by Sue Mercury
He would show no such mercy.
Threats against Marttiaxoxalians were serious, and his people did not take kindly to attacks. The group of men were responsible for setting fire to at least four Martian Affairs buildings, all of them in Zone 12, which happened to be the zone Leah had once called home.
It especially angered him, knowing that if the resistance group had decided to strike on the night of Leah’s departure from Earth, she might’ve been harmed during the attack. He tightened his grip on the back of the human male he was dragging toward the dungeons.
“Please,” the man said, “Please, don’t hurt me. I’ll tell you everything,” the man whispered, shooting Jav a wide-eyed look of fear.
“Don’t tell these motherfuckers anything!” another captive yelled behind them, and a moment later Jav heard the sound of a bone cracking. The man screamed and started sobbing, his brave words dying in his throat.
In Jav’s experience, human men liked to behave in an arrogant manner during the beginning of their time in the dungeons. They would shout obscenities and refuse to divulge even the smallest detail to the Vash’arr or the palace guards who were questioning them. But apply the right amount of pain and the human males would reveal all.
Marttiaxoxalian males, in contrast, rarely ever broke under the pain of torture. Most warriors of Jav’s kind possessed the self-discipline to endure any agony their enemies inflicted. Jav had no respect for these human males, as he knew they would soon betray their own people by revealing secrets of their illegal resistance group.
Jav dragged his prisoner into a cold, damp cell and shoved him to the floor. The man curled up in the corner, trembling and muttering to himself in his native tongue. He was crying and it sounded as though he might be praying.
King Vaath’s voice echoed in the corridor. “How many?”
“Six taken alive,” came Rem’s familiar voice. Though Rem wasn’t a member of the Vash’arr, he was a formidable warrior and often assisted with Vash’arr operations. He had a talent for understanding the workings of humanmade weaponry, as well as destroying it. During the war against Earth, he’d deactivated a nuclear weapon that would’ve caused utter devastation upon a large force of Marttiaxoxalians, Jav among them.
It was quickly decided that Jav would question his prisoner first. He entered the cell and closed the door behind him, though Prince Vaath and others would be able to witness the interrogation by looking at the screens outside the room.
“Your name,” Jav demanded, coming to stand over the sobbing human male. He crossed his arms and glared down at the man.
When the prisoner took too long to answer, Jav delivered a powerful kick to his ribs. The human fell over, gasping and writhing on the floor. His pained moans filled the cell.
“Your name.”
“Steven.” The man held his hands up as if in surrender. “Please, I-I’ll tell you what you want to know, just don’t tell the others from my group that I was the one to snitch. Maybe we can make a deal, you and I? I give you what you want, and you’ll let me walk out of here with my life.”
The human man called Steven disgusted Jav. What a pathetic, cowardly fool.
“All you can hope for is a quick death.”
“Please, I’ll tell you everything about the resistance on Earth. I-I’ll even tell you about a threat on your soil. A threat to the Martian king.”
Alarm filled Jav, though he was careful not to allow his emotions to show on his face. He always stayed calm but calculating during an interrogation. He would threaten and inflict pain, but he would not start beating a male in a senseless fit of rage.
He crouched down and grabbed the male by the scruff of his neck, digging his fingers deep in the male’s flesh. “Start with the threat to the Martian king.”
Steven’s eyes widened and he nodded with enthusiasm, apparently believing that by asking his next question, Jav was agreeing to show the human male mercy.
“Well, you see, I’ve heard that one of our women—a human female from Earth—has come to your planet as a secret agent. I don’t know her name, honest I don’t, but I’m certain the rumors are true. Heard it from my friend Will who’s friends with a resistance leader.”
“What else do you know about this?” Jav tightened his hold on the man’s neck, until he felt the warmth of blood on his fingers.
“I heard she came from a shipment of mail order brides from Earth. She was supposed to smuggle in a mini-blaster, mate with one of you, and try to get close to the king.”
“A blaster shot won’t do much harm to a Marttiaxoxalian,” Jav said. “Our skin is impervious to your inferior human weaponry. A mini-blaster would not even stun the king for a moment.”
“This one’s been modified with Xieandan technology,” Steven said, a triumphant gleam in his eye. “Apparently it was smuggled in from sector 4384. It was fixed with a cloaking device so it wouldn’t be detected by the Martian guards aboard the spaceship that brought the mail order bride to your planet.”
Fluxx.
“Do you know anything else about this female?” Jav demanded, a chill descending upon him. He suddenly had a very bad feeling. Something awful was about to happen, though he could not specify what it was.
“I heard she was from the same zone as me. Zone 12.”
Chapter 23
Jav watched as Orrsa, a member of his Vash’arr unit, displayed an image of each human female who’d recently arrived from Zone 12 on a set of screens. Jav, along with Orrsa, Rem, and the king, had gathered in a situation room near the dungeons while the other members of the Vash’arr finished interrogating the six human prisoners.
His blood ran cold when he spotted Leah among the females on the screens. He’d known he would see her. She’d been born and raised in Zone 12. The back of his neck prickled, but he cleared his throat and forced himself to focus on the task before him.
“Highlight any females who have criminal records of any kind,” he said.
Disbelief spread through him when Leah’s picture remained on the screens. Fluxx. Was it true? What crimes had she committed? He fought back a growl at the sudden silence that filled the room. The others had noticed Leah’s image on the screens, but they were too polite to mention it.
Perhaps she’d only been arrested for stealing to survive. He thought about her story of the way the women had treated her aboard the spaceship that brought her to Mars. She’d said the other women had likely thought her a pickpocket from the streets. But if this was the case, why hadn’t she told him about her past?
The sharp pang of betrayal echoed in his bones. How could she keep such a secret from him? He had asked her numerous questions about her time on Earth and until now, he’d believed her to be truthful.
“Highlight any females with any known ties to suspected members of the resistance.”
Again, Leah’s picture remained on the screens. In fact, only five females remained. He recognized one of them as Miranda, the human woman Leah had spilled water on in the banquet hall.
Dark suspicions gripped him, and he once more had to force himself to focus. He had a duty to perform, and while the queen was currently safe and under guard in her quarters, and the king was well-protected at the moment as well, it was still vital that they discover the identity of the human female agent who meant to harm King Vaath.
The information system Orrsa had pulled up included all known intelligence on Earth citizens collected by Marttiaxoxalian enforcers since Earth’s surrender. Records from all zones were included.
Jav recalled the excuse Martian Affairs had given him when he’d requested a copy of Leah’s mail order bride application, wondering what he might’ve found had the application been readily available. Had the clerk truly been having technical difficulties, or was something much more sinister going on?
“Let’s examine their individual records, one by one,” Jav said, and to his relief, Orrsa didn’t start with Leah’s records. He wanted to believe she had nothing to do with the current thr
eat against the Marttiaxoxalian Empire, but he couldn’t ignore the fact that she’d been keeping secrets from him. How serious were the crimes she’d committed? Had she spent time in prison?
Just as they began looking at Miranda’s records, Rem’s wrist comm beeped. He looked down at it and growled. “It’s a message from Pettak. He says his mate just confessed to him that she knows of a threat against King Vaath. She has named a human female she claims is an agent sent to assassinate both the king and the queen.” Rem looked at Jav and hesitated, his eyes brimming with apology.
“Say it,” Jav growled. “Tell us the name of the agent.”
“Leah Hartman.”
Chapter 24
Leah looked up from the book she was reading and smiled at the sound of approaching footsteps. Though the hour was late, Jav was home earlier than she’d expected, as he’d recently departed Mars for a mission with the Vash’arr that would take him to Earth. She hadn’t expected him home for another day or two and hoped his early return meant the mission had gone well. Warmth spread through her at the prospect of spending the remainder of the night in his company. She set the book aside, rose to her feet, and faced the entryway.
A gasp left her when Jav appeared, his face like a thundercloud. Her stomach flipped and she took a few steps back. “Jav? What’s wrong?”
Seconds later, four uniformed palace guards appeared behind him. She spotted Rem among them and gazed at him in confusion before returning her eyes to Jav. What was happening? None of these males appeared happy. All of them were staring at her as if she’d just committed a terrible crime.
Oh God. Oh God, no. He knows.
He’d learned of her past crimes on Earth. He’d learned about her incarceration and he knew about her lies. She was certain of it. She could think of no other reasonable explanation for the sudden appearance of her furious looking mate and a small unit of palace guards.
Were they here to take her away? Here to drag her onto a spaceship and send her back to Earth? Send her away from Jav? Her heart broke, knowing she had misled him, knowing she had lied to his face. Her eyes filled with tears and she blinked rapidly, trying desperately to keep her wits about her.
Jav called out an order in his native tongue, speaking to the guards who’d accompanied him. Rem answered him, sounding tense and angry, and Jav spun around and bellowed another order and gestured toward the door. Rem spoke quietly to the other guards, nodded at Jav, and then the four guards departed. Leah had a feeling they were probably waiting outside in the corridor. Apparently Jav wished to speak with her alone before he sent her away.
She lowered her head as he approached, too ashamed to look him in the eye.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I guess you’ve discovered what I’ve done. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you, Jav.”
He grabbed her by her shoulders, his touch gentler than she expected. Hurt reflected in his gaze. He opened his mouth and closed it a few times, as if at a loss for words. After all the kindness he’d shown her, she would never forgive herself for hurting him.
A lone tear trickled down her cheek. To her surprise, he caught it with his thumb.
“Tell me it’s not true, sweet Leah,” he finally said. “Tell me you’re innocent in this.”
“I wanted to tell you, I-I thought about confessing to you about my past many times, but I always froze up and decided against it. I worried you would think I’m a threat to the king or something, since you lived in the palace, so I kept quiet.”
“Of course I would think you’re a threat to the king,” he said slowly, shaking his head. He still appeared lost and hurt and she hated herself even more in this moment. “After all, you came to Mars with orders to assassinate King Vaath and Queen Esmay.”
What?
Her gaze flew up to his. “Assassinate?” she asked, completely bewildered. What in the hell was he talking about?
“Miranda confessed to her mate, a palace guard named Pettak, that you told her you were part of the resistance. She told us you confided in her several days ago while you had a private discussion in an alcove. Our security footage confirmed you were in the alcove with her for quite some time.” He drew in a deep breath, a shudder running through him.
“Wait a second, Jav. None of that is true,” she answered, her mind racing. “Well, I did speak with Miranda in an alcove, but that’s not what we talked about. She was crying and said she’d gotten into an argument with Pettak, so I talked to her for a while and tried to help her. That’s all. I-I’m not planning to hurt anyone. I can’t imagine why she would say such a thing.”
Jav studied her, staring at her for long minutes. She stared back at him, unable to look away. “Do you swear to me you are innocent in this?” His grip on her shoulders tightened, but only a little. He still wasn’t hurting her and she didn’t think he would. But she couldn’t bear the thought of him sending her away. That would be the worst pain imaginable.
“Yes,” she said, lifting her chin. “I mean, at least in this. I had no plans to harm the king or queen or anyone else.”
A look of immense relief filled his dark eyes, though after he blinked twice, he once again appeared angry and suspicious. A shiver ran through her.
“Then what were you referring to earlier when you said you thought I’d believe you were a threat to the king? What did you think I was talking about when I first started questioning you? Don’t you dare lie to me,” he said. “You are my mate, Leah, and I expect the truth. The full truth with nothing held back.”
She swallowed hard. What choice did she have? She had to confess, she had to tell him about her conviction and her time in prison. How would he feel about her when he learned the terms of her early release? That she’d agreed to become his mate only in order to secure her freedom? Her heart fell to the floor.
“When I was eighteen, I served as a lookout while my boyfriend and his friends broke into a Martian Affairs building in Zone 12,” she began, as a deep sadness gripped her. Soon he would know her secrets. Soon he would send her away. “They’d heard the building contained a shipment of galactic credit coins that were bound for Mars. They didn’t find any galactic credits, but they stole some pricey equipment from the building, and then they set fire to it. I was tracked down and arrested by Martian enforcers two days later.” She shuddered, recalling her terror at being chased through the park where she’d been hiding, certain the enforcers would kill her on the spot once they caught her.
“Tell me what happened next,” Jav said in an encouraging tone. She didn’t understand how he could look so angry, yet touch her with such gentleness and not scream at her while he questioned her.
“Steven, my boyfriend, was also captured, along with all his friends. Even though I only served as a lookout, I was convicted of robbery and arson and sentenced to twenty-five years in prison. A guard once told me that Steven was sentenced to death.”
Jav’s eyes widened. “Steven?” He released his hold on her and backed away, then pressed on his wrist comm. A second later, an image of Steven, though looking noticeably older than when she’d last seen him, appeared in the air as a three-dimensional hologram. “Is this the human named Steven you are talking about?”
Leah felt faint. “Yes, but I-I thought he was dead.”
“Our investigation has revealed he was wanted by Martian authorities. He escaped from prison after his sentencing and before his punishment could be carried out.”
“Oh my God.” Panic gripped Leah. “Why do you have a picture of him?”
“He’s in the dungeons.”
Chapter 25
Jav stared at Leah, processing her responses to his questions. If she was telling the truth, which he prayed to the Gods she was, that still left him with the difficulty of proving her innocence. He’d hurried to find her without taking the time to read over her records first, but he’d asked Orrsa to transmit all information pertaining to Leah directly to his wrist comm, including her mail order bride application.
“
Why is Steven in the dungeons?” she asked.
“He’s part of a resistance group that is challenging Martian rule on Earth. He has attacked several Martian Affairs buildings and caused the death of three human females who were inside those buildings at the time.”
“And you were sent to Earth to find him?”
“My unit of Vash’arr warriors was sent to locate as many members of the resistance as we could round up within Zone 12, where the Martian Affairs buildings have been set ablaze. We killed dozens of human males and took six resistance members alive. Steven was among them.”
“That’s terrible,” she said. “I mean, what he did was terrible. Not what you did. You were right to capture them. Those poor women.” She moved several steps back and sank onto a sofa, her hands shaking at her sides. She appeared as though she were in shock.
He longed to go to her side, but he needed to verify she hadn’t lied to him just now. He hated that he must check, but he had no choice. After erasing the image of Steven, he pulled up the information Orrsa had sent and began to study it, praying he didn’t find any inconsistencies in Leah’s story.
Though his heart remained heavy, hope filled him when he didn’t find anything to suggest she had told him further lies.
Jav went to Leah, sat next to her and grasped her chin, bringing her gaze to his. “Miranda knew you came from the prison,” he said. “Didn’t she? That is why the women aboard the spaceship didn’t talk to you, and that is what she’d been preparing to say to you in the banquet hall before you caused a distraction by spilling the water pitcher.”
“Yes.” Her bottom lip quivered. “I am sorry for lying to you, Jav. I-I didn’t want you to know about my past. I was so ashamed and I wanted a second chance so badly. Please understand.”
