Prime Selection (5 page)

“Why would you even think of blaming Wulf?” Melina’s voice was calm and yet authoritative. “
I
killed Uly after he’d drugged me and slaughtered a spa’s entire personnel to get to me—not Wulf. And
I
spared Donte. I could’ve easily killed him and his friend when they entered our quarters and attempted to murder me.”

Darga’s emotions read as a wild mix of rage, embarrassment, and regret at his sons’

failure.

“This is our enemy,
lubha
.”

“He’s our people’s enemy,”
Melina communicated
. “But he doesn’t seem to know
we can read him. Doesn’t he understand the connection between battle-mates?”

“Darga wouldn’t believe it. The man is hungry for power and wealth. He doesn’t
respect the past glory of the Prime—I wonder if the fanatics even understand what he’s
about?”

“We’ll make sure they learn. But timing is everything, darling. Right now, he’s a
member of your family and on the Elder Council, yes?”

“For now—yes.”

“Then we will bide our time,
gemat.”

His father broke the awkward silence which had Tenar glancing at them curiously, a glint of amusement in his sharp, dark amber eyes. “Wulf. Melina … take care on your journey. Keep me apprised of what is happening with your crew.”

“We will. Thank you.” Melina leaned over and kissed Ilar on the cheek and then turned to kiss and hug Wulf’s mother.

Wulf hugged his father and whispered against his ear. “Be careful of Darga.”

His father squeezed him back and whispered, “I am.” Ilar said more loudly, “Go with the One. May he protect and watch over you and your people.”

As Wulf and Melina made their way out of the room, he felt the dagger-like stare of his enemy aimed at his back. “Well, at least, we’ve confirmed who the real enemy is.”

“But we can do nothing until we can get to the root of the fanatics who follow him.”

Mel smiled at her uncle, Tor Maren, who’d come to stand with Wulf’s brothers as they waited by the ballroom’s main doors. “Cutting off the head does not necessarily kill the treasonous roots—there are always others who’ll step forward in the name of fanaticism.

Your greedy relatives might’ve used the Pure Blood faction to further their own ends, but my gut tells me the reactionaries have spread roots of their own.”

“I don’t doubt that, my Melina. The fight has just begun.”

Neither one of them mentioned they were afraid the next battle might’ve already begun on the planetoid Tarn.

After finishing planting early warning alarms along the mountain pathways and cliffs leading to their sanctuary, Nadia and A’tem had also done some careful scouting around the military facility, gathering intel. They now entered the cave fortification. She was tired, hurting, and worried. They hadn’t come across the missing six crew members. She feared her missing people were captured or, worse, dead. She also had even bigger worries after what she and A’tem had seen on their information-gathering mission.

Whoever the enemy was, they had bigger plans than killing off her training team.

But she had a plan to stop them.

“There you are!” Dr. Lia Morgan accosted them. She was followed closely by Joen, who had appointed himself the comely doctor’s protector.

Yeah, something’s going on between those two.

“Nadia, your wound needs more attention. Now! No putting it off. Do you want an infection?”

The diminutive doctor didn’t let Nadia get a word in edgewise and took her arm and pulled her along the path toward the smaller cave Lia had appropriated for her patients.

Joen followed closely on their heels. A slight quirk to his lips indicated he found Lia’s take-charge attitude amusing.

Nadia entered the cave. The most seriously injured lay about the small room, lying quietly on blankets found in the stores in the cave. The less injured helped by feeding or providing liquids to their brethren. The air reeked of blood and sweat brought on by fevers. The emotional atmosphere was one of stoic fortitude.

Anger surged through Nadia’s tired body, giving her an extra boost of adrenaline.

She practically vibrated she was so mad. These people, her responsibility, were injured on her watch. Hell yeah, that plan she’d concocted was an absolute go in her book. No one would talk her out of it—or take it away from her. Her people needed more care than Lia could provide here, and she would see they got that help and sooner rather than later.

“Lia, I’m fine.” She shook off the strong emotions threatening to erupt. She
would
maintain her calm as an example to her soldiers. “Has the missing team checked in?”

“No.” Joen frowned. “We’ll continue to ping them over the emergency frequency.”

“Damn. A’tem and I didn’t see them either. We’ll send out another search team.”

Joen nodded.

She glanced at the still forms of the three most severely injured soldiers. “How are they, Lia?”

The doctor sighed and tears formed in her silver-colored eyes. “They aren’t doing well. I need three regen beds ASAP.”

Lia paused and glanced toward the doorway where Joen stood guard. Outwardly he appeared calm, but Nadia’s empathic abilities had grown stronger since meeting the Prime or more specifically since meeting Huw. She read Joen’s emotions as explosive.

Then Lia smiled at Joen, whose expression lightened somewhat, and continued, “Joen has done his best to get our off-planet communications back up and running as has Aeron. But they haven’t managed it yet. So, I’ll make do with what I have and keep the three severely injured men in an induced coma and alive for as long as I can.” She pointed to a stone seat built into the room’s perimeter. “Sit, Nadia—at least I can treat your laser burn. You don’t want it to scar.”

“Scarring is the least of my concerns.” Nadia sat where Lia indicated and sighed at the relief of getting off her feet. The gear she wore was heavy, and she and A’tem had covered a vast amount of territory on their last outing. Her feet needed a short break, as did the rest of her.

At six feet two inches tall, she was now at eye level with the much shorter Lia. The doctor ripped off the remnants of Nadia’s laser-shredded uniform top. The wound on her arm was raw and seeping. She winced when Lia tweezed some stubborn bandage remnants out of the burned skin and swabbed it with something that made Nadia’s eyes water.

“Dammit, Lia. That hurt.” Nadia blew at the wound in an attempt to calm the antiseptic down.

“Stop being a baby.” Lia applied a soothing ointment and then wrapped the wound with gauze.

Nadia snorted and looked down at her torso. Shit, she was showing way too much skin for her comfort level. Good thing she’d worn a tank top underneath her uniform top instead of a bra or the crew members in the makeshift sick bay would’ve seen more of her than she’d like.

Even with the mostly adequate covering, Joen and a couple of the less severely injured soldiers had zeroed in on her full breasts. The Prime males showed their appreciation by the golden glow in their gazes. The last Prime male whose eyes had heated at the sight of her 36-Cs had been Huw Caradoc—and he’d seen them totally naked.

Her nipples tightened at the memory of Huw’s arm touching the lower curve of her naked breasts as he’d held her nude body protectively against his. That had been two weeks ago, and she still felt the heat of his touch and his emotional aura. She’d relived the moments in his arms every night since then in torrid dreams. Unfortunately, Huw had treated her as just another crew member and with exaggerated courtesy ever since that day. He purposely kept her at arm’s length when they were in the same room, but more often than not, he avoided her. The man’s middle name had to be “denial” since whatever this connection was, the feelings between them were strong. And she knew he felt them also because the heat between them was as intense as a star going supernova.

No, she couldn’t think of him now. It made her heart hurt and was a distraction. She had her crew to protect—that was the only thing she should be thinking of.
Good luck
with that.

Nadia raised a brow at Joen, whose gaze was still fixed on her breasts. He flushed slightly and shifted his focus to her face. “What is blocking our signals off planet, Joen?”

He entered the room more fully and took a seat beside her. “The jamming is definitely originating on the planetoid itself and not from any ship in orbit. Aeron and I can only conclude the enemy has taken over the communication control center at the Tarn military facility.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “This shouldn’t have happened. The communications center is manned at all times by highly trained Prime Elite soldiers. It is a secure, impregnable, and self-contained room within the facility. At the first signs of a breach, the men would’ve sealed themselves inside. It would take someone on the inside to let the enemy in and with the knowledge on how to shut off all communications. I can’t believe any of the soldiers stationed on this planet are in bed with the rebels.”

Nadia understood Joen’s shock and disbelief, but facts were facts. “It would only take one or two well-placed traitors to let in the mercenaries. Much like what happened when the pirates took over the
Galanti
.”

The previous treachery had occurred before the merger of Prime crews into Gold.

The
Galanti
, then a Prime star ship under Wulf Caradoc’s command, had been escorting the new Prime ambassador and his party to finalize the Prime joining the Alliance. This had also been before Wulf had met and fully bonded with Mel, who hadn’t known she was a Lost One.

Nadia winced in pain as Lia wielded the cold laser to a laceration on her shoulder she must’ve gotten while climbing. “No matter how it happened, Joen, the enemy has taken over the military compound and is in control of the communications center and the weapons systems.”

“How do you know this?” Joen asked.

“A’tem and I did a little extra scouting while we were out.” Nadia winced at the low, rumbling snarl Joen emitted. “My call, soldier. My call.”

Joen nodded. “What did you see?” The resigned expression on his face indicated he was prepared for the worst.

“Lots of armed guards now surround the facility.” They hadn’t been there that morning, but that was because the enemy had been in the hills harrying her scouting teams. “Only a few wore Prime uniforms, but they didn’t look to be Prime. I spotted several Terrans and even an Erian. Definitely mercs. We concluded the facility’s soldiers, if they’re still alive, are being held prisoner in the underground barracks.”

“Yes, that makes sense. The underground barracks are completely defensible and an invader could easily hold a large number of hostages in them since there are few ways in and out.” Letting loose his anger and frustration, Joen snarled several ugly Prime epithets.

The emotional display shocked her and caused Lia’s usually steady hand to shake as she worked on treating all Nadia’s bruises and lacerations.

“Stand down, soldier,” Nadia said. “We’ll figure a way to get inside the military facility and see what’s happened. Besides needing to get off-planet communications back up, I don’t want the enemy shelling our position and forcing us to move. We have too many injured.” She turned toward the other side of the cave. “A’tem … please locate Commander Ard and bring him here.”

A’tem, who’d been sitting with his injured cousin and having some lacerations of his own attended to, stood and left the small cave room.

Joen’s rage continued to bubble and roil under the surface. Lia went to stand next to him, and with a touch, his anger cooled enough that Nadia didn’t feel like scratching the phantom itches on her skin.

When A’tem and Aeron entered the medical area, she could tell A’tem had briefed her second-in-command about their reconnaissance and their conclusions.

His first words confirmed it. “Your plan is sound, Nadia. But I will take a small team and infiltrate the facility, shut down whatever is blocking our communications signal and the weapons systems, and then free the loyal Prime soldiers imprisoned there.”

Nadia glared at A’tem who returned her look with a blank one of his own. She’d have a talk with the Volusian later about loyalty and his misplaced overprotectiveness.

“That isn’t your call, Commander Ard.” Nadia’s tone was harsh, but Aeron needed to understand—and trust—that she or any Alliance female, whether an officer or a soldier, could do this job. And he needed to back her decisions up or this clusterfuck would go even more tits up. “It’s mine.”

When Aeron opened his mouth, anger in every line of his face and body, Nadia slashed the air between them with her hand. “Not one more word.”

The atmosphere in the cave heated up, and every Prime male in the room who’d been conscious enough to overhear the loud confrontation growled. The sound reverberated off the stone walls. “All the growling, snarling, and rumbling will stop now. That’s an order.”

Lia gasped, and Nadia looked over her shoulder at her friend. The good doctor wore a frown and radiated concern. Lia knew her well and had been present the last time Nadia had lost her temper. It didn’t happen often, but when it did—well, heads rolled and careers had been lost. Nadia didn’t appreciate when a male attempted to undermine her authority even when they did it with the best of intentions.

When the men had quieted down, she continued, “I’ll take two men and lead them on this mission. Aeron…” she used his first name to soften her previous acerbity, “…as my second, you’ll remain here to defend our base and continue to direct the search for the missing team and to work on establishing off-planet communications from this end.”