“It’s us. It’s safe,” I shouted to be heard over the waterfall. Patty emerged first. She jumped into the deep pool and swam to us.
“What happened?” she asked, eyes flicking between us.
Ohem sat me on my feet, keeping a firm hold around my waist in case my legs gave out. My body still ached, even after the three hours it had taken him to walk across the desert. He had to take extra care, but every footfall felt like my bones were going to abandon ship. It was taking a long time to heal whatever trauma the berserker shift had caused. Naming it after crazed Viking warriors seemed appropriate. I stumble-walked over to the wall and Ohem helped me slide down to sit. He crouched beside me and started rubbing the muscles of my legs. I tilted my head against the wall and groaned, half in pain and half in pleasure. I was so damn sore. My freaking bones hurt so badly.
“Ohem’s brother is behind his capture. He showed up to kill him,” I said with my eyes still closed.
Patty sucked in a shocked breath and I heard her move to stand by my mate, probably to lay a hand on him in sympathy. Aggression flooded my system, my eyes flew open, and a rattling growl burst from between bared fangs. Patty froze. She raised her hands and slowly backed away from Ohem.
Ohem moved closer to me and gathered me back into his arms to place me on his lap. I took several deep breaths, trying to calm down and not kill my friend. When I could look at her without wanting to tear her throat out, I gave her a wane smile. “I’m sorry. Maybe don’t touch him for a while. He almost died and I’m a little sensitive right now. Probably don’t stand too close to him either.”
Patty gave me a reassuring smile. “It’s okay, I understand.” I sighed in relief and relaxed against Ohem’s chest. I didn’t know that this feeling would ever go away. I was probably going to be a huge territorial pain in the ass for the rest of our lives. Not ideal. Maybe they had trauma counseling on Stellios. I was so going to have PTSD from this.
“Forgive her. She is dealing with more than just my brush with death.” I really wish he wouldn’t talk about almost dying so casually. It was stressing me out. He waited until Sam and Callie stood next to Patty to explain my episode of pure unadulterated rage and the shift into a giant Rijiteran killing machine.
Callie shifted wide eyes to me. “Are you okay?” she asked, concern making the line between her eyebrows stand out.
Sam made a move to approach me and Patty put a hand out to stop her, shaking her head when Sam looked at her in question. “She’s feeling territorial and protective. We should hang back from Ohem for a while. She might hurt us by accident and then hate herself after.” I gave Patty a grateful smile. Sam nodded in understanding and took a step back. Oily guilt swarmed under my skin like wasps. They shouldn't have to watch themselves around me. It wasn’t fair to them.
I lifted my shoulders to shrug and winced in pain. “I’m sore. Everything feels like it’s been stretched out,” I grimaced. “I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to heal.”
I needed to heal quickly. I doubted very much that the good Councilor was going to just give up and leave us be. If I was a betting woman, I’d say we should expect more soldiers with bigger guns coming soon. Ohem’s ship better get here before then. We could use the help. I stilled and glanced up at Ohem’s face. What if his men couldn’t be trusted? How many people of the Unity were corrupt? How far did this go? And why the hell did they want a war? Why hunt down old artifacts? I voiced these concerns to my mate, and he growled deep in his chest.
“My ship and her crew can be trusted. That I know. We are rarely on Stellios and I have trained almost all the officers on my ship. Why do they want to cause a war?” he shook his head and sighed. “It would generate credits and allow a grab for more power. In times of war, the Unity may raise taxes exponentially. They may pass laws without citizen votes if it pertains to the war and the common good. Rakis has long been keen on expanding the Unity’s reach. He would claim it was for the good of all and for protecting our way of life, but the council always voted against it. If we were at war and the expansion happened because of annexed worlds? He would need no votes.” His arms tightened subtly against me. To be betrayed by your own sibling and then realizing their motive was something as petty and predictable as riches and power? Disgusting.
“Stellios is the strongest, more influential planet of the Unity, and our vote holds more weight. Others look to us for guidance. Rakis is from a famous, well-respected family. He could get away with much before citizens noticed any wrongdoings. The trust in the At’ens House is almost absolute,” he said grimly, no doubt thinking that he had trusted his brother explicitly too. Why wouldn’t you trust your family? The whole situation was fucked. Sideways.
Sam started pacing, her hands waving in the air as she talked. “But why use Rijiteran artifacts? Do you know what they were looking for?”
“I have my suspicions, but nothing is sound. Rumors of some type of weapon. My brother had access to our archives. He must have found something and set Vero on the hunt to locate it. All Rijiteran weapons were devastating. Nothing good will come of this,” he said.
“Add it to the list of shit we have to sort out when we get off this planet,” I said wearily. I just needed to rest my eyes for a moment. Just five minutes. I was about to tell them we needed to set up a watch, but lost the battle with unconsciousness.
????
The rumble whine of another ship dropping into our air space woke me with a jolt. I’d been having a nightmare. I’d been too late to save Ohem, and his brother had pulled the trigger and I’d watched him die. Sam, Patty, and Callie were being loaded into cages on Rakis’s ship, calling out to me to save them.
I was on my feet and shifted in an instant. Blinding agony burned through me, and my body tried to reject the change. I clenched my teeth and forced it. I was burning alive from the inside out. It took forever, and I was panting by the finish. I was my normal size, thank god. I don’t know that I’d survive going full berserker rage demon so soon after the first time. My body was all kinds of jacked up. I shook on my feet, stumbled a few steps and sunk to one knee. My head weighed a thousand pounds when I lifted it to look around me. The girls were all standing in various frozen stages of rushing towards me. I blinked and gave them a very weak, toothy smile.
Patty moved first, gripping my arm. “Jesus, Jack! Are you okay? That was horrible to watch! Your bones looked like they were breaking. Maybe don’t shift for a while after this.”
Where was Ohem? I gathered myself and stood. It was an act of sheer will to keep my feet under me.
Callie grabbed my other arm to keep me steady. “Ohem is in the canyon, watching. He heard it too.”
Adrenaline surged, and I could walk into the canyon, but every step hurt.
“Be careful, Jack!” Patty called to me. I gave a brief yip in response. Not loud enough to be heard by anyone but them.
Ohem was standing in the canyon’s opening, under the trees. He glanced back at me and then did a double take and rushed to my side. “What is wrong, Jack?” he asked.
“Hurts. It hurts to shift. Weak,” I said, trying to make my words understandable.
He curled his arm around my waist and took my weight. I wrapped my arm around him and let him take it. My legs were burning. Ohem half dragged me to where he’d been standing and pointed at the ship flying slowly across the open desert.
“They are searching. It’s not my crew. I recognize the ship. It is the Vrax. The smugglers are here looking for their cargo. No doubt my brother has sent them to confirm that I am dead.”
I looked at him in confusion.
