Colliding Worlds Trilogy 01 - Collision (29 page)

“So you’d rather see bloodshed than share your bed?” Roden asked.

“I didn’t say that,” Sienna retorted. “How do you even know something like that would work? There’s got to be a better way.”

Roden’s eyes looked Nalea up and down like he was undressing her. “The offer stands, but one of your elite trinity would serve as suitable second choice to unite our races on this new world. After all, this is all of our homes now.”

“I’m nobody’s second choice,” Nalea snarled before lunging at him. Jax held her back, but she broke away and knocked Roden to the ground.

Sienna saw a shimmer in the light and noticed the knife she now gripped. “Lea, no.”

The other two Draeken pulled out their guns, and they did the same. The man pointed his at her heart. He pulled the trigger. She expected to feel the pain that she had felt at the base. Instead, she was knocked to the ground. She looked up to see Legian roll off her and start firing at the Draeken.

She saw the dark gold liquid flowing from his shoulder. “Goddammit, Legian. You got shot.”

“Only a flesh wound,” he muttered.

She pushed him behind the trunk of the tree. Sienna couldn’t see anything. Legian blocked her view. “Stay here,” she ordered, then she jumped behind the next tree. She looked around the large trunk and caught a glimpse of Jax firing his gun while running in a crouched position toward where the Draeken had been standing before she was knocked to the ground.

She fired several shots into the air in case the Sephians had lost contact with Nalea. Something caught her eye. She turned in time to be yanked by the Draeken male.

He tackled her to the ground, and her bad leg was left twisted under his weight. Agony shot through her leg, but she pushed the pain back by biting her lip. Her attacker had been shot at least twice, but he moved like he was in no pain. He lifted a knife. She let out a war cry, jerking her gun to him, squeezing the trigger point blank at his chest.

She couldn’t say how many times she shot him. All she knew is that she held the trigger down until there was a hole where his chest had been. As his body fell down, Legian caught it and threw it to the side. He pulled her to her feet, looked her over for wounds. Only after he convinced himself that she was okay did he pull her into a hard embrace. She turned in his arms, her back to his chest, and they stood, holding each other in a bloodied embrace.

Sienna clutched Legian’s arms around her waist as she stared at the corpse. It didn’t matter if the Draeken was trying to kill her or not. When it came to death, she hated it, and she especially hated being the cause of it.

The sound of voices jarred her from her thoughts. She turned to Legian. Her eyes widened when she remembered he was wounded and slapped her hand over his wound.

He winced and wrapped his hand around her wrist but didn’t pull it away. “Save your strength,” he murmured.

“Trust me. I’ve got enough energy for both of us,” she replied and kept her hand there, the warmth buzzing under her palm. With her adrenaline high, she felt like she could heal every wounded Sephian in a ten-mile radius. For seconds — or minutes — they watched each other, unafraid of each other’s gaze.

Once the heat between Legian’s shoulder and her hand returned to normal, she pulled away and put her hand in his. Together, they walked back toward the cave. Sephian reinforcements had arrived and were scanning the area. Jax sported several cuts but was now keeping busy tying up the Draeken woman, while Nalea was nowhere to be seen.

“Where’s Lea?” she asked to no one in particular.

“We haven’t been able to find her or Roden yet. We searched the area. It doesn’t look like there were any other Draeken with him,” one of the soldiers reported while he warily eyed her.

Her second greatest fear furrowed in her stomach. “Lea’s gone.” She grabbed Legian’s hands. “We’ve got to get her back.”

“We will. I promise.” He brushed a strand of hair from her face, and she felt it stick against her skin. She brought her hand to her cheek. It came away covered in blood.

Sienna knew she looked like a monster, blood coating her skin.

She had killed before. Numbly, she realized that killing was easy. It was the losing a bit of her soul that was the hard part. But that no longer mattered. She would gladly sacrifice another slice of her soul to save her friend.

And to think I wanted to be a warrior.

Sienna scolded herself every time she ended up in another grueling training session with Legian. He looked like he was enjoying himself, as if these training sessions were his revenge for every time she pissed him off. He was getting his vengeance all right, she thought as she tied the bandana around her head to catch the sweat burning her eyes.

She couldn’t see his eyes through the dark sunglasses he wore, which made it even harder to guess his moves. As his
tahren,
she felt his feelings. She wished there was a switch where she could amp up that ability to sense the tiniest shift in emotions when he attacked. Then again, that wouldn’t do her much good in a battle with anyone except Legian. Scratch that idea. Handling his feelings now was tough enough.

To make matters worse, her leg brace had gotten out of whack when the Draeken knocked her to the ground and was now getting recalibrated by Doc. Sienna didn’t have her old brace at the cabin, leaving her to train by balancing on one leg. Serious handicap, but Legian seemed to think it was good for training in case she was ever caught without a brace. Sadist.

Her body felt like it was going to be black and blue by morning. She’d be lucky if she could get out of bed. She was going to need a full body massage this time. And she made sure Legian knew it.

He lunged, and she dove to the side. He caught her ankle, and she kicked back, hitting him square in the chest. He fell back, but was on his feet a split second later.

“That may work on me, but Draeken are stronger and faster. They age faster, but that does you no good in battle unless you plan to lecture them to death on English slang.”

“Hardy har har.”

“You can’t beat them with a frontal attack. You aren’t strong enough. You’ve got to go for their wings. They are extremely sensitive and the quickest way to take one down. You can take down a Draeken twice your size if you get a hold of a wing.”

“That’s a bit tricky to practice, since you don’t have wings,” she snapped back.

He ignored her. Probably a wise decision on his part. “They protect their wings. Keep them close to their bodies. You have to find other ways to take them down, too.”

“I can’t do this.” She let out an exasperated sigh, sat down on the floor, and rubbed her bad leg.

“Yes, you can.” Legian stepped closer and held out a hand.

Seizing the moment, Sienna grabbed his hand and yanked him forward as she reached for her cane. He fell, as she straddled him, pressing the cane against his neck. His eyes widened. He smiled and then he cussed.

“You cheated.”

“Just because I’m not as well trained as you doesn’t mean I can’t win a fight.”

“You fight unclean.”

“I think you mean I fight dirty. Yeah. So? I’m not the one lying on his back right now.”

With a grunt in response, he brought a hand up and gingerly pushed the cane away.

“I think we’ve had enough training for one day.” He ignored her offered hand, instead choosing to bring himself to his feet.

She smiled. “Sore loser.”

“Don’t think a Draeken will fall for that trick,” he scolded.

“And don’t think that’s the only trick up my sleeve,” she replied.

With a nod, he held out a hand. She took it, and together they walked back to the cabin.

Inside, Jax and Ace were playing a game of gin rummy. Jax did not look happy, and Risa had an arm wrapped around his shoulders.

“Let me guess. Ace is winning,” Sienna said, stepping through the doorway.

“I think he’s cheating,” Jax replied with a scowl on his face.

Ace snorted. “Brother’s down because I’m kicking his ass.”

“There’s enough of that going around,” Legian murmured in her ear.

Sienna playfully punched her
tahren
on the arm.

“How was training?” Risa asked.

“Good. Legian got his ass handed to him,” Sienna replied.

At that statement, both men looked up. Legian raised an eyebrow as he sat next to Sienna on the couch. She threw her legs onto his lap and pulled him closer for a kiss, which he was all too happy to oblige.

“What do you have there?” she asked, motioning to the cheese dip and nachos on the table next to Ace.

“My snack,” the soldier replied without looking up. “Get your own.”

She put her hands on her hips. “I don’t know if you know this, but I’m kind of a big deal around here,” she said to the man sitting on her couch, eating her food.

“Doesn’t mean you get my nachos.”

“Fine. I’ll remember that at Christmas time.” With a flip of her hair, she headed into the kitchen to make her own snack. She cubed the cheese and mixed in a can of Rotel. As it bubbled in the microwave, she thought of Nalea. It had been three days. Apolo had been furious. He said of all the trinities, they couldn’t lose Nalea, whatever that meant. He’d tried to check with his scout with the Draeken but again had gotten no response. It was a safe bet the guy’s cover had been blown, and he was bear bait in Canada right about now. The Draeken prisoner in the basement had been even less help.

They’d sent out scouts, but they’d found nothing. It was hard to follow a trail when there were no tracks. Everyone assumed Roden must have flown away, taking his Sephian prisoner with him, and leaving them with very little to go on. And so, Nalea’s name had become taboo. Her disappearance sat heavy, like a white elephant in the room. No one spoke of it. Everyone was thinking about it.

Juggling her cheese and a bag of nachos in one hand and cane in the other, Sienna hobbled back into the living room. She sat down next to Ace and crunched her chips extra loud. When he looked at her, she smiled sweetly. “My snack. Back off.”

Legian leaned forward and grabbed a couple chips. He ate them plain. Sephian food was bland, and he hadn’t grown accustomed to anything spicier than Doritos yet.

Jax threw his cards down and pushed back from the table. “Fuck. I’m tired of this bullshit. Jesus Christ. I swear you could play Russian roulette with a fully loaded revolver and win.”

Ace shrugged and leaned back in his chair. “And you like the beatings. You’re a regular sub. I know what you need.”

“What’s that?” Jax asked.

“You need a woman to pull out the whips and chains,” he replied with a wicked-ass grin.

With that, Jax barked out a laugh. “Yeah, whatever man. I’m outta here. Time for a perimeter check.”

“Sure. Take out your sexual frustrations on the poor guards,” Ace said.

In response, Jax bent down, gave Risa a long kiss, threw his friend the bird, and headed out the door, letting the screen door slam shut behind him.

Sienna sat there and smiled through their banter. The two men were brothers in all ways that mattered. And she hoped to convince the dark brother to stick around longer. They needed his humor and normalcy more than she liked to admit.

Risa stretched. “I could use a nap,” she mumbled through a yawn, covering her mouth.

“See ya,” Sienna called out after the med-tec as she headed down the hall.

“Hold up.” Ace pulled himself to his feet, the grin dropping from his face. “We gotta talk.”

Risa turned, eyed him warily and then smiled warmly. “Of course.”

Ace sauntered down the hall, and the two disappeared in the guest bedroom. Sienna had set it aside for Apolo, but he ended up staying at the base. Jax — and therefore Risa — claimed the open room right away to keep a close eye on Sienna, leaving everyone else in temporary shelters built around the cabin. Even though they weren’t mated by Sephian standards, anyone could see the passion that burned between Jax and Risa. With all the shit in the world, they deserved what time they could fit in. Of course, Sienna was still going to make them wash their own sheets.

She looked at Legian and softly stroked his cheek with the palm of her hand. “Speaking of naps, I could use one, too.”

“If by nap, you mean us naked and me inside you, I’ll come with you.”

“You read my mind. But first, I’ll take that full body massage you owe.” Sienna brought herself up while leaning on Legian for support. She reached for her cane, but missed it when he swung her up into his arms. He cradled her against his chest as he bent over enough for her to grab the cane, and he carried her to their room.

He kicked the bedroom door shut and set her down on the bed. She reached up and pulled him down, and he never broke the kiss as he came over her on the mattress.

A scream rang out from across the hall. Sienna surged up. Legian leapt toward the door. He turned the handle and turned back to her.

“Go!” She hopped behind him.

He tore the door open and had disappeared before Sienna made it a step. She could hear a shuffle of sounds and crying in the guest room. She pulled open the drawer to her nightstand and cursed when she remembered that she’d brought that gun to the base when she first left the cabin with Legian. Slamming it shut, she hurried as quickly as her lame leg allowed. Grabbing the doorway, she stumbled into the room and froze.

Legian had a choke-hold on Ace who held a gun point blank at Risa’s heart.

“Jesus Christ. What’s going on here?” Sienna demanded.

“Oh, thank the gods.” Risa ran toward Sienna and wrapped her arms around her.

“Get away from her, traitor,” Ace belted out, and Legian tightened his grip, causing the man to cough.

Sienna faced the men, still holding Risa trembling in her arms. “Legian, release him.”

Legian backed off slowly, and Ace jumped to the side. Risa looked at him and cowered into her. “Keep him away from me,” she whimpered into her neck.

Sienna patted the med-tec on the back as she eyed Ace. “What the hell happened?”

Ace opened his mouth to speak, but Risa jumped in to speak first. “He tried to seduce me. When I rejected him, he tried to rape me.”