entire body was in the same state. How long had she been in the tank!?!
"Nearly eighteen hours," Xanto answered the unspoken question he'd seen cross her face.
Her gaze flew to Xanto and found him standing just inside her resting chamber. "Eighteen? What the ruk!"
"It took nearly six for the fluid to repair all the damage you'd done to yourself by absorbing so much viper venom." That brought everything back to Cali. The vipers. The Si female. How close to death, both Jamis and Taarig had been.
"Are they alright?" she asked, getting out of the tank.
"Once the last viper was eliminated, yes."
"Last viper?" Cali's knuckles whitened as she gripped the towel. "I missed one?"
"It was dormant in the female's dress," Xanto paused then told her what she needed to know. "It was a mature dame."
"What?!" Cali didn't even try to hide her shock or disbelief. "But how?"
"Tecumseh altered the dress not only to transport the vipers but to keep them in a state of dormancy."
"Gods! What the ruk was she thinking?"
"About getting revenge for the death of her sestra."
"Sestra?" Cali's head snapped around to Xanto's.
"Apparently, the Commanders had a relationship with her before she left the Star Base and returned to Sion where she found her mate."
"That's no cause for revenge."
"Except, according to Tecumseh, the Si female you subdued, Commander Dexxirs seduced her sestra into betraying her mate when he was on Sion over a year ago. Because of it, her sestra threw herself into a viper pit."
Unfortunately, Cali could believe Jamis was involved with a mated female. After all, he'd said as much when they'd been stranded in that survival shelter together. His exact words were…
'It's not my concern if the female is committed. It's hers. If she is and doesn't wish to stray, all she need do is state that fact.'
While Cali disagreed, Jamis also wasn't wrong. He wasn't the mated one, so if he'd maintained his 'high standards,' it meant the Si female had willingly betrayed her mate. She'd then felt so much guilt over it that she killed herself in the most painful way possible.
Cali shook her head at the waste. "So, this Tecumseh is in custody?"
"No. The dame attacked her before Commander Dexxirs was able to kill it. She died instantly."
"But no one else was hurt?"
"No one, although the Commander's office is going to need repairing."
"Then I'm going to go cleanse and try to figure out how to explain this," she lifted a glowing hand, "to Mae."
"You'll be explaining things to me first. Otherwise, I'm contacting your parents and telling them everything that's been happening here."
Cali wanted to argue but knew she couldn't. After all, she'd promised. Nodding, she entered the cleansing room.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Taarig braced his hands against the counter and stared at his reflection in the mirror. He'd returned to his quarters to try and get some rest before the start of the next light shift, but that hadn't happened. His mind wouldn't calm. He kept getting flashes of what had occurred, but most of it didn't make sense.
He remembered seeing his glass on the floor. He understood that. Tecumseh had laced the skotsk with viper venom.
But after that…
Cali's voice.
Life span draining pain.
Cali's touch.
Being filled with power so immense that he'd felt it in his soul.
None of that could have possibly happened…
Could it?
Reaching up, he rubbed the spot over his heart that still ached. He instantly felt connected to Cali but didn't understand why. All he knew was, with or without Jamis, he was going to have her in his life. For as long as the Gods allowed, starting today. Once she forgave him for even considering being with another female.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Cali tipped her head up and let the steaming water flow over her. How had her life span become so complicated? Oh right, a month ago, her’s and Jamis’s orbits had collided. Had it only been a month? For some reason, it felt so much longer than that.
Because of that collision, she had to explain something about herself to Xanto that even her family didn't know. She looked down at her glowing skin. The question was, could she trust him with her secret. Oh, she knew he wouldn't go around telling just anyone, he was too loyal for that, but would he feel obligated to tell her parents? She guessed she'd find out.
Stepping out of the unit, she wrapped a towel around the long, dark strands the tendrils of renewal liquid had unbraided. She hadn't realized how long