by Hayes, Susan
“Did you do that to him?” Trevar asked as he ran his hands over his chosen, looking for injuries.
“Bastard hit me. So, yeah. I did that.” She threw the downed man a look of pure hatred. “He said my parents sent them.”
Deke moved the blade out of reach and then nudged the man with his foot. The fallen mercenary groaned faintly, but didn’t move. “Well, he’s not dead, so he can tell us all about it once he wakes up.”
Trevar tried to wipe the blood off of Sonja’s face, but he only seemed to be making it worse. The pain returned and he glanced down at his hand, finally seeing that it was already covered in blood. His blood.
Maybe I’m not okay after all.
His vision started to darken as he stared at Sonja’s beautiful face. He didn’t want to go, didn’t want to leave her. He fought to stay with her, but the darkness came anyway, ice-cold and terrible, taking him away from the woman he loved and the life they had only just started. The last thing he saw before slipping away was his chosen’s ice-blue eyes filling with tears as she said something he couldn’t quite hear.
Sonja was still trying to understand what was happening. One minute Trevar had been holding her, asking if she was okay, and then it was as if some cruel god had flipped a switch and drained all the life out of Trevar’s body. He’d swayed and would have crashed to the ground if Deke hadn’t caught him. She dropped to her knees at Trevar’s side, still calling his name, and that’s when she finally saw where the blaster had caught him. It was an ugly wound, but as far as she could see it hadn’t hit anything vital. At least she hoped not.
“He’s going to be pissed,” Deke said as he crouched down beside her.
“What? Why?”
“Because that’s going to hurt like a son of a bitch for a few days, and Trevar is not what you’d call a good patient.” Deke wrapped an arm around her shoulders and hugged her.
“So he’s going to be okay?”
“He’s looked worse after some of his bar brawls. Not to worry, sweetheart, we’re still stuck with him.”
Relief surged through her and she wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. “So, what do we do?”
“You put some pressure on that to slow the bleeding, and I watch over you both until I know this nightmare is over. Then I expect we’re going to have a whole lot of forms to fill out…again. The Alliance hates it when shit like this happens.”
“Yeah, and I don’t imagine the Krytos are going to be pleased either.”
“Are you kidding? This is probably the most fun they’ve had in years. They’re crazy fuckers.”
“I heard that.” T’karra’s voice wasn’t much more than a roughened growl, and when Sonja glanced up at her friend, she could still see traces of the legendary transformation that had earned the species the nickname of “beasts.” Even as she watched, T’karra’s eyes changed from red to black, her fangs and claws retracted, and her features grew more refined.
T’karra glanced down at the man on the floor and grinned as she saw his bloody clothing and the knife lying a few feet away. “You did well, little sister. We left at least one of the filthy vermin alive. I imagine your Alliance will want to question him. Security and medical are on their way already. How badly is Trevar hurt?”
“He’ll live. He’s going to be grumpy as hell for a few days, but he’ll be fine. As for the bastards who attacked us, I’m sure they will have to be questioned by the Alliance, but if you wish to have them returned to you afterward, I imagine the commander will allow it. After all, they broke the peace of the sanctuary.”
T’karra shook her head sadly. “Commander Janes was killed in the fighting. We think he was the first one to fire. Probably trying to protect your mate.”
“Shit.”
T’karra nodded. “As clusterfucks go, this was an impressive one. The next time you three need sanctuary, I’m going to ask for a damage deposit before you step foot in my bar.”
Sonja had used a folded up section of her skirt as a makeshift pad to press against Trevar’s injury, and as she saw the blood on it she added it to the long list of things she needed to apologize to her hostess for. “I’m sorry. I had no idea my parents would ever go this far.”
“You have nothing to apologize for. This was not your doing. You should have been safe here. The fact you had to draw a blade and defend yourself has me pissed as hell. I’m going to be making some improvements to security around here, and then I’m going to lay into whoever they send to run this station next. These assholes should never have been able to get onto the station, never mind waltz into my bar. They’re armed and in armor. When I find out which of my staff were supposed to be watching the door, I’m going to tear off their favorite parts and make a necklace out of them.”
T’karra eyes flashed red again, and Sonja instinctively moved a little further away.
“Don’t worry, we crazy fuckers never eat our friends. Well…almost never.”
The sound of authoritative shouting came from somewhere nearby and T’karra turned toward it, waving her hand and shouting, “We need a med-tech over here, and security, too.”
“I need to go see to the others. Let me know when he wakes up, will you? I owe him an apology, too.”
“Clear our tabs, we’ll call it even,” Trevar muttered, startling everyone.
“Welcome back,” Sonja said, hugging him carefully.
“What the hell happened?”
“You fainted, old man. One little boo-boo and down you went. I swear you’re getting delicate in your old age.”
“Fuck you, kid. When I get this hole in my side patched up, I’m going to kick your ass from here to Orion.”
“Never going to happen.”
She listened to them banter and felt the fear that had coiled around her heart slowly melt away. They were going to be okay, all of them. As the med-techs gathered around him, Sonja kissed his cheek and then moved back to give them room to work.
“Love you,” he said.
“And I love you.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of her while you’re recuperating,” Deke said, grinning wickedly.
“You should be hoping he recovers quickly. I did tell you that the first one to insult the other was going to have to watch, and I heard you call him old man. So…”
Trevar was still laughing when they put him on the stretcher and carried him to medical. She and Deke were only a few steps behind them, and Deke was muttering under his breath about the fucked up logic of females every step of the way.
***
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Deke was sitting outside of Trevar’s room, watching the staff come and go as he kept watch over his best friend and their chosen. He had finished the last of the reports several hours ago. He’d felt a certain sense of satisfaction the moment he’d submitted them, adding another nail in the coffins of those who had attacked his family.
Sonja had been bruised and her lip split open, but she was already healing. He had left her curled up in a chair beside Trevar’s bed. She hadn’t left his side since he’d come out of surgery. Her statement was already done, her injuries seen to, and now she was finally resting. When this was all done, the three of them were going to need a vacation somewhere, maybe New Vega. Sonja had never been off-world, so she would have never experienced the decadent delights that New Vega had to offer.
It would be a while before they could make that trip, though. Despite what he’d told Sonja at the time, Trevar’s injury hadn’t been minor. Even with their enhanced healing abilities he was going to need some time to recover. He would get better though, and that was what really mattered. It hadn’t hit Deke until he was watching Sonja get treated for her injuries, knowing Trevar was still in surgery, just how close he’d come to losing them both.
He’d been alone since the day his mother had handed him over to the Alliance and walked out of his life. There wasn’t a lot of love or gentleness offered to the elite trainees, but no one beat him, and there was
always enough to eat. He tried to convince himself his mother’s abandonment was a blessing and not a betrayal, and got on with his life. He’d been alone at first, but then his path had aligned with Trevar’s, the one person he knew would always have his back. If someone had told the lonely, isolated boy he’d been that one day he would have not only a friend, but a brother, and a chosen so beautiful she made his heart ache, he wouldn’t have believed it. Hell, he still found it hard to accept, and here he was, living it.
Deke glanced over his shoulder to where the woman he loved was dozing, her fingers entangled with Trevar’s, and the truth dawned on him in a moment of perfect clarity. The Alliance had always been the closest thing to a family he had, but that wasn’t enough anymore. He wanted the real thing. Hell, he wanted it all, and they couldn’t do it wearing Alliance uniforms. It was time to resign.
“Officer Wilde?” a haggard looking officer interrupted his musings, and Deke stood up to meet him.
“That’s me.”
“Security sent me to update you, and to let you know that there’s a vid call for your chosen.”
“Who is calling?” Deke asked. The list of people he was willing to wake up Sonja for was a damned short one. She needed to rest.
“Her brother, General Grekov. He’s uh… very insistent.”
“Yeah, I bet. It seems to run in the family. I’ll wake her up. What do you need to update me on?”
“I was told to inform you and your chosen that the Grekov-Neilson family are currently in custody and being interrogated.”
“Well, that’s good news. At least they won’t be coming after her anymore. I still can’t believe my in-laws tried to kidnap their own daughter. Family get-togethers are going to be a little strained for a few decades.” He sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face, trying to banish some of his exhaustion.
“Better you than me,” the officer said and then pointed down the corridor. “Second door on the left has a vid-screen. We’ll route the call to you there.”
“Thank you.”
Deke slipped into Trevar’s room, only to find Sonja already awake. Her eyes glittered with anger, telling him she’d overheard his conversation. She touched a finger to her lips and carefully untangled her hand from Trevar’s before following him back out into the corridor.
“You don’t have to worry about family get-togethers, you know. I will never speak to them again. Not after this.”
“Never say never. They’re your family…”
“Not anymore. Family doesn’t do what they did. You two are my family now…and I do still have three brothers. I know none of them are going to be okay with what our parents did.”
“You ready to face brother number one? Nicholai is on vid for you.”
“Of course it would be him. He’s going to bellow like a bear with a sore paw.”
“He better not yell too much, or he and I are going to be having words.”
She burrowed into his side and hugged him. “And that is one of the many reasons why I love you. Come on, let’s go show my big brother I’m alive and well. It’s probably the only good news he’s going to get today.”
Sonja had no idea what she was going to say to her brother. She’d left his bonding celebration and vanished into thin air. There wasn’t much she regretted about her choice to run, but leaving Nikolai without any idea where she had gone or what had happened to her was not something she was proud of.
With any luck, he’ll only yell at me for the first five or ten minutes…
The room Deke had been told to go to wasn’t much for comfort or style. Beige walls, gray carpet and a couple of well-worn chairs that looked like they might have been new back when mankind still thought the moon was made of green cheese. The vid screen was from this century at least, large enough to take up most of one wall.
“You want to do this sitting or standing, sweetheart?” Deke asked, walking over to the console.
“Sitting. We might as well try and be comfortable.” She settled into one of the chairs, grateful that Deke had thought to send someone to the ship to get them both a change of clothes. The last thing Nikolai needed to see was her in torn and bloodstained clothing.
“I just hope he doesn’t expect me to salute him,” Deke muttered and then activated the screen. He didn’t even make it to his chair before her brother’s face was scowling down at her. There were shadows beneath his dark eyes and it didn’t look like he’d shaved yet. He wasn’t in uniform though, which meant he was calling from his home at Fort Saken.
“Sonja Nadira Grekov, what the hell were you thinking taking off like that?” Nikolai’s dark eyes were full of worry despite the harsh tone of his voice.
“I was thinking that I didn’t want to get sold to a couple of our parents’ cronies like some kind of prize pig. And my name is Wilde-Storm now, not Grekov.”
He glowered. “We’ll talk about your claiming in a minute. You could have asked us for help, sprite.”
“And you’d of done what, exactly? Our parents sent a half dozen mercenaries into an Alliance base with orders to get me back home by whatever means they deemed necessary. One of my bonded is recovering from surgery after getting shot while he was in the middle of a Krytos sanctuary. If they were willing to break stars knows how many interstellar laws to do that, do you really think you could have kept them away from me?”
Nikolai opened his mouth, but she waved him off and kept going. She had more to say, and for once in her life someone in her family was actually going to shut up and listen to her.
“You don’t know what it was like for me. I couldn’t do anything, Nikolai. Not without bodyguards and an electronic leash. And don’t you dare tell me it was for my own protection either. Alayna didn’t need bodyguards and she grew up in the badlands and was a fucking thief for star’s sake! And T’karra is the head of her family and runs an entire sanctuary. Just because I can have children doesn’t mean I don’t have any rights at all. I am a grown woman and I can make my own choices. I had to leave the damned planet to be able to have a say in my own life!”
“So, that cut on your lip, is that one of your choices? And leaving us without a word, not knowing where the fuck you were for weeks, that was your choice? If so, then I am not real impressed with your decision making skills.” He slammed a hand down on the counter and Sonja jumped at the noise. Before she could say anything, Deke got to his feet
“That’s enough. She might be your sister, but she’s my chosen, and if you don’t stop yelling at her, I’m going to terminate this link. We clear?”
Nikolai’s brows knitted into a scowl. “You must be the one who didn’t get himself shot.”
Sonja took a deep breath and tried to calm down. “This is Deacon Wilde, my bonded. Trevar Storm is the one recovering down the hall from me right now. So, are you done yelling at me like I’m six years old now?”
“Maybe. I’m not make any fucking promises. Deacon, I’d like to say it’s nice to meet you…but I’ve seen the footage of you and my sister getting naked up against a window, so I’m not exactly your biggest fan right now. I haven’t slept much since my baby sister vanished off my base, and now my parents are under arrest for a list of charges that will keep their lawyers busy for weeks, if not years.”
“I am sorry I couldn’t tell you where I was. I knew you’d be worried, but you know they have us all watched as much as they can. There wasn’t much point in my ditching my guards, tossing my wrist unit, and then sending a message telling them exactly where to find me.”
She stood up and Deke flashed her a smile before wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders and drawing her in close to his side.
“When did our parents lose their fucking minds?” Nikolai muttered.
“Nik, who are you bellowing at? Is that Sonja? You bastard! You didn’t tell me you were finally talking to your sister. I am going to make you pay for that later.” Alayna bounded into view, her dark hair tied back in its usual braid and a bright smile on her face. “Hey
there! I hear you went and got claimed and then stabbed someone. When you decide to cut loose, you really don’t go by half measures, do you? And we really need to improve our communication skills. When we talked about stealing rockets, that was supposed to be a figure of speech!”
Nikolai’s face crumbled into a look of outraged horror. “You…you told her to steal a rocket? What the hell were you thinking, woman?”
“I was thinking that you turned your backs on your parents and did your own thing, so why shouldn’t Sonja? Besides, that conversation was the day your parents tried me to bribe me into leaving you and Colin, so I wasn’t exactly thinking clearly.”
Deke lowered his head to Sonja’s ear and whispered, “Your parents tried to bribe her into leaving? After she was claimed?”
“Uh huh. Long story,” Sonja whispered back.
Alayna laughed. “It’s not really that long a story. They gave me money and told me I wasn’t good enough for their son. I gave it back and told them to get out of my house. Then Nik growled and Colin glowered, and both of them pounded on their chests and that was the end of it. Oh! And as it turns out, I am totally good enough for their son, only they don’t know it yet. I got my DNA results back after you left!”
“Oh, no. She wants to hear about that, you can tell her in person when she gets back to Earth.”
“I’m not coming back,” Sonja said.
“Like hell you’re not! You need to come back here and run the damned company. I’m sure as hell not doing it.”
“Well, neither am I. Get Scott to do it, he’s the one they were grooming to take over anyway. And I mean it, I am not coming back. I always wanted to travel space, and now I can. You three got to do it, while I was stuck on Earth. Now it’s my turn.”
Deke was so proud of Sonja he was having a hard time not applauding her as she stood up for herself. This day had been a long time coming for her, and he knew it wasn’t easy standing up to someone as intimidating as her brother. “Trevar and I have already discussed this, and we’re in agreement. Sonja wants to see the galaxy, and we’re going to show it to her.”
