Jaron's Promise

by Michelle Howard

  He’d agreed to no such but Rydak spoke. “She’s right. It can’t be you, Jaron. Or any of us. Too risky for the Jutak warriors.”

  “Jutaks protect. Are you saying it is best to have an innocent risk her life for a group of trained soldiers?”

  Rydak cursed, indecision in his gaze and Sasha growled. “Jaron!”

  He ignored her, never looking away from Rydak who answered calmly, “I am saying her injury will make the chance of her getting through difficult.”

  They did difficult all the time. It was why their teams were elite. Sasha shook his arm to get his attention. Jaron looked down and met her glare. “Do you believe in me?”

  His heart dropped to his stomach. The question wasn’t necessary. “Yes.”

  “And I believe in you.” She smiled. “I believe you can escape and come back to rescue me.”

  Catching them both off guard, Rydak ripped off one of his leather gloves. Jaron tensed. “What are you doing?”

  “We are wasting time and you already know she is right. But we need to know if we can trust her the moment our backs are turned.”

  Rydak didn’t volunteer to touch people because his gift came with a backlash of indescribable pain. Jaron didn’t doubt Sasha was exactly who she claimed. “Not necessary.”

  Rydak didn’t relent. “You know it has to be done if we’re relying on her.”

  Sasha dropped Jaron’s arm and hedged back a step. He caught her elbow then turned her own question on her. “Trust me, right?”

  Her abrupt nod was the most he’d get.

  “Do it, Rydak.”

  Before Sasha could move, Rydak’s bare hand clenched on her arm, above where Jaron still held her. Teeth gritted, his fingers pressed hard enough to leave light impressions on her smooth skin. Jaron resisted the instinct to break away the connection. He didn’t like the sight of another man’s hands on Sasha. For her part, his kitten hissed and growled until Rydak released her and stumbled back, swaying.

  Jaron started to grab him, but Rydak took a quick hop, step back. Any touch at this point would trigger his reaction. “No. I’m barely holding it together. She means what she says. She’ll lead them on a chase. Hurry, Jaron.”

  With less than his usual coordination, Rydak raced for the shuttle, shoving his hand back into the glove.

  “Now, Jaron! We don’t have much time.” Sasha yelled, pushing Jaron after Rydak.

  The half-trot sped into a light jog, but his steps dragged with reluctance. Escape was feet away. If they made it. But the thought of leaving Sasha in The Collector’s hands didn’t sit well with him.

  “Go, Jaronoto!” Her claws dug into his back as she used her Argoran strength to lift and toss him in the direction of the other Jutak warriors.

  Jaron cursed as he put on a burst of speed and raced in the direction of the shuttle, shooting in a controlled spray. Sasha sprinted behind him, limping and trailing behind more and more until he knew she’d never keep up. The choice he’d made pierced his soul and delved deep to tear him to pieces.

  “Now!” Sasha snapped and broke away in the other direction.

  The opened door of the shuttle came into view. Bane waited, one arm outstretched. Vee and Khane stood on either side of him, firing at the enemy. Rydak raced up the ramp, hunched over.

  Kirkem’s men shouted and their attention shifted toward Sasha’s fleeing form. Ropey white bands shot in Jaron’s direction circling his torso. Jaron found himself flying through the air to land with a stumble in the open doorway of the shuttle. Bane banged on the rim of the door and shouted, “Go, go, go!”

  Jaron jumped to his feet and turned, grasping the sides of the door, heart pounding as he peered back at the distant ground. Sasha could make it, too. They only had to give her the necessary time. Her vanishing figure grew smaller and smaller in the distance.

  He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t leave her.

  Just as Jaron bent his knees, prepared to do something stupid, a heavy weight slammed him away from the opening. He fought and struggled against his teammates, catching a glimpse of Sasha over a black clad shoulder forcing him away.

  With a swiftness that managed to catch him by surprise, she shifted into her large white cat on the run. Her roar set the hair on his neck on end.

  “We have a fast exit, Jaron. Strap in.” The door slid closed.

  “I’m not leaving without her.” Jaron stood toe to toe with Rydak when he made the declaration. In other circumstances, he wouldn’t have risked going against the Team Three Leader.

  Rydak ripped the mask from his head and ran a hand through the length of his damp blond hair. “We’re not asking you to leave her behind permanently, Jaron. We just need time to plan and regroup.”

  The logic was sound, but Jaron couldn’t be logical about Sasha. Thinking about her with The Collector kept him on the verge of exploding. “If we wait, Dr. Kirkem might get away. He’s slippery and hard to catch.”

  Bane slapped a pressure bandage on V’hor’s shoulder for an injury no one realized he’d received during their perilous escape. The Ceratin’s black eyes met Jaron’s. “While wanted for his crimes, he’s not at the top of the list for Jutak warriors to go after.”

  Jaron glared. “I don’t care a—”

  “Jaron!” Rydak’s voice whipped out.

  Breathing deeply, Jaron turned his back on the men he considered brothers. They’d risked their life for him. He was free, but how was he supposed to relax knowing he’d left Sasha behind? His throat locked and he jammed his hands through his hair. This felt like the worst betrayal after all they’d been through.

  “Consider the others. We have to get them somewhere to be questioned by authorities and returned to their families.” This from Khane who remained calm and level now they were away while everyone else’s emotions ran hot.

  Jaron faced them. He hadn’t noticed the occupied seats. Minu, Luna and a partially aware Ari were strapped in and slumped over across from him. “I can’t leave.”

  It wasn’t even an option. The very idea almost sent him to his knees. But they were in the air. It was too late.

  “Bane, see if you can find where Dr. Kirkem might go. No ship was left operational and his facility is damaged beyond repair. He’ll hole up somewhere until he can get off planet.”

  “Sure, Rydak.” Bane headed to the front of the shuttle to join the pilot in the cockpit.

  Rydak pointed at Jaron. “Sit down.”

  Wanting to defy the order, Jaron met the warning looks from Vee, Khane and Uri and capitulated. He sat in one of the jump seats and drummed his fingers on the arm. Closing his eyes, he tried to relax. His brethren wouldn’t let him down. They clearly recognized how important this was to him.

  In the background, Rydak murmured to the others. Then his heavy footsteps headed toward Jaron. A firm gloved hand landed on his shoulder. Jaron flicked a glance up.

  “You haven’t said how you are. Is there anything we need to worry about?”

  Tricky question for a variety of reasons. “Dr. Maku will need to give me a full work over. I’m not sure what I was injected with during the time I was held. The Collector seemed focused on recreating Argoran muata at one point.”

  Deep creases furrowed Rydak’s brow. “Muata? The male mating heat for Argorans.”

  Jaron nodded.

  “Did it work? How much do we need to worry about him releasing something like this to the underground market?”

  The underground would love such a drug. Remembering the final test conducted by Dr. Kirkem with the help of the female Marenian brought back Jaron’s anger. He fisted his hands on the top of his legs. “It worked.”

  It didn’t take long for Rydak to understand his meaning. His mouth set in a hard line. “Anything else? Did he discover our secret?”

  Our secret. Not the identity or mission of the Jutak warriors. Rydak spoke of something closer to the heart of Enotians. Descendants of the original five families who settled on Enotian possessed a range of psychic gift
s. In Rydak’s case his gift was sometimes a curse as evident by the black leather gloves he wore at all times.

  “He mentioned strange things showing in my blood work but couldn’t pinpoint why.” Jaron shifted in his seat and leaned forward. “With the lab destroyed, I hope he lost everything.”

  A muscle ticked in Rydak’s jaw. “We’ll make sure of it.”

  Yes, they would. He trusted his Unit. He trusted these men. Dr. Kirkem would pay. Rydak finally stepped away from him and took the seat to his right. More like dropped into the seat, his features growing ashen by the minute. The price for reading Sasha.

  “Thank you by the way. For what you did.” For touching someone when skin to skin contact brought him tremendous pain. Except with his Chosen. Torkel’s sister, Lissi, was the only one who’s touch didn’t affect Rydak.

  Jaron might regret disappointing his family line by not showing any signs of an extraordinary ability but after working side by side with Rydak for years he knew the positive didn’t always outweigh the negative. Although to his knowledge no one else suffered the backlash from using their inborn gifts the way Rydak did.

  Head leaned back against the seat and eyes closed, Rydak asked, “She matters to you?”

  “Yes.” Jaron gave the answer on a heavy exhalation. It was written in vivid color. “Sasha matters.”

  Rydak cracked his lids open and stared. His fellow Team Leader intimidated without saying a word. There was a reason Torkel selected him to lead Team Three, which consisted of some of the most deadly men in the entire Jutak system.

  “You change your mind about having a Chosen in your life?”

  A flash of heat as his face filled with color. Jaron’s original plan had been to avoid having a Chosen for as long as possible. He didn’t want to worry about a female each time he left for a mission or to have his Chosen worried about him.

  Except he’d changed his view. Sasha was indescribable. He faced Rydak’s questioning look. “Yes.”

  “Then we go back to Enotia. Do what needs to be done and we’ll come back and find her.”

  Rydak’s command left no room for argument. Jaron sat and buckled his harness all the while tipping his head back to blink back the disturbing burn of tears.

  Leaving Sasha insured the safety of his teammates. It was the right thing to do. The only option.

  But why did it feel like someone was ripping his heart from his chest as they traveled farther and farther away from the female who owned him?

  Chapter 16

  Sasha wanted to stare at Jaron’s departing ship like a love-sick version of the kitten he called her, but she forced herself to turn on her bruised ankle and shift. She lurched forward despite the agonizing pain from her back leg and headed away from the guards rushing after her. She didn’t hold out hope that she could avoid The Collector’s men for long.

  Dirt spit and splattered around her as they shot at her. Too close for comfort. Were they making an effort to take her back or kill her?

  Didn’t matter. Sasha’s cat took prominence in her thought process and the cat’s thought centered on saving her mate.

  Mate?

  Sasha tripped, but regained her footing. No, no, no, she couldn’t commit to a mating. It was one thing to acknowledge her love for the cocky soldier. A mating was a bond for life to her people. Pushing the worry deep to the back of her mind, Sasha drove herself to fight past her pain and keep moving.

  Despite her injury she stayed ahead, ducking and dodging across the landscape. The unfamiliar territory didn’t slow her down. As long as she gave Jaron and his friends time to get away, nothing else mattered.

  Thoughts submerged beneath one goal. Survival. Sasha would survive. And she’d send Dr. Kirkem’s men on quite a chase.

  It might have worked. Maybe lasted longer than minutes. Then as she attempted to turn a tight corner, her back leg stuttered. Sasha’s front paws flew out from under her and she fell, head over heels. When she stopped tumbling and her heedless flight came to a jolting halt, she was surrounded by armed guards.

  They thought they had her cornered. Sasha struggled to stand, holding her hind leg off the ground. She wouldn’t go down easy. If they wanted her dead, they’d have to work for it. Using her teeth and claws to her advantage, she gutted and killed several foolish enough to storm toward her.

  Then pain burst in her hind leg. Not her ankle, the agony spread higher, her hip, her lower back. One helmeted guard approached tentatively, the weapon lowered toward the ground. Sasha snarled and collapsed only to receive a kick to the chest which left her sprawled on her side, panting.

  “Don’t tempt me to kill you.” He removed his helmet and dropped it with a clatter.

  She shifted and came face to face with Dr. Kirkem. A very, angry Dr. Kirkem Sasha concluded as he peered down at her.

  ***

  Day 1

  “You will tell me everything you know about the Jutak.”

  Chained to the wall, Sasha stared over The Collector’s shoulder, gaze locked on the glass container on a shelf behind him. At least she’d gotten a shower out of the deal. Being clean was the only good thing about being taken again by this mad man and the fact he’d healed her ankle.

  As an Argoran she would have healed eventually, but the severity of her wounds would have slowed the process down.

  “Tell me, Argoran!” The Collector screamed.

  The vastly intelligent, well-mannered doctor vanished. In his place stood a man who’d lost his reason and any pretense. Sasha held her silence. His smacks to her face received the same lack of response. Not by a flinch did she reveal how much it hurt. She only wished she had the energy to combat the sense of despair trying to take over.

  She’d wanted so badly to be away from here. The stench of drugs and chemicals nagged at her senses.

  Knowing Jaron escaped with his friends was a highlight to cling to. All she wanted now was the temporary peace of passing out. Unfortunately, Dr. Kirkem had used one of his custom created drugs and Sasha found herself stuck between wakefulness and dazed confusion.

  “What good are you to me!” He frothed at the mouth and smashed a row of containers. The Marenian assistant, Targa, backed into a corner out of range. The other guard stayed at the door hands clenching in uncertainty. They were the only two she saw though she heard more patrolling outside. Too bad more of his forces hadn’t been decimated in the attack.

  The Collector was hiding in this small two room cabin with an underground cellar. In the second room, a length of chain was mounted to one wall with a cuff attached to the other end. She spent her time there when he wasn’t sticking chemical filled injectors in her.

  Dr. Kirkem faced her. “Why would you help him? Did you know one another from your work?”

  A Jutak warrior and a Bounty Retriever. Sasha’s lips curved up. Too funny. Her work sometimes bordered on illegal. It wouldn’t do for her to blip on the radar of the Jutak warriors. At least not in the past. Now she had a reason to uncover any available information about the elite military force.

  “Is it funny to you?” He grabbed the ends of her hair and forced her neck back. Their gazes slammed together. “All of my current subjects are missing.”

  Sasha hoped Jaron took Ari, Luna and Minu beyond Dr. Kirkem’s reach and that they never ended up back here.

  “That leaves you to test my final creation.” He laughed at her flinch. “Your Jutak couldn’t control his reaction. Let’s see how you do.”

  Sasha licked her lips and shook her head, dislodging his touch. Nothing he did would frighten her. “None of this will mean anything after you’re dead.”

  More anger as his sun brown skin tightened over the planes of his face. He leaned in close, the corners of his eyes creasing as he sneered, and withdrew an injector from the pocket of his lab coat. “We’ll see how you feel once I’ve given you a taste.”

  He plunged his latest formula into her arm without preamble. Whatever was in the cocktail bubbled and hit her system like a rocket
launcher. Sasha grew dizzy and violently ill. She faced his wavering image and warned. “I’m going to hurl if you don’t stand back.”

  Dr. Kirkem hopped back in time much to her regret. Her head tipped down after she finished emptying her stomach, the buzz left behind causing her eyes to water.

  “Why! It worked on him. I need to fix it. Fix it,” he muttered. “Take her away.”

  Though hesitant to get near, the two Marenians undid the locks and helped her down. One grabbed a towel and wiped off her face and mouth. They led her out of the makeshift lab and into the second room.

  They snapped the end of the chain about her ankle. Sasha sagged along the wall until they left. She straightened and spent considerable time trying to damage the lock, but her claws only scratched at the surface.

  She kicked at the stone wall then slumped back against it with a sigh. At least they were still planet side which meant Jaron might find her. If he came back. The thought brought her up short. What if he didn’t come back? He was with his Jutaks. Back in his safe world and fighting crime on behalf of Enotia.

  Doubt flickered. She only had herself to count on. Believing someone else cared enough to make sure she was fine set one up for disappointment. Except…Sasha stared at the rough planks of the ceiling in here. Jaron had earned her trust. He trusted her with his identity and details about his family and friends. He trusted her with his real name. Her hands clenched and unclenched at her side. Trust. It all came down to that one word.

  “I trust him.” Saying it aloud sent a chill down her spine, but Sasha squashed the feeling.

  Jaron knew how she felt about betrayal. He wouldn’t let her down. He would come back for her. She had to believe that or her heart would disintegrate.

  ***

  Day 3

  “Let’s go.”

  Sasha followed the guard reluctantly. She contemplated overpowering him but wasn’t sure where to run. And she had to hold out hope Jaron would come for her.

  “Why does Dr. Kirkem want me?”