“Well?” she demanded.
“A misunderstanding,” Faltz said.
“Is that so?” she inquired, narrowing her eyes at Eloio, who nodded.
“I am telling you that male should not have any female in his care,” Calth snarled.
“You are hardly one to speak of such things,” Mahini rebutted sharply, and Faltz watched curiously as he appeared to pale and wilt where he had attempted to insert himself at her side. Her mate scowled as he edged the male away, his own tail whipping in a small warning, but one that he would have been foolish to not heed.
Bowing hastily, Calth pushed his son ahead of him as they left, the youth’s sneering still audible despite the distance. Every insult against Faltz for being too weak to keep a mate and unable to protect a female like he should struck as a barb into his soul.
“Don’t listen to them,” Miram whispered. “Those who love you know damn well that you deserve your mate.”
“Indeed,” the queen stated. “I know from personal experience that Calth is the last male to advise in anything when it comes to the welfare of a female. He should feel fortunate that he still has any position in this clan, even if a demoted one. Now tell me all that has happened. All the clan is gossiping and this fight, I am afraid, is just going to add more sticks to the fire until she is found.”
The history between Mahini and Calth was such a well-guarded secret that it roused Faltz’s curiosity, but he crushed it. Now was not the time. As the queen listened, Faltz, with the aid of Miram and Tabby—who had until then been watching in silence—informed her of all that had happened, to the best of their knowledge. At long last, the queen nodded, her expression grave.
“It is rare for a Mintar to go against custom and steal away a female from the clan lands, but it is not unheard of. We will organize search parties at once. It is unlikely to be a human, so whoever the culprit is would not have stashed her away far. Unfortunately, our territory is vast. Fear not—we will find her.”
Faltz inclined his head in gratitude. He only hoped that it would be before she fell to any kind of harm. If anyone hurt his danmi, he would kill that male.
Chapter 26
Beni woke with a full-body jerk as she attempted to lurch up from the thin pad on the floor that served as a meager bed. Her limbs were still weak, and she fell forward, landing hard on her hands and knees on the pad. The bedding was dirty and thin with age. Moving slowly, she felt the hard leather bindings that shackled her wrists together tug on the length of rope anchored high on the wall.
She was being held prisoner! But by who? And where? Captive damsels were fine in fiction, but not when she was the one captured! Swallowing the sickness that crept up from her belly, Beni pushed to her feet—much slower this time—and looked around.
Hard rock walls surrounded her at all sides with a long, dark tunnel leading off from the opposite wall facing her. Despite the rough-hewn rock and shabby furnishings, the small cavern resembled any other residential dome among the Mintars. In the center of the room, a low fire burned in a stone pit, with kindling in arm’s reach. The smoke didn’t gather in the room, nor did it pull out toward the tunnel. Instead, it seemed to dissipate as it hit the ceiling. Tilting her head back, she frowned at the slanted rock making up the ceiling. If she strained to listen, she could hear a familiar sound.
Once, when she was a child, a bat had made itself at home in their attic. She had heard it for nights before the poor creature was hunted out and released outdoors. Although she had been sympathetic to the fate of the poor creature, the sounds of the bat had stuck with her and still unnerved her to this day. Many times larger and more aggressive than the animal had appeared to be in old books, the animals terrified her then and still scared her now. She heard it now—the rattle of bats through the walls and in hollow spaces in the rock above her, and all she could think of was the giant bat, with a body larger than her head and a terrifyingly huge wingspan, when it had dropped down on her.
Beni looked away and attempted to calm her breathing and ignore the sound. At least she knew how the smoke was getting out. It was trickling out of the natural vents in the rock. She had to be somewhere along the narrow twists of the huge canyon.
Fuck. That was a lot of ground to cover.
The light flickered, so she grabbed a couple knotted twists of dry grass and tossed them into the fire. She refused to let that fire die down. At least the asshole that kidnapped her had thought ahead enough not to leave her in complete isolation and darkness. Heat and light in the cool, dark cavern was a sad thing to be grateful for, but she was. That he left her a means for keeping the fire going comforted her, but it was also alarming. It meant that he wasn’t returning very soon. She had no idea how long she would be alone.
Shaking her head, she tugged on her bindings and screamed, her voice echoing before dying away completely. “Hello? Can anyone hear me?”
The shuffle of bats broke loose in a loud, echoing clatter of flapping wings as they were roused from their roost.
“Please, someone, help me. Help!”
Beni continued to beg and scream until her throat was hoarse, and even then, she only fell silent for a time to sleep fitfully before she woke and started at it again. She didn’t know how long she was alone there in the cavern by the time she had burned through a large armful of the grass knots. She sat by one wall, leaning back against the cool surface. Being a captive was definitely not romantic. Hours of anxiety bled into each other. She trembled as she sat there, willing herself to be distracted by anything.
Huddled there at the end of her tether, her mind latched onto thoughts of Faltz. What was he doing? He must have noticed her absence by now. Was he worried about her? On one hand, she hated that he would worry… On the other hand, he better damn well be worried. Worried and searching all over the canyon for her.
Shivering from a cold draft, she pulled a worn blanket from the nearby bed and wrapped it around herself. He really needed to find her soon and get her the hell out of there.
Beni allowed her head to roll to the side and caught side of a dark pack and what appeared to be a large waterskin. Was that really what she thought it was, or was her mind playing tricks on her? Jerking around, she scrambled over to the pack, her stomach twisting with gnawing hunger. She ran her fingers over it in disbelief.
It was!
Beni unlaced the small bag with shaky fingers and nearly wept upon discovering that it contained food. The thought that it might be drugged occurred to her, but she dismissed it. She was already at the mercy of her kidnapper. Whoever he was, he didn’t require anything else. Although drugging her was probably the only thing that would keep her silent—but he wouldn’t know that.
She stuffed some bread in her mouth, taking care to chew it slowly so that she didn’t end up choking on it. That would be an awful way to top off a horrible day. At least her death would thwart anything planned for her—after all, if her captor wanted her dead, choking on bread would have been the least of her problems. But she refused to give in to her fear for what might happen. She was going to get out of there and make the asshole pay one way or the other. Setting Faltz on them would be a good start.
She doubted he would go as easy on the asshole as he did in honorable combat against Eloio—and he hadn’t been gentle there.
At the thought, she felt some of her anxiety wane and a grim smile stretched over her face. She wanted to be present to witness whatever her mate did to the asshole. She had no doubt that it was going to make what he did to Eloio look like a series of love taps.
Beni entertained herself with the thought for some time, eating sparing bites of food. Eventually, she slept. She didn’t know how long. She was woken by the echo of bats bursting out of the cavern. Her fingers twisted in the blanket as she huddled down into the mat until the sound abated.
She didn’t realize that she had fallen asleep again until she woke in near darkness. In a panic, Beni flew up to a seated position, kicking the blankets off in the
process. Her eyes squinted in the dark, seeking out the fire pit. She was only able to find it due to the embers that provided the only faint light in the room.
Jumping to her feet, she rushed to grab several twists of dried grass and threw them into the pit. Tension coiled through her until a loud crackling filled the air, and the light gradually increased as the flames grew. Backing against the wall, she sank down to the floor, staring once again at the mouth of the tunnel. Digging out more food, she ate it slowly, her attention seldom straying from that dark pit. Sooner or later, someone would come.
Time dragged on as she sat there with nothing to occupy herself outside of her thoughts and the darkness that took up a large portion of the wall facing her. She didn’t know exactly how long she sat there, staring at the tunnel, before an echo had her sitting up and straining against her leather bonds. Her heart leaped with the impossible hope that it was Faltz coming to her rescue, but it withered as she noted the leisurely pace in the beat of the steady footfalls approaching.
She looked around helplessly, wishing for something to defend herself with and coming up empty. There was nothing even remotely hard or sharp anywhere near. Not even a rock had been left anywhere within reach. She settled instead for glaring at the entrance so that her abductor would know the full force of her disdain and disgust. It wasn’t much of a weapon, but at the moment, her attitude was all she had. Loathing filled her as she watched the shadow stretch along the firelit opening of the tunnel.
Her brow furrowed in confusion at the form of the shadow, but it all became clear as he swept into the cavern. Her mouth dropped open in bewilderment.
“Seriously? You?”
Isnah smirked at her, more a sneer than anything that resembled a smile. Only two-thirds the size of Faltz, the young male seemed a child in comparison, despite being considered a first-season adult among his species. He was her kidnapper? Beni shook her head in disbelief. He was obviously a spoiled, demanding male, but never would she have guessed that he would assault her. Calth was the far more likely a culprit in her mind. But Isnah?
“Surprised?” he asked, his pale red eyes narrowed on her in amusement, in an eerie echo of her thoughts.
Creepy kid.
Pushing aside her nerves, she glared at him. “Maybe a little. I didn’t think a sniveling, spoiled coward who had his daddy do everything for him would have bothered to lift a finger for himself and actually do the work to abduct me. Or did Daddy do this for you as well?”
A flush ran through his cheeks, his lips pinched together in an unattractive pout.
She curled her lip at him. “I bet that’s it. You whined and cried like a calf to your daddy until he stole me to shut you up. What’s wrong? Afraid you won’t attract a female on your own? I mean, I can understand that… You have a less than stellar personality. It must be really hard to compete even with other males of your own age…”
Letting out a loud bellow, he rushed her, surprising her enough that she lost her balance and fell backward, her ass hitting the ground hard. He drew to a stop, hovering above her, his rattling growl loud enough that she was certain she felt it vibrate through the floor. Wincing, Beni rubbed at her ass, but even with him standing over her, his sides heaving with anger, he did not cow her. She didn’t survive the rounds in The Club by letting aggressive men manhandle her. They could smell weakness. Isnah was a bully who had startled her—nothing more.
She met his eye unflinchingly as he bent down, his hard, cold gaze focusing on her. His words were hissed low, just loud enough that every word was perfectly audible and filled with malice.
“That was just a warning, Beni. You will learn that you are mine! You will learn to be silent and respectful in my presence, female.” A hand reached down to trace the line of her jaw. Jutting out her chin in rebellion, she jerked away with a hard look. He chuckled, not the least bit dismayed. “You are spirited and strong. I will sire many strong calves on you. The sort of life you enjoy in the meantime all depends on you. If you are smart, you will discover that I can be kind to a good mate.”
“You’re mad,” she hissed. “I’m already mated—to Faltz, as you know. Keep me in this prison for the rest of my life if you can, but I will never mate you. You will have to kill me to get to mate me… And just so you know, there are pretty ugly words for people who do that.”
He straightened, his expression souring into an angry scowl. His eyelids dropped half-mast as he stared down at her, his eyes cold and calculating.
“I see that you need more time, and perhaps less food, to make you rethink your position. I hope you did not eat too much from the pack. That will be all you will have for the next few days. Perhaps hunger will sweeten your temperament. You will become accustomed to this arrangement sooner or later. Sooner will be better for you. I can assure you that your beloved mate will never find you here. This is your home now, Beni. Our home. I hope you are comfortable here, because you will never be leaving.”
Beni kept her worry locked down tight, not allowing a trace of it to show as she faced off with him. Although she returned his stare, her stomach twisted. What if he was right and she never escaped him? What if Faltz gave up searching for her and replaced her with another mate? Her lower lip threatened to tremble, but she pressed her lips firmly together so as not to betray her thoughts. Isnah surely had to realize, somewhere deep inside, that this wasn’t rational. There had to be a small chance of getting him to listen to reason.
“You are risking a lot to have a captive mate. To bind yourself to a female who will never want you and will fight you every step of the way. Why?”
Isnah’s expression shut down and he refused to answer. Instead, a deep voice from the entrance of the tunnel broke through the silence stretching out between them.
“Because the foolish male had disregarded my warnings,” Calth answered, his voice rumbling with disgust as he stepped out of the tunnel and glared at his son.
“I listened to everything,” Isnah snarled. “You had it planned, and I orchestrated it perfectly. You desired the queen under your guard, knew the male she wished to mate was unworthy of her, and you stole her. You brought her to this cave and we never left her side. We were to be a family! Yet when she refused to submit after a number of days, I watched you buckle and return her on her oath that you would not be exiled so that you could care for me. Ever since then, you have been nothing but a weak male. You should have kept her, killed your rival, and refused her freedom at every turn. You would have secured our future. Instead, you have nothing. I refuse to make the same mistake. Fortunately, I am strong enough to do what it takes to acquire my female!”
“Silence! It is only because of my fondness for you and my own erroneous example in your youth that I did not report you directly to the queen. You should never have been a part of that. What you failed to learn from my example all those annums ago was that I was wrong. There are legal ways to go about courting a mated female, but we exhausted them. That is where it ended. This is a disgrace. Because you are my offspring, you should have known better.”
Turning from his enraged son, Calth approached, his eyes downcast as he pulled a knife from his belt. “I will free you, Beni, and return you to your Faltz. It is over.”
He stretched a hand toward the leather cord fastened to her bound wrists, and his eyes went wide as the tip of a blade pushed out from his throat. It cut to the side, partially decapitating the male, and hot blood spurted out over Beni, showering her face and shoulders. Calth’s body slumped and fell forward to the ground, revealing Isnah, covered with blood, smirking as he watched the life drain away from his sire.
“No, sire. The only thing finished here is you.”
A shrill scream filled the room, and it took her several minutes for the sound to penetrate her shock enough for Beni to realize that the terrible sound was coming from her. Raising shaking hands, she frantically wiped at the blood on her face as she scrambled back from the male. His eyes landed on her dispassionately.
&n
bsp; Walking past her, he ripped the blanket off her and lay it on the floor. His expression didn’t flicker with even a hint of remorse as he dragged his father’s body onto the blanket. He worked silently, bundling the corpse up tightly before dragging it through the tunnel.
Her breath caught in a sob the moment he disappeared from sight, horror quaking through her. Isnah had killed his own father and dragged him out as if he were nothing more than something unpleasant to dispose of. She couldn’t stay here with him! Though her voice was hoarse from hours of shouting, she screamed as loud as her raw vocal cords allowed.
“Faltz!”
She screamed his name until her voice was ragged and she lay sprawled on the floor at the limit of her tether. She didn’t move from the spot, uncaring as she heard Isnah return. Finally, his shadow fell over her, and he made a sound of disgust in his throat. Only then did she look up at him and note that he had taken the opportunity to clean himself somewhere while he was gone. His nose wrinkled as he looked her over.
“We need to get you clean. Do not worry, sweet mate. We have all the time in the world for me to attend to you. I have announced that I was going to go out to snare hunt for a few days. No one was sorry to see me go, which works to our benefit because none of them will expect to look for me. We will have several days of blessed solitude to become acquainted.”
His lips twisted into a pleased smile as he reached for a cloth and poured water into a kettle to heat. Turning her face away from him, she refused to look at him. Not even when the warm cloth slowly cleaned the blood away and her clothes were pulled off and exchanged for a plain robe.
He was nothing to her. Nothing.
Chapter 27
Faltz stared vacantly at the winding canyon. It stretched on for days and had many caverns and side routes that cut farther in the rock. He had spent the last few days traveling through the Blood Plains, searching among any possible hiding place he could conceive of, but every time he came up empty.
Librarian and the Beast: A Mintar Romance Page 17