Sarazen's Hunt

by Isabel Wroth

  “I will carry her.” Alec opened her mouth to likely tell him no, but Kalix leaned closer to stare into her eyes, hoping to impress upon her the fact that she no longer had to fight for her people to survive.

  He and his warriors were more than capable of providing such a service with pride. With honor.

  “I would be honored to do so, please.”

  The dying female made a sound, deliriously begging for water, trying to weakly claw at her throat.

  The movement spurred Alec to nod and moved out of the way, allowing him to scoop up her sister and lift her against his chest.

  His beast cringed when she cried out in pain, at the slightness of her weight. She weigh no more than their smallest young one.

  Kalix lifted his head, refusing to meet Alec’s eyes lest she see his horror for the state of her twin.

  “Move out. Squads of ten take our flank. The humans are to be protected at any cost! Dax!”

  His second responded immediately from aboard the warship. “Here, Commander.”

  Kalix lengthened his strides until he was almost running, Alec and a young male keeping pace beside him.

  “I want a regeneration chamber made ready. Quarantine chambers in medical for one infected. There are seventy five humans in total, have the barracks shifted accordingly.

  “Until each is cleared by medical, full quarantine procedure is implemented and the humans restricted to the barracks.”

  “It is done, Commander. Am I to send a report to the Asho confirming successful retrieval?”

  “Negative. Not at this time.”

  THREE

  Alec knew she would be interested in the Sarazen technology and the layout of the ship later, but now that everyone was safe and off the surface of Moika, her concern was only for Meg.

  Whatever a regeneration chamber was, if it helped Meg and stopped the infection, Alec wanted her inside it now.

  Zhenya had reluctantly allowed Liliya to take him along with the other children, but Alec could feel him watching Kalix take her and Meg down another corridor to what Alec could only assume was their medical ward.

  Alec looked around at the alien technology, certain if there was anything to be done for her sister, it would be done in a place like this.

  Their tech was so advanced Alec didn’t recognize any of it past the enormous medical beds.

  “Put her on the table and move back,” a large, unarmored man ordered.

  Kalix stepped into a starkly white room to lay Meg flat on the padded surface. Three men started to work on her immediately, the one issuing orders slapping his hand down on a flat screen on the wall to lower a clear glass barrier, separating Alec from her sister.

  “No.” Kalix blocked her from trying to jump under the partition before it completely cut her off from Meg, holding her back with his armored arm.

  His eyes were hard, but compassionate, nodding to the room where the medics were working quickly.

  “The barrier is to protect her and everyone on board. We don’t know how the parasites will react to our medicine.

  “If the medics become infected, the quarantine shield will keep the rest of the crew from also becoming infected. Everything they need to help her is within that chamber.”

  Alec tried pushing his arm away, but it was like trying to push a felled tree all by herself. He didn’t budge an inch.

  “I’m not leaving her!” Alec almost screamed it to the room, panicked she would be taken away from Meg.

  Kalix frowned at her like he was confused. “I had not intended for you to. We will remain here until a diagnosis is determined.”

  The wall holding Alec’s emotions at bay fractured into dust when the green light of their incredibly advanced medical scanner moved over Meg’s body.

  A hologram appeared above Meg, a rendering of her physical body, revealing just how much damage had been done to her internally.

  Even the medics made sounds of disbelief at the devastation.

  The hologram showed the mess that should have been Meg’s stomach. Her completely ruptured spleen and liver. The shredded tissue-paper looking stuff where her intestines should have been.

  Black sludge covered everything and was starting to eat away at Meg’s bones as they watched. There, right before Alec’s eyes was proof there was no way Meg could survive.

  The tears came in gut wrenching sobs, screams when she beat at the barrier keeping them apart.

  “That’s my sister, goddamn you! Let me in there! I want to be with her!”

  Alec fought when Kalix tried to pull her back from the glass partition, but he was just too strong.

  Even wearing the armor he’d given her, he immobilized her and stepped back, hugging her arms to her sides until all Alec could do was hold on to his metal covered wrists and watch.

  *****

  The defeated keening of the female Kalix held tore at his heart. It roused his beast to pant and claw at his insides in an effort to soothe her.

  His rumble changed to a pitch Kalix couldn’t ever recall it being, and it took only a moment for him to recognize the sound for what it was.

  Recognize it and be infuriated by it.

  His beast was rumbling to comfort his mate, having accepted her without Kalix even noticing or agreeing and gods damn him, he did not want her.

  She represented an end to everything he had fought so hard for.

  “Please. I don’t want her to suffer alone.”

  Kalix winced at her hoarse plea. The fight drained out of Alec until he had to follow her down to the floor because her legs would not keep her standing a moment longer. He put aside his selfish anger for now, and did what his honor demanded.

  Kalix comforted the human female that would someday be his mate. “I vow to you, no matter what happens, she will not suffer and she will not be alone.”

  Alec’s tears hit his armor with soft pings, her head dropping forward while her body trembled with the cries she tried to choke back.

  A medic came close, stopping with in respectful distance to address him in their native tongue.

  “Commander, does your female require medical attention?”

  “She is not mine!” he snapped hotly at the male.

  The medic’s brow slid up skeptically, though he said nothing to contradict Kalix.

  “Apologies, Commander. As she is already here, perhaps she will allow us to scan her and clear her of any infection?”

  Kalix grunted, knowing the medic had meant no insult. Kalix’s reaction was unwarranted when no doubt the male had heard him rumble for her. But apologizing would mean he had accepted he was doomed.

  “Alec, release your armor. There will be news on your sister’s condition by the time you are cleared by medical. You will not be far from her. Touch the neck, that’s it.”

  Alec’s hand weakly lifted, clumsily touching the sensor on her torc. Kalix got her up so he could release his own, fighting the instinctual growl that rose in reaction to her leaning against his bare chest. She didn’t even seem to notice she was doing it. Or care, if she did.

  “I have a table right here. You need not leave sight of your sister,” the medic murmured kindly, and Alec nodded.

  The scent of her embarrassment was ripe in the air while she tried to compose herself. She stumbled when she made to walk forward, so Kalix did what just came natural, not even having to think about it as he lifted her up to carry her to the waiting table.

  The medic grunted at him with a brief, droll look, but lowered his gaze when Kalix curled his lip to furiously bare his teeth.

  The medic smiled kindly at Alec, and it was Kalix’s first urge to slash that smile from the other male’s face with his claws.

  See how willing he was to smile at Alec again with his jaw half gone, but he forced himself to shake it off.

  Kalix was not taking this human for his mate, therefore he had no reason to become proprietary or territorial.

  “I am called Beric. A green light will shine down on you and scan your b
ody. While it does so, is there anything you can tell us about the infection that will aid our medics?”

  Alec turned her head to look to where her sister lie, almost a perfect mirror image. As though the two could feel the presence of the other and were turning their faces toward one another.

  “None of us have any medical training. Our doctors all died before anyone could pass on anything other than the most basic first aid. What we know about the parasites is mostly due to the research Sage was able to do before she died.

  “Sage left notes to suggest the chemicals found in the native waters were too hostile for the larvae to grow in, so we guessed that’s why the Scylla were so hard up to infect us.

  “Human bodies are made up of nearly seventy percent water, with all the protein and nutrients needed to sustain the larvae.”

  Kalix’s fingers moved without his permission, brushing away the tears that slid down her cheek. Alec blinked her spiky wet lashes, glancing at him quickly with eyes so blue they looked like gemstones.

  “How did your sister come to be infected?”

  She sniffled at his question, smiling sadly in the other female’s direction. “She was an idiot and disobeyed my orders. The boy who was beside us the whole way here, we took him hunting with us.

  “Meg, me, and a handful of others. He fell while we were running from that last raiding party. Meg heard him cry out when he hit the dirt, and she went back for him. Took down two of the Scylla before the third spit on her. What are they doing to her?”

  Beric looked from Alec’s scan to glance into the quarantine room, his tone soothing and kind when he answered.

  “They are injecting the regeneration serum directly into her body. Typically one is submerged in the substance to heal any bodily injury from the outside in.

  “It is derived from a plant on our world, that when positively charged, creates rapid cell regeneration. But as the damage is so extensive, the gel must be introduced through a vein.”

  Alec frowned, the thoughts playing so clearly across her face while she stared at her sister. She licked her lush lips when they wobbled, more tears falling.

  “Regenerating her internal organs, even if that were possible at this point, would just prolong the pain and give the larvae more to eat. Please, please don’t do that to her.”

  Beric’s brows slammed down, looking from her, then up to Kalix. “You have not told her about the potential for her sister to be healed by her mate?”

  Kalix jerked his chin at the younger male, indicating where Alec lay on the table between them,

  “Do you wish to tell this female there is a chance her sister can be saved by her mate, give her that hope, only to see it wither if that mate is not among the warriors on board?”

  “Hey! English, asshole. What aren’t you telling me?”

  Kalix blinked at the punch of Alec’s little hand against his chest, clearly hearing something crunch when her fist met the hardness of his chest. She didn’t even give so much as a hint of scent to indicate she felt the pain.

  Beric cleared his throat and continued to speak in the Sarazen tongue, “No, Commander. I would not wish such pain on your... uh, this, female.”

  Kalix grunted at the medic, catching Alec’s hand when she made to hit him again.

  “Stop that, you’ve hurt yourself.”

  Alec scowled at him and used the hold he had on her arm to pull herself up so they were almost nose to nose, the scent of her grief giving way to the undeniably arousing scent of her rage.

  Clearly there was something wrong with his beast if he found that scent desirable.

  “I will rip you and any other man who gets in my way apart with my bare fucking hands, if it means sparing my sister another second of pain.”

  Deranged. His beast clearly was deranged.

  Alec was as magnificent as any Sarazen female, though he hadn’t ever encountered one who would have dared speak to him that way.

  Perhaps the Asho’na? But she was not here at the moment, and Kalix rather doubted his beast would find such words from her to be amusing. Let alone arousing.

  Kalix cleared his throat and noticed how seriously Beric was looking at his wrist unit, trying his best not to smile.

  Without taking his eyes from her, Kalix called out to the medics working on Meg.

  “Reykar, do you have an initial report to make? The female’s sister is concerned for her comfort.”

  Alec looked over his shoulder when the primary medic answered, his tone distracted while he and his assistants worked diligently to save the female.

  “As expected, her condition is severe. The gel will not be able to sustain her for long, and getting a pure blood sample is going to be difficult as her blood is almost completely overcome with the parasitic organisms.

  “She is feeling no discomfort at this time, as we have given her a tonic to ensure she feels no pain. I am still gathering data. I have never seen such a devastating, widespread infection, but I will not give up.”

  Kalix raised his brows at Alec, asking her softly if she was satisfied with Reykar’s answer. She gave a tight nod, and Beric asked her to resume her position on the table.

  “Why, is something wrong with me?”

  Beric lifted his chin at the hand Kalix still held in his grip, the medic’s lips ticking at the edges with his continued struggle.

  “Not infected. But you may have broken your hand striking the Commander’s chest.”

  Alec winced as she was made aware of the potential break, as though until this moment she hadn’t felt it at all.

  “Wouldn’t be surprised if I busted a knuckle. What are you made of? Rocks?”

  Her sarcasm was no cover for the scent of her pain, and the scanner did indeed indicate she had broken her hand. Kalix appreciated the strength it must have taken to accomplish that from a sitting position.

  “Sinew and bone, just as you are. Only larger.”

  “Put your hand in this, please.” Beric held a pouch of regeneration gel out for Alec and with a skeptical frown she put her hand in it, gasping softly when the warm gel began to do its work.

  “This is what’s going in my sister?” she asked.

  Beric confirmed with a sound, and asked him in Saraz if he wished to have Alec implanted with their language converter. Kalix shook his head, choosing to ignore the disapproval in the medic’s expression.

  Thankfully Alec was lost again in staring at her twin, so did not see his dark look and ask questions.

  Kalix waited beside her while the gel finished its work, pierced again by the sharpness and the hard edge of determination in her gem bright eyes.

  Alec sat up on the table, flexed her hand and looked back to her sister. Her chin lifted bravely, the scent of her grief wafting around her like dying flowers crushed underfoot.

  She stilled the trembling of her lips with steely determination, while the tears that pooled in her eyes made them sparkle even brighter. It would have made her seem even more beautiful if not for the scent of her grieving.

  “If they can’t do anything for my sister within the next twenty four hours, I want your word you’ll let me put her out of her misery.”

  Kalix crossed his arms over his chest and rubbed at his jaw while he tried to think on the best way to tell her, no.

  First, he would never allow her to carry the responsibility of her sister’s death by her own hand. And second, he could not in good conscience allow Alec to end her sister’s life until there was no other option left.

  Kalix did his best to think on what Brennaugh might have said to Alec. The elder male had remarkable skill with words, which at the moment Kalix was clearly lacking.

  “Though I understand why you make this request, I have not the authorization to give you such a promise. I can contact the Asho, our pride ruler and you may make the request of him.

  “You would have to leave the medical bay to do so, as the connection between galaxies can only be made from the command level.”

  Alec li
cked her lips, uncertainty flickering as she looked from him to the quarantine room where the other female lay. But after only a moment of delay, Alec took a deep breath and nodded.

  “As long as they contact you if there’s any change, good or bad.”

  Kalix inclined his head. “Of course. I imagine the rest of your people would also like a reassuring word from you.”

  “After I speak to the person in charge,” she stated stubbornly.

  Beric chuckled from the other side of the table, taking a towel to wipe the remaining gel from Alec’s hand.

  Even though the medic was very careful not to let his bare skin touch hers, Kalix was choking on a snarl.

  “Commander Kalix is in command of this ship. The person in charge, as you say, and his word is law. But for such a grave request, the Asho must make the final decision.”

  “She’s my sister, my responsibility, Alec insisted hotly.

  Neither of them could deny that as truth. But neither had they told her exactly what it meant if her sister died.

  It infuriated Kalix that his beast would not be silent, or understand he was not interested in taking this female as a mate. Not now, not any time soon.

  Deranged, stubborn beast.

  Kalix touched his fingers to his com, Dax’s voice filling his ear as he responded immediately.

  “Prepare the holo-room on the command level for communication to Saraz.”

  “Preparing the holo-room,” Dax confirmed. “Shall I make contact on your behalf?”

  “No. I would speak directly to the Asho.”

  “Yes, Commander. Anything else?”

  Kalix helped Alec off the table, “Alert the warriors guarding the humans. Once the communication is complete, their leader will come to give them an in-depth status update. If asked, the warriors may say the infected female is stable and resting comfortably at this time.”

  “It will be done, Commander.”

  *****

  Though Kalix could scent her exhaustion, Alec kept pace with him in the hall, stepping into the transport with a curious expression but asked no further questions.