by Lynnea Lee
Yris launched himself at Kean over the desk, the gleam of a dagger in his hand. Kean dodged it just in time. Zharor tackled the traitorous male, and the blade clattered to the ground.
Sarah was fully awake now and standing with her package of clothing in one arm and his PPC in the other.
“Lock our guest up and organize our guards. I will bring my mate to the safe room and come to meet you after.”
He took the PPC from her arms and placed it on the desk. Holding her by the hand, Kean led Sarah to his personal library. She struggled to keep up behind him, and Kean picked her up and carried her the rest of the way. This would be her second time waiting for him in his safe room. He was not doing a good job showing her that his compound was secure.
“What’s happening? That man tried to kill you.” Her voice shook as she spoke, though Kean could tell she was trying to stay calm.
“I suspected him of working with someone in the compound to let the Dominion troops in. I am sure of it now. I will make him talk. There are traitors among us.” He ushered her into his library. “Don’t let anyone in even if you recognize them from around the compound. Anyone who needs to get into the safe room will have access; they won't need you to open the door. Don’t trust anyone else.”
Sarah nodded. “I won’t.”
“If they break into the room, go through the escape tunnel.” He scribbled a few glyphs onto a piece of reusable parchment and handed her the note. “Enter this code into the panel at the end of the tunnel. Stand away from the door; it will slam shut and trigger the tunnel to collapse and bury anyone following you. Zharor and I know not to follow into the tunnel. There is a cave by the river close to the exit. Light the fire right away. It will keep the stalkers from following you in. Wait for me there.”
“I hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“It may—the traitors living in the compound would know that I’ve been keeping you in my quarters after what happened yesterday. News travels fast. They would target you to hurt me.” Kean cupped his mate’s pretty face in his large palms and bent down to rub their cheeks together. “You are a target because of me. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I understand your position.” She held him down for a quick kiss. “Go help Zharor. I will be fine.”
Kean left his mate in the safe room, locking the door securely behind him.
The males at the door pounded on it loudly again, and Sarah stayed quiet, trying not to give away her position.
“We know you are in there. Let us in. Kean sent us to pick you up. He’s waiting for you in his office,” one of the males said between pounding at the door.
“I don’t think she’s in there. She hasn’t made a sound.” The other male spoke softer as if trying to make sure she didn’t overhear him.
“Of course she’s in there, you idiot. Why would he lock the library door otherwise?”
“How do we know she’s even his mate? What if it’s all just a rumor. You know how the females are. They’re always trying to matchmake. And a male can’t even sleep with one without them latching on, trying to form a mating bond.”
“The boss was pretty sure. Mates make males weak, and it will be the perfect weapon against him.”
The traitors pounded on the door again, and Sarah ignored it. Instead, she dumped the package of clothing the dressmaker had given her onto the couch and went through the clothes. She needed something more suitable for a run down the tunnel, should it come to that. There were many long, stretchy dresses, comfortable but still elegant. They were a far cry from the heavy, garish pieces Gadrek had her wear to show off his wealth. But they were not practical for an escape through a hidden tunnel and a wait in a cave.
Finally, at the bottom of the pile, she found a few pieces of loungewear. She picked a pair of pants that fitted like leggings and a simple pullover top. She kept the fur-trimmed stole on her shoulder just in case it got cold as the sun went down. Her flats didn’t have good grip, the soles were thin and slippery, but they were all she had.
Already, she felt more up to the task of escaping through the secret tunnel, though she still hoped the males would give up and leave. But she wasn’t so lucky.
“Fuck this. Let’s just ram the door down. The boss said to bring him the female, and I want to get paid.” The voice sounded annoyed, and he was no longer speaking quietly.
Ram the door down? How did they plan to do that? The door was solid metal. For a few long minutes, nothing happened and Sarah almost thought they had given up. Then the first loud crash sounded at the door, and the noise reverberated through the library. The collection of ancient weapons displayed along that wall rattled with the impact. What the hell were they charging the door with?
Another deafening boom shook the room, and while the door held, the wall around the door started to fracture. One expensive-looking relic clattered to the ground.
Shit! These males meant business. It was time to go.
Grabbing the bag the clothes had come in, Sarah stuffed in the plastic packs of water and nutrition bars that Kean kept on the bookshelf that hid the secret tunnel. Then she pulled the lever, and the shelf slid to the side, exposing the dark passageway.
The panic Sarah had felt on the days Gadrek had kept her in the dark room returned, but she pushed it down. She was free from Gadrek now, but she had to be strong if she wanted to keep her new, happier life. She could handle a little darkness. Taking a big breath, she stepped into the lightless tunnel, just as another crash landed on the door.
She looked back. The crack on the wall was bigger now, but the door still held. She would have a good head start. Forcing her legs to move, she walked into the darkness, her bag over one shoulder and her hands in front of her to prevent herself from crashing into any walls. A few meters in, a soft glow illuminated the long corridor as she walked by, triggered by her movement.
The tunnel curved as it gradually descended deeper into the ground. Spurred on by the loud racket coming from the room she’d just left, Sarah continued down the dimly lit corridor, almost at a jog. It took a few turns before the elevation rose again. There were a few stairs at the end that led to a door. Next to the door was a big lever. She pulled on it, but the lever was heavy, stuck from years of lack of use, and it barely budged.
There were voices in the tunnel now, and Sarah felt the panic grow in her chest. She pulled wildly on the lever, putting all of her weight into it, and it moved just a little. But it wasn’t enough to open the door.
“What the fuck!” she cursed at the stubborn hunk of metal. “Open, you useless piece of shit.” It didn’t budge.
“You little bitch, we are going to get you and make you pay for running.” The voice still sounded quite far away, but Sarah knew they’d reach her soon.
She pulled again with all her might, her loud yell echoing in the tunnel. Something clicked, and the lever dropped the rest of the way to the bottom. The door slid open, and Vosthea’s setting sun greeted her.
“Oh, thank you, thank you! I didn’t mean it; you’re not a useless piece of shit.” She gave the lever one last thankful pat.
She ran outside, looking for the keypad to enter the code that Kean had given her. Sarah stared at the parchment. All the glyphs looked the same to her, with only a few dots or dashes difference between them. Why was the Tallean written language such a mess?
Matching the characters on the parchment as closely as she could to the keypad, she pressed the code in order. The keypad flashed blue, and the door to the tunnel slammed shut, just as an angry male face came into view. Then a deep rumbling started deep inside the ground.
Sarah swallowed hard and tried to calm the erratic beating in her chest. A cave by the river. She had to find the river, and she had to do it quickly.
She’d heard of all the dangers in the Vosthean jungle. Gadrek had told her about them every chance he could. He hadn’t wanted her to attempt an escape. Sarah was pretty sure that he hadn’t lied about the beast
s that lived here, either. And Kean had mentioned lighting the fire at the cave to keep away the stalkers. So she knew that at least those were real.
The sun was setting, and that meant two things. First, Vosthea’s infamous stalkers, the planet’s deadliest predators, were out prowling for prey. They were crepuscular, preferring to hunt during sunup and sundown. And second, it would be dark soon, and she had horrible night vision.
She closed her eyes and listened, trying to find the river. If it was close, she might be able to hear it. And she did, just a bare trickling sound in the distance. She grabbed the lantern hanging by the door, turned towards the sound, and trekked into the Vosthean jungle.
Chapter 17
Sarah clicked on the lantern, and a bright glow bathed the area with light. She was at the river now, but no cave was in sight. It didn’t help that the sun was mostly past the horizon, and she could barely see a few yards in front of her. She’d been afraid to turn on the lantern, worried it would give away her location to predators or enemies. But it was too dark now, and she didn’t want to hurt herself fumbling in the dark.
She held up the lantern as she traveled down the river, looking for anything that might be a cave. Cackling sounds in the forest seemed to follow her, and she stared into the darkness, her panic rising. From the corner of her eyes, the tree would move, but when she focused on them, she saw nothing.
“Get your shit together, Sarah,” she whispered to herself. “There’s nothing out there. Focus on the cave.”
She pulled the fur-trimmed stole around her shoulders, glad she’d chosen to keep it on even though it seemed too fancy for a trip through the forest. It had been warm during the day while the sun was up, but the temperature dipped noticeably and quickly as the sun disappeared behind the horizon.
Another cackling sound, followed by a rustling from right behind her, set her scrambling faster forward. The lantern lit the region ahead, and by a rock face, there was a darkened area, a hollow. Was it the cave? She sprinted towards it and was relieved to find the mouth of the cave she’d been searching for.
“There better not be anything living in it.” Her voice in the silence calmed her, her habit coming back full force in the stressful situation.
Sarah stepped into the cave, the lantern held high in one hand and her bag in the other. She was ready to whip her pack at anything that might jump out at her. The cave was empty.
Whew! She hung the lantern up on a hook by the entrance
“Fire, fire, fire. How the hell do I start a fire?” That hadn’t been something she’d thought of. She spotted a fire pit at the center of the cave; next to it sat some kindling and fuel. More dried wood was stacked along one wall of the cave. And next to that, a box. She hurried over, opened it, and found a torch. Perfect!
A spine-tingling clicking noise sounded from outside the cave, spurring her on. She set the kindling alight and piled on some small pieces of wood, feeding the fire as quickly as she could. She doubted a small fire would keep the stalkers away. She ventured a look outside the cave opening as she waited for the fire to grow. Were those eyes in the dark?
She shuddered. “Hurry up, hurry up!”
The clicking sounded again, and the eyes seemed to get closer.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Go away. Go away.”
Desperate, she piled the rest of the kindling in and lit that as well. It was probably overkill, but time was of the essence. Her instincts told her that the clicking sound was bad news. Soon she had a decent fire going, and it lit up the entire cave.
She waited, staring out into the darkness. The eyes were still there; the firelight reflected off them with a devilish glow. But whatever waited for her outside didn’t come any closer. The fire was working.
After several long minutes, the clicking outside stopped, and the eyes disappeared.
She let out a whoosh of air. That was close! She was sure the beast hadn’t gone away completely, though, and would pounce on her if she dared to leave the confines of the cave.
Finally feeling safer, Sarah took a look around the cave. Aside from the firewood by the wall, there was only a sleeping mat and a small chest. She opened the chest and found a blanket and a pillow.
Wrapping the blanket tightly around herself, she settled down on the mat. She wondered how Kean was doing back at the compound. The explosions had been terrifying, and the fact that the male had attacked Kean right after they happened probably meant it was preplanned. She worried that Kean would be hurt as he fought the attackers.
What if Kean got injured? What if they killed him?
“Kean is strong,” she told herself. “He’ll be fine.”
She wasn’t sure she believed it, but she forced away any negative thoughts that tried to intrude by talking over them. It usually worked.
“Kean is strong. He is a good fighter. He’ll be fine. And he will come rescue me.” The words helped, and she repeated them again and again like a mantra as she waited for Kean to come for her.
The traitors had set three charges throughout his compound. One had been by the outer wall, letting in a team of enemies. They were hired goons by the looks of it. Kean wasn’t sure by who. It was too sloppy to be the Dominion. They wouldn’t send so few into his compound, especially not after their recent loss. It just didn’t make sense.
Perhaps they had expected Yris to be successful in his assassination attempt, but that too seemed odd. Yris had attacked while Zharor had been right there. Even if he had been successful in killing Kean, he would still be neutralized by Zharor. It was a suicide mission; one Yris would not have been willing to take.
And now, as his guards fought the intruders, things were getting stranger still. The intruders were retreating. When his guards had first gotten there to engage the group, the intruders had fought well. But now, for no reason at all, they retreated.
With no one left to fight, Kean ordered his males to clean up the compound and patch up the wall.
“Zharor, get Yris to talk. This attack was most bizarre. They all left as if called back, and it doesn’t feel right. Keep your wits about you. I will go check up on my female.”
As Kean made his way to his personal library, the feeling in his gut that something was wrong refused to leave. As he turned the corner, he saw the rubble and debris littered across the hallway. The door to the library was gone, along with a good chunk of the wall around it. Right inside the library was a vehicle with a battering ram.
Sarah! Kean ran first into the library and then into the back room where the escape tunnel was located. The tunnel had collapsed. Which meant Sarah had made it out the other side to trigger the cave-in.
Kean inhaled deeply, filtering the air for as much scent information as he could. Sarah had been uninjured, which meant she’d left before they got through the door. And there had been two males in the room. He didn’t recognize the males’ scents, so they must not have been anyone close to him. Good. He didn’t relish the thought of someone he trusted betraying him.
Fuck! The attack had been a ruse to get at Sarah. News and rumors traveled fast in the compound. He knew there’d been talk of him keeping Sarah in his room. Some have even guessed that she was his mate. And of course, he had flaunted her at the party, and he’d overreacted at her leaving yesterday. He shouldn’t have done that. Now, Sarah was in danger because of him.
Kean commed Zharor and updated him. “It makes sense now. The attack was a decoy. They knew to go directly to the safe room, and they had the equipment to knock down my walls. They must have retreated once they lost contact with the males following my Sarah.”
“Or they retreated when the males found her.”
“The tunnel was down. Unless the males managed to exit the tunnel in the second between her entering the code and the door sliding shut, they would be trapped in the collapse. I would venture our traitors are dead.” Kean’s face darkened. “It is the stalkers I am worried about. She smells good enough to eat.”
&nb
sp; He headed out on foot, in case anyone followed him. A vehicle was easy to track, but one lone male by foot was hard to spot through the Vosthean canopy. And Kean was sure of his ability to lose anyone trailing him physically.
The cave in which Sarah waited was close by, but most going by foot would miss it completely, even if they knew what to look for. The terrain on either side of the tunnel exit guided visitors to continue up and over the raised ridge which protected the cave. To follow the river all the way to the cave, they would need to go down a steep rock face. Most would look over the ledge, see nothing but a few sparse trees and skip over the area. The mouth of the cave was only visible from below.
The stalkers in the area were able to reach the cave by wading through the river. Swimming and wading were things the stalkers had been known to do when they were hungry enough.
Kean didn’t notice anyone following him on foot, but he made another false loop just in case. Then he climbed down the steep side of the cliff towards the cave. He scented the stalker immediately. It prowled the area, waiting for Sarah to leave the safety of the fire.
Luckily, stalkers had an innate fear of flames. A torch would do nothing to chase it away, and a fire at an open campsite would hinder its attack but not prevent it altogether. But the combination of an enclosed cave, a narrow entrance, and a burning fire within, kept the stalkers from entering.
This one patrolled the area, knowing there was prey in the cave. Kean considered fighting it but decided on waiting first to see if it would lose interest or get distracted and leave. From Kean’s vantage point, he saw the soft glow emanating from the cave’s entrance.
Sarah was right there, within reach. And Kean hungered to hold her. She shouldn’t have been put into danger in the first place. He would need to beef up security now that he had a mate. The males who had gone after her were surely dead inside the tunnel, but he worried that there were more traitors in his ranks.