Jazin had started to apologize for his rough behavior while he was under the influence of the Fast Patch. Star had nipped that in the bud. She threatened to put another one on him if he said one more word! She had absolutely no complaints, not even if she was deliciously sore. The sparkle of mischief and sincerity must have made him believe her because he grinned wickedly as he promised he didn’t need the drug to take her like he had before.
“Do you know how Madas is?” Star asked as she slid her feet into the soft leather boots she had bought. “Oh, by the way, you are going to have a bill delivered for some revenge shopping that River and I did while you were gone.”
“Revenge shopping?” Jazin growled. “Who took you shopping? You were not supposed to leave the West House.”
Star straightened up and put her hands on her hips. “Oh no you don't, big boy. We are so not going there again. River and I snuck out and went to town. We had a marvelous time shopping and spending your credits so just suck it up and accept it. I will not be placed on a damn pedestal. I will come and go as I please. If you don't like it....” Her voice faded when Jazin strode forward quickly and captured her lips with his own.
“I may not like it,” he said huskily as he pulled back from her. “But, I will learn to accept that you are my mate. A warrior in your own right.”
He did not tell her he had talked to Jarmen and Dakar while she was in the cleansing room this last time. They gave him an abbreviated version of what happened back at the fortress. The fact that he wanted to kill them for letting his mate do such a dangerous thing was overridden by his respect of what she had done. She had proven she was a true warrior. He found out Dakar had taken a blade to his side. He had just been released from medical a short time ago. Dakar joked that Jarmen wanted to stay with him in medical just so he could avoid being around anyone else. Ajaska and Torak had finally taken pity on the man and given him his own cabin so he could hide. Madas had been healed but it was Gril that needed to be sedated. He had gone nuts when he saw the two warriors carrying his wounded mate. He had snatched Madas out of their arms yelling at the top of his voice for the Tearnat healer he had brought on board the warship with him. They had not been seen since she was released from the medical unit.
“Madas is with her mate,” Jazin said sliding his hand down to snare her fingers between his own. “She was wounded but the Tearnat healer has already released her. Dakar has also been released and Jarmen can heal himself.”
“I liked him,” Star said as they left the starship. “He was just a sweetheart and if not for him and Madas, we would never have known that you were still alive.”
Jazin's fingers tightened jealously around Star's slender ones briefly before he let out his breath. “I can never repay him for his help. I had been left chained to the wall with weights attached to each arm. It was only a matter of time before I could no longer hold them and it would have grievously wounded me to the point that not even the Fast Patch could have helped me.”
Star tucked her head as tears burned her eyes. Tears of sorrow for the pain Jazin had to endure but there were mostly tears of rage at the man who had inflicted it. If she ever got the chance to kill Tai Tek she would do so without a second thought. She would never, ever let him hurt Jazin again.
“I will never let him hurt you again either,” Jazin said stopping in the middle of the landing bay and turning her toward him. Her softly mumbled vow reminding him that he was not the only one that Tai Tek had harmed. “He will not be given another chance to harm my family. We will hunt him down. I will no longer wait for him to strike next.”
“I agree,” Ajaska said harshly as he studied his youngest son. Pride and respect for the warrior he had grown into shone from his eyes.
“Ajaska!” Star cried out happily.
Ajaska's laughter echoed through the landing bay causing the warriors working there to stop and smile as the tiny female warrior flew into his open arms with an infectious laugh. She giggled as he tossed her up into the air and caught her again. She held onto his broad shoulders and gave him a kiss on his cheek earning a low growl of warning from Jazin. Ajaska laughed again at his son's show of possessive jealousy.
“If you were not so young and mated to my own son I would claim you as my mate. As it is, I am proud to call you my little daughter,” Ajaska chuckled as he set her back onto her feet.
Jazin reached out pulling her back into his arms the moment she was free. “You'll have to find your own mate, father,” he answered with a reluctant smile.
“From what I heard, he had three of them at one time,” Torak responded.