Hearts of Ishira (Hearts of Ishira Saga) (18 page)

“I think I can manage this time, Commander,” Jace bit out, glaring up at Hunter.

Ri felt a definite frustration from the doctor towards Hunter, but it wasn’t anger or anything, more like… possessiveness. She sensed Hunter coming closer, felt the heat from his body as he leaned over the bed and slowly, gently, took her breasts in his hands again, holding them up for Jace to secure to her body with the binding cloth. Sandwiched between the two men, she knew she should feel overwhelmed or trapped, but she didn’t. It seemed right, somehow. She thought about some of the books she’d read over and over again back home, where things like this happened to women, and her breathing hitched.

And dammit, there went her nipples again!

Jace noticed them tightening and sucked in a harsh breath while Hunter caught her mental image and the air left his body in a whoosh by her ear.

“Arianna?” Jace asked, staring down at her breasts, cradled in Hunter’s hands.

“Oh, shut up and get this over with,” she groaned. “I’m dying, here.”

“You are hurt, little one?” Hunter asked, instantly solicitous of her. She shook her head. She felt his moment of surprise, then his arousal as he realized what his touch, their attention, was doing to her. Shameful as it felt, it also felt amazing. And he must not have found her lascivious thoughts too disturbing, because she could swear that he nuzzled the back of her neck. “Do not worry. We will take care of you.”

“I’m not worried,” she bit out, whipping her head around to glare at him, then at Jace. “I’m mortified. What did you put in those shots you gave me, aphrodisiacs?”

Hunter snorted with amusement. Jace gaped at her, then threw his head back and laughed. Rather smugly, in her opinion. His grin, when he looked at her again, was anything but professional. There was nothing but amused, stimulated, sexy male in the smile he bestowed upon her. Oh, lord. She was in trouble.

“There was nothing in those injections that would cause you to be more aroused than you normally would be,” he assured her, chuckling. He quickly finished wrapping her, and she would have sworn under oath that the light brushes of his hands against her breasts were
not
accidents this time. With his job done, Hunter’s hands rested on her hips. She sensed that he didn’t want to stop touching her. The thought warmed her. Jace secured the end of the binding, then sat back and grinned devilishly at her. “If you are finding yourself attracted to me, perhaps it is because I am just that enticing?”

“It is not you she is attracted to,” Hunter snorted, his hands flexing on her hips once before he reluctantly let her go. They got her back into her gown, ignoring her exasperated protest that she could dress herself, then helped her get settled and comfortable against her pillows. Once she was situated and medicated, the warriors sat on either side of her, watching her intently. She blushed as Hunter said, “If she is attracted to anyone, it is me.”

“Why would she want you,” Jace snorted back, “When she could have me?”

“And why would she desire you,” Hunter asked with playful derision, winking at her, “When she saw me first?”

“Both of you, stop!” Arianna bit out, trying not to laugh. They stilled and looked at her eagerly. Her face grew darker with their combined attentions. She groaned, then laughed, unable to help herself. “I’m not… I don’t… Oh, just go! Both of you! Let that shot knock me out, and get away from me before you embarrass me to the point of spontaneous combustion.”

They chuckled, but both of them stood.

“We have teased you enough for today,” Hunter said, his voice and smile tender. “But you have much more color to your face than you had earlier.”

She imagined so.

“It’s this new situation,” she hurried to inform him, inform them both, her brain already going fuzzy. “I’m still in a bit of shock, I’m sure, and you two have helped me a great deal. I must be forming an attachment based solely on those things.”

“So you don’t find my muscles and my eyes pleasant?” Hunter asked, sending her pulse racing as he flexed said muscles and raised an eyebrow over those beautiful eyes. He knew how much she liked both. It wasn’t fair!

“And I suppose that it wasn’t my touch that caused your nipples to harden so sweetly? Any touch would have done the same?” Jace asked conversationally, squeezing her hand affectionately as his eyes burned into hers. “My scent that made you catch your breath?”

“Well, no,” she admitted to Jace, not sure which question to answer first. “I mean, yes. You smell wonderful and…”

The painkiller kicked in, relaxing her back into the pillows. She blinked up at Hunter, who was grinning hugely. She glared at him, then ruined the effect by giggling. “And you already know what I think about your muscles and your eyes and your scent and your touch.”

“Is that all?” he asked, a hand over his heart as though mortally wounded. She gave him a loopy grin. He leaned forward, kissing the tip of her nose as though he’d done it a thousand times and would do so a thousand times more. “What do you like best about me, then?”

“Your heart,” she murmured sleepily, each blink of her eyes taking longer. “You have the prettiest soul I’ve ever seen.”

Hunter and Jace stared at her, no longer laughing, as she fell asleep, a sweet smile on her face.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Sometime in the middle of the night, alarms began sounding from the medical unit. Jace and Hunter were both summoned from their warm beds to the med center. Before they got to the unit, they heard Amy’s screeching, angry voice, crying out to be released, that she was the leader, she was in charge, not Arianna. Jace and Hunter looked at one another wearily and entered the unit. Apparently, she hadn’t got the message about no more excitement before morning.

Hunter got the full blast of her animosity and growing hatred for Arianna the moment he stepped into the room. Damn, but Amy could broadcast! Which was strange, since he got absolutely no sense of her being a Reader. How could she send out such powerful energy and yet have no trace of psychic ability? That disturbed him greatly. It troubled him even more that he was not unaffected by her thoughts, that she had the unconscious ability to instill hostility and negative energy into the atmosphere and alter the behavior of her companions. He was a strong Reader, had trained very early in life to build walls against psychic attack, but he had never come up against anything like Amy. Steeling himself by reinforcing his mental walls, he strode into the ward and took stock of the situation in one quick glance.

Amy was being restrained by two of the warriors, her upper body wrapped tightly in the arms of one medic, as the other warrior clasped her legs. Hanging sideways, feet off the ground, she was still wiggling and jerking, trying to get free. An IV tube dangled from one of her arms, blood dripping down onto the floor from it. Hunter frowned at it as Jace cursed, but stayed where he was as a medic took care of the thing. The damn girl must have ripped it from the bag of fluid, instead of just pressing the button to disconnect it. Hunter was more upset that she might have further injured herself, than that she was causing a scene.

“Report,” Hunter calmly ordered.

“This woman was attacking her leader,” one of the medics spat, his revulsion for Amy’s behavior apparent. “She ripped the translator from Commander Arianna’s head.”

Jace cursed and hurried to Ri’s side, checking for damage. Two medics were already there and seemed to have the situation in hand, but Jace still spoke softly to Arianna.

“You are all right?” he asked, checking her eyes, taking over the task of holding an absorbent cloth pad to her temple, where blood was trickling from the exit wound. The other warriors grinned knowingly at his unnecessary fussing and moved away.

“I think so,” Ri muttered, glaring at Amy. “Hurts like hell, though!”

“It will,” Jace assured her. “It is not meant to be removed so abruptly. Fortunately, it does have a fail-safe to keep it from leaving anything behind in your brain, so other than the nasty headache, you should be fine.”

“Good. What the hell was she trying to accomplish?” Ri asked, bewildered. “It’s not like she knew how to use the damn thing, especially since she didn’t remove it properly.”

“No,” Hunter said, moving to her side and quickly looking her over in concern. She felt his mind gently probe hers, seeing for himself that she was okay. Both Readers could feel Amy’s seething rage at being ignored in favor of Arianna. Hunter went on, “And it could have killed her, had she tried. But we will find out.” Over his shoulder, he barked, “Bring her over here!”

Amy was carried, still struggling, but tiring quickly because of her injuries, to Ri’s bedside.

“What in the world were you trying to do?” Arianna demanded, keeping her voice as calm as she could, under the circumstances. Amy glared at her, anger and an inflated sense of unfairness broadcasting from her. The two Readers were hit with the malevolence of her energy and Hunter actually had to keep himself from taking a step back from the blast. Ri groaned at the renewed pain. Jace glared at the girl, knowing from a lifetime of living among Readers that Ri had been hit with something psychically.

“I should be in charge, not you!” Amy cried angrily. Hunter, Jace, and Ri all stared at the young woman as though she’d lost her mind.

“Why?” Ri asked, and was proud of how reasonable she sounded.

“Because I’m prettier, younger, and not fat,” Amy spat in derision. Ri gawked at the girl.

“Those are hardly qualifications for leadership,” Hunter told Ri, who translated. “Arianna was chosen for reasons you may not understand, but suffice to say that she is a sound choice, and one accepted by myself and my officers. It does not matter who holds the translator… Ri is the one we will go through until all the women can understand us.”

Amy stilled when she heard that.

“But you seem to be so into her,” the other girl whined, talking straight to him. “What do you see in such a… fat old nobody?”

“Wow,” Ri muttered, “Rude much?”

“Well, really!” Amy burst out. “Look at you! And look at him! He’s incredible! You’re not. He should be with someone like me, not you.”

“He’s not ‘with’ anyone,” Ri said, shaking her head in disbelief at the girl’s attitude. “None of them are. And get over yourself. You’re not all that, either.”

“I’m the most popular woman in my sorority and the guys at the frat house adore me.”

Hunter and Jace rolled their eyes when Arianna explained what a frat house was and the types of guys who generally hung around girls like Amy.

“Please tell your ‘lady’,” Jace said, “That
boys
are often known to chase a young, willing body, but that grown men, educated and experienced warriors like us, tend to want more than just a pretty face.”

“And while she might think she is attractive,” Hunter added, “She is far too skinny, too young, and too immature for any of our tastes, regardless of her popularity back on your world.”

Arianna was more than pleased to pass that information along. Amy didn’t believe it for an instant, but it was still fun to watch her mouth fall open at Hunter’s words.

“Return her to her bed,” Jace ordered in disgust. “And restrain her. I don’t want her waking and trying anything else with Arianna.”

“Yes, sir,” the medics said, then quickly carried out Jace’s command. Hunter nodded in approval.

“I sense something… odd… in that one,” Hunter murmured. “Jace, run a psyche eval on her. I want to be sure she is safe to allow into the general population. And I want an extra guard in here at all times. As long as she and Arianna are in the same place, I want double watch. Understood?”

“Aye, sir,” Jace said with a small salute.

“I don’t trust her,” Ri sighed, rubbing her temples, hissing when she hit the spot where the translator had been. Then she stopped and stared up at Hunter.

“What is it, little one?” the commander asked, sitting on the edge of her bed.

“I’m not wearing the translator,” she pointed out, grinning weakly. He smiled back.

“You’re not, are you? Other than the neuro-trans that’s embedded.” He nodded to himself, as though confirming something. “The implanted translators work more quickly through interaction, but they also work more quickly in more intelligent minds. You, my sweet little warrior, are apparently a genius.”

She automatically made a scoffing sound at that, but couldn’t help a sheepish grin.

“I am, actually,” she admitted after a moment, peeking up at him through her disheveled bangs. “My mother had me tested.”

He sensed that there was a joke in there, confirmed when Kim stifled a chortle. His gaze warmed at that, his smile slow and speculative.

“You never fail to see the humor in life, do you, commander?” he asked softly. Her eyes went dark for a moment, her face sober, then she smiled sadly and shook her head.

“Life’s too short,” she said quietly. “I learned that you can either cry over it or laugh, and I really like to laugh.”

“Wise as well as intelligent,” Hunter sighed, grinning at her. He liked this tiny woman more with each new discovery.

“Would you allow me to give you one of our tests?” Jace asked, a bit of excitement creeping into his voice. “It would be interesting to find out if our scales for intelligence are similar.”