Rising Tides

by Rebecca Royce

  I didn’t have to be psychic to know what would happen. The four Z jumped in the air at Brenden. He rose in the air. The way they could all move, it never ceased to stun me. I watched for a second before I turned to run. I would get Brenden help.

  The longer the Z practiced, the stronger they got. There was simply no way my guard could take four of hers. They were like blurs of light. I wouldn’t have Brenden’s extinguished.

  A jolt of electricity took me down. I didn’t even know what she’d hit me with.

  5 History Does Not Repeat Itself

  I woke up fast. Unlike other times when I might have been confused, I knew exactly where I was and who I was with. The sound of the space shuttle confirmed my worst fears. My lunatic nightmare of a mother-in-law had me with her, and I was no longer on the ground in the Chen Empire.

  I sat up, grateful to see she hadn’t strapped me down.

  Brenden must have been dead. I couldn’t even fathom that, but my horror at the idea of his too early demise had to wait until I dealt with my current situation. Why wouldn’t she have restrained me? The answer came fast. She had no reason to think I’d ever fight her back.

  “Their deaths were in serving you, all they ever wanted.” A male voice spoke to my left, and I let myself stretch to see who was there.

  By the controls to this small shuttle were two men I hadn’t seen before they’d attacked Brenden. The other two weren’t anywhere to be found, and if I understood what they said correctly, then it seemed the other two were dead. Had Brenden managed to take them out before they killed him or had I missed a battle while I’d been knocked out?

  My mother-in-law sat in a low-cut dress that showed off more of her figure than I ever wanted to see, her head tilted to the side. “I never wanted any of you to die for me. It’s her who should die.”

  Well now, she was most certainly speaking of me. I jumped up. All three of them startled, my mother-in-law coming to her feet.

  “I see she decided to finally wake up.”

  She used to do this all the time. Knock me out and then be surprised when I didn’t rouse immediately. Why hadn’t she put me in the med machine? I looked around. There wasn’t one. That was illegal. All vessels set up for space travel were required to have a med machine on board. If this one didn’t have one, then it wasn’t legal.

  That made sense. No way had they managed to procure a shuttle to take them to Earth, from which she was banned, and have it be legal. I bet this was the best they could do.

  “Callie Chen. I should have known I wasn’t done having to deal with you.”

  She stormed toward me. “Having to deal with me? How dare you speak to me that way. You were never fit to be a Chen wife.”

  I’d heard this over and over again. Next, she would have had the example of what I did wrong and the beating would start. This time she thought she was going to kill me? Well, fuck this bitch and the shuttle she came in on. If I was going down, then she was going with me.

  I launched myself at her. “You’re right, Callie, I was not a good Chen wife back then. But don’t you worry, I’ve improved myself greatly.”

  I’d never actually hit anyone before. Of all the things I’d learned over the years, how to deliver a punch wasn’t one of them. Some things apparently could come naturally. I hit her, hard.

  Strong arms yanked me off her, but not before I kicked her one more time in the face. “What’s the matter, Callie? Can’t take your lessons? How stupid are you?”

  The Z Warrior who had picked me off her slapped me hard across the face. Now, this I was used to. My cheek stung. I lifted my head. I’d never beat back this man. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t get a few kicks and bites in before I was done.

  The ship jarred left and we all flew that way. I struck the table I’d been laid out on before an explosion blared through my ears. Callie took that chance to rush at me, her hands going for my throat. I was on the floor. How had she managed to get herself up so fast?

  I didn’t think, I just reacted. I kicked her again in the face. Once. Twice. Blood gushed everywhere now. She managed to wrench free, and even though the ship bayed left, then right again, and things were exploding everywhere, we rolled around like we were on flat ground. She got some good hits in on me, but I was younger, fitter, and I had years of pent up hate for this woman to drive me forward.

  I banged her head on the ground into the table. I banged her over and over until she stopped moving, until liquid brain matter came out of her ears, until I realized I’d killed her.

  I let out a squeak as reality rushed back through my haze of anger. I had just killed my husbands’ mother.

  I didn’t have time to dwell on what I’d done. The taller of the two men ripped me backward, screaming in my ear. I looked up at him in time to see death in his gaze. I’d killed my mother-in-law, but my days of breathing were over. I closed my eyes.

  I fell backward, my lids opening, and I somehow managed to catch myself. The other former Z Warrior lay dead on the floor, his eyes unseeing.

  My eldest husband had the other, the one who’d grabbed me by the neck. “No one touches my wife and lives to see another minute. Besides, we all thought you were dead anyway, Vondrey.”

  “She killed your mother.” He could barely speak for Amari’s hand around his throat.

  “Good.”

  Amari dropped the man onto the ground. I leaned against the table staring, as Amari turned toward me. What was he doing here? How had he gotten here?

  “Amber.” Amari stepped toward me. “I’m going to walk toward you.”

  Why was he telling me that? That was when I realized that I shook like I might vibrate off into space and I was covered in blood. I lifted my hand. “I k-k-killed your mother, Amari.” There was my stutter. It had been a good long time since it reared its head but there it was. I might not be able to form words in a second it was going to get so bad.

  Anxiety driven all the way, I couldn’t help it if I wanted to.

  “I know. That’s okay. I’m not upset with you. Hunter and Shane won’t be upset with you. I’m just so fucking relieved we got here. Kelton.” He looked over his shoulder at his cousin. When had he gotten there? “Tell the doctor to be ready. We’re coming on board. He needs to take care of my wife.”

  Kelton nodded. “On it.”

  Amari turned his attention back to me. He did what he said he was going to and crossed to me before drawing me into his arms. I was disgusting. How could he even want to touch me? I put my head down on his shoulder. ‘She d-d-did it again.”

  “Did what? Hurt you? Yes, it’s… unbelievable to me. I spared her life. And she did this? I should have taken off her head. She was never warm, never a good mother. We had no relationship. I kept trying to figure out what to do with her. Never mind. Not important now.”

  No, he didn’t understand. “I’m sure she k-k-killed the babies. She hit me with electricity. Again. I had decided to try, to believe there might be a w-w-way.”

  Amari pulled back to stare me straight in the face. “Babies? Are you pregnant, my love?”

  I managed to nod ahead of the tears that spilled down my face. “I was.”

  “Do you know for sure that you lost them? You said plural right?”

  I thought about it. “N-n-no.”

  “Then we go see. Come on.” He picked me up into his arms like I wasn’t capable of walking, since I might not have been, and carried me off the illegal shuttle I hoped I never saw again.

  The med bay on the flagship of the Chen Empire fleet was nicer than the one we had on the ground. I’d met Doctor Woody once before. He was the private doctor to the Chen brothers and I guessed Amari got to keep him with him in this war.

  “She’s pregnant.” Amari said as he walked us through the door. “And she has that condition I had you look up.”

  The doctor visibly winced. “Were you injured, Mrs. Chen?”

  “It’s Doctor now.” I didn’t know why I felt the need to correct him.
/>   He smiled at me. “That’s good. I was hoping they’d get you through the testing. That’s wonderful Dr. Chen. Were you hurt?”

  “I was hit with electricity. I got into a pretty bad fight.”

  He nodded. “Put her down, Master Chen.”

  Amari squeezed me tightly. “I’m not sure I can. I’m… I’m having trouble putting her down. Never mind. I’ll do it.”

  The rest of the exam was a blur until the doctor put the screen on that would show the babies were there any babies to show. Or it would show no heartbeats at all.

  But then there they were. Two heartbeats. I leaned forward as Doctor Woody grinned down at me. “They’re doing just fine. Whatever happened… they hung on.”

  They hung on.

  Amari pressed his cheek against mine, looking up. “That’s them? They’re okay?”

  I nodded. “They’re f-fine.”

  “Shit.” He let out a long breath. Were his cheeks wet? I’d no sooner realized that than he’d wiped them away. “They’re okay. That’s good.” He kissed my cheek. “I knew they’d be okay. And you’re okay.”

  The doctor shook his head. “Well, she will be after I treat some of those bruises. We can’t knock her out thanks to the pregnancy unless it’s an absolute emergency. Then you’re going to need to rest.”

  I laughed. “I just got finished resting. I have b-b-been c-c-concussed.”

  Amari sucked in a breath. “What?”

  I snuggled closer to him. If he didn’t care that I was dirty and gross, then I wasn’t going to complain. “Not so easy to t—t-talk right now.”

  He kissed my cheek. “That’ll stop. We’ll talk then. You’re safe. They’re safe. I might be able to breathe again someday. I’m running a war, and I haven’t been this afraid in battle.”

  The doctor laughed. “I’ll give you something if you want.”

  “I’m good.” Amari nudged me. “He’s known me since I was born.”

  That at least explained Amari’s ease with him and the way that Doctor Woody got to tease Amari in a way I only saw his brothers do. The purple sash indicated he was Z like everyone else around my husbands. The thought brought me up short. “They k-killed Brenden.”

  Amari shook his head. “No, they didn’t. The report that came to me was from Matt. Brenden lived. He took out two of her men. He did get hurt but help got there. He’s okay.”

  I cried out, covering my mouth. “That’s g-g-good. Thank you.”

  “You like Brenden?” He lifted his eyebrows.

  “Not like I like you.” There. I’d managed to say that without stuttering.

  He smirked at me. “You just like me?”

  I shook my head. “I love you like the air I breathe.”

  The teasing moment stopped. He cupped the side of my face, avoiding any bruises there. “Amber.”

  “All right, you two. Amari move. I’m going to fix up her face.”

  My husband didn’t let go instantly but did eventually step back. “I assume they’ve told you the sex of the babies.”

  “No.” I hadn’t asked anything. Right now it was all about did they have hearts beating and were they going to survive the inhospitable environment that was my uterus. “What are they? I mean probably boys, right?”

  He’d have that on the readout his med machine scanner gave him. “No. You, young lady, will be presenting the Chen Empire with the first girls born to the Chen family themselves since before the bombs went off.”

  Woody dropped that news like a bomb. I was in a family with two girls. That was considered huge. But my sister was, so far, having boys and the fact was that statistically we were all more likely to have boys in this universe where girls were so rare.

  Amari’s arms were back around me. “There will never be more protected or cherished children. That would have been true if they were boys, too. Which one of my brothers overachieved like this? Did they both get home regularly while I floated and battled in space?”

  The doctor laughed, throwing his head back.

  When I stopped grinning, I answered him. “All three of you have asked me some v-version of that of that question. Only Shane made it h-home, once.”

  “Once?” He kissed my cheek. “Comes home once and leaves you with twins. He always did like to do things in a big way. Used to try to show us up in school, too. I’m kidding. You know how happy I am right now? Do you know what you’ve given us? Something to hold onto you. Thank you, Amber. I don’t know how we got lucky enough for any of this. You’re going to be so happy and so safe.”

  I touched his cheek. “Is the war over?”

  He held up three fingers. “They have one stronghold left. We kick them out of there and they’re off of Earth. Then we just need to put them back into their black hole and make sure they never come back. My part is over in three days when we kick them out of there. Then I’ll come home to you and we can rebuild.” He touched my stomach. “Lots of happiness to look forward to.”

  “Look what you did, Dr. Chen.” Woody winked. “You made him an optimist. I never thought I’d see the day. Now, move, Master Chen before I move you.”

  My husband grumbled but got out of the way.

  I sat in the bathtub and let the warm water soak my troubles away. Amari had a bathtub connected to his room on this ship. I didn’t have one back on Earth in our underground bunker. I was going to soak in this water as long as I could.

  My husband walked in, closing the door behind him.

  “How long?” I assumed he’d know what I asked him. How long did I have with him until he had to leave?

  He took off his shirt. Something had banged him up; there were bruises there that were still healing. Maybe they were days old. He lifted his gaze to mine. “I have to bring you back, get our supplies, and leave. We have a number of hours together.”

  Amari followed with his pants, until he’d taken off all his clothing. I sat up, hoping I knew what he wanted, and he crawled into the tub behind me. “I haven’t gotten in this thing the whole time. It’s all about fast showers. But the men are silently managing things like they know I’m not separating from my wife right now, so I will soak with you unless you want to kick me out.”

  I shook my head. “In.”

  His big body took up a lot of space in the water, but as I leaned back against his chest, the water covered both of us. He kissed the top of my head, his arms coming around my body. “I heard from Blaze that you were already moving that Sienna woman when he got there. Good work. We still don’t know why they want her, but the people who’ve been captured and rescued say the majority of the torture they’re undergoing has to do with trying to get information on her. She is the most wanted woman in the galaxy as far as Evander is concerned so she can therefore never be given to them.”

  “I don’t know that I could have protected her. I don’t even know where we would have stashed her, but it was good Blaze got there.”

  He kissed my neck. “Things haven’t been easy at home, have they? Sounds like there is a lot on your shoulders. I’m sorry.”

  “I’m sorry you’re leading men into battle and covered in bruises. How did you get them?”

  He was quiet for a second. “We ended up in hand-to-hand combat against some Evander Super Soldiers. The problem with them is when we beat them, and they are beatable if we overwhelm them with force, we’re not sure what to do with them. We don’t want to necessarily kill them. They’re all under control by Evander and Rohan thinks some of them can be saved, rehabbed out of their mind control to think for themselves, but in the meantime, what to do. I got these bruises trying not to kill one of them. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out for him.”

  My heart clenched. “I’m sorry.”

  “Me, too.”

  I turned in his arms so I could look at his face. He had his eyes closed, but he didn’t look like he was going to sleep. More like he just wanted to shut out the world. I hated to say what I had to right then. “You can’t really be okay with what I did to you
r mom. I meant to kill her. I was surprised that I did, but when I woke up, I knew exactly what had to happen.”

  He opened his dark eyes. “She’s been dead to me for a long time. I’m not just saying that. You can believe me. She hurt you for years. I tried to spare her life but never wanted to see her again. I didn’t want some tearstained forgiveness scene on her deathbed. I legitimately never wanted to see her again. I don’t care that she’s dead. I’m sorry it came to you having to do that and that you and my nieces had to suffer at her hands to get there. Fuck that. She almost took this from me. Again. That’s not a mother. Maybe she was sick. I don’t care. I’m glad to be rid of her. My father and uncles raised us.”

  I kissed him squarely on the lips, and he sighed against me. “I love you, Amari.”

  “Is it safe for me to make love to you? Okay for the baby?”

  I nodded. “Should be. The things that can harm them come from me, not from you.”

  He brushed my hair off my face. “They’re going to make it. I can feel it in my bones. They’re with us now.”

  I crawled up his body. I didn’t have the sense of things the way that my husbands did. I knew next to nothing about energy and feeling the universe. But I loved this man. I’d loved him when I shouldn’t have, when a smart person would have let that feeling disappear, I hadn’t. He was mine. He was meant to be mine, and I wanted to feel him inside of me one more time before I had to do without him for however long it was until he came home to me again.

  I kissed his chin, his nose, his cheekbones. He shuddered against me. “How were you here when I needed you?”

  “Coming back to get supplies.” He kissed my neck, his voice low, practically a whisper, even though we were alone. “Wanted to see you for just a few minutes. The call came over, asking if any ships had seen my mother’s.” He changed direction, kissing the other side of my neck. “Was just glad to be so close.”

  I kissed his mouth, turning around so I could lie flat on top of him. My breasts ached as my nipples hardened instantly.