Lovers of the Galaxy: Book Three: Raiders of the Lost Heart Read online

  “It’s called a church, a place of worship for some of our people. There are a number of them around.” She wiped her hands on the small towel she held. “Here, here and here are the three churches. I’ve stayed away from them, because at the end, a lot of individuals sought out these places for help. If you’re going to clean them up, be careful. They might be loaded with Bone Eaters.

  Acwel nodded and handed her a strange looking thing. “This is similar to what you call a pen, but it’s also more than that. When you put it on the map, it will not only show the buildings you are going around, it will memorize everything. Please tell us what areas we should include in the fencing. After we are done helping Volund clear these three structures, Badden and I would like to start building an outer wall. This way, we won’t have any more of these creatures appearing within our enclave.”

  She looked up. Volund stood in the doorway. “Volund what are you going to do with the three buildings next to us?” Venus asked hoping to break the ice. When all she wanted to do was wrap herself in his arms.

  “We’re going to connect all three places to the bank. I want a separate office for security and separate building for the labs. This way little children won’t wander into them and get hurt.” Venus flinched.

  The dig about the children getting hurt sliced right through her as she placed the large baking dish into the cooker. She swallowed and tried to act normal preparing the rabbits and vegetables. Setting the temperature through tear-filled eyes, Venus nodded and then escaped into her bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her.

  The blare of alarms caught her by surprise. She removed the remote controller from her belt and sucked in her breath. Again there was trouble in the lab, just something else Volund would blame her for.

  She flung open the door and reached for her gun. Venus ran for the back stairways, not wanting to confront Volund. Tonto, her german shepherd, raced after her with Ino and Ka, Jaxxon and Volund’s animals, running ahead of them.

  Turning the corner, to the last set of stairs, she reached the bottom floor door. She froze upon seeing Volund there before her. He picked her up and held her against the wall, glaring at her.

  “Schizma! What do you think you are doing? I mean it, Venus, you will not put yourself at risk!” he snarled, fangs inches away from her face.

  “Volund, it’s my lab!” She tried brushing his braids back, but he set her on the stairs and stepped away from her.

  “Go upstairs until we make sure everything is alright. You can check out our lab later with Badden.”

  He turned, but Venus couldn’t stand it anymore. “Volund, please talk to me.”

  “There is nothing to say, Venus. You risked children. In some ways you are like Randle. We just don’t know you like we thought we did.” With that, he was gone, leaving her stunned.

  Venus quietly made her way up the stairs, all the way up to the rooftop and the garden she’d made of it. Tonto, sensing her mood, quietly followed her along with Ino and Ka. She thrust open the heavy metal door and stepped out into the cool autumn night.

  Reaching the edge of the roof, Venus stared out at the night. From what she could tell not many Bone Eaters were out yet. The bright solar powered lights that turned on at night around the city cast too many shadows.

  One of the things she always made sure of was to have well-lit roads at different places around the town. That way if any humans made their way here, they’d be able see what was going on around them.

  Taking a deep breath, she looked up at the stars. Tonto whined beside her, and she sighed. “Seems I really screwed up this time, Tonto, and I don’t know how to fix it.” She crawled up onto the ledge along the roof, and sat with her legs dangling over the edge.

  Ino snorted beside her, and she reached out petting him. “He’s right, though. I thought of nothing except my experiments. The children came here for a new start, and I put them in danger with my stupid decision.”

  Venus didn’t know how long she sat up there staring up at the sky. Her mind wouldn’t shut down. Too many things running through it, until, the door behind her opened.

  Jaxxon and Volund both came through the door and stood behind her. “We were worried about you,” Jaxxon stated. “Could you climb down from there, please?”

  Not wanting to give them another reason to be angry at her, Venus moved off the ledge and over to the patio lounger she’d placed up here a couple of months ago.

  Lowering the chair back, she gazed up at the stars. “You were right, Volund, I did do something like Randle would have done, but you’re wrong about one thing. I’m not like him. If you two are angry, fine, I understand. I made a huge mistake, one I’ll regret for a long time, but to deliberately hurt me, attack me emotionally, was just as wrong.”

  She looked at Volund for a minute then at Jaxxon. “Go eat. The food should be done by now. I think I’ll stay up here and just admire the stars.”

  “You should come inside. There is a chill in the air tonight. You could get sick.” Jaxxon moved to her side and stared down at her.

  “If I get cold, I’ll come in. There is no reason for you to worry. I’m safe up here. I’m not letting Bone Eaters in the bank and you don’t have to leave a room whenever I enter it.” She couldn’t even look at him it hurt so much inside.

  Jaxxon lifted her into his arms, taking her place on the chair. He kissed her cheek, and placed her on his lap.

  Totally shocked, she laid there not moving. “What are you doing?” she cried. Venus shifted and started to push herself up, but he held on tight as Volund came over and kneeled next to them.

  “Your punishment time is up. We want you in our arms now.” He lowered his head, but she snarled and kicked Jaxxon in the shin with her heel, shocking him. He loosened his hold enough for her to escape.

  “My punishment is over? You mean this whole…?” She waved her arms at them. “Ignoring me and hurting me with your comments was a punishment?” she yelled.

  Jumping off the chair, Jaxxon frowned and turned to his brother. She knew they were communicating with each other, which only made her angrier. Her men were confused. Venus watched the different expressions that flashed across each of their faces. She glared at both of them as they faced her.

  “By our customs, when one’s woman does something wrong to hurt herself or others, she is punished. For the equivalent of six Earth hours we have nothing to do with you. It does hurt us to do this to you, but it’s a lesson that must be learned,” Volund said, crossing his arms over his chest like that was the end of the discussion.

  Venus shook her head and turned away from them. Moving to look out at the city, she didn’t want them to see how much they’d hurt her. “Please go. You gave me your punishments, now leave.”

  Trying to keep her voice flat and her shoulders from shaking, she gripped the stone railing and let the tears roll down her face and onto her hands. She waited to hear them leave, but Venus heard no sounds behind her.

  A hard wall of muscle brushed against her back, and she stiffened. Volund wrapped his arms around her imprisoning her in his embrace. “We are not leaving you. I need to hold you as does Jaxxon.” He rested his chin on the top of her head.

  ***

  She was stiff in his arms, but he still held onto her. Once more he’d gone overboard and said words he did not mean. Both of them saw the tears and acknowledged the fact she was trying to hold back the pain they’d cause her, but tonight they would settle this.

  “I owe you an apology. I shouldn’t have said what I did. You are not like that crazy man, Randle, and it was wrong of me to hurt you like that. There are no excuses. My temper sometimes gets the best of me as my brother keeps reminding me.”

  “Let me go. I’m going to be sick,” she said before leaning forward and vomiting over the side of the building.

  With his arm around her waist, Jaxxon frowned at him as he reached out and brushed her hair back away from her face.

  “You need to release all this hurt Venus. I
t’s causing your body to react.”

  With the heaving done, Venus wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and turned to stare at them. “I thought you were going to leave me. Everyone I love leaves me. Damn it, I hate these feelings. I’m never like this.”

  Her small body shook and her lip quivered as she cried pushing through them running to the door, but Volund was faster.

  Scooping her up in his arms he held her. “Little Warrior, we would never leave you and I’m sorry you thought that.” It wasn’t like Venus to be so emotional. He carried her through the door and down the stairs to their small quarters. Laying her down on the couch, he brushed her hair away from her face.

  “Are you sick?” he asked but his attention was on Jaxxon.

  Touching her cheeks and checking her eyes his brother shook his head. “Her body temperature is fine. She might have over done it today with the children here and making accommodations for them. After she eats we’ll get her in bed so she can rest properly.”

  A small tap to his chest had him frowning and looking down. “Did you just hit me?”

  Taking her fist that she now shook he kissed each knuckle and smiled. “When will you learn? Venus all you do is hurt yourself every time you smack me.”

  She yanked her hand away from him. “Well if you two would stop acting like I’m not here. I’m fine. I just need to eat a little, and I’m still mad at both of you.”

  Getting up Venus walked over to the small cooker and opened the door. Using towels she removed the rabbits and vegetables, filling the room with the smell of roasted meat.

  “You were right, Volund on one point.” She placed the heavy dish on the middle of the table. “I was acting like him and not thinking of anything but the experiment. If anything would have happened to any of the children…” She spun around and faced the sink. She gripped the counter hard.

  “That didn’t happened. You made a mistake, we all do. We just have to learn from them. Now come eat,” Jaxxon said, grabbing a knife and started to cut into the rabbit.

  “Go ahead. I’ll be right back I need to rinse out my mouth first.” Venus wouldn’t even look at them in the face as she made her way to the restroom.

  “Why were the alarms going off in the lab again?” Jaxxon asked, drawing his attention back to Volund.

  “The older Bone Eater slipped off the gurney. When we placed her back on the table she was following us with her eyes, as if she knew we wouldn’t hurt her. Do you think the first thing the serum does is bring back cognitive aspects?”

  Venus sat next to him. “I never thought of that. But as we learned from giving the antidote to the children Randle changed, they still wouldn’t be able to communicate until they change most of the way. The one that came back to the lab was just starting her major shift.” She took a bite and stared down at her food.

  “After we eat we’ll go down so you can take a look, but we’re not staying long,” Volund said, pointing a drumstick at her. “Eat and then sleep.”

  Taking a bit of food he noticed the small grin on her face. “Well crap, and here I was hoping for some make up sex,” she whispered just enough that both of them heard.

  His cock hardened and he groaned. “Eat!’ Volund ordered and shoved the food in his mouth.

  She laughed, stuffing her face. “Volund, I know you want to connect the three buildings, but how are you going to do it? You know the safe on the ground floor is on the wall closest to those buildings, and it’s the one place where the temperature is stable so we can keep our food staples there.”

  “I was thinking about that and you’re right, but the building across from the bank has a second floor. I thought we could connect there.”

  Cocking her head to the side, she nodded. “That’s a good idea. One day I’d like to get out of this place. If you can secure the city I’d love to be able to live in a house again. This is just so impersonal and the children will need a park to play in without being afraid.”

  “In time we’ll get there. We need more men first before we go clearing out a major section of buildings. With Acwel and Badden here, I’ll be able to do a little more, but not much.”

  Sitting back in her chair, Venus sighed. “I wish Miln would have stayed. I think Charlotte liked him, and the way he looked at me a few times I know he appreciates women as well as men.” She busted out laughing when he and Jaxxon snarled.

  “You don’t need to be worrying about Miln. As for Charlotte and her sister, there will be other men coming. I know of two other transports, each bringing more materials we will need and more men.”

  Crossing his legs in front of him, he studied Venus. Her silver hair was pulled back into what she called a braid, her skin had toughened a little since the change, but it was still like the petals of the flowers around here. So delicate and easily harmed…

  “Yo0-hoo, Earth to Volund…” Venus waved her hand in front of his face. “What were you thinking? You were sitting there snarling.”

  “Why isn’t her skin becoming toughened like ours? She’s so delicate I don’t want her to go outside.” He knew he was being unreasonable, but the idea of her getting hurt had him shoving the food away from him.

  “Her skin is fine and she is changing slowly. Her interior organs are now fully like ours and her skin is thicker, but it will never be as ours I’m afraid. Maybe with each bite it will make her skin more resilient.” Jaxxon ran his hand over her arm. “It will be fun trying.”

  Chapter Three

  “What is it that smell? Every time we come across them, it is the same offending odor.” Volund groaned and moved around the Bone Eater-woman. “In the notes, how long did it say the transformation would take?”

  Venus took out the journal and riffled to the correct page. “According to Dr. Zeon’s notes, the first signs are… well you remember.” Venus laughed remembering the first time they’d actually seen the antidote beginning to work. When one of the females had tried to move her head, but it was strapped down tightly. She spewed chunks of black, green, and red mush all over the floor and succeeded in splattering Volund’s chest plate. His expression had been priceless.

  “You’re still not out of trouble,” Volund grumbled and swatted her ass.

  She stuck her tongue out at him and turned to the woman. She wiped the creature’s face down with the warm wet rag Jaxxon handed her.

  “You’re right Volund she does follow you with her eyes. Do you understand us?” Jaxxon asked the woman on the table and she grunted.

  “From what the notes indicate,” said Venus, “We should start to see physical changes soon, but with her being so old I think it’s taking a longer time to happen.” She checked the restraints and glanced down at the Bone Eater’s face.

  The creature stared at her but didn’t try to move. “You’ll be okay soon. I promise. I just hope you survive the pain of the change.”

  Jaxxon wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her out of the room. Ka and Ino went into the room and looked around. “Stay. Watch,” Volund ordered, as he closed the door and locked it.

  “Just in case the little ones decide to roam again, I’ve already locked up the weapons.” Volund informed her.

  Venus moved up the stairs ahead of Jaxxon. There was much still to be done tonight. She was more tired than usual, and last night she hadn’t slept well, having the same nightmare three nights in a row. Both Jaxxon and Volund had tried to get her to open up about it, but she couldn’t bring herself to discuss it. As she walked into their living quarters, the thought of the dream coming true pushed a shiver up her spine. She paused, watching Volund put his personal arsenal away.

  She snaked her arms around Volund’s naked torso and rested her head against it. Just their scent seemed to calm her like nothing else.

  “You’re tired and need to sleep. Maybe we should hold off on the make-up sex.” Volund turned and kissed her forehead.

  A small beeping from Volund’s side had him frowning. “Someone is trying to call us. I’ll have to
take this. Go with Jaxxon and rest,” he ordered before covering her mouth with his. His hands brushed down her sides as he picked her up and hugged her tight.

  Wrapping her legs around him, she moaned as his tongue caressed and played with hers until he broke away and kissed her nose. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” With that he set her down and disappeared from the room.

  Jaxxon picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. “Venus, you and I need to talk—now.”

  “What do you think you’re doing? I could have walked.” Venus smacked his ass and laughed, but he held her tightly.

  “Stop it!” His hand landed on her butt, hard. Jaxxon dumped her onto their bed.

  “What’s wrong? What did I do now?” She tried to get up, but he grabbed her arms and held her down.

  “You will not risk yourself or anyone else like that again.” His dark red gaze traveled down her body and landed on her stomach where he gently put one of his hands over it. “What if you already carry our child? Right now our baby could be growing inside of you. Have you forgotten you are now what we are? Would you risk our infant when we are here to take the risks, to do things for you?”

  She could have sworn the air had been sucked out of her lungs. Perspiration broke out over her body. “How, is it possible?”

  Jaxxon released her arms, and she placed her hand over his as he laughed. “I’m sure I can refresh your memory on how to get pregnant.”

  “No, I mean how do you know I might already be pregnant?” She stared up at him. “And for your information, I wouldn’t put any child at risk. Well, not mean to at least.”

  She sat up and poked him in the chest. “I’ve been protecting myself for over ten years, so do you really think I would take such risks?” Furious, she jumped off the bed and headed into the bathroom, slamming the door in Jaxxon’s face an instant before he reached it.

  She glanced in the mirror. Dark circles resided under her eyes and her skin was flushed from running. The possibility of getting pregnant never entered her mind. Hell, she didn’t even know if Azutuans had a different gestational period or not. Since the men had arrived a couple of months ago she’d been pushing herself more than usual. Mood swings, emotional swings, oh shit. She kneeled and searched through the medical equipment, finding the scanner her father used to see if his female clients were pregnant. Since Volund and Jaxxon had taken her as their mate, she’d never thought to keep track of her cycle.