Taken by Surprise

by Anna Argent

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Talan was going to die and there wasn’t anything Zoe could do to stop it.

  She watched as he lashed out, taking down one Cytur after another. But no matter how fast he was, or how many he took down, there were always more clawing and biting at him. He was too wounded to survive. She knew futile odds when she saw them. Her father’s battle with illness had taught her that much.

  Talan was in agony, but he didn’t once stop fighting.

  That was him in a nutshell: the ultimate warrior, designed to protect and defend no matter what.

  She loved him for his bravery and willingness to sacrifice. She loved him for his kind heart and loving soul. She loved him because he remained an optimist, despite the odds and the people he’d lost to the bloodshed of war.

  She loved him and she’d never once told him. Now it was too late. Even if she screamed her confession, the noise of combat was too loud for him to hear her.

  Zoe didn’t have the guts to watch another man she loved die—not after going through the agony she endured with her father’s death. That numbing emptiness. Blinding pain. Relentless decay of hopes and dreams.

  Her cowardice made her a weaker person, but if she had been strong enough to watch him die—if she stood here long enough to bear witness to his brave end—his sacrifice would be in vain. She’d die right along with him.

  Already the enemy was coming for her—she could barely see Talan past the chaotic mix of spidery black legs and thick, hairy bodies.

  If she stood here any longer, it was going to be too late.

  The choice was impossible, but Talan had made it clear that he loved his people and wanted her to save them. How could she not honor his wishes now, when he was going to pay the ultimate price?

  Blood soaked his clothes. Pain pinched his features and bleached his skin beneath the tattoos, but there was a look of determination on his face.

  He might be dying, but he was going to take as many enemies as he could with him.

  She didn’t want to leave him. She wanted to think of some miraculous way to save him—some way to stop time so she’d have long enough to create the weapon her mother had envisioned.

  But the enemies were closing in on her, too, and if she stayed, she was going to die. And with her, all of her mother’s knowledge would be lost forever.

  Some powerful force nudged her forward, sending her headfirst into the light and taking away any chance of her staying behind to fight.

  As she was propelled to her home world, she realized that Talan’s only hope was for her to find someone stronger than her—someone who could save him—and force them to go back and do just that, no matter what it cost her.

  She couldn’t lose Talan. She loved him too much to let him die.

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Radek had nearly destroyed his bike to get here fast, but it hadn’t been fast enough.

  Talan was dead.

  Radek made quick work of finishing off the few enemies who remained. Krotian was nowhere in sight, and the Dregorgs had already abandoned the fight without someone around to force them to kill.

  Talan had killed a pile of Cyturs, but there were still a few left to mop up—all eager to kill whoever was around.

  As soon as the job was done, Radek raced to his friend, shoving dead bodies out of his way.

  Talan was pale. Still. He wasn’t breathing. His heart had stopped.

  Radek bowed his head and saw his tears turn to mist as they burned off of his hot skin.

  He couldn’t let himself grieve now. There was too much left to do. Grief was a luxury left for people not at war. It was his job to stay strong and solid until the work was done.

  Talan would have understood that better than anyone. He was a true soldier.

  Starlight from the window still glowed nearby. It hadn’t closed yet. The least Radek could do was send his friend’s body home now, while he still had the chance.

  He lifted Talan’s stiff body into his arms and carried him to the light. Every step was made with a heavy heart and feeling of loss in his gut. The worlds—both of them—were a worse place without Talan in them.

  The light rippled, spilling over Talan’s bloody body.

  Radek couldn’t go through—he had a job to do—but at least Talan would rest in peace among his own people. It was what every warrior dreamed about when they thought of death.

  He eased Talan’s body through the window, squared his shoulders, and turned his back.

  There was work left to do—bodies to destroy, people to find—and now he was the only one left to do it. Talan was gone. Warrian had returned home. He was the only one left on this planet to finish the job.

  The light flickered and died behind him.

  For the first time in Radek’s life, he was truly alone.

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Zoe was whisked away by a group of people the second her foot landed on the other side of the window.

  She screamed at them, demanding that they go back and save Talan.

  “It’s too late,” said an older woman with kind, sad eyes. “The window closed behind you. No one can go back until another opens.”

  By then it would be too late. Maybe it already was.

  The man she loved—the man who had saved her over and over—was going to die because she hadn’t been smart, strong or fast enough to save him.

  More people gathered around her, talking too fast for her to understand what they said. Their harsh, frantic words stung her ears and clogged her overloaded brain.

  Talan was dead. There was no way he could have survived so many enemies.

  As that truth sank in, Zoe became too numb to care what happened to her. She let these strangers do what they wanted as they rushed her to a living space deep in the ground.

  There was no sunlight down here. And even if there was, it wasn’t her sun. That light had left her life forever.

  Just like Talan.

  She didn’t know what she was going to do without him. She couldn’t imagine doing anything.

  A string of concerned faces appeared in front of her. She knew they were talking to her, but she just didn’t care. Nothing they said was important.

  Finally, after a while, the room emptied—only the middle-aged woman with the kind, sad eyes stayed behind.

  “You’re in shock,” said the woman. “It will pass. Until then, all your needs will be met.”

  Zoe blinked at the first words that finally made it through the haze. “The only thing I need is Talan.”

  The woman nodded in understanding. “We’ve all lost so much in this war. But there is still hope.”

  “Hope can go fuck itself. I’m tapped out. Done.”

  “It only feels that way now. Tomorrow will be different.”

  “You don’t know that. You can’t possibly know how I’ll feel.”

  “Sadly, I do. Over and over again.”

  The woman settled Zoe on a narrow bed jutting out from a stone wall. The room was small, carved out of the rock, but far too smooth to have been dug out with any tools Zoe understood.

  “I will give you some time to calm yourself. If you have any needs, a Guard will be posted just outside of your chamber.”

  Zoe didn’t care. All she could think about was Talan and how he’d died to save her.

  Her mother was gone. Her father was gone. And now Talan… it was too much.

  As the landslide of grief washed down over her, it ripped her apart, breaking her into pieces too small and fragile to ever be put back together again. As she hugged herself and sobbed for all she’d lost, her energy bled out more with each tear. When the storm finally passed, she felt hollow, scraped raw inside. There was no more joy in her anywhere. All that was left was an empty kind of sorrow that hovered close, waiting for her to feed it even the tiniest spark of energy.

  She had none left to give it. She couldn’t even lift her head. Tears soaked the pillow, but she didn’t care. Nothing mattered anymore. No h
ome, no job, no world. None of it was worth saving.

  Zoe hadn’t realized she’d slept, but she woke up and realized her exhaustion had overwhelmed her at some point.

  When she opened her eyes, the middle-aged woman was once again in her room.

  “Where am I?” Zoe asked, her voice rough and ragged from her grief.

  “This is the heart of the Builders’ settlement—a place the Raide have not yet touched. You’re safe here.”

  Her body might have been safe, but her heart was already in pieces.

  Talan.

  “He died for me,” Zoe said. Speaking the words aloud made them sink a little deeper through the numb fog of denial surrounding her.

  The other woman’s brow wrinkled with a frown of confusion. “You would predict his death before it comes? I believe that is what you would call tempting fate.”

  Now it was Zoe’s turn to be confused. “What do you mean? He’s still alive?”

  The woman nodded. “Was that not the intent of the stasis shield he wore? Was it not your design?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Perhaps it was your father’s design.”

  Zoe’s numbness was incinerated under the heat of her frustration. “What design?”

  The woman reached into her pocket and pulled out a metal tube. She unrolled it like a scroll until it was flat in her palm. Tiny, intricate pieces linked together, snapping in place. As they did, the device came alive, showing an image hovering above it.

  The picture was of the pretty little pendant she’d pinned to Talan’s vest. There was blood on it, and it was no longer attached to his vest. It was lying in a white glass dish.

  “How did you get that?”

  “The medics took it from him so they could heal his wounds. He’s unconscious, but stable. Was that not the intent of your device—to protect the wearer until he could reach medical attention?”

  The only words Zoe digested in that whole conversation were the ones about Talan being stable. “He’s not dead?”

  “No, young Builder. But it will take him many days in the regenerator for his body to heal.”

  Hope zapped her heart and started it pumping again. Talan was alive! “I need to see him.”

  “It’s impossible. We’re not allowed in that area.”

  Zoe grabbed the woman’s shirt. “Listen to me very carefully. I have in my head the plans for a weapon that could wipe the Raide from the universe. If you don’t let me see Talan right now, then that’s where those plans are going to stay. Understand?”

  The woman’s mouth pinched. “I understand that you are so distraught that you are bargaining with information that was never yours to own.”

  “The hell it wasn’t. I inherited it, and while I’m inclined to play nice, I need to know that Talan is safe or I’m never going to be able to concentrate.”

  The woman sighed and nodded. “Fine. I will make your visit possible, but only if you promise me that you will work tirelessly to give us what you know.”

  Zoe put her hand over her heart, feeling it beat strong and steady. “I swear.”

  *****

  Krotian was an expert at hiding. He tapped into that skill, evading detection of even the elite warrior who served on the Builders’ Guard.

  He’d never been in one of their encampments before, and while rage burned in his chest with the need to capture the bitch who’d nearly gotten him killed, he was smart enough to realize an opportunity when he saw one.

  The data sphere was smashed, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t learn a lot from this new opportunity.

  As easily distracted as Builders were, he would be able to hover nearby without being seen and learn every one of their secrets. And when he was done here, he wouldn’t have killed just one Builder. He would’ve killed them all. Right after he stripped their minds bare of everything they knew.

  His father Dimas was going to be pleased.

  Krotian’s tropical dream world where he would serve as its absolute ruler was closer than it had ever been before.

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Zoe did as she’d promised.

  After seeing that Talan was alive with her own eyes, she went right to work. The relief that she’d felt upon laying eyes on him was short lived. He looked so pale and weak. Almost frail, which was so not like Talan.

  Anri—the woman who’d earned her the visit—told her it would take the machines a while to heal him. By the time that happened, Zoe wanted every bit of her mother’s plans for the weapon out of her head.

  She needed to be free to go back to Earth with Talan because she knew for a fact that there was no way the people here would allow them to be together. And there was no way she could live without him.

  Days and nights passed in a blur. While she was amazed at how easily she picked up the complexities of Imonite tech, there always seemed to be more to learn. And for every piece of the weapon she managed to translate onto paper so others could understand it, there were two more facets of the plan that came to light.

  Getting the weapon plans out of her head was going to take weeks. Building it was likely a months-long endeavor. And from what she’d heard, these people didn’t have that long.

  The Raide were at their doorstep, battering their way closer every day. Once they reached the brains of the operation—game over.

  Zoe couldn’t let that happen. Her mother and father both would have wanted her to save these people—ones who were swiftly starting to feel like her own.

  Whenever she could steal away for a few minutes, she snuck in to see Talan. The medical staff had given up trying to stop her, and instead had opted for helping her make sure she didn’t track germs into their facility.

  He was locked inside a metal tube with only a small window over his face. She couldn’t touch him, couldn’t kiss him. But they assured her that he could hear her, so she spent what little free time she had telling him about her progress and how he needed to get better so he could hold her again.

  She was worn down with exhaustion, but he was still alive and she was going to find a way to stop this war so no one else had to die.

  Especially him.

  Even as tired as she was, she was powered by a frenetic kind of energy she’d never felt before. Her body was weary, but her mind burned bright and clean, giving her the ability to accomplish more than she ever had before in her life.

  All she could think was that she wished she could share her excitement with Talan.

  Days later, she went back to his room only to find the machine empty.

  A stifling sense of panic stole over her, robbing her of breath.

  She raced from the room to find Talan and ran right into him. The men steadying him held him on his feet against her impact.

  She looked up at him, shocked mute to see him walking around when she knew just how bad his injuries had been.

  Her hand settled over his heart, feeling it beat beneath his bare skin.

  He was alive. Walking. Whole.

  She threw her arms around his waist and held on tight.

  “We need to get him back to his room,” one man said.

  Talan growled and jerked his arms away from the men so he could hug her back. “I’ve got everything I need right here.”

  He felt so damn good in her arms. And the feel of him holding her… pure heaven.

  She now knew, without a doubt, that she couldn’t live without this man—not if she was to have any hope of retaining her sanity.

  “You can’t ever do that to me again,” she told him.

  He stroked her hair and back. “Everything is fine, Zoe. You don’t have to worry about a thing.”

  One of the men said, “You need to lie down, Talan. It’s too soon to be exerting yourself.”

  The last thing Zoe wanted was for him to have a setback, so she shoved herself under one of his shoulders and looked at the orderly—or whatever he was called. “Lead the way.”

  Talan’s movements we
re slow and stiff. His usual strength was gone, but she was sure he would build it back up again.

  Hell, just walking around on this planet, with its higher gravitational pull, was enough to give her a good workout. It had taken her days to get used to it, and even now, steps were still a bitch.

  She looked at both of the men and straightened her spine. “Please leave.”

  “We’re not done with his exercises.”

  “I don’t care,” she said. “You can have him when I’m done with him.”

  The older of the two men gave her a stern frown. “Do not… excite him. He’s not strong enough for that yet.”

  As the meaning of his words hit her, she felt her cheeks burn with a blush. “Understood. Now get out.”

  When she turned back to Talan, he was grinning. He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her onto the bed with him. “I like you a little bossy.”

  Heavens, it felt good to be in his arms. If she had any questions about her love for him before, she would have known for sure she loved him now. She felt like she’d finally come home.

  With Talan was where she belonged—wherever that was.

  She lifted her head to look at him. “How in the world did you survive?”

  “That pin you put on me—turns out that even though we didn’t know what it did, it knew.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I touched it and it knew I was in bad shape. It sucked enough power from me to activate and put me into instant stasis. Kind of like being instantly frozen, but without the cell degradation.”

  “I don’t even know how that concept works, much less how to turn it into a gadget.”

  He tapped her head. “Guess it’s in your noggin somewhere. Good thing too.”

  The whole night of the attack came back to her in a heartbeat, flooding her with fear and grief and pain. It had happened several times since she’d been here, but with Talan’s arms around her, the panic faded almost as fast as it came.

  “Promise me you won’t go back,” she demanded.