King's Guard

Chapter 9

After the vehicle was parked; the still disguised group of females, the still covered Female Leader, and the Commander exited the vehicle, and entered a small, deserted, building that showed the signs of a-soon-to-be-demolition signing. (Meaning that the building was going to be demolished soon). The Commander ordered the group to search for any other people, or possible traps, so that the group could rest and plan their next move. The group of females hesitated, slightly, before they moved forward to follow his commands when the Female Leader didn't do anything to stop the Commander's ruling. When the group was dispersed, the Commander moved the Female Leader forward toward the abandoned building, and awaited for the assigned captain's clear, which was about ten minutes later.

"The building is clear, Commander", sneered the Captain.

"Good. Now, show me the way to a secluded part of the building, Captain," stated in a bored tone Commander.

"Yes, Commander, right this way," snarled the Captain as she showed the Commander and the still bound Female Leader towards the second floor office.

The Commander pushed the still bound Female Leader forward into the building, and they followed the Captain toward the secluded part of the building. After the Commander and Female Leader reached the secluded part, the Commander dismissed the Captain with orders to set up a perimeter guard, and to wait for further orders. The Captain sneered at the Commander, but nodded and left with her orders. The Commander glared at the Captain's back as she walked away, but he let her be, because he had bigger fish to berate. The Commander maneuvered the quiet, still-bound, Female Leader to a chair, and left her alone, but first, he released her bound hands and took the bag off of her head. When the Commander moved away, and around to the other side, so that he sit across from her.

As the Leader sat there, stunned, and depressed; the Commander came over with a new chair, sat down, and faced the down ex-soldier.

"So..."

"..."

The Commander sighed when he received no answer, but he needed the Leader's attention. The Commander stared at the Leader, who didn't even twitch, as he reached forward and lifted her chin, so that he could look into her eyes. The Leader's eyes showed slight anger, deep sadness, and a faraway look, but she still was not present, so the Commander sighed again when he saw this.

"SLAP"! The Commander slapped the Female Leader, and she still didn't react. The Commander wasn't sure what to do next, so he moved to get one of the other females (maybe even the Nurse), but when the Commander stood, the Leader stood as well. The Commander was surprised, but it didn't show other than raising his eyebrow.

"..."

"What?"

"...Don't...go..."

"Why?"

"Just...don't...go..."

"If you can't give me a reason, then I'll leave and get you someone else that you can speak to."

"...No...No one...else..."

"Fine, but if I stay, then you need to speak more. Got it?"

"Yes...sir," the Leader whispers.

"Good. Now look up at me, and let's sit and talk, okay"? The Commander compromises gently and proceeded to sit back down, which was mimicked by the Female Leader.

The Commander broke the ice first, "So, tell me how you feel?"

The Female Leader snorted, grinned, and looked up at the Commander, but once their eyes met, she stopped and glared before averting her eyes as the Commander narrowed his eyes.

"Got Something to say, Staff Sergeant?" The Commander glared at the Female Leader, who was still not looking at him.

"...Nothing...sir...just that... (Sigh)...never mind," whispered the Female Leader.

The Commander tilted his head to the side as he watched this ex-soldier, who was the best-of-the-best, then she becomes like this; a shell-shocked Useless Female, and as the Commander, he could just leave her like this, or he could snap her out of it. In the end, the Female Leader saved him from making a choice by passing out.

The Commander jumped forward to grab the falling female, who had passed out, and moved her to the floor, in a straight-backed position, and he went around to check her vitals, which he found that the Female Leader was sporting a high fever, which was making her break out in sweat and shivers. The Commander sighed as he remembered that his female likes to keep her illness' to herself, and she won't let anyone know until it's too late when she's passed out from exhaustion or she passes out from her Commanding Officer (CO), who makes her either go to the med-tent, or to go rest in the barracks.

As the Commander lays her down on the floor, one of the other females had barged into the room looking like she wanted to start a fight, but stopped when she saw her Leader passed out on half on the floor and half in the Commander's arms. The female froze, but only for a second, before she saw that the Leader had trouble breathing, her face was flushed red and covered in a light sheen of sweat.

The Commander watched the female, who he later found out was the group's Nurse, approach the sick leader and before she touched the sleeping figure in his arms, the Nurse looked him in eyes. The only reason the Commander allowed the approach was because he knew about the Oaths that every medical must take, so he nodded at the silent request to check on the sick Leader, who by now was laid down on the floor with something soft used as a pillow, and he moved away to let the Nurse work.

Twenty minutes later, the Nurse gasped slightly which caught the attention of the Commander, who was by the Leader's side a second later.

"What?! What's wrong?" The Commander questioned urgently.

The Nurse raised herself back into an upright sitting position (from an almost bowed position earlier from the Leader's body), and looked over at the Commander with narrowed, speculating eyes, before she moved to a standing position and slowly approached the Commander, who was watching the Nurse slowly approach him.

"Commander, sir, please remove your shirt, and stand at attention. There is something that I must confirm first before I can answer any questions that I'm sure you're going to have, but this is important to the life of our Leader." The Nurse was still approaching, slowly, as if approaching an injured, wild animal.

The Commander wanted to protest, but decided that since he was going to get his questions answered anyway that he might as well do as the Nurse requested. He moved back a couple of steps, and proceeded to remove his shirt, arm guards, shoulder guards, and neck guard, and put them on the chair that he was sitting on before the Female Leader passed out, and he stood at attention when he was finished.

The Nurse came, and stood in front of the Commander a few minutes later. She looked him in the eyes, waiting for permission, which was granted, before she went about inspecting the torso. Ten minutes later, she gasped again, which made the Commander twitch. The Nurse moved back to stand in front of the Commander, but this time the Nurse was glaring at him. The Commander narrowed his eyes at her glaring eyes, before the Nurse smirked and turned away to approach the still sleeping figure on the floor. The Nurse squatted down, gently picked up her torso and head, before motioning the Commander to 'come over and look'.

The Commander approached, still shirtless, around to the other side of the fallen Leader, and squatted down to near eye level of the Nurse.

"Look. What do you see?" Asked the still smirking Nurse, which she pointed to the back of the neck on the Female Leaders bowed head (courtesy of the Nurse).

The Commander looked at the intended area before he felt his own jaw drop at the mark that was not there before; the mark of a soul-mated pair is unique to each pair, and only the alpha-dominant can have their own symbol, which can tell how many other mates that the person can have. The number is not important, but the symbol is. The same symbol on his back is the same as on her neck.