by Mary Auclair
Kamal turned back to the controls, and soon three screens popped up, in each of which, two Ilarian guards stood to attention. Two sets of guards walked down the long hallways, while another two stood outside the second door, turning bored faces to the wilderness. They had no idea their companions lay dead on the floor.
Kamal turned to the door, his talons already fully extended, deadly and ready. He would not hesitate, would not feel any guilt at the idea of cutting the lives of the guards away.
Aliena, on the other hand, had never taken a life before. It made her dizzy, the thought of pushing her ionic blade into the soft tissue of an Ilarian guard’s neck, seeing his blood flow as his life ran out. But she would do it anyway. Nothing was going to stand in her way now.
At the bend of a long unlit corridor, Kamal paused, signaling for her to wait with an open hand. Two heavy thuds signaled the doom of the Ilarian guards, and again, no alarm was sounded, no ionic detonation fired. Kamal was a purveyor of stealthy death, and as she followed him past the corpses, she didn’t look down.
Two more guards lay dead. That meant another four still alive, near the second door.
Kamal moved fast in the corridor, as silent as a cat, his boots barely making a sound on the hard floor. He moved with confidence until they reached a T intersection. Signs were hung above the hallways, but she couldn’t read them. Kamal turned to her, then motioned for her to wait there. She nodded, flattening her back against the wall as he disappeared.
Aliena’s breathing came faster, and her hand closed painfully hard around the ionic blade handle. She waited for the sounds of violence.
She didn’t have to wait long.
A heavy thud preceded the sound of drowning gargles. She shut her eyes for a second, trying to stop the images of blood and spilling life from invading her mind, then opened them again as no other sound came.
She frowned, and without even realizing she was doing so, Aliena stayed close to the wall, the ionic blade raised high in front of her. She glanced down and was surprised to see the blade still and unmoving, her hands not trembling.
She turned the corner around which Kamal had disappeared, barely glancing down at the still bleeding Ilarian guard who lay dead on the floor. The corridor was eerily silent and, more importantly, ominously deserted.
Aliena walked to the end, where the shape of the door was silhouetted in bright daylight, blinding her to whatever lay on the other side. Then came the faint sounds of a scuffle, and soon, a silence that shot arrows of fear straight to her heart.
She walked as silently as she could until she pressed her flattened palm against the metal door. Fear bustled inside her, boiling over as she finally stood in the doorway.
She stepped into the sunlight to find Kamal on his knees, two Ilarian guards behind him.
The fourth guard stood with his back turned to her, a towering creature made to wage war and spill blood. His white uniform was torn and his yellow skin bled from a nasty cut on his arm. Power was rippling down his body in radiating waves. None of them saw her, small and hidden.
“How did you find this place?” the Ilarian guard who had his back to her asked Kamal. “Your life is already forfeited. All you can do is spare yourself some pain by answering my questions faster.”
At Kamal’s stubborn scowl, the Ilarian guard raised a hand holding a long metallic wand of the kind her uncle and aunt often spoke about. One that inflicted pain on the headstrong human subjects inside the breeding facility. Her uncle Markus wore the scars of such weapons on his back and arms. Hatred grew inside Aliena’s heart, wiping away the fear.
She gripped the handle of her blade between her fingers, then lunged.
The blade entered the guard’s neck with a sickening wet sound, and blood spilled through the glorious rays of the sun.
The body fell to the ground as the two remaining Ilarian guards locked eyes on her. Surprise and confusion were clear on their faces as they looked at her, a human female, probably striking down their companion.
Those few seconds of surprise were all it took for Kamal to turn around, his talons slashing. Blood erupted as one of his hands closed on the upper thigh of the Ilarian guard directly to his left. A pain-filled scream invaded the air as the struck guard fell to the ground.
The second Ilarian guard shot his ionic gun, but Kamal had already leaped out of the way and the deadly projectile was lost in the dirt. With his next movement, Kamal jumped, bracing his weight on his right hand as he rotated his body, slashing with his left hand’s talons.
The Ilarian guard’s gun dropped to the ground along with his hand, and another howl of pain joined the remnants of the first guard’s complaints.
Kamal lost no time, he quickly grabbed the last guard by the throat, then twisted, breaking his neck in one clean, effortless movement.
Aliena watched as he let go of the body and it fell heavily to the ground. He turned to her, her glorious warrior, covered in blood, his body rippling with the tension of the fight.
She should be horrified by the sight, but she wasn’t. At the very least, she should be scared. But she wasn’t. Bloodshed wasn’t what she had been planning for, but if she was honest with herself, it was what she had been expecting all along. Freedom for what was left of humanity could not be achieved without it. And if she had to choose, then the blood that was shed would be that of her enemies.
She came to stand by him, looking up into those eyes that made the world and its horror a bearable place.
“You saved my life.” Kamal reached for her, and she didn’t shy away from the blood on his hands. He had shed it for her. “Let’s find your people now. If they’re half as courageous as you are, they deserve their place in this fight.”
She was too touched to say anything, so she just nodded. Kamal bent and placed a kiss on her lips. Then they walked back inside the building, and Kamal led them back to the control room.
After a few more minutes, the door to the room where the humans were being kept was unlocked and Aliena stood on the other side.
“Are you ready for this?” Kamal asked from behind her. “They may not have the answers you seek. Or, worse, they may have the answers you fear.”
“I know,” she said. “But I came here to save my people. I can’t turn back now.”
She steadied herself, then pushed open the door. And met the startled gazes of those behind it.
Chapter 19
The atmosphere in the control room was thick with fear and barely veiled hostility. A dozen humans were packed in the back of the room, their faces closed, their eyes deadly and full of anger. After the initial shock of being freed by a team of an Eok warrior and a human, they were determined to regain their freedom. Put their lives on the line, if need be. Aliena saw her own need, her own determination, mirrored in each of them as they stood in front of the screens.
“Are you sure about what you’re saying?” Kamal towered over the woman who appeared to be the unofficial leader of the group.
“There’s a hundred more of these buildings on Aveyn. That’s more than a thousand people.”
The woman turned her startling purple gaze to Aliena, ignoring Kamal. This one hadn’t been born to a life of slavery in the Breeding Facility, that much was clear. Too much bravado, too much defiance in her way of speaking, of taking charge of the group. Of ignoring the threat of the large warrior beside her.
Another survivor of an escape, maybe? Aliena thought.
The stranger’s beautiful face was etched with lines of tension. She had delicate features, almost too fine, like a kitten’s, with skin so pale and luminescent Aliena had never seen the likes of it before. A shock of red curls dangled on each side of her face, stopping just below her long, slender neck.
She was a beauty, but something about her wasn’t quite right.
Then Aliena understood.
The woman was a mixed-blood. A highly forbidden creature, one who would raise the outrage of the entire Ring if it was discovered that Minister Knut ha
d tampered with human genetics.
“We do not have the numbers to launch a large scale attack on Aveyn.” Kamal shook his head, joining the conversation even though the woman was ignoring him completely. “Prime Councilor Aav’s forces are barely a day behind us. They will no doubt free the humans once Knut is taken.”
“That’s if he’s taken,” the woman countered, turning on Kamal, her brows drawing together in a frustrated frown. “He could be already long gone by now for all we know. He could be taking any number of humans with him.”
Kamal straightened at the anger in the woman’s voice, but didn’t answer her. His eyes reduced to slits as he faced her, but she showed no sign of fear in front of the much bigger male.
“I need to know if this building has a shuttle, preferably a long-distance one.” Kamal pushed past the woman and began working on the control panel, ignoring her. “I left two of my crew on the mountain where my ship crashed. One of them is injured. He needs to be in a medical pod immediately.”
“I’m a doctor.” The woman came to Kamal’s side, slamming her hand on the controls in front of him. She didn’t even bat an eye when he turned an angered scowl her way. “I can help your friend. This building has every item of medical equipment I can think of.”
Kamal stared at her, all traces of anger gone from his face. He studied her face, her features, then understanding dawned on his expression.
“You are not entirely human.” He glanced at the people behind him, all stony faces and quiet hatred for anything alien. “They are, but you are not. Who are you?”
“My name is Ava.” The woman turned her surreal stare on Aliena as she pushed an entire chunk of her long hair behind a long, pointed ear. “I’m one of Minister Knut’s little experiments. A perfect pet to sell to the highest bidder.”
“And he trained you in the medical field?” Kamal couldn’t keep the incredulity from his tone. “Most slaves are barely literate.”
“A special request, from someone who didn’t like meek little lambs, I guess.” Ava shrugged her delicate shoulders. “I never got to meet him. When the humans gained temporary status in the Ring, my buyer got cold feet. Can’t be seen parading around an illegal pet when Prime Councilor Aav is breathing down your neck.”
Kamal considered this for a while, then he inclined his head. He was buying Ava’s story, and so was Aliena.
Ava turned to Aliena and extended a long-fingered hand to her, and after hesitating only a second, Aliena shook it.
“I’m Aliena. This is my mate, Kamal. He is my Bloodmate.” Aliena watched Ava’s purple eyes widen at the words, and the woman inclined her head respectfully to Kamal for the first time. “Minister Knut kidnapped the humans still in the Breeding Facility back on Earth and brought them here. He left many of them to die.”
“That is why you came.” Ava nodded. “To free the ones taken from Earth. Knut maintained a legal front for his business, but most of the humans sold were born here, on Aveyn. That way, he could bypass the Ring’s controls.”
Aliena nodded. It didn’t surprise her, but it still made her feel sick to think of the scale of Knut’s horrible trade. He truly was a monster.
“My cousin Rose spoke to the Ring, she’s the one who gained us our freedom.”
“We’re not free yet.” Ava smiled, but it was without humor. “If what you say is true and Prime Councilor Aav really comes to Aveyn and exposes Knut’s illegal sales, then he is going to be truly finished. But even a dying animal can strike. He’ll try to salvage as much of his wealth as he can, and humans are the most precious thing he has.”
“We have to save them.” Aliena spoke the words beneath Ava’s meaning, and felt their echo in the people amassed behind them. “Save them all.”
“Yes, we do.”
Ava slid her surreal purple gaze from Aliena to Kamal, then back to Aliena. Then she moved in front of Kamal, astonishingly unruffled when he growled as she pushed him aside, making her way in front of him to pound at the keys on the control panel.
“And how would a captive know that much about Aveyn?” Kamal’s face was closed off, and Aliena knew him enough to know he was cautious about trusting the woman, but not offended by her manners. “Where did you learn all that?”
“He used to want to keep me around, when I was a child, but not much after I grew up. Turns out he doesn’t like a kitten with claws.” Ava tossed her head, fanning her blazing red hair over her shoulders in a defiant motion. “He’s a blabby son of a bitch when he wants to impress a female. Guess he never thought I’d be giving away his dirty little secrets.”
The screens lit up and displayed a series of blinking spots scattered across the surface of Aveyn. Ava put a finger on one of the spots.
“This is where they’ll have the wild humans locked up. It’s his most secure location.” She shivered as if suddenly cold. “It’s right next to his personal mansion.”
The redhead turned her back on the screens and faced Kamal and Aliena. Her lips were pursed, but her eyes glittered with rage.
“There are two shuttles in this building, both short range.” Ava looked straight at Kamal, not showing an ounce of fear. “I’ll get your friends and bring them back here. If there is anything to do for the injured one, I’ll do it. But you, you have to get there, prevent him from escaping with those humans.”
“Knut will know something is up by now. You can bet more Ilarian guards are on their way as we speak.” Kamal shook his head. “All we can do is retrieve Marmack and Tailan and make a stand here if Knut attacks before Prime Councilor Aav’s forces arrive.”
“We can’t let him get away again,” Aliena said. As she spoke the words, she realized her choice was already made. She had come all this way, she wasn’t abandoning her mission. “He needs to pay for what he’s done. For what he’s still going to do if we don’t stop him.”
“It’s too dangerous.” Kamal turned to her, and all she could see in his face was cold determination. “We don’t have enough manpower, enough weapons.”
He faced Aliena dead on. She could feel his resolve blaze through her skin as he refused to attack more buildings, free more humans. All to keep her safe.
“We have enough.” Ava startled them, and they both looked at her as she folded her arms and squinted at them like naughty children. “Knut has no more than a few hundred guards on the entire planet. He never even dreamed he would get attacked. All the ones he has are to keep control of the humans, and that is exactly where we’re going to hurt him.”
When they all stayed silent, she continued.
“We need to free as many people as we can. They’ll help fight Knut. There’s a cache of weapons in each building, with ionic guns, ionic grenades. I can show you where.” She turned to the people who still stood silently at the back of the room. “How many of you will join Aliena and fight?”
A good dozen men and women took a silent step forward, their faces deadly serious.
“See?” Ava turned to Kamal. “Together, we can fight.”
Kamal glared at the woman for what seemed like the longest time, then turned to Aliena. She smiled, then put her open palm on his cheek.
“You are the best male I ever met. We can’t back away from this,” she said simply, and saw the emotion gleaming in his eyes. “This is it, for you and me.”
Kamal looked at the humans, then at Ava.
“You’re sure of this?”
“Enough to bet my life and all those I care about.”
Kamal nodded, and Aliena hardened her heart for the fight to come.
Kamal
The humans were silent on the floor of the shuttle, each holding a weapon to their chest. None of them had training, none of them knew what they were getting into. The chaos of the battle; blood and screams; bodies piling on the floor. Not just their enemies’ bodies, but their friends’… their lovers’.
Some of them would die, he had no doubt about it. Maybe all of them, if things truly took a turn for the worse.
&nb
sp; He drove the shuttle close to the ground to avoid detection for as long as possible, hugging the bend of a small stream as they approached the location Ava had given him. The human hybrid female was adamant that this was where Knut would be—and where the wild captured humans would be, as well. Kamal needed to save them, keep them alive, and find Aliena’s uncle in the process.
The presence of so many humans bred and kept illegally on Aveyn was going to be the undoing of Minister Knut. This was the one transgression Prime Councilor Aav could not allow to pass.
At his side, Aliena was uncharacteristically silent.
“This is it.”
Kamal pointed to a startlingly white construction, shining under the blazing sun, and a smaller, gray-toned building nestled in the forest behind it. As the shuttle came closer, he recognized the white construction for the mansion Ava had described. It was carved out of white stone, with arches running the length of a spacious mezzanine on the second floor, the balconies filled with flowers and comfortable furniture. A single Ilarian guard patrolled the ground in front of the massive wood and glass carved door on the first floor.
This was good. It meant no alarm had been sent to Knut from Ava’s building. They still had the element of surprise.
Kamal knew there were probably at least two more inside the house but would bet no more than four. Minister Knut was a man of refinement and would not approve of a massive security presence under his own roof. He was too arrogant to think he needed it, assuming his reputation alone was enough to deter any raids.
Now the male’s arrogance was going to be his doom.
The small gray building a few hundred feet behind the mansion had no windows, and two Ilarian guards were standing close by the only door Kamal could see. With a little luck, this building had the same security as the one he’d raided with Aliena. The dozen humans could handle four to six Ilarian guards if they took them by surprise, but not many more.