Free Mick (The A'rouk Brothers Book 1) by Serena Simpson

splattered all over it. Her body finally shook as the fear she held at bay overtook her.
    “You saved me.” She buried her head in his neck. Her tears flowed freely, and she had a meltdown in his arms. He held her until it was over.
    “You’re okay, Jaz mine.”
    “Jaz mine?’
    “Because one day you will be mine. You just don’t know it yet.”
    She laid her head back down on his shoulder. That sounded just about right to her.
    She looked down at the earth. It appeared bruised and scared, and her heart went out to it.
    “I didn’t know there were areas under the dome that were this bad.” Nothing was growing in this patch of the earth, it was so black and charred.
    “The war wasn’t an easy one and the Earth suffered greatly, but it will recover.”
    Her heart ached for what she saw before her. A few of the tears she shed made their way to the ground. Mick began to propel them higher. Not wanting to scare her by simply moving them from one place to another. The ground below greedily absorbed her tears with a sigh of comfort.
    “Where are we going?”
    “To Damon’s house, I want him to give you a checkup. I need to know you’re fine.” His fingers gripped her tighter. If he had failed, she wouldn’t be in his arms now. She’d be dead, and he’d belong to The Darkness. He could never forget that he caused this.
    “You won’t get an argument from me.” If their positions were reversed, she’d be saying the same thing.
    “Mick, where is The Darkness?”
    “It will regroup and devise another plan to come after me.” There was a good chance of his brothers coming to help now that The Darkness had made its next move.
    He took them through the levels slowly. They passed hovers; she watched the people inside, but no one could see her.
    “Are we invisible?”
    “We are; would you like me to take the shield away?”
    She shook her head against his neck. She was fine with the fact that no one could see her.
    “What about the hover?”
    “One of my brothers will retrieve it for me.” She nodded and closed her eyes knowing he would let her know when they got there.
    The air up here was incredible. Why hadn’t she noticed it the first time she came? Mick was setting them down on a path surrounded by beautiful flowers.
    “Are we at Damon’s?”
    “We are. His house is over there.” He pointed to the right, and a huge house came into view. It was one story and seemed to expand far as the eye could see.
    There was a beautiful waterfall that skipped gladly down the side of a mountain and made her mouth curl up in joy just to see it. She already loved coming to this level. Everything up here seemed so alive.
    “All of these flowers can’t be native to the earth.” She was looking at one with a blood-red stem and an orange bloom.
    “The flower you’re looking at is from our native planet. We decided to bring some of the beauty we thought we might miss when we left. In Damon’s yard, you will find flowers for the beauty of it as well as flowers that serve a medical purpose. We also have a collection of flowers that were in danger of dying out on their natural planet but thrive here.”
    “Is that why the mountain and waterfall are here?”
    “When we designed our homes, we took the things we loved about the Earth and made sure they were able to thrive this far up.”
    He placed his hand on her arm and gently led her to the front door. He tapped on it and then entered.
    “Damon?” He used the house-wide intercom system.
    “Come to the medical wing.” Damon’s voice came out of the wall next to them making Jaz jump as she looked for him.
    They walked down the hallways that seemed to flow from one to another.
    “How do you find anything with the intersecting hallways?”
    “There’s a pattern to them that you won’t see unless we teach you. Once you learn the pattern, you won’t ever get lost.”
    “I’m going to need that lesson,” she said before they stopped in front of a door. The door