Chapter 3
Nix thought it was fate when she received a message to report to Commander Estro’s office first thing in the morning. Now she could request that Corey be transferred to someone else, someone who would be able to give him a fair training assessment. Even though she had personal issues with him, she knew him to be a dedicated warrior. She would do the right thing by him. Nodding to the warriors passing by, she stopped outside the door of the commander and knocked.
“Enter!” a loud voice boomed from the other side of the door.
She opened the door but then froze. There...sitting in a chair across from the commander’s desk...was the bane of her existence. Corey fucking Nash!
“Lieutenant Saber, take a seat.”
Moving inside, she sat down in the chair next to Corey, avoiding looking at him. “Sir, I thought this would be a private meeting.”
Commander Estro stood up and walked over to close his door. “I have a mission for the two of you.”
“What mission?” Nix asked, sitting up straighter in her chair.
“As you know, the tribes in the subway tunnels have plans to build underground cities and markets. They hope to repair all the subway tunnel tracks and subway cars to be able to travel from tribe to tribe, dome to dome, and connect new tunnels to other cities and maybe other countries. The expansion will take many years, but the current tribe locations need to be rebuilt immediately. It’s not safe or healthy for them.”
“Yes, I’m aware of the construction plans, but I don’t understand how this relates to me. I’m not exactly a construction expert,” Nix said with confusion.
“The current sites being worked on have had...interference.” Commander Estro told them.
“What kind of interference?” Corey asked.
“There have been skirmishes between the rebels and the tribe members building the structures. So far, the rebels have kept their confrontations with the Drastan warriors overseeing security to a minimum, but I’m concerned that won’t last. Their interference is delaying the renovations and in turn will delay our departure.”
“What would you like me to do?” Nix asked not even including Corey.
The commander looked her, “I need both you and warrior Nash to go to the subway tunnels—in disguise.”
“As what?”
“So far, only male warriors have been sent to the tunnels for security. I want you and Corey to dress as tribespeople and mingle with the other humans. See if you can get information on the rebels, particularly who their leader is and what their plans are.”
“I can do this on my own,” Nix insisted.
Corey glared at her and Devlon narrowed his eyes in frustration. “Warrior Nash is familiar with most of the people in the tunnels. No one will suspect anything. Being a female, you will not be seen as a threat, and dressed as one of the tribespeople, you should be able to blend in.”
Corey snorted at that last comment. She frowned, wondering what caused that reaction, but decided to ignore it. Turning back to the commander, she said, “When do we leave?”
“Maggie and Lily have clothes for you. You’ll travel down to Warrior Nash’s old tribe two days from now. The recent disturbances were reported from the Southwest tribe. I am not sure I trust the leader.”
“Reggie? He’s okay. I met him once a few years ago, but that tribe doesn’t know me that well,” Corey commented.
“Good, the leader will be able to give you the cover you need to infiltrate. Just don’t trust this leader completely, tell him only the basics. You're both there to observe the progress with reconstruction. If this leader is involved with the rebels, we don’t want them tipped off.”
“That makes sense,” Nix said.
“Go and prepare to depart. You have two days, but don’t talk about your mission with anyone. Liam and Kyle know about it, but no one else. We don’t want to leak this out since we still have rebel sympathizers of our own to battle.”
“Yes sir,” they chorused, and stood up to leave. Nix was out of there and halfway down the corridor before she felt a hand on her arm, pulling her to a stop.
Turning around, she glared at Corey. “What?”
“We need to talk.” Corey pulled her toward an private alcove.
“Let me go!” She jerked free of his grasp, furious that he would have the gall to grab her.
Once they were out of both sight and earshot of anyone passing by, Corey turned to glare down at her. Damn him for being those few inches taller, she hated looking up at him.
“What was that crap in there about me?”
“I don’t know…”
“Bullshit! Commander Estro asked me to come, but it was clear from the moment you stepped through the door that you weren’t happy about it. In fact, you haven’t seemed happy about me being on board the command ship and going through the warrior training for a single second. Have you been purposely sabotaging my training?”
She flinched at the tone of his voice. “No! I didn’t… It wasn’t on purpose. After yesterday, I thought about what you said and had to admit I wasn’t entirely fair to you. I was coming to talk to Commander Estro about having someone else take over your training.”
That information should have made Corey happy, but instead it seemed to only infuriate him more. “Dumping me off on someone else to make your life easier?”
“I was trying to do the right thing!”
Corey was about to respond, but then they were interrupted by little Thomas.
“Corey!” Thomas yelled out breaking away from his mother’s hand and running to jump in Corey’s arms.
“Did you hear that I’m going to be a big brother?”
“I did. Congratulations to you. You’re going to be the best one ever.”
Thomas beamed at him, and then turned to look at Nix shyly. He leaned to whisper, “Who’s that?”
Corey made the introductions, “Lieutenant Saber, this is Thomas, Lily and Jared’s son. Thomas, this is Lieutenant Nix Saber.”
“Are you a warrior?” Thomas asked, looking at her uniform.
Nix smiled gently. “I am.”
“But you’re a woman.”
Corey responded without thinking, “She certainly is.” He must not have meant to say that, because his face began to turn red, but he tried to cover it up by adding, “One of the best warriors I’ve ever met.” It warmed her on the inside to hear him say that and it sounded sincere. Seeing him hold little Thomas melted her.
“It’s nice to meet you, Thomas,” Nix said, staying focused on the boy so as not to have to meet Corey’s eyes.
Lily came forward. “Sorry, he got away from me.” They exchanged a few pleasantries before Lily and Thomas moved down the corridor. Corey turned to face Nix once more.
“Look, you don’t have to like me and I don’t have to like you. We have an assignment to complete and we need to be able to depend on one another to do what needs to be done. It could be dangerous in the tunnels, especially with the way the rebels have been striking out.”
She sighed, knowing he was right. “Fine. I’ll put aside my misgivings so that we can concentrate on this assignment. When we’re done, I’ll ask Commander Estro to have someone else take over your warrior training, to be fair to you.”
“It’s a deal.” Corey moved to let her leave and she felt the heat of his body as she passed by him. Damn, why did he have to be so attractive? She needed to get this mission over with as soon as possible, pass Corey on to someone else to deal with and keep her distance from the male from Earth.
She thought back to the first time she had met him. Commander Estro had brought him into her training center, disrupting a practice fight she was in the middle of. She locked eyes with Corey when she looked up, and totally didn’t see the fist coming straight for her face. She fell back hard, knocking the breath from her temporarily. A pale hand reached down to help her, and when she took it, it had changed her life forever.
*****
“Let me help you up,” the thin, pale male said.
She took the hand, squeezing a little harder than necessary out of frustration. The male didn’t complain about the pain as he helped pull her back to her feet. Nix checked him over from head to foot. He was a few inches taller than her, with curly red hair, intense brown eyes, and unhealthily thin features, but still very attractive. It was his eyes that drew her in; they seemed to have a weight to them that she had only ever seen in much older, more seasoned warriors. It made her wonder what this male must have gone through to have eyes like that.
“Thanks,” she muttered, brushing nonexistent dirt off her ass self-consciously before she caught herself. Turning her gaze to Commander Estro, she asked, “What can I do for you Commander?”
“This is Corey Nash from Earth. He will be training full time as a warrior. Corey, this is Lieutenant Nix Saber, one of my top warrior trainers.”
She almost smiled at his praise, but then realized what he had just said about the Earth male. “Commander, no offense, but our warriors start warrior training at ten or twelve. This...Nash is much too old to begin our training program. And we don’t have any new trainees on board for him to train with, they’re all on Drasta. To start him at that low a level, it will take a very long time to reach warrior status.”
“We’re going to accelerate his training.”
“Excuse me?”
“I want you to create a special training plan for Nash that will allow him to advance quickly through the training. I want to see him far enough along in a year to be considered a Drastan warrior.”
A year?! She swallowed. By the stars! She had never heard of anyone speeding through the warrior training before. Who was this male and why did the commander take such an interest in him? She realized she had been staring at both of them with an incredulous expression on her face, her mouth hanging open in shock. Closing her mouth, she thought about what she wanted to say, firmly rejecting her initial response of “hell no,” because it was the commander asking this of her. He could have asked anyone, after all, but he chose her.
Sighing, she nodded. “Give me a few days to create a new training plan.”
“Very good, I knew I could count on you to handle Nash,” Commander Estro said, smiling at her proudly.
Still, she risked his ire by looking directly into Corey’s eyes and adding, “I expect your full attention. You will do everything I say to do without question. This is going to be hard enough on both of us and I’ll be overseeing every aspect of your training. I demand your dedication and your respect at all times.”
Corey’s eyes narrowed at her for a moment. It looked like he was about to tell her off, which she totally expected, hell, maybe even hoped for, so they could walk away from this insane idea. Then he smiled at her. That smile transformed his pale, thin face into something beautiful. Her heart thundered in her chest.
“Lieutenant Saber, I am all yours.”
*****
Corey watched Nix walk away, a mixture of conflicting emotions swirling inside him. He was angry, of course, that she would so readily give him...his training over to someone else. But he was also anxious about the danger they might face on this mission. And, annoyingly, desire. He couldn’t deny his attraction to Nix any longer. He had been attracted to her from the first time he saw her and that attraction had built every day since, much as he had tried to ignore it.
Her take-charge attitude only turned him on. The fact that she could hold her own in a fight was sexy as hell. But then there were moments where he caught glimpses of her kind and gentle soul, like when she visited the wounded warriors, or looked at little Thomas. He was starting to realize that her tough exterior might be more a form of armor to protect her from being her. It made him wonder who had caused her to be that way, cautious of letting anyone see her vulnerable side. Her smile lit the room and more than once he had caught himself trying to find ways to make her laugh.
Nix was beautiful inside and out, and it seemed like everything he learned only made him desire her more, which was kind of a problem, since he didn’t think she liked him at all. She had been the star of some of his more sexual dreams. Some of those dreams had seemed real; he would wake with her scent on him and the taste of her on his tongue. It left him hard and aching for a woman that couldn’t care less about him. A frustrating situation.
Corey had never prided himself on his looks, but he did know that the changes in his body from the Drastan treatments had done him a great deal of good. The treatments over the past year, along with Nix’s extensive training, had transformed his thin, weak body into a well-muscled machine. He was definitely more confident in his ability to handle himself and the weapons he had trained on. That mattered to him.
It had been hard for him, coming from living in the subway where every day was a struggle to survive. He hadn’t always been able to protect those he had cared about, although certainly not for lack of trying. His fists still clenched whenever he remembered his feelings of rage and helplessness after Maggie had been attacked. Now, watching Nix walk away, confident, strong, and sure, he tried to reconcile the knowledge that she could undoubtedly handle herself with the overwhelming feeling that he’d do anything to protect her. He wouldn’t fail a second time.