Rebel Pax (Shifters of the Primus Book 2) (11 page)

I
’m forced
to watch Pax and Davoso be dragged away through my tear-clouded eyes. Ferrus is holding me tightly by the back of the neck, ensuring that I cannot escape. The door closes and I’m left alone with Ferrus and Admiral Gaius.

“Well then,” says Gaius. “Be sure you dispose of her when you’re through. She knows too much to be let loose.”

“Of course,” says Ferrus.

Gaius leaves and Ferrus releases his grip on me, strolling toward the door and locking it with a key. “Well, it’s just you and I now. No Pax to protect you. I suppose the truth will come out now. Will you beg for your life? Will you offer yourself to me in exchange for freedom?”

I say nothing. He smirks, walking closer. “Do you want me to take you? Is that why you are silent?”

I spit thickly in his face, baring my teeth.

He reels back, grimacing. He straightens and whips the back of his hand across my cheek, knocking me to the floor. Despite the show of force, his voice is still calm and easy. “You’ll live to regret that, but not for long.”

“Pax will come,” I say.

“I think not. Even a Primus will struggle to heal from that many wounds.” Ferrus moves to a dresser and sips deeply from a goblet of some red liquid. “Anyway,” he says, swallowing hard. “Where Gaius is taking him, even at full strength he would not escape.”

I glare at him. “What do you plan to do with me?”

“Gaius believes I want you as a toy. The truth is you are just bait. As long as Gaius believes I am his faithful lapdog, he serves my purposes. But I have no intention of sharing my power with him. Using you to lure out Kato and the Umani will be the trick up my sleeve. I will have them at my bidding. Perhaps I will even turn them against Gaius once I have what I need from him. Time will tell. For now, I am going to take you somewhere safe.”

I say nothing, letting him unlock the door and lead me out through the palace. I notice a faint trail of blood as we’re being led away and see that it leads toward the room where we used the escape tunnel earlier. I realize the trail leads to the dead-end hallway where I found the escape hatch in the floor. The dungeon must be down there somewhere.

Ferrus takes me outside where a shuttle is waiting. The engines burn hot, blowing wavy vapors of invisible heat over the landing pad. He drags me aboard and ties me to the co-pilot’s chair and then seats himself at the controls. I notice the shuttle is the same model as the one I was learning to fly before I got myself into this mess. An idea begins to form. . .

“You know,” I say, as Ferrus taps a button to close the shuttle door and engages the primary engines. “I can be more than just bait.” I know the words are not true, but the path they lead me down twists my stomach. Pax would want me to do anything to escape, and it’s not like I’m actually
doing
anything. It’s just to get him to untie me…

“Oh?” asks Ferrus. “What are you saying.” He pulls down the throttle and the shuttle rattles into the air.

“That I could be more use to you if I was untied.”

He turns to look at me, eyebrows raised. Then he laughs. “I’m not a fool. I didn’t make it this far by falling into obvious traps.”

My heart sinks and I realize it really was a long shot.

Ferrus holds up a finger. “But, I also have no fear of whatever you
think
you have up your sleeve. I will untie you, and you will make it worth the effort. Am I clear?”

I try to look resistant now. “Screw you.”

He laughs. “Good. I like it better when they resist.” He roughly yanks the ropes free from my arms.

I scowl, not moving at first.

We’re flying through a dense patch of trees right now and I know we will crash if I distract him right now. I have to wait for the right moment. . .

“Well?” he asks. “I’ve never met a female who could make me cum with just a glare, but you’re welcome to try.”

I bristle, wishing Pax was here to put him in his place. But no. . . Pax has saved my life more times than I can count in the few days I’ve known him, but I don’t need him to solve
every
problem for me. Isn’t this what I always wanted? It’s a chance for me to prove that I’m
not
just some damsel in distress. I can at least take matters into my own hands and turn things around. I know I’ll need Pax to survive this, but I can handle Ferrus.

When he finally flies us into a safer patch of open air, I dive forward and press the lock hatch button and then pull the ejection strap beneath his seat before he can react. His chair propels him at nearly 100 feet per second straight into the ceiling. His skull hits first, denting the metal, and his chair crashes to the ground, still hissing and knocking him into several more walls before stopping. But I don’t have time to see if he’s dead. I jump on the controls and bank hard, bringing us back around toward the palace.

M
y world is agony
. With each bump as I am dragged deeper into the palace, my wounds ignite with fresh pain. I groan. But I am careful not to move, even though I have felt strength returning to my limbs over the past minute. Gaius and his men lead Davoso and I through a hatch and into an underground passageway. I know that my only hope is to act before we reach the series of thick doors that lead to the dungeon. And it irks me to admit it, but I will have to place my life partially in Davoso’s hands to escape our captors.

He is dragged along beside me, conscious and largely unharmed. Two Primus have his arms locked behind his back as they prod him forward. A third human has a large coil gun trained on the back of his head. I am being dragged at the back of the small group and only by one Primus, likely because my body is riddled with holes and I’m trailing a thick trail of blood.

Their mistake.

I open the cages of my inner panther more widely than I ever have before. But instead of letting it run free, it’s as if I latch my mind to its back, gaining all the strength and fury of my primal force but still holding onto my grip of reality. I grow huge so quickly that the force of my expansion knocks the Primus who holds me into a wall hard enough for him to crack his head. I stomp his legs with my massive paw as I round the corner, coming up close behind Admiral Gaius and the men who hold Davoso. They are already turning to see the source of the noise when they see me move around the corner.

I do not move fast, as my wounds are still grave, but having allowed the beast to take me so fully, I am truly enormous. My head is bent as I stalk toward the men, nearly fifteen feet off the ground. Each of them takes a step back when they see me. The human aims his coil gun at me and fires, but I am quick. I shift, even though there is little room to maneuver my large body in the now-small tunnel. I push beyond the pain and launch myself in a full extension, swiping my claws toward the Primus who hold Davoso. They flinch back and one isn’t fast enough as my claws gut him.

The other Primus manages to dodge but has to release Davoso to do so. The attack takes my last ounce of strength and I slide to a stop on the floor. It’s up to Davoso now.

He rams his shoulder through the human with the coil gun before he can lance my skull with plasma. The gun flies free and he snatches it from the air, spinning and and downing the human with a well-aimed shot. Gaius senses that the tables have turned and runs away back the way we came. The three surviving Primus guards are already moving toward him with their plasma-tipped spears. Davoso steps back, firing up into the closest warrior’s head. He dodges another thrust and blasts off a leg. Then he uses the butt-end of the weapon to crack the third warrior’s nose before finishing him with two shots to the chest. He mercilessly kills the warrior with the wounded leg, who had been trying to limp to safety.

The beast within me retreats, driven away by the pain.

“All right, Pax,” says Davoso. “I didn’t touch your girl. You have my word. So if you die on me I want you to die knowing that. The last thing I need is your vengeful spirit following me around or something.”

I laugh weakly. “Good. I didn’t want to have to haunt you either.”

He helps me to stand and I use his shoulder for support, limping back toward the way Gaius went.

“We have to stop him,” I say.

“You think I don’t know that?” grunts Davoso as he fights to keep me on two feet and hurry down the passage at the same time.

“Careful,” I growl.

“Or what? You’ll fall on me?”

“Yes. And I’ll make sure some of my heavier parts fall on your balls.”

He barely manages to get me up through the hatch and back into the palace. When we exit the room above, we are faced with a group of fifteen humans and charged coilguns pointed in our direction.

“Shit,” says Davoso.

“Shit,” I agree.

Then the wall caves in. In a blur of rubble, blood, dust and fire, I see a shuttle.

“Oh hell,” says Davoso. “Do I dare be relieved, or are even more bad guys about to jump out of that thing?”

“Ready your weapon,” I say.

“No shit, Pax.” Davoso’s weapon is trained on the shuttle door. “You’re just full of insightful and strategic advice. I don’t know how I’ve survived this long without you.”

The shuttle door opens and Mira hops down. She puts her hands on her hips and playfully kicks her foot up, shrugging as if to say ‘no big deal’.

I laugh. This is truly a woman to devote my life to. For the first time, I realize I want her to raise my children. I can see now that she would also bring strength of spirit and mind to them. But I surprise myself to realize that I want to live most so I can see this come to be. And if I want it to happen, I must keep her safe and make sure she remains mine.

I
’m smiling toward Pax
, who is bloody from head to toe and riddled with holes when someone grabs me from behind. In all the excitement, I had completely forgotten about Ferrus. He pushes something sharp against my neck and growls into my ear. “You bitch. I was going to make it easy for you, but now you’re going to die slowly and painfully. And you’re going to watch me kill Pax first.”

I see Gaius emerge through the hole in the wall my shuttle broke, firing a plasma pistol at Davoso and Pax. His first shot catches Davoso off-guard and lays him to the ground with a smoking hole in his stomach. Pax moves sluggishly, hindered by his wounds. He ducks behind a pile of rubble as Ferrus pushes me further down the shuttle’s ramp.

Pax’s position forces Gaius to get closer, and when he leaps over to fire into the place where Pax ducked, I cringe. Gaius’ curses, looking around. A few seconds later, Pax rises a few feet behind Gaius and hurls a broken hunk of concrete at his head. Gaius partially dodges but still gets clipped by the projectile. He sways, eyes rolling back in his head and collapses.

With Gaius unconscious, Pax turns toward Ferrus. One of Pax’s shoulders is hanging lower than the other, he’s dragging a leg, and his hand clutches a wet wound in his stomach, but he comes closer.

“Stay where you are!” shouts Ferrus.

Pax comes closer. Ferrus pulls a sidearm from his waist and fires into Pax. He lands two shots in Pax’s stomach before Pax closes the distance at a slow but determined walk and grabs Ferrus by the throat. The knife Ferrus held to me clatters to the ground.

Pax lifts Ferrus into the air, squeezing tightly, his face contorted with rage. “You… betrayed me. Betrayed your…people. Dared to touch… My female. Now you…will…pay…the…price!” With the last word, he squeezes Ferrus’ neck until it snaps, leaving Ferrus’ head at an odd angle as he slumps lifelessly to the ground.

Pax collapses and I see Gaius limping to his feet and slipping away once again through the broken wall. But right now all I care for is Pax. Hot tears already drip from my eyes as I try to cover him, wishing I could take some of his pain. He did all of this for me. Sacrificed so much of himself to protect me. Even worse, none of this was his fight. If I had never crashed into his life and dragged him along, none of this would have happened.

“No,” he says, as though reading my thoughts. “If you had… not come into my—ugh—life… I would have destroyed myself. Better… to sacrifice… for you…”

“No,” I say, shaking more tears from my eyes. In the back of my mind, I realize that our blood bond has become so strong that he can hear my thoughts when they are desperate enough. “You’re not done. I’m not letting you die. Do you hear me? If you want to save me, you have to live. Because if you die, I swear I will kill myself. Hear me?”

Pax scowls. “Stubborn… Female…” But he closes his eyes as with great effort and begins breathing more regularly. His muscled chest rises and falls, each movement reassuring me that he still lives.

I kneel by his side for several long minutes, my hand in his as he clings to life. I hear a commotion outside and fear that it is our end. There are sounds of a brief battle, several shots fired and the clang of spears and sabirs on nano armor. I hear a powerful beast roar and the screams of several men falling from the platform. Something is coming. I can hear many pairs of feet just on the other side of the ruined wall.

I see a massive golden panther step into view, green eyes nearly glowing in the darkness. My eyebrows climb my forehead. I’ve only seen one other shifter since I’ve been on Markul and I only know one other Primus male with golden skin…

“Kato? Is that you?”

The panther’s head morphs and shrinks until Kato stands before me, wearing a tight nano armor suit. Liandra walks around the corner, holding a coilgun.

I nearly cry with relief. “Please help him.”

Kato sees Pax and moves to inspect his wounds. He cuts a deep gash in his wrist and drips his own blood over Pax’s injuries. Each drop of blood pulls Pax’s skin closer together, mending as it touches.

“This will be enough,” says Kato. “He will live.”

I hug Pax tightly, drawing a grunt of pain from him. “Sorry!” I say quickly.

To my delight, Pax’s body shakes with a laugh. His voice is weak, but he manages to speak. “How did you know to find us here?”

“It was Liandra,” says Kato. “She had a tracking device put on Mira’s favorite necklace when she first learned of her aspirations to travel Markul.”

“She did what?” I ask, cheeks burning red with indignation.

“Hold on, hold on,” says Liandra. “I never even looked at where you were until today. Some loyalists from New Hope tipped us off about Gaius’ relationship with Ferrus and the Toltek. They said you and Pax were headed there. So, yeah. I checked. You can yell at me later.”

I sigh. “Maybe I will. I haven’t decided yet if I’m pissed at you. Right now I’m just glad he’s okay,” I say, resting my head on the warmth of Pax’s chest.

* * *

I
t’s
an entire week before Pax has fully healed. We are still staying in the Toltek capital. After learning about Ferrus’ betrayal, the Toltek council of elders unanimously voted to reinstate Pax as king. Which means that I will be his
queen
. Every time the thought crosses my mind I get giddy with excitement.

I’m sitting outside in the hanging gardens, watching small, brightly colored insects dart in and out of the flowers when Pax’s strong hands slide over my shoulders.

“Good morning,” he says from behind me.

I put one of my hands on his and smile back at him.

He moves to sit beside me, his face serious. “I need to be clear about something…”

“Okay,” I say, feeling suddenly nervous.

“If Davoso lied about touching you, I will find him and kill him.”

The look on Pax’s face is so deadly serious that I nearly laugh. Instead I put a hand on his knee. “Technically he touched me when he got stabbed a few times trying to save me. His unconscious body fell on top of me, but I couldn’t see or hear anything, so it doesn’t count.”

Pax frowns, but nods. “Good. Well, there’s an uncomfortable matter to attend to.”

“Oh?”

“It is expected for newly crowned, and in this case, re-crowned, kings to participate in a coronation ceremony. And, when a king takes a female as mate, there is also a binding ritual. I fear I must task you with planning the specifics of these, as I will not—ah—have
time
.”

I grin, not wanting to show how thrilled I am at the idea. My mind immediately starts bursting with ideas. Color schemes, fabrics, music, bridesmaids dresses—do the Primus
do
bridesmaids? I decide to make him squirm. “I don’t know. After everything I went through, I think that might be too much for me right now… Can’t my big, strong Pax do it all for me?”

Pax lowers his head, jaw flexing. “If I must. . . Yes. I will do this for you.” He says the words as seriously as if he’s vowing to give his life.

I burst out laughing. “I’m sorry, Pax. I was just playing with you. I would
love
to plan. Can you just find me a girl who is familiar with all this stuff so I can make sure I have the details right?”

He looks so relieved I nearly laugh again. “Of course.” I will go find one at once. “Oh, one more thing,” he says. A smoldering look enters his eyes. “I will plan the
after-dark
activities. Be sure to drink plenty of fluids.”

I raise my eyebrows.

After Pax leaves to go find someone for me to consult with, I wander back into the palace and find Liandra, who sits beside Kato in a side room. Little Altus and Sapphire are swaddled tightly in blankets at Liandra’s side. They both have golden skin and the pointed ears of their father.

“Lia,” I say when she notices me. “I have been meaning to ask you. Did anyone catch Gaius on the night you found us?”

She shakes her head, “No. . . He must have had friends among the Umani as well, because he slipped through our forces without leaving a trace.”

“So he’s still out there. This won’t be the last we hear from him.”

“No, I don’t think it will,” says Liandra. “But New Hope is better off without him. We’re holding a vote next week to elect humanities first governor on Markul. I think it’s a really good first step.”

I nod, my mind still on Gaius. “Where would he go?” I ask.

“We have some ideas,” says Kato. “The Magnari are my best guess. With the Toltek and Umani out of his reach, they are the logical next step. And they have no love for us. If he plays it right, he could rally the Magnari under a common cause and pose a real threat to us. So I’ve ordered an advanced team of skilled operatives to infiltrate the Magnari territory and investigate. Your friend, Davoso, is leading the team.”

“I’m going too,” says a soft voice from behind me. I turn to see Aria, her thick black hair pulled up into a messy bun. She smiles so sweetly that it breaks my heart to think of her going somewhere so dangerous.

“Why?” is all I can manage to ask through stunned shock.

“Because maybe you were right after all. What’s the point of just staying in one place, never taking any risks? And besides, my experience in the weavery makes me one of the fastest hands with stitches we have. The Primus put out a request for a field medic, and I saw my chance. So. . . Yeah.”

I take a deep breath, still not fully believing what I’m hearing. But before I speak, I realize how similar of a position I put my sister in just a few months ago. And I remember how much it hurt me inside when she showed her fear. It was as if she thought I couldn’t handle anything on my own. So instead of letting the fear I feel for her reach my face, I smile as genuinely as I can. “You’ll do great.”

She smiles wide, her eyes lighting up. “So, maybe I didn’t tell you the
full
reason. I also heard about a certain blue-skinned Primus named Davoso who will be leading the mission. And, well...you know....”

Liandra and Kato laugh. I purse my lips and put my hands on my hips, mocking her. “Just a few days ago you were lecturing me about my Primus-fueled daydreams and now look at you.”

She blushes. “Well, maybe I decided it can be worth dealing with a little bit of scary to get a whole love of—”

“Cock?” Liandra asks.

I burst out laughing and Kato does too. Aria looks horrified. She’s stammering, trying to put a sentence together.

“N-no. That’s—not—that’s not at all—your highness… I mean...”

“Don’t mind her, Aria,” I say, still shaking with laughter. “She is just playing with you.”

Aria takes a deep breath, trying to gain her composure. “I was just trying to say that I’ve seen some of the Primus have a sweeter side. Granted, it’s more like a sweetness wrapped in terrifying, sharp metal, but it’s there. And, well… I just thought that
maybe
I could try to unwrap one for myself.”