Page 92 of Protected By the Convicts
“We get it, Hannah.” Vaughn attempted a smile. “You had no choice but to be with another unit. Women don’t get to be solitaries, especially on a Level 5 colony. Whoever you were with, whatever you had to do to survive. . . We will hold nothing against you. But you refused to return here, to be with us. That hurts.”
“Narkos or Veenith. . . Either way, I’d never see Argus again. But the four of you will go home in time. Find wives. Have kids.” She focused on Vaughn and Sersie. They had both been excited about having kids.
Ky’Li’s hand ran down her arm. “Sha’vi, it’s not that I don’t want kids. I cannot have them. An injury years ago. If you had a child with one of the others in our unit, I’d still love it as my own.”
She couldn’t stop the tears now, but she wiped at them, fast and often, trying to appear strong. This wasn’t the time to cry, not when there was so much at stake.
“I’m so sorry, Ky’Li. I didn’t know.”
Vaughn eyed Ky’Li for a minute. “You do know I’m a doctor, right, Ky’Li? I mean a medical doctor, not those trained monkeys you have on Daraan that only know how to repair wounds that hold a man together long enough so he can return to battle.”
“It’s been many years since the injury.”
“And now you’re questioning my skills. Do you see what you did, Hannah?” Vaughn asked. “You left me to deal with these three idiots alone. And here I thought you loved me more than that.” His smile quirked.
All was forgiven.
She cupped his cheek. “My mistake, Vaughn. I didn’t realize I was the glue holding this unit together.”
“Family,” Sersie corrected. “What you had on Veenith was a unit. This is a family.”
She couldn’t stop the shiver that traveled through her as she recalled her unit on Veenith.
Ky’Li pulled her into an embrace, holding her so tight that she felt every hard plane on his body. Similarly, he felt her every fleshy curve as well. He pushed her back, eyes wide.
She shook her head, silently pleading with him not to say anything.
“Will you stay with us, Princess? Or are you keeping your distance from me because you’ve decided to find another unit here?”
Princess again. Her heart raced, knowing they still wanted her, though that was the problem.
Vaughn, Sersie, and Ren remained tense, standing there, waiting for her answer. Ky’Li stood behind her, as if he planned to stay with her no matter what. They all would though, that was the problem.
Ky’Li’s hands moved to her shoulders. She wanted to sink back into his embrace, but she couldn’t, not yet. She had to give her guys a chance to have the freedom they’d worked so hard for, especially Ren. One week, Foley had said. A transport had already been scheduled to take him home.
Home to Argus.
“I missed you, all of you. I wanted to return, but I was better suited to Veenith. It’s cooler there, and while the men there are Level 5s, the colony is more relaxed than here. It felt like home. And my new unit. . . They were a great bunch of guys.”
“You’re lying,” Ren said. “I see it in your face, Hannah. You’re not a good liar.”
Vaughn wiped another of her tears away with the pad of his thumb. “He’s right. You’re lying. We know you better than that.”
Too many memories rushed at Hannah all at once. Thorne handing her over to the four men she’d been assigned to on Veenith. Animals, all of them, except for Konrad. He’d smiled at her, introduced himself and the other men, and tried to make a connection with her. Five minutes after Tabor, the unit’s leader, dragged her away from the landing pad, a fight had broken out between the four men over who would have her first. Owen ended up on the ground dead, his throat sliced open from ear to ear.
Then cold air filled her lungs as Konrad pulled her through the snow, the two of them running as Tabor and Merk searched for her. She’d resisted Konrad, but couldn’t escape his iron grip. Then, seemingly in the middle of a wasteland of snow and ice, he’d pulled aside a hidden grate and shoved her inside. He’d held his finger to his lips, urging quiet. Konrad never spoke a single word to her as he closed the grate and left her alone in the dark, in a metal box.
She hadn’t known where she was at that point, only that it was warm and hidden. She’d stayed there as long as she could, terrified every time she heard a man’s voice outside. Konrad never returned. She never did find out what had happened to him.
After three days without water or food, Hannah had forced the grate open and shoved a mouthful of snow into her mouth. That’s when two pairs of hands had grabbed hold of her. She’d thrown up immediately, realizing there’d be no escaping the brutality on Veenith.
The men took her to the med-center, stating she was theirs. Like a shell on a beach, she’d become their property because they’d found her. They’d demanded that the doctor there, a pretty blonde woman, fix Hannah, get her well enough toservicetheir unit.
The doctor, the only other woman Hannah had seen on Veenith in her limited travel, never lifted her eyes except to state Hannah was contagious and needed to be isolated in the med-center. The men said they were taking Hannah with them.
The woman had nodded, saying she could give them a vaccine to protect them. The men agreed. A minute after they received their vaccines, both men collapsed. The doctor, Melina, must have studied medicine with Vaughn, given her similar approach to dealing with uncooperative brutes. Together, Melina and Hannah had dragged and dumped the men outside the med-center and placed the facility into lockdown.
Melina had only just arrived a week earlier, but she was fast at locking the center down tight. A day later, Thorne found out where Hannah had been hiding. He didn’t care, but he’d offered her the chance to return to Narkos. She’d refused. She had her reasons. Melina didn’t push her, though she clearly wanted to take Hannah’s place and leave. Apparently, she hadn’t left the safety of the med-center since she’d arrived.
