Claimed: The Warriors of Nur (25 page)

“NO…NO…”  Vinda panted, turning, her target now the male she’d birthed.  She jerked, her wrist twisting to plunge the blade deep into her son.  He jumped back, his momentum tossing her into the stone wall behind her.  She hit with a crack, her body sliding gracelessly to the floor below.  Gone was the manic rage.  Insanity no longer burned in her eyes.  Relaxed, her features took on those of a female much younger, almost beautiful.

“Leo, Are—”  Rasipni reached towards Leo.

“I wouldn’t if I were you.”

Three set of eyes turned to the small gray-brown female figure.  Avi’Nyla stood, feet braced, three feet behind her sister.  The soft beep of her wrist unit indicating the completion of the language up-load.  “If you move, you’re dead.”  If the soft menace in her tone wasn’t enough to convince him, the modified Beretta in her hand was.

“Hey, squirt!”

Leo’s shifted, her gaze tracking until she distinguished the curved figure of her sister’s Med Tech & Weapons Officer.  Even without being able to see their faces, she recognized the two women. 

“Don’t move Rasipni, she means it.”  Leo stood, ignoring the sudden dizziness that threatened.  “Don’t kill him, Avi”

“You’re bleeding.”  Avi’s gaze never left Rasipni.  Everything in her wanted to end him.  She had a special place in her heart for men who like to hurt women, and the fact that he’d made her sister bleed, well it practically guaranteed him a bullet.  “You’re bleeding.  She’s chained.  And she’s dead.  He should be glad I’m only going to kill him.”

“Ok so…when you look at it from that angle…” Leo swayed, her hand going to the wall beside her.  “I swear, Avi, I’ll explain later.  Just don’t kill him.”

“Umm, AB.”  De’ sauntered forward, “Sis over there is leaking pretty bad.”

“You have the Band-Aids, De’.  And cut the other one loose.”  She nodded in Uriel’s direction, weapon still aimed unwaveringly.  “Missy,  check that one over there.”

Aramis stepped forward, his presence until then camouflaged.  Skirting the larger male, he knelt beside Vinda’s prone form.  “She’s gone,” he announced, closing the vacantly staring eyes.

“Goddess Mother….” Rasipni whispered, the rest of the prayer lost in the softness of his tone.

“I’m so sorry, Rasipni.”  Leo shrugged off De’ to shuffle forward.  She wrapped her arms around him, her cheek pressing into the blood that ran thick down his chest.  His wound was high, and deep.  The hole in his shoulder continuing to weep.  It wouldn’t kill him, but would definitely get infected if it wasn’t cleaned and bandaged.

He bent, his arms wrapping the small female before him.  “It is as it had to be, little one.”

“It seems that I’m always apologizing to you.  Your family can’t stay alive when I’m around.”  Remorse choked her.

“You have done nothing wrong.”  He released her, stepping back.  “I will take my dead.  Be well.”  Turning, he scooped the broken shell of his mother into his arms, the weight nothing more than air to him.  “Young female,” his gaze focused on Uriel.  “Your males have right to challenge for this insult.  I will care for my dead and return.”

Uriel nodded mutely, the only response she could give after witnessing so much.

With that, Rasipni left, the bloody trail left behind the only indication that he’d been there.

“Uriel,”  Leo reached to help her stand.  She stared into violet eyes.  Pulling her close, she hugged her, supporting her heavier weight.  “I’ll miss you.”  She kissed her cheek. 

“I…you…”  Uriel frowned, understanding dawning. 

“I’m leaving.  I was always leaving, Uriel.”  She nodded towards the three behind her. “I was just waiting for my sister.”

“But Erol—”

“He knew.”  She interrupted.  “Tell him…” Her voice broke on a gasp. “Tell him that I love him…okay?”  She wiped tears from her eyes.

“We have to go, sis…”  Avi stepped forward, a chamo-suit draped across her arm.  “TK will be reaching the surface in less than forty minutes.  We planted a beacon less than a kilometer from here.”

Leo nodded, sliding her legs into the suit.  Soon she was as indistinguishable as the others.  “Ten feet ahead is a small opening,” she addressed Uriel, “… if you take it about seven turns, it empties into the main corridor.  You never left the mountain.”

“But, I was at the pool.  How did we get here without my brothers—”

“There’s a larger entrance about sixty feet that way.”  Aramis motioned in the direction Rasipni had gone.  “Most likely that’s how.”

“Missy, you take lead,” Avi’Nyla commanded. “Leo, we need to scoot.”

Bending, Leo scooped up the rounded tube, storing it with the rest of her gear.  Lifting off the
borża
, she slid it over Uriel’s neck.  “You keep this,”  Sliding her wrist unit off, she fastened it to the other female’s wrist.  “…and this too.”

“Do you really have—”

“Yeah…”  crossing her arms, she stepped back, “I do.”  She turned, the sympathy on her sister’s face almost more than the cracked dam of her emotional control could take.  She blinked, relegating the escaping tears to another time, and silently recalled the soldier that her childhood had forged.  Her expression mirrored perfectly in her sister, she turned following the retreating forms of the rest of the team.  Avi closed in behind her sister, the unshed emotions obvious in her wooden movements.  Neither looked back.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“How long will you mourn her?” 

Erol looked up.  It wasn’t the first time he been posed the question.  It probably wouldn’t be the last.  The truth was he didn’t have an answer.  How long would it take for the ripped and shredded pieces of him to heal, to mend into something even resembling a beating heart?  How long would it take for him to wake without images of her chasing through his head?  Without his body hard and straining for the soft, wet, welcoming warmth of her.  Without her taste on his tongue, her scent all around him.  How long would it take for him to stop straining to hear the light tinkling of her laughter?

“We mourn too, brother.”  Cahil squatted beside the swaying hammock.  “None more than our sister.  She mourns Leo’Nya, blames herself. But more she mourns you.”

Erol shivered, the cold breeze chilling him.  He’d done little else but lie here, in their tiny oasis, since returning to find Leo gone.  All he wanted was sleep.  To drift and dream.  “She bears no fault.  You should tell her this.”

“Do you think I haven’t?” Cahil snarled in frustration.  “Do you think she listens?  It’s Uriel, Erol.  She’s about as stubborn as me.  It’s why we fight so much.”

“I’ll speak to her…”

“Atif has sent for Neron.”  He interrupted.  “He’s concerned.”  He continued at Erol’s silent question.  “If you waste to nothing, and Neron isn’t informed…” He shook his head. “He’ll never forgive us.”

“Neron can’t return.  If he breaks his blood oath, it will shame him.  He—”

“Well you should have thought of that when you decided to lie down and die.”

“I’m not—”

“Oh no?  Well what would you call it?”  He raked him with a look of sadness and disgust.  “Is this the male of our
Patro
?  Of our
Majka
?  Is this the mate that your Leo deserves?”

“She is gone—”

“YOU HAVE LET HER GO!”  Standing, Atif turned away, unable to look at the beaten and defeated male.  “Had I a mate, a female to
Mati
, I would never let her go…not even if I had to rip apart the stars to keep her.”

De’Lhila shot awake, the vacant hum of the ventilation system pulling her from the dream to reality. 

“Increase illumination.”  She panted, sweat dripping to pool in the sheets.  Good fucking God!  The dream was driving her nuts.  Throwing the covers off, she shuffled to the bathroom, pushing buttons until frigid water blasted into the small shower stall.  Stepping in, she let the icy water rinse the sweaty remains of her fantasy away.  With each passing night, it intensified, until now; it was more reality than reality.  More often than not, she checked the sheets upon waking, reassuring herself that she was indeed alone.  That the images were still in her head.  That the bodies she felt pressed so hotly against hers were just a figment of an over stimulated, under liberated libido.  Something also disturbing was the changing images.  No longer was it a two person party.  No, now there was a third.  This presence was more menacing though, dark and voyeuristic.  Even in her dreams it set off warning bells.  She shampooed her hair, feeling the waves revert to the thick springy curls of its natural state, rinsing before slathering on a thick layer of butterscotch scented conditioner.  Using her hands, she lathered her body, her palms sliding with sudsy intention over her breasts, arms and legs.  She was so wired, her body humming with the aftershocks, but she refused to stroke herself.  She was tired of getting herself off, and of late it only seemed to make the cravings worse.  The dreams more intense.  Rinsing, she left the bathroom, toweling off with one of the large deep-purple bath sheets stacked neatly to the side, before wrapping herself in a new one to begin drying her hair.  She really didn’t have the energy for what it would take to get it back to some resemblance of ‘tame’, so she decided instead to leave it to air dry.  She was so tired.  Weeks of ever decreasing rest, culminating in a sixty hour op to retrieve Leo’Nya, had left her dragging.  Even so, she knew it would be a minute before she was able to drift off again.  Wrapping the towel more securely, she left her quarters.  She needed someone to talk to. 

“TK?” she whispered, speaking into the intercom outside his room.  “You decent?”

“Am I ever?” he grumbled a few minutes later.

“No, but I thought I’d ask.”  With no hesitation, she typed in the security code and waited for the smooth metal doors to slide open.  There was no such thing as locked doors; for the three senior crew of the
L&F
, codes were shared. 

“What’s up?”  He mumbled, face down, buried in pillow.  He rolled to the side, making room on the narrow mattress. 

“Can’t sleep.” She sighed, tucking into the newly vacated, still warm indent.

“Dream?”

“Yeah…dream.”  A comfortable silence settled between then, neither one feeling the need to fill it with anything other than their deep relaxed breathing.  This wasn’t the first ‘sleep over’ the pair shared, nor would it be that last.  They didn’t have the weird male-female shit that most people would expect. 

“Are you wet?”  He paused, “I mean like…water-wet?”

“I know what you mean.”  She punched his arm.  “…and yes.  Just got out the shower.”

A moment passed.  “Wanna talk about it?”

“Not particularly.”

More time passed.  Turning onto his back, TK lifted the sheet, an invitation for her to slip under.  “Come on.  You know you want to.”

“Are you naked TK?”

“Ummm, does it matter?”

“Not really, I just like to prepare myself.”  Tilting up, she wiggled under and rolled to her stomach, her hands folded to pillow her head.

“So, what do you think happened?”

“Ummmmm?”

“To Leo’s ship?” he sighed.  “It obviously wasn’t destroyed.  You think it was the same ‘dicks’ that blew the
BW
?”

“Who knows?” she yawned.  “Probably.  We’re supposed to debrief tomorrow, compare Asa’s report to li’l sis’.  See what matches up.  Either way, I’ll be glad to be out of here.  I need some down time like a ‘mug.”

“Yeah.”

Silence settled, the vented drone lulling her into a warm drowsiness.  She was so tired.  All she wanted to do was sleep and not wake up for a good 24 hours.

“So, I think Avi’s going to request permanent assignment for the kid.”

“Yeah,” she relaxed further into the soft warmth.  “He did good.”  She yawned hard, her jaw cracking.

“I think he’ll be a good addition to—”

“TK!”  She glared, the dim light allowing her to see his irritating grin.  “Stop talking please.”

“But I’m woke now,” he pouted, his lower lip popping out.  “Wanna wrestle?”

“God, you’re such a girl sometimes.”  She flopped onto her back sighing.  “Fine, what do you want to talk about?”

“You.”  All laughter drained away.  “You’re still not sleeping.”

“Well I would be…if you’d stop talking.”

A cinnamon brow lifted in silent reprimand for the attempted evasion.  God, he could be intimidating at times.  Not that she was ever intimidated, but it was at moments like this, when all the smiling humor was replaced with serious soldier, when she was reminded why so many others were.

“Fine,” she sighed.  “but I
am
sleeping.  That’s the problem.  I wake up more juiced than when I lie down.  I’m going fucking crazy!”

“Have you talked to AB?” He turned to face her.

Her patented ‘dumb ass question’ look was enough answer. 

“You gotta tell her, De’.  She should know if you’re not mission ready.  If something pops off and—”

“Who said I’m not ‘mission ready’?”  her defensive tone told it all, but she couldn’t keep it from her voice.  To have one of her “besties” put into words her own concerns was a bad look.  If TK could pick up on just how exhausted she was, then it was only a matter of time--brief time--before Avi caught on.  In fact, she was pretty sure that the only reason that she hadn’t caught on yet was because she had been so wrapped up in getting Leo back.  Now that mission was accomplished, there was nothing to distract her from being her typical fiercely sensitive, overly observant, mildly OCD self.  The last thing she needed was to be grounded, which was exactly what would happen if Avi had any clue about just how tired she really was, or just how hard it was getting to be for her to focus.  It had gotten to the point that the feelings of over stimulated/unfulfilled sexual frustration that she was experiencing in the dreams were now carrying over into her daily.  It had morphed from pleasurable anticipation to something near painful in its consistency.  It was like she itched, but under her skin, where she couldn’t get at it to scratch.  She was bow-strung to the point of danger. 

“Ok…so maybe I’m a little less than mission ready.  But we’re heading home now, and as soon as we dock, I’ll be checking in with Psych.  Until then, I’ll maintain.”

TK frowned, skeptic concern in his voice, “As long as you maintain, and as long as we don’t see any action between here and home, I’ll chill.  But if anything pops off, D…”

“I get it TK, and I wouldn’t expect you to do anything else.”  She sighed.  “Now shut it so I can get at least a little shut eye.  Fantasy chick takes a hiatus whenever I’m with you.  Must be all the testosterone.”

“Alright fine.  Just promise not to molest me in my sleep.”  He said with a brow wiggle.

“Eww…you should be so lucky, you perv.”

“Did you want to stay?”

Leo turned, tucking away the last of the clothing left from her time with Erol.  It had only been days, seven to be exact, but it seemed like so much longer.  She glanced out into the vast darkness beyond the viewing glass to the orange-red planet beyond.  It was amazing to think of her time there as something in the past now.  Something soon to be a distant memory.  Turning away, she ignored the dull ache in her chest, the pain becoming familiar to her now.  “I wanted to see you again.”

“That’s not what I asked.”  Avi sighed, all energy flowing from her with the exhalation.  The pain evident in Leo’s eyes, eyes that were identical to her own, had been a constant since returning to the
L&F
.  At first she’d thought that her sister just needed time.  A few days back in the proverbial ‘bosom’, but instead of waning, it had only increased.  Avi was worried, which was why they still orbited instead of heading home.  She kept replaying the last conversation between Leo and the alien female…
’tell him that I love him...okay.’
  It was looped.  The soundtrack of her sister’s heartbreak played over and over in her head.