Avenging Enjel (2 page)

Her arm lifted, and he curled her fingers around his. He stayed with her through the night, after her suit blew the vents open to keep her alive. It was all night to her.

Alexia focussed on the hand holding hers. She couldn’t feel his skin, but the resistance against the metal gauntlet was confirmation that it was actually there.

The bed she was on shuddered, and then she could feel movement, and there was a change in the flavour of the air coming in through her vents. It tasted like green and flowers, two things she had not smelled or touched in four years.

As part of the second wave of Terrans, Alexia had been delighted to be selected for the exclusive Negotiator Corps. Being assigned to the Nyal Imperium was exotic and dangerous. She had revelled in her status and enjoyed every new race she had dealt with until the Drafu. She had rejected their pathetic requests for a wide authorization and unlimited transport corridor access, and now, she was being wheeled into a med facility on a strange world while someone not trained for it was going to crack her out of her suit. It had to be a Monday.

The suit removal had been relatively easy. The implants fought them, and since Alexia had to be awake, she experienced every twinge and tug of the nervous medical team.

Lying on her stomach, she saw white feathers bracketing a pair of legs in snug black boots. It was all she could see, and she was a little embarrassed that he was seeing her pale grey-white skin and naked butt. It was not the first impression she wanted to make on her first Enjel.

“Good afternoon, Negotiator. I am Patches, and I will be your healer today.” A new set of feet entered her field of vision.

“Hello, Patches. I am guessing that I have been fired from my status as Negotiator, so the formality is not necessary. Please call me Alexia or Lexi.”

“Alexia, I am an ice healer, so this will drop your body temperature. Winger is standing by to help you through the hypothermia. Are you ready?”

“I am ready.”

She clutched the medical bed as two icy hands stroked down her spine. She felt her body tense, and her nipples tightened while her body broke out in goose bumps.

He stroked all of her skin, not only her implant sites. When he eased her over, her blush fought the chill. She blinked at the bright lights overhead while Patches stroked her from temples to ankle.

“I have removed the dead and scorched skin caused by the electrical exposure. Winger will share his body heat, and if you require more assistance, we will call in a medical team.”

Alexia was mortified as the Enjel came into her field of vision. He was lovely, half-naked and climbing into bed with her. A little bit of grunting and shifting later and she was wrapped in the embrace of his wings and arms. It was like curling up with a bear and an eagle at the same time.

She shivered against his chest and tried to ignore the slow stroke of his hands over her back and hips. “Thank you for this.”

“It is my pleasure.” His voice was amused.

She looked up, and he was smiling down at her. His face was framed by inky black hair, and his eyes were a vivid blue with gold irises.

She shivered again, and he held her closer. She didn’t want to tell him that it was because of the look in his eyes. She had a feeling he knew.

“How long do we have to do this?” She mumbled it against his chest.

“As long as it takes. I am willing to hold you all day, but you can’t fall asleep. It is one of Patches’s rules.”

She blinked. She wasn’t even allowed that escape from embarrassment.
Damn
. “Well, do you come here often?”

He laughed and answered seriously. “No. We are usually at our base. With Patches around, we get most of our healing needs taken care of at home.”

“Well, that is convenient.”

“It really is. Answer me this. Are you naturally bald?”

She blushed and pressed her forehead against his chest. “No. It is an occupational marker. I am assured that it will grow back. They just never say when.”

“Do you remember what colour it was?”

Lexi twisted her lips. “Do I still have eyebrows?”

“Not really.”

“Whatever colour they are, my hair is two shades lighter. They did mention a chance of my losing my pigment though.”

“So…white?”

“Or clear. I won’t know until I grow it out. Is there a groomer with a regenerator on Whiccin?”

He laughed. “I will ask around. How are you feeling?”

“Warmer. I think you can probably go now.”

“I don’t think so. Your nipples are hard as diamond and your lips are still blue.”

“It could be a natural blue.”

He laughed. “You remind me of someone I used to know. She had an answer for everything.”

“Do you keep in touch?”

He sighed and held her close. “No. She is a friend that I am better for knowing, but she has to remain in the past. What species are you?”

She blinked at the sudden shift. “Terran. Second wave. We were hauled off the earth and put to work.”

“You are joking.” There was an appalled amusement in his face.

“No. Terran, born and bred, then taken from home and shoved in a can and sent to the imperium.” Lexi smiled.

He spread his fingers across her back. “Did you mind the travel?”

“No, I loved it. I love being in new places and living a new life, even if I was in the armour.” Her body was starting to shiver violently against him.

“Hold onto me. This is going to get worse before it gets better.” His wings closed around her, making a cocoon of warm air highlighted by his own body heat.

Through gritted teeth, she muttered, “The story of my life.”

The waves of hypothermia came and went, leaving her exhausted and limp. Winger slipped away from her and left her in the hands of the regular medical personnel.

She was wrapped in a medical gown, hooked up to IVs and tucked into a bed with a heating unit under it. She wanted to look at the species that was working on her with such care, but her lids were far too heavy.

* * * *

“What are they going to do with her?” Winger sat at the table with the rest of the Whiccin Guardians.

Strike said, “She will be debriefed and returned to the imperium. Now that she is no longer a Negotiator, she is a dangerous asset to leave running around. They will probably assign her to a Nyal noble for safekeeping.”

Winger tensed. “That isn’t right. She hasn’t done anything to deserve that.”

Patches raised one blue brow. “You have just met her. How do you know?”

“She’s a Terran. One of my first and best friends was a Terran. They are a highly empathic species, and she will not survive long if she gets into a Nyal household.”

Strike leaned back, Pulse was amused and Patches was looking at Winger with a smile of understanding.

Patches grinned, showing his white pointed teeth. “I believe a case could be made to keep her on Whiccin, Strike. She is an intelligence asset after all, and she has implants that would help Theory with pinpointing species and plans of attack.”

Winger blinked at Patches and felt gratitude. The healer had an empathy for those around him, and Winger was a welter of confused emotions.

Strike tapped his fingers on the table. “I will send a query to the imperium. I will ask if we can keep her, but…Winger, she is your responsibility. You need to keep track of her, get her training and we will see about setting her up as a dispatcher.”

Winger exhaled in relief.

“On a trial basis, Winger.” Strike narrowed his eyes, his serpentine gaze serious.

“Understood. If she isn’t capable as a dispatcher, I am sure we will be able to work something else out.”

Theory snorted. “I am sure you will. She will trade one owner for another.”

Winger stiffened and turned to the other Guardian. “I am not an owner. I have been a slave, and it is not something that I would inflict on anyone. She is as free as the imperium regulations will let her be as an information asset.”

Theory met his gaze for a moment and then dropped his own, nodding. “I had forgotten, Winger. Apologies.”

Patches snorted. “For a tactician, you don’t have much tact, Theory.”

Theory’s ears folded back and he snarled a little.

Winger rolled his eyes and ignored the healer and the tactician. They were always at odds, but there was no reason for it beyond their temperaments.

Strike nodded. “Winger, I will file a request to add her to our support roster.”

“I didn’t know we had one.” Winger raised his brows.

Strike grimaced and headed to the com centre. “We do now.”

Winger grinned and went to make his own call to the imperial palace. The Imperial Consort had a lot of pull, and she might just give Lexi the chance she needed. Since they were from the same planet, it might be the ticket to getting Lexi a stable position.

Something about Lexi’s fatalistic acceptance of whatever happened next made Winger want to prod her into fighting. He needed her to fight for herself. In those hours in the shuttle with her holding his hand and unable to feel him, her survival had become very important to him.

He flexed his wings and started entering the imperial codes reserved for the Guardians. Now, it was a waiting game until the call was returned.

* * * *

Lexi flexed her hands and looked out the window of the medical centre. She was waiting for someone to come and debrief her, but no one had shown up yet. Maybe today was the day.

“You shouldn’t be out of bed, Madam Under.” Her health attendant, Minya, was persistent as she brought in a meal tray.

“I can’t stay there any longer, Minya. I should have been debriefed the moment I was awake.”

Minya nodded and arranged covers of the food to one side. “They were here, but as the physicians stated that you were not well enough for visitors, Guardian Winger has kept them at bay.”

That brought her around. “He’s here?”

“Yes, madam. He has been guarding the lobby and signing autographs for the last three days.”

Lexi ran her hand along her skull, noting the light fuzz that was growing in. “I need to get out of here. If I have to be interrogated, so be it.”

She heard his wings before she saw his face.

“That will not be necessary, Lexi. May I introduce the Nyal Imperial Consort, Hydrangea Graham Renix.”

A woman entered, and she smiled at Lexi. “You were correct, Winger. She is one of mine. Hello, Alexia Under.”

They had met before, but now, there was no armour in between. Lexi bowed. “Consort, I am honoured by your visit.”

“Do not stand on formality. Call me Hydra, and I will address you as Lexi, all right?”

“Thank you, Hydra. I am not up to much formality today.” She gestured to her wrapped robe.

“Have a seat, Lexi. I have a recorder on, so I am going to be the person to debrief you.”

Minya was staring with her eyes wide open.

Winger gently removed Minya from the patient room and closed the door.

The small table with two chairs suddenly became the interrogation room, but someone that cheerful had never queried Lexi.

“All right, Lexi. Tell me how you came to be here.” Hydra put her hand on the table, palm up.

Lexi sat and slid her right hand into Hydra’s left. “I was standing in the courthouse on Akari station, waiting for my ride. It was full exposure and the sun was bright. I heard a noise behind me, and I turned, but pain ripped through me and everything went black.”

Hydra’s voice was soothing, and it came through the memory of the pain. “Continue. What happened when you woke up?”

“There was more pain but not enough to make me pass out. They had connected some kind of electrodes to the joints of my suit, and whatever they were using cut through the insulation. I felt the burn, I screamed, and then, the voice came and told me that it would all end if I signed the treaty. I declined his kind offer, and then, there was more pain.”

Hydra’s hand was strong and her voice was calm. “How long were you there?”

“My suit told me it was a week. Then, there was the pulse, the sound of thunder and everything went dark. I tried to move in my suit, but it is heavy and it took some doing.”

“You walked in an inactive suit?”

“I felt my way along. The cell wasn’t that big and the door was open. I moved one foot and then the other until I heard a strange flapping noise and felt the press of air on the suit.”

“What was it?”

“I will have to guess that it was Winger. I do know that he held my hand during the flight to Whiccin and helped me through my hypothermia after Patches healed me.”

Hydra cocked her head, and Lexi looked at her fully for the first time.

She was wearing enough jewellery to buy an entire star system. Her headpiece had a gemstone as large as one of her irises and the precise colour of her eyes. Her gown was elaborate, fitted and showed as much in silhouette as it concealed in opacity.

It was her footwear that made Lexi feel at ease. Suede boots in the same deep green as her gown were visible. Any woman who wore boots with an evening gown had a sense of humour.

“What do you want to do now, Lexi?”

Lexi blinked. “I am a security risk. I thought I would be dumped in the secure wing of Janial and left to rot.”

Hydra laughed. “Let’s consider that plan B. I am here to offer you the opportunity to be in the custody of the Guardians of Whiccin. You can file for whatever body modifications you like. The facility that you are in is equipped to offer you the standard modifications of strength or increased intelligence. If you have any psychic potential, they can stimulate it.”

“Have you had any work done?”

The Imperial Consort laughed. If she was First Wave Volunteer, then she had to be forty or fifty, but she didn’t look a day above thirty. The smile made her look younger still.

“No. My husband is not a fan of the idea. He thinks I am far too intuitive as it is.” Hydra winked.

Lexi sat back and rubbed the implants in her skull. “I think I will go for the psychic testing if it won’t interfere with my implants.”

“You want to keep them?”