by S. E. Smith
Merrick watched the nervous twitch at the corner of Crawford’s right eye. The smell of the man and his body's reaction were not something the human could fake. He debated whether he should respond. This was the first time that this human had approached him alone and he was curious as to what he wanted. Merrick finally inclined his head in acknowledgement of the question.
“What happened tonight…,” Crawford paused and drew in a deep breath again. “Listen, you can’t tell anyone about the girl coming in here. The docs… I don’t know what the others might do to her. It is bad enough as it is. I don’t want to be responsible for any more deaths. Hell, I just want to get out of this mess in one piece! I didn’t know that they… who these people were… I just needed a job after I got out of the Army. My girl is pregnant and I needed to earn some money to support us. Shit, this is all a fucking mess.”
Merrick watched as the man cursed under his breath again and ran his hand over the back of his neck. Crawford shot him another look of frustration and worry before he turned on his heel and walked back to the door. Merrick knew he was taking a chance, but it might be the only one he got.
“Release me,” Merrick ordered in a low voice.
Merrick watched as Crawford’s hand froze on the doorknob and he slowly turned around to face him. The human’s face paled when he slowly rose from the bed and walked to the door of his cell. He stared back at the wide, dark brown eyes gaping back at him in shock.
“You speak… you understand...,” Crawford stuttered.
“I learned your language… some,” Merrick replied with a sharp nod. “Release me.”
“I can’t,” Crawford whispered hoarsely. “Hell, I’m going to be lucky to get out of this alive as it is. If I release you, I’m dead. If Weston Wright doesn’t kill me, Markham will. They even threatened my family if I said anything or tried to leave.”
“Then help me,” Merrick demanded.
“Didn’t you just hear what I said?” Crawford asked in frustration. “If I so much as lift a finger to help you get away, not only am I dead, but so is my girl. That was made very clear the first night you were brought in.”
“Call a number for me, then,” Merrick insisted in a low voice. “The human can protect your family. He can send you and your female to a place where neither of these men can harm you.”
Crawford gave a bitter laugh and shook his head. “Are you fucking kidding me? I did my research on these guys after they threatened me! Unless you can send me and Becky to another planet, there isn’t a fucking rock on Earth where they won’t hunt us down,” he retorted.
“You would not be on your world,” Merrick murmured in a low voice. “You would be on mine.”
Crawford swallowed and paled. Merrick knew he had taken the human by surprise with his comment. It was a risk, but it was one he had to take if he was to get free.
“You… you aren’t shitting me, are you?” Crawford whispered. “You really are a fucking alien.”
“Yes,” Merrick answered, staring intently into Crawford’s eyes. “I know that they intend to kill you. Weston has joked about it when they do their tests on me. They do not realize I can understand them.”
Merrick didn’t think it was possible for the human to get any paler than he had been, but he did. He actually swayed for a moment before a flash of anger ignited in the depths of his dark eyes. He knew the moment the human made the decision to help him. His eyes followed Crawford’s hand as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper and a pen.
“You said that there was a human that could protect Becky and me? Do you really think that? Do you think he could send us somewhere that we would be safe?” Crawford demanded in a harsh voice.
“Yes,” Merrick replied calmly.
“Who is he?”
A smile curved Merrick’s lips as he returned Crawford’s intense stare. His fingers curled around the cold, steel bars. Finally… finally, the Goddess had heard his plea and answered him.
“Cosmos Raines,” Merrick said. “You can reach him at this number.”
*.*.*
Merrick sat back a few minutes later on the bed. A sense of expectancy filled him as he watched the door quietly close behind Crawford. Pulling one leg up, he uncurled his left hand again so he could touch the intricate pattern in the center. He closed his eyes and he concentrated on the face of the female. Opening his mind, he waited for the connection born of their bond to connect him with her.
A satisfied smile curved his lips when he felt the link between them connect. He could feel the confusion, fear, and worry coursing through her. He wished that he could hold her and reassure her that she needn’t feel that way. Suddenly, her thoughts cleared and he could ‘hear’ the question resonating through her mind as if she was standing in front of him.
What the…? A clear picture of the same pattern that graced his palm formed in his mind.
The marking shows you have found your bond mate, he answered in a soft, whispered thought.
What… What is a bond mate? She hesitantly thought back.
Merrick could feel the trembling of fear in her thoughts. Frustration gnawed at him. He hated that he could not be there with her. Resentment tempered his response to her.
You are my bond mate. It means you belong to me! Tell me your name, he ordered.
He sent the demand more forcefully than he intended. A sense of regret filled him when he felt her instinctively flinch at the harsh projection of his thoughts. He had forgotten to ask Crawford for her name before he left. Now, he desperately needed it. It was almost as if he knew her name, it would give him the lifeline he needed to remain sane until Cosmos could send a team to free him.
Merrick leaned forward and clenched his fists to keep from howling in rage when nothing but silence met his demand. He tried pushing his thoughts into her head again, but it was as if she was no longer there. Pausing, he drew in a deep breath and released it. It took several minutes before he felt her tentatively reach out to him again. When he met her halfway, she hesitated, but didn’t withdraw.
Who are you? She whispered in a small voice. How can I hear you?
I am Merrick Ta’Duran, Leader of the Eastern Mountain Clan on my home world of Baade, he replied in a soothing voice. What is your name?
I’m… I’m Addie, she replied. I don’t feel so good. I’m going to sleep now.
Sleep well, Addie, Merrick murmured. “Sleep well, my beautiful, green-eyed mate,” he repeated, twisting to lie back on the bed.
Chapter 5
Cosmos Raines Industries: Houston, Texas
Rose tiredly rubbed her brow. She glanced at where Trudy was sleeping on the couch in their thirtieth floor office of Cosmos Raines Industries building in Houston, Texas. A smile tugged at her lips and she shook her head.
When Trudy slept, she slept in utter abandon. She was lying on her stomach, her face was buried in the pillow, one arm was over her head, while the other was off the couch. She didn’t know why she hadn’t pulled out the bed in the other room that was built into the wall. Cosmos had it installed after he came in and discovered Trudy passed out on the floor and her on the couch a couple of years ago. They had worked eight straight days in order to track down a serial killer.
Looking at her childhood friend, no one would know that Trudy had a gift for solving complex puzzles with just a glance. Trudy’s skills at seeing patterns, combined with her skills at reading people and identifying the smallest detail made them a dynamic team. They used to drive everyone nuts when they were younger. They were often compared to Sherlock Holmes and Watson.
“Not that we are all that old,” Rose whispered, turning back to the screen. “I just wish those bastards would stay in one spot long enough to catch them.”
“What?” Trudy mumbled, lifting her head.
“Go back to sleep. I’m just talking to myself again,” Rose called over her shoulder.
“’Kay,” Trudy replied, burying her face in the pillow again.
&nb
sp; Rose chuckled and turned back to replay the video files they had downloaded. There had to be detail they were missing. The last three times she and Trudy had pieced together where those jerks had taken the MA, her and Trudy’s nickname for the Missing Alien, they had been a day late and a dollar short. It was royally pissing her off.
Avery was going to chew their asses out if they missed getting him this next time. A shiver ran through Rose as she thought of her boss. Avery was a great boss, but she didn’t like it when things didn’t come together the way she thought they should.
Rose turned as the door to the office that she and Trudy shared suddenly opened. She fought the urge to roll her eyes when she saw who was standing in the doorway. Instead, she glanced into Trudy’s sleepy ones and saw the amusement in them.
Think of the devil and she walks in unannounced, Rose thought as she stiffly rose out of the chair in front of the bank of computers.
“Rose, I have some help for you,” Avery said, glancing at where Trudy was slowly shifting so she could sit up. “How is it going?”
“Great… Frustrating,” Rose reluctantly admitted. “I don’t know who Avilov hired, but he is one smart bastard.”
“Then, it is a good thing you’ll have some extra help,” Avery commented as she stepped to the side and nodded her head. “Runt, this is Rose…”
“Caine,” Runt muttered. “You have your Doctorate in multiple computer based programming languages and your ability to write code and understand advanced algorithms are pretty good.”
“Pretty good…,” Trudy replied, glancing at the stony expression on Rose’s face before she looked at the young girl standing in the doorway looking at the floor. “Ouch, just pretty good? That hurt, Rose.”
“And you are Amelia Thomas, aka The Runt,” Rose retorted, folding her arms across her chest and staring at the suddenly closed face. “You’ve hacked into hundreds of computer systems throughout the world making you one of the most prolific hackers under the age of sixteen. You’ve also emptied the bank accounts of more than one illegal operation, making you a liability. You were able to escape detection until you tried to hack into Raines Industries two years ago. We caught you running a concentrated loop of programming in an effort to slip through our security systems.”
“She did a wonderful job of it, too. I absolutely love her coding and she was doing such a superb job shutting down all of those awful men. I was just worried about her, which is why I sent her the invitation to come try to break into Cosmos’ company. I knew he would want her as part of the team and she would be safe under Avery’s watchful eye,” a voice suddenly said. “By the way, hello, sweetheart. How have you been doing? I’ve missed you the past few months.”
*.*.*
Runt lifted her head, a slight smile lifted the corner of her mouth at the familiar voice before it died and she looked back down at the floor. Pulling her oversized coat closer around her, she hugged her waist. She didn’t want to be here. Closed in places made her nervous, especially closed in places with people she didn’t trust… which was everyone.
She pulled her cold hands inside the sleeves of the coat. There was only one ‘person’ in the world she really trusted, and that was RITA, Cosmos Raines artificial intelligence computer program. It was weird, but RITA reminded her of her mom. A brief flash of pain swept through Runt as she remembered the beautiful woman who had loved her for being her, not because of what she could do.
“Hey, RITA,” Runt muttered.
“Would you like to come take a look at what Rose and Trudy are working on? I think you would find it fascinating,” RITA encouraged.
“No, I want to leave,” she replied in a suddenly desperate voice. "What do you guys want from me, anyway? You’ve got better hacks than me here.”
A shiver of unease ran through her when the tall, slender woman with icy eyes looked down at her with an intense, determined gaze. The woman had been searching for her, which is why RITA hadn’t ‘heard’ from her. She had been hiding and staying off the grid until a couple of days ago.
It had taken almost a dozen men to finally block all of her escape routes. She didn’t understand what this woman or Cosmos Raines would want from her. She hadn’t been just saying they had better hackers than her. Rose Caine and Trudy Wilson were some of the smartest in the world.
Deep down, Runt knew she was as good as they were. She had always been more at home in front of a computer than anywhere else. That had been obvious when she started kindergarten and had hacked into the school's network when the teacher logged her in under her account. The school psychologist, and the doctor the psychologist insisted her mom take her to, had diagnosed her as having high functioning autism. They recommended she be placed in special classes.
Runt had diagnosed the two doctors as being idiots. Fortunately, her mom pulled her from the public school to home school her. Unfortunately, her mom had stayed with her dad. Once her father realized what she could do, he had taken advantage of it. Deep down, Runt knew that the activities her dad had her doing were behind her mom's death.
Personally, it didn’t matter to her what anyone thought about her; it never had and never would. Heck, if she had her way, the world would be populated with more RITA’s. As far as she was concerned, humanity could die off and she wouldn’t give a damn. She could count the number of good ones on one hand with four fingers still free. Humans were cruel, evil beings.
Well, most of them, she reluctantly admitted as she thought of the old man that she had brought food to over the past year. He had been nice to her.
Bert lived near the warehouse where she had been living until a few months ago. She hadn’t seen him since the night her life had turned upside down. Bert had befriended her and made her feel needed. There wasn’t another person on Earth that she would give two cents to save, if she had that much in her pocket.
The sudden dark image of another figure from that night flashed through her mind and a sense of panic unexpectedly swept through her. Four months before she had been following a lead about some bad-asses from overseas when some men had taken over the warehouse where she had been living since her dad died.
The men had brought a really beautiful woman there. Runt knew immediately there was something different about the woman. The woman didn’t act scared like the other girls Runt had seen on the streets. The men had taken the woman inside the warehouse.
She had been about to sneak through a hole in the metal framing when two of the guards that had come with the other men saw her. One of them had grabbed her and thrown her down. That was when the third man came out of nowhere.
“I have to get out of here,” Runt muttered, pushing the memory away as she remembered him touching her. “I’ve got to go before he finds me.” She didn’t realize that she had spoken aloud until Avery asked her who she was talking about.
“Before who finds you?” The woman named Avery asked in a quiet, soothing voice.
“Derik ‘Tag Krell Manok. He has been searching for Amelia,” RITA replied before Runt could. “She is his bond mate.”
“Holy shit,” Rose and Trudy whispered, looking at Runt in surprise.
“Just fucking great!” Avery muttered in aggravation. “Like we need any more drama going on.”
“Who is Derik ‘Tag Krell Manok and what is a bond mate?” Runt nervously asked, glancing up at the three women staring at her in the sudden silence.
Chapter 6
Addie groaned and buried her face in the pillow as a shaft of sunlight streamed through the narrow slit in the curtains covering her bedroom window. She finally turned her head to glance at the clock on the nightstand. It was almost eight-thirty.
You are hurt? A deep voice asked.
“What the…!”
Addie jerked as the voice that she thought she had dreamed about flowed through her mind. Turning, she sat up and glanced frantically around her bedroom. Nope, it was her room. She tilted her head, focusing to see if she could miraculously hear, but there was noth
ing but the same silence.
“Who are you?” She whispered, pulling her legs up to her chest.
Merrick Ta’Duran, Leader of the Eastern Mountain Clan, he replied in a soothing voice.
Unfortunately, the soothing voice wasn’t doing its job. The goose bumps that rose along Addie’s exposed arms had nothing to do with the cooler air of her apartment. Addie swallowed as she pressed a hand to her head. Images of the man in the cage from last night flashed through her mind. She hadn’t dreamed it.
“What are you?” She asked suddenly as she remembered the man’s glowing eyes and elongated canines.
I am a Prime warrior, he responded.
“What the hell is a Prime warrior? How can you talk to me in my head? What is going on? Why do they have you in a cage?” Addie growled in annoyance born more out of fear than anger.
It is a long story, he reluctantly replied.
Then give me an abbreviated version, Addie retorted as she lowered her legs and tucked her hair behind her right ear.
She rolled her eyes at her image in the mirror on her dresser. She looked like an insane banshee this morning! Her hair was sticking up all over the place, her left cheek had wrinkles from the pillow, and she was glaring at her reflection in frustration.
I am from a distant world called Baade. I was captured several months ago during a mission. As my bond mate, I am able to communicate with you. It is the way of my people. It allows me to know if you are in danger so I can protect you, Merrick explained.
“So, you are telling me you’re an alien from another world?” Addie asked in disbelief tinged with dismay. “If you haven’t noticed, I don’t need your protection. If anything, it looks like you are the one that needs the protecting. And what the hell is a bond mate?
It means you belong to me, Merrick grunted. I will be free soon. Others will come for me. When I am, I will come for you. You must stay away from here until then. You are in danger.
Okay, let’s get a few things straight before you get out of my head, Addie thought in irritation as she pushed the covers back and swung her legs over the side of the bed. First, I am not your bond mate. Which, if you think it means what I think you are thinking it means, you can just forget it! Second, I am not the one in the cage, you are… That means, you are the one in danger, not me. I can help you. I can call the police and they can come and rescue you.