Shard moved swiftly along the branch. He leapt, shifting forms in the air, grabbing the man’s wrist as he tackled him. Shard’s weight pressed the man back into the bush as they crashed to the ground. With a rough impatience, he wrenched the stunner out of the man’s grasp and flipped him over onto his back. He pinned the man to the ground with ease. A swift swipe with his fist rendered the man unconscious.
“Do you have him, Ardin?” Jaksen called, approaching the bushes. “We caught the runner without trouble. He wasn’t nearly fast enough to outrun us.”
“I have him.” Shard stood, lifting the unconscious man to his shoulder in an easy move. “And Kaleb, did he get his man?”
“Ardin Kaleb caught the man coming from his direction.” Jaksen stood at the edge of the camp as Shard strode out of the brush with the man tossed over his shoulder.
Shard dumped the man at the side of the one caught running through the camp. Kaleb strode out of the bushes on the other side of camp, carrying the last man. This, they knew, was the last of the men on the planet to find proof of their insane theory. The man that Lina’s drones had been tracking had been followed the day the researchers had left the planet.
With the spy gone, he had believed that there was no need for him to remain isolated. He had joined his companions at a small cave and all three of them had been watched as they made their trek here. The danger was now over.
“Did Lina go to the haven easily?” Kaleb raised a brow to Jaksen as the man stood nearby securing the three captives.
“She didn’t argue with me and she went immediately. She wasn’t happy about doing it.” Jaksen stood with a stunner drawn, guarding the unconscious men, should they wake. “A shuttle is on its way from the Ovian.”
“Good,” Kaleb stalked toward the tent to put on some clothing. “We should be back with Lina before it takes off. Take extra precautions in the transport and security of these men. I don’t want them to be able to take their own lives.”
Shard strode into the tent only a moment after Kaleb had done so. They dressed in brown, mottled pants. With a surge of their magic, they went to get Lina. She was undoubtedly worried.
Lina sat in the shade of the trees. She smiled when she saw them appear in the grassy clearing, but remained completely still in the shade of the vetin trees. Preoccupied with her own thoughts, she didn’t know if she was ready for this confrontation.
She ran her eyes over her two warriors. Dressed identically in white shirts, brown camouflage pants, and black boots, they looked gorgeous and dangerous, but in a very good mood. She knew that what she was going to tell them would likely sour that feeling.
Shard extended his hand to her. She took it and rose to her feet, but pulled back when he tried to pull her between them. As much as she wished to keep them happy, she couldn’t let them take her back to the camp without talking to them first. She tugged until he released her hand and paced a few steps away from them.
“Is something wrong?” Kaleb frowned as she nervously clasped her hands together and shifted from one foot to the other. “You act as if you expected us to be angry with you.”
Lina took a deep breath and then dove into the subject. This wasn’t going to get any easier. “I don’t know if I can do this.”
Shard reached out and grasped her hands in his, hoping to reassure her. “What do you think you can’t do?”
She slanted her eyes to the side and then swept her gaze around the haven. “This… I don’t know if I can come here many more times. Every time I do I feel like a coward. I can fight. I’m in good health, strong, and I’ve been in bad situations before. I should be out there helping.”
“By the Gods, never,” A low growl rumbled in Kaleb’s throat as he stepped forward. “You’re no coward and are under a vast misconception. The other women may still be there, but they don’t get involved in the fighting. They gather in one safe place and wait for the fighting to end.”
Lina looked up at him through her lashes. His face was drawn into intense lines, his green eyes bored down into hers. “That’s the truth?”
“I wouldn’t lie to you about it.” Kaleb frowned down at Lina.
She grimaced. What he said was true. She would be able to tell if he tried just as any other shifter would.
“The other women are protected and out of danger just as you are.” Shard leaned close and looked into her eyes. “You are the mate of the Ardin. Any enemy who seeks to hurt us will know just how important you are to us. That is why any Ardin with the ability to see to the safety of their mate will create a place such as this.”
She thought about that. She could see their point. The Ardins’ Lady would be a valuable hostage. “I can’t say that I will still agree, even in a few days, because running to shelter while others do battle is so strange to me, but I’ll come back here if there is danger.”
She felt an almost uncontrollable urge to laugh. They looked just as triumphant at that concession as they had when they had arrived. Broad smiles spread across their faces and white teeth flashed.
“You’re ready now to return to camp?” Kaleb raised a brow and smoothed a hand up her arm to her shoulder.
“Yes, but tell me something first. Why is it that only the Ardin know the old magic?” She placed her hand on Shard’s arm and took the hand that Kaleb had extended to her.
“Most Santir know the old magic, i’ma. If you’re wondering why they don’t create a place such as this, the reason is that the spell requires two men, bound by Tierna, to perform it.” Shard slipped his arm around her waist and hugged her. “Want to watch the short interrogation of the men we captured?”
“Will I learn the reason they attacked the camp regardless of their willingness to talk?” Lina raised an eyebrow and looked up into Shard’s deep brown eyes. The men had teased and tormented her for days about their knowledge and she wasn’t up to another session.
“We’ll tell you if they don’t reveal it.” Kaleb smiled and squeezed her hand in reassurance.
“Then what are you waiting for?” She stepped forward, tugging at them. “Let’s go. I want to know what they were after.”
A rich chuckle rippled through the glade as the three of them disappeared.
Chapter Eighteen
Lina sat between them on the way up to the Ovian. The captured men had already been taken to the ship and prepared for interrogation. Everything waited for their arrival. She listened as Shard and Kaleb gave her instructions.
“You will be seated in another room, watching it on a vid-monitor. The men will be secured, but we don’t want you to be anywhere near these men. They’re treacherous. You’ll see and hear everything that we do.” Shard stroked his fingers up her arm and then traced the thin strap of her white shirt in an almost absent gesture.
“That’s fine.” She shrugged. Her location during the questioning didn’t matter to her. “I don’t particularly want to be close to that scum. I only want the answer which you’ve denied me.”
“You’ve denied us an answer for quite some time, my rah’ki.” Kaleb placed his hand on her knee and gave it a light squeeze.
She saw his smile out of the corner of her eye. “Ah, but you two only have to figure out what is important about that vase. All the information is there. You merely have to solve the puzzle. You gave me nothing to work with, teasing wretches.” She laughed, her eyes sparkling as she leaned her head against Shard’s arm.
“When have we had time to solve this puzzle?” Kaleb laughed and ran his fingers up her thigh, pushing her green skirt up with the move.
“I did it and in much less time.” She smirked and patted Kaleb’s hand in mock consolation.
“We’ll solve this little puzzle.” Shard grasped her chin in his fingers and dropped a kiss on her lips. “Are you ready to apologize?”
“I told you that you’d get your apology when you solved the vase’s puzzle.” Lina smiled with ease. An apology would be no problem. They’d probably be feeling fairly happy around that time.
“The question is when that spark of discovery will happen for you two.”
“Push, i’ma.” Kaleb’s lips curled in a toothy anticipatory smile. “That apology’s going to be sweet indeed. It only increases the things you owe us an apology for.”
Aboard the Ovian, she walked beside them, relaxed and in a good mood. The hallways were more than wide enough for them to walk side by side. They showed her to a room filled with monitors. The man stationed in front of them swung his head around at their entrance, but quickly returned his eyes to the screens.
“Darin, our Lady will watch and listen to the interrogation.” Kaleb ushered her over to a chair in front of a set of monitors. “Now just listen. No fooling around with the equipment in here.”
“You could do better than this.” Lina swept an assessing eye over the equipment, an intent look crossing her face. She settled in the seat, smoothing her skirt over her legs. “I expected more on a ship like the Ovian.”
“Lina…” Shard pointed a finger at her. The woman was determined to change everything to the most advanced, the most usable model available. “Leave it for now. Watch the questioning.”
She smiled at the forbidding expressions on their faces. This place would need to be almost completely redone.
“Sassy rahki, you need a lesson in respect.” Shard gave her a promising smile as his gaze ran down her body and lingered on the curve of her buttocks. “I know you’ll enjoy it.”
Kaleb walked into the interrogation room ahead of Shard. A man with shaggy red hair and frigid blue eyes sat in front of the square, gray table. His brown forest attire had been removed and in its place, he wore a gray one-piece suit. His hands were cuffed to the arms of the chair which was bolted to the floor, ensuring that it couldn’t be tipped. It would take a stronger man than him to rip it free from its moorings.
Kaleb dropped into the chair opposite the man and Shard stood, leaning against the wall.
“I don’t have to talk to you abominations.” The man raised his chin and looked through Kaleb.
“Hello, Mr. Rainess.” Kaleb had heard it all before and the names didn’t faze him. He relaxed into the chair. “There isn’t much reason for us to talk. The men you hired gladly said everything that was needed.”
“Liar!” Rainess’ face turned a bright red. He jerked against the bands holding his hands to the chair. “Mongrel alien spawn, you would lie to your mother!”
“I believe they’re trying to avoid placement on a penal colony from which there is no return. Central Command was just as willing to send us your files.” Kaleb smiled as he watched the man. “They’re seizing your assets, I believe.”
“You smug bastard.” Rainess wrenched his body violently to the side in an attempt to overturn the chair, probably in the hope that it would break. “You know that you have the proof. You’ve probably already destroyed it.”
“Your misconceptions never end, Rainess.” Kaleb laughed. The man was blind to all but his own beliefs. “I’ll have to make plans to attend your trial.”
“You fucking animal, there won’t be a trial. I wouldn’t give your kind the satisfaction,” Rainess snarled, sagging in the chair, but his eyes blazed with hate.
“It hardly matters to me if it goes to trial, although seeing justice served would be interesting. The depravity and the treachery of your group will become public regardless of a trial. Anyone associated with that group will be ostracized by society and watched by Central Command for the rest of their lives.” Kaleb gave a triumphant smile just to infuriate the man across from him.
“Your friends will find it hard to do something like this again.” Shard’s voice cut through the silence as Rainess digested what their actions had wrought.
“You can’t stop the truth from being found. It will come out at some point. Do you think that that was the only record of it?” Rainess smirked, secure in his delusions. “Other teams will find it and everyone will learn of your true origins, you freak.”
“I’ve always wondered what your kind think would happen even if you came up with proof of your crazy theories.” Shard crossed his right leg over his left as he relaxed against the cool wall.
“There are beings who were actually created living on some planets in Protected Space with full rights and recognition under Central Command’s laws. As far as I can see there’s no stigma associated with being created in a lab or even being a child of one who was created.” Kaleb added fuel to the fanatic’s temper deliberately. He wanted the man’s true responses. While he was angry, he wasn’t thinking of lies.
“They’re abominations. Soon, everyone will see the truth about them, just as everyone will see the truth about you.” Rainess glared at them. “You should be in cages, you’re animals.”
Shard laughed. “You’re truly delusional.”
“My curiosity has been satisfied.” Kaleb stood and turned toward Shard. “We’ll be sure to inform Command personnel of your intent to commit suicide when they arrive to retrieve you and your companions.”
“If you make it through the trial, I think you’ll find yourself exiled to one of the most isolated, primitive prison worlds. You might just discover what a real wild animal would do to you if it’s threatened.” Shard smiled, showing his sharp pointed canines.
“My friends will see that I don’t face such humiliation,” Rainess gloated with a triumphant smile.
“They might end your life, but the motive would be a far different one than you believe. They would want to ensure that you didn’t try to trade information for a softer sentence.” Shard turned and stalked toward the door. “In the end, their first thought would be to protect their own freedom. How will your family fare at their hands?”
Kaleb smiled as the man’s face became solemn. He joined Shard at the door. “You’ll be escorted back to your cell now, Rainess.”
They walked to the room where they’d left Lina. She sat back in the chair, looking at the screen, a contemplative look on her face, but they could tell that she wasn’t seeing the pictures flashing across it. Her mind was turning over what she had learned.
“I know that they believe that we hold the proof of their theory that the Santir were created. I can’t understand how they came to that conclusion or how they thought they could get into even a lightly defended camp and hope to leave with it.” She didn’t look at them as she spoke.
Shard wasn’t surprised that she was aware of their presence. Every nerve ending in his body went on alert whenever she was near. It was nice to know that she was as affected as he was.
“The last was simply overconfidence.” Kaleb strode over to her and held out his hand, waiting until she looked up at him and then winked at her.
She took his hand and stepped into his embrace. His arms folded around her and pulled her close to him for a moment. “And the first, what was that?”
“Ah, that.” Shard smiled with amusement as Kaleb guided her over to the door. “That was because they’d been given some false information by someone they trusted.”
Lina frowned in confusion. “Someone they trusted had given them false information? Did the informant within Vedix’s camp turn on them when he was picked up by Central Command?”
“No.” Kaleb pulled her hip up against his side. “You’re looking for betrayal where there was none. It was a simple misconception.”
Were they being deliberately difficult? Lina smacked him lightly on the stomach with her open palm. She glared up at him. “Stop teasing.”
“But, rah’ki, it’s such fun.” Shard tucked his arm around her waist and a smile transformed the harsh planes of his face.
“Tell me or else.” She stamped her foot. She felt silly afterward, but they could frustrate her more than she’d ever been before in her life.
“Or else what, i’ma?” Kaleb stepped forward and she was forced to go along with them.
“Or else, I’ll think of something horrible and do it to two characters which resemble you and publish it and you can’t sue me,”
she threatened with utter seriousness. “Under Santir law, a man can’t sue his mate.”
“Oh, but there are other things we can do to you to get even, wild one.” Shard stopped, dragging her to a halt beside him. With a finger under her chin, he tilted her chin up so that she was looking into his eyes.
“It’s simple to prevent it. Talk, you big tease.” She wrapped a fist in Shard’s white shirt and pulled. Not that it had much effect on the big man.
“For the sake of peace.” Kaleb rolled his eyes. “Sometimes you two are just too much alike. The informant heard of your argument with Vedix when he was in our camp. He knew only that the object was important to us, not why.”
She released Shard’s shirt and glared up at him. “That wasn’t hard.”
“Want to know the rest?” Shard grinned down at her, totally unruffled by her ire.
“Shard, I swear…” She growled wondering what she could make him into that wouldn’t be overly obvious. “I have never been so tempted to use a live person’s image as I am right now.”
“Ah, i’ma, do you think we’d let you publish anything with characters based on us?” Shard raised his brows. “Vedix was apparently very angry and not inclined to talk when he got back to his camp. His assistant knew which piece, but not why.”
“And?” she prompted, determined to wring everything out of them.
“So the informant jumped to the conclusion that it was important because it was the proof they were searching for. In his mind, that was the only reason we would refuse to let them have it.” Shard tucked his arm around her and directed her down the hall once again.
“The idea was solidified in his mind when he learned we were having all of them removed. With Vedix in an uncooperative mood, he had no idea of the true reason.” Kaleb’s fingers lifted a strand of her golden hair as they waited for one of the lifts.
“And the overconfidence.” Lina pressed her palm over the crisp white shirt covering Shard’s taut midriff.
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