Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

Lomax

I tried to take a deep breath, but the tightness in my chest would only allow for some frighteningly shallow ones. My heart skipped and then skipped again, and dizziness made me clutch at the side of the building as people swept past me into the bar without a second look.

The music drifting out from the bar throbbed in tempo with my heart, only it wasn’t missing the damn beat every few minutes. It had never been this bad before, the tightness, the skipped beats, the feeling like I couldn’t get enough air into my lungs.

I took shallow breaths, keeping my eyes closed and willing my heart to settle into a normal rhythm. After a while - a long while - it did, and the tightness in my chest eased a little.

You’re dying, Lomax. You gave all that premium juice to the dying Draax, and it didn’t even make a difference. He’s back in your apartment, still dying, and if you don’t get some juice, neither of you will make it through the night. You know that, right?

Fuck, my inner voice could be a real fucking killjoy sometimes. Constantly reminding me how close I was to death. Only, this time, she was right. I could feel it in my bones, my labouring heart, and the fatigue that made it nearly impossible to think straight.

I’d spent the last twenty-four hours holed up in my apartment with the dying Draax. I’d hoped he would improve, but he had worsened instead. His breathing had turned raspy and laboured, and while the bleeding had stopped in his abdomen, the four wounds already looked swollen and infected.

I’d gathered my courage around two o’clock this afternoon and tried poking around in one of the holes with tweezers. No doubt the wounds were infected because of the bullets, but maybe if I could get the bullets out, the wounds would start to heal.

Unfortunately, my squeamishness and how Reagan had first groaned and then started screaming even while unconscious had quickly stopped my grand plan to fish out the bullets.

Call 9-1-1, Lomax. Christ, have you lost every single one of your brain cells?

I promised Regan I wouldn’t, and the look on his face when he spoke of his king still made me shiver. I hadn’t seen him afraid, not even after he’d been shot, but there was no denying it was fear in those pretty silver eyes of his.

Besides, if I called an ambulance, Regan might have been arrested. I was sure Mitchell had been found in the alley by now, and it wasn’t like there were a lot of humans walking around with swords, right? If I took Regan to a human hospital, they might figure out he’d killed Mitchell and, I don’t know, put him on death row or something. He’d saved my life, and I’d be damned if I would end his.

Which was why I had blown off my shift at the convenience store tonight and was back at the bar. I just had to hope that my heart held on long enough to fuck a Draax and get some much needed juice for Regan and me.

You’ll have to fuck two at once. You know that, right? It’s the only way to get enough juice to keep you both alive through the night.

“I know,” I muttered. “Christ, I know I’ll have to fuck two Draax.”

And then what? Even that will only get you through the night. What will you do after that? Fuck two Draax every night until Regan is healed?

“If I have to!” I snapped so loudly that the woman pulling open the door gave me a cautious look.

I took as deep a breath as my body would allow and walked into the bar. It was a busy night, and, like always, the place was filled with women and Draax and devoid of men. Everyone in the neighbourhood knew who this place catered to - the Draax and desperate women like me.

I was annoyed all over again with myself for not paying attention as I left the bar last night. For not realizing Mitchell was following me and for not putting up a big enough fight when he dragged me into the alley.

Yet here you are, right back at the same place.

I had no choice. I needed juice, and this was the only way to get it. I put a smile on my face and a sway in my hips as I approached two Draax sitting at the bar. I placed my hand on the closest one’s arm and thrust out my chest. “Hi there, boys. How are you tonight?”

A brief look of surprise crossed their faces. “You have a translator.”

“Sure do,” I said, cocking out my hip and tracing my finger across my cleavage. “Which one of you -”

My words devolved into a coughing fit as my heart beat hummingbird fast in my chest - oh shit, that was a new symptom - and the Draax’s face wavered in front of me. I clutched at the Draax’s arm as I coughed and coughed, gasping for air while my heart skipped and jumped and raced.

“Little female, what is wrong?”

I couldn’t answer the Draax or get enough air into my lungs. Christ, I was going to die in this fucking bar.

“Lomax, drink.” A familiar voice spoke in my ear as an arm slid around my waist and a flask was pressed to my mouth. I gulped at the sweet, cold juice, drinking so quickly that some spilled down my chin. My urge to cough disappeared, and the tightness in my chest eased.

I wiped the juice from my chin with a shaky hand and stared at Sigan. “Sigan? What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you,” he said as he led me away from the Draax sitting at the bar.

“What? Why?”

“Come with me, little human.” Holding my arm, he walked me to the exit. I shook my head when he opened the door and tried to lead me into the humid night air.

“No, Sigan. I can’t. I need to stay. I need juice and -”

“I know you do,” he said. “I have some for you.”

My chest still tight, I stepped outside with him. He studied the bruising on my cheek that the few swallows of juice I allowed myself last night hadn’t been enough to heal.

“What happened to your face?” he asked.

“A dude slapped me a couple of times,” I said. “You have more juice for me?”

“You found her.” The two Draax from the night before joined us.

“I have,” Sigan said.

“Thank Krono,” Thromi said. “Speak with her, and then we must go. If we do not return in the next few hours, we will be stuck here on Earth for at least a moon. I hologrammed with Reje earlier, and he says a storm is coming.”

Sigan ignored him. “Little human, you will return to our planet with us. I will give you serum, and you can return to Earth when the next shipment of juice is sent to your state.”

“Wait…what?” Aiden stared at him. “Sigan, you cannot bring a female back to our planet without taking the proper steps.”

“Besides, with the storm, she will be stuck with us for a moon. What do you think our king will say if he finds out you brought a female back to the castle?” Thromi said.

“There are plenty of females at the castle,” Sigan said.

“Yes, because they are Draax mates or they work in the program,” Thromi said. “They are not some random little human we find in a bar. Sigan, have you gone mad?”

“She is dying, Thromi!” Sigan said. “If we do not take her to Draax and give her gallberry serum, she will die.”

Thromi stared at Aiden, who said, “Sigan, think rationally. If we bring the little female to the planet without the Earth authorities’ permission, they can say we kidnapped her. King Quillan’s relationship with the states is already on shaky ground. We cannot do or say anything to -”

“Enough,” Sigan said. “No law says females cannot come to Draax of their own free will. You know that as well as I do. If Lomax agrees to come with us, there will be no issue. Lomax, will you come with us?”

I stared at him, my mind whirling. Was Sigan really offering to give me gallberry serum? That shit was even more potent than the juice, and even just a little of it would give me a few extra months.

The question you need to ask is what he will expect from you.

My heart skipped some beats and then did that weird racing thing again, and I suddenly decided I didn’t care what Sigan wanted in return. Maybe he’d changed his mind about finding me attractive and would expect me to fuck him for the juice. That was fine with me. I’d give him the best fuck of his life if he gave me serum.

“Yes,” I said. “Yes, I’ll come with you.”

“Good. We must leave immediately.” Sigan studied my face as he pulled me down the sidewalk. “I do not believe you have much time left, little female. I have some juice on our ship, but it will only be enough to keep you alive for our trip to Draax.”

Hey, Lomax. You forgetting something? A big green dying in your bed, something?

I staggered to a stop as Sigan gave me a look of impatience. “Human, we must go.”

There was no fucking way I was letting the Draax who saved my life die alone in my apartment. Sigan was from the western province. Maybe his king could talk to Regan’s king and convince him not to imprison him or whatever. Maybe the kings were friends.

“I have to go to my apartment first,” I said. “There’s something I need to grab before I leave.”

Sigan snorted impatiently. “Whatever is there will be there when you return.”

“No, it won’t,” I said. “Please, Sigan. I don’t live far from here.”

“Fine,” he said, “but we must hurry.”

* * *

“This is your something you needed to grab?” Thromi stared in shock at Regan lying on my bed.

“Krono, he is a big one. Even for a Draax.” Aiden prodded Regan’s side, and I pushed him aside. Just that small motion made me gasp for breath.

“Stop that. He’s hurt,” I said. “He saved me from a human last night, and the guy shot him. Regan had no choice but to stab him with his sword, and the guy died.”

“Regan?” Sigan said sharply. “Did you say his name was Regan?”

“Yes. He did it to save me,” I said as Sigan examined Regan’s abdomen. “I gave him all of the juice you gave me last night, and it’s kept him alive, but he’s not healing. I went out tonight to get him more juice.”

Sigan prodded at Regan’s stomach, and the big Draax groaned but didn’t regain consciousness.

“Why did you not call your human kadanas to help heal him?” Thromi asked.

I had no idea what a kadana was, but I said, “I was afraid he would be arrested if I called 9-1-1. That they’d realize he had killed that asswipe Mitchell and I didn’t want to, like, start a war or something between humans and Draax.”

Thromi made a face. “That is probably a wise decision. Your males do not care for us.”

“Probably because we are so much better at fucking than they are,” Aiden said with a grin.

Thromi laughed, and I gave them both an impatient look. “Now isn’t the time for joking. Regan is dying.”

I turned to Sigan. “He said he was from the eastern province, and his king couldn’t find out he was here. He made me promise not to ask another Draax for help. He said he would be imprisoned for life if the king found out he was in California.”

“I know King Eastolf has a reputation for being cruel, but from what I have heard, he does not care if his Draax go to different states. He encourages it, in fact,” Aiden said before making a disgusted sound. “He is lower than a wracken.”

“This is the head of his king’s guard,” Sigan said.

“Krono,” Thromi said. “Are you serious?”

“I believe it is him,” Sigan said. “I have never met him, but I know the head of Eastolf’s guard is named Regan. He is well known for his great size.” He touched the scar on Regan’s face. “And the scar he carries.”

“Shit,” Thromi said. “Sigan, we cannot bring him with us. No wonder he refused to let the little human find a Draax to help. If it were discovered by the other provinces that Eastolf’s head of the king’s guard was disobeying the rules, Eastolf would not just imprison Regan, he would take his head.”

“What? Why? If he doesn’t care that other Draax do it, why can’t Regan?” I asked.

“They are held to a different standard,” Sigan said. “Eastolf may not care what most of his people do, but there is an expectation that his guard, especially the head, do not do anything that will make Eastolf look bad.”

“Eastolf should hold all of his people to that standard,” Thromi said. “That they are allowed to break the rules so flagrantly is a slap in the face to our province and the north and the south. Our king should be -”

“Enough, Thromi. Now is not the time, and if you feel you can lead the province better than our king, you are welcome to bring it up with him,” Sigan said.

Thromi flushed a dark green. “That is not what I meant, Sigan.”

“Then you should choose your words better in the future, Thromi.” Sigan straightened and stared at the unconscious Regan.

“We cannot take him with us, Sigan,” Aiden said. “It is asking for trouble.”

“I’m not leaving without him,” I said.

“Little human, what Sigan is offering you is a gift,” Thromi said. “Do not be so foolish. You do not even know this Draax but you would give your life for him?”

“It’s called being a decent human being,” I spat at him as anger made me flush. “I won’t leave him behind to die just because -”

A blinding bolt of pain shot through my chest and down my left arm. I sucked in a harsh gasp of air as the agony reverberated through me, and I stared blankly at Sigan. “Sigan?”

Darkness swooped in, and the last thing I saw was Sigan reaching for me.