Kyele's Passion: A World Beyond Book 4 (18 page)

Chapter 23

Kill the Jutaks.

The taunting command was back. More powerful than before.

Joni didn’t know what to do or what was wrong with her. The thought seemed to originate from her mind but never had she wanted to hurt any of the men responsible for her freedom. Now the very idea pressed on her brain like a slow heating vice.

She rubbed at her temple but the pain continued to escalate.

“Are you okay, Joni?” Sylvie leaned over in her direction, concern in her blue eyes.

“I think so.” Joni dropped her hand to her lap. “Just a headache.”

Faye must have heard. She stopped her conversation to speak. “You should see Dr. Maku.”

Joni frowned, resisting the urge to rub at the nagging pain in her head. “I’ll be fine. Considering everything in the last couple of days it’s understandable.”

Both accepted her answer and resumed their conversations. Joni shifted in her seat. Maybe hanging out in the rec room wasn’t the greatest idea. A nap might help with the throbbing that wouldn’t cease. Kyele said he’d join her later but that had been earlier in the morning and she hadn’t seen him since.

Kill the Jutaks.

Joni clenched her hands, nails biting into her palms. She gazed around the room at the relaxed team members. Only a few were present. Sweat dotted her upper lip, the need to act overwhelming.

Arak stormed in and pulled Jaron aside. The frown on Arak’s face unnerved Joni. Whatever they discussed seemed to bother Jaron immensely and he kept glancing around the room. She didn’t want to hurt the light-hearted friend who’d been nice to her and Sylvie. Her gaze slid to the bulky form of Torkel who approached the two men, a look of rage morphing his usually stoic countenance. Couldn’t hurt him or Arak because they made her friends happy. Joni would never take that from them.

Kill. Kill. Kill.

The refrain drilled into her skull with the sharpest pain yet. Joni searched for Kyele even as she swallowed and forced back the tears. She didn’t want to hurt the man who’d done nothing but protect her from the day he’d rescued her but if anyone could figure out what was wrong, Kyele could.

She wouldn’t succumb to the voice in her head no matter what. If it meant her death all the better because she refused to let whatever was wrong destroy her. Refused to hurt the friends and people she cared about.

Kill the Jutaks
.

Conversation flowed as the Jutaks milled around her, unmindful of the danger she presented. Kyele entered, head bent in deep conversation with Creed. The compulsion took away her free thought in that moment, wrenching her control away. Joni pushed down the lump in her throat and surged from her seat. The chair fell back with a clatter.

In one hand she held on to her Marenian knife in a white knuckled grip. Blood pounded in her veins. Her heart beat faster. Lips pressed tight together, Joni jumped for Kyele mid-stride, catching him off guard.

She had a second to witness his surprise, the confusion on his face as they crashed to the floor together, legs tangled. Shouts rang out behind her. Someone called her name. Lips trembling as tears ran down her cheeks Joni aimed the knife for Kyele’s chest even while her mind roared out in denial

After the initial tensing of his muscles, he stayed on his back with Joni poised over him. Stop me she wanted to yell but her vocal chords locked. Adrenaline spiked and her body was a mass of commands

Kill the Jutaks. Kill the Jutaks.

And through it all Kyele laid there. Unresisting.

“No!” Her head shook back and forth as her arm slashed down. She heard the rip of fabric as the shirt shredded beneath the sharp edge of the blade. Joni cried and raised her arm again, the drive to complete her task going against her every instinct. She jabbed her arm in a downward slant. Footsteps pounded behind her.

“Stay back!” Kyele ordered in a ruthless tone.

The hair at her nape stood on end from Kyele’s chilling command. Boots paused behind them. His hand snapped out lightning quick and snagged her straining wrist. The blade hovered over his throat.

“I’m here. I’ve got you, Joni.”

His quiet whisper, the deep cadence of his speech penetrated the fog of fear and rage pouring through her. At last she could distinguish the noise around her. The sound in the foreground of her mind was her own voice mumbling no over and over again.

Another flash of fire lit her pores, reigniting the need to kill. Joni leaned forward. Her hips straddled his waist as she tried to shove the knife closer. The impression left a thin line on his tanned throat.

No!
“No,” she pleaded, seeing the acceptance in his eyes. “Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare let me hurt you, Kyele.”

Kyele snatched the knife from her hand and threw it far from them as he pulled her tight against him, her chest flushed to his. His other arm clamped around her waist. Tears dampened her cheeks but he held her close, arms secure at her sides so she couldn’t move. Joni felt him kiss the top of her head and the words he kept repeating came through loud and clear.

“I’ve got you, Joni. I’ve got you.”

Joni wanted to hang on to his familiar refrain. Kyele would take care of her. He always did. He promised. Agony burned a path across her brain and Joni screamed. Her vision dimmed until she slumped onto his chest.

Kyele clutched her tighter. “Joni?!”

His voice increased in volume until he was shouting. Shouting at her to wake up. Shouting at someone to hurry the fuck up.

“Don’t die, Joni.” His lips on her face. Kisses. Trembling kisses over her eyelids. “Please, Joni,” he whispered, kissing her ears. “Don’t die on me.”

***

Joni screamed again and the sound was one of such pain Kyele could only hold onto her. Torkel tugged at Kyele, trying to reach Joni. He snarled and shoved his Unit Leader away as he rolled to the side careful to place Joni on the floor beneath him. She was pale. Nothing like his golden beauty.

“What’s going on?” Sylvie cried out, sliding to her knees beside him.

Arak knelt behind his Chosen and wrapped his arms around her waist. Kyele couldn’t explain. He lifted Joni up against him, her hair a cascade over his chest and hands. She was completely limp, sending fear crashing through him.

“Did she just try to kill Kyele?” Faye stood in the circle of Torkel’s arms.

“Dr. Maku believes one of the intruders injected her with a severe hallucinogenic,” Arak said as the others crowded around Kyele. “I was telling Torkel and Jaron that we needed to have all of the females tested to find out who had been drugged.”

Ignoring everyone and the myriad questions, Kyele slid his arms beneath Joni’s hips and back to lift her as he rose to his feet. “I can’t wait. Let Dr. Maku know we’re coming.”

Torkel began issuing commands but Kyele heard none of it as he rushed through the door and to the elevator. When it took too long to arrive, he changed direction and raced for the stairs. Creed running at his side said something but Kyele’s attention remained on the lifeless form of the female in his arms. He misted from his physical body the moment he hit the steps, keeping up the force of the vortex to carry Joni along.

The next few hours became Kyele’s worst nightmare.

Nothing Dr. Maku did countered the hallucinogenic in Joni’s system. In fact, her screams got worst as Kyele stood by helplessly. She vacillated between screaming about killing one of them and reliving her nightmares about her experience with the slavers.

“Do something!” Kyele held Joni down on the bed and it was the most difficult thing he’d ever had to do. The whites of her eyes were bloodshot. Maku’s assistant, Laia, came forward and activated the electronic bed restraints. Kyele almost lost his mind. “What are you doing?”

Dr. Maku glared at Kyele and pointed to the door as he maneuvered him back. “Go! You’re not helping.”

They began strapping her wrists to the rails of the bed. Then her legs were bound. The clamps beeped as they locked into place. Joni screamed and arched her hips away from the sheets. “Kyele!”

Her gaze flickered with pain as she called to him but Torkel blocked him from returning to her side. Fury was an insistent throb demanding he exact vengeance but he had no physical outlet.

“Out now, Kyele!” It was his Unit Leader and not his friend issuing the command.

Kyele put his fist through the wall in a neat hole. Air hissed between his teeth and his heart thudded in his chest. Torkel used his superior strength to restrain him with an arm across his chest and dragged him away. “Take time to get your head together, Kyele.”

He allowed Torkel to get him into the hall but that was as far as he’d go. Pacing outside of Joni’s room, Kyele didn’t know how much longer he’d last before he cracked and did major damage to those around him. He stared at the closed door and firmed his resolve. Someone would pay. They’d pay for every tear she shed, every cry from her lips.

“Dr. Maku will figure this out,” Torkel said.

Kyele braced his back against the wall. His body hummed with unreleased energy. “I should be in there with her. You were with Faye after we rescued her from the slave auction.”

Torkel winced. “Faye wasn’t trying to kill me either.”

“It shouldn’t matter.”  Kyele pushed off of the wall and commenced pacing again. He glared through the window at the activity inside. “She shouldn’t be restrained.”

Jaron returned from informing the others of what happened, a look of pity on his face. Joni had gone for his throat as soon as Kyele’s grip slackened when he lowered her to the bed in the medic center.

“How is she?”

Kyele couldn’t answer. This was his fault. He should have been prepared. Better yet he should have continued to stay away from Joni. Maku and Laia were exchanging rapid fire speech. Joni in the midst of it all continued to cry.

“Kyele!” Her panicked scream tore through him.

Enough. He shifted and bypassed Torkel. He was back at Joni’s side when he became physical. She jerked on the bed and cried out. Lights above the bed lit from flashing yellow to occasional red, while beeps dinged in the background as Dr. Maku worked. This time he didn’t attempt to remove Kyele.

“It’s been several hours and the levels of the drug haven’t tapered off at all.” Dr. Maku’s frustration came out in a snarl.

Kyele sat beside Joni, fists braced on the narrow space on the bed. Thin loops circled her wrists, the reddened skin showing signs of abrasion. Dr. Maku glared in warning and Kyele wanted to kill him.

“She can’t be released until she’s not a danger to herself or others.”

Once Kyele had himself under control, he gave an abrupt nod. “I won’t undo the locks.”

Her body convulsed on the medic bed and the yellow indicator lights switched to red. An alarm sounded and Maku began prepping several syringe depressors. Kyele tried to wait but her painful cries drove him. He wrapped his arms around her restrained body as much as he could. “Joni. Joni, I’m here.”

Her glazed eyes stared at the ceiling, body rigid, jaw locked in a horrible grimace. Kyele wanted to rage. He couldn’t take much more of watching her suffer. Waiting while Dr. Maku worked with the detox serum to remove the hallucinogenic from her body. Waiting while Joni cried and begged him to make it stop.

He forced himself to lock down his emotions as he’d always done in the past. It was hard. With Joni he’d relaxed the guard he maintained and allowed himself to hope. Now she was hurt. Because of him. He was right when he told Torkel he didn’t deserve her. But he’d fix this. Kyele would take care of Joni as he always did.

Climbing into the bed, he curled around Joni, holding her tight. Every now and then her body gave a fierce shiver. Tears clogged his throat. He had to help her. The need to take care of Joni battered at his conscious. No more.

“Leave,” he ordered Dr. Maku, sparing him a glance.

The blond Enotian gaped. “What?! Kyele, you need—”

“Leave!” Kyele roared.

Torkel came in and murmured something in Maku’s ear. They both glanced from him to Joni. The regret in Torkel’s gaze savaged Kyele before they left.

Kyele gripped Joni’s jaw and turned her face toward him. Tears welled in her eyes and she tried to jerk away from his touch, hiding her face in his chest. Pushing back the desire to comfort her, Kyele forced her face up. “Will you let me help you?”

Sniffling and battling the fire raging through her body, Joni managed a weak nod.

“Very good,
tesa
,” he whispered.

She responded to the endearment and her body softened. She leaned into him, face tucked beneath his jaw. “I hurt, Kyele.”

“I know. I’ll fix it, Joni. Trust me.” He would give anything to take this pain from her.

She lifted her head to scrutinize his features. He wasn’t sure what she saw. His anger? His deteriorating grasp on control?

Joni nodded, nose bumping his as her eyes closed. In sleep or exhaustion, he couldn’t tell. “I trust you.”

Trust. The one thing she’d always given him without hesitation from the day he’d met her. Was there ever a more perfect female?