Bree may be away healing, but she has left behind a thank you gift! For the next few weeks, Tuesdays & Thursdays will feature new posts from a serial featuring some old friends. This serial was originally posted (mostly!) on Patreon, and has been edited and finished to be posted live on our blog over the next few weeks. But for those who just want it NOW, or who hate reading on a blog and would like an epub… Well here is the epub!
Return to the world after the Beyond Series and meet the residents of Sector Three…
When Ashwin asks Six & Bren to take in an emotionally fractured Makhai soldier, there are a thousand things that could go wrong. But they are hard at work building their school and rebuilding their sector, and Sebastian is a genius who can fix anything. Anything. In return for his help, all they have to do is give him a safe place to find out if his emotional wounds can be healed.
Just one traumatized supersoldier in the middle of a school filled with former feral street kids, war refugees from exclusive brothels, and a few dozen kids who barely know what a school is.
What could go wrong?
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DISCLAIMERS: this is a serial meant for existing readers of the series. it contains full series spoilers for the Beyond Series and may not make sense if you haven’t read it.
It is also NOT erotic. This is the first part of a very very very slow burn romance between a broken Makhai soldier and an artist who escaped Sector Two after the bombings. There may also be a few other romances a brewing… consider this more like a TV show with multiple members of the cast up to hijinks, even if there are two main characters.
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“Ohhhh my God, I’m so glad I gave you this couch.”
“I bet you are.” Six settled Noelle’s legs across her lap before handing her a pillow. “Here, put this behind your back.”
Noelle accepted the pillow and twisted awkwardly to settle it behind the small of her back. Then she relaxed backwards with a moan of relief, linking her hands together protectively over her hugely pregnant belly. “I love you, Six.”
“I know you do.” She gave Noelle’s leg a gentle pat. “And I’m glad you gave me the couch, too. You were right. The kids come into my office to talk more.”
“You just needed to make it a little more comfortable,” Noelle said. “You were already most of the way there. I just put on the finishing touches.”
She’d done far more than that. Over the past two months, Noelle had all but taken over design and execution of Six’s new office at the school. Her office at the bar had been small and efficient, all necessary supplies with no space for anything frivolous. In that space, Noelle had been forced to confine her attentions to the single bookshelf, filling it to overflowing with weekly gifts.
The new office showed Noelle’s touch everywhere. The furniture, the lighting, even the art she’d insisted on hanging. A massive portrait of Six standing fierce and triumphant in the cage at Fight Night–painted by Ace, of course–dominated the wall behind her new desk and evoked distinct embarrassment every time she looked at it, but Six had learned enough from Lex to recognize a power move.
She didn’t need Lex’s help to understand why Noelle had gotten so fixated on Six’s office. As her due date approached, Jasper hadn’t been the only one to go into overprotective asshole mode. Dallas and Lex were almost worse, hovering over Noelle any time she took a step outside the barracks and leaping to stop her from doing anything that might result in so much as a stubbed toe or broken fingernail.
Six had been her only safe escape. Not even Jas grumbled too much when Noelle was tucked safely in Six’s office–though he usually parked his ass at the bar across the street and broodily nursed a beer until his self-control snapped.
It would probably snap soon. Noelle had already made Six position two freshly delivered chairs across from the couch and organize a new, impossibly giant bookcase. Six didn’t see the point of having that many books when it was easier to carry them around on her tablet, but Noelle caressed the pages like they were some kind of holy object, so Six didn’t ruin her fun.
Besides, now that it was done…she didn’t hate the bookshelf. Her office looked…fancy. It looked smart. The kids who came in here would get used to the idea that they belonged in places like this. Places with nice things and a ridiculous number of books.
They’d never have to feel as out-of-place and inadequate as Six had.
“So…” Noelle nudged Six with her toes. “When do I get to meet him?”
She had that impossible glint in her eyes. All mischief and curiosity, but zero survival instinct. Six stared back at her and played dumb. “Meet who?”
“You know who.” Another nudge. “I want to meet the Makhai soldier.”
Of course she did. She’d probably tell him how nice it was to meet him and then try to hug away his pain, and if she didn’t end up provoking some sort of lethal attack she’d probably terrify him back into his room, never to emerge again.
Besides, Jas would shit a damn brick. “You can meet the Makhai soldier when you’re ready for Dallas and Jas to lock you into your suite for the next three to five years.”
Noelle scrunched up her nose. “Come on, Six. You wouldn’t have him here if he was a danger to your kids.”
“No,” Six countered. “I wouldn’t have him here if I didn’t have a plan to protect the kids from any danger he might represent. If you think I’m tossing any toddlers at him–”
“I am not a toddler!”
“No, you’re worse. A toddler would probably be wary. At least a Sector Three toddler would. You like to pet dangerous killers and bring them home like stray cats.” Six snorted. “I should know. I was one of them.”
“That just shows my good taste.” Noelle pursed her lips and tilted her head. “What’s he like?”
“Who, Sebastian? Like Ashwin used to be, in a lot of ways. Hard to read. Definitely dangerous.” Six hesitated, remembering the way Sebastian had studied his room. The look in those impassive brown eyes. “He’s like I was, in those first days. He doesn’t trust us or believe this isn’t a trap.”
“Poor baby,” Noelle murmured.
“He’s probably older than Dallas,” Six protested.
“And sometimes he’s a poor baby, too.”
Dallas O’Kane. A poor baby. It would be near to blasphemy if it wasn’t so freaking absurd.
Noelle wasn’t joking, though, which was a good reminder. Noelle was sweetness and light wrapped around steel, and even Dallas O’Kane, war hero and emperor, usually backed down when she dug her heels in on a topic. Punching people in the face was one kind of power. Noelle’s was quieter but no less real.
Six still wasn’t going to let her play with a potentially unbalanced Makhai soldier. “I’m sure you’ll meet him eventually,” she said instead. “But let’s go easy on Jas’s nerves, eh? He means well.”
“He does,” Noelle agreed, her eyes warm with affection. “Yesterday he–”
An abrupt knock cut her off, two hard thumps against the office door that told Six who was on the other side. Six gave Noelle’s legs another pat before she slipped out from under them and rose. “Come in.”
The woman who slipped through the door moved almost silently, in stark contrast to the vigor of her knock. River was Six’s mirror in a lot of ways–early 20s, short, lean, hard. Deadly. Her skin was medium brown instead of tanned, and her shoulder length black hair was braided back from her face on one side and shaved on the other.
The severe hairstyle couldn’t do much to harshen a heart-shaped face that was pretty in a way Six had never been, but River’s flat, unwelcoming stare discouraged most people from trying to flirt.
Her brown eyes flickered over the office, taking in Noelle’s latest decorations with mild dismay, then froze on Noelle. The irritated set of her features softened a little as Noelle smiled widely and awkwardly maneuvered herself into an upright position. “River!”
“Hey, Noelle. I didn’t know you were here.”
Noelle beamed at her. “Oh, I’m just hiding out from Jas again.”
A knife appeared in River’s hand, and she raised an eyebrow as she flipped it over and caught it by the blade. “Want me to stab him?”
It was a quasi-serious offer. River had been stand-offish and discouraging the first time Noelle had turned up, but as Six knew well, it was hard not to warm to someone who just genuinely wanted to adore you for exactly who you were. Unfortunately, River mostly still showed affection by offering to murder people… and River had not warmed to Jasper.
Noelle shook her head, barely hiding a smile. “I appreciate the offer, but if I decide he needs to be stabbed, I should probably do it myself. Or ask Lex to do it.”
“If you say so.” With another flourish, River made the knife vanish. “I can come back later if you two are busy.”
“No.” Six leaned back against her desk. “It’s fine. What do you need?”
River braced herself, her hands on her hips. “You have to talk to Leah. I get why you want the kids to learn history, but she keeps letting her classes run long, and for the most useless shit. Half of my apprentices didn’t show up for our training run yesterday because she started some impromptu dance lesson.”
Six bit back a sigh. “Dance isn’t useless, River. It’s good exercise, and it teaches coordination.”
“So is sparring,” she bit back. “And that will save you if you get jumped. How many times growing up did you tell some perv to back up or you’d dance at him.”
“Not everyone’s going to be a brawler,” Six said. “That’s the point of all of this, River. They won’t have to worry about being jumped all the time.”
“So we’re going to make them soft?”
“No, we’re going to give them options.” Six held up a hand to cut off River’s protest. “But you’re right. The schedule needs to work. We’re still figuring this out. I’ll talk to Leah.”
“I still think it’s a mistake,” River muttered. “Reading and math, yeah. They should be smarter than we got to be. But art and dancing and worrying about things that happened a thousand years ago? That’s rich people bullshit, Six.”
“That’s sure what the rich people always wanted us to think.” Six shook her head. “Let me think it over, then we’ll have a meeting. I need to deal with our newest recruit first.”
River snorted. “Thanks for putting him next door to me, by the way. Always wanted a psychic murderer for a neighbor.”
“I’ll make it up to you.” Six turned to flip open a box on her desk and surfaced with a set of keys dangling from her fingers.
River’s brown eyes widened. “My truck? It’s fixed?”
“It will be soon. It’s our new friend’s first project.”
With a rare smile, River reached out. Six slapped her palm, knocked the back of their hands together, then twisted to grip her wrist as River did the same. A silly, childish ritual born of shivering through long rainy nights together huddled under a listing overhang or a collapsed wall.
River had grown up like Six–hard and brutal, with no one ever reaching out a hand except to hurt her. Their teenage friendship had fractured when Six had fallen for Trent’s seductive promises that he’d give her the power to make things better. River’s gut-deep loathing of the man had sure as fuck turned out to be the wiser path.
River had never been broken down like Six had. But that meant River had never rebuilt herself, either. She’d never fallen in with a group like the O’Kanes, who could teach her that survival was vital, but shouldn’t be everything. It would take her time to appreciate the value in art and dancing and history.
That was okay. They had time.
“Here.” Six tossed the keys to River. “Bren should be in the garage with the new guy. Why don’t you go meet him. Let me deal with Leah, okay?”
“Better you than me,” River grumbled, shoving the keys into the pocket of her leather jacket. “Her Highness can’t be bothered with the peasants.”
“River…” Six warned.
“Whatever.” River tossed a salute to Noelle. “Remember, girl. If that bearded mountain gets too annoying, I know some people who can smuggle you to freedom.”
“I’ll remember,” Noelle said solemnly. “Take care.”
“You too.”
When she was gone, Six exhaled roughly and dropped back to the couch. Noelle made a sympathetic noise. “Trouble with the staff?”
“More like culture clash.” Six closed her eyes and scrubbed a hand over her eyes. “Half my teachers grew up as street kids here in Three. The other half are from Sector Two. From the houses.”
“That is a culture clash,” Noelle agreed. “Who’s Leah? I don’t think I’ve met her.”
“Leah,” Six said wryly, “is an Orchid.”
“Oh, dear.”
“Uh-huh.” And unlike some of the other teachers who’d let down their guards, Leah was still an Orchid to her fingertips. She’d arrived with perfect nails, golden hair in intricate braids with deliberately careless curls framing her expertly made-up face, and a full closet of tailored outfits, pristine silk in prim cuts that flattered her pale skin and emphasized some asshole’s fantasy of an hourglass figure.
A few years ago, Six would have dismissed her. Thanks to Lili, she recognized that wardrobe for what it was–an extremely specialized sort of armor. She also recognized the grace in Leah’s movements. “River doesn’t understand that a dance class from an Orchid might as well be combat training. She thinks Leah’s purely decorative and completely useless.”
“And Leah lets her think that?”
“No, Leah encourages her to think that.” Six let her hand fall away and turned to face Noelle. “I can’t tell if Leah’s poking at her, or if she just doesn’t trust us enough to relax yet. Could be both.”
“It could be,” Noelle agreed. “Someone should warn River not to poke back, though. Mia’s the sweetest Orchid I’ve ever met, and she could have taken that knife from River without breaking a sweat. Or a nail.”
Another potential explosion to add to the list, right underneath the fractured Makhai soldier. “I think they just need time. And I need to make sure they’re not clashing because of bad planning.”
“If River is poking at Leah, this might not have been bad planning.” Noelle lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Getting all of River’s students so excited about dance that they stayed late and fucked up River’s schedule is kind of a power move.”
Six let her head fall back against the couch with a groan. “I do not have the patience for stupid politics shit.”
“You’re a sector leader now, Six.” Noelle patted her shoulder, then heaved herself off the couch with a groan. “Okay, let’s deal with it.”
Six hopped up, almost reaching out to steady Noelle before checking the movement. She was pregnant, not fragile, and the last thing she needed was hovering. “What are we dealing with?”
“Scheduling.” Noelle moved around Six’s desk and sank into the chair, adjusting it to accommodate her belly as she activated the new display embedded in the desk’s surface. “I can’t make it totally immune to power moves, but I can get close. And since your net connection is finally stable…”
She activated the holographic display with a couple lazy flicks of her fingers, then typed in a code. After a few long beeps, Mia’s face appeared, her curly hair pulled up onto her head in a knot with several pencils sticking out of it. “Six!” she said with a smile. “Noelle. How are you? What are you doing in Three? Aren’t you about to have that baby?”
“Soon,” Noelle said with a grin. “But not today. Today, I’m helping Six. I want to design a program to help with scheduling for her teachers and students, but I need help building an entity-relationship model.”
A what?
“Oh, those are fun.” Mia waved her hand over her desk and a display popped up next to her face. “Pull up a chair, Six, and talk me through what’s going on.”
Feeling like she was in a car that had lost its brakes and was barreling toward a cliff, Six hooked a plain wooden chair with her boot and pulled it over. Apparently having finished reorganizing Six’s office, Noelle was about to start on the school. And she’d co-opted Mia to help.
They both looked so gleeful, Six didn’t have the heart to stop them. Besides, she wouldn’t know an entity-whatever if it shot her point-blank. They were way out of her comfort zone, talking about shit she could barely understand.
Which was why she needed to do this. And add tech skills to the growing list of classes. Sector Three’s next generation was going to grow up smart and educated and ready to fuck up the world.
And if that wasn’t the ultimate power move, Six didn’t know what was.