Planet Athion: The Complete Series by Angel Lawson

44

Mercy

The dual combinationof adrenaline and exhaustion set in after Rebecca and her baby get on the medical bus. I hate for her to leave but I’ve already pushed Damon too far. The simple fact he allowed her on the ship and for me to assist in her delivery was a generous act that I know he didn’t want to be involved in.

Cassidy and I clean the medical room together quickly and quietly. After the sound of childbirth, no words can compete. The baby appeared healthy but the woman needed further medical attention. I don’t know what will happen to her—if she’ll have to stay with the Trads she came in with. That is professional distance I’m going to have to learn, especially if I do end up in the birthing rings.

“That was really amazing,” Cassidy says when we’re finished. Her olive-toned cheeks hold a glow. “I’ve never been a part of something like that.”

“You were a huge help; in here, out there with the guys. Seriously, thank you for the support.”

I secure the medical waste and make sure to sanitize everything. What I do need is a shower. We part at the hallway that separates my quarters from theirs and I head back to my room, still reeling from the events. It’s been a long time since I’ve actually delivered a baby and that was my first alien-human. I’d studied Trad births, their egg laying and the differences between their deliveries and our own, but to see it happen firsthand had been a professional first. I’m proud of myself for getting through it with no assistance from a medical team.

I run the water hot, almost blistering my skin. My muscles ache but it’s the good kind, something I haven’t felt in a while. Like I have a purpose other than just being something for someone else. An object for Kane. A possession for the Master. A victim for Damon to save.

I dry off in my small bathroom and then change into some of the soft clothing from the closet; a loose-fitting tank and gray pajama-style pants. I’m brushing out my hair when there’s a knock on my door.

Damon, tall and broad, stands in the door holding a tray of dinner.

“I thought maybe you’d be hungry.”

The warm scent of stew slams into me and my stomach lurches. “Starving, actually.” I tilt my head. “What happened to mandatory meals together?”

“I figured you deserve a night off.”

His voice carries a different tone—softer, less tense. His eyes aren’t filled with the same arrogance and his lips have lost the smirk. The shift is sudden and makes me uncomfortable.

I step back and allow him entry into the room. He places the tray on the small table. “Have you eaten?”

He shrugs. “I’m not hungry.”

On a whim I ask, “Would you like to sit with me?”

There’s only a slight hesitation but he nods and sits in the chair across from mine. The room is cozy with me in it. It feels tight with him here. Not just his sheer size, which is impressive, but his personality, his mood. He’s a dominating man and it’s hard not to fall into insecurities around him.

It’s hard, but not impossible.

“Thank you for bringing Rebecca onto the ship. I know that was hard for you.”

“She needed your help,” he replies nonchalantly.

“She needed our help.”

He shrugs again, not wanting any part of the heroics. I scoop up a heaping spoonful of the meaty stew and take a bite. The warm food settles quickly in my belly.

“What made you change your mind?” I ask suddenly.

“I just did.”

“Like that?” I snap my fingers. “You decided to just stop being an asshole.”

“Is that impossible?”

“I don’t know, Damon. I barely know you but I do think you’re pretty stubborn and for you to change your mind like that, there had to be a reason.”

His shoulders visibly tense and his right hand rests on the table. At the base of his wrist I see the tattoo for the first time. Small, almost like a brand. Three stars combined.

“I lost someone once—two people, actually—and no one was there to help them. I wasn’t there to help them. I made a promise to them that I’d never walk away from a situation where someone was in need—with one caveat. I’d do it for a price.” His eyes lock with mine—the pain reflected back is troubled and deep. “Seeing that woman triggered the opposite in me tonight. I didn’t want to get involved—to reopen those wounds. I thought I could walk but you, you refused. You did exactly what she would have wanted me to.”

“Who?” I ask quietly.

He swallows thickly. “My wife.”

“She’s gone?”

“Yes.” He looks away. “Her and my child, both gone, both left for dead when no one would step in and help.”

I cover his hand with my own and I almost expect him to pull away but he doesn’t. “I’m so sorry. I lost someone, too.”

“If she’d had someone like you, things may have been different.”

My meal sits uneaten before me, but it’s the man in front of me that needs tending. I can tell how hard it is for him to reveal himself like this, but curiosity gets the best of me and while he’s in a sharing mood, I want to know more.

“Is this why you’re out here alone? Working for a maniac and traveling with two other criminals?”

“I’d been working alone for a long time—even before the invasion. I had military experience, combat time, and the government hired me off the books to take care of the stuff no one else wanted to do.”

“You were a mercenary. Was the stuff about NASA a lie?”

He barely shakes his head. “No. I was a pilot like I said, but there were different needs with the invasion happened. Then when the galaxy opened up, they paid me to get on one of the first ships out of Earth, processed me through and sent me to basic training with the Custo. I was angry, raw, and Kai saw right through my bluster and bullshit. He added me to his unit and for the first time in a long while I understood what it was like to care for others—even if they were just the men in our group. Other than our regular assignments, we had one ulterior motive—to take down the Master. He’d escaped when Dimka was freed and continued to terrorize, enslave, and torture anyone else that crossed his path. Human women were just the newest commodity for him to exploit.”

“Commodity.” I don’t like the word.

“That’s how he views it, Mercy. How he views you. Never forget that.”

I shift away from him and cross my arms over my chest, asking, “What happened next?”

“We got some intel about where he was operating and instead of going in guns blazing, we decided to play the long game. I agreed to go undercover and I started frequenting his businesses. I learned the ropes and gained his trust. I became one of his employees—which isn’t like a normal job. I pledged my allegiance to him. There were a few tricky situations—one where Amias revealed himself as an ally.” He looks at his hands. “I had to do things I’m not proud of, but things I had to do to get inside the system. It’s why I was able to walk into that auction ship and purchase you for an astronomical amount of money.”

What he reveals is that the fact our lives aligned like this are uncanny. Between Kane and the Custo protecting me and Damon being on the other side…it shouldn’t have happened.

I push my chair back and stand, walking around the table. He looks up at me with those bright green eyes and a different kind of fear reveals itself. “I don’t think I had a chance to thank you,” I tell him.

“You owe me nothing, Mercy.”

I take his hand and urge him to stand. He does, towering over me in the tight space. “I think you’ve sacrificed yourself for a long time, Damon. I think people all over the universe have you to thank for the things you’ve done when no one is looking.”

“Most of those were not good things.” He runs his hands through his hair. “I have a lot of blood on my hands.”

I don’t know exactly what this man wants, but I do know what he needs. Forgiveness for his past sins. For the death of his wife and child. For the brutality he’s experienced.

I don’t know how to give him all of that but something about this day—about me—triggered him into revealing himself. What I can give him is my trust and understanding. I reach for him, sliding an arm around his waist and then another, pulling him into a hug.

He’s stiff for a moment in return, arms hanging by his side, but I don’t release him, instead resting my head against his chest and inhaling the warm scent of his body, listening to the frantic beat of his heart.

I don’t know how long we stand there but as the minutes pass, he relaxes a little more, slowly lifting his arms around my shoulders, eventually holding me tight. I feel his chin on my head, the slow of his heartrate, the untensing of his muscles as we meld into one.

We remain this way and as the ship cuts through the night, heading toward the men I love, one thought rolls around in my mind; I may have room in my heart for more than three Custo, but does this Custo have room for me?