Cold Mark

by Scarlett Dawn

  I sucked in a harsh breath, and quickly tugged my legs up and shoved my body so that I was now sitting. I stared at the floor. At the black tiling. It was safe to look there. Speaking their language, I stated slowly, "I won't answer any of your questions." Though, I did find it interesting that my Vaq were beating down the borderline to get in. Did that mean they actually couldn't pass without allowed entry? I had thought they had just given up on me, had gone back to Belvar to live happily together.

  No one spoke for an indefinite amount of time.

  The breeze coming in from an open window ruffled my hair, but I stayed gazing at the floor.

  Silent. I could do that.

  Apparently, they could too.

  My legs began to ache, starting to numb from sitting in one place for too long.

  My ass even started to hurt, but I stayed still.

  Eventually, Jax grumbled, "Oh, for fuck's sake." He shoved out of his chair and pushing Stiller's hand away when he tried to yank him back. He landed on his knees right in front of me. I jerked when he placed his hands on my knees, but he only gripped me that much tighter. His gray eyes, no glow, just normal Jax—normal Human—peered up at me from his dipped position while I kept my head down. "Braita, what happened?" He ground his jaw together, speaking through clenched teeth. "Did those Plumas hurt you?"

  Yes. "No."

  "Then what ha—"

  "She's lying," Stiller interrupted.

  Instantly, Jax paused. He continued watching me but asked, "How do you know?"

  Stiller shrugged. "It's in her voice."

  I cursed quietly, then grumbled, "It's not like that. They didn't physically harm me."

  Jax rubbed my knees with his thumbs in a soothing gesture. "Explain."

  My cheeks instantly flamed red, and I peered directly into his eyes. "I'd rather not."

  Jax's dark brows furrowed deeply. He was quiet for a full minute before he shook his head of dark, curly hair. His gray eyes scanned my face repeatedly, not missing anything. His tone was quiet as if he were talking to himself. "I heard that they don't have a Harem, so you wouldn't be jealous of other women." He was too perceptive. And too close to the truth. "What is it then?"

  I sighed heavily, a vision of Jax kissing that woman flittering through my mind. "What happened to you?" My eyes narrowed into a pointed glare. "You aren't a slave anymore, and you're acting more like a Mian than a Human."

  Jax bit his lower lip, peering down at the floor. But when he met my gaze once more, there was defiance in his eyes. A stubborn tilt to his chin. "The leaders of Joyal made those rules when our people first arrived there. On Earth, it was different—as you know well enough from our history lessons. Not much different than the Mian. What I'm doing, who I am, it is human nature." His eyes never wavered from mine. "When I found the other half of my Vaq, I realized this."

  My hands and body went cold as my mind halted of all thoughts, shivers of frigidness keeping my spine straight as Stiller placed his palm on Jax's shoulder and left it there. Stiller even gave a light squeeze of reassurance. This ... was too much.

  "Okay, I've had enough," I argued, rising to my feet. Jax would have landed hard on his ass if Stiller wouldn't have had a hand on him. I quickly stepped over my stunned best friend and jumped through their semi-circle of chairs, and turned a heated eye on all of them. "Release me now. I want the hell out of here." I was dead serious. I couldn't take much more of this. "And whatever you have done to my best friend, I suggest you reverse it now. He never would have acted this way before coming to this damned planet."

  Jax was instantly on his feet, holding his hands up in supplication. "Braita, they've done nothing to me." He shook his head softly as he took a tentative step toward me. "The Plumas here, they told me that you are Soul to the Plumas of the west. In a sense it is the same, me finding my other half. Your Plumas did nothing to you, just as Stiller did nothing to me." His gray eyes were penetrating on mine, pleading me to see his case. "It just is."

  I turned my angry glare on Stiller. "He is my best friend."

  Stiller had the nerve to snort. "He may be your best friend ... but he is mine."

  I snarled. "The hell you say." I charged him. My hands were still bound, but my teeth worked just fine. I could bite right into his neck and rip out his throat if I had to.

  But I slammed into a blur. The fast moving projectile was Pluma Creo.

  He lifted me straight off my feet, holding me flush against his body.

  "Braita!" Jax hollered, still holding his hands up, trying to calm me. "He is mine, too. It works both ways. Stiller's just being an ass right now."

  "Am not," Stiller grunted. He paused, glancing at Jax's scowl. "Okay, maybe a little. Calm down."

  "Argh!" I shouted, wiggling fiercely inside my captor's hold. "Let me down, damn you!"

  "And there she goes talking about 'cows' again," Pluma Creo muttered. He merely tossed me into the air, where I landed bent over his shoulder with my stomach smashed against it. He even whopped me on the ass when I started squirming again. "And she was doing so well there." He paused, clasping a well-muscled arm around the back of my thighs, holding me tightly in place. "Phila, what do you think?"

  Pluma Moir replied in an amused tone, "Our old pet's cage?"

  Pluma Creo chuckled softly. "That could be fun."

  "Wait," Jax growled. "You aren't going to hurt her, are you?"

  Pluma Moir answered vaguely, "Only when she misbehaves."

  I had gulped for oxygen right before my head was thrust under water again. Two strong pairs of hands held me under once more until I was almost depleted of oxygen, then pulled me back up. I sputtered and coughed, and glared as Pluma Creo grabbed for the foaming shampoo and sprayed it all over my head—all over again. It made the fourth time these Plumas had taken it upon themselves to wash my hair in a tub that all three of us were now in. This 'bath' had started with just me in it, when they had tossed me in—with my clothes on—but then I had fought their demands so hard that they had landed in the tub too to keep me contained.

  My wrists no longer bound, I rubbed water from my eyes. I growled, "I can do this myself."

  Both sets of glowing eyes glared.

  I had said this once before ... and almost made it out of the bathtub when they had released me. Their expressions were warranted, I supposed since I had made one of them bleed that time. But this time, I was serious. I lifted my black brows and stated, "I'm being honest. I would rather not drown in this bathtub. If I'm going to die, it should be doing something worthwhile." Not fighting a damned bath because they thought I smelled too bad.

  Ever so gradually, they removed their hands.

  I waved toward the door. "If you two would leave, I can finish this. There are no windows in here. I can't escape." I pulled the edge of my shirt away from wrist so it wasn't suctioned to my skin. "To bath properly, I can't have these on." I shooed again toward the door. "And no matter how ass-backward your planet is, the two of you are not seeing me naked."

  Pluma Creo grunted. "As if we would want to see that."

  I crossed my arms over my chest. Like I hadn't noticed both of them staring at my breasts that were in full view—thanks to my wet shirt. I now knew what those expressions meant after watching the Mian on the streets of Vlymun. It was attraction, the type that led to sexual contact. I had viewed that enough in darkened alleyways to blind me. "Just give me five minutes alone, and I'll be done."

  Pluma Moir raised one brow, and then laughed softly. "Make it twenty, and you have a deal." His nose crinkled as he stepped out of the bathtub. "Your stench is overwhelming, Ms. Valorn."

  Pluma Creo grunted again—this time in agreement—as he jumped out of the bathtub with ease.

  Both left the posh bathroom without another word, shutting the door quietly behind them.

  I could still hear them outside talking in quiet whispers, but at least I had some damned privacy. Standing up, I started tugging my clothes off. With my initial anger ebbed from fin
ding out Jax was now half of a Vaq—my best friend was part of them and he liked it—I called loudly out of pure curiosity, "I thought you were taking me to your pet's cage? Or was that just a lie so Jax wouldn't know where I am?" As I got my shirt over my head, I almost had to hold my breath from the foul stench. They were right. Living in a sewer hadn't done my hygiene any favors.

  Pluma Moir chuckled and asked through the door, "What do you think, Ms. Valorn?"

  I grunted, and almost fell when I tried taking off my boots while standing. I quickly sat on the edge of the tub and thought that through as I yanked them off. My pants came next. When they were discarded with a wet plop on the black tiling, and I had started on my underwear, I grumbled, "You'll keep me close." It was the wise option.

  "Very good," Pluma Creo murmured. It sounded like he ran his knuckles down the door, as if he were choosing his next words carefully. "If we don't kill you, that is."

  I snickered this time, sinking back down into the warm water. "If you were going to kill me, you would have done so by now." I started scrubbing my arms in the wake of their silence. My brows lifted as a thought occurred. "Are you afraid of what my Vaq will do if—"

  "No," Pluma Moir snorted, cutting me off. He paused an extended moment and then asked, "Did they tell you nothing about what being a Soul means?"

  My head teetered in thought. "I know my Vaq can feel me like I can feel them. It's like a pull to be together. I also know that if they die, I will also die." I stopped washing, and my brows puckered. "That's all I know." It wasn't much really, now that I was thinking about it.

  "For all that is holy, they didn't tell her shit," Pluma Creo muttered, but it was still loud enough that I heard. "She's as blind as a damn baby in the dark."

  Interesting. Apparently, their young couldn't see well in the dark. Our books on Joyal had never mentioned that. I asked as calmly as I could, "What else is there to know about a Soul?"

  Pluma Moir hummed softly in contemplation, and then finally deigned to speak. "Once a Soul is found, that person is what holds a Vaq pair together—instead of their bond. The farther away a Soul is, the less a Vaq is unified. If their Soul is too far away, they are no longer able to feel each other's emotions or hear each other's thoughts or easily know where the other person is. It would be akin to having a piece of your mind ripped away. That is how deeply linked a Vaq pair is." He paused, and his next words were soft. "That is how your Vaq feel right now."

  Thank Joyal they couldn't see me. With this new twist of information, my jaw was bobbing up and down but no sound was coming out. I managed to mumble, "Keep going." There had to be more with his pregnant pause.

  He did. There was. "It's not just you who dies if they are killed. If any one of you three is killed, the other two also perish. Instantly."

  I squeaked—which was incredibly embarrassing—but I also scanned the bathroom for the nearest weapon. They had taken my knife while I had been unconscious. I blubbered in complete confusion, "Why haven't you killed me then?" It would be so easy for them to get rid of their enemy just by slitting my throat.

  Pluma Creo sighed. Heavily. "As much as it would be entertaining to do so, Pluma Kreob and Pluma Wazra ... well, they are not so bad as far as individuals of the west go. We know them, know their tactics, the way they run business. We have a long-standing relationship with them. It would be far worse to have them dead."

  I blinked. "Why?"

  With humor lacing his tone, he asked, "They really told you nothing, did they?"

  "Just tell me," I grumbled.

  "Pluma Leo Kreob is the direct ruler. He was born into the line of succession. His father was the Pluma before him." He snorted softly. "Pluma Kreob's younger brother, Emalt Kreob, leaves much to be desired. That young terror ... " He laughed outright. "Well, Pluma Kreob was smart enough to send his senseless brother far, far away from Belvar."

  Pluma Moir muttered softly, "He should have killed him."

  Pluma Creo grunted. "I'm still surprised he didn't."

  I slowly started to wash my toes, my fear diminishing with their honest tones. "What did his brother do that was so bad to send him away?"

  Pluma Moir asked mildly, "Have you seen Pluma Wazra's back?"

  My eyes widened, and I swallowed heavily, a flash of Malik's back forming in my mind. All of the tiny scars. Hundreds of them. Repeatedly sliced ... tortured. My voice came out in a pained wheeze, "Leo's brother did that to him?"

  Pluma Creo grunted. "Our sources tell us that Pluma Wazra was the younger Kreob's pet for a time." He paused. "Pluma Kreob didn't meet Pluma Wazra until after his brother had his fun with his other half. They were not linked then." Another grunt. "From what we understand, it was Pluma Wazra who initially stopped Pluma Kreob from killing his younger brother."

  My body warmed as my heart beat heavily. "That sounds like Malik." The thought of how surprised Leo had been when Malik had volunteered to handle the Mian who had groped me during a game came to mind. "He doesn't really like unnecessary violence." Even if he would hand it out if provoked too hard.

  "Exactly," Pluma Creo stated. "That is the exact reason why you are alive. While Mian love to fight, it is embedded in who we are, the east and the west would not be wise to have war. It could possibly end our race should that happen." Down to the crux of the matter. Survival. The one thing Humans, Mian, and Kireg had in common. Survival on our new planets was always number one.

  Done washing, I stepped out of the bath and wrapped a white towel around my body. "What do you plan to do with me then?" Even after hearing all I had, these Plumas being much more forthright, I still didn't want to return to my Vaq. I never wanted to be played with again as they had played with my heart. "Do you plan to give me back to my Vaq?" Holding the towel firmly in place, I opened the door and peered down at their feet. These fierce Plumas were still sopping wet. "I would like to know my fate." To escape it.

  "We haven't decided yet," Pluma Creo drawled evenly. "We've contacted a trusted litigator in regard to the Plumas' requests to come onto our land. Depending on the litigator's schedule, we should hear from the Plumas in a day or two."

  Pluma Moir bent so that he could peer into my lowered gaze. His long white hair hung over his shoulder, and his deep black eyes captured mine. Hooked. I couldn't look away. As my body began to warm under his perusal, and his lush lips tilted up at the corners, he whispered, "We'll see."

  Handcuffed to the footboard of what I presumed to be their bed, I glared. "There will be no sexual contact in this bed while I am in it." Yes, they were definitely keeping me close. "Do you understand me?"

  Pluma Creo laughed outright as he climbed into bed next to his other half, one of them on either side of my legs, both staring down at me. "Ms. Valorn, no matter what you think, it would be an entirely bad idea to have sexual relations with you. Your Vaq ... would not appreciate it."

  I fumed. My Vaq considered me theirs, and Mian were extremely territorial. "I'm not talking about me. I know that. I'm talking about you two." My nose scrunched. "Together."

  Pluma Moir's jaw literally dropped. I had never seen that expression on him before. One of complete shock ... and disgust. "Killeg is my brother!" He shook, his shoulder shuddering with whatever he was thinking. "Ms. Valorn, that is repulsive."

  My stare was blank, not understanding why that was repulsive.

  Pluma Creo turned his laughter into his pillow, holding his face against it. "Oh my." He snorted hard, beating his pillow with a fist as he continued in his hilarity, his entire frame even shaking with it. "Technically, Phila, we are half-brothers ... but that is enough." He started laughing all over again, snorting and sucking oxygen hard.

  Brows beginning to furrow, I asked curiously, "Siblings do not have sexual contact?"

  In unison, they both answered adamantly, "No."

  "Oh." I tilted my chin up. "I didn't know that. Humans don't ... mate ... as your people do."

  Pluma Creo peeked up from his pillow, his crystal blue eyes gleaming. "You
r best friend, Jax, would argue that statement, Ms. Valorn."

  I sniffed. I certainly would not think about Jax doing that. "I meant 'reproduce.'" We had invitro-fertilization for that—no first-siblings that I was aware of. On Joyal, they took great pains to create the best of the best Humans. Not clones of each other. That section of the government was regulated heavily, and followed strict laws.

  "Ah, yes." Pluma Moir's lips slowly lifted into a knowing smile. "We had heard that." He peeked at me from under his white lashes. "Though, we do not mate just to reproduce, Ms. Valorn."

  Huffing and settling under the covers, I muttered under my breath - in English, "Barbarians."

  Dark eyes, so very captivating against his white, long hair, held mine steadily. "That we are."

  "Where the hell are we?" I whispered to my best friend the next evening. We were standing inside a pristine white kitchen while the Plumas and Stiller spoke softly inside the parlor in the next room. "There are no windows here. Are we underground?" The structure we were in was small from what I had been able to see. The Plumas' bedroom, the parlor, kitchen, bathroom, and Jax and Stiller's bedroom. That was it. I hadn't even been able to scope an exit door to this place.

  Jax lips twitched as he made breakfast for the two of us at the most ancient of stoves possible. I was surprised that he even knew how to use it. "Think the opposite of underground."

  My brows lifted high on my forehead. "We're in a hov-craft?" Our people had been trying forever to make living quarters that hovered far from the ground. They hadn't succeeded yet.

  He nodded his dark curly hair in disarray from sleep. Like mine. "It's the Plumas' personal hov-craft. From what Stiller told me, they use it in emergencies. It has a cloaking device so no one can find them."

  I stared. "We're here because of me?"

  "Yes. Most would want to kill you."

  "Because I'm Soul to the other Plumas."

  "Exactly."

  I tapped my fingers on the bar. "If that is true, why would they let Stiller on here?"

  "He's their best friend. And the leader of their military force."