The Torid Affair by Laurann Dohner

Chapter Twelve

 

Jessa could see Dean. The big brute hovered in the open doorway, one shoe on the door they’d managed to knock down. He didn’t look well at all but she was impressed that he stayed on his feet. Withdrawals from those muscle enhancer drugs were hell on a system.

She held the bag of burn cream in her hand. It was already sliced open so when she threw it, it would pour out. She hadn’t massaged the bag to firm it into a paste. It was in liquid form—and would be slippery as hell on the floor.

It was all she had to slow them down. It wasn’t much, but they would probably try to make a run for it, and falling would definitely slow them down if they slipped. She just hoped it wouldn’t work on Maith. He had those big paws with deadly claws. They’d probably create some traction for him, regardless of how slippery the floor became.

She’d heard the comment about the kitchen. That was located behind her, around the curve in the hallway. They’d have to pass her to reach it. She just hoped that Wilma remained in her apartment and the teenager didn’t wake. She doubted that Ned would be in any condition to leave the room. He’d be lucky to make it to the bathroom without assistance.

She reached out with her mind implant and attempted to connect with the locks on their doors. It didn’t work. She was too far away.

Instead, she shut down the power sources to the lock pads on any doors her implant could connect with. It would prevent Boyd and his cohorts from attempting to enter the rooms nearest them while trying to flee, if they felt the need to barricade somewhere. It was the best she could do.

“We need to go,” Boyd hissed. “Get out there, Dean.”

Jessa resisted snorting. Of course the cowardly governor would send someone else out first, probably hoping they’d be attacked while he fled. It didn’t surprise her at all.

She decided to try a new tactic.

“I have a weapon and I know how to use it,” she yelled. “Get down on your knees, Dean. Lock your fingers above your head or I’ll shoot.”

The big guard jerked back into the room and out of her sight. That didn’t surprise her either. It was exactly what she’d hoped to achieve—keeping them inside until help arrived.

Jessa lowered her voice to a whisper, knowing only Maith would be able to hear her. “I really hope the teams get here soon. Maybe we can bluff to keep them where they are until then.”

A low growl reached her ears. She activated her ear implant, amplifying sound.

“She’s bluffing,” Carlton hissed. “The bitch is a doctor. Not a soldier. Even if she has a laser rifle, she wouldn’t be able to hit anything.”

“You’d know all about that,” Dean hissed back. “Give me the damn pistol.”

“Fuck you.” Carlton’s voice rose. “It’s mine. I’m not giving it up. Don’t forget, I’m the reason we’re not still in those fucking cages. I’m the one who hid this thing against my dick.”

Jessa curled her lip in disgust. No wonder he’d gotten away with stashing the weapon. She wouldn’t have wanted to touch him there to check. Maith probably hadn’t thought humans would be so crass to put things in their underwear. She doubted Dean would ask for it again, knowing where it had been.

She was wrong.

“I’ll go out first and take down any threats but I need a pistol,” Dean argued.

“You’ll be dead before you can shoot the thing. I’ll open fire on anyone who steps out of that room. Do you hear me? And I can shoot just fine. It’s part of fleet training. We all have to spend ten hours a week at the range,” Jessa yelled, hoping they wouldn’t know that was bullshit.

Another low growl came from Maith.

“As long as they stay in there, I’ll lie my ass off,” she whispered. “Don’t get between me and that door. I’m going to toss this bag. It’ll be slippery. I’m hoping one of them slips and it knocks himself out if they make a run for it.”

She got to her knees and hauled her arm back. Then she tossed the bag for all she was worth. It landed on the downed door and splattered wide.

A shriek came from inside the room. It had to be the woman. Or Carlton startles like a woman. That thought made Jessa smile.

“What was that?” Boyd didn’t sound happy.

“I don’t know. Feel free to stick your head out there to find out,” Dean responded, sounding furious.

“We’re going to die!” the woman wailed.

“Shut up, Karen!” Boyd snapped. “Pull it together.”

“Yes, sir,” she sniffed.

“Stop crying.” Carlton sounded annoyed. “Jesus. You should have stuck with Melissa. At least that side piece had some backbone. This one annoys the living shit out of me.”

“We need to get out of here.” Boyd paused. “You heard that bitch. Rescue teams are digging their way in. We need to be gone by the time they arrive. How many people are already inside the bunker, Carlton?”

“Just the cunt and the alien. Plus the dying kid and that sniveling pregnant bitch we locked up in here before.”

“So two,” Dean summed up. “We can take them. If the bitch had a weapon, she’d have used it already. Karen, Rodney, grab anything you can use for a weapon.”

Jessa silently cursed. They idiots were going to make a run for it. She slowly rose to her feet, ignoring the soft growl from Maith. Then he roared loudly. She flinched. Not that it made her get back down on the floor.

She blindly reached out and grabbed her med kit, getting a firm hold on the handle and lifting it up to her chest. The case was heavy, sturdy to use as a weapon, and it also might protect her from taking laser fire to any parts of her body she could shield. It was all she had.

She pressed against the wall, gaze locked on the light coming from the open door.

“Now!” Dean hissed.

He ran out first, with Boyd and Carlton right behind him. As soon as he stepped fully onto the door, both of his feet shot out from under him and he went down hard, hitting the floor.

Boyd and Carlton almost fell, too, but they managed to keep upright after sliding around like cartoon characters. Boyd used Carlton’s arm to get his balance. The pair moved in her direction. Jessa could see their outlines from the light in the room. Karen was probably behind them, but Jessa couldn’t see her because of their big bodies approaching. She did get some satisfaction when they seemed to have trouble keeping their feet and couldn’t run too fast.

Jessa yelled out a battle cry—or maybe more of a scream—and ran toward them. Her shoes weren’t slippery, which would give her an advantage. At least she hoped so. She aimed for Boyd. He was the one with the access code to get out of the bunker. Without him, the others would remain trapped.

Pain slammed into her chest when she rammed her kit into the larger man. They both went down. She landed partly on top of the governor, and he ended up flat on his back. She ignored the pain in her right knee that had slammed against the floor and tightened her grip on her kit.

“Ugggh,” Boyd groaned.

Jessa felt it when he tried to sit up, since she was lying on what she thought was his leg. She quickly got to her knees, trying to see him, but the light in the room they’d come from had somehow gone out. It was pitch black in the hallway. But it wasn’t quiet. Dean was bellowing obscenities and Maith snarled loudly.

“Carlton!” Boyd yelled.

It gave Jessa a good idea where his head was.

She swung the kit for all she was worth and hit him, but it wasn’t enough to knock him out. His hand groped the front of her shirt and she felt something brush against her face as she was yanked down on top of him again. She guessed he might have taken a swing at her with his other hand.

She dropped the kit and twisted to her side, rolling off him. Then she raked her fingernails viciously over the hand holding onto her. He sucked in a sharp, pained breath. It had to hurt; she could feel her nails taking off skin.

She threw her own punch, aiming for where his stomach might be. She hit him, satisfaction filling her when the hand clenching her uniform released.

She felt it when he started to roll to his side, probably his attempt to get away. Jessa wasn’t having it. She lunged, grabbed at his clothes, and got a good hold. She lifted her other arm, slamming her fist into his body.

Boyd rolled flat on what she assumed was his belly. Jessa climbed on top of him, released his clothing, and ignored the terrified scream that came from somewhere behind her. Karen.

Dean wasn’t yelling anymore. Maith had gone silent.

“Get her off me!” Boyd bellowed.

Jessa wailed on him with her fists as she straddled his ass. Every time he tried to push up, she knocked him back down, continually beating on his back. When he attempted to crawl, dragging them both over the floor, she stopped hitting him and went for his hair. He didn’t have much, but she got a good fistful with both hands and shoved his head down. He made a pained sound when his face smacked hard into the floor. He stopped moving.

Jessa froze, panting. Maybe she’d finally knocked him out. She knew he was breathing. She was mostly lying on his back; every inhale and exhale raised and lowered her body.

“I think he’s done,” a male voice stated.

It startled the hell out of Jessa. So did the feel of two big hands gripping her waist.

“Release the male, Jessa. We’ve got him.”

She recognized that voice. The strong hands lifted her away from the governor’s back. “Roth?”

“Yes. We came in first, since we could see. Drak’s got the smaller male. Maith is babysitting the larger unconscious human. Gnaw has the unconscious female. I would have pulled you off sooner, but you seemed intent on fighting with the male.”

Roth helped her stand. The hallway remained utterly dark, and Jessa shook from adrenaline. The Veslor kept a tight hold on her. “You’re hurt.”

A low snarl sounded from somewhere.

“It’s not bad, Maith,” Roth assured him. “Cover your ears, Jessa.”

She hesitated, then did as he asked.

“Clear,” Roth boomed in a loud voice. Then he softened it. “Now cover your eyes. They are coming with bright lights.”

Seconds later, about a dozen strong flashlights came around the curve in the hallway. Jessa turned her head away briefly, but wanted to see the end results too badly to follow the second part of Roth’s advice.

Moving lights filled the area, revealing that Boyd was indeed sprawled on his stomach, seemingly passed out cold. There was blood smeared on the floor near his face but she wasn’t able to see if she’d broken his nose or had done worse.

She lifted her gaze. Maith was still in his battle form, his front paws on Dean. The guard had a bloody face. It looked like claw marks, from what she could see, and his eyes were closed.

Gnaw stepped out of the cage room with a limp Karen draped over his shoulder. He lifted his free hand to cover his eyes as more booted feet pounded into the hallway. The fleet task force teams seemed to have arrived.

They were rescued.

Jessa let that sink in. There was a way out of the bunker now. The fleet task teams and Veslor grouping had breached it. She’d been certain that they’d hear them coming, but she hadn’t.

It didn’t matter how they got inside. They just did.

Relief hit. Their ordeal was over.

 

Maith removed his paws from the injured human and backed away as the human task force teams reached his side. Two of them dropped next to Dean and secured his hands. Then Michael arrived with a med kit. The medic had the other two humans roll the unconscious male onto his back, then treated his face.

“He obviously pissed you off,” Michael muttered, then he smirked. “You must’ve been careful when you slapped him with your paw though. He’s still alive and your claws didn’t penetrate his skull.”

Hailey approached Maith, holding out a pair of pants. The human task force member from team six smiled. “Roth told me to bring these, in case you had to kick some ass.”

Maith backed up a little more, sat on his hindquarters, and closed his eyes. It was tough to calm his emotions. He was still too angry at the bad humans—and Jessa. He could have handled all the humans alone. Now she’d been hurt. Roth had said so. Wanting to see all her injuries for himself motivated him to find the calm required to transform his body.

He rose to his feet after the change, taking the pants from Hailey. “Thank you.”

The female smiled wider. “My pleasure. I volunteered for this duty.”

Maith noticed how the female intensely stared at his body, especially his rod. He quickly dressed. Humans really did sexualize nudity. More than a few of the task force females had ‘hit on’ him. His grouping had learned that term well since living with the fleet.

“I can give you a massage later if you want.” Hailey openly admired his bare chest.

“I appreciate the offer but I have a female.”

“Oh.” Her reaction gave away her displeasure.

Maith stepped around her and strode to Jessa. Her back was to him as she talked with Roth. His grouping leader met his gaze and opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Maith grabbed Jessa by her shoulders, spinning her around.

“Where are you hurt?” He knew he snarled, but he couldn’t help it. He studied her face. Besides the damage to her artificial eye, there was a scratch on her cheek. He stepped back slightly, running his gaze down her body, and inhaled. He smelled blood.

It was hers. He just knew it.

“Where?” That was definitely him snarling.

“I messed up my knee, but it’s fine.” She tried to pull away from him.

He jerked her against his body and glanced around, spotting Nathan. “I need your kit now,” he ordered the male.

Nathan hurried over and dropped to his knees, removing his backpack and opening it, then yanking out his med kit. “Where is she hurt?”

The idea of another male touching Jessa, especially a human who had previously insulted her, angered him. “Hold her, Roth,” he demanded.

His grouping leader’s eyes widened but he didn’t hesitate to step up behind Jessa and gently grasp her hips. Maith dropped to his knees and inhaled, sniffing out the blood. It was her left leg. He also saw a small tear in her uniform. He unleashed his claws and carefully inserted two of them to tear the material wider and expose her knee.

“Stop it,” Jessa snapped.

Maith ignored her, taking a small flashlight Nathan offered and running the bright beam over her knee. It bled slightly. He turned his head to glare at where they’d secured the human governor. He wore a shiny belt, and his pants had buttons. He guessed the damage had been done by one of them when she’d been fighting with the male.

Nathan handed him cleanser spray and Maith foamed it over her damaged skin. The medic gave him a sterile cloth next, which Maith used to gently wipe away the foam seconds later. Fresh blood welled, and he accepted a medicated patch to place over it.

“Is there something I should know?” Roth asked in Veslor. “She’s carrying your scent.”

“She’s mine,” he answered back, also using Veslor.

“They aren’t going to allow it.” Jessa showed off her knowledge by speaking their language as well. “Stop acting like this, or some of the other males are going to report it. They aren’t going to let me free.”

“What is she talking about?”

“We’ll speak of this later,” Maith snapped at Roth. It was directed at Jessa too. He ran his gaze over her again, not seeing any other tears in her outfit. He got to his feet and cleaned the scratch on her face next, putting a medical patch on it as well. He switched to Earth language. “She needs to be taken to Defcon Red immediately. Her ocular implant has been damaged.”

“It’s fine for now.”

Maith snarled loudly at Jessa, glaring into her one seeing eye. “You will return to Defcon Red to be treated.”

Roth sighed. “Listen to him, Jessa.” He spoke in Veslor. “He’s riled. We don’t like to see a mate injured.”

“I’m not a mate,” she responded in their language. “The fleet owns me. They aren’t going to let me go.”

Maith wanted to argue, but Roth released Jessa and made a low warning noise. “Later,” he rasped. “Not here. We are drawing attention.”

“Is everything okay?” Nathan had closed the med kit and tucked it into his backpack, rising to his feet.

Roth turned to him. “Dr. Brick’s eye has been injured. She needs a transport to Med Bay on Defcon Red.

The overhead lights came on, and Nathan studied Jessa’s eye. The male softly cursed. “Shit. Did it blow?” He stepped closer and attempted to touch her face.

Maith snarled, grabbed hold of Jessa, and tucked her against his side.

The medic immediately backed off. “I wasn’t going to hurt her. It appears she’s suffered minor burns. Was she exposed to an electrical shock that overloaded her ocular implant? I’ll transmit the information to Med Bay so they can prepare for her arrival.”

“It was a power overload,” Jessa sighed. She turned to glare up at Maith with her working eye. “I’m fine. It won’t matter if I wait a few hours. I need to check on Wilma.” She quickly turned back to the medic. “Were all of you vaccinated against Prissa?”

“Yes,” Roth answered for him. “I personally made certain everyone took it, including our grouping.

“Good. Now, I need to see my patients. There are two.” Jessa wiggled in Maith’s hold, attempting to be free.

Her stubbornness infuriated him. “I am pulling rank. You have done it enough. You’re done here, Jessa.” He glanced around, finding Birch. “Team leader,” he called out.

Birch strode over. “What do you need?”

“Escort this female to Med Bay on Defcon Red. She needs immediate medical attention. Ignore her requests to stay on planet.”

Birch got a better look at Jessa and paled. “Shit. Her eye.”

“Take her now,” Maith ordered.

“Asshole,” Jessa muttered.

He didn’t care if she was angry.

Birch offered his arm. “I’ll assist you. We have shuttles waiting up top.” The male nodded at Maith. “I’ll take her there myself.”

Maith watched as a very unhappy Jessa was led away. She turned before rounding the curve and shot him a glare. “Don’t forget about Wilma and Ned. I should be the one taking care of them. They’re human.”

“We have medics. Go,” he snarled.

Birch gently tugged her out of sight, and Maith sighed, meeting his grouping leader’s steady gaze. Roth arched his eyebrows and crossed his arms over his chest.

“We will speak of all this later,” Maith told him.

“We will.” Roth glanced at the human task force teams, who were loading up the injured humans on stretchers and moving them out. He switched to Veslor. “You mated her?”

“Not yet. But I will.”

“Good luck with that. Tell me everything.”

Clark Yenna approached. “Where are the other patients?”

Maith just wanted to follow Jessa and be there while she received treatment in Med Bay. But he couldn’t. They needed him on scene. The pregnant female might panic if unknown males approached her. He also had the new codes to gain access to the rooms.

It didn’t mean he could stop thinking about her, though, as he filled in the males nearest him on everything that had taken place. He led the other medics to the two remaining humans. Both of them would be transported directly to Defcon Red, since the temporary hospital they’d set up had been destroyed.

They also weren’t sure which humans on the planet they could trust. The patients would be safer with the fleet.