Kept From the Deep: Venora Mates Book Two

by Octavia Kore

  She twisted out of his arms, hitting the ground and racing over to Nuzal’s body, not even stopping to see whether or not the shots hit their mark. With a ragged gasp, Jun dropped to her knees beside him, hands shaking as she tried to pull herself together enough to assess the damage. It was extensive. The plates covering his abdomen had been shattered, and some of the larger shards had turned in, piercing the softer flesh it was meant to protect beneath it.

  Dark blood ran from the wounds the creature had inflicted, spilling over his sides and onto the ground she kneeled on. There was blood at the corners of his lips, and all six of his eyes turned to focus on her. He tried to speak, but nothing more than a terrifying gurgle reached her ears.

  No, no, no!

  “Stay with me,” she pleaded, brushing her hands over his chest. “Please stay with us, Nuzal.” His hand shifted across the ground to grasp her leg, and she turned back to inspect his body, placing her palms on the broken plate.

  She hadn’t thought to bring the gel from the medbay, but even if she had, Jun doubted it would do anything for wounds this severe. Although the shards had done a lot of damage, it was the creature’s claws that had torn him open. The punctures were deep, and she lacked even the basic knowledge of Grutex anatomy that might enable her to figure out what internal damage these had caused.

  There had been times over the years when they’d lost patients where Jun felt helpless, but this time, it broke her heart in a way that she knew she would never recover from. Tears spilled from her eyes as she watched him struggle to breathe, and all of those buried memories of watching her papa lying in the hospital bed, weak, and in pain came rushing back. She’d felt just as useless then as she did at that moment.

  He was her mate. He couldn’t die.

  “I won’t let you go,” she whispered as the heat in her palms intensified.

  It felt as if it were being pulled through her from somewhere deep within, like a well being sucked dry. Her muscles tensed, and Jun’s head fell back as her mouth dropped open. The broken pieces of Nuzal’s exoskeleton began to move beneath her outstretched fingers, shifting and sliding as warm fluid flowed over her hands and beneath her palms.

  Nuzal gasped just as a coolness, starting at her fingertips, began to spread through her body, numbing her limbs. What’s happening? She wondered as her body began to list to the side. What’s wrong with me? Strong arms caught her before she hit the ground, and the most beautiful blue light filled her vision. Brin.

  “What did you do, Shayfia?”

  She’d never heard such fear in his voice. It made her want to reach out and touch his face, to reassure him that everything was going to be okay, but she couldn’t seem to move her arms. Heavy lids closed over her eyes, and she struggled to open them.

  “She healed me,” came Nuzal’s stunned response.

  Chapter 29

  Brin

  “Healed you?” Jun’s voice was barely above a whisper.

  Darkness had settled beneath her eyes, and she didn’t even seem to notice when Nuzal slid her head into his lap, brushing his fingers over her hair. Brin didn’t bother trying to suppress his emotions as his fushori pulsed with his fear and anxiety.

  “How did she do that?”

  “They must have started the awakening process.” Nuzal’s mouth turned down as he frowned. “I didn’t think they would have attempted it so soon after her surgery.”

  “Is that what happened with the others?” Brin asked.

  “Roman and Xavier are examples of completed awakenings. They both have physical characteristics, but it takes time. If we were to rush the process, the humans would die. Erusha has almost perfected it, starting off by injecting a serum to trigger the dormant DNA.”

  “What dormant DNA are we talking about?”

  “The recent conflict on Earth isn’t the first time the Grutex have been to the planet. Generations ago, our scientist experimented with the idea of placing alien DNA into human test subjects. The original purpose seems muddled now, but from what I can recall, there was an interest in seeing how the DNA would mutate in future offspring, if it would stay within the line, or be bred out.” Nuzal glanced down at Jun before focusing on Brin. “All of the humans who were in the cells, including Jun, are hybrids.”

  “So the DNA lays dormant until this awakening, which Jun apparently went through, but there are no physical features to indicate she’s anything other than human.” She looked the same to him as she had on the day they’d met.

  “They couldn’t have finished. The process is often difficult on the human body and requires medical care. Like I said, they start with a serum––”

  “The purple stuff,” Jun murmured, burrowing her face into Nuzal’s hard thigh. “In my IV.”

  “How many times?” Nuzal slid a finger beneath her chin, turning her face so that he could see her. “Can you remember how many times was it given to you?”

  Her face scrunched as she thought. “Twice, I think?”

  “Vodk was trying to move into the Kaia’s good graces. It doesn’t surprise me that he would attempt to speed up the process. We hadn’t reached the level of speed and ease the Kaia wanted. I don’t know what he has planned, but if they perfect this process, if they somehow find a way to streamline it so that they don’t have to do it manually, I imagine Earth’s inhabitants are going to be in for a shock.”

  How many human-hybrids were there on Earth? Assuming this dormant DNA had been passed down successfully through each generation, Brin imagined it could mean a decent amount of the population were not as human as they believed. “That’s what the lifeblood draw was for?”

  Nuzal nodded. “I viewed her results just before finding her in pain inside your cell.” He frowned as if the memory of that day had left its mark. Brin knew he still thought about her cries and the terror he’d felt as Nuzal carried her down the hall. “When the original experiments took place, the scientists didn’t use just one species per subject. They injected a combination of species with similar traits and hoped something would take. In Jun’s case, we found the markers for three different aquatic species in her DNA: Gri’ku, Ihod, and Venium.”

  “She’s Venium?”

  “According to the tests.”

  Was this why they were compatible enough to mate? The Venium had never mated outside of their species, yet he and Oshen had both found their mates on Earth. If Amanda was also tested, would they find traces of Venium DNA within her lifeblood as well?

  “The Ihod,” Brin said, taking her cold hand in his and running his thumb over her delicate fingers. “A few of the clans there are known for their healers. Whoever the Grutex took the DNA from must have been one of their members.”

  “It’s possible.”

  “If they hadn’t finished the process, then how is it that she was able to use this ability to heal you?”

  “In the lab, physical pain was found to trigger many of the transformations.”

  Jun hadn’t been in physical pain, though, at least not that he’d noticed. “She was worried about you.” Her eyes were closed, and her breathing had evened out. She looked more peaceful and at rest now than she had in weeks. “She heard the weapon discharge and tried to convince me to leave her so I could get to you faster.”

  Nuzal said nothing as he stared down at their mate, the fingers on one hand trailing over the shell of her ear while his other hand ran over the network of scars that now marred his torso.

  “We should take her back to the vessel where she can rest more comfortably,” the male said, looking up at the darkening sky.

  “The two of you need to rest.” Nuzal gazed up at Brin as he stood, repositioning Jun so that she was curled up in the male’s lap, her hands tucked beneath her cheek as she sighed in her sleep. “The sun has already fallen, and I don’t want to risk moving either one of you after what just happened.”

  “I’ll be fine…” Nuzal began to argue, but Brin shot him a look that he hoped conveyed how serious he was.

&
nbsp; “You’ll rest. That’s the end of it. We can head back as soon as the sun begins to rise.”

  He knew Nuzal wanted to challenge the decision, but an intense silence, he simply slid himself and Jun across the ground, propping himself up against one of the trees. With the way his mind and body were buzzing, Brin was grateful for the quiet and stillness of the night. The pheromones Nuzal gave off and Jun’s scent swirled around him, creating a tempting concoction that invaded his senses and made it difficult to think clearly. His body was being sent into overdrive, producing its own heady mix of pheromones he worried might affect their Grutex mate.

  Their Grutex mate.

  Brin had spent his entire time on this planet working to avoid being caught alone with the two of them. Not since the day they’d explored the ship together had he allowed that to happen again for this exact reason. He knew they needed to rest, to recover after the trauma they’d been through, but all he could think of was crawling across the ground to them, of sliding his hands over his little Shayfia’s legs and parting them so that he could bury his face between her thighs.

  He could have lost them today; more than once. They’d been through the attack during the foraging, and just now, they’d come so close to losing Nuzal that it made his chest clench with the lingering anxiety. And Jun, he could have lost her to her ability. She wasn’t Ihod and didn’t know how to use the gifts that had been passed down to her, didn’t know that she could hurt herself while trying to save someone else.

  Leaves and small rocks rustled beneath his suit-covered feet as he moved around one of the trees, listening for any sign that the creature might return to finish what it had started. He stood guard over his mates, and while he attempted to keep his distance, Brin found himself moving closer to their sleeping forms, drawing in their scent.

  His kokoras throbbed painfully within its sheath, trying its best to breach the seam. With a pained moan, Brin let himself fall back against the trunk of a tree, keeping his mates in his line of sight for peace of mind. His hand snaked down to cup the pulsing bulge, and he groaned as his hips jerked up in response to the stimuli. He was at the end of his rope.

  Beads of perspiration slid down his neck as his eyes moved over Nuzal’s face and chest. After he and Caly had faced the fact that they weren’t suited, Brin had found that taking other males on as pleasure mates caused him far less anxiety. There was no fear that this one might be the one, that she might want a family and to have pups of her own. Those males on Venora had been safe, but Nuzal? This male was anything but safe.

  Never in his wildest dreams would he have thought he’d find himself in such a situation. He found himself praying to the goddess, begging her for mercy. The thought of seeking relief, of pleasuring himself while they slept made him feel dirty. The guilt ate at him until he finally stood, legs trembling as he turned away. He needed to put distance between them before he drove himself crazy.

  Jun

  Heat.

  There was so much heat. There was fire in her veins, rushing through her body, burning everything it touched. Flames licked at her flesh, making her moan as they swept over her most sensitive areas. This wasn’t the heat from before, not the heat she’d felt when she healed Nuzal. It was so different.

  Instead of pooling in her palms, this flowed down from her belly, wrapping around her hips, and caressing her thighs. She felt it brush against her clit and smooth over her folds as if it were a physical touch and she writhed beneath it.

  A soft, rumbling growl reached her ears and she forced her eyes to open. It wasn’t quite daylight, but the sky was turning a gorgeous mauve color with oranges and pinks woven into the edges. Her mind struggled to piece together what was going on.

  This looked like Earth, even smelled like it could be, but the trees were strange in color and in form. Whatever she was lying on shifted and she shot up, startled to find herself in Nuzal’s lap, wrapped in his arms.

  We’re in the forest, she remembered now. I healed him. Jun looked down, tracing the scars with unsteady hands. We almost lost him.

  We. Where was Brin?

  “You’re awake, Shayfia.”

  Her head whipped around, following Brin’s voice to a spot just beyond a small gathering of young trees. If it weren’t for the soft glow of his fushori, Jun might not have seen him at all.

  “Brin?”

  The glow of his eyes was far more intense than she had remembered, and it spoke to the fire within her, making her ache.

  A soothing rattle brushed across her senses, and she looked up into the face of her other mate. It was a sound she associated with Nuzal, something comforting that never failed to put her at ease, but even his rattle couldn’t douse the flames.

  “Thank you.”

  Jun closed her eyes as Nuzal’s voice rolled over her. “For what?”

  “For saving my life.” He placed his large hand over hers where it still rested on his scars, his throat working as he closed his eyes. “In all of my lives, no one has ever cared to save me. All of the other times I’ve laid there dying on a battlefield they’ve simply waited for my rebirth, but this time––this time, there would have been no rebirth, no more lives, no more chances.”

  The fact that he’d given up his immortality to come with them hadn’t occurred to her before then. When she’d seen him lying there, his body broken and the life fading from his eyes, Jun had realized that she couldn’t imagine a world in which she had to live without him, just like she could no longer imagine living without Brin.

  Make them yours. Show them.

  It was as if something was taking over her body, instructing her to stand so that she was looking directly into Nuzal’s eyes. Well, one set. She couldn’t look into them all at the same time, so she took her pick and stuck with the lowest, the purple ones he’d referred to as his imperfections.

  “The things they said about me, about the Grutex…” Nuzal shook his head. “Esme is right. Nothing I do will ever be enough. I will never be enough. You should have let me go.”

  The words broke her heart. “I know they might not all be able to forgive you, but I do.” She stepped into him, running her hands over the tentacle-like vines and up to his jaw. Her fingers played along the harsh edge, tracing the angles as she dipped her head. “I accept you just as you are.”

  Jun’s pulse raced as his palm skimmed up her side, and she glanced sideways, catching Brin’s eyes as he stepped out of the shadows. The look he gave her sent a shiver down her spine. Nuzal’s xines curled around her wrists, and she turned back to him, smiling as she pressed her lips against his.

  The adrenaline from the attack had long worn off, but her heart hammered in her chest the same way it had when she heard the weapon fire. They did this to her, Brin and Nuzal. They made feel crazy with need, made her want to lose herself in them and forget that they had very real problems. Back on the ship, she’d made the decision to dive into her feelings, to allow them to take over, and she did the same now with Nuzal, letting the tide of emotions carry her away.

  The three of them had taken too many chances with fate over the last few days, and she wasn’t going to let another day pass before taking what she wanted, what she knew to be hers.

  Nuzal’s lips were surprisingly soft and pliant, not at all hard like the plating that surrounded them. Jun wasn’t sure if it was shock that kept him from responding, or if he just didn’t know what to do, but she brushed her mouth over his again before letting her tongue trace the seam of his lips. A moan slipped from her mouth as his xines began to thrash around, and she wriggled as slick began to coat her thighs inside the suit.

  Her entire body pulsed with need, and the ache between her legs threatened to send her over the edge of reason. She gasped as another set over large hands gripped her jaw, pulling her lips from Nuzal’s. Brin kneeled behind her, his knees pressed into the ground on either side of Nuzal’s long legs. With a low growl, he crushed his lips to hers, his arms wrapping around her torso as he pressed himself agains
t her back.

  Jun felt the warmth of his tail around her leg, twirling up the inside of her thigh. She gasped against Brin’s lips, clutching the xine she held in her hand tightly when she felt the tip of his tail slid between her legs. It pressed into her sensitive flesh and she circled her hips, chasing the pleasure, seeking more. There was nothing and no one out here to stop her from taking what she wanted, what she craved more than anything.

  They belonged together, the three of them. Being there with them felt like the most natural thing imaginable, and she grinned, looking up into Brin’s face as she stroked Nuzal’s jaw. This was her place.

  Run!

  The heat within her exploded at the sound of Nuzal’s rumbling growl. Every single hair on her body stood on end, and before she knew what she was doing, she had jumped out of Brin’s arms.

  Go!

  Nuzal made a grab for her, but she danced out of reach of those long arms. Brin frowned at the behavior, but the way Nuzal’s eyes widened before narrowing on her told her he knew exactly what she was about to do.

  Hurry!

  Before Nuzal could get to his feet, Jun snatched the weapon from the ground and turned, fleeing into the trees. She knew she wouldn’t get far, not with that measly head start she’d given herself, but it was the thrill of the chase and the knowledge that she could give this to Nuzal, could show him in this way that she accepted him as her mate.

  Faster!

  Her blood called out to her, but it wasn’t fear she felt when she heard the heavy footsteps and snarls closing in behind her. It was excitement, and she welcomed the rush of adrenaline that shot through her. She wanted them to catch her, to show her she was theirs, but she didn’t want to make it too easy.

  Jun veered to the right, leaping over rocks and other small debris in her path, thankful again for the suit that protected her feet. She swore she could feel their breath on the back of her neck as she ducked beneath a twisted branch, bursting into the small clearing. Run! Go! Hurry! Faster! The words were a chant, echoing in her mind over and over. Just when she thought she might be winning her little game, a massive arm slipped around her waist, scooping her up. Her feet dangled above the ground as she struggled to free herself.