“You are correct,” the woman agreed. “You should not have to bear this burden alone. You will need others to stand by you. If you succeed in repelling the Voy, a new, what you call corporation will have to rise, one to fight the battles regular humans can’t.”

  “You have any good news in any of this?” I asked with a sigh. “Fight off the Voy only to fight off other alien species.”

  “To whom much is given, much is asked,” the woman answered. “You have a choice in this. There is always a choice. Even now you can turn your back on humanity and walk away. No one is forcing you to stand against the Voy.”

  “You know I can’t turn back now,” I said. “There’s no real choice here. I sit this one out, humankind dies.”

  “Maybe,” the woman said. “Know that not all species that exist in your galaxy would see you fall. There are those who will give aid. Others are waiting to see if humankind is the species they hope it is before stepping in. Think of this battle with the Voy as a kind of test. This is humanity’s first trial run at defending themselves.”

  “Some test,” I said. “Lose and die.”

  “It’s a cold place out there.” The woman tilted her head up to take in the stars and planets around us. “But you’ll make it. The only way you won’t is if you give up. You don’t strike me as the kind to give up.”

  “What is it that you want?” I asked.

  The woman looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

  “They always want something,” I said. “You’re here out of the goodness of your heart? I’m just going to put two and two together here. You’re an alien who has a vested interest in humankind defeating the Voy. Because why? You need them taken out?”

  For the first time, I saw anger flash in her eyes. I had faced down my fair share of Voy, a Cyber Hunter, and mercenaries. None of them gave me the sense of dread from the inside out like her stare.

  “You would be wise in choosing your words when you speak to me, human. I could kill you now in your mind’s eye.” She took a deep breath, restraining herself. “You’re right. I do have a vested interest in seeing humanity succeed. Not all of us are as evil as you might think. I see that humanity is capable of great things if they can just get out of their own way. If you can weather this storm, you will let the galaxy know you are not to be taken lightly.”

  “Great, so why don’t you just come in with your own alien friends and military and give us a hand?” I asked.

  “That is not my path or my battle to fight,” she said. “I have another calling. My way is clear.”

  I heaved a heavy sigh, looking up into the night sky.

  “So kill the Voy and be ready for other aliens to infiltrate Earth,” I said with a shrug. “Is that the gist of your visit?”

  “That warning and to tell you that you are not alone. You never have been.” The woman turned to go. “You are the key, Daniel. You hold the necessary relationships to unite humankind whether you see that now or not. I really should be going. She’s been waiting to speak with you and so patient, I might add.”

  “Who, who are you talking about?” I asked the back of the woman as she dissipated into the night.

  “Me.” X’s voice sounded not in my head like it usually did but beside me.

  I turned to my left to see a smiling X in her human body. Her short black hair and skin tight blue suit were how she took on physical manifestation.

  “I couldn’t appear for some reason,” X said. “At least not while the woman was here. I heard everything, but it was like she was asking me to wait until she was finished.”

  “Can you tell who or what she was?” I asked.

  “Nope, I know as much as you do,” X answered. “I know she’s powerful on a cerebral level. It’s a power I don’t yet understand. Nothing like what we have on Earth. I would use the word ‘magic’ but that’s just a term used for science we can’t comprehend.”

  “It’s good to see you, X,” I said.

  “It’s good to be seen,” X answered.

  “So what do you make out of all of this?” I asked, looking up to the light show in the night sky. “You think we have a chance of defeating the Voy? You think she was telling the truth about other species infiltrating Earth?”

  “I don’t see a reason for her to lie,” X said, taking a seat and drawing her knees to her chest. She wrapped her arms around both limbs. “All she did was warn you and encourage you. I do think we can defeat the Voy. It makes sense that other species would infiltrate Earth. Think who’s on there now.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “I mean, Earth is pretty much an empty house,” X answered. “I know it’s a dead planet, but with so few people living there now, what’s stopping aliens from going in and setting up shop? Who knows? They might not even all be bad. Maybe some just need a home.”

  “You’re making them sound like victims here,” I said.

  “Maybe some of them are, maybe not.” X shrugged. “I guess you and whatever corporation you set up will have to figure that out case by case.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I said, pushing my hands out in front of me. “Pump the brakes. Let’s deal with this Voy invasion and Immortal Corp first before we start talking about setting up our own company.”

  I took a seat beside a silent X and we stared up at the stars together.

  “We’ll figure it all out,” X said after a brief pause. “We always do.”

  X put her head on my shoulder a moment later and fell asleep.

  Knocking at the door woke me in the morning.

  It was Jax.

  “Hey, we have a meeting and an update on Preacher.” Jax sounded happy. “He’s going to pull through. It’ll take time, but he’s going to be okay. If you hurry, we can go see him now before the meeting happens.”

  I sat up, wiping a line of drool from the right corner of my mouth. It was the first piece of good news we had had in awhile. Memories of my dream gave me both hope and worry at once. I decided not to tell anyone for the time being.

  What would I say anyway? That I was visited by a possible powerful alien race who told me I was the key to all of this and that if we defeat the Voy to watch out because rogue aliens will be setting up shop on Earth? That sounded crazy in my own mind and I had heard some pretty wild stuff lately.

  “You’re wearing clothes, right? Don’t sleep in the nude or anything weird?” Jax asked.

  “I’m good, you can come in,” I said, walking over to the door and pressing the pad to let Jax in.

  Jax entered the room with a tray holding a steaming pile of breakfast on one end and folded clothes on the other.

  The smell of strong caf and the breakfast set me drooling again. The clothing he brought in with him lifted the corner of my lip in a growl.

  I recognized the black uniform. Heavy boots and cargo pants with a tight-fitting shirt. An emblem of a snarling wolf on the left sleeve confirmed the Immortal Corp uniform.

  Jax wore it himself. The clothing was flat black just like the armor we would wear when going out on missions. I remembered that much now. I guess some of my memories were coming back.

  “Dress and let’s eat on the go,” Jax said, looking around my room with a smile. “It’s good to see you back in your old room. I haven’t been in here since you left. How’d you sleep?”

  “Like a dead man,” I answered, pulling on the pants and boots. I guess it wasn’t that much of a lie. I had slept well despite the vivid dream. “Angel good to go?”

  “She’s not a morning person, but she popped out of bed when I told her about Preacher,” Jax answered. “She’s with him now. Her healing ability has her at nearly a hundred percent.”

  I pulled the black shirt over my head as a thought came to mind. The black gear made me think of a memory that was just out of reach.

  “You can wear any color as long as it’s black,” I said out loud.

  Jax laughed. It was a deep real chuckle from the big man.

  “Preacher would say that all the time when we geared up to go out on a mission,” Jax said, tugging at his black beard. “I think it was Sam that asked if we could have grey or olive uniforms. It became a running joke.”

  Jax’s memory of the event turned from joy to sadness. I could only guess at what he was remembering. How Sam was no longer part of the Pack Protocol or how Amber was dead. Maybe that Echo was gone now as well.

  “All right big man,” I said grabbing the steaming cup of caf and the hot plate of delicious-looking food. “Lead the way.”

  Twenty-Eight

  I walked and ate while Jax did the talking. We made our way back to the lifts and lower level Jax called the med wing.

  When the doors opened, we were greeted with white floors and ceilings. There were walls, but they were made of glass. I saw empty hospital beds, doctors, and lab technicians going over reports and working at holographic monitor stations.

  Toward the end of the hall, Jax made a hard right. A room with fogged glass stood in front of us. The door was open. Inside, Preacher lay propped up on a white linen bed. Tubes ran out of his arms and neck. The swelling on his face had gone down a bit.

  A metal patch with no band around it covered his missing eye. He was awake when we walked in.

  Angel sat next to him on a stool.

  “Sorry we’re late to the party,” Jax said, grabbing a chair. He grinned at Preacher. “Glad to see you awake and functioning, Alpha Wolf.”

  “Good to be aware of what’s going on around me,” Preacher said. “I blacked out for a long stretch.”

  “Thank you for what you did back there,” I told him. “You bought us the time we needed to escape. All of us.”

  I felt a tinge of regret at having left him at all. The plan was to go back for him, but obviously, we were too late. The deed had been done.

  “Any of you would have done it if you were in my place,” Preacher said with a shrug. The simple act seemed to bring a heavy pain to his chest. He winced. “No use not addressing the dropship in the room. Whatever the Voy did to me, they were able to neutralize my healing ability. I’m a message more than anything else. They can kill us. They can kill the strongest we can send against them.”

  “How?” I asked. “How did they do it?”

  “They put a bug in me because they thought that might soften me up.” Preacher grinned through a split lip. “When that didn’t work, they took some bone marrow samples, created some kind of injection that nullified my healing ability. There’s a more technical explanation of course, but you’ll have to talk to Doctor Bishop on that one.”

  “Is the—is the process permanent?” Angel asked.

  “It’s too soon to tell,” Preacher said, refusing to let the idea that he had lost his ability entered his mind. “No sense in worrying about that now. The scientists and doctors are on it. I’ll be fine. Even without my healing ability, I’ll be back on my feet sooner or later. It’s up to you three to do what needs to be done. You stay on point.”

  “The Voy are going to pay,” Jax said, flexing his hands. “When I get my hands on them, I promise they’ll pay.”

  “You watch each other’s backs out there,” Preacher told us. “Cage said the Voy are coming in seven days. I’ll be with you when it all goes down. Even if they haven’t fixed my ability to heal, so help me God, I’ll be there. I owe the Voy a debt. They just killed my body. They haven’t killed my spirit.”

  The look of raw determination in Preacher’s one good eye told me all I needed to know. He might be older, but he was just as crazy as the rest of us. He would be on the frontlines with us in a wheelchair if that was what it took. I had no doubt about that.

  “You two mind if I have a talk with Daniel alone?” Preacher asked Jax and Angel. “I need to tell him something.”

  “Sure,” Jax said, moving to leave the room.

  “We’ll be back to check in on you soon,” Angel said, giving Preacher a gentle squeeze to his hand.

  The two left the room, closing the door behind them.

  I had no idea what Preacher wanted to talk to me about. It could be about my reappearance, my role now in the Pack, or something else entirely.

  “I did it, Danny,” Preacher confessed, swallowing hard. “I need you to know that. When they killed Amber without any of us the wiser, I took you out to save you.”

  My mind exploded in a dozen different directions at once. One of the main parts of the missing puzzle was finally being filled in.

  “I knew you’d retaliate right away and they’d kill you too,” Preacher explained. “It was the only way to keep you safe. I couldn’t lose—I couldn’t lose you too.”

  Anger, confusion, and tears of frustration sprang to my eyes.

  A lone tear fell down Preacher’s one good eye, but for a completely different reason.

  “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” I couldn’t help but yell. Adrenaline pumped free through my veins and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to hit the wall or Preacher at the moment.

  “Fear, if I’m being honest,” Preacher admitted. If he was ashamed of letting the tears fall in front of me, he didn’t show it. “I didn’t want you to turn your back on the pack for my mistake. When Amber was taken out—”

  “You can just say it how it is,” I interrupted. “When Immortal Corp ordered Amber murdered.”

  “When Immortal Corp ordered Amber murdered,” Preacher forced himself to say. “I heard about it from Cage first. I had to act then or not at all. I found you, gassed you, wiped your mind, and dropped you on the moon. I can see the error of my ways now, but at the time, in that split second, I had to make the decision before you found out. It was the best thing I could come up with. I wanted something better for you, Danny. I don’t know if you can believe me or forgive me, but I wanted you to be free from all of this.”

  There was a battle raging inside of me. On one hand, he was right. If I knew what happened to her, I would have gone straight for the Immortal Corp founders and ripped their throats out. At least, I would have tried to. I can’t imagine in that state going about it as tactfully as I was now. I would have rushed in in a fit of rage and more than likely gotten myself killed.

  Preacher saved me then and he saved me again, leaving the Voy compound.

  On the other hand, he had wiped my memory, basically kidnapped me, and left me in a gutter on the moon.

  I wanted to kill him and hug him at the same time.

  “You do what you got to do,” Preacher said, holding my gaze. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my time. Saving you from yourself might have been one of them, but maybe not. I guess we’ll never know how it would have played out if I didn’t do anything.”

  “You could have told me before, when you saw me with Phoenix at the Immortal Corp safe house,” I managed to say past my rage of confusion. “You could have told me so many times, but you didn’t. You waited until now.”

  “More mistakes,” Preacher admitted. “I couldn’t drop it all on you at once. We have aliens at our doorstep and I’m the one responsible for your loss of memory? No, I couldn’t. I stand behind that as the right decision.”

  I shook in frustration. Heat gathered in my face. How was I supposed to act? How was I supposed to respond? My hands clenched into fists and out again.

  Instead of more words, I just left. I didn’t trust myself not to say something I’d regret. I felt suffocated. I needed to breathe.

  I stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind me. It was a kid thing to do, but it felt good. I turned the corner on my way back to the lift.

  Angel sat on the floor with a flask to her lips. She looked up at me, handing it in my direction.

  “Thought you might need a drink or twenty after Preacher talked to you,” Angel said. “It’s the good stuff. It’ll make hair grow on your chest.”

  “You knew?” I asked, making no effort to accept the offered flask. “You knew and didn’t say anything? You knew he was the one who wiped my memory?”

  “Not until now.” Angel shrugged, taking another long pull on the steel flask. “I had my suspicions, don’t get me wrong. My money was on either Preacher or Cage. You sure you don’t want any?”

  “No, we can’t get drunk anyway. Our metabolism processes the alcohol too fast,” I growled.

  “Speak for yourself,” Angel said with a grin. “You have the fastest metabolism of all of us. I can still get a little buzz if I chug the stuff. It’s a special blend. They call it Fire Water. I get it made special from some guys I know on the moon. It acts as fuel for vehicles too. Fun fact.”

  I could smell the stuff on her breath. I had no doubt it could fuel a dropship in a pinch.

  “Is this how you deal with things?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “Drowning your problems? I have news for you, sister. No amount of alcohol is going to clean our slate. My memory’s still coming back and even I understand that. ”

  “A clean slate was never an option,” Angel said, tilting her head completely back and draining her flask in long, hard chugs. She smacked her lips when she was done. “I don’t drink on the job. Just before and after the missions. Sometime before bed, it helps with the nightmares.”

  I thought about it. We all had our issues and ways to cope. I guess none of us were innocent. Preacher lived in regret. Echo was insane. Jax was always fearful he wouldn’t return to his normal state when he shifted. Sam was the closest to finding redemption, but even then, her past life was constantly called into action as she defended her small town.

  “Nobody gets out of this life without scars. Nobody,” Angel said with a belch that echoed down the hall. “Well, come on, help a girl to her feet. We’re supposed to head to a meeting for orders.”

  Despite myself, I accepted her offered hand. She rose to her feet, and to my surprise, was actually able to walk in a straight line.

  We made our way to the lift.

  Angel sighed disappointedly. “Already wearing off. I knew I should have brought the whole bottle.”

 

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