Broken (13 page)

“Slaves
do not speak,” he said. His rage made him oblivious to the battle his soldiers
fought behind him. Blood spattered the walls, and Sky smiled as
Zoen
stepped up behind
Kaxt
. His
breathing device did not detract one iota from the hard beauty of his face. His
skin was a startling black, but she didn’t care. She would know him anywhere,
anytime, in any color configuration. Just behind
Zoen
stood
Jaxt
, also black, his phase blade dripping
blood. His fierce grin gave her strength.

“She
is not a slave, any more than I am,”
Zoen
declared,
eyes shifting from black to gold. Then he stabbed
Kaxt
on both sides of his neck.
Kaxt’s
eyes went wide, and
he released Sky. She dropped lightly to the decking.
Jaxt
pushed past his father, and she grabbed onto his armor, using him to stand up.
He stared at
Kaxt
, but didn’t say a word.
Purplish-black blood dribbled from his father’s neck, but the fury of the old
alien’s expression didn’t lessen.

“How
dare you defile—”
Kaxt
choked on his own blood,
unable to finish. He reached for his phase blade.

Jaxt
gently pushed Sky behind him and pulled down his breather. “Did you expect me
to die in the war, Father?”

The
older alien sputtered, but couldn’t get enough air in his damaged throat to
speak.

Jaxt
continued, ignoring his father’s struggles. “Of course you did. The moment I
declared blood-oath to
Zoen
, you repudiated me, if
only in private.” He spat to the side. “How dare you, he who mutilates
children?” He shook his head as his skin changed to a deep golden tone. “You
are the defiler, Father. I bring you grim death, and I do so with
Alphan
skin, so you know who is killing you.” He pressed
the tip of his phase blade to his father’s forehead. “I am told the pain of
this in one’s skull is similar to the sensation of ripping off a limb.” He
activated the energy pulse, and his father screamed, head tipping back.
Jaxt
did not waver.

Sky
stared, a ferocious joy filling her.
Jaxt
stood
steady, watching as
Kaxt’s
skin changed from blue, to
green, to a sickly shade of yellow before he toppled to the floor with a crash.
She let out the air in her lungs with relief,
then
realized there was no more air to breathe back in. She grabbed
Jaxt
. He turned to her, face going tight as he immediately
grasped the significance of her waving arm.

“Here,”
he said, ripping the breather from his face. She sucked in great
lungfuls
of air, eyes searching for her other
bondmate
. She sagged when she realized that
Zoen
already had his hands in the control panel she’d
sabotaged. Fortunately, the women in the cell with her seemed to have survived
her desperate ploy to help her
bondmates
. Cori had
backed away from the open panel, and she stared at
Zoen
like she’d never seen a
Xyran
before. She had her
hand clapped over her mouth, clearly fighting the urge to breathe.

As
soon as air hissed into the cell, Sky lifted her breather away and handed it
back to
Jaxt
. Cori and the others panted harshly, but
Sky only had eyes for her mates.

“You
found me,” she said, a strange giddiness welling up inside her.

“Of
course,”
Jaxt
said arrogantly, and then he cocked his
head to the side. “You should not have gone to the settlement alone.”

She
sniffed, secretly delighted with his attitude. It felt … normal. “I was
betrayed. The man I got the power cell from was working with the
Xyrans
to smuggle women from the planet to sell.” She
looked at the women huddled on the floor. “It seems to have been a well-run and
long established operation.” She glared at
Kaxt’s
body.

“That
my sire had his fingers in this foul mess does not surprise me,”
Jaxt
said. “We will take the females back to Earth, if that
is where they wish to go.” He gathered Sky close to him, heedless of the blood
spattered on his armor.

“
Kaxt
has been raiding and stealing women from countless
worlds for years,”
Zoen
said, strolling over. He
didn’t notice the women on the floor cringing back from him, but Sky did. She
sighed, irritated. He wasn’t going to hurt them. Couldn’t they tell? She glared
at them. The only one who didn’t look like a whipped dog was Cori. The girl
gave her a tentative smile, and Sky nodded encouragingly at her.

“It
is common knowledge that sex gives
Xyrans
power, but
few realize power stolen is fleeting. Power freely given is precious and
long-lasting,”
Zoen
said as he stopped in front of
her. His skin, too, had changed back to his usual tone. He sighed, touching a
finger to Sky’s cheek. “But raiding is what
Xyrans
do.”

“You’re
not full-blooded
Xyran
,” Sky whispered shakily. Just
that one touch had her trembling, damn him. “And you can’t go back, not now.
Neither of you can.” She looked at
Kaxt’s
corpse and
shuddered. “Come back with me. Come back to Earth with me.” Her voice shook. If
they didn’t agree, she didn’t know what she’d do.
Liar.
You’d follow them wherever they go.

“We
had always intended to stay with you, Savage Sky,”
Jaxt
murmured against her hair. “You are the one who threw us out.”

She
poked him.
“Because you were an asshole.”

He
growled at her. “You hold my heart. I had no choice.”

Before
she could argue,
Zoen
cupped her cheek, derailing her
words.

“Stormy
Sky,” he said, leaning in to kiss her. “Be still, now. You hold my soul.”

Sky
let out a shuddering breath as her emotions threatened to overwhelm her. After
a few false starts, she managed to speak.
Damn them both for making me cry.
She swiped at her cheeks. “Okay.”

Zoen
gave
her a disapproving look.

She
growled.
“Fine.
Okay, yes, I love you both, too. Now
let’s go home.” She squeezed them, then stepped back and looked around
critically. “Also, this is a crappy ship. I say we blow it up.”

Jaxt
looked at
Zoen
, who looked at Sky. She shrugged. He
grinned.
Jaxt
threw back his head and laughed loud
enough to scare the dead.

Epilogue

“Welcome
back, Sky,” John said, closing the cloak behind her.

Sky
paused and looked out at the trading settlement. Now that the old bosses were
gone, the people who lived here had used some of the extra money to expand
their technology. She smiled at the solar panels on the cabins. All the ragged
tents were gone.

“Looks
good, eh?”

She
smiled at him. “It sure does. How’s it going?” She edged her slightly rounded
belly behind the table where his ledger sat, already open. “You were waiting
for me?”

“Yeah,
Zoen
came by and said you’d be here within the hour.”
He smiled crookedly. “You sure those aliens are treating you okay? He had green
skin today.
Green.
”
He shuddered.

“It’s
kind of too late to do anything about it, even if they weren’t treating me
well,” she replied, gesturing to her belly.

John
sighed. “I still can’t believe you let them knock you up.”

She
grinned. “It was a lot of fun.”

“
Ack
!
No, I don’t want to know,” John exclaimed, laughing.
“Too much information!”

Sky
chuckled and headed
outside,
stooping to pick up the
bag with the turkey she’d trapped. The smugglers’ settlement was a lot cleaner
and more organized now. She’d had a bit of an altercation with Foxworthy when
she came back with
Jaxt
and
Zoen
,
and he’d ended up dead. The location was still kept mostly secret to protect
the inhabitants from being overrun with humans trying to escape from other
parts of Earth, but trade was much more open.
Well, as open as smugglers ever let something get
, she thought
wryly.

“Cori
was looking for you,” John said, coming up behind her.

“Ah, good.
I have something for her,” Sky said, looking toward Mack’s former cabin. Cori
lived there now, with Alice and Louisa. Some of the other women from
Kaxt’s
ship were here, too, and a few others had gone back
to the refugee camps where they had families. “I won’t be staying long,
anyway.”

“When
your aliens came here without you, it gave us a bit of a scare.”

Sky
rolled her eyes. “That’s ridiculous. We’ve been coming here together for half a
year and they’ve never done anything violent.”

“They’re
usually with you, Sky,” John argued, walking with her.

“They’re
perfectly civilized,” she lied, walking faster. She wanted to give Cori her
favorite dinner and get the hell out of here. This place might be run better
since John took over as leader, but it still reminded her too much of her years
here with Graeme.
And Mack.

“I
kept things cool, but you know how people are,” John said, keeping pace with
her. Little dust clouds from their feet puffed up around them.

Sky
coughed to clear her throat. “I bet Cori didn’t freak out.”

John
sighed. “No, she didn’t, which helped a lot. She actually ran up and gave the
bigger one a hug.”

“You
do realize that the three of us are the reason this place is doing so well,
right? That
Jaxt
and
Zoen
keep the
Xyran
raiders away?” She stopped and glared
at him.
“And the human criminals?
And
the last of the human military?”

“Most
of us know that, which is why your guys are here right now, chatting with Alice
and the girls. We know who keeps us off the radar and out of sight from the
authorities.” He rubbed his face. “And I make sure that any newcomers know,
too.”

Sky
frowned. “Did someone give you trouble?”

“Nothing
I can’t handle.”

“Because
I’d be happy to come here and make an example out of someone,” Sky continued,
irritated and not sure why.

“I
know that, and that’s why I handled it myself.” John smiled, then. “Besides, I
don’t want you upsetting the little one.” He poked her in the stomach.

Sky
scowled at him. “You’re lucky I like you, John.”

“Or
you’d break my finger?” He danced away from her, eyes twinkling.

“Yup,”
Sky said.

John
rolled his eyes, and then his expression sobered. “By the way, the fallout on
Xyran
is ongoing. Spoke with a smuggler yesterday who said
he’d heard it from an escaped slave he’d rescued during his last run to Alpha.”

“Still?”
Sky asked, disgusted. “You’d think the tribes would just let it go already.
It’s been months.”

“Two
Xyrans
defecting to
Earth?
One a
tribal leader’s son and the other a former slave who killed the leader?
Ha, not likely. They’re slowly assassinating the males in
Jaxt’s
tribe and dividing up the slaves and women.”

Sky
pursed her lips. “Did you tell
Jaxt
and
Zoen
about it?”

“Yeah.
They were
not
happy. I could see it
even through that
Xyran
stoicism they’re so good at
projecting.”

“Hmm,”
Sky said, thinking. “We might have to see if we can do something to help the
women and children, at least.”

“Don’t
go getting yourself involved in that mess, Sky.
Xyran
politicking involves a lot of bloodshed. And you have a little one to think of,
now,” John said grimly.

Sky
patted his arm. “I know, John. Don’t worry. I would never endanger my child.
Even so, there may be something we can do. I’ll talk it over with
Jaxt
and
Zoen
.” She hated the
thought of innocent people suffering because of what she and
Jaxt
and
Zoen
had done. And her
bondmates
had taught her that not all
Xyrans
were barbarians.

“Sky!
You’re here!” Cori burst out of the cabin and hurtled down the steps,
interrupting their conversation. “
Zoen
was showing me
how to throw knives in the back and I didn’t see you come.”

Sky
hugged the girl tightly. “Throwing knives, huh? I bet you’re good at it.”