Tessi really has been through a lot. I’m not sure my life will be much better for her, but at least it won’t be anything she can’t handle.
After the doctor has rolled me onto my stomach and patched up my back, he collects his things and grabs his cart. “Just rest here until that IV is done. Then you can go.”
“You can’t be serious,” Tessi remarks.
The doctor nods. “He’s Mindoran. He’ll heal all of those cuts to scars in three days.”
She gapes at him as he leaves, like there must be something else we can do. “What about pain meds?”
“Don’t need any.” Don’t want any.
It’s bad enough that I have nearly passed out in front of her. The last thing I want to be is drowsy.
Tessi covers me with a sheet from another bed, then scoots a chair up beside me and sits.
“You don’t have to stay,” I tell her. “Go mingle, enjoy the party. Carnas will keep you safe. Anyone in Spec Ops can be trusted. He’ll take care of you.”
She slides her hand around mine. “ABR tells us that you will protect us, keep us safe, fed, and happy. That we will have better lives with you.”
My stomach turns, fearing she doesn’t believe I will after what’s transpired.
Tessi’s thumb glides over the back of my hand. “They did not tell us whatwecould contribute to your lives besides our reproductive capability. I just needed to know that I could be more than that. Otherwise, you could pick any woman, and it wouldn’t matter who they were.
“I need to know thatIam needed. So being here with you, being able to help, this is whatIwanted. Now, you just rest. I had a nap before the race. I will guard.”
Tessi doesn’t know how much it means to me that she stays. No matter what Viriden says, if he pulls me from her protection detail, I will fight my way back. Tessi is a rare find, one I intend to keep.
12: Zorin
After the IV is empty and I’ve washed the blood from my face, I stare into the hospital’s bathroom mirror at the scars that rake across my face. Augmented mixed breeds are unpredictable, but they’ve always stayed close to their motherships. Now the Nebs are kicking them out to do their dirty work. And all of it has something to do with Tessi, with the female my Shifter scent-bonded to.
The scars bother me, not in the way they look but in what they expose about the archaic nature of Luna culture. Scarnis just added injury and insult on top of utter heartbreak when what we needed was to come together as a pack to protect Rhysan and the others who were left without their loved ones.
Scarnis has anger management issues. He never liked us and used his opportunity to cast us out when we had done nothing wrong.
I want to lash out, punch the mirror, and shatter the sink beneath my hands. All it would take is a single brief release of the anger that simmers inside me.
Carnas peeks inside. He lifts a stack of clothes. “They let me into your room to grab some clothes for you, with a guard team watching my every move. But I only found armor with your badge on it. Guess they didn’t get your race suits in yet.”
I thank him, but it’s a struggle to get dressed without messing up the plethora of bandages.
“Badge?” Tessi asks as she helps guide my shirt down my back.
Carnas introduces himself to her. “Your chosen is a Slayer. You would call it an infiltration crew. I’m a Shredder. We’re a bit more smash and thrash. We go in after they do.”
Another Mindoran joins us. He’s taller, doesn’t have the same scars across his face, but he’s got a bite mark on his neck that’s clearly from a Myndrous by it’s wider spread of scars. “Zorin, Carnas…”
“Who, the fuck, are you?” Carnas eyes him up and down like he feels threatened.
“I’m a Haunt. I’ve monitored you on a few missions, both of you. Just wanted to check in, let you know I’m with you. I’m a Spinel. Name’s Spike.” He hooks a thumb over his shoulder. “After the incident, I got in touch with command. Turns out the Myndrous are becoming a real problem back home.
“Isonians just arrived. They’re tracking Nebs’ Umbra dropships. We’re looking at about thirty between our two worlds, Earth and Mindor.”
Tessi leans against me. I don’t care that it hurts. I’m glad she finds comfort in being close to me. “I heard they want young Mindor and females to help populate their empire. Human females, too.”
“That’s what I heard as well,” Spike replies.
“There’s something else,” I say. “But General Viriden is going to meet with us to discuss it. For now, I suggest we stick together, keep our eyes open.”
