Salvation for Three (9 page)

It was a torturous trip to the brig to retrieve Drak Voi. Cian and Tirin were not convinced it was safe to take Keer to the cursing, stomping bounty hunter. Keer had finally assured them that their worries were for nothing when she regaled them with tales of Drak saving her life.

Cian's expression had been thunderous when she spoke of her trip into a Tarvian mine field, a holdover from the Alliance wars decades before.

She'd huddled for two days in a solar heat blanket after accessing her tracking chip and alerting processing that she was in trouble. The runner she chased into the field lay in pieces kilometers beyond where she stopped after he hit the first mine. It was a stupid move on the runner's part, but as long as she could return with the wrist chip proving his death, they would be paid.

Many bondsman would kill the fugitive and remove an entire arm to return to the Alliance prison counsel, versus paying freight to take a live body back. Credits were credits, after all. Keer had not become bloodthirsty enough to resort to that, but the trip to Tarva almost changed her mind.

Drak had come to the rescue, blasting through the field, a mine droid detonating ahead of his land trawler. By the time he'd found her, the ice had seeped into her jump suit and her skin was turning creeping blue. Two nights on the Tarva plain were barely survivable even with good planning, and Keer had only planned for a few hours.

The cold had overtaken her during the second night. She was nearly mindless with hypothermia when Drak arrived.

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After sweeping the solar tent away, he bundled her up in a heat blanket. He'd pressed his body against hers and then run across the field with her in giant strides. As Drak placed her in the back of the trawler, Keer opened one eye in relief and said "Chip" through chattering teeth, still trying to cling to his heat.

"Aw, give me a hunter's balls, you would think of the chip. Half dead and freezing in a Tarvan mine field and all you can think about is the job," he muttered as he went. He sent the drone ahead searching through the gore of what was left of the runner.

Drak returned to the trawler to find Keer still conscious, holding out a shaking gloved hand to him. Drak deposited the chip, blood frozen to black on the shining surface, into her hand. "Chip.

Satisfied?"

She'd tried to nod her head, then used her remaining strength to lodge the prize into her suit. Collapsing, she listened to Drak continue to curse. "Next time take a droid with you, Keer. You're my best bondsman. I can't afford to lose your skinny human ass to the subzed." He continued to rustle through the contents of the back of the trawler. He held her tucked under his shoulder, willing heat back into her frame as he searched.

"Vita-heat drink, open up." Surprisingly gentle for a man his size, he cradled her head as she gulped the hot liquid. Unsure of her condition, Drak had packed carefully. The trawler held an aid box and hot packs, along with a stack of solar blankets. An inactivated nurse droid lay sightless in the forward seat. Drak punched one of the packs with a booted foot and then pushed it under Keer's bottom, hot hands rubbing her vital parts as he went.

"Stop movin', I know you're freezing. It'll warm you up." He continued to fuss, and made her finish the vita drink. She began to doze as the heat seeped into her skin.

"Hang on, baby, we'll get you home." He soundly smacked her forehead with a kiss then strapped her in for the ride. Drak Voi definitely had her back

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The warriors saw the scene in her thoughts as she'd experienced it Earth turns before. Cian had grunted and Tirin had scowled at her, but they now owed a huge debt to the man they held behind laser bars in the brig.

When Keer rounded the corner into the secured area, following the two warriors' long strides, it was to the sound of Drak Voi roundly cursing the Endlanders.

"Where is she, you grunting Endland bastards? I know she's alive, and when I get out of here—" The sound of flesh sizzling against the solid force field of the secured brig echoed in the chamber. "Where is she? Touch her and I'll blow this rock to the middle Ehta."

Drak looked none the worse for the wear, Keer noted as Cian and Tirin parted to allow him a glimpse of her. "Keer! Did they hurt you?

What in the three moons and hell are you doing down here with these Endlanders?" Drak looked like he was ready to toss himself back against the force field when Cian lifted a hand and signaled the security bot to release the field.

"We apologize for your injuries, bondsman. We had hoped not to use force with our mate's…colleague." Both men stood with Keer, flanking her. .

"Drak!" Keer ran to the bondsman and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. He wrapped her in a bear hug and kissed her soundly on the head.

"How many times do I have to come after your sorry Terran ass, Keer? Did they hurt you?" He hugged her again and then began to check her for injuries.

"Unhand her, Drak Voi." Tirin's inflection was steel. Cian silenced him with a look.

Listen to her thoughts, Lieutenant. Calm yourself.
Cian pathed.

The blur of Keer's racing thoughts swept through the two hunters and their stances relaxed visibly. Cian saw relief and happiness. Tirin heard concern for the dark bondsman and brotherly affection. Her fear of men did not, evidently, extend to this man. They stood silently as
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she assured Drak that she was in good health.

"What is this Endland boarshit about mates, Keer? You didn't…"

The big man was at a loss for words. He looked from Keer's suddenly guarded expression to the two warriors. Drak's grip on Keer tightened then he released her and stepped back.

"Gods, Keer, how could you?" Drak swept a hand through his closely cropped hair and began to pace the brig. "You've never been close to anything but a sex bot and you turned me down flat! I'd begun to think you desired females."

The hunter was out of his element completely now. He looked to the warriors again. "Gods, bondsman.
Both
of them?"

Tirin and Cian stood, glowering at Drak.

"You think we are not good enough for your small hunter, bondsman?" Tirin spat the words.

"No, as a matter of fact, I don't!" Drak was at a roar and nose-to-nose with Tirin. By the time Keer squeezed between them, and then again between Drak and Cian, she was weary of the shouting. "Fine.

I'm going to the galley. Let me know when you're done." She turned on her heel and stalked down the hallway.

The three of them had the good sense to follow her.

* * * *

"You're sure?" It was the fourth time he had asked. They had finally left Keer alone with Drak after she insisted that she would call for them if she had need. Now all she had to do was to convince her friend and boss that she was fine.

"I need time to find out, Drak." Keer was gentle with him. As her protector and her friend, she felt the need to explain herself to him, something she would do for no other man. "I'll be safe here, Drak.

They won't let anything happen to me. And I need a break. The runners know me now. We've lost that Terran element of surprise that we had for so many years."

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Drak rubbed his face with his hands, sighing wearily. "I don't like it, Keer. They had you hidden for three days. How do I know you weren't brainwashed?"

Keer took the hand of the man she had come to respect and squeezed it carefully. "Do I look like I've been brainwashed, freak hunter?" Drak examined her face carefully, staring at her until she began to blush.

"Give me a hunter's balls, Keer Teho, you're as red as Endland dust!"

"I have to stay with them, Drak. I can't explain it, but there are things that you don't understand." She wasn't sure she completely understood herself. She couldn't think of being without them now, disconnected from them. Cian and Tirin inhabited her mind when she would let them, and they were certainly in her heart.

"What? That you're a fertile female?" Keer felt like she'd been slapped.

"You knew?" Alarm filled her. If Drak Voi knew, then who else was aware of her secret? Gods, this was a disaster! . Her heart began to race, and she jumped from the chair.

Drak glared at her. "Relax, bondhunter. I knew because I was informed." "Informed by whom? Tell me, you freak hunter! Who else knows?" The fear was nearly overwhelming. The door to the galley shimmed open. Cian and Tirin moved in, nearly at a run.

"What disturbs you, small Keer?" Cian's look was of unadulterated anger, jaw clenched he came to stand on one side of her. Tirin stood behind her, guarding her back. While the solid wall of warrior surrounding her was reassuring, she was intent on Drak.

"You will answer her question, bondhunter. Now." Cian was icy.

Drak raised himself to his full height and stood nearly eye-to-eye with the warrior.

"I'll answer her when I'm ready, Endlander.
I
was asked to protect her and
I
didn't drag her into my bed when she was in the heat."

Drak's eyes flashed sparks. "And I didn't force her to mate with
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my…colleagues." He looked at Tirin with repulsion, and his hand reached automatically for the sting gun that had been taken from him.

Keer heard a low growl come from Tirin's throat.

"Cease!" She pushed herself between Drak and the wall of Cian's chest, brushing her hand against the dark warrior to ease his wrath.

Let him speak please. He is still my friend.

"He will answer you or go back to the brig, and Tirin and I will beat it out of him."

"Drak, please. Does anyone else know? For the gods’ sake, you asked me to hunt fertile females! And you knew?" Keer felt a sudden, unusual urge to cry. The bondhunter couldn't be capable of this betrayal. "I didn't ask you to hunt females. I gave you the opportunity to stop hiding from me." he grunted at her. "It was Lhan."

Keer gasped. "Mother? How did you know my mother?" To the best of her knowledge, her mother had never confided in anyone about her own daughter's state.

"She was educated with my sister, my older sister. They were friends before her time came and they took her away. She begged me to protect you before she died. I had thought…" He looked hesitant and uncomfortable but then cleared his throat and continued. "I had thought to mate you myself, if you would have me. It was the only way I could think to protect you from the ones that would lock you up for a breeder. But then, I met you and you…" He inhaled and directed his looks to Tirin and Cian. "You toppled two Nelds without taking a breath. And I knew you could care for yourself with the right support.

The right warrior backing you."

Drak took a step closer to Tirin. "Can you say the same, Endlander? Can you protect her or do you want her to rut and breed like the rest of them?" Keer was amazed to see a glimmer of moisture in Drak's eyes. "There will be no breeders here human warrior." Cian spoke through clenched teeth. "Keer Teho is our mate. We go where she goes. If she chooses to hunt, so be it. She hunts with us."

"Wait a gods-damned minute!" Keer was still absorbing the idea

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that her mother had called upon a man to protect her when she knew of her innate fear of them. "You never touched me, Drak. And you knew. Why didn't you take me when the peak came and tortured me?"

All her theories of males and fears rested here on the answer of a man who had known he could imprison her but had chosen not to.

Drak reached out to her, touching her face gently. "It was not for wanting you, Keer. Every warrior, hunter, or bondsman would want you. But it was not just my choice to make. It was yours. "

* * * *

Cian's hand itched to remove the human's touch from Keer's skin but he could feel her fear fading as Drak spoke. In this moment the human bondsman did more for the triad than he or Tirin could ever hope to achieve.

"Commander, I would strike him now."
Tirin request was pathed, searing in his ill-concealed anger. Cian shook his head slightly.

"Let him finish, Lieutenant. For our mate's sake."

Keer reached out to Drak, wrapping her arms around his waist and hugging him fiercely. Cian and Tirin growled simultaneously. "Thank you, Drak. I want you to know." She looked up at him her own tear-filled eyes. "I did consider it, but, we…we were such good friends. It just worked so well….and hunter's balls, Drak!" She began to laugh, her shoulders shaking. "You were the only man I could trust. I didn't want to take to your bed and find out I couldn't. It would have changed things." She shook her head as she released him from the bear hug.

Drak, bent down and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Cian reacted quickly giving him a sharp shove, which Tirin followed, nearly sending him into the wall.

Regaining his balance, the bondhunter stood hands on hips and asked "What goes here, Keer? You can't stay in this red dirt planet.

You have wings on your boots like any hunter."

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"I told you. Drak. I have to stay with them."

"But you don't have to stay here. If you keep her here, you're no better than the Terran freak hunters that trap breeders." "You do not hear well, Drak Voi." Cian's tone relaxed now that Keer was back at his side, his lieutenant watching over her. "There are other warriors here to protect the Endlands. Tirin and I stay with Keer. Wherever she chooses to go."

"I, well, I'm not sure. I don't really even know this place. I've spent most of my time in chambers." Her words stuttered as Cian pierced her with his gaze. "I was hurt, freak hunter." She added for Drak’s benefit.

Cian's eyebrows raised. Evidently Keer was going to leave out the details of what she had been doing the last three days in those chambers. Cian interceded. "The next freighter will not return from Etah for many days, Drak Voi. Stay with us and you will see that we do not mistreat our mates." Cian extended his hand to Drak in formal salute and they grasped arms in the fashion of warriors.

"I'll stay. And you can bet a hunter's balls I'll be watching."

Tirin's grin finally fell back into place. "But not this hunter's balls, bondsman!"

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