Seeing the Dragon and the Warrior approach—likely called by Linette—had made her realize my woman wasn’t bluffing. However, although the panic quickly rising within Stella had everything to do with the dreadful prospect of getting kicked out, it was her pride that dominated. She hated getting beaten at her own game, that she could lose all bragging rights of working for the Coalition, and that people would question—or maybe even find out—the reason she’d been sent back. How could she focus on avoiding losing face instead of saving what career she had left? What was an apology but a few words she didn’t even have to mean?
“So, for the second and last time, you will apologize or go pack your stuff,” Linette reiterated.
“Whatever happened to freedom of speech?” Stella countered.
“Freedom of speech doesn’t give you the right to insult him because he rejected your shameless advances and refused to be your sex toy,” Linette snapped back.
Stella’s face turned beet red while the Coalition unit bearing witness to this mess stared at her in horror. Under different circumstances, my evil side would have reveled in her dismay. Instead, my stomach dropped at the realization Linette had heard most, if not all, of my horrible tale to the wretched female.
But she implied that being my girlfriend was an ‘honor’ she couldn’t claim.
Yeah, but that was simply her being supportive. Right?
“You don’t know what went down—which in fact is nothing at all—and I do not owe him any apology,” Stella stubbornly said. “I’m entitled to my opinion about his kind, and I have the right to express it freely.”
“Linette?” Wrath said to his Soulcatcher as sole question as to what was going on.
“I told her to apologize for gratuitously insulting Varnog or be expelled from Khepri,” Linette said matter-of-factly. “You’ve just heard her response to that.”
“It wasn’t gratuitous. I—”
“Save it, Stella,” Wrath interrupted in the harshest tone I’d ever seen him use with a female. “My Soulcatcher, who also happens to be a Senior Officer of the Vanguard, gave you a choice in light of your poor behavior. You made it. Please go pack your things for immediate and permanent departure. Two Warriors are on their way to escort you.”
The Coalition members discreetly stepped away from the female for fear of getting dragged into this. I didn’t know what to think of the situation. While I didn’t give a shit about the female’s demise, and as much as I loved them standing up for me, the punishment felt a little excessive for a simple word spoken out loud. After all, half of the Coalition members currently on Khepri held far more hideous thoughts about my people and me.
“You are choosing this parasite over me?” Stella exclaimed disbelievingly.
“I’m choosing a loyal member of the Vanguard over you,” Wrath retorted in an icy voice.
His sideways glance at Bane and the psychic energy swirling around him told me he’d just told Bane to keep his cool. My Dragon friend’s clenched jaw and fisted hands clearly displayed his anger at the female.
“I trust Varnog with my life, but I do not trust a single thing about you,” Wrath continued with a harshness that bordered on cruelty. He gazed around her head at her aura, a look of disgust descending on his handsome features. “You’re a rank four who got denied entry to the Vanguard for a reason. After all these years, your aura is still as repulsive. Why do you think we refuse your services as a Soulcatcher and only use your Operator services in extremely rare cases out of desperation?”
Linette stared at her Warrior with bulging eyes and a sliver of unease. I didn’t need to read her mind to know she was shocked by such brutal talk from him. Even I couldn’t quite understand what would have triggered such fury from this usually gentle soul.
“I want you off Khepri within the hour. You are henceforth barred from any mission involving the Vanguard,” Wrath continued. Ignoring her outraged protest, he turned to the other Coalition members—mostly humans with a couple of Tegorians in their midst. “For the rest of you, be warned that there is zero tolerance for disrespecting the Scelks. You’re dismissed.”
They couldn’t leave fast enough. Two Warriors headed towards Stella while she continued to look for some argument to change Wrath’s mind. The hatred she cast my way—as if I were to blame for what had befallen her—would have worried me if not for her utter helplessness. Again, I almost felt sorry for her… almost.
“You didn’t have to do that,” I said to Linette and Wrath.
They both approached me, while Bane continued to glare at Stella being escorted out.
“Yes, we did,” Linette said in a tone that brooked no argument. “People like her are toxic. She initiated this mess, and when it didn’t play out in her favor, she was looking at ways of punishing you. I can’t stand that kind of snake. An example needs to be set before others start thinking it’s okay to do shit like this here.”
“Linette is correct,” Wrath said. Then, to my complete surprise—and shock—he placed a hand on my right shoulder and gave it a brotherly squeeze. “Stella was punished for her action and for being unfit to be part of the Vanguard, and frankly to the Coalition forces as a whole. But I also meant every word when I said that I trust you with my life. Besides the countless times you’ve helped save my brothers and me, thanks to all of you Scelks, I got to say goodbye to my Elisa. I will also never forget that both you and Sabra helped me get back my little Half-Pint in one piece.”
“Hey!” Linette said with half-outrage while elbowing Wrath in the ribs. “I’m a full pint and a third.”
Wrath chuckled and affectionately fisted his Soulcatcher’s hair at the nape, drawing her face towards his to give her a brotherly kiss on the forehead.
“What you are is my sister and my best friend,” Wrath said, releasing her. “And a pocket-sized heap of trouble.” He deftly dodged the punch she threw his way and grinned fiendishly while I burst out laughing. “Your arms will never be long enough, little squirt,” Wrath added with a boyish wink. “But I must be off, I have a meeting… again. See you all later.”
He cast a glance at Bane, who reluctantly stopped glaring at the general direction where Stella and the Warriors had disappeared. A wave of affection soared in my heart for the Dragon leader at the concern plain to see on his face while he came towards us. The same protective and brotherly love I had felt from him that first day he had approached the parasite I had been, now oozed out of him. That was how Bane had broken through the layers of rage and savagery that were wrapped around me. No one but the Scelks could truly understand the depths of selfless love and devotion that swirled inside that man, my Alpha… my friend.
I smirked as was my wont. “I cause mayhem even without trying. Clearly, the awesomeness of my talent knows no bounds.”
As expected, Bane snorted and shook his head, tension bleeding out of his broad shoulders. He’d known and warned me that doing this training would expose us Scelks to a great deal of unpleasantness. And, as always with him, Bane blamed himself for any suffering endured by those he considered his people.
He gave me a psychic nudge that I returned in kind and watched him keep walking down the hallway with Wrath, headed towards whatever meeting they had initially been intent on attending before this little incident.