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“Of course, I do,” Jaek retorted, as if the Sarenian had stated the obvious—which he had. “He never should have touched my woman.”
“Right…”
The synthetic voice of the ship’s artificial intelligence suddenly resonated through the com system.
“Initiating re-entry sequence. Time to landing, T minus forty-six minutes.”
“I must go,” Deimos said, his voice slightly tense. “Once we land, make sure Nirkon serves them Etil juice with the proper serum.”
“I’ll take care of it as soon as I finish breakfast with Dawn,” Jaek said in an almost taunting fashion, as if daring Deimos to challenge him on that.
The Sarenian scrunched his face as if he’d bitten into something foul but didn’t argue. Jaek knew Deimos needed him, and he was clearly leveraging his power, maybe even testing its limits.
This won’t end well for the Sarenian.
“Just don’t be late,” Deimos grumbled before storming out of the room.
Jaek stared at the door for a few seconds with the oddest expression on his face. His gaze flicked up to the clock on the wall above the door. The hybrid appeared petrified as he continued looking at the clock as the seconds ticked by, then suddenly burst into action.
He rummaged in one of the cupboards on the other side of the room, pulled out some kind of blanket, which he laid on top of Baldur. By the way its white color shifted to orange, I realized he’d placed a heating blanket on him.
What the fuck is he doing?
My entire body tensed when Jaek dug something out of his pocket as he shifted his attention to me. I braced for what would undoubtedly be another nasty electric discharge. To my shock, he brandished a hypospray instead. He pressed it against my neck, his eyes locking with mine. Despite being hard and cold, they were devoid of the hatred I had expected.
My eyes widened in shock when, seconds after he performed the injection, the pain that even my Berserker couldn’t dampen vanished.
“You have four larvae left inside you. I had hoped they would have exited by now, but they do not seem to be in any hurry. You will have to manage with them,” Jaek said in a semi-hushed tone, his voice thick with tension. “In forty minutes, your restraints will automatically unlock. This will be your only chance to escape. In this cupboard, you will find a container labeled biohazard. It actually contains basic clothes for you and Baldur. Sorry, no shoes and no weapons, but there is a map with a layout of the ship. As long as you follow the indications on the map, you shouldn’t run into anyone.”
Nothing could describe the depth of the shock I currently felt. Too many conflicting emotions were battling inside me. Was this a cruel trick to punish me further for “touching his woman”? Had pain addled my mind so much that I was hallucinating Jaek’s change of heart? Could he have been playing Deimos all along, just biding his time until he could free us?
“I am no one’s puppet.”
His words and the conviction with which he had stated them replayed in my mind. Had he tried to tell me then that he was indeed fooling the Sarenians?
“FOCUS!” Jaek hissed in a hushed tone.
I blinked, startled and shamed that I would let my thoughts wander at such a critical moment, and forced myself to refocus on his words. Being in Berserker mode always made it harder to think. As much as I enjoyed the bliss of a near total absence of pain, thanks to my Berserker power now aided with the painkillers Jaek had just injected me, I needed a clear mind not to screw up what would likely be our only chance at surviving this.
I shed my Berserker power, ignoring the pain that resurfaced. At least, whatever Jaek had injected me with still made it five times more tolerable than the excruciating agony that had previously torn me to shreds.
“I’m listening,” I said in a firm, but also hushed tone.
The glimmer of approval in Jaek’s eyes, although brief, convinced me more than anything else he might have done or said that this was real. I had questions, countless of them, but there would hopefully be time later to have them answered.
“The blue path on the map will take you to your men, currently held in the hold. There should be a single Sarenian with them named Kalal,” Jaek continued, glancing nervously at the clock. “I have modified the serum your men were given this morning. By the time you reach them, its effects will have already worn off or soon will. There are only four other Sarenians aboard this detachable segment of the modular ship. The other two modules have at least thirty people, both Guldans and Sarenians. They will destroy this module if you try to flee with it. Free your men, then follow the yellow path to the meeting hall where all the other hybrids will be.”
“Dawn?” I asked.
“I’m going to get her now. She’ll be in the hall with us. We’ll keep her safe.” He looked up at the clock again, his tension cranking up another notch. “I must go. Don’t fail.”
“What’s with the blanket?” I asked as he was moving away from my stretcher.
He glanced at Baldur, who was looking at us in confusion. “It will burn the compulsion serum right out of his system.”
I almost called out to him once more to make him promise he’d keep Dawn safe, but I didn’t need to. Whatever Jaek might be up to, I knew beyond any doubt that he’d give his life for her.
My eyes flicked to the clock to assess how much time we had left before turning back to my captain. Beads of sweat pearled on his forehead from the heated blanket. Despite what had to be highly uncomfortable, Baldur held my gaze with unwavering determination.
