Hunter's Claim: The Alliance Book 1 (13 page)

Saber pulled Jesse’s body back into the
shadows. He winced as he put weight on his injured leg. He had
cursed under his breath thinking he had been discovered when he saw
the figure coming over the side. One of the locals had been hiding
him for the past two weeks after he had been pulled from under a
pile of debris following the explosion that had cut them off from
the rest of their team.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Saber
asked gruffly as he lowered her to her feet so he could shake her.
A look of horror crossed his face. “Where are Taylor and Jordan?”
He asked hoarsely. “Where are your sisters?”

Jesse’s teeth rattled as he shook her again,
this time harder. She spread her palms on his chest to get him to
stop. She was exhausted and barely hanging on to her sanity with
worry over Hunter.

“They are safe,” she whispered. “At least,
I’m pretty sure they are.”

Saber jerked back and slowly lowered himself
onto a makeshift bed. “What the hell does that mean? You think they
are alright.”

“They were captured as we snuck off the
supply transport. Well, Jordan was and Taylor was leading the
others away so I could escape,” Jesse replied with a worried frown
when she noticed how difficult it was for him to sit down. “Saber,
you’re hurt.”

“It’s nothing,” he growled.

“Yeah, nothing causes sweat to bead up on
your brow and turn you pale enough to make the moon look like a
black hole,” Jesse said, rolling her eyes. “Let me take a
look.”

“I said…” Saber bit off as another shaft of
pain ran through his leg. “I think the cut is infected. The
residents don’t have any medicine to spare.”

“Then it’s a good thing I came along, isn’t
it?” Jesse responded softly.

She knelt beside him and gently pulled back
the edge of the his pants that were torn. A deep cut almost twelve
inches long ran down his leg. The area was hot and swollen and a
dark yellowish-green puss oozed from it. Jesse looked up at Saber’s
glazed eyes and knew he was running a high fever. She had thought
the heat of his skin had been because of the outside temperatures
that were near ninety degrees if she had to guess.

“Do you have an emergency kit on you?” Saber
asked, lying back on the thin pallet. “I won’t chew your ass out
quite so bad if you do.”

An amused smile curled the corner of Jesse’s
lips as she brushed her fingers over his heated forehead. He had
closed his eyes and was breathing shallow breaths. Jesse reached
into the bag Taylor had packed. She swore her sister had emptied
the medical bay of all their meds. She pulled an injector out and
inserted a sedative. Pressing it against his neck, she depressed
the button watching as his eyes blinked rapidly before slowly
closing.

“You can chew my ass anytime you like,
Saber,” Jesse whispered as she set to work on cleaning the deep
wound. “Just as long as you take me to Hunter. You do that and you
and the captain can stand in line. I have a feeling Hunter is going
to want first dibs on the ass chewing.”

Jesse pulled her father’s knife out from the
sheath she had it in and quickly disinfected it. Using the tip, she
sliced open the infected wound. Using some of the cleansing
solution, she quickly cleaned all the infection out. She briefly
raised her eyes in thanks that each item had been marked in
English. She easily recognized Taylor’s messy handwriting. Her
little sister must have looked up each word and translated it
before printing it on the outside of the vials.

Once the wound was clean, she used a small
laser to cauterize the wound and seal it. A thin layer of spray
antibiotic and a clean bandage finished the task. Jesse quickly
cleaned all of Saber’s other cuts before spraying them as well. She
cleaned up and packed everything back into the black bag once she
was finished.

Taking a small flask of water from her bag,
she tore a section of her shirt and used it to clean Saber’s face
and neck. Already the antibiotic was working its magic. His fever
had broken and his skin was much cooler. She touched his leg and
found the skin was also cool to the touch. Now, she just needed to
let him rest.

Picking up the small pistol Taylor had
packed once again, Jesse moved over to sit near the edge of the
roof. She could see fires burning in different parts of the city.
Raising her face to the light breeze that blew, she stared up at
the stars that glittered above her. She picked one and made a
wish.

“Hunter, if you can feel this, I want you to
know I love you,” Jesse whispered softly into the night. “I’m
coming for you. I’ll always come for you, my
Amate
.”

Jesse blinked in surprise when she felt
herself being lifted. Her heart thundered in her chest as she tried
to remember where she was. She looked up in surprise as she was
carefully lowered to the thin pallet where Saber had been
lying.

“What?” She started to say. “Saber? Are
you…?”

“I’m fine thanks to you, little warrior,”
Saber said with an amused smile.

Jesse grimaced as she lay back with a tired
smile. “Not much of a warrior if I fall asleep on guard duty,” she
said ruefully. “What time is it?”

“Mid-morning. The sun would burn your
delicate skin,” Saber said, nodding to the area where she had been
hiding. The sun was now creeping toward it. “It is a good thing I
woke up.”

“How is your leg?” Jesse asked as she
covered a yawn. “I have more medicine if you need it. I think
Taylor emptied all of Carp’s supplies.”

Saber shook his head in amusement. “How did
you get here, Jesse. You know Hunter is going to be very upset with
you, don’t you?”

Jesse grinned. “He’ll have to stand in line.
I think Jag is going to be even madder when he wakes up,” she said
with a twinkle in her eye before it faded. “Where is Hunter? Is he…
is he hurt?”

She couldn’t ask if he was dead. She
couldn’t imagine a life without him in it. It would kill her if he
was no longer there to hold her and make her feel safe.

Saber’s face grew grim. “One of the
residents who pulled me from the rubble has been keeping me
informed about Hunter and Dagger. They were captured shortly after
the attack on us. They are being held in a compound not far from
here. He will have more information tonight. His son works in the
kitchen there,” he said. “They are alive but I’m not sure for how
much longer.”

“We have to save them,” Jesse whispered.
“Please, Saber. I can’t live without him. I love him so much.”

Saber’s eyes softened as he saw the distress
on Jesse’s face. He needed to search for more of their warriors but
he couldn’t leave Jesse alone and unprotected. He knelt next to
her, studying her face.

“I need to let some of our people know where
they are,” he said heavily. “I will see if Moor will go. I cannot
leave you alone.”

“I’ve been alone for a long time, Saber,”
Jesse said tiredly. “I’ve been on this planet for four days now. I
think I can handle being alone for a few hours.”

Saber shook his head in amazement. “You are
a remarkable alien, Jesse. Hunter is one lucky bastard to have
claimed you.”

Jesse reached out and briefly caressed
Saber’s cheek before dropping her hand onto her stomach. She yawned
again and felt her body being dragged down to sleep from a
combination of exhaustion and the heat. She blinked several times
before giving up the fight. She wouldn’t be any good to anyone if
she didn’t get a little bit of rest. She would only sleep for a few
minutes.

Saber looked at the still figure of the
female lying on the pallet where he had thought he would spend the
last few minutes of his life. A tender smile curved his lips as she
rolled over and tucked her hands under her chin. She looked so
small and fragile but she had a core of steel inside her. Hunter
was indeed one lucky bastard.

Saber glanced at the two bags next to the
mat. He opened one and sure enough, it was filled with medical
supplies. He began pulling items out, stopping and whistling under
his breath when he found several high-impact explosive devices, a
laser pistol with extra charges and a light-weight laser knife.

“Taylor,” he murmured.

He thought of the young girl who already
showed promise of becoming a beautiful, strong-willed woman. He
shook his head as he fingered the small but deadly explosives. That
one was going to give some poor warrior a headache as he tried to
keep up with her. A frown darkened his face as a sense of anger
burned at the thought of some unknown warrior choosing the
rambunctious female. He shrugged. It would be years before Hunter
would let any male near her. In the meantime, he would help protect
the female from not only others but from herself.

*.*.*

Jesse came awake as the first bands of stars
began to twinkle. She rubbed her eyes in confusion before memories
of where she was and what had happened washed through her. Sitting
up, she raised her hands above her head and stretched. Her hands
dropped when a familiar figure moved out of the shadows.

“Saber,” Jesse said with a relieved smile.
“Thank you for letting me sleep. Is your leg still doing okay?”

Saber stepped closer and sat next to her. He
handed her a small clay bottle containing water and a plate of
fresh fruit and bread. He waited until she took them before he
looked out over the tops of the roofs.

“My leg is almost as good as new. Where did
you learn to heal?” He asked curiously.

Jesse shrugged as she took a drink of the
refreshing water to wash down the bread she had been chewing. “I’ve
been doctoring my dad, Jordan and Taylor’s cuts ever since I can
remember. My mom died with I was ten and I kind-of took over her
place. Dad was heartbroken. It wasn’t easy for a single guy to
raise three little girls on his own,” she said as memories flooded
her.

“What happened to your mother if you do not
mind me asking?” Saber asked as he picked up a piece of fruit. “She
was young to die, yes?”

“Yes,” Jesse responded softly. “She went to
the grocery store to get some items for dinner. A truck ran the red
light and hit her car. She was killed instantly. Dad was the first
one at the scene of the accident. My grandma, my dad’s mom, was
living with us at the time and she was watching us when it
happened. It hit my dad hard. He used to always laugh but he didn’t
very much after mom was killed. It didn’t help that grandma wasn’t
in good health and died two years later. By then, I had taken over
most of the cooking and cleaning under Grandma Sampson’s
tutelage.”

“You are an extraordinary female, Jesse,”
Saber reflected.

Jesse blushed and lowered her head, shaking
it. “Not really. You do what you have to do sometimes, no matter
what life throws at you,” she said before raising her head. “What
are we going to do about Hunter and Dagger?”

Saber grimaced. He had hoped to avoid this
conversation as long as possible but he knew it was unavoidable. He
had sent Moor, the male mate of the woman and children he had
saved, to find members of their ground force.

Moor had returned an hour before with good
and bad news. The good news, he had made contact with some scouts.
The bad news was his son had returned to say the two captive
warriors had been staked in the middle of the courtyard and were to
be executed at first light and left on display.

Saber related what he had learned to Jesse,
watching as she paled and raised a shaky hand to her temple. After
several minutes her eyes cleared and the determination that he was
beginning to associate with her reappeared. He knew that he wasn’t
going to like her response when her mouth tightened into a firm
line that meant she wasn’t going to be denied what she wanted.

“We have to go in and get them out,” Jesse
said, daring Saber to tell her that they wouldn’t. “Tonight.”

Saber’s mouth twisted. “I am too big to be
mistaken as one of their guards,” he noted with a raised
eyebrow.

Jesse’s lips curved at his observation.
“But, I’m not,” she commented.

“But you, Hunter’s fiery
Amate
, are
not,” Saber agreed. “Moor’s son drew out a map of the compound, the
placement of the guards and their schedule. Here is what we will
do.”

*.*.*

Hunter jerked awake. He tightened his fists
around the ropes holding him to the posts sunk into the ground. His
eyes flashed to Dagger who was tied up next to him.

“What is it?” Hunter murmured.

“I thought I saw movement in the shadows,”
Dagger whispered. “A scout.”

“Which one?” Hunter asked as he tilted his
head back and sniffed the air. “Thunder,” he grunted.

“Bastard always did have his own unique
scent,” Dagger murmured with a slight grin.

“It will be dawn soon,” Hunter whispered.
“It will be hard to get in without being seen.”

“He’ll have to get his team together,”
Dagger said, bowing his head when he sensed their guard coming
toward them. “Something tells me we don’t have much time left.”

Hunter’s eyes narrowed as the guard walked
by. The mercenary bastards that the group of Arthuran’s hired were
a cold bunch of cutthroats from the lowest regions of the Alliance
star system. Bitter rage burned in his throat as he remembered
watching them blow the building that Saber had rushed into as the
medical transport carried their wounded away.

Saber had seen a woman and two small
children at the same time as the mercenaries. When they had turned
their weapon on the building the woman and children had run into
for protection Saber had followed, trying to get them out. His
friend had been buried under the pile of stone.

He flashed his teeth as the guard stepped
closer to check the ropes holding him. He would give anything to
rip the bastard’s throat out. That was exactly what he was going to
do to every one of them once he was free.