A lab experiment. A bloody lab experiment. I’m getting ready to stick my fucking neck in a noose and she thinks she’s my lab experiment. What the … why did I ever claim her? I should never have listened to Rafe. That cocksucker is going to pay for this. I’m going to …
“Sabin, you need to get to the main level by the rear supply entrance.” Rafe’s voice comes to me.
“What now?” I huff.
“It’s Serena. Graylyn found her. She was lying on the floor, unconscious.”
Part of me wants to tell him to handle
my lab experiment
, but the way my gut clenches when he says those words, I know I can’t stay here and do nothing. “On my way.”
By the time I arrive, Serena is sitting up and sipping some water. Her arms are covered in deep, fire-red scratches. Her cheeks look like she’s been in the sun for hours.
“What the hell happened?” I thunder.
Serena jerks at my voice. Graylyn, who is used to me, says in a calm tone, “I found her unconscious, L’han.”
“I already know that. Why are her arms so scratched and her face so red?”
“I got locked out of the house and tried to find a way inside.” Serena’s voice is thready and tremulous. This is my fault.
Practically shoving Graylyn out of the way to get to her, I bend down to scoop Serena up, but she slaps my hands away.
“Get away from me you asshole. You …” and she loses steam.
I don’t give her another chance to speak, but quickly carry her to my room, shouting to Graylyn to bring up some food.
“No. No food. I don’t feel well,” Serena rasps.
“What scratched you?”
“Those stupid bushes I crawled through.” She scratches her arms. “You’re a jerk, you know? You tell me to leave and I did, but I got locked out. I know nothing about this place. I tried to knock on the windows but nobody heard. Did you know when you knock on your windows it doesn’t make any sound?” She rubs her neck and scratches her arms again. Her pupils contract and expand as she tries to focus and she sounds terrible.
Bloody fuck. Those damned hedges my security team insisted on planting have poisoned her. Of course anyone here would know that, but Serena … how could she? What the fuck was I thinking, sending her away like that?
As soon as I get her on the bed, I walk to the small panel on the wall near my bed and tap it. A voice immediately answers. “L’han, what is it you need?” The simulated intellect will handle this.
“Protocol for treatment of ibitsit exposure in the human species needs to be instituted.”
“L’han, we will assist immediately.”
Minutes later a simulated intellect mobile unit appears. It assesses Serena.
“What is that thing?” The words are thick on her tongue.
“Something that’s going to save your life,” I tell her.
“Save my life?”
“Yes. Those hedges poisoned you, Serena.”
“I what?” Her words are already slurred. If treatment is not soon initiated, her pharynx and larynx would become paralyzed and her lungs would follow. Shortly after that, death would ensue.
The SIMD injects her with the antidote.
“Ow! That hurt.”
“That was the antidote to counteract the poison. The hedges are a security measure and you weren’t aware of their danger because you aren’t from Nyan’trua.”
“The subject is showing signs of reversal,” The SIMD says. Another few minutes pass when Serena’s coloring returns to normal and her arms begin to look better. “Subject is improved.” The device leaves.
Graylyn appears at the door with a tray. “Is she okay?”
“Yes, she’s been given the antidote. She’s fine.”
Serena only watches us and doesn’t say anything.
“Can you eat?” I ask her.
She doesn’t answer but thanks Graylyn as she sets the tray down on the bedside table. I slide a hidden tray from under the top, making a place to set the food. There is water for Serena and I hand it to her. She guzzles it like she hasn’t had anything to drink in eons.
“Easy there. You need to slow it down.”
Again, she doesn’t speak, but her eyes say enough that I know she’s angry as fuck. If I delved into her head, I’m sure she would be blasting me to hell and back.
“If you need anything else, L’han, just call.”
“Thank you, Graylyn.” She leaves and I look at Serena, who is eyeing the food.
“It’s yours. You should eat.”
She sits up straighter and reaches for the tray. It’s cumbersome and awkward, and I’m a dick for not helping her. In the end, a plate of bread, or the closest thing one can get to it here, slides off the tray and the bread goes everywhere. I curse, she jumps, and things go to hell. Those damn tears of hers are going to be my downfall.
“You’re not my goddamn lab experiment or my plaything.”
She swipes her hands across both cheeks. “I know. I’m sorry I said that. But dammit, you never tell me things and you treat me like a child and make me feel inferior. My feelings were hurt, so I struck out. I’m
not
inferior, Sabin. Stop treating me like I don’t have a fucking brain. And then you tell me to leave and put my life in danger. I have no idea where I am, how things work here, and you scared me when you said that.” She sniffs.
I rub my face. She’s right. I’m a shit. “Hell. I’m sorry, too.” Sitting next to her, I move the tray and try to hold her, but she bats my hands away and I deserve it. I wouldn’t blame her if she never let me touch her again. “It’s not that I don’t want to tell you, it’s that I can’t. There are things I’m not able to tell you. I’m bound by a code of ethics. It’s a delicate matter here, Serena.”
Lifting her shirt, she manages to dry her face. “Why didn’t you say so in the first place? I can understand that. It would’ve made all of this unnecessary.” Then she elbows me in my side.
“Because when I talk to you, I find myself telling you far more than I should. I’m not very good at this … this thing that you and I have between us. I’m sorry. I promise I’ll be better and try not to be such a jerk. Now please eat before I force feed you.”
“Yes, L’han.” Sarcasm oozes out of her, but it makes me want to grin.
I settle the tray on her lap and make sure she’s comfortable. Between bites, she tells me precisely what happened to her. She has me chuckling after a few minutes with her rendition of it. I can only imagine a pissed off Serena, trying to penetrate the fortress of this place.
“When you finish, I’m going to walk you out of the back and show you around here. Then you’ll know where you are. And now, since you know how to get back inside, there’s no problem of you getting locked out again. All you have to do is put one hand on either side of the door.”
“Thank you, L’han.”
“And stop calling me that or I’ll have to spank that bottom of yours.”
Her eyes flash, then narrow as she assesses me. “I’m not joking. You should’ve eaten hours ago. Now bite, chew, and swallow.”
“You really are terribly bossy.”
“You’ve seen nothing, Serena.”
When her plate is clean, she announces she’s finished. “Good girl.”
“Don’t say that. It’s insulting. I’m not a girl.”
Touchy. “So then, how do you feel?”
“Fine. But one more thing. Don’t you ever pull that crap on me again. I mean it, Sabin. You’re a lot bigger and stronger than I am, but you can’t use that against me, or you may as well send me back to Earth right this minute.”
“You’re right and I’m sorry. I’ll never lay a hand on you that will harm you, Serena, and I mean it. I swear this to you. Tell me you believe me.” If she doesn’t, then I can’t have her stay.
“I believe you.”
The breath I’ve been holding comes out in a rush. My hands touch her lips and then I kiss her. “I’m not sure what I would’ve done if you’d said you didn’t.”
“One thing I know about you, Sabin, and that is you don’t lie. You may not disclose everything I want to know, but I can say you’ve never misled me.”
She’s right about that.
“So, do you feel good enough for a walk around the grounds outside? I don’t have long before I need to leave.”
“Sure.”
“Come.” I hold out my hand and walk her to the doors in the room. Shutters she never bothered to look behind hide them. When I open them, she freezes. I don’t let her, though. I drag her through them.
“Okay, stop. You have to tell me who or what you are. Normal, everyday people don’t live in places like this. This is not only palatial, but it’s like a fairy tale.”
“I am of an elevated status. My family is … was high up the ladder of ruling this world. They are no longer alive. My sister was set up and killed by the Shaurok, as you are aware, and the rest of my family died trying to find out why. That’s why I command The Seven.” I didn’t want to spill all of this but she has a way of wheedling things out of me. “Now come.”
“I’m sorry, Sabin.”
“As am I.” Our hands are still linked and hers squeezes mine. “Serena, it was a while ago. I’ve been the commander of The Seven for some time now. My focus is to hunt Judgment Day and to keep it safe. Don’t pity me. I’ve grieved and come to terms with it.” It’s not exactly true, but she doesn’t have to know the whole truth now.
“Pity isn’t the right word. I feel sympathy for you. Losing your family is hard. I can’t imagine how it felt, especially if they actually cared for you. I’m envious, if you want the truth. I’ve never had that, so …” she shrugs and doesn’t say another word. Her brain swirls with memories of her youth and how her parents treated her like shit. It makes me thankful for the love my family shared.
A change of topic is necessary. “This area is also accessible from the lower level, but you can get down using these stairs.” We take the stone staircase, which opens up to a huge terrace on the lower level. I walk her down to the pool and then follow the path that leads to the lake. “There are watercraft you can use, but please ask someone how to operate them first. I wouldn’t want you to injure yourself. Everything here is at your disposal.”
“What’s that?” She points to a smaller building that lies out in the distance away from the pool.
“Guesthouse.”
“You have a guesthouse? Like there isn’t enough room in the mansion?”
“Keep in mind all the men reside in here. I figured if we had visitors, it might be better to have an extra place to house them for privacy.”
“I see.”
“Serena, I hate to cut this short, but I have to go. Stay and enjoy yourself. I’ll see you later, but I don’t know how long I’ll be.”
“Okay.”
I can feel her eyes on me as I leave, but if I don’t hurry, the Council will have one more reason to cut off my balls. The men have been pinging me and I’ve been ignoring them. When I get inside, they all but pounce.
“I know. Let’s go.”
~~~~~
The chambers are dark. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why the Council insists on this ridiculous darkness. Tiny lights illuminate their seats, which form a semicircle. We stand before them, I suppose, so they can intimidate us. It doesn’t work. After going through what we do, fighting who we fight, it takes a hell of a lot more than seventeen windbags to intimidate The Seven.
As I would suspect, Ali’yah leads the charge. “You claimed a subspecies? I can scent her stink on you.”
“Jealous, Ali’yah?”
“Of that? You don’t know me very well if that’s what you think.”
“Unfortunately, I know you all too well.”
She snarls at me, with her teeth bared.
“Enough,” the lead Council member, Cerias, bellows. “If the two of you care to bicker about your past integration, you may do so at another time.”
“I agree,” I respond, keeping my eyes on Ali’yah. She keeps her teeth bared, as though she wants to rip my neck apart. Sometimes I wonder if she doesn’t have Shaurok blood running through her veins. Good thing my thoughts are screened or she would leap across that table and try to rip my head off.
“However, Sabin, Commander of The Seven and descendent of the sovereign house of Lhu’hantran, you have committed an act of blatant disregard of the rules of the Council by claiming your female without our permission. How do you plead?”
“Not guilty.”
“Did you not claim the human female?”
“I did.”
“Then a not guilty plea is not possible.”
“It is, under the house of Lhu’hantran law.”
“You cannot do that!”
“I can and I am. As a sovereign member of said house, I am exercising my right. If I so desire, you know as well as I, I could take control of this Council. I do not wish to do so
at this time
. I will however, choose the female
I
wish to claim, with or without your permission or blessing. Do I make myself clear?”
Cerias does not speak. Ali’yah turns a mottled shade of purple and appears as though her head is about to explode. Fury emanates from each one of the Council members. I have every one of them by the balls or tits, however you want to look at it. They are powerless to stop me.