“Don’t be stupid,” Wenschel says. “Davix would never hurt the Commander.”
“Those wounds say otherwise,” Ryder insists, pulling open supplies and pressing something to Corrina’s wounds.
“There must be some explanation,” Wenschel insists. She is sticking a needle into Corrina’s arm. “Davix wouldn’t hurt her. He cares about her,” she adds.
Those words settle in my chest at the same time as I hear yelling from behind me. “On the ground!” a voice yells, and I extend my arms and press myself to the floor. I feel a sting in my leg, and then darkness descends.
???
I hear familiar voices as I wake, though I cannot immediately identify them. I try to sit up and realize that my arms are chained down. I lift my head and see my legs are similarly restrained.
“Good, you’re awake,” a voice mutters. I blink my eyes and Curran’s face comes into focus. “Because I don’t know how to communicate with you, I’ve allowed Zann onto the base under guard. But I am going to need a very good explanation of why it looks like you tried to gut my commander and why there’s a dead guy with on my base or you are going to stay chained up for a very, very long time.”
I nod my head and tug on the chains on my wrists. Curran nods, and a soldier releases the chain from the bed, though my wristsremain chained together. I notice another soldier, one of our former guards named Jurr, standing with a weapon aimed at my chest.
“Davix,” Zann says. He is standing out of reach, and his eyes are desperate as he looks at me. “Tell me what happened.”
“Is Corrina safe?” I sign. Zann nods almost imperceptibly, and I let out a sigh of relief. And then I begin to explain to him what happened, from hiding on roofs for days to the fight, to killing the man who hurt our female. Zann looks relieved as I tell him, and I hear Curran let out a grunt.
“You can stand down,” he says to the soldier who lowers his weapon. “In fact, you’re dismissed,” Curran continues with a wave of his hand before turning to face Zann and me again. “I know Corrina’s been avoiding you lately. You want to explain to me what that’s all about?”
I hesitate and glance at Zann. “Corrina is upset with Davix for something he did,” Zann offers carefully.
“Yeah, no shit. What did he do?”
Zann explains in halting terms my attempt to tell and then show Corrina how I feel about her and how she has refused to see any of us since. Curran grimaces and puts his face in his hands.
“It was a mistake,” I sign, and Zann translates that as well. Curran glances sharply at Zann and then me.
“A mistake?” he asks angrily.
I nod. “A mistake,” Zann agrees. “Krish or I should have spoken to Corrina first about our desire to make her our female.”
“Wait, what? Your female? Like all three of you?”
“Of course,” Zann says. “We all care for Corrina, and we are brood brothers. We share in everything.”
Curran’s eyes widen and then he starts to laugh. “Shit, that’s going to be a hell of a conversation when she wakes up,” Curran says. He shakes his head.
“I don’t have any reason to hold you, but emotions are running pretty high on base right now. I’m going to have someone escort you both out, and I’m going to need you to stay out,” he says, glaring at me.
“What about Corrina?” Zann asks.
“She’s recovering,” Curran replies. “Beyond that, let me worry about her for now. I need you the hell off my base before there is an incident that we’ll all regret.”
Chapter Forty-Two: Krish
I am pacing our small home when Zann returns with Davix. I do not know what is going on – only that Davix has been watching Corrina from a distance and that Zann was summoned to the base by guards at our door. I practically pounce on Zann when he closes the door.
“What happened?” I demand. Zann tells me about the attack on Corrina, and I feel my hearts racing in fear. “She will recover?” I ask anxiously. The thought of losing her terrifies me.
“Curran thinks that she will. But he sent us away. I do not know if or when we will be able to see her again,” Zann replies sadly.
“And she still has not spoken to me, to any of us, since the park,” Davix signs. His shoulders are hunched and his face is weary. I do not know if I have ever seen him look so defeated, even when we were captives on Lianov’s ship. It unsettles me deeply.
“What do we do?” I ask, hoping that Zann will have some idea or plan, but he just shakes his head slowly. “Zann?” I ask, pleadingly.
“I do not know,” Zann replies softly. “I did tell Curran how we feel very briefly before he threw us off the base. For our own safety, he says.” Zann strips out of his clothes and collapses in the nest. “But I do not know when Corrina might wake up, and what Curran might tell her when she does.”
