Page 22 of Trusting Warik (Hissa Warrior #9)

Chapter 22

Warik

The moment the warship was in stable orbit around Hissa, Warik was in the bay waiting for the first shuttle down to the surface to start loading.

“Can we go with you?”

Warik turned to find Sam standing behind him. Behind Sam was Brea, Kenna, and Hildi, all watching him with worried expressions. He’d been so focused on waiting for the pilot to let him board the shuttle, he hadn’t noticed the four of them walk up behind him.

That fact that these four Decanted humans were able to sneak up on him was a testament to Warik’s level of fatigue. They’d been bred to live in low oxygen environments and trained to run mining equipment. At no point were they trained in any kind of combat arts, including walking quietly. In fact, Hildi tended to stomp when she walked.

Warik was the only one to travel from the Ardent to their ship to negotiate for their sale. He was the first Hissa they saw and though they didn’t say anything, he got the impression they saw him as their savior.

For the entire time he’d arranged their sale with the owner, the humans were forced to kneel against a wall with their heads bowed. They’d been painfully skinny and one of the women had a persistent cough but was desperately trying to stifle it. Judging by the bruises on her face, she’d probably been slapped several times for the cough.

It’d been hard to keep his eyes off the humans as he’d negotiated for their sale. Although the Hissa were willing to pay any price, it wouldn’t do them any good to offer too much money. That might make the current owner suspicious and refuse to sell them to find out what was so “special” about these humans.

When they finally settled on a price, Warik rushed to get the humans loaded onto his shuttle. After telling the pilot to get them out of there, he gave each human several nutrition packs he’d brought with him. They’d all looked surprised but eaten them so fast, he wasn’t sure they even chewed.

As they ate, he’d removed their collars and gave them the standard speech.

“My name is Warik, and I’m Hissa. We’ve bought you but will set you free. We only ask that you spend six months on Hissa and see if any of our warriors appeal to you as a mate. You won’t need to work or labor in any way. You’ll each get a home of your own and funds to buy off-world goods.”

As expected, they reacted with a combination of suspicion and fear. One of the women clung to the single line. “Mate? Does that mean we’re sex workers now?”

Warik didn’t hesitate to answer the common question. “Absolutely not. You can say no to every warrior, and nothing will happen to you. We only ask that if any of them appeal to you that you let them have a chance.”

“Sure,” one of the women said, she obviously didn’t believe him. That was fine, they’d see the truth in his words over time.

“I don’t want to live by myself,” another woman said, taking hold of Sam’s free hand. “I want to stay with Sam, Kenna, and Hildi. I—” A violent coughing fit cut off her words.

“Easy, Brea,” Sam soothed.

“Please try to keep yourself calm,” Warik said. “The four of you can share a domicile if that’s your wish.”

“Do I need to pick someone?” Sam asked and dropped his gaze to the floor while clutching tightly to the woman holding onto him. “I, uh, prefer males. Is that, um, acceptable?”

Warik focused on the young man. “Preferring to partner with men instead of women, or both, is considered just as important a mate bond. I know of two males on our ship that would be very interested in meeting you, but just like with the woman, you can say no.”

Brea started coughing again, and Warik waited until she was done before continuing with his rehearsed speech. “Once we get onboard, I’ll take you straight to the ship’s med bay. You’ll probably be there overnight. We have skilled menders that will want to check that you’re all healthy. ”

“We haven’t been healthy for a long time,” Hildi whispered, looking lost.

“Hal got sick a little while ago,” Sam explained, looking close to tears. “We couldn’t convince our owners to pay for medical care. After he died, they flung him down an old mine shaft. I guess it was a burial of sorts.”

The women blinked as if trying to hold back tears. It was obvious these humans were still mourning the loss of this Hal. He’d asked for one of the mind menders to come with him, but the human’s previous owners refused to let more than one Hissa on board. Now he was stuck trying to comfort these four humans when all he wanted was to be back on Hissa holding Nisha.

Even after he escorted the humans to med bay, they didn’t want him to leave. He ended up bunking in the med bay and then in a shared room with the four humans. It was tight quarters, but it made the humans happy and that was all his command cared about.

Now, finally, he was about to return to Nisha and these rescued humans were in his way. It took all his willpower to keep from growling at them. They had to travel on one of the larger shuttles that wouldn’t be ready for another hour. He couldn’t wait, not even another five minutes.

“Sam?” Everyone turned to see artillery specialist Voman striding up.

“Voman!” Sam called out.

“You’re not trying to leave without me, are you?” Voman asked as he reached the humans.

“We were trying to stay with Warik,” Brea explained even as she beamed at Voman. “We thought you weren’t going planetside.”

“I found someone willing to replace me,” Voman said, flashing Brea a smile but returning his gaze to Sam. “I’m going planetside with all of you and staying.”

A brilliant smile unfurled across Sam’s face. “How long?”

Warik didn’t hear what Voman said because the pilot called out to him to board. It was cowardly, but Warik rushed up the ramp while Voman distracted the humans. He slammed a hand on the door control and shouted at the pilot.

“Get me down as fast as you can!”

“Someone’s in a hurry,” the pilot laughed.

Warik didn’t answer. He tossed his bag into a storage bin and slumped down in a seat. His normal level of control was missing. He couldn’t keep himself still and once he calmed his bouncing leg, he found his fingers strumming on his thigh.

Although he knew it wasn’t long until he’d be on the ground, the journey felt intolerably long. Compared to the months he was forced to be away from Nisha already, an extra twenty minutes shouldn’t bother him, but being so close felt like a special kind of torture.

Finally he was on the ground. He had his bag in hand and waited at the door for the pilot's signal that he could depart. The moment he was given permission, he slapped the controls and didn’t even wait for the door to completely open. He slipped through the widening gap and jumped down where the ramp hadn’t finished deploying. Then he started running.

He knew where Nisha was living and hoped to find her there. The sun had set several hours ago, and he partially hoped he’d find her already in bed. Then he could strip down and slide in next to her. As much as he wanted sex, the need to simply hold her was even stronger.

Not only was she not in bed, but she wasn’t even there! The small domicile was dark and empty. Where was she at this hour?

Warik?

Relief filled him at the sound of Shift’s voice in his ear.

“Shift, where’s Nisha?”

Not here.

The unhelpful and brief answer sent Warik’s blood pressure skyrocketing.

“I figured that out myself,” he said, fighting to keep his voice even. Dread suddenly hit him hard. “Did she and Malk go back to Torl?”

There was a brief moment of silence before Shift answered. “No, she’s at Nova and Miran’s domicile. They live three domiciles to the east.”

He dropped his bag on the floor and flew out of the dark home. It took little time to reach the other domicile. He burst inside to find it was full of people. It was so crowded; he didn’t see Nisha at first. Then he spotted her surrounded by males. The sight of so many single males in close confines with Nisha made rage rise up inside of him.

Everyone stopped talking when he entered. Nisha was accepting a drink from Lorim when he entered. She froze, her eyes going wide.

“Warik?”

“What’s going on here?” he snapped.

Nisha looked surprised, and Shift was quick to speak in his ear. You might want to tone it down, Warik. This isn’t the best way to say hello.

“When did you get back?” Nisha asked, her expression shutting down. She didn’t look guilty or upset at being found at a party flirting with other males.

Before he could answer, Lorim got in his face, scowling. “You weren’t invited to this gathering. You should leave.”

All the other males and some of the human women all stared at him with varying degrees of anger or annoyance.

“You seemed like such a nice guy,” Nova mumbled, leaning against her mate, Miran. “Then you disappear on Nisha. Total tashinia move.”

Almost everyone’s gaze moved to look at Nova.

“Tashinia?” Miran asked.

Nova shrugged. “It’s a Fielden word. It’s hard to describe, but the literal translation is someone who leaves someone else in a sandstorm without an orientation orb or sand webbing.”

“I know what an orientation orb is, but what’s sand webbing?” Kamaril asked.

“It’s a type of shoe that helps you walk on sand,” Nova explained. “The Fielden have a lot of sayings and references to it because if you don’t have your sand webbing, it can be nearly impossible to walk in some areas.”

It was nice to have everyone’s gaze off him and engaging with Nova, but he was impatient to get Nisha alone. They needed to talk, especially about her current situation. What was she doing entertaining all these males?

A sense of doom swept through him. Had everyone found out she was Decanted even though she didn’t have the scar? He hadn’t told anyone, but all it would take was a little research. Or Nisha could’ve mentioned it, not thinking anything of it.

He tried to move closer to her, but Woken stepped in front of him, blocking his path. “I’m not sure Nisha wants to talk to you.” When Warik’s hands tightened into fists, the massive warrior grinned. “Go ahead. I promise you’ll be the one who ends up in medical, not me.”

“Stop it,” Nisha said, appearing from behind Woken. She shoved Warik in the chest. “Go outside, I’ll be there in a moment.”

He didn’t care that she was being forceful with him, all that mattered was that her attention was on him. He took two steps back and stood in the doorway, keeping the automated door open. He refused to let Nisha out of his sight.

Nisha turned and spoke quickly to several of the human women and one of the warriors. He couldn’t hear what she was saying but several of them cast him disapproving looks.

He itched to step back inside and pick her up to carry her out. His frustration vanished when she got close. It was only when she shied away from his touch that he started rethinking his tone.

“Are you afraid of me?” he asked once she’d slid past him and the door shut behind them.

She didn’t answer, only started walking back to her house, her movements stiff.

You’re such an idiot, Shift sighed. You’ve been gone a long time, and we haven't heard anything from you for weeks. Then you barge into the first social gathering I’ve talked Nisha into attending instead of staying home alone pining for you. If you’re going to keep carrying on like this, you might as well get back on a ship.

He had a sinking suspicion that there weren’t enough words to describe his stupidity.

He should’ve sent more messages updating her on his mission, but he was worried about bothering her. His illogical thought process was that if he didn’t remind her that he was away, she wouldn’t realize how long he’d been gone.

Now he saw how faulty his reasoning had been. The bigger question was, could he get Nisha to forgive him?