Page 19 of Risking Her Heart (Red Planet Fated Mates #9)

18

KATARINA

S he smiles, raising one hand and giving a little wave. I’m frozen in place, thoughts racing to figure this out. How? It can’t be. But it’s her. She’s here. And she looks fine.

“Hi Kitty,” she says, using the pet name she used to for me.

She’s the only one I would ever let call me that. Even my mom didn’t use it. That was hers.

“Jax?” I ask, using my nickname for her.

Her smile widens and she nods.

“Fancy meeting you here,” she says, half-laughing but clearly still uncertain.

“You… how… you’re… uh…”

“Yeah,” she says. “I’m here. I’m so… ah, Kitty.”

She rushes forward and pushes past Zas as if he isn’t a seven foot tall imposing wall of muscle. When she throws her arms around my neck, and we come together there is no mistaking, it’s really her. The smell of her, the feel of her, it’s my best friend. I’m so shocked that I forget the pain in my arm for the moment.

I couldn’t hold back my tears if my life depended on it. I hug her with my one good arm so tight I must leave bruises, but it doesn’t matter. All this time I’d thought she was dead. Finding her here, alive, is more than impossible. I don’t know what lies beyond that, but this is it.

“It’s you,” I mutter into her neck and hair.

“Yeah, Kitty, it’s me.”

“How? Why here? I mean… did you know I was alive?” Thinking that, an instant of anger flashes faster than a lightning strike, searing everything in its path. I push her away until I’m holding her at arm’s length. “Jax, did you know?”

Now the pain returns, and I groan, cradling it against my chest.

“No, well not until you two were riding up on us I didn’t,” she says, shaking her head.

I narrow my eyes, watching closely for her tells. The crease between her eyes gives her away.

“Jax…” I say.

The eight Zmaj are carrying on their own conversation beside us, but I’m not concerned with them right now. My best friend is alive, and I could not possibly be happier except she’s not telling me everything.

“What?” she asks, but her cheeks flush soft pink and she can’t meet my eyes. She shifts her feet, looking over at the Zmaj. “They’re telling your Zmaj about what has been happening. Are you and him? Shit, Kitty, your arm. We have medical.”

“Do not change the subject,” I admonish.

She flushes deeper edging to a full on crimson.

“I didn’t know…” she trails off.

“Jax, please,” I say.

She sighs, shaking her head.

“Right,” she exhales heavily. “We knew there were survivors.”

“And you didn’t come to find me? Why? You were my best friend!”

“Am,” she corrects, meeting my eyes at last. “I am.”

“Are you sure about that? You left me thinking you were dead for over a year!”

“Not you,” she says, holding up a finger. “I had no idea you were among the survivors. We knew there were humans, that’s all. There’s been a… well a lot happening.”

“How did you get here? I thought…” I can’t finish because my throat clenches up.

“I know,” she says, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. “Believe me. I thought I’d lost you too.”

That breaks us both. We pull one another close, being careful of my broken arm, and let the tears of both loss and joy flow.

“I missed you so much,” I say as my tears finally run dry.

“Me too,” she says.

We pull apart and I can’t let go of her. It feels like if I do, she’ll fade away like a mirage in the desert. The Zmaj have wandered away as they continue their discussions among themselves, leaving Jax and I alone in this room.

“Okay, tell me, how?”

“The escape pod you two found? That was me.”

“Oh,” I say. “You made it to one.”

“Yeah. These guys found me out there and, well it’s been a lot but,” she shrugs then motions with her hands up and down her body. “Here I am, and I don’t think you’ve noticed yet, it’s early, but…”

She ends with her hands on her belly. I stare in absolute disbelief.

“You’re…”

“Yeah,” she laughs with a note of uncertainty. “You’re going to be Auntie Kit.”

“Oh,” I blink unable to say more as I try to process this.

“I know, it’s a lot,” she says.

“One of… them?”

“Yes,” she says. “He’s my treasure.”

“Treasure,” I echo. “I know that word. You… you speak their language?”

“Pretty much had to,” she says. “I’ve been living with them for a year or more now.”

“And you’re pregnant.”

“I am,” she says. “But, unless I really miss my mark and never really knew you at all, that look on your face…”

Now my cheeks are burning as I pull my attention back to her. I smile, shrug, look around, then finally have the courage to meet her curious eyes.

“Yeah,” I say. “I think so.”

“You think so?”

I shrug. “I mean… how do you know?”

“What does your heart tell you?”

“That Chuck Spiggan was a good guy,” I counter, and she snorts with laughter.

“Okay, that wasn’t your heart Kitty,” she says, still laughing. “That was Kitty’s kitty , and you know damn well what I mean.”

I laugh too. “Yeah, well at the time I thought?—”

“You thought he’d be a good lay.”

“Which he was definitively not,” I say and we’re laughing as if there hasn’t been any gap in our time together or our friendship.

“Now this Zmaj of yours…”

“Zas’tu,” I say, giving her his name.

“Tell me, come on, spill.”

“He’s… amazing,” I say, shaking my head. “And I do feel… I think… I mean… I hope?”

“Hope is good, but the way these guys work… what they believe… has he told you?”

“I don’t speak Zmaj, and he isn’t very fluent in Common, so our conversations have been limited.”

“You mean verbally I assume?”

My cheeks burn but I nod. “Yeah. You assume.”

She laughs and I join her.

“Has he called you treasure?”

“Yes,” I say.

“Then it’s real,” she says, leading the way deeper into the compound as we talk.

“What is?”

“Treasure doesn’t just mean he’s laying his claim on you, though it does that too. It’s a statement, he believes, well more like he knows, you’re the other half of his soul. You two are a perfect match. Soulmates if you will.”

“If I will? As if I have some choice in that? You know I never believed in fate.”

“Girl, you know I didn’t either, but here we are.”

We enter a room that has machines along the wall and what looks like an examination table in the middle of the room. The Zmaj are here too. She stops and we turn to stand side-by-side watching the huddle Zmaj who are deep in their own conversation.

“Which one?” I ask.

She smiles and points. The one she is pointing to is blonde with shoulder length hair. His scales are a very light tan too, much lighter than any of the others. He’s also a little smaller than the group he’s standing in. I watch for a few moments. He is assertive and certain in his actions and words. I can see how she would pick him, he’s definitely her type.

“That’s Kri’cati,” she says.

“He’s handsome,” I say.

“Yeah,” she says, a smile and a dreamy look on her face.

“We only met the Zmaj a few months back, but when they came, they had other survivors.”

“We know,” she says. “The baby. You’ve seen her?”

“You know? How?”

“There is so much I need to tell you,” she says. “It’s a lot. How much do you know about The Order?”

“They’ve told us some,” I say. “I don’t think all of it though.”

She leads the way to the table and taps the top, motioning for me to get up on it. I do so as we continue talking. Jackie frowns and nods.

“Yeah. That’s a lot too. If you think about it as an alien cult, you’ll get the idea. Fundamentally the leader is a person called the Eye. Somehow, he contacted our ship and came up with a plan to solve the Zmaj problem of having no females.”

“With us?” I ask my voice cracking.

Zas looks over, taking a step away from the group, but I hold up a hand and shake my head to let him know it’s okay.

“Yeah,” she says.

“And they were going along with this?”

“Not all of them,” she says. “That’s why your group left. This bunch, they were going to go along, but then… well like I said, there’s been a lot. I matched with Kri’cati and long story short that led to the rest of them waking up that this was really an evil idea. They’ve also left the Order.”

“Oh,” I say, staring at Zas who is watching.

He nods and I return my own. This is a lot but the underlying thread, as I look at it, gives me hope.

“Lie down,” Jackie orders walking over to the counter.

“I know, it’s a lot and I’m obviously giving you what would barely qualify as cliff-notes,” she continues, returning with a machine that looks like a large box.

“Do you know that they are coming then?”

“They thought it might be happening,” she says.

“So… we need to move,” I say.

“We know. We’ve been preparing. First let’s fix this arm.”

“Fix it?” I frown.

“This will hurt,” she says, “but only for a minute.”

I grit my teeth and close my eyes. She slides my arm into the box. It hurts like burning fire inside my skin. I’m panting through clenched teeth and then cool fingers brush across my forehead, and I open my eyes to see Zas.

He leans down, kisses my forehead, and cups his hands on my face. He stares into my eyes with an intensity that will not be denied.

The burning sensation builds and then it’s itching too. I moan. I try not to, but damn, it is too much. The warmth fades and then the itching eases too.

“That should do it,” Jackie says.

She slides my arm free of the box and I lift it up. It’s as good as new. A little tender, some bruising, but nothing like it was.

“Wow,” I say.

“They have a few toys,” she says with a smile. “Now, I want to show you what we’ve been working on. Come with me.”

I trail along in her wake. Zas grunts and I give him a wave to let him know that I’m okay and then follow her out a door.