Page 24 of Her Wolves

“Sub-Commander Travis…how are you doing?”

It was the Prime Regent.He was here, escorted by two Guards, neither of whom was the Prime Commander; I guessed that Commander Brunson must have his hands full elsewhere.The Prime Regent was stepping over to my bedside, with Kris, Lon, and my attending medtech making way for him.Reflexively, I tried sitting up straighter.A pain in my skull protested.

“Mr. Prime Regent, Sir,” I began.“We engaged some kind of enemy tech in the corridor to the…”

He held up a hand to stop me.“I know about that, son,” he said.Different feelings were at war on his face.I could see concern for me, but greater concern, a father’s concern, for Tara; and a leader’s concern over what was going on above and outside us.Of everyone in this infirmary right now, Mr. Landon had the most to deal with.

I said, “Mr. Prime Regent, I swear to you, the second I’m out of this bed, my men and I will be out of here and looking for the Princess.We will find her, Mr. Prime Regent, I promise, Sir.”

“At ease, Sub-Commander,” said Mr. Landon.“I know you and Black and Tynan did everything you could to protect Tara.I don’t hold any of you responsible for things that you weren’t prepared for.”

Feeling tied up in knots inside, clenching my fists, I said, “It’s our job to be prepared, Sir.Tara—the Princess was counting on us.You were counting on us.It was up to us to…”

He cut me off.“It was up to you to keep yourselves safe to protect her.The attack was on all of you, not just my daughter.I know the three of you did your jobs to your best ability.You couldn’t have known the enemy had a way of penetrating what was supposed to be the most secure area of the Regency.”

“Sir,” I said, “they may just be holding her captive.They may have terms for releasing her.”

“Yes, they may,” said the Prime Regent.“But there have been no actual communications with the Soorns—yet.Not with all the fighting going on out there.Alpha Commander Brunson suspects that at some point there may be some break in the combat and the Soorns may announce their terms for their attempt to occupy the planet.We may hear something aboutTara then.In the meantime, all we can do is keep holding the line.”

Holding the line.He echoed my own thoughts from a minute ago.

“Mr. Prime Regent,” I said solemnly, “I’d like to issue my formal apology to you as our Commander in Chief for our failure to carry out our mission.I take full responsibility for our failure.”And having to say the word failure out loud made me hurt like a wolf with his foot caught in the teeth of a metal trap on Earth hundreds of years ago.

“It wasn’t your failure, son,” Mr. Landon said.“It was the subterfuge of the enemy who have obviously been planning this for a long time.We’ll not only hold the line but beat them back—somehow.The Canis Guard helped us with this before.It’ll happen again.”

Nowhere in Mr. Landon’s words was any hope for his daughter.I suspected I wasn’t the only one feeling caught.

“Yes, Sir,” was all I could say.

The Prime Regent said, “We need all of our forces, human and wolf, in their best possible fighting form for whatever is ahead.You’re to obey medical orders and be ready for action as soon as you’re cleared.”

Numbly, I repeated, “Yes, Sir.”

To Lon and Nick, Mr. Landon said, “Stand by your leader.Be ready for new orders when the time comes.”

Kris and Lon acknowledged with nods and bows of their heads.

“I have to go now,” said Mr. Landon.“I’m expecting a report from the Alpha Commander.I just wanted to look in on the three of you.I expect Brunson will be in touch.Until then,” he addressed me, “just rest.”And to Kris and Lon he said, “You just stand by.That’ll be all for now.”

The Prime Regent’s guards led him out of the infirmary, probably back to his protective office.I just lay there, watching him go, noting a slight stoop in his shoulders that had to be from not knowing where Tara was or what had happened to her.Damn, I cursed in my head.Damn, damn, damn…

As soon as Mr. Landon was gone, my medtech said to me, “You heard the Prime Regent’s orders and I’m repeating them.Rest until further notice.Let those anti-traumatics do their job, then you can do yours.”

She stepped away to somewhere else in the infirmary, leaving Kris, Lon, and me alone.As soon as she was gone, I motioned for Kris and Lon to step closer to me.They leaned over slightly to hear me.

In a lowered voice, I ordered them, “Find my uniform.”

Knowingly, Lon said, “Orders be damned, right?”

“We’re going to get me out of here somehow,” I said softly.“Then we’re getting back on the duty that was assigned to us.Finding Tara comes first.”And to Lon, I echoed his words.“Orders be damned.”

Lon and Kris straightened up, trading a look that made me see wheels turning in their heads.They were on board with their new orders from me.

What we had to hope now was that once we were out of here, we’d be going out on a search and rescue—not a search and recovery.

CHAPTER 15

Tara

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