Hearts of Ishira (Hearts of Ishira Saga) (62 page)

“Um, Ri?” Hunter said softly, drawing her attention. She looked confused at his sheepish grin. “You just… well, you kind of just married us.”

She stared at him a moment, then rolled her eyes and snorted delicately.

“I was married to you the day you guys decided to keep me no matter what,” she informed him quietly.

He was still stunned by that and was about to lead her out, when Amy, of all people, sauntered into the med center, a nasty-looking scratch on her arm. The triumphant blast from her mind slammed into both Readers, and it was all they could do not to react with physical violence.

“Oh, hi there!” she said cheerily, her eyes immediately seeking out the prone forms on the beds. Her smile slipped just a bit as she realized that neither were Arianna, and that Rom had been hurt, as well. She recovered quickly, though, and turned to the medic on duty. “I had an accident. I cut my arm.”

“On what,” Arianna bit out angrily. “Let me guess… an animal scratched you?”

“Oh… um. No, of course not. Damn kimis won’t come near me.”

“Who could blame them?” Ri asked, snorting derisively. Hunter’s grip on her arm tightened just a bit. She sent him a warning in her head. She’d deal with this, here and now. “I know it was you, Amy.”

“What was me?” Amy asked, her big brown eyes going all innocent in what everyone could see was an act. Arianna sensed Bev slowly standing up behind her, moving to Ri’s side. Arianna eased from Hunter’s grip and walked over to where the taller Amy stood. Bev followed her, wanting to hear more and provide support. “What in the world happened? I heard there was a bit of a commotion in the living quarters earlier.”

“Well, since you worked so hard to set it up,” Arianna said, her voice low and hard, “You should be happy to know that your little shot at me backfired. The slider didn’t get me. It got Jace, but he’s going to be fine, so you didn’t succeed in taking him from me, either. And in trying to save his commander’s brother, Rom was viciously mauled. Both of them are in serious condition. I thought you’d like to know that, before I kick your skinny little ass out of here. You can deal with your cut elsewhere.” She smiled sweetly at Amy. “Perhaps one of your men can tend it? After all, two of your team are medics, aren’t they? Which begs the question… why are you here?”

“I… My men are elsewhere, and this looks like it might be getting infected. I wanted to check with…” Her voice trailed off as she took in Jace’s pale face and Hunter’s angry one. She took a cautious step back.

“You wanted to check with Jace, hopefully while he was tending to me for the slider attack?” Arianna stormed at step closer. “Was that your plan? Is there another slider somewhere under your cloak? Perhaps in your basket, there? Were you hoping to finish me off and then console my mate for my loss? Or was Jace your target all along? He doesn’t want you, so you won’t let anyone else have him?”

“
You
did this,” Bev breathed, putting it all together. Ri clasped her hand, sending a mental blast to her, barely keeping her from flying at the other woman. Amy shook her head, taking in the many warriors in the room. Trey and his team moved to stand behind Bev. Hunter and Jax were with Ri. She wasn’t worried about Arianna or Beverly. She was more concerned that the strongest and most intelligent of the warriors were in this room, and all of them knew what she had done. But Bev wasn’t finished.

“You set that…
thing
… on Jace, so that my Rom got himself nearly killed trying to save his cousin?”

Her voice was going up in volume and pitch. Amy was retreating again, but came up against the hard wall of another warrior’s chest. Two of them were blocking the door. She flattened herself against them, looking a little alarmed now that both women were stalking her, and their men were there to back them up, supporting them silently. Amy had badly misjudged the situation.

Bev stood there and shook in her rage, tears of anger escaping her eyes.

“You know those memes on Facebook back home?” Ri asked quietly, making Amy blink at such an innocuous question. “The ones that say,
’99% sweetheart, 1% bitch’
?” Amy nodded slowly. Ri took one last step, until she was practically nose to nose with the skinny girl. “You just pushed my ‘
bitch
’ button. Now stay the hell away from my men, and from me, you fucking cunt. You do not want to see what happens when someone messes with the people I love.”

“You don’t have the balls to do anything,” Amy breathed, shaking a bit as Ri grinned up into her face, her eyes feral.

“I’ve already lost an awful lot, you little shit,” she ground out softly. “If I lose either of my men because of you, you will die, at my hand, and it will not be quick or easy. And if I see you near either Jace or Hunter again, or you come near me,
at all
, I will assume you’re ready to finish what you started today, and I will end you. You got that?”

“And if she doesn’t, I will,” Bev said softly. Her expression assured everyone listening that she would. Amy nodded, but her face lost all color when Hunter stepped forward, Rom’s team at his side.

“In case you have any ideas for further harm,” Hunter said, “I want you to know that my first instinct was to have you executed. That is what we would have done on our world. Your Commander released your fate into my hands. I spared you only because my brother asked that he not be the cause of anyone’s death. You are still a child in our eyes, and you have not been in remediation for very long. You will remain under Protocol, with more stringent restrictions, which I will impart to your handlers shortly.

“But if you cause any more mischief, no matter the results, I will consider you a detriment to the colony, and I will end your life. Think about that, little schemer. Because there is not a man here that does not owe me their life or follow my orders. None will protect you, should you cause me to have to deal with you again. Do you understand that?”

“I didn’t mean-“

“Jace is my brother!” Hunter bellowed. He pointed behind him, to Rom’s bed. “Rom is our cousin. Trey’s mother is my aunt. Do you understand what I am telling you? We are not just fellow warriors. We are a family. When you attack one, you attack all. You would do well to remember that.”

“Commander,” Trey said, speaking up for the first time. “I would like to ask for you to carry out punishment now. I fear the consequences, should this scheming little
slider
decide to do more.”

“I second,” Erik quickly spoke up.

And from his bed, Rom called out a weak, “Kill the bitch.”

Hunter shrugged and nodded to the warriors behind Amy, who grabbed her arms roughly.

Truly frightened now, Amy began begging and weeping, telling them all that she hadn’t meant to hurt anyone, just scare Arianna. She hadn’t known that the sliders were so dangerous.

If not for their Reader senses, Hunter and Arianna might have believed her. But Hunter shook his head.

“Last chance,” he said, moving to Ri’s side and holding her close. Amy looked to Arianna, trying to appeal to her nurturing nature, but Ri shook her head.

“You’ve hurt my mate, whom I love dearly. You have caused me and his brother, whom I also love, too much grief already. Hunter wishes to give you another chance. I do not.” She stared at Amy, then shocked everyone when she spat on the taller girl. “If it were up to me, you’d be ashes already, spread in the dung heap.”

“Go,” Hunter growled, nodding to the medics to let her go. “You owe Master Jace your life. Remember that. And remember… one last chance. That is all you get. The next time, there will be no mercy.”

Amy sucked in a sobbing breath and whirled, running into Rian and Lor. She grunted a the impact, staring up at them in horror. Rian’s expression was terrifying. He and his men were waiting for Hunter’s signal. He gave it. Rian nodded once and looked down at Amy.

“And with this incident, Phase Two of your Protocol will begin,” Rian said quietly, almost regretfully. He met Hunter’s eyes.

“Whatever it takes,” Hunter said softly, knowing full well what he was saying. “You will either tame her or break her. At this point, she has no rights under our law and is living on borrowed time. If she cannot be remediated, she will be released from this burden of life and into the next.”

Hunter knew that if Amy was able to strike again, there would be no help for her, no hope for her eventual remediation. He would kill her himself if she tried to harm anyone else. He sighed wearily. He hated this part of his job.

The confrontation over with, Arianna and Bev hugged each other, shaking with anger and tension, then their men took them aside and sat them down, Bev near Rom, who was praising her for her courage, and Ri beside Jace. Hunter knelt in front of her, taking her cold, shaking hands in his own.

“You are a fierce little protector, aren’t you, my little warrior?” he asked gently, offering her a proud smile. “I did not know you had that much rage within that small body of yours, but I feel as though you would have attacked her, if I had not been here, and would have killed her.”

“I feel like I’m going to throw up,” she said starkly. He chuckled, stroking her hair back from her face.

“You did well. And… I love you, too.”

She slowly slid her gaze up to his, thought back on what she’d said to Amy, and then bit her lip shyly as her cheeks heated.

“You do?” she whispered. He nodded, smiling tenderly at her.

“If I had not already, your stalwart defense of Jace and me this day would have cemented my feelings for you. I know now that you would go up against anyone or anything that threatened those you love, and I know from being in your mind when you said those things, that you would not hesitate to do mortal injury if such a thing happened.”

“I would kill or die for you, Hunter,” she admitted. He nodded.

“As you know I would for you,” he whispered, then kissed her heatedly as he swept her against his chest and held her to him.

Holding her close, he took her home and put them both to bed.

“So, little liar,” Rian said, once his team got Amy back to their quarters. “You have chosen to escalate our schedule a bit. Not the usual Protocol, but I am ever adaptable.”

“What does Phase Two mean?” she asked, swallowing, realizing that the men were all arranging themselves around her. There was no means of escape. Rian shook his head at her.

“Remove your clothing,” he ordered softly. Amy’s eyes widened.

“Hell, no,” she snorted. “I’m not having sex with any of you!”

“You will beg for sex with us before Phase Two is over with,” Lor assured her, stepping closer. “Strip, or we will do it for you.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” she breathed, snarling at the men. “I have rights. I can say no.”

“You lost your rights when you attacked your Commander,” Rian reminded her. “I can play back the video of Commander Hunter’s revocation of your rights and his absolution for us to do whatever it takes to turn you into a proper member of our society. You have chosen to find ways to circumvent our previous methods, so we must take further steps.”

He stepped closer to her, reaching up to grip her chin.

“Remove. Your. Clothing.”

“Screw. You.”

“So be it.”

Rian stepped back and his men fell on Amy, holding her gently but firmly, so that she was unhurt as they stripped her bare. When she was panting, naked, they held her arms, faced her toward Rian.

“Now,” he told her, “It begins. I wish this could be more fun, but you are, frankly, too scrawny and child-like for my men to enjoy themselves with you, so this will be a chore for all of us.”

He then went on to explain to her that she would not have clothing until further notice, would not go outside or see anyone other than them, until such time as she could convince them that she could behave herself. The men spent the next few hours educating her, sometimes by gentle force, in the various positions she would learn to assume at their commands, the household chores she would be responsible for… and the consequences if she did not follow orders.

By the time they were done, she was humiliated and even more furious at Arianna. The bitch would die for subjecting Amy to this degradation. That was all there was to it. She would die, if it took Amy a year to figure out a plan.

But she couldn’t do anything from in here. Scowling inwardly, Amy realized that she was going to have to play their game for awhile… fight at first, then capitulate so that they would let her back out into the population. She’d bide her time. There would be another opportunity. A smart woman paid attention and took notes. She’d figure out how to make Ri pay.

And maybe she’d figure out how to have some fun with this whole ‘Protocol’ thing, as well. A small smile touched her lips.

They wanted her naked? They thought to humiliate her? Oh yes… she’d be playing their game… but she’d play it her way.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

The next few weeks were perhaps the best of Arianna’s life. Jace was up and about within two days, and mostly back to his usual self by the end of the third. He was back on duty on the fourth, though no one would have faulted him for taking several more days to recover.