Hearts of Ishira (Hearts of Ishira Saga) (41 page)

The tall warrior’s eyes narrowed speculatively. His commander knew very well what every man’s specialties were.

“Aye, sir.”

“We have need of your specific… skills. This is in service to the colony. Will you hear the mission before accepting?”

“You know I will accept, Commander,” Rian said with a smile and a small, respectful bow. Hunter nodded in thanks and turned to Amy, who had crossed her arms and was waiting, insolent, for him to address her.

“Amy, you have deliberately caused physical harm to two of the women of your group,” he intoned, loudly enough for all in the hall to hear him. There must be witnesses to the sentencing. The hall quieted immediately.

“It was an accident,” Amy said, trying to look innocent. Had Hunter not been a Reader, he might even have had doubts. But he knew.

“It was no accident. There are two witnesses to your actions, one of them a Reader. I am also a Reader and have seen the truth.” He stepped closer to her, practically growling down at her. “You pushed Alicia off balance and she was injured as well, trying to avoid falling on top of your Commander.”

“That fat little slob’s
not
my leader!” Amy cried out with rage, jerking her arms free and taking a threatening step toward Hunter, fists clenched and raised.

In a blink, the warriors behind her grabbed her arms to restrain her, while all other warriors in the room drew their laser pistols and trained them on her. It all took a heartbeat. Hunter hadn’t even flinched, sure of his men and their abilities to keep him safe from an unarmed woman. Amy stared at them in surprise, her face losing some of its color. Dawning understanding of her predicament washed over her face as she looked up at Hunter once more.

“Do not ever threaten me,” Hunter said softly. “And do not ever try to hurt me. You will not survive a second attempt.”

“Arianna deserves to be-“

“What?” Hunter thundered, using his size to intimidate her. “She deserves to be injured while trying to save the lot of you? To be attacked in the med center while sleeping, when she is sorely hurt and unable to defend herself? And now, to be attacked using another person, who also got hurt? Why did she deserve such dishonorable treatment?”

“Because you should be mine!” Amy screamed angrily. Hunter laughed at that, as did the other warriors.

“I would never choose someone like you,” Hunter sneered at her, curling his lip at the thought. “Your mental energy makes my skin crawl.” That simply, he dismissed her.

“Now, we have to do something with you,” he grunted. “We have no jail, having needed none until now. There is another way we can ensure that you learn some manners. I am taking into account that while you are considered a fully grown woman on your own world, you are incredibly young and immature by our standards. We have a rehabilitation program that is often effective. Rian and his team,” and Hunter indicated the men of which he spoke, “Are trained and highly qualified to perform this… remediation. You have this one chance to become a reasonable, adjusted member of the colony. If you do not accept Protocol, you will be put to death. I will not waste resources or manpower restraining you indefinitely. We do not do that in our society.”

“What is this program?” Amy asked, not really worried, more confused.

“I will let Rian and his team explain that to you.” He stared at her, hard. “I want you to know, going into this, that you have chosen this course by your actions. This is the only option left to you before execution. Do you understand?”

“I demand an appeal!” Amy said, tossing her hair haughtily. Hunter Read her, quickly discerning what she was asking for, getting an idea of how their justice system worked. Inefficient and wasteful, he decided. He shook his head, smiling coldly down at her.

“There is no appeal process,” he informed her. “In our society, Readers are judge, jury, and sentencer. You have already been judged guilty by two Readers, one being of your own race. Under normal circumstances, you would have been put to death immediately after your first attempt on Arianna’s life. You gave up the opportunity to act correctly, and any other rights you might have had, today when you injured and used as a weapon the only person that might have championed your cause.” He nodded toward Alicia, who was shooting daggers from her eyes at her former friend.

“Rian,” he said, turning to address his man. “Please take this… girl… and take her in hand. Do what you must, but keep her out of trouble.”

“Full Protocol?” Rian asked, his eyebrows going up. Hunter hesitated a moment, then nodded.

“If you have to. I do not wish to have to kill a human, so take whatever measures you deem necessary. But above all else, keep her away from the Commander. No contact whatsoever.”

“Aye, sir!” Rian said, his eyes showing his excitement at his mission. Hunter sensed that Rian’s team was also anticipating the coming training. As one, the four warriors moved forward and surrounded Amy’s small body. Rian looked down at her for a long moment, then grinned rather wickedly.

“You’re lovely,” he told her softly. “I hope that you remain so.”

Hunter nearly snorted at the threat, knowing full well that Rian would not harm a hair on the girl’s head. But she didn’t know that. Fear would be one of Rian’s most valuable tools to start her training. He and his men escorted the girl out of the hall then, laughing at her cries for a lawyer, for another chance, for anything but whatever was coming. Hunter winced at her mental noise then blocked her out. His men had her in hand now. He trusted Rian’s team to do what needed to be done.

The warriors that remained in the hall were watching Hunter, no judgment in their regard. He scrubbed a hand over his face, weary of having to deal with such a situation. Never had Protocol been directed for someone so young, much less from another world, but he honestly did not know what else to do about the girl, other than to take her permanently from their small society. His head started to ache with the weight of his decision.

“Sir?” Rom said softly, stepping into his view. “Do you need anything else?”

“No,” Hunter sighed, shaking his head. “You are all released. I apologize for taking you away from your evening entertainments.”

“Will Ri be okay?” Bev asked, clutching Rom’s arm. Hunter smiled gently at the concerned young woman he was quickly growing fond of. She was going to make a fine cousin, if Trey’s team ever got around to asking to formally court her.

“I’m sure she will be, though her leg will probably take longer to heal now. I don’t know.” He cocked his head to the side as he watched her. “Would you like to accompany me to the med unit, to find out?”

“Yes, sir!” Bev said eagerly. Hunter looked around, found the pile of sewing materials that Arianna had been working on, and scooped them up. It was a small, subdued group that made their way to the med center.

“Hey, Hunter, my sexy warrior! Doctor Jacie-Wacie here says I don’t have to stay here tonight,” Ri greeted him as soon as Hunter reached the med center.

She talked slowly, as though trying to focus on her words. Jace bit back a snort at her little nick-name for him. Hunter fought a smile of his own. Ri’s eyes were bright with the pain-killer, and vulnerable from the events of the evening. Hunter sensed that she was still worried about their talk last night, and a bit insecure about her position with them, still. His heart melted even more. She was so tired of being a burden, didn’t want to put them out. He admired that, even as it frustrated him.

When was she going to realize that he wanted to be put out by her? He wanted her to be his burden, their burden. She swallowed miserably, following his train of thought.

“So, hey, I was thinking about … what we talked about earlier. Me and the dorm and stuff. I just… I thought that you guys would want your privacy back. I’m not so needy that you have to entertain me every hour of the day, you know.”

“But why would we not wish to?” Jace asked, truly confused. She blinked up at him. “We are courting you,” he pointed out. “How can we do that if we spend all of our free time apart?”

She had no reasonable answer for that. It made perfect sense to her. Of course, she was rather loopy at the moment. And she wanted more than anything to be with them.

“Then… you want me with you, not with them?” she asked hesitantly. Hunter rolled his eyes in obvious exasperation.

“She may come home?” he asked his brother. Jace nodded, relief in his expression.

“I was worried she might need surgery, but the break was at the same place, so I just meshed it. She’ll be fine, as long as she stays off of it. This time, completely off of it.”

“We can ensure that if she’s at our place,” Hunter grinned. Jace nodded.

“Ri, you okay?” Bev asked softly, holding her friend’s hand. Arianna grinned lopsidedly up at Bev.

“Peachy keen, jelly bean!” Ri chortled. “You’re so sweet, Bevy. Thanks for taking care of me.”

“Any time,” Bev said, chuckling. “Go get some rest. I’ll come by tomorrow and let you know what was decided. I don’t think you’re in the right frame of mind to hear it tonight.”

“I think you’re absotutellly right,” Ri said decisively, then frowned and tried to say the word properly. Several times. By the time she got it right, they were all laughing at her efforts. She grinned drunkenly up at them.

“Let’s get you to bed, little warrior,” Hunter said tenderly. He shoved her things at Jace and scooped her into his arms, careful of her newly re-injured leg.

“Where’re we goin’?” Ri asked, her voice echoing as Hunter took her out of the med center.

“Home, little love,” he said, chuckling. “We’re going home, put you to bed.”

He grinned when she giggled at his teasing and started sending him some rather naughty mental images involving him, his bed, her, and Jace. He marveled at her creativity, but filed those images away with the others he had started collecting the very first day. His little Ri seemed to have a bit of a kinky streak.

Thank the gods.

Bev, who had seen enough to know that Ri would be fine, grinned as Hunter bore her friend off to his quarters. Then she whirled to face Rom. She had heard what Jace said to Arianna about spending more free time with her, and she was determined that her men would do no less than their leaders, by golly!

She had Rom take her to the command center, supposedly to retrieve Arianna’s electronic book, since it appeared that she would be holed up at Hunter’s place again, getting over this newest injury. But really, the computer room was just an educated guess where she would find Trey. Rom regretfully broke off from her at a hail from a friend, but Bev continued into the command center on her own.

Quietly entering the darkened room, she crept up on Trey’s chair. He was intent on the screen in front of him, his shoulders tense with whatever he was reading. Beside him, Erik, his other team member, was peering at the very Nook she had come to get. She stopped, wondering what they were up to, then decided to just surprise them.

When she whirled Trey’s chair around, a huge grin on her face, Erik and Trey started violently, staring almost guiltily at her. What in the world? Her eyes widened in curiosity.

“What are you guys up to?” she asked, trying to see Trey’s screen. He moved to block her view. Trying to distract her, Trey took her hand tugged her down onto his lap.

“What a nice surprise, sweet Bev,” he said, leaning down to kiss her gently.

“That’s not going to work,” she laughingly told him, trying to crane her neck to see his screen as she playfully dodged his kisses. “What were you reading so intently when I came in?”

His face flushed and his eyes slid from hers. Even more curious now, Bev grinned. “Come on,” she said softly, “You can tell me. I won’t judge.”

“Why would you judge my reading material?” he asked, confused. She wrinkled her nose on a grin.

“Because I saw some of the books Ri has on that thing. She has a few that are considered ‘naughty’ in our culture. Yay for her, but most people get embarrassed if they’re caught reading that sort of thing. So… spill it! What were you reading?’’

“It was… just a sweet love story,” he stammered, then quickly whirled to try to get rid of the screen holding the story he’d transferred from Arianna’s Nook. Bev, feeling rather mischievous now, hopped up and blocked his access to the keyboard, grinning at him.

“No, no, no!” she said gleefully. “I caught you! I want to know!”

“It was nothing, I tell you,” he grumbled, wrapping his arms around her and shoving his wheeled chair from the desk as he pulled her into his lap. She settled on his thighs with a giggle, then looked up at him, offering her lips willingly for a kiss. He grinned and tried once again to use the dizzying kiss to distract her from her goal. Instead, she used her tongue to devastating effect, her hand creeping down his chest and resting on the hard ridge at her hip.

He was the one who was befuddled. So much so that he was slow to react when Bev tore herself away, grinned wickedly at him, hopped from his lap, and lunged for the computer. He gave a shout as he tried to get up and chase her, then flopped back down in the chair when she reached her goal, read a few lines, and her mouth dropped open in shock. She turned wide eyes his way, and he wished to all that was sacred that he could read emotions like Hunter. He would love to know what she was thinking, right at that exact moment. She went very still, reading a bit further. A little gasp escaped her and her breathing hitched in rate.