“You should be thankful I’ve chosen to keep you anyway,” Kinnip told her, finally loosening his grip and returning to the soft caresses. “My sweet, stupid, weak little Gurruulat.”
She didn’t flinch from the words, but they still hurt. She really was a stupid Gurruulat, whatever that was. Even knowing it was dumb, the microscopic sliver of her that was attached to her tormentor wept at his callousness.
He stepped away and looked her over. “The thief bit you, probably in a pathetic attempt to mimic lifebonding…but he didn’t leave a mark. Only his foul scent.”
Not true—Tugarth had left love bites, which the Medbed had probably cleared up in seconds, but Dee pushed thoughts of that aside. Getting turned on by a memory of her Bonded would not end well for her if the Pirates caught a whiff.
One of Kinnip’s fingertips trailed down her jaw, which throbbed from his earlier grip; She winced but otherwise held still as his roving touch searched her body for Tugarth’s bite. Why it was important, she had no idea. She assumed he was putting on a show for the other Pirates. The ruse about Tugarth making a ‘pathetic bid’ at lifebonding was obviously acting, since the Medik had spilled that particular can of beans.
She was almost tempted to think he was protecting her by hiding the lifebond, hiding that she was capable of such a connection with one of their kind, but she mentally slapped herself. No. That didn’t even make sense. The smell of her Bonded would be protection enough if any of the others crept close enough to catch a whiff…but they wouldn’t. He kept them afraid.
If she needed another reason to be terrified of Kinnip, the fact that he controlled a fleet of Pirate ships through fear alone was enough to do the trick.
“And since he was a gutless, pathetic Peacekeeper, I bet he didn’t want to risk hurting you while enjoying his stolen goods,” he mocked. The Flight Control erupted in chuckles; it sounded like any remnants of a brothers-in-arms bond between the two factions was officially gone.
Kinnip walked to Brandon and squatted down next to him, examining the bruises. “I obviously don’t mind hurting my stolen goods.” He looked over at Dee with a grin, as if welcoming her to share in the joke.
Her blank stare seemed to annoy him.
The punch to Brandon’s jaw was lightning fast—so quick she almost didn’t see it—but hard enough force to sound like thunder. Dee gasped, horrified, and then screamed when Brandon slumped bonelessly to his side.
Kinnip allowed her to run to her friend’s side and check for a pulse. It was there, steady and strong, though Brandon was unconscious. She sighed in relief. There was a good chance, based on what Kinnip had said, that Brandon was going to die…but hearing it and witnessing it were two different things. Just seeing him beaten was traumatic. After the attack on Paradise, he’d become her leader. Every Paradin admired him. Beyond that, however, was hivemind.
There was no deceit in hivemind. No subterfuge. Every one of the survivors had known the other before the virus, before the Pirates, but after the creation of hivemind…well, they weren’t just people who’d lived in the same colony. They were a family.
“If you beg me for his life, I may spare it,” Kinnip commented casually, dragging Dee from her worry and fear. He spoke as if he expected her to understand.
She glanced at him with a frown.
“Come, Gurruulat, did you think he’d be able to completely withstand our torture?”
In point of fact, yes. But obviously Brandon had cracked enough to talk. Begging for mercy would have been enough to clue the Pirates in—they were cruel, not stupid.
Dee was not stupid, either. “You want something else from him.”
Kinnip’s eyes lit up at her words. “You have a lovely voice, my Gurruulat. I’m glad to finally hear it.” He continued to watch her as she knelt next to Brandon. “And you’re right, I do want something…coordinates.”
“To Earth,” she whispered.
“Yes.”
“I don’t know the coordinates,” she told him truthfully. After months in space it wouldn’t be hard for her to figure out if given a star chart, but off the top of her head? No. That kind of information was useless to a tinkerer.
“I figured as much, which is why your friend still lives.” Brandon groaned, emphasizing Kinnip’s control of the situation. “When he wakes up, I’m going to get rid of the stench on you.”
Although she already knew, she asked, “How?”
The on-ship teleporter whirred as someone stepped into Flight Control; everyone glanced over. Lapro the Medik was looking at a tablet—probably a different one than Kinnip had destroyed, because it didn’t appear smooshed—and didn’t seem aware that he’d walked into a tense moment. “Commander?” he called without looking up.
“What, Lapro? I’m busy.” Kinnip sounded exasperated.
“I was going through her scan…” the Abbaleer looked up and seemed to take stock of the situation. His gaze narrowed in on Brandon with a hint of concern. “He needs attention. I can tell from here that you’ve broken his jaw; humans are not as hardy as Pirates, Commander. It’s why so many of the women died.”
Kinnip dropped his head back to stare at the ceiling. “It’s torture, Lapro. It’s supposed to hurt.”
“I’m a Medik, brother. I cannot help but fulfill my calling.”
Brother?
“Why did you come to Flight Control?” Kinnip snapped, seeming to lose patience with his sibling.
“The intercoms still aren’t working.” Lapro shrugged. “Figured you’d want to see this.”
“What?” Kinnip snapped. “Just spit it out.”
“You’d kill me,” Lapro snapped back. “I need to tell you privately.”
That added more tension to the room. Every male was now watching the exchange between brothers, enthralled by the Medik’s gall in contradicting their leader. It would have been fascinating, but Brandon was stirring, and that took precedence in Dee’s book.
“Clear Flight Control!” Kinnip finally ordered. “Someone go check on the engineers working on the coms!”
The room emptied in a hurry, the Pirates rushing to obey their mercurial commander. Dee stayed where she was, trying to hush Brandon so he wouldn’t draw more attention to himself. Unfortunately, he was too out of it to understand.
“Hurry up, Lapro. I need to get back to torturing that one before he’s fully awake.”
The Medik frowned but didn’t say anything. He glanced down at his tablet. “I downloaded her scan on a new tablet and decided to look for clues about her aneurism. She’s young and healthy and it didn’t make sense. What I found…” he gulped. “I didn’t see this before, Kinnip. I wasn’t looking…I mean, I didn’t hide it. It just never occurred to me…”
“Give me the damn thing before you stutter yourself to death,” Kinnip growled. He snatched the tablet and scowled as he started reading. “What am I looking at?”
“A baby.”
Dee gasped. A baby?
Lapro looked over at her in confusion. “She can understand our language?”
Kinnip ignored his brother’s question. “Are you sure?”
“I’m positive,” Lapro said. “It’s small, only days old, which is why I missed it earlier. I want to do another scan—she was badly abused and we need to check the fetus. This is huge, Kinnip. We can rebuild our race!” The Medik looked thrilled by the prospect.
“Yes,” Kinnip agreed. “But we’re not starting with this baby. Take her to medical. Remove the fetus.”
Dee wrapped her arms protectively around her stomach. She’d found out only seconds before, hadn’t had time to process the discovery, but soul-deep horror took hold at the thought of losing her child. “No! Please!”
Kinnip glared at her. “My Gurruulat will not bear another male’s babe.”
“Brother…” Lapro was paler than normal, his skin seeming ashen. “You can’t be serious.”
“Go!” Kinnip shouted. His face was flushed purple with rage. “And take the other huma
n; fix him, too. He can’t die before I get answers. When you’re done, lock both in the medical containment cell until I come for them.”
Kinnip didn’t look at Dee, as if unable to face her—as if he was disgusted. He went to the viewing screen and stared out at the darkness of space. With his hands casually on his hips, he seemed more likely to be pondering philosophy than forced abortion.
Dee swallowed back her protests and got to her feet; her arms stayed wrapped around her stomach, but there was no point in crying and begging. Kinnip didn’t have mercy.
Lapro hauled Brandon up and then over his shoulder. For all that seemed kinder than the other Pirates, he was still an Abbaleer. His muscles bulged impressively but he didn’t so much as grunt at the weight.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do with her,” Kinnip said without turning around, “but until I decide, she’s to remain untouched.”
“I’ll protect her with my life,” Lapro vowed.
***
The walk back to the medical ward was silent. The corridors were no longer filled with gawking males—they’d probably heard of the shift in Kinnip’s mood and had run to hide. They were cowards, all of them.
Especially Kinnip.
Whereas before she didn’t think herself capable of truly hating him, not after their unlikely—and unwanted—bond had been forged amidst a swarm of Paradise’s undead, now hatred was all she felt. He wanted to kill her baby, the perfect little miracle she had created with Tugarth. She’d spit on him after…
Dee sniffled, her hands splayed across her flat abdomen. She couldn’t even think about after.
Lapro turned to see what was wrong, and sympathy flashed across his face when he saw her tears. He didn’t stop to offer comfort, but that was for the best. After all, he’d be the one performing the procedure.
He was a coward, too.
Once they were secured inside an exam room, the Medik put Brandon in a Medbed. He shut the lid and used his tablet to turn it on. Dee sighed in relief; at least her friend would live another day.
Lapro turned to look at her, studying her from across the room. “You understand our language?”
Dee glared. “Well enough to know you’re going to murder my baby.”
“Do all Paradins?” he asked, not rising to the bait.
“All?” she asked. “Didn’t you hear? Brandon and I are the only ones left.” The only other aliens who also knew about Lanie were dead, and the Peacekeeper ship was now hiding the existence of every human on board. They were safe. Even Brandon’s mistake in revealing the bridged language gap wasn’t too worrisome. Brandon would never say anything to put their entire race on the chopping block—and he didn’t know what Dee and Lanie had done to secure their people. They were safe.
All except her baby.
Lapro paled and had to steady himself on the closed lid of the Medbed. He looked suddenly ready to keel over. “You’re lying.”
That was an odd reaction. It wasn’t the first glimpse of emotion that he’d allowed to slip, but his guilt and anxiety hadn’t seemed as poignant as his current grief. As if he was…mourning?
“I would know,” he muttered, closing his eyes. “She’s not dead.”
She? He wanted to know about a specific woman—one of his victims? Dee glared at him. “They’re all dead. Soon, thanks to you barbarians, my entire species will be dead.”
“She’s not dead!” he snarled, letting go of the Medbed and staggering toward her. “Tell the truth!”
Dee opened her mouth to goad him more, but his muscles were swelling and his black veins were pulsing. He was going into bloodlust. She gasped. “You lifebonded!”
That took the wind out of his sails. He turned away, his muscles still larger than they had been moments before. “Maybe,” he admitted.
“You’re acting like you have.”
He turned to her with raised brows. “You lifebonded an Abbaleer?”
She pursed her lips. Tugarth wasn’t something she was willing to discuss; she couldn’t risk revealing information the Pirates didn’t need to get their grimy hands on. “Who did you lifebond with?” she asked, dodging his question.
“She couldn’t speak my language,” he whispered. “At least, I didn’t think she could. I don’t know her name…I called her ri fessio. Feisty One.”
“What did she look like?”
“Beautiful,” he whispered, voice choked. “Is she really dead?”
“Help me escape and I’ll tell you whatever you want to know,” Dee bargained.
Lapro huffed. “Why do you think I brought you here? The pregnancy was the first thing the scan dinged as unusual. I hid it, knowing Kinnip would demand an immediate abortion. I only waited because I knew he would get wound up from performing for his minions. By interrupting and then challenging him I was able to get you and the human male to safety.”
Minions? Performing? What was Lapro talking about? “You don’t talk or act like the other Pirates.”
“Thank you.” He looked at his tablet. “The Medbed needs a few more minutes. Once he’s awake we’ll go to my office…there’s an escape pod. It will fit you and the male.”
“No need,” a familiar voice said from behind them.
Dee whirled, a smile already overtaking her face. “Tugarth!”
Chapter 12
Tugarth scooped her up into his arms. “My love,” he whispered. “My bright Charm.” They stayed twined together for a long moment, enjoying the simple embrace, but separated when Lapro’s tablet pinged.
They watched the Medik raise the lid and check on Brandon, who came awake with a grunt. “What pinched me?”
“The Medbed gathered a blood sample, nothing to worry about.” Lapro helped Brandon to his feet and then gestured to Dee and Tugarth. “You’ve got more important things to focus on.”
“Tugarth?” Brandon asked, rubbing his face wearily. “Are we back on the Peacekeeper ship?”
Dee’s Viking shook his head. “No, but we will be soon. I’ve got a transpo waiting.”
Lapro cleared his throat, looking at Dee. “Is she alive?”
She bit her lip, debating what to tell him. She couldn’t endanger her people…but he hadn’t acted like a dangerous Pirate. And if he was lifebonded to one of the survivors, the situation needed careful handling. “Why did you choose the Pirates?”
The Medik frowned. “I didn’t. I trained with Henta and Tugarth when I was younger, and my brother said my skills were too valuable to leave behind.”
“That makes sense,” Tugarth said. “I always wondered why you’d choose this life when you’d shown yourself to have honor as a youth.”
“Fascinating,” Brandon cut in. “But can we go? Torture is not something I want to repeat.”
“He needs to come with us,” Dee told them. Tugarth and Brandon groaned. “I think he’s lifebonded to a human.”
That caught Brandon’s attention. “What? Who?”
“He doesn’t know her name—we didn’t speak the language until we were already planning the escape. She probably couldn’t tell him.”
“Describe her,” Brandon demanded of Lapro.
The Medik glowered. “Her beauty is unparalleled. White-blonde hair, eyes as dark as my own. She’s tall, slender, and pale as the sands of the moon we abandoned the Peacekeepers to.” His expression hardened and he puffed up again, proving Dee’s point that he was probably lifebonded without knowing it. “And she’s mine.”
“Iris!” Dee and Brandon said together, ignoring his threatening glare and obvious bloodlust.
“Can you leave behind the Pirates—your brother?” Brandon demanded, leveling the Abbaleer with his fiercest Alpha Male stare. It would have been comical if just their sizes were in question, but that didn’t seem to equate; Brandon was a natural leader, one that even an Abbaleer could recognize.
The Medik didn’t hesitate. “Yes, as long as she’s alive, yes.”
“Fine, he can come,” Brandon conceded. “Let’s go.”
***
Getting off the alien’s ship was not as hard as Dee thought it would be. There were no blaring alarms, no violent and bloody battles, and no daring, high-tech stunts. Tugarth walked them down several obscure corridors that housed long-term storage and then opened an emergency hatch. He’d copied the Pirate’s trick!
“We’ll need to address this as a security problem back on our ship,” Brandon muttered.
Dee was silent, her breath caught in anxiety. How had Tugarth pulled this off? Surely someone was going to start shooting at them soon. The baby! If they were discovered…
“Shh, my brave one. We’re fine.” Tugarth brushed a kiss across her forehead and buckled her into a seat. She snuggled down into the blanket Tugarth had found for her in the medical ward, modestly wrapped in its comfort and protection, and let out a shuddery breath. The other men settled in and they took off. Nothing caught fire, no one tried to blow them up, and Brandon leaned his head back like he was going to take a nap!
“How?” she asked. “How is this possible?”
Lapro snorted. “He’s Tugarth,” he said, as if that explained everything.
“Um…and?”
“I’m good at tinkering, my Charm. You know this.” Tugarth shot her a grin. “We’re a well-matched pair.”
“Tinkering?” Lapro sounded appalled. “No, that is like calling Pinu a maintenance worker!”
Tugarth chortled. “Don’t do that.”
“Who’s Pinu?” Brandon asked, not bothering to open his eyes.
“He is a vocalist,” Lapro explained, “though that’s not his official position on the ship. He works maintenance…but he hates it. He sings like nothing you’ve ever imagined. Hearing it will change your life.”
Deegan's Rescue: Survivors of Paradise Book 2 Page 14
