Prime Selection (18 page)

Joen released their arms long enough to open the bar’s heavy exterior door and allow her and Lia to pass through the exit before him. Once outside, he offered his arm to Lia with a sympathetic smile to Nadia.

Yeah, he knew his touch bothered her.

Joen was perfect for Lia. He was intelligent, even-tempered for a Prime, and a complete gentleman. The couple’s emotional auras meshed even more now than a couple of days ago.

And, no, Nadia wasn’t green-eyed with jealousy at her good friend’s luck; she merely desired the same luck.

*

Huw kept an eye on the trio as they left the bar. He fought the urge to run after them and escort Nadia to her quarters himself, to make sure she had no lingering injury from Cas Jod’s barreling into her earlier that day.

It was getting harder and harder to avoid showing his feelings for Nadia in public.

But the mission loomed, and his words to the others about honor and conscience were what he had promised himself to abide by until it was proven one way or another whether any Lost Ones survived.

The others didn’t understand his position; but then had they really thought it through? He had—and he could not openly court Nadia until he was sure he wouldn’t hurt either an undiscovered
gemate
or Nadia.

After the door closed on the three, Iolyn hit him on the arm—hard. “You, my brother, are a fool!”

Rubbing the place his brother had punched, he turned and glared. “What was that for? What did I do?”

Royce snorted and leaned back in his chair, cradling his drink. His light blue eyes glittered angrily. “You insulted all women other than Prime ones, asswipe. And, if you hadn’t noticed, we had two non-Prime women sitting at the table. Mel would’ve wiped the floor with your face if she’d heard the crap you were shoveling.”

Huw frowned. “I told the truth.”

Iolyn muttered under his breath.

Huw winced at his brother’s furious, vulgar words.

“Joen likes Lia, you imbecile.” Iolyn punched him on the arm again. “If you hadn’t noticed, he’s been courting the little Terran doctor for weeks. How do you think Lia felt hearing she wasn’t good enough to mate with a Prime male?”

“That’s not what I said or meant. Joen and Lia?” Huw opened his mouth and then shut it. “I didn’t realize. I will, of course, apologize if that is how my words sounded.”

“They sounded all right. Better apologize to Nadia while you’re at it,” Ard interjected, “on your knees.”

“Why on my knees?” He didn’t like Ard speaking so familiarly of Nadia. The science officer had displayed far too much interest in her.

“Because Nadia likes you, dick wad,” Royce said.

At Huw’s huff of disbelief, the captain of the
Leonidas
added, “A lot. She likes you a whole hell of a lot.” Royce sighed. “Listen up, dumb ass. I’ve known and served with Nadia for over five standard years. I’ve never seen the Iceberg so emotional over a man in all that time—and that includes the anger she felt toward the guy who attempted to rape her.”

At the mention of rape and Nadia in the same sentence, a chill swept down Huw’s back. It was as if Royce’s words conjured up an ill wind, a portent of things to come, rather than a memory from the past. Huw shook it off and rubbed the ache over his heart.

He wasn’t precognitive. In fact, other than the usual empathy Prime warriors displayed for strong emotions during battle, he’d never been particularly psychically sensitive at all.

Well, that is, not until the Tarn incident when Nadia had somehow projected her thoughts to him and vice-versa. But he could explain the unusual occurrence as her being telepathic and him being a sensitive receiver.

“Mel shared some information about the incident in Nadia’s past.” Iolyn broke the long and uncomfortable silence Royce’s words had spawned. “Prime males do not rape or abuse women.”

Choking on his drink, Royce coughed. “Um, what about those fanatics who took Mel and Nadia? The women were beaten, bruised … naked from what I read in the report. Are you telling me those filthy bastards hadn’t planned on sexually assaulting them? Hell, Wulf’s swearing fucking blistered the paint on the conference room wall when Mel made her oral report to the Admiral about the incident.”

Royce gestured wildly, some of his drink sloshing over the edge of the glass. “And what about Tarn? The Prime who’d hired those mercs had given them carte blanche to torture our crew members—especially the women. You don’t think the rebel leader didn’t know the mercs he hired had been slavers in the past and would’ve raped our female crew members before they sold them to the Antareans?”

Rage burned anew within Huw at what could have happened to Nadia if she’d been captured on Tarn. He’d seen the room in the military facility the mercenary force had prepared for torture. While it had been intended for all the Gold Squad members, the women would have been particularly vulnerable to some of the devices they’d found. He and the other rescuers had taken great pleasure in smashing the torture devices to bits.

“Stop growling, brother, or you’ll have me starting.” Iolyn’s anger had turned his tanned skin dark red. “Royce, those Prime
apayebote
are not indicative of the majority of Prime men. Women are cherished for the creators of life they are.”

“Yeah, sure,” Royce drawled. “I’ve read some Prime histories, including one by your Uncle, Tenar Caradoc. Prime have prided themselves on their ability to fight and survive.

Well, war is hell—and often, in the drive to win, acts are committed which violate all rules of decency. The Prime’s history in the galaxy has been one of imperialism and subjugation of the native people much as England did on Earth during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.”

Royce turned to Iolyn and then Huw, raising one sandy-colored brow. “So, you two keep telling yourself that little lie about the all-so-noble-when-it-comes to-women Prime male. But from what I’ve heard and later read in the interrogation transcripts, the Prime fanatics have threatened to rape, torture, and then kill any non-Prime female caught consorting with a Prime male.”

The Prime males emitted low, angry sounds, scaring the other diners around them.

Royce’s lips twisted in what Huw discerned as scorn. “Didn’t read your communiqués today or listen when Kerr made the announcement at the end of the lecture, did you? I’m thinking Joen did, because he made sure the ladies had an escort. If he hadn’t offered, I would’ve. None of our female military personnel is to be out alone while we’re dirt-side. Those orders come from not only the Alliance Military Headquarters, but also from Premier Caradoc.”

He took a drink and swept the table with a glance, his stern gaze finally settling on Huw. “But I digress. Bottom line, Huw, will you apologize to both women or not?”

“Yes.” Huw took a drink of his Valerian whiskey, needing the heated jolt it gave his suddenly icy body.

The voiced threat to the women of Gold Squadron—to Nadia—chilled him to the bone. The announcement and orders must have gone out while he’d attempted to have sex with Susa; his anger at being forced to attend this evening’s lecture had caused him to shut Kerr and Lia out. Shame and guilt had him kicking himself mentally.

Then something scratched and thudded against the wall of denial he’d built around the mental bond he had with Nadia. The skin above his heart burned. And over it all, a deep foreboding—much akin to what he felt when a battle had reached a critical point— swept over his body and roiled in his gut.

Huw glanced around the bar, but didn’t see anything to warrant such battle feelings—and none of the other Prime at the table seemed overly concerned. But then they were too busy being mad at him.

He shook his head in an attempt to throw off the sensations and turned his thoughts back to the current topic of discussion. “I will apologize, because I was rude and inconsiderate. But you’re wrong, Royce. Nadia doesn’t like me. She hates me. She turned her back on me, both on Tarn and again this morning.” He strove hard to keep the petulance out of his tone.

“God give me strength. Am I the only one who has noticed you’ve been avoiding and turning your back on her whenever she’s around?” Royce’s voice was filled with antipathy.

“He’s correct, Huw,” said Kerr. The others nodded in agreement. “You are the one who does those things and have been for over two weeks. Nadia must have understood your message and decided not to engage with you any longer. If you want my opinion, you have driven her away.”

“Kerr’s correct. Nadia was open to you in a way she’s never been with any Alliance soldier,” Royce said. “But then you started spouting off the Prime women are supreme bullshit all the time and treating her as if she had a contagious disease. She probably got tired of your crap.”

Ard smiled, a sly look in his eyes. “If you don’t want her, Huw, I would like to date her. Court her like the good doctors suggested in class. Nadia is strong and beautiful. Her skin and hair glow like starlight off the Cejuru Prime seas. She would give a man handsome, strong sons and beautiful daughters.”

Huw turned to snarl at his soon-to-be former friend’s provoking words when the door to the bar was thrust open with a crash.

A disheveled, bloody Lia stumbled into the room and collapsed to the floor. “Help them,” she cried out weakly.

Kerr ran to Lia’s side to check over her wounds. The other men raced for the door.

Huw beat them to it and was the first through. He dropped the thick wall he’d constructed around the connection to Nadia. Images bombarded his mind.

Fighting. Knives. Thuds. Groans. Heavy breathing. Fear … cold, icy fear. Nadia’s pain. Her increasing weakness.

Everything that made him a dominant, protective Prime male roared to the surface.

Without conscious thought, he sent his strength across the connection he’d never verbally acknowledged, willing her to hold on, to survive until he arrived.

And his soul screamed
“Nadia!”
in a looping crescendo.

Minutes earlier, outside the bar

The heat of the day had vanished with sunset. A fog bank hung low over the breakwater protecting the capital city’s wharf area. Fishing boats and pleasure craft bobbed gently in their berths.

The night air was refreshing after the too-warm bar. Nadia took a deep breath, allowing the salty smelling air and the sound of the surf hitting rocks to wash over her.

Unfortunately, not even the peaceful beauty of Cejuru Prime’s ocean could calm her inner turmoil.

“Nice night.” Joen’s voice was whiskey-smooth and filled with concern. His body was a solid warmth next to her, close but not quite touching. She shoulder-bumped him, a silent gesture of thanks for his attempt to maintain a sense of normalcy. She was lucky to have him as a friend.

“Yes, it is,” said Lia, following Joen’s lead. “I love this temperate equatorial climate.

Hot during the day and cool at night. The fog bank reminds me of San Francisco Bay on Earth. Looks like it might rain tomorrow, though. The sunset was really rosy.”

Joen chuckled. “This is not Earth, Lia. The rain will come tonight, but tomorrow will be another clear day. Would you ladies like to go deep-sea fishing with me? It will be a perfect day for it. We could catch some fish and have a … what do you Terrans call it when you cook and eat outside?”

“A barbeque or picnic,” Lia said. “I’d love that. We have the day off before we find out what the change in mission orders entails. Nadia, please say you’ll come.”

“No, you two go.” She appreciated the fact they wanted to include her, but she refused to be an awkward third. Lia and Joen needed the opportunity to connect. Being a couple on a ship populated with mostly Prime males would be challenging. Private time would be limited. “Anyway, I’d promised Mel I’d prepare what the landing parties could expect to find on the target planets we’ll visit during our upcoming mission. Some of the planets aren’t geologically stable and others have had changes in atmosphere.”

The Prime had searched for years and found no trace of the missing ships. But Mel’s survival and changes in original routes noted on the data disks she’d brought with her had been the impetus for the mission. Nadia put the chances of finding any of the missing Prime women and children at less than point two percent. Mel’s survival had been a miracle according to her adoptive parents’ diary.

Yet, the Alliance felt the effort should be made as a goodwill gesture for their new signatory, the Prime. Plus, it would be a good way to shake down the merged Prime and Alliance crews, a test before taking on more deadly and dangerous missions.

Lia opened her mouth to say something when Nadia stiffened.

“Shh.” Nadia touched Joen’s arm as she reached for her side arm with her right hand.

“Someone’s out there. Stalking us.”

Joen stiffened, his formerly relaxed mood gone in an instant. He hissed under his breath, “Yes-s-s-s, I sense them now.”

Leaning into Joen, she used her peripheral vision and detected four hulking shapes hugging the shadows of the buildings opposite the shoreline. Their stalkers had begun trailing them a few meters back. She’d thought nothing of their presence at the time, but as the group had begun to close the gap between them, their violent emotions had assaulted her senses.

“Of course, Nadia, we’ll go back and get your jacket.” Joen spoke loudly, his words echoing off the buildings in the quiet night air.

She admired Joen’s quick thinking. He gently herded her and Lia back toward the brightly lit bar. They hadn’t come far, maybe three hundred meters or less. The bar was the closest place of safety and reinforcement; all the other businesses were closed for the night.