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She wanted to rush to Nox and put her arms around him, but the foreboding look on his face made her hesitate. She walked to him instead and he instantly pushed her protectively behind him.
“All right now, keep your word,” Master Lendrex said, frowning at Nox. “Come to the Punishment Room.”
“I do not lie,” Nox growled. He looked down at Seline. “Come—let’s go.”
They left Master Lendrex’s office and headed down the hallway to the Punishment Room. But as they walked, Seline’s stomach twisted and her legs trembled. In fact, they felt so weak that she nearly collapsed.
Nox seemed to sense something was wrong with her because he turned and caught her before she could fall. Swinging her into his arms, he cradled her to his broad, bare chest.
“Nox?” She looked up at him—there was a grim expression on his normally impassive face. “Is…is everything all right?”
“No, everything is not all right,” he said tightly. “You have just agreed to let yourself be hurt and I have agreed to let it happen—even though I took an oath to keep you from harm.”
“It’s the only way,” Seline said softly. “Please, Nox—think of all the people back in our own universe! The people on the Mother Ship, all our friends—not to mention my family. My mom and dad—I can’t never see them again! I’d rather endure a little physical pain than the emotional trauma of being separated from my family forever!”
“Emotional trauma,” he muttered, seemingly repeating her words, but his silver eyes flashed as he said them.
“I know it doesn’t matter to you, since you don’t feel anything,” Seline said—though she was definitely beginning to question that fact about him. “But it’s important to me. So please—I need your support on this!”
And she might need more than his support, depending on what kind of punishment she got, she thought grimly.
Nox looked down at her briefly.
“You have my full support, Seline. I just hope you won’t regret me giving it later.”
Seline didn’t know what to say to that. She opened and closed her mouth several times, trying and discarding responses.
But before she could settle on something, Nox was carrying her through the archway of the Punishment Room where her fate would be decided.
TWENTY-NINE
NOX
Nox was filled with emotions as they entered the vast, dim space and none of them were good. He felt concern for the curvy female in his arms, anxiety about getting her safely out of here, and anger at Lendrex for demanding that Seline be punished. But that was nothing to the Rage which had almost overtaken him when he had first walked into the office and seen her caught in the invisible thief-trap.
Rage was a state of berserker-like fury which Kindred warriors went into when a female they loved or cared for was threatened. Well—warriors with emotions, anyway.
Nox had never expected to experience the extreme state of maddening anger. Rage stole a male’s reason and turned him into a killing machine—something that wasn’t called for here—not yet, anyway, he thought to himself. He was big and strong but the Viridians outnumbered him greatly—he couldn’t win such a battle—he could only get himself and Seline killed.
And yet, the cool logical side of him—the Quix side—had barely been able to keep the Blood Kindred half of him from running amok when he saw Seline in apparent danger.
What’s wrong with me? he asked himself. I have seen her in danger before and kept my head. He recalled the time they’d been attacked on Yonnie Six by a band of Cast-offs. Nox had been outnumbered then too, but instead of Rage, a veneer of icy calm had fallen over him. He had killed seven of the males with his bare hands (since bodyslaves were not allowed to carry blasters) and the rest had run.
Seline had been weeping afterwards and Nox had done what he could to comfort her—though he hadn’t really understood the concept of comforting or needing comfort at the time. (It was after this attack that he had begun watching human videos and movies to try and serve her needs better.)
The point was, though—he hadn’t had any emotions and so he had been able to protect her. And now look—the moment emotions started creeping into his life, he was barely able to keep from getting them both killed. Not only that, he had agreed to let Seline be physically hurt in some as-yet unspecified way—a direct violation of his oath!
Just the thought of that—of the soft, curvy female in his arms being punished—brought another wave of emotion with it. A fierce possessiveness and an unwillingness to put her down or see any harm come to her. Nox wanted to shield her—wanted to keep anyone from touching her. He wanted to kill anyone who tried.
And yet, he had agreed to let her be hurt…what in the Seven Hells was wrong with him? And how was he going to control the emotions, which were now rampaging completely unchecked through his system, as he watched her take her punishment?
