His gaze met hers then, and he cocked his head slightly. “Then you’ll have one less Draeken to worry about.”
“Amen to that,” Sienna called out as she appeared around a corner and into Nalea’s line of sight. “But Nalea’s right. You’re in no shape to be out of bed.”
“Eavesdropping again?” Roden asked.
“When it comes to my bestie being in the same room as my worst enemy, you’re damn straight. And you better get used to it because
The Roden Show
is on twenty-four/seven here.”
Nalea pushed the dark glasses back on. He grunted and pushed off from the wall. “Get me Sommers.”
“I don’t follow your orders,” Sienna snapped back.
“Please,” Roden said, except the word came out as an order.
Sienna shot him a hard glare, but picked up her cell phone.
Roden stepped forward, but his knee buckled. Without thinking, Nalea slid herself under his shoulder, taking on some of his weight. He grumbled but didn’t push her away. As she hefted his dead weight, she looked up at Sienna. “A little help here?”
Sienna looked aghast as she slid her cell phone into her pocket. “Uh, hello? Cripple here.” She motioned to her leg.
Nalea snorted. “I’ve known you long enough to know that you would never, ever consider yourself crippled.”
Sienna rolled her eyes with a dramatic flair before sliding her arm around Roden’s other side, but was immediately pulled away.
Nalea glanced up to see a furious Legian standing in the hallway, with an arm wrapped around Sienna’s waist. Lieutenant Colonel Sommers, along with three human soldiers, stood a several feet away.
“Glad you could make it,” Nalea said. “It seems Roden is intent on killing himself, and we’re helping him.”
Sommers smirked. “Well, if that’s the case … ” He motioned, and two of his men stepped forward and took on much of Roden’s weight. Nalea stepped back with relief. Being in such close proximity with her
tahren
, even with the disjunctor, was unnerving.
Sienna and Legian led them down several long hallways before coming to a large room with one wall covered in windows. His ships had already begun to arrive. Armed soldiers — all human aside from a few of her people — flocked onto the tarmac. Humans and Sephians alike looked more than a little apprehensive, but Roden’s people had clearly provided the clearance codes to land, or else they would’ve been shot down.
“I would thank you for the assistance, but I much preferred the company of the two women — ow!” Roden sniped, and Nalea noticed one of the soldiers grabbed a wing none too gently as they stepped away from the Draeken. Roden stretched his wing, glancing back. “Your people are quite clumsy.”
“Mm,” Sommers replied with a smile.
Roden leaned against a window, his pale skin made even paler in the light. He looked absolutely exhausted, probably as much from blood loss as from the
tiscalin
. Nalea wanted to touch him, to run her hands over him, but she stood firm. He sighed. “My ships will have room for more if you have any soldiers you’d like to send along. But, if they come, they’re under my command for this one.”
“Giving orders now? That wasn’t part of our deal,” Sommers said, his armed crossed over his chest. “You better tread softly, Zyll.”
Roden sighed again. “If Otas has partially completed upgrading power cells on the base, then the core ships won’t be far behind. We’re on borrowed time as it is.”
“And what do you propose?” Sommers asked, coming a bit more to attention. “We can’t breach that force shield.”
Roden gave him a toothy grin. “Ah, but we can now. My teams have just finished updating the power cells on several ships.”
“That’s awfully convenient,” Sienna said, sounding suspicious.
“No,” Roden replied. “That’s
lucky
.”
Sienna shook her head. “Who’s to stop you from turning that power on us after we take down your competition?”
He won’t.
Nalea suddenly noticed everyone looking at her.
Suvaste
. “I said that out loud, didn’t I?”
Sienna nodded dumbly.
Roden smirked.
“Well,” Nalea stammered. “It’s true. Roden doesn’t want another war.”
Still watching Nalea, Roden spoke. “I do want peace. And I also don’t renege on my promises. I’ll keep to the terms that we agreed on.” Roden ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “Listen, it’s not my intent to cause friction at the onset of our relationship. However, we simply don’t have the time to negotiate right now. Otas won’t suspect that my teams have upgraded the cells so quickly, but he has to know they’re working on them. We must move quickly, because I doubt you’ll like the outcome if he’s still in charge when the core ships are at full power.”
“Same plan as before?” Sommers asked.
“You can’t be seriously considering this,” Sienna said.
Nalea frowned at her friend. She’d never noticed how much Sienna hated the Draeken before. Then, the cold truth knocked her back. She’d never noticed because
she
had hated the Draeken so much. Roden was right. Nalea lumped his entire race into one bucket labeled “unworthy of living.” She had plenty of meditation — and apologizing — to do.
Roden smirked at Sienna’s comment. “But I need my ships this time. They have the power necessary to take down the force barrier.”
“We can take your ships,” Sommers countered quickly. “But we’re doubling the human troops. You run the show to take down the force shield, and I run the show on the ground.”
Roden nodded. “As long as I lead the team that goes for Otas.”
Sommers thought for a moment, then nodded. “Apolo goes with you. And I select your squad.”
“I have to be on that squad,” Nalea added. When everyone turned to her, she added, “I know Otas better than anyone. I’ll wear a vest so I should be safe for everyone around me.”
Sommers nodded. “You have a point. While that thing around your neck is still an unknown risk, we need to get to Otas quickly.”
“One last thing,” Roden said. “I’d like my people back.”
Sommers narrowed his eyes. “And exactly which ones would that be, Zyll?”
Roden cocked his head. “Talla Kohlm, for starters, who I know for a fact Sienna has had the pleasure of hosting for the past year, as well my compatriots abducted from Club Mayhem.”
“I can’t promise anything, but I’ll look into it.”
“You do that,” Roden said, the challenge clear in his words. “Are we good here?”
“Almost,” Sommers said. He motioned to a soldier who pulled out a syringe and approached.
Roden took a step back. “What is that?”
“This,” Sommers held up the syringe. “Contains a tracer. Consider this an assurance that you don’t plan to leave us high and dry once this is done. Any Draeken
and
Sephian under command also gets a tracer.”
Nalea stood there, holding her breath. A tracer would effectively put a bulls-eye on Roden. The humans could take him — or any of their people — out whenever they wanted.
“An assurance, then. I’ll make arrangements for my troops,” Roden said before holding out his arm.
Sommers smirked and shook his head. Then pointed to his neck.
“
Fyet
. I do believe that you enjoy this.” Roden lowered his head and winced when Sommers injected him.
Roden looked back up, rubbing his neck. “Happy now?”
“Mm,” Sommers replied.
The door opened, and a small Draeken female stepped inside. She glanced around, and once she saw Roden, she headed directly to him. She pulled out a small black case from her pocket. He nodded in the direction of Sienna and Sommers. “That belongs to them.”
Nalea watched as Sienna’s face filled with hard caution, but she accepted the package first.
“My end of the bargain,” Roden said. “We’ve made adjustments to the prototype to make the update process more efficient. With this, you should be able to get all the Sephian power cells updated within a month. I’m working on the conversion on my base now.”
“I’ll take that,” Sommers said, relieving Sienna of the package. “We’ll work out the conversion timetable together.”
Sienna scowled but relented.
Interesting.
A sense of foreboding filled Nalea. The humans had even more control over the Sephians than she’d first realized.
“So your entire base, not just your ships, will be running at full power soon?” Sommers asked, looking skeptical and not a bit pleased.
Roden nodded. “Soon, and I suspect you’d like to continue our discussions of a more permanent alliance after this mission because I can assure you, you don’t want me for an enemy.”
Sommers bristled. “You won’t intimidate me, Zyll. And, don’t forget, you came here without permission. This planet doesn’t belong to you. We’ll fight tooth and nail to keep our home.”
“As long as the alliance we reach is mutually beneficial, I assure you that things will go smoothly.” His voice then lowered, the words more drawn out. “I hope your people have learned from past mistakes, such as how the natives to this country were originally handled. My people would find that kind of treatment … unacceptable.”
“Fair enough,” Sommers said tightly.
Roden’s lips curved upward and he clapped his hands once. “Then we’ll get along splendidly. I already have some ideas for how you can leverage our power cells.”
Three hours later, Nalea sat in a lounge with Roden, Sienna, Legian, Sommers, and several other human officers, finalizing plans for the raid. The female Draeken stepped into the room as though she owned the place. She was the first Draeken Nalea had seen on Earth who was shorter than her. She watched with suspicion as the winged female pulled out a fabric case and opened it to reveal a syringe of black fluid. Nalea sucked in a breath and glared at Roden. “
Merr
? You can’t be serious.”
Roden glanced down at her. Hard truth shone in his eyes. “You want peace? You want a shot at Otas? Then this is it, my dear. There’s no time to lose, and there’s no turning back.”
“But that drug has a seventy percent death rate,” she countered.
“Sorry to disappoint you, but I’ve used it more than once before and I’m still here,” he said with a crooked grin. He returned his attention to the Draeken at his side. “Hit me, Gix.”
Nalea stared as Roden was injected with the highly illegal drug. He gave a sharp wince as the drug entered his bloodstream.
Merr
was a last resort drug, used to amp up adrenaline for several hours, most often used during warfare to allow wounded soldiers to continue the fight.
She shook her head.
He’s crazy.
“You’ll be helpless for days after it wears off.”
Roden stretched his wings, then his arms, clearly still in pain but already moving with more fluidity than seconds earlier. He glanced her way. “Then I’ll be sure to be in bed and ensconced safely in your arms by then.”
Gix scowled at the comment but — wisely — didn’t say anything. Nalea flipped off the other woman anyway.
“I think we’re done here,” Roden said with a smirk. “My ships depart for the base in fifteen minutes.” With that, he walked outside.
Nalea jogged to catch up. “Hold up,” she said, grabbing Roden by the shoulder.
He turned, and she glared at Gix, who after a moment, continued to walk ahead.
“There’s something I can’t figure out,” she said quietly. “You went after Hillas before your ships were at full power. If you waited, you wouldn’t have needed help from the humans and Sephians now. Why?”
His lips curved upward. “Hillas had bragged too soon. Until he had operating power cells, he was weak. It was the optimal time to bring in humans to take down Hillas with minimal risk. Wars are always good for alliances. If he hadn’t initiated the force barrier, we would have succeeded in taking Otas down.”
“But the mission failed.”
“Never.” His fingers brushed over her hair. “I found you.”
He bent down to kiss her but then pulled away. “But there will be time for that later.” He glanced over to his ship, then back at her. In his eyes, she saw sadness. “That wasn’t the only reason why I had to go in sooner versus later.”
Nalea cocked her head. “What’s the other reason?”
He touched her chin with his finger and thumb, and gently lifted. “I can’t feel you.” He touched the pendant around her neck. “We need to get that damn thing off you.”
Pain stabbed at her heart. She cared for Roden, more than she should. She wanted to tear the disjunctor off. She craved to feel Roden, but she refused to tell him that. Giving into him now would only weaken her. “Why do you care?” she asked quietly.
His lips pursed. “Even though I couldn’t feel you, knew that you were likely dead already, I couldn’t
not
go back. You are my
tahren
, whether you like it or not. And I will never abandon you, not if there’s the most minuscule chance that you’re alive.”
He looked so honest saying the words, as though he was pulling them directly from his soul. She jerked away and stared. Her world spun. Breathing became harder. She turned on her heel, and jogged away between two buildings in a rush, refusing to let Roden see the tears that were now burning her eyes.
Once she regained her emotions, a new, more rational feeling surfaced. Anger. He’d never abandon her? Ha! That’s exactly what he’d done, and she hated herself for feeling rejected because of it.
Nalea didn’t look the least bit happy, but it warmed Roden’s heart nonetheless to see Sommers approved her joining his squad. Of course, Sommers never had problems sending Sephians or Draeken on missions when it could save a human.
Nalea was in full battle gear, running her finger down a blade. Most men would want to shelter their women, keep them safely cocooned from violence. That would never work with Nalea.
My warrior woman.
She needed to be free to make her own choices. She came alive in battle, and there was no one he’d rather have at his side in case things went to hells. If they died, they died together.
He knew that, despite the disjunctor, she held feelings for him. And he’d make her acknowledge them one way or another.
As Gix piloted the ship, he glanced over the impromptu crew of members from three races. Hard to believe less than a day earlier, he’d been on a much different ship, staring at different faces, yet the atmosphere had been the same.