Awakening (Earth Evolution Series Book 4) (6 page)

Chapter 8

Squirrel frowned at the mediko who asked her to get on the exam table. She wasn’t here for him and she didn’t care for his brisk attitude toward her.

“No, I’ll wait for Mediko Estro.”

“He’s running late. I am qualified to give you a checkup.”

“I don’t know you. You haven’t been here before.”

“I just transferred from the ship Firestorm. Now get up on the exam table human.” He reached for her elbow and she knocked it away.

“I said no!” She moved backward and tripped, falling onto the floor.

“Get away from her!” Tagar barged in and with one hand lifted the mediko up in the air by his neck.

Holy hell, he was strong!
Squirrel was too stunned to move.

“What is going on in here?” Jared demanded as he walked in. He immediately went to aid Squirrel who was struggling to get to her feet.

“This male was touching Lihali after she told him no.” Tagar growled.

Jared frowned. “Lihali?”

“That’s me. I’ll explain later.” She walked over to Tagar and touched his arm. “Its okay, Tagar. I’m fine. You can let him down now.”

Tagar lowered the mediko to the floor. She didn’t let go of Tagar until he let go of the other man.

Mediko Romer gasped for breath and stepped as far from Tagar as he could get. “Do you see? This is why we should never have brought these people to the command ship. We never should have come to this horrible planet to begin with!”

Jared glared at the male. “Mediko Romer, you are relieved of duty until further notice.”

Romer grumbled as he stormed out of the mediko. Squirrel wrapped her arms around her middle trying to stop from shaking. The hate that poured out of Romer was nothing like she had ever experienced before and it was directed at her.

“Squirrel, are you okay?” Jared asked with concern.

She nodded but no words came to her.

“Did he hurt you?”

She took a shaky breath. “No. He wanted to examine me but I told him that I would wait for you since I didn’t know him.”

“He pushed you on the floor.” Tagar growled angrily.

“He tried to reach for me. I panicked and pushed him away then tripped and fell.”

Jared looked worried. “May I examine you? I need to make sure you didn’t injure yourself when you fell.”

“I will wait outside,” Tagar told her gently.

“Thank you for coming to my rescue, Tagar.”

“Any time, Lihali,” Tagar told her as left the room.

She looked at Jared and saw that he was frowning. “What’s wrong?”

“Why does he call you
Lihali
? It’s a form of endearment.”

She felt heat rise to her cheeks. “He was calling me
miss
because he knew that Quinn hated for anyone to call me Squirrel. Tagar asked what he could call me and I told him the only thing I could think of, which was what Quinn calls me. Was that wrong?”

“No, I was merely curious. Let me scan you to see if you were injured.”

She sat up on the exam table and waited while he scanned her. “You have a few bruises but otherwise you are doing really well. I’ll give you a booster shot to help with your healing.” He pressed a pressurized needleless air pen up to her arm. There was no pain involved. “All done.”

“Thank you, Jared.” She was already feeling better.

“It’s my pleasure to aid you. Don’t listen to what Mediko Romer said.”

“How can I not? I thought it was the human rebels that were bigots but that kind of hate isn’t just tied to humans.”

“What is a bigot?”

“It means he’s prejudiced against me because I am human. It means if he had a gun in his hands I would be dead and he would be thrilled about it.”

“I agree he spoke out of line but that could be that Tagar almost squeezed the life out of him. Don’t take it personally.”

“How can I not when he hates humans like me?”

Tagar stuck his head back inside with concern. “Do you have need of me?”

She had to work to calm herself down. “I’m fine, thank you, Tagar.”

Tagar nodded and went back out. Jared gave her a pointed look. “Not all of us feel that way, just like not all humans hate us for being aliens.”

That was true. She looked up when the door opened again, and this time it was Lily. She was smiling until she saw their expressions. “What’s wrong?”

Squirrel tried to give her a smile. “Nothing.”

Lily didn’t look like she believed her but she let it drop. She turned her eyes to Jared. “Have you told her yet?”

“I was waiting for you to come.”

“Tell me what?”

“I was able to track your DNA with Earth’s database,” Jared told her.

“Did you find my family? What my name is?” She would love to have a different name to go by than using Squirrel. She never liked that nickname anyway.

Lily came closer. “We found a name: Natalie Fanning.” There was a long pause as Lily looked at Jared.

The name meant nothing to her, it didn’t ring any memories from her. She suspected there was more. “What are you not telling me?”

Lily motioned for Jared to leave them alone. Once he’d gone to the back where his office was located, Lily put a hand on her shoulder. “You were given up when you were a baby. Your mother was a --sixteen-year-old girl named April Fanning. There was no father’s name listed on your birth certificate.”

She felt like she had suffered an extreme blow to her gut. She had stood up but now she sat back down on the exam table. “So I’m a fatherless, unwanted bastard?”

“Natalie—”

“Don’t call me that name. I don’t know that name.”

“You’re not unwanted. We want you here. Quinn wants you here. It doesn’t matter where you came from; it matters where you choose to go next.”

“I need some time to process this.”

“Talk to Quinn, honey. He’ll be worried about you.”

“Maybe.” She left the mediko without glancing at Tagar. She knew he followed but he gave her the space and silence she needed. Soon she realized she wasn’t going in any real direction. She stopped and turned to Tagar. “Could you take me to the room with the windows that looks out over space?”

“Of course. It’s this way.”

She followed Tagar to the lift. They went up several floors before getting off. Tagar entered the room with the windows first. No one was there and she was grateful. She went to the window and stared out into space. Tagar stood next to her silently and stared out the window too. Then he spoke softly, she almost didn’t hear him.

“My younger sister and I were abandoned when we were just children. We had different fathers. My father was a commander but when he died in battle, my mother went to another male who got her pregnant. My mother was young and had no one to help her with us; she suffered stages of dementia. This was before our medical advancements kicked in.

“When I was ten years old, I came home from school to find my mother crying. My little sister was only six months old and she was wailing for help. My mom handed my sister to me and told me to take care of her. Then my mom walked out the door of our home. She never came back.” 

“I’m so sorry, Tagar.”

“I used to wonder what I had done to make her leave. I thought it was my fault.”

She put her hand on his arm. “It wasn’t. The fault lies with her. She should never have abandoned her children, or she should have found someone to take them in.”

“It took time for me to understand that.”

“Who took you and your sister in?”

“Several different families volunteered. They didn’t mind having me; I would be a warrior and would bring honor to a family. I had to fight them to take my sister in with me. She was such a little thing. You remind me of her.”

She smiled. “What is her name?”

Tagar’s face lit up. “Arisa.”

“So you were able to keep the two of you together?”

“Yes, I refused to leave her or let anyone take her from me. We used to look up at the stars and talk about distant planets and meeting new species. When I left to go on my first tour she made me promise to bring back rocks from the different planets I visited. I’ve been on tour several years now but in my quarters I have jars filled with rocks that I will give to my sister upon our return.”

“What is she doing on your home world while you are away?”

“She is training to be a mediko.”

“You must be so proud of her.”

“I am but I miss her terribly.”

She turned to look at the stars and the moon. Earth felt like it wasn’t really her planet anymore. There was nothing down there for her, no one wondering what had happened to her. All these years she had fantasized that there were parents who cried over losing their daughter and maybe a brother or sister who missed her every day.

The name Natalie meant nothing to her. It was just another name like Squirrel that had been given to her with no real meaning or purpose. She preferred the name that Quinn had given her, Lihali. Suddenly, she wanted to see Quinn.

“Do you know where Quinn is? I would really like to see him.”

“I can find out for you.” He tapped his communicator. “He’s in the gym. Do you want me to take you there?”

“Yes, thank you, Tagar.”

“It is my pleasure.”

Chapter 9

Quinn circled his cousin Kyle on the training mats where they were practicing their hand-to-hand combat skills. He had come to the gym an hour ago and worked out hard to release some of his pent-up anger. His cousins came in and immediately knew something was wrong. Instead of asking him to talk about it, they offered to practice with him.

Now they were ready for him to answer some questions. Liam asked, “What happened?”

“Did you know that Uncle Devlon kept me off the riskier missions?”

Kyle shook his head but Liam wouldn’t look him in the eyes.

“You knew, didn’t you, Liam?”

“I did. He was only trying to protect you.”

“Well, he’s given me a choice this time, but he tried to talk me out of it by using—Squirrel.”

“What do you mean?”

“He said that because I was with her, she might be carrying my child.”

Liam nodded. “It could be true. I got Maggie pregnant early on, and Kyle and Rachel are expecting now. I’m surprised Lily isn’t pregnant yet.”

Quinn was still frustrated. “Uncle Devlon says that I’ll be too worried about her to concentrate on the mission. I’ve worked too hard to let anything get in my way, especially someone I just met.”

The three men were so deep in their conversation they didn’t see the small shadow by the door as it slipped out of sight.

*****

Squirrel moved back out of the gym as quietly as possible. Her heart felt broken over Quinn’s words.
I’ve worked too hard to let anything get in my way, especially someone I just met.
She was in his way, keeping him from going on missions that he wanted. She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t belong with Quinn on the command ship but she also didn’t belong on Earth anymore. There wasn’t anywhere for her. Once more, she was all alone.

“Lihali, are you okay?” Tagar asked with concern.

“I’m going back to my quarters to rest. I don’t want to be disturbed, by anyone.”

“Did you speak with Quinn?”

“No, he’s busy with his cousins.” She didn’t say anything else as they went back to her quarters. As she entered the door, she turned back to Tagar. “Could you show me how to change the security on my door? I want to be the only one who can unlock it.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to wait until Quinn comes by to help you do that?”

“I don’t want to see Quinn right now.”

Tagar looked uncomfortable but he helped her reset the security alarm. Only she would have access. As soon as Tagar went outside into the corridor, she locked the door and broke down into tears. All her emotions rose up and overwhelmed her.

She knew it was too good to be true. Good things never happened to her. First she lost her memory, then she almost died in that blast, found out she didn’t belong to a family, and then she fell in love with a sexy alien only to find out he thought she was holding him back. Squirrel had nowhere to go and was wanted by no one. She didn’t know what she was going to do.

*****

“Father was only trying to get you to think about what you would be signing up for. I can’t stand to be apart from Maggie and Milly; I would worry too much about their safety and could make a mistake, jeopardizing not only my life but also those of my team. I’m not missing anything by taking less dangerous missions because I know that what I was given is a gift and precious. Missions can come and go but people, those I love, cannot be replaced,” Liam told him with emotion.

Kyle moved up and placed his hands on Quinn’s shoulders. “Liam’s right. The closer that Rachel gets to her delivery date, the more I want to remain close to her. I help Father and Liam plan out the missions so I am part of things. I’m learning that it’s equally as important to be behind the scenes looking at it from a distance as it is being on the front lines. It can be just as dangerous because we’ve already faced one attack on board. The dissension here must be uncovered, but we can all work together to discover where the problems lie without endangering you.”

“So I should just accept doing less than I am capable of because I don’t want to put her in danger?” Quinn was calmer and a lot of what his cousins were saying made sense to him.

“Rachel calls it working smarter not harder.” The men shook their heads at that.

“I don’t know what I should do,” Quinn admitted.

Liam looked him the eyes. “Let me ask you this: if you went deep undercover on a mission and something happened to Squirrel, how would you feel?”

“Devastated,” he whispered automatically. He would be devastated if something happened to his Lihali while he was gone. She was more important to him than any mission. He was falling in love with her—no, he had already fallen.

“How do you feel about her?”

“I’m in love with her.” His answer was immediate.

“Could you live without her?”

“Never!” Everything fell into place. He knew that his Lihali was the most important thing in his life, a precious gift. “I can’t lose her.”

Liam patted his shoulder. “Then tell her that.”

Where was she at that moment? She was supposed to have a checkup today with Jared but he hadn’t taken the time to see if she was all right. A sudden need to be with her was strong. “I need to go.”

He didn’t hear what his cousins were saying as he rushed to shower and change. Had she eaten today? Was she waiting on him? What if she was pregnant? He needed to make sure she was in full health before that happened. He couldn’t lose her or the baby.

The image of her swollen with his child hit him like a ton of boulders. He froze in removing his clothes and plopped down on the bench. Quinn had always thought he would be older when he had children. He intended to put his career first then later would find a female to start a family with. She would be someone who understood his need to be on missions and wouldn’t have a problem taking on the family responsibilities while he was away.

All that changed as he imagined his Lihali carrying his child. The reality of it was way different than the fantasy. She was so small. Would pregnancy endanger her life? He didn’t want that—he couldn’t take it if something happened to her. What if he was away on a mission when she went into labor? She could lose the baby and be all alone to deal with the loss. He couldn’t do that to her. She had been alone all her life, and he was determined she would never be alone again.

*****

A few hours later

It took longer than he had wanted. After showering and changing into his clothes he got a security call and had to handle the situation. It took a few hours but he was finally heading to see his female. Quinn went up to the level where her quarters were located. He felt relief seeing that Tagar was still on duty. Another warrior would relieve him soon until morning. When Tagar wouldn’t look at him he started to get a feeling that something was wrong.

He waved his hand over the security panel but it flashed red. He did it again but it still wouldn’t open for him. “Computer, open the door.”

“You do not have access to these quarters, Lt. Estro,” the computer responded.

Quinn turned to Tagar. “What is going on here? Who removed my access?”

“Lihali did.”

“What did you call her?”

“She told me to call her Lihali.”

Quinn wanted to tear the male limb from limb hearing him use the endearment he had for her. “Open the door, Tagar.”

“I do not have access either. Only she does.”

Quinn tried using his communicator to call her but she wouldn’t answer. In frustration, he began to pound on her door. “Open this door right now!”

“She does not want to be bothered by anybody, especially you.” Tagar moved to block his access to the door.

“What is going on out here?” She opened the door and frowned at seeing Quinn. “What do you want?”

Quinn tried to step around Tagar but the huge male was too big. “I came to see you and my access no longer works.”

“I changed it.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want anyone but me to have access to my quarters, at least until I leave the ship.”

Quinn felt dazed a little. “What do you mean, when you leave the ship? Where do you plan to go?”

“I would go back to the tunnels. It’s where I belong.”

“I don’t understand.”

“It’s okay Quinn. I know you want to advance in your career and I’m only interfering with that. I’ll go back to Earth and you can get on with your life.”

He felt like his heart was being ripped out of his chest. “You want to leave me?”

“I want my life back, just like you want your life back.”

“Let me in so we can talk about this.” Quinn tried to move toward her but Tagar was there and put his large hand on his chest.

“Tagar, so help me if you don’t move I will fight you.”

She stepped forward, glaring at him. “Don’t you dare threaten Tagar. He’s been nothing but wonderful to me!”

Now she was defending the other male. He wanted to kill Tagar but seeing how pale she was and that she was shaking uncontrollably had him worried. “Are you well? Do you need a mediko?” He tried to reach out to touch her but she moved away from him.

“My well-being is no longer your concern. I’ve requested to be returned to the tunnels on the next trip down.”

“You’re not going.”

“You have no say in what I do. Good night and goodbye, Quinn.” She stepped back into her apartment and closed the door.

Quinn was furious. She was going to leave him. What in hell happened? He turned on Tagar. “What is going on?”

Tagar glared back at him. “You tell me. I took her by the gym to see you. I waited outside while she went in. A few minutes later she came out very upset but wouldn’t talk about it. When she got back to her quarters I could hear her cry herself to sleep. What did you say to her?”

“I didn’t even see her in the gym. I was talking to my cousins—” It occurred to him that she might have overheard part of their conversation about him wanting to take on missions. Obviously she didn’t hear the whole conversation. “I need to explain to her…”

Tagar growled out at him. “Not tonight. She is too upset and it’s not good for her health.”

“Did her checkup not go well?” He was angry but that subsided at the thought that she might be sick. She did look really pale and her eyes were puffy.

“After the incident with Mediko Romer, I believe her checkup was fine.”

“What incident?”

“Mediko Romer tried to give her the exam without Mediko Jared and she refused him. There was some kind of scuffle and she ended up on the floor.”

“Why was I not notified immediately?” The thought of her hurt had him ready to rip the door off to get to her.

“She didn’t want you to be interrupted. Romer was dismissed from his duties.”

“Was that why she sought me out at the gym? Romer upset her?”

“No, I believe it was the news she received from Mediko Jared on her DNA results.”

“What news?”

“I believe that is her personal information. If she wants you to know, she will tell you.”

“You know, though, don’t you, Tagar? She’s mine.”

“That is her decision to make.” Tagar didn’t look at him.

“She is my hala asawani. I won’t allow another to take her from me.” He meant it, too. She was the other half of his soul.

“Again, that is her decision.”

Quinn wasn’t getting anywhere with Tagar. He would have to come back and try to talk to her when Tagar was off shift. There was no way he would let her leave now. He just had to make her see reason.