by Mary Auclair
Knut stiffened, then his eyes locked with Wyol’s before coming back to her.
“What are you talking about?” His voice was calm and neutral, but she could feel each nervous spasm in his muscles as the meaning of her revelation made its way into his mind. “When?”
Aliena let the question hang in the air, knowing that this was the key, the key to everything.
“Tell your men to drop their weapons.” Her voice was surprisingly even, like she wasn’t just about to implode under her own terror. “All of them.”
“Do it,” Knut said through clenched teeth. “Drop your weapons.”
“But if she escapes—” Wyol started.
“Do what the cunt says,” Knut cut him off. “Drop your weapons. If Aav comes to Aveyn and finds out I have humans here, that I’m breeding them and selling them without the knowledge of the Ring, I’m as good as dead. We’re as good as dead.”
Silence fell in the room, but soon, the sound of metal clanking on rock broke it. The first to obey were the Ilarian guards, who dropped their ionic guns at the same time, like robots. Then, Wyol followed, his face twisted in anger and resentment.
“Good.” Aliena nodded. “Untie him.”
With a nod from Knut, one of the Ilarian guards bent and cut the ties that secured Kamal’s wrists together behind his back. The restraint snapped to the floor, and Kamal brought his wrists in front of him. Slowly, he got to his feet, then turned to face the Ilarian guards. His face was a landscape of savage impulses, his eyes blazing with bloodlust, but he kept still, his talons extending like macabre scythes the only indication that he was preparing for violence.
“The others stopped fighting.” Kamal turned his face to her. “I can’t tell if they won, but I’m not hearing any more gunshots.”
Aliena stiffened, concentrating on her hearing, and realized Kamal was right. His superior hearing must have kept him informed of the fight in the gray building, when she had pushed it to the very back of her mind. But this was important. This was the whole point—except, somewhere along the way, Kamal had become the one she cared most about.
“They’re either dead or will soon wish they were,” Knut said. “No human can fight off my Ilarian guards.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure of that,” Kamal answered. “They had weapons, taken from your own stash. They knew exactly where your guards would be, and where the other prisoners are.”
“And how would they know that?” Knut pursed his lips, obviously not threatened by Kamal’s assessment. “Even if you managed to free the humans from one of my buildings, they’d never have that kind of information.”
“Ava.” Kamal simply said her name. “She helped us, told us everything we needed to know.”
Minister Knut’s face became slack at the mention of the human hybrid. “That little bitch is going to die.”
“Not if we have anything to do with it.” Aliena pulled on Knut’s hair, forcing his head back. “Now shut up.”
Aliena locked eyes with Kamal as he straightened, the guards’ ionic guns in his hands, and Wyol’s already in the belt of his pants. Without speaking, he gestured to the Ilarian guards to move and stand in the corner.
“You too.” Kamal gestured to Wyol using the gun. “Stand with your new friends over there. See if they care whether you live or die in the end.”
Wyol glared at Kamal but obeyed silently.
“Now you, get on your knees in front of the others.” Kamal looked back at Knut. “Make one wrong move and it will be the last thing you’ll ever do. It won’t matter how much you’re worth when I splatter your brain over this fancy polished floor.”
Aliena locked eyes with Kamal, understanding the unspoken demand, then removed her hand—and the blade—from Knut’s throat. The male Avonie quickly stepped away from her, shaking his shoulders as if to dislodge some unseen pests. He turned his hateful, perverted gaze to her, then turned to Kamal.
Knut walked to the corner where the others waited then knelt down, his face set in stony lines. “You’ll regret this. You and those filthy, undeserving creatures—all of you.”
There was a promise in those words, a world of reprisal, of merciless retribution. Aliena’s mind filled with dread, with the premonition of something dark and deadly. After feeling her heart flutter out of control for a few seconds, she forced herself to look away.
“What now?” she asked Kamal.
“Now, we survive until Prime Councilor Aav arrives.”
Aliena held Kamal’s gaze. Everything she needed was contained in those eyes, in that man who’d put his life on the line not only for her, but for the people she loved.
Then she slid her gaze to Minister Knut. The cold of his stare penetrated her bones, her spine, her very core. He wasn’t just her enemy. He was the enemy of all humanity. After a few more seconds, she looked away from him. He wasn’t what mattered; never had been.
“We need to get word to the others. Then we’ll bring everyone back to Ava.”
Kamal nodded.
Then the sounds of human shouts and running footsteps thundered in the silence of the mansion.
Chapter 22
Men shouted, human voices filling the air. The sound of anger, things being thrown against the wall, broken under the flood of unleashed fury and revenge.
“Up there! He’s up there!” an angry male voice shouted, then a thunder of footsteps could be heard running up the steps. “In the back!”
Aliena turned to see four young men step through the doorway, ionic guns at the ready, dark, dangerous eyes latching on to the aliens kneeling in the corner. Then on the largest, most dangerous one of them all.
One young man took a single step into the room, and his ionic gun locked on Kamal. Aliena could see his intent in his eyes, that deadly glint of murderous rage preceding the irreparable act.
“No!” Aliena shouted, throwing herself between Kamal and the weapon.
Behind her, Kamal growled, and she felt him there before he even had a chance to move.
“Stay there.”
She stood there, between Kamal and the angry young man, her arms spread wide, her fingers open in a desperately appeasing gesture. Or a suicidal impulse, depending on the outcome.
“Move away,” the young man said, looking at her for the first time. “We don’t want to kill humans. Only alien filth.”
“He’s here to help,” Aliena answered, not moving away from the path of the weapon. “We caught Knut and his guards. They’re the ones we need to punish.”
“The only good alien is a dead alien.” The young man pursed his lips, then shook his head slowly from side to side. “After all they’ve done to us, if you defend them, you’re as bad as them.”
Silence fell between Aliena and the others. One by one, the other young men nodded their agreement. They were here for revenge against everything that wasn’t human. They would murder her in a heartbeat just to get to Kamal.
She still couldn’t move.
“No.” She lifted her head higher. “I’m not letting you kill him.”
“Suit yourself.” The young man brought the gun higher, aiming straight at her.
Aliena’s eyes latched on to the gun. Her vision thinned strangely, until all she could see with precision was the round barrel of the gun. She could feel the remaining seconds of her life slipping away.
“Last chance to choose your side.” The young man’s eyes changed, growing cold and distant. “If you’re with him, you’re against us.”
When Aliena remained still, the air filled with tension. From the corner of her eye, she saw Kamal move. The young man’s eyes darted to him, then back to her.
She closed her eyes, waiting for the sound of the detonation to end her life.
“Drop that weapon, Mikey.” A familiar deep voice came from the hallway.
Aliena’s eyes shot open and she stared as the other young men moved, allowing a tall, slim, gray-haired man through.
She stared, wide-eyed and speechless. Her arms
fell limply to her sides, and she stood there, unsure if she should believe her own eyes, as the man pointed his own ionic gun at the young man named Mikey.
“Uncle Markus.” She took a step forward, but Kamal’s hand on her arm stopped her. “You’re alive. You’re really alive.”
“I am,” Markus answered without looking at her. “But Mikey isn’t going to be for long if he doesn’t take his gun off my niece.”
“My sisters, my mother…” The barrel of Mikey’s gun began to shake, then he finally lowered his weapon. “All gone because of those monsters. They have to pay. All of them.”
“I know, son.” Markus came to stand at Mikey’s side and, to Aliena’s shock and horror, her uncle’s gun lifted to point just at her side, at Kamal. “Step away, now, Aliena.”
Aliena stood frozen for an instant, then anger flashed inside her, making her forget the threat of the weapon.
“Are you kidding me?” She took a step forward, then another, until the barrel of the gun was an inch from her face. “Kamal came across the entire Ring to save you, to save all of you. He risked his life—his friends’ lives—for yours, for people he didn’t even know, and this is what he gets for it? Maybe Knut has it right. Maybe humanity doesn’t deserve freedom.”
Markus frowned, then his eyes trailed to the Eok warrior right behind her.
“I can’t take that chance, honey. I’m sorry. Nothing will happen to your friend if what you say is true, but for now, the Eok is going to have to be put on lockdown.” Markus jerked his chin and one of the young men stepped forward. “At least until I figure things out.”
“Not a chance,” Aliena snapped. “Kamal is not my friend. He is my mate, my husband. And if you want to put him on lockdown, then you’re going to have to put me with him.”
Markus stared at Aliena for long seconds and more people began to pour into the house, into the room. A young woman Aliena recognized from Ava’s building pushed through the crowd, whispered something into Markus’s ear. He listened, carefully, then his expression changed.
He lifted the gun away.
“Take Knut and the Ilarian guards. Put them in the isolation cells.” Markus turned his head toward the men behind him. “My niece and I have to talk.”
“What about the Eok?” Mikey asked.
“My niece’s husband stays with us. We have a lot to catch up on.”
The men stormed forward and soon, Knut, the Ilarian guards, and Wyol were dragged away. Aliena found herself alone with her uncle, Kamal’s forbidding presence at her back.
Markus looked at her, his eyes filling with moisture, then he opened his arms.
She found herself in his embrace before realizing she had moved. As soon as her face was nestled in her uncle’s shoulder, a flood of emotions drowned everything else. This was the man who had taken in an orphaned girl, had raised her like his own even in the face of the worst trial humanity had ever faced. Alone in the wilderness, under the constant threat of Minister Knut and his guards, famished and afraid, Markus had led the small human rebel group all the way through the first winter. Under Markus’s leadership, they had survived—more, they had thrived. Houses were built, children were born. They became confident, healed the horrors of the Breeding Facility, and grew into the community Aliena had known.
Markus was her father in every way that counted. She didn’t only owe him her life, she owed him the woman she had become.
“I found you,” she whispered against her uncle’s neck. “I was so scared.”
“I was scared, too.”
Markus patted her hair, his large hand covering almost her entire head. The gesture was so familiar, so full of memories that Aliena felt tears rise in her eyes. But Markus didn’t give her time to get lost in her relief, in the giddiness and joy that threatened to choke her.
“We’re not safe yet.” He pulled her back and smiled at her. “Why don’t you introduce your, um… mate, is that it?”
“Kamal, my bloodmate.” Aliena turned to the silent Eok warrior and took his hand. “This is my uncle, Markus.”
Kamal locked gazes with Markus, and both males studied each other. Kamal brought his fist over his heart then bowed, his back straight, his eyes still locked on the human’s.
“It is an honor to meet you.” Kamal’s voice had a solemn tone she had never heard before, and his face was set in serious lines.
“Nice to meet you, too.” Markus extended an open hand to Kamal, who looked at it for a few dizzying seconds before clasping it in his own. “My men tell me you’re the one who’s responsible for our freedom. I thank you for that.”
“Aliena was as much a part of this rescue as I am,” Kamal answered, looking at her with those eyes that could scorch the world. “And your daughter, too. Rose is the one who gained status in the Ring for the humans. You should be proud.”
Markus’s face lost all expression at Kamal’s words. His stricken gaze went to Aliena, then back to Kamal. “Looks like there’s a lot we need to catch up on,” he finally said.
Chapter 23
Aliena
She must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. Now, she was lost in the maze of window-less hallways. Hours had passed since Knut was put in holding, and she was looking for the control room of the gray building, where she knew Kamal and Markus were discussing the landing of Prime councilor Aav’s forces.
That’s just peachy, she thought as she took another turn, then stared at a dead end.
Aliena exhaled forcefully, controlling her impulse to kick the wall. The only outcome it would bring would be a sore foot, and more frustration.
“Why didn’t I just wait for Kamal?” she asked aloud as she faced the polished metal alloy walls.
He had told her to stay in Knut’s mansion with the women and children, to help count them and assess their needs as more were flown in from other holding facilities. But so many of them were coming in, and so little food had been found that she had needed to go back in and ask Ava for more resources. The woman was surprisingly full of information about Knut’s resources.
Then Aliena squinted. Was that the outline of a door she could see? She approached, then saw she was right. She must have walked all the way to the back door of the building, the only other exit apart from the front entrance. She braced her hands against it. It was warm from the afternoon sun hitting it.
I can always walk back around the building.
Easier to walk around the damn building than try to make her way through it. Plus, with all that had happened, she needed to be outside for a while. She pushed the door, unsurprised to find it unlocked. People had been running all around the building, both during and after the attack. Plus, locking doors probably didn’t rank among the top priorities for escaped human slaves.
Aliena pushed the door open, and the blinding light of a gorgeous day inundated her face. She closed her eyes, allowing the sun to warm her skin, to chase away the oppressive cold of the building.
Then one hand closed around her mouth as another closed around her throat.
“Do not make a sound, human female Aliena.” Sheegar’s metallic voice rang close to her ear. “I will break your neck if you do.”
“Sheegar.” Aliena’s mind ran wild. “How did you get here?”
“I escaped, I hid, I waited.” He pulled her along the wall, away from the door. “Now, I have found what I was looking for.”
As Aliena looked around, she saw a stony faced Ilarian guard clutching an ionic gun, waiting. And, in front of the guard, a tiny girl of about four or five. Her large gray eyes were filled with fear as she stood silently, the guard’s other hand clamped over her frail shoulder, swallowing it completely. She was so small, so silent in her synthetic cotton uniform, Aliena couldn’t look away from her.
It was like looking into a mirror through time, to the days when she’d been that frightened child, escaping with a group of brave people through an unforgiving winter. Aliena wanted nothing more than to erase that look of pure, sheer terror on the
child’s face and replace it with smiles and giggles.
“That one is not useful to us,” the Ilarian guard said, lifting his chin in Aliena’s direction. “I say we get rid of it. We already have one human female to barter with.”
“This one is different.” Sheegar pulled Aliena away to one side, close to the wall. “She’s Captain Kamal’s bloodmate. She can help us.”
The guard stared at her with a new interest. The cold eyes squinted, assessing her value, deciding whether she was worth keeping to serve whatever scheme they had in mind to stay alive. Finally, he looked back at Sheegar.
“If she’s the Eok’s bloodmate, we can use her as leverage. We’ll send one hand first, as a message.”
Sheegar stayed silent at her back as Aliena felt the growing push of horror and panic rise inside her.
“Are you crazy? You can’t do that!” She struggled against Sheegar’s hold, but it was no use. “I’ll fucking kill you if you dare put your hands on me.”
Aliena twisted and kicked, then tried to bite down into Sheegar’s arm at the side of her head.
“Stop this, or the young female dies.” The Ilarian guard’s voice was even and calm, like he hadn’t just threatened to murder a child. “I’ll blow her brains out.”
The little girl whimpered, then soft, desperate sobs filled the air. Aliena stopped struggling instantly and stared at those large eyes, those trembling lips. A terrible dread filled her mind. She couldn’t allow that child to suffer for her.
“Okay, I’m behaving.” She stiffened, and Sheegar’s hold on her lessened. Slowly, she turned and stared into Sheegar’s all black gaze. “What do you want from me?”
“We can’t escape Aveyn before Prime Councilor Aav arrives, and then we’ll be as good as dead.” Sheegar pulled one step away from her. “But Knut has some backup plan, some way to skip the planet fast if trouble ever found its way here. We want you to get Knut out for us.”