Warrior of the Ages (Warriors of the Ages) (24 page)

“Good thing you got here when you did, Warrior Chief, we would have had to amputate.”

This repeat seemed to want to cost him a limb. This made the second time in days he’d almost lost one. Losing both feet and part of his legs would have been difficult to take, though it wouldn’t be the first time he’d had to live without them. Still it made him wild to catch up with Berwick. The man fought dirty. An Old Guard flashed into being beside them, Welcome didn’t even look up as he worked, his lips silently moving in prayer. The healing itch was agony deep inside bone. Forcing his gaze towards the black eyes of an Old Guard, Kahtar wondered how many times in his existence these men had watched him cry. Countless.

“Abigail contained the spill using a tesseract,” was all the man said. Then in a dazzling burst of light the giant vanished.

“No one else was harmed?” Welcome asked, a frown above his green eyes.

“It was just some of the Old Guard and me. They ruined their sandals, but of course it didn’t affect their flesh like mine.”

Welcome glanced up at him, then around the procedure room. Just the two of them remained, but his friendly voice dropped lower when he commented, conversationally. “Hydrofluoric acid normally would do quite a bit more damage than this.”

“What do you mean? This isn’t enough for you?” Tears continued to run out the corners of Kahtar’s eyes, he didn’t bother to wipe them away. It didn’t seem likely they’d stop anytime soon.

“I mean at the level of exposure you waded through, it should have been absorbed into your tissues and caused cardiac arrest. It should have killed you.”

Looking over the spots of dead white tissue on his feet and legs Kahtar considered that. It hadn’t even hurt at first, when he had stepped right into it. The Old Guard had moved lightning quick. Even now looking back he wasn’t sure what they had done to clean the dangerous liquid off before they brought him here to Cobbson Compound. They had moved faster than he could comprehend. Considering the strength of his gifting to perceive what was happening around him, it was the first time that had ever happened. Though it wasn’t the first time Old Guard had saved his life. A wave of thankfulness rose up in him and Welcome, sensing the prayer, patted his leg.

“It wasn’t just the Old Guard reversing your exposure and cleaning you. Your flesh is different than the rest of ours.”

Kahtar’s heart skipped a beat, his steely eyes bored right into Welcome’s green ones. “What do you mean?”

Welcome shrugged. “Your DNA does not match your composition.”

“What are you talking about?” Though Kahtar understood immediately, at least partially, what he didn’t understand was how Welcome Palmer sensed something no one else had in the thousands of years he’d existed.

“I mean you have the DNA of the Constantine men, but you certainly don’t look Spanish, and I mean that the make-up of your flesh has light attributes to it very similar to Old Guard.”

Light attributes like Old Guard?
That wasn’t something he’d ever known. Of course he’d scanned his own body before, countless times.

“What are you saying, Palmer? That I’m an Old Guard hybrid?”

Welcome chuckled at that idea. “I’m not saying anything of the sort. You’re different is all I meant. Did you know?”

Well, Doctor Palmer, I’ve been repeating for millennia. I die and come back again and again and no matter who my parents are, I always look exactly like this. I suppose you might say I’ve noticed something was off.
Kahtar kept his thoughts to himself and remained silent.

“No one cares if you’re different.” Welcome added those brilliant green eyes of his so loving.

“No one else has ever said anything like this before.” Stunned at Welcome’s perception, Kahtar couldn’t think of anything else to say.

Welcome laughed again, shaking his head of thick dark hair.

“Chief, when I scan within a Human Being I can see light spectrum within cells. It’s my gifting. Covenant Keepers and even some Seekers have colorful lights within their genetic makeup.”

“I don’t?”

“Oh you most certainly have light—it is just white—like Old Guard.”

“You know Honor Monroe thinks he can scan color too.” The comment was wry and Welcome was grinning by then. Standing up he leaned too close, the physician didn’t respect personal space most of the time. Kahtar fought the urge to lean away from those green eyes.

“I noticed it years ago, assumed it was indicative of a gifting you had, but I’ve never seen you use it.”

“What gifting?”

“I thought it meant you could, you know, shimmer in and out like Old Guard do.”

It was Kahtar’s turn to laugh then.

“That would be convenient.” How many times had he died trapped in a sinking ship or chained in a dungeon? The ability to vanish and reappear where he wanted to be would certainly be useful.

Welcome Palmer’s too perfect face was serious.

“Well, have you ever tried?”

DESPITE WELCOME PALMER’S ridiculous suggestion, Kahtar arrived home as he usually did. The police car shot through the veil and coasted to a stop far from his cabin. The walk in was long on legs where pain exploded deep inside his bones with every step. It wasn’t the kind of pain that one could ignore. There were painkillers in his pants pocket and despite the fact that taking them would mean spending a night walking the hills of Golgotha, he wanted only to get to his bed and swallow them. Wolves didn’t run to greet him and thinking about why that was quickened his step. Beth White. A bed should have been delivered during the day so she could sleep indoors tonight. The thought of her sleeping nearby somehow made the pain almost bearable.

Behind the house, the sun set low in the evening sky. Fireflies already winked in the thicker patches of woods. Wolves made sounds like a cross between a whimpered greeting and his tail being pulled. As though torn between greeting Kahtar and the pain of leaving Beth’s side, the dog didn’t move from the long feet of the woman sitting on the stairs, not even for his master.

Traitor.

Long and lean, Beth stretched out over four steps, wearing a spotless white sundress and the ever present heels. What made Kahtar pause mid-stride was the fact that she nestled practically in Honor Monroe’s lap. With his thick legs sprawled on either side of Beth, her head rested on his chest. Honor looked blissfully comfortable, a human pillow, one hand carelessly smoothing silky hair.

Suddenly the pain in Kahtar’s bones intensified. Wondering if Honor had spent the entire day playing with Beth’s hair, jealously welled up in a flash of heat, and he wanted to shout at the warrior. Beth glanced up at him, seeing his expression she pressed against Honor tighter. Two strong arms wrapped around her and Honor casually kissed the top of her head. Without speaking out loud, Honor’s second voice filled Kahtar’s mind.

“She hasn’t eaten more than a bite all day she’s upset about her parents, said that they’ll be frantic with worry. Guess she usually calls them a few times a week, and they expected a visit today.”

Stumping up the stairs past them, Kahtar wasn’t inclined to be charitable to Beth. If she chose not to eat that was her problem, he was rude and abrupt when he informed her.

“Don’t worry about your parents. They think you’re traveling.”

Even in the dusk, those clear eyes searched his face for truth.

“Why would they think that?”

“Because you called them and told them you would be. As a matter of fact, you’ll call your Dad every single day. Imitating voices isn’t even an unusual gifting for Covenant Keepers.”

There was some satisfaction in the fact that Beth pulled away from Honor’s arms when she sat up.

“My father will know it isn’t me.”

Kahtar’s rude snort made her stand and glare at him. With those five inch heels, Beth’s honest blue eyes were nearly the level of his.

“I don’t care who is faking my voice, he’ll know! He’s my father!”

Even as they argued he felt a sense of relief, she was looking at him. Her heart wasn’t touching his but the glow of it danced near.

“Today your father talked to you for two hours Beth. His only worry is that you’re going to have halo-halo ice cream without him.”

The expression on Beth’s face changed to one of utter dejection. In one fluid motion she turned and raced away, headed towards the pond in the dusk, Wolves on her heels.

“Chief!” Honor chided. “Why are you taunting her? Isn’t the idea to make her want to be part of our clan?”

Stomping onto the porch Kahtar defended.

“At least she knows they’re not upset. Both her parents are perfectly happy, they don’t expect to see her for months. They think she’s shopping for junk for her shop.”

Honor didn’t say anything. Quietly turning he headed for the pond. Kahtar fought the urge to forbid it. If Beth bonded with even one member of their clan that would be a good thing, but the memory of her in Honor’s arms made him want to smash something.

THE NEXT MORNING arrived with pouring rain. It drenched everything within the veil as thoroughly as it did the world outside. It was simply a cleaner deluge within. The atmospheric conditions outside the bubble stirred the inside of the bubble to replicate exactly the same weather. Walking past the room made up for Beth, there was no need for Kahtar to scan to know she wasn’t inside. Every warrior under the veil stood on the porch, there were three of them, and the half dozen plebes in the house kept darting to the front door. There could be no doubt that Beth and her untamed heart were on the porch.

As Kahtar approached, the boys hurried back to their tasks. Kahtar barked at them to leave the woman alone or he’d beat them with his bare hands. Pushing open the screen door, he realized he’d have to make the same threat to his warriors soon. Brigg and Willet both stood at attention, their backs to him, staring towards Beth’s sleeping form. A flash of lightning revealed Beth sound asleep in one of the Adirondack chairs, Honor Monroe cradling her in his lap like a sleeping child. Beth was so tall that her head and her long legs were dangling off either end of the chair. It took effort not to storm over and tip them both out of the chair. Kahtar raced down the steps to run his miles in the rain and exorcise his own demons about Beth White. He had no right to be jealous, no claim on her, even captive her heart was free to go where it chose.