when she saw him. “Hello, stranger. Where have you been hiding?”
“Having my ass handed to me by my commander.” Crossing the stark-white room in three strides, he settled into the beige recliner beside the bed and took Charlotte’s hand between both of his own. “How do you feel?”
“Tired, and I still don’t feel like eating, but the doctor said I’ll be good as new in a few days.” She tucked a pillow under hip as she rolled on her side to face him. “What happened back there? Where are we? Was I poisoned? Are you okay? No one will tell me anything.”
“Easy, calm down, or they’ll kick me out of here.” In truth, he’d missed her adorable rambling, and a part of him had feared he’d never hear it again. “Yes, you were poisoned. I told you eating fungi was a bad idea.” Vane smirked when she rolled her eyes. “As for where you are, you’re in the med bay, like a military hospital, beneath Pandora.” He didn’t know where to start or how he’d ever explain everything she needed to know. “I’m sorry. I had no choice. I couldn’t let you die.”
Bringing their joined hands to her mouth, Charlotte brushed her lips against his knuckles and breathed deeply through her nose. “Thank you, Vane.” Then she popped her head up and gasped “What about the Morph? Is he here? Did he follow us?”
“Shh, no, no, no, he’s not here.” Shifting to the edge of his seat, he smoothed Charlotte’s hair back from her face and cupped her cheek. “I’m never going to let anyone hurt you again.”
Seemingly soothed by his vow, Charlotte sighed and rubbed her cheek against his palm. “I don’t want to be alone.”
She’d been forced to give up everything when he’d brought her to his world, more than she’d probably even realized yet. The next couple of weeks would be overwhelming and probably frightening for her. If Vane could give her a measure of comfort during the transition, he’d find a way to make it happen.
“I’ll have to ask Doc Breccan, but if he allows it, I’ll stay with you for as long as I can.”
“I can’t go back, can I?” Her bottom lip trembled, and tears welled in the corners of her eyes. “I can’t ever go home.”
“The mushrooms should have killed you, and if I hadn’t brought you here, they would have.” The thought still made him nauseous. “For all intents and purposes, you don’t exist in that world, anymore. So, no, prya, I’m so sorry, but you can’t go back.”
Even if she could, he didn’t know if he could let her.
“I’m, uh, I’m still pretty tired.” Easing away from him, she leaned back against the incline of the mattress and pulled the blankets up to chin. “Maybe I’ll wake up and this will all have been a dream.”
“Okay.” Knowing nothing he could say would comfort her, Vane stood and bent over the railing to place a soft kiss on her forehead. “Rest. Things will be better tomorrow.”
Her eyes flew open, and she grabbed his wrist. “Where are you going?”
Confused, Vane placed his hand on top of hers and studied the lines of her face. “I thought you wanted to be alone.” As inept as he could sometimes be at reading certain social cues, the abrupt dismissal had been kind of hard to miss.
“I don’t know what I want. I feel like I don’t even know who I am right now.” Pulling her hand back under the blanket, she stared up at him through heavy-lidded eyes. “I just know I don’t feel so scared when you’re here.”
Vane pulled the ugly recliner closer to the side of her bed and resumed his seat. “Sleep now.”
“You’ll stay?” The words came out slow and slurred as her eyelids drooped lower.
Vane dared someone to try to make him leave. “Rest. I’m not going anywhere.”
* * * *
The next three days proved to be a test in patience. When she wasn’t being poked, prodded, and tested, Charli dozed. Her appetite hadn’t returned yet, but she had managed to choke down a bit of plain rice. Still, she felt better for the most part, and she was tired of being cooped up in her room.
The doctors hadn’t cleared her to leave the hospital yet, but by day three they did allow her out of bed. As promised, Vane had convinced the staff to let him stay past visiting hours. So every evening, he came and walked the empty hallways with her, and then he sat by her bed and read to her until she fell asleep.
Well, she thought it might be evening. The sun hadn’t made an appearance since she’d arrived, which made it difficult to gauge the time. Xavian had brought her a watch with a holographic projection face and about a million different functions. Charli appreciated the gesture, but she had yet to learn how to operate it, not even to tell her the time.
Vane had explained that they measured hours and minutes on Nekron much the same way humans did on Earth. However, the Nekros had shorter years and only one day and one night during that time. Almost two hundred days—or moon cycles, as they called it—of darkness was just too depressing to contemplate.
“Good morning, Charli.” Doctor Zhorn Breccan stood in the open doorway and grinned at her.
Charli still couldn’t get over how huge everyone seemed compared to her. While her five-foot-eight frame had been fairly average back on Earth, everyone she’d met in the hospital towered over her, even the women.
“Good morning,” she responded pleasantly. For the most part, she liked the doctor. She’d like him even more if he’d discharge her. “Have you come to pardon me?”
The doctor’s broad shoulders shook when he chuckled at her, and the deep rumble of his laughter had Charli smiling
as well. Brushing his mop of shaggy brown hair out of his eyes, he pulled what appeared to be a sheet of clear glass from the pocket of his sparkling white lab coat and flicked his finger over the surface.
“You’re color looks good today, and the nurses say you were able to eat a little for breakfast. How are you feeling?”
“Bored.” Tucking her legs under her, Charli sat up cross-legged on the bed and rested her hands on her knees. “When can I get out of here?”
“I’d like to run another round of tests to be on the safe side, but if everything comes back clear, you can go home after lunch.”
“Okay.” Charli didn’t bother reminding the doctor that she couldn’t go home. “What do I do until then?”
“You could sleep,” he suggested, smirking when Charli glared at him. “Even if I do discharge you today, you still need rest.”
“I’m fine. I don’t need rest.” She’d done nothing but sleep since arriving on Nekron. “Can I go into the city? I mean, is that allowed?” Another thought occurred to her, and she bit her bottom lip while she thought through how to phrase her next question. “Am I going to implode if I go outside?”
Doctor Breccan chuckled again as he tucked the clear tablet under his arm. “I’m going to miss your endless list of questions, Charli. I’ve never met a human before.”
“Well, you’re only the third Nekros I’ve met, so join the club,” she countered. “Now, back to this imploding thing.” She’d read somewhere that humans were delicate creatures who could only survive in very specific conditions. “Or would I explode? I’m not really sure how that works.”
Doc Breccan shook his head. “I promise you have nothing to worry about. As for going into the city, I’d recommend an escort until you’re more accustomed to the culture, but yes, you can go almost anywhere you’d like.” He angled his shoulders toward the door. “Anything else?”
“Do you have Netflix here?”
The doctor paused and tilted his head to the side while his lips turned down at the corners. “I’m sorry? What is a Netflix?”
