Alien (14 page)

After spending a good majority of her day avoiding the
doctors, Andi was more than ready for Zane to escort her back to their shared
apartment. Making sure that all her work was done in the medical center, she
walked back to one of the exam rooms to speak to them.

“Tamin, I just wanted to tell you that Zane is going to be
here any minute so I’ll be leaving soon.” Not waiting for him to acknowledge
her, Andi started to walk away when she was stopped by his voice.

“Are you free for your evening meal?” The question was
spoken softly, as if he was trying not to spook a scared animal.

“Well, I just assumed that Zane and I would be having dinner
together.” Andi fidgeted with her fingers, waiting for him to speak again.

After their discussion that morning when the men had stated
their intentions, they had understood her need for space. When one or both of
them had approached her, the focus had been kept on work-related subjects.
There had been no touches or teasing comments throughout the day, like she had
experienced earlier. It had helped her relax, but also set her on edge a little
bit. Had they been teasing her this morning? Were they over the whole “sharing”
idea since she hadn’t jumped at the chance when it had been presented to her?
The one thing that Andi knew was that she needed some time to talk it out. Zane
was going to be her sounding board tonight whether he wanted to or not.

Tamin hadn’t moved from his spot, where he appeared to be
thinking on her words. Nodding to himself as if he had come to a conclusion,
his next words surprised her.

“Well then, have a nice evening. I will relay to Rodin that
you are occupied for dinner and we will see you tomorrow.” Turning back to the
paperwork she had interrupted him from, he dismissed her.

Andi was confused. This was a complete turnaround. Not only
did Tamin seem fine with her sharing a meal with her former match but he had
wished her a pleasant evening and hadn’t tried to talk her out of it or give
her grief about staying in Zane’s apartment again. Talk about running hot and
cold.

Shrugging, Andi made a quick turn and bumped into the hard
body that was behind her. Without needing to see his face, Andi knew that the
leather-clad chest her nose had come into contact with was none other than
Rodin himself.

“Hey, I was just letting Tamin—”she started.

“I heard. Have a pleasant evening.”

Rodin’s cold voice caused a frown to come over Andi’s face.
Whether or not she wanted to admit it, the indifference she was receiving was
not pleasant. Giving him a quick nod, Andi went to walk around him and was
stopped by a firm grip on her upper arm.

“We can discuss tomorrow’s appointments during breakfast. I
will bring the donuts that Poppy has programmed into my food generator if that
is okay with you?”

Andi took a moment to meet the eyes of one of the men who
had her emotions out of control. She didn’t trust herself to speak. Giving him
a half-smile, she hoped that was enough of an affirmative and quickly walked to
the main med center area. Grabbing her bag, she practically stalked out the
door until the familiar tone beeped, showing someone had arrived.

“Please be Zane. Please be Zane.” The mantra was slightly
creepy but she couldn’t help the little jump and fist pump she made in the air
when she saw that her hoping had paid off. “Thank god you’re here!” Grabbing
the elbow of his shirt, Andi didn’t give Zane time to fully enter the waiting
area before she had him turned around and going right back out the door.

“What is going on?” Zane asked, laughing at the picture she
was making.

“We have to talk…you will not believe the day that I have
had.” Andi didn’t even glance back as she practically dragged Zane down the
corridor.

“First, you are walking in the wrong direction. And second,
is this about one of the doctors?” Zane kept pace with Andi as she turned
direction on a dime and started marching in the opposite direction to the one
she had originally been dragging him along.

“One of the doctors? I wish! Try both of the doctors and
you’ll have more of an idea what my day has been like.” Muttering to herself,
she didn’t realize her friend had stopped walking until her arm was jerked back
where she was still clutching his now non-moving elbow.

“Both of them? They actually went through with it, huh?”
Smiling at Andi, he let it slip into a frown when he realized she wasn’t
sharing his amusement. “And I can tell from your face you are not happy to be
the center of their attention.”

“Does everyone know they planned to share a wife?” Andi
sputtered.

“It has been talked about. Most of the warriors had doubts
they would follow through with the idea since a majority of us are too alpha to
consider letting another warrior touch our brides. After they explained the
situation, it does make more sense though. Did they tell you their reasons?”
Zane looped his arm through Andi’s since she seemed to be lost in thought and
had stopped moving altogether.

“Well, I think they tried. Honestly, my brain kind of shut
off once sharing was mentioned.” She smacked Zane’s arm when he was about to
make a joke at her expense. “It was a lot to take in!”

“Calm down. I know how you like your lists. We can make one
tonight, going through what marrying them would mean. Okay?” Zane had switched
into his calming big-brother voice, which was exactly what she needed.

“Yes, and pizza. Lists and pizza. STAT.” Walking faster to
their apartment, Andi let out a sigh of relief as she soon kicked off her shoes
and fell back onto the couch.

“Which one do you want to do first? Food or list making?”
Zane had grabbed the little pad of paper and pen that Andi kept on the kitchen
table. Tossing the items to her, he folded his arms by the kitchen bar, waiting
for her instructions.

“Both. Put in the pizza order and I’ll start making a
chart.”

Zane moved to do what she said, but still shook his head at
her.

“What was that look for?” Andi wasn’t sure she wanted to
hear his answer.

“Andi, you either feel it’s right or not. Remember when we
first met? I thought you were one of the most beautiful humans I had ever seen.
You have this brilliant auburn hair that lights like fire when the light
catches. Your green eyes sparkle when you think something is funny or you get
angry.” He walked to brush a fingertip across her nose, then tap the end of it.
“Even these dots are adorable.”

“What’s your point here, Zane?” Andi didn’t understand where
he was going with this.

“My point is that regardless of how appealing I found you
and how attractive you were to me…” Wiggling his eyebrows at her, Zane waited a
moment before becoming serious again. “There was no doubt that we would be
amazing friends. I knew that we would never be more than that.”

“And?”

“And the fact that you have resorted to making a list
regarding your doctors shows me that you feel more attraction for them than you
ever had with me. I never even made it to a list. Did I?” Chucking her under
her chin, Zane waited until she met his gaze. “Tell me what this is about.
Truly.”

“I’m scared that this is too out of the norm for me,” Andi
whispered. “When I first met them, it was so chaotic. We had just been
kidnapped and some of the women almost died. They were busy taking care of the
ones who needed help and I was on emotion overload.”

“Keep going,” Zane instructed.

“Then when I finally get to see them up close and personal,
I thought they were just a couple of assholes.” When Zane started laughing,
Andi smacked his shoulder with the paper still in her hand. “Seriously, I
thought that they had the worst bedside manners I had seen in my life. And of
course, I couldn’t keep my mouth closed. I went and started yelling like a
crazy person and did something I had never done in my life.”

“Wait a minute, you never mentioned this part. What
happened?” Concerned, Zane sat back to listen seriously.

“I hit him.” As she was covering her face with her hands,
the words came out garbled.

“Who did you hit?” Zane’s asked in disbelief.

“I hit Rodin. Across the face. With my hand.” Completely
ashamed, Andi could only wait for Zane to react to her confession.

His reaction was one she in no way expected. The jerk
started laughing at her. Not only laughing but full-out braying mixed with
laughter as if he had just heard the funniest joke anyone had ever told.

“What the hell, Zane?” Andi crossed her arms and stuck out
her chin. “Want to tell me what the fuck you find so funny?”

“No wonder they want you. Andi, you stood up to them. Tamin
and Rodin are accustomed to being listened to by even the highest council
members. Very few ever have questioned them. Not only are you gorgeous, but you
managed to be different from anyone else they have ever come into contact
with,” Zane explained, all the while smiling.

“So, you’re saying he likes me because I hit him?” Andi
asked, sure her face showed how ridiculous that sounded.

“What I am saying is that you showed them that you are a
strong women. No warrior wants a female who will bow and cower to their every
demand. We want a woman who is our equal. They were shown firsthand what you
are made of and this is on top of the way you took care of those women during
that ordeal.” Winking at Andi, he propped his feet up on the small coffee
table. “I am actually surprised that Rodin did not just toss you over his
shoulder and carry you away right then and there.”

“Seriously? There will be no tossing, Zane. None. Not until
I can figure out what the hell I’m doing here. I honestly feel as if I am
losing my mind.” Gripping her hair in her fingers, she gave a tug and then ran
her palms down her face.

“Let us talk this through. What are your major concerns with
marrying the doctors?”

“I don’t know them, for one. And let’s not forget the fact
that there are two of them!” Exasperated that Zane could sound so calm when she
was freaking out, Andi kicked one of his legs off the table with her foot.

Zane gave her an offended frown when his foot thudded to the
floor. Holding out his hands as if he were explaining something to a toddler,
he spoke slowly.

“So, get to know them. You have a contract to work with
them. Learn about them. Ask questions. Do the thing that you did when you first
got here and started talking to me.”

Andi waved her hand at him. “This is totally different.”

Throwing both of his hands in the air as if he had just won
the lottery, Zane let out a loud noise. “Ah-ha! That is exactly my point, Andi.
It is different with them.”

“Zane, they want to share me. That’s not normal where I am
from. Fuck, that’s not normal, period. There are religious groups where men
have more than one wife but I’ve never heard of more than one husband. I take
that back. I have read a few books where that was the setup.”

Cocking his eyebrow at her questioningly, Zane asked, “So
you have read about relationships like this in the books you are obsessed
with?”

“I’m not obsessed…I just like to read. And yes, there are a
few books that have two men to one woman,” she admitted reluctantly, her cheeks
turning red.

“What about multiple women and one man?” Zane asked,
obviously curious.

“No, these are all based on fantasy and there is nothing in
my fantasy about sharing a man with another woman. The whole lesbian thing
never floated my boat,” she said honestly.

“So this is a fantasy. That is a starting point,” he pointed
out.

“But it’s not realistic, Zane. What about jealousy? What
happens if I get pregnant and they treat the baby differently because it isn’t
their own? There is a reason these relationships don’t happen in real life.
Human emotions are all over the place. Hell, I went through about eighty of
them simply on the walk to the apartment tonight.” Lying back against the
couch, Andi let sadness sweep through her at the thought of trying to make a
relationship work only to have it fail.

“There is one thing that you need to remember, Andi,” Zane
pointed out.

“What’s that?”

“We are not human. If the men have made the decision to
share, you can be surethis is what they want. The Bridal Pact is something that
we take very seriously.”

“So you’re saying to give them a shot?” Andi asked, hoping
that her close friend wouldn’t steer her wrong.

“I’m saying not to let fear keep you from something that you
want. You already took a chance coming up here to begin with. Find that courage
again and figure out if you have the guts to go for what you want.” Smacking
his palm against her thigh where their legs touched on the couch, Zane stood
up. “Our dinner is getting cold. Let’s eat while you think. I have a feeling
that you will either mumble through the entire meal or be silent.”

Making a face at his retreating back, Andi stood up to
follow him. She studied him as he was setting out their food. “Thanks for
talking this through with me.”

“I love you, Andi. I will always be here for you. I want you
to do what you came here to do when you signed up for the Bridal Pact.” At her
questioning glance, he explained, “Live, Andi. I want you to live.” Sliding her
plate to her, he joked, “I just hope that your admirers don’t try to kill me
while you figure out what you want to do with them.”

“They wouldn’t do that,” Andi argued. Raising her eyebrow at
him when he was silent, she asked, “Would they?”

“I believe every single one of us would stop at nothing to
claim the woman whom we were destined for,” Zane replied in a voice that was
far too serious for him. “At nothing, Andi.”

As Andi walked with Zane to the med center the next morning,
her mind kept repeating their conversation from the prior evening. Her friend
had made some very good points. Watching Zane as he navigated the corridors,
she knew that life would have been so much easier if they had been attracted to
each other.

Damn those doctors! When she had met them the first time,
she’d been so angry she hadn’t noticed how sexy they were. Many people acted as
if they were interchangeable when it came to dealing with them. In the short
amount of time that she had talked to the men, Andi had not only noticed they
were completely different personality-wise, but they also evoked different
emotions from her. Tamin seemed to be easygoing, not unlike Zane. He made her
feel automatically comfortable but still managed to send off that sexy vibe.
Rodin was the watcher of the pair. He seemed to take in everything before he
spoke and was much more serious. Intense. Andi had the urge when she was around
him to lower her eyes. She never felt dominated by simply speaking to someone.
She still could not believe that she had actually struck Rodin, yet in the time
since then, he had made her want to stutter and blush.

She was losing her mind. Literally. Her sanity slipped the
more she thought about their proposed arrangement. Zane had started teasing her
at breakfast about the men, using humor to ease the stress that was apparent on
her face.

Not realizing that Zane had stopped walking at the med
center door, Andi glanced around confused when he wasn’t at her side anymore.

“Hello?” Zane, standing ten feet behind her, sounded like he
was going to laugh.

“Dammit!” Turning around to pin him with her best glare, she
smiled when she saw he was trying not to chuckle at her. “I meant to walk
there.” Waving her hand in the direction she’d been walking, she turned her
glare back on when he began to laugh out loud.

“What’s so funny, chuckles?” Stomping in front of him, she
popped her hands on her hips and debated giving him a purple nurple.

“You see where you stopped?” He gestured to the doorway in
the hall.

“Yeah, what of it?” Hating being teased, Andi eyeballed the
front of his leather tunic.

“That is Tamin and Rodin’s apartment. You meant to go to
their apartment?” he asked with a smirk. Holding his hands up and backing away,
Zane laughed when her face turned red. “Because I can leave if you need some
alone time in their private quarters.”

“Fuck you, Zane. Fuck. You.” Smacking her palm on the door
before she grabbed his chest and started twisting, Andi waited for the door to
open.

“Who am I to stand in the way of true love?” Zane joked as
they entered.

Andi closed her eyes in embarrassment. Not only were the two
men who currently occupied her thoughts standing in front of her, but so were a
couple of the councilmen.

“Oops,” Zane whispered out the side of his mouth as he
reached out to shake hands with the other warriors.

“True love? Please tell us more, Andi.” Tamin seemed to find
the situation amusing while Andi wanted nothing more than to sink into a crack
on the floor and die.

“Umm…no thanks.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath
to collect herself before smiling and nodding at the men in the room.
“Gentlemen, how are you doing today?”

Wheaton came forward to shake her hand, “We are well. The
councilors wanted to check in with medical to see if there had been any change
in the condition of Isabel.”

“I haven’t really had a chance to work with her yet,
Wheaton.” When one of the men behind him gasped, she realized that she hadn’t
addressed him formally. “I’m sorry. I mean, Councilor Wheaton.”

He shook his head at her. “Please just call me Wheaton.
There is no need to be formal since we are not in a council meeting.”

“Andi, I need to get to the docking bay. Do you need
anything before I leave?” Zane touched her shoulder as he posed the question
and Andi was certain she heard growling coming from somewhere behind him. When
her shoulder was squeezed, she looked up into Zane’s smiling face, remembering
that he was waiting for a response.

“Not that I can think of.” Patting his hand, Andi leaned up
to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. Once again she heard a strange rumbling
noise. “Is that your stomach?” she asked Zane.

“No, that is—” Zane started, only to be cut off when he
received a strong pat to the back.

Rodin peered around his shoulder at Andi. “We will take care
of you from here.” One more whack to the back and Zane was pushed out the door
without saying goodbye to anyone else in the room.

As soon as the council members left, Andi shot glares at the
men who were driving her nuts.

“That was rude,” Andi muttered as she walked to her newly
assigned desk.

“That was me saving him from himself,” Rodin answered with a
straight face.

Andi looked up at Rodin, who was leaning with one hip
against her desk. Damn the man could really fill out a pair of leather pants.
Trying to keep her eyes from tracing the bulge that was straining the front of
his pants, Andi rolled her eyes at him. “Saving him from himself? What does
that even mean?”

Tamin joined Rodin at her small area. “It means that if he
had touched you again, then neither Rodin nor I would have been responsible for
what happened next.”

“He is my friend. FRIEND.” Andi enunciated the words as if
she were talking to a toddler. “I have one friend other than the brides and it
happens to be Zane. Deal with it.” Using her best nurse voice, Andi stood up
and folded her arms across her chest. “Since you gave the councilmen
information on Isabel’s condition, would you like to enlighten me as well?”

Rodin smirked at her change of subject but, passed her the
tablet he had been clicking on when she entered the room. “She is still
requesting tranquilizers. She has been asking for them more frequently than we
can safely administer them. Her husband was here earlier, but she refused to
speak to him or even open her eyes. The monitors showed that she was awake and
yet she pretended to sleep until he left the room.”

Tamin looked haggard while Rodin delivered the news of their
patient’s condition. “Staci will be in later today for another treatment. Her
appointment will be after our physicals with Sector 3.”

“What is Sector 3?” Andi wondered out loud.

“It’s the area of the ship where warriors maintain the
ship’s engines. We perform physicals by Sectors to ensure that everyone is
rotated through,” he explained.

Reading the information on the screen, Andi looked up at the
mention of Staci. “Is there a reason she is getting rescanned?”

Tamin nodded. “Her scarring has almost completely been
removed in the regen bed after multiple treatments. We are hoping that she will
be able to conceive once it is finished.”

Andi couldn’t contain her excitement. There was a
possibility that her friend could have a baby! Bouncing from toe to toe, she
smiled widely. “Have either of you mentioned this to Isabel?”

Rodin seemed perplexed at the question. Cocking his eyebrow,
he tilted his head and shook it. “Why would we mention it to her?”

“Duh, guys. She thinks she will never be able to give Nixon
any baby warriors. If she has hope, then maybe it will knock her out of this
funk enough to heal emotionally.”

Disagreeing, Rodin argued, “It would be cruel to give her
hope. Staci’s case is still too new. Isabel has also not let us scan her since
her original intake when the pregnancy was terminated. We may be unable to
eliminate her scar tissue as we did in Staci’s case.”

“Having hope may be the only thing that helps her right now.
She is wasting away in that bed, refusing to even talk to her husband because
she thinks she has no value. Even if there’s a slight chance she can have a
baby, then she needs to know so we can start trying to repair the damage that
was done.” Pointing her finger at Isabel’s room, Andi stood her ground. “I
think it’s time I talked to her and let her know about Staci’s chances. I won’t
tell her that we are sure yet, but giving her just a little speck of sunlight
has to be worth something.”

Without waiting for the men to reply, Andi marched into her
patient’s room. Noticing immediately that her friend looked even more withdrawn
and depleted, she walked quietly to the bedside and reached for Isabel’s hand.
It was limp and cool and Andi cupped the fragile fingers in her warm hand.

“Isabel? Are you awake?” Waiting a moment before pulling up
a stool, Andi sat beside the bed and took Isabel’s hand again in her own.

“We need to talk,” Andi whispered in case Isabel was truly
resting. She really needed to figure out that stupid monitor. It would be able
to tell her whether or not Isabel was playing possum.

“I don’t want to talk anymore.” Isabel’s voice came out no more
than a whisper, sounding unused and weak.

“Well, buttercup…there is actually a lot you need to hear.
So let me do all the talking.” Andi was made from pretty steady stock. She had
never allowed anyone to dismiss her and she wasn’t going to start now.

“I don’t want to listen anymore either.” Isabel’s voice
seemed slightly stronger this time around, most likely from anger.

“That’s too bad. You haven’t gotten out of this bed in
almost a month so I’m pretty sure you won’t be able to run away from me, and that’s
what you’re going to have to do to not hear what I have to say.” Squeezing the
fingers she was still holding, Andi smiled when Isabel turned to glare at her.

“That’s what I’m talking about.” Chuckling, Andi winked and
patted Isabel’s hand. “If you have enough energy to be pissed at me, then you
have some fire left in you after all.”

“Say what you want to say then please leave.” The words were
short and curt. Most likely Isabel thought she sounded firm but instead it made
Andi even more determined to get her to actually listen.

“Isabel—” she started, only to have her own fingers
squeezed.

“Call me Izzie,” Isabel interrupted.

Andi continued, “Izzie, I heard the doctors mention that you
may be sterile after you miscarried.” At those words, Izzie’s eyes filled with
tears. Rolling her head to look up at the ceiling instead of at Andi made the
tears that had collected travel out of the corners of her eyes and into her
hairline.

“Yeah, they said that.” Izzie closed her eyes and had
started to turn to face the other direction when Andi’s next words stopped her.

“But Staci has been receiving treatments and she may be able
to conceive after a few more.” Hoping that the words would penetrate her
friend’s fog of misery, Andi waited to be acknowledged again.

“Seriously?”

The word was whispered so quietly that Andi almost didn’t
hear it.

“Yes, it has taken multiple trips to the regen bed, but her
scar tissue is going away. The doctors are hopeful it will continue to
decrease.”

“What about me?” Izzie’s eyes had started streaming, but she
was showing no outward signs of crying except for the constant drip from her
eyelids.

“They won’t be able to tell unless you start getting your
regen scans done. I heard that you refused to continue after the initial
treatment?” Andi kept her voice light, not wanting to scare Izzie into going
silent again.

“I figured, what was the point, right? Not only had I killed
my baby but that there would be no more.” Izzie started crying in earnest at
the reminder of her loss.

“Stop right there. You did not kill your baby. You were not
responsible for what happened. Not at all.” Andi kept her voice firm, needing
Izzie to believe the truth. “Remember that awful man who kidnapped us? He is a
murderer. Plain and simple.”

When Izzie started to shake her head, Andi stopped the
motion with a firm hand on her cheek. “Yes, he is. He passed out those pills,
knowing what they would do. Everyone trusted him. It is not our fault. None of
it is. Do you think that I don’t wish I would have at least put up a little bit
of a fight before I walked onto that shuttle? I strapped myself into that seat,
Izzie. I watched everything happen and was too scared to do anything. Brandy
and I both got sick when we realized what we had allowed to happen.”

When Izzie opened her eyes again and looked at Andi with
what Andi could only dare to dream was hope, Andi reaffirmed her earlier words.
“We all have regrets. Let the guilt go. It isn’t your fault. Nobody blames you
for what happened.”

“What about Nixon?” Izzie rubbed at her eyes, trying to
clear them.

“That big strapping warrior is losing his mind because he
doesn’t know how to get you to understand what I have been trying to tell you
today.” Andi waited a moment and was surprised when Izzie gave her a soft, sad
smile.

“He is pretty big, isn’t he?” Izzie gave a small laugh when
Andi agreed.

“You are aware that we basically had to kick him out of
here, right?”

“I can remember hearing his voice talking to me, but I
didn’t listen to him,” Izzie admitted.

“Well, first things first. No more meds to make you sleep,
okay? If you want to get better, you need to be awake to do it.” Waiting for
Izzie to nod, Andi was happy when Izzie moved on the pillow.

“I also want you to talk to your husband. He has been out of
his mind the last few weeks worrying about you.” Andi decided she might as well
not pull any punches since she was on a roll.

“I just don’t know what to say to him,” Izzie said softly.
Rubbing her nose with one hand, she shook her head slowly.

“Nixon just needs you to talk to him. From what I can tell,
he hasn’t had a chance to grieve. Hopefully that is something you can do
together while we get you healthy.”

“I never even thought about it that way. Is he taking care
of himself?” Izzie went from depressed to concern for her warrior faster than
Andi could blink.