Page 23 of Warrior Enchanted

Biting down on the edge of Jakar’s leather belt, which he’d pulled off and insisted I use, I braced myself for the coming pain. Probably not a bad idea to be biting down. I remembered biting my tongue so hard it bled the last time I tried to yank this thing off my neck. Waiting any longer might just make me chicken out, so as soon as I’d decided on my point of entry, I reached out and went for it.

Pain zapped up my fingers, making them cramp. It tingled up my spine. It was a good thing I’d moved with such decisive force, I’d gotten the pin of the clasp stuck between the edges, though it hadn’t budged the lid yet. Instinctively, I’d yanked back my hand at the onslaught of pain, but somehow the pin was still in there. I’d have to reach out and touch it again but now I knew what it was going to feel like.

Jakar’s entire body was locked up tight, twitching, his heels drumming against the metal floor, his fists clasped tightly, and his jaw clenched together. For him, the pain hadn’t let up, wouldn’t as long as that pin was stuck in the collar. That alone was enough incentive to risk another round of pain and with little finesse, I slammed my hand down on the wedged clasp. Hoping it would free the lid from the force but not break the pin.

The pain was much more intense, like fire licking along my nerves this time. I wanted to cry; a scream was already bubbling from my throat, but the leather belt I gripped between my teeth muffled the sound. I was only going through a few seconds of that at most, and I already wanted to break down and give up. This was just so painful, but Jakar was counting on me, and he had it much worse. I couldn’t let him down.

Almost too afraid to check if it had worked, I leaned in closer to see if I had freed the lid. I didn’t know if I could psych myself up to go through it a second time if it hadn’t. What little light there was allowed me to see several tiny exposed wires and something that looked like a circuit board. I couldn’t see the lid anywhere or my necklace and clasp but I hardly cared about that. I’d done it. The lid was gone.

Jakar was panting, eyes wide and the spots on his face white. I was pretty sure from pain; not fear. Now that nothing was interfering with the lid, he was no longer getting hit with the pain promoter, but to disable the collar… He’d have to go through it again and we had nothing truly sharp, like my knife, to do this with. He said he’d do it with one of the retractable claws on his hands, but I didn’t think he was capable of moving right now. What if the alarm he’d mentioned had already gone off? Guards could be rushing for us right now.

Aching in my heart for what I was about to do, I snatched up his nearest hand and raised it to my cheek. “Hey, Jakar baby?” I said, waiting for his eyes to move from the ceiling to mine. He was moving slowly, as if his muscles were stiff and aching even though he was no longer receiving the pain impulse from his collar. I had to remember that he’d already received a paralyzing shock twice today before this. Worry spiked through me. Wasn’t that really bad for the heart? I had to make sure that he got checked out by a doctor as soon as possible.

When his eyes were on mine, I made sure he could see how serious I was. “I love you. You’re my light, okay? It took me a while to see it, but you are everything that’s good about this, about being here. And I am not going to lose you.” His mouth moved, lifting into a tired smile but the spots across his face blazoned to life, glowing like little colorful stars in the darkness. I’d never seen them do what they were doing now. Hina hadn’t mentioned this. Little rainbows shimmered all across his face. It was extremely pretty, and emotion clogged up my throat in response. I was pretty sure that meant he loved me too, even if he was currently struggling too hard to say it back in words.

“Let me do this with you, on three, okay?” I said, shifting the hand I was holding so that I could gently push on the pad of one of his fingers. The claw pushed out of the tip, black, sharp, and thick. It was the next best thing to a knife. Jakar knew what I was going to do; his expression resigned.

We’d agreed that he’d do this bit alone, no need for me to get shocked again, but it was obvious he wasn’t in control of his muscles yet and we needed to hurry this up. Guards were about to burst in here, or they would soon. He needed to get this collar off and as much time to recover as we could manage.

Biting back down on the leather belt, I made sure to tuck the other end into his mouth this time. Wincing when I spotted two bloody dents in his bottom lip from his upper canines. Eyes on his face, I started to count, and on three, I dropped them to the wire box, pressed his claw inside, and yanked it through the wires.

Fireworks burst across my eyes as I did it, the belt dropping from my mouth and a scream escaping. While the pain only lasted for a second, it was intense. My eyes were watering, my teeth felt like they were too hot suddenly, and something disgustingly metallic and burned coated my tongue.

Jakar’s entire body had wrenched around when it happened. I was left staring at his back, at the diagonal burn across his beautiful skin which was visible through the tear in his shirt. He was shaking, shoulders heaving, and his breathing audible as he took in loud gasps of air. I was terrified that he was going into cardiac arrest or something equally horrible. Scrambling around his body so I could see his face, his body was twitching like he was having a seizure, but his eyes were wide open.

The spots on his face had turned yellow, which meant happy, which made no sense given the pain he was probably still feeling after all that abuse. Then he saw me and I saw the way they flickered again, little sparkling shoots of color, rainbows. Oh… He didn’t care about any of that. He was just happy because of what I’d said. The freaking idiot, of course, he was. My chest felt tight with warmth, my eyes prickling with tears.

“You… said… you… love… me,” he panted out, yellow eyes so radiant they looked like gold. Taking it as a good sign that he was talking, I nodded, leaning in to brush my hand along his upper shoulder, down his arm. My eyes scanned over his body to make sure he was in one piece. The shaking was growing less, and his breathing was already evening out again.

“No taking it back, I’m keeping you to that,” he said, voice already steadier than before. A hint of a smile teased around his mouth, his spots settling into something that was almost a cross between pink and yellow. I knew where his mind was heading. It was a relief; he was going to be alright, and now we had a fighting chance.

Tossing myself into his arms, my tears came whether I wanted them to or not. “No taking it back,” I agreed against his chest. “Are you okay? I’m so sorry you had to go through that…” Stroking my fingers over his pectoral muscles, I pressed my ear to his heart, hearing a steady double thump that was entirely unlike a human heartbeat.

“I’m not the one with the bleeding nose, Meena,” Jakar said into the crown of my head, all four of his arms coming around me to hug me tightly to his body. I felt him shudder. “That was bad, but we made it. Now we’ve got to move before the guards get here.”

His words proved to be prophetic. I had only just sat back up, wiping blood from my nose with the back of my hand, when the door to the cell block opened. The two of us froze in place, eyes wide as we looked at each other. Was this it? I didn’t think Jakar had recovered enough to fight.

My jaw firmed, my hands closed into fists, then it was up to me. I turned to the door, prepared to grapple for the first weapon that came into reach. I hoped I could surprise that rich asshole and take the little pistol from him; everyone seemed duly impressed with the small weapon, despite its size.

Chapter 17

Jakar

She had said it. She loved me. No matter what was about to happen next, I could die happy knowing that. My fierce warrior mate was perched on the balls of her feet in front of me, her fists tight at her sides while we waited to see who had arrived. Reaching out, I took her nearest fist in one hand and gently refolded the fingers so her thumb was on the outside; protecting the digit from breaking should she have to fight.

Her head tilted to shoot me a quick look but I saw her refold her other fist without prompting; catching on immediately. I wasn’t nearly as capable of assuming a fighting stance, so I settled for draping myself against the nearest wall. With my feet tucked underneath me, I hoped I could launch at my opponent when needed. I’d distract whoever that was to give Meena a chance to turn the tables; I knew she could do it.

There was no sound of footsteps, just suddenly a shadow standing in front of our cell, blocking out the meager light coming in from the open door. Then something shifted and I saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes very similar to my own, a fanged grin, and a hint of white at the top of the head. “Fierce? What the fuck are you doing here?” I demanded, shocked at the sudden appearance of my brother and one of my closest friends.

The male grinned but didn’t reply, reaching for the door to jam a knife crudely between the edge and the electronic lock. “I figured you could use the backup,” he said calmly as the door popped open. “But you could use a bit of time alone too, so I followed at a distance.” He jerked his chin in Meena’s direction, letting me know that he’d stayed away to give me time with her.

She scowled, crossing her arms over her chest, shooting a look from me to my brother with this angry little frown on her face. Oh boy, seems she didn’t appreciate Fierce’s scheming, even if I could kiss him right now for his timely rescue. “Well thanks, let’s get out of here, shall we?” I tried for a cheerful grin myself, to match the one on my brother’s face; I was afraid it mostly came across as tired because both of them gave me a worried look.

Meena, slight as she was, tucked herself beneath my lower arm, trying to help me lift my weight as we shuffled out of the cell. Fierce didn’t offer any assistance. He had already returned to the doorway, moving silently and blending against the wall, almost invisible to my eyes.. “Huh,” Meena said when she noticed it, “So I hadn’t been imagining eyes on me. Handy trick I guess, bit creepy…”

I saw the flash of Fierce’s fangs and the bone ridge on his skull, shaped in what Hina called his ‘mohawk.’ Supposedly, his jaw muscles were so powerful that he needed that extra ridge for better muscle attachment, otherwise, they’d tear from the force. All I knew was, don’t get your fingers near his mouth or you’d lose them.

“This way, I’ve been in contact with the Vagabond. They say they can’t board this ship until it’s out of Kertinal space, so we need to lie low.” Fierce scowled as he led us away from the cell block in the bowels of this ship. It was obvious he didn’t understand why our friends couldn’t just rescue us, but I knew because I’d heard that jackass mention a diplomat.