“Are you happy to see me, you little bitch?”
Her body shook as he kicked the bed but she did little more than sigh in response. All he could was violate her body in ways that were wholly familiar. This man was underserving of her fear, or even her anger.
And it was clear that this man wanted her to be afraid as he began to recount all of the ways in which he had masterminded this moment.
“Do you have any idea how many judges that I had to bribe to have you sent here, rather than detention. A few of the holdouts wanted you to serve in the workcamps.” The door closed with a loud slam behind him as he slowly approached her. “You’ve cost me a fair amount. I intend to collect it from your hide with considerable interest.”
He growled then, but the sound was empty. It hung in the air like the roar of a toothless lion, all noise and no substance. He might as well have been Beta given her body’s lack of reaction. Even a claimed Omega should respond to an Alpha’s call but Ianthe felt nothing at all.
If the Undersecretary noticed how little she reacted to him, it did not seem to dissuade him. “Bringing Legion down was a reward in itself. But the moment that I saw you there, knowing that I could take his mate from him in addition to his life, was just too delicious to contemplate.”
She twitched at that and he noticed it immediately. “Your mate is dead, surely you must have felt the connection between you sever by now.” He nudged the bed again when she did not respond. “It took only a few hours of torture for him to finally give up his secrets.”
She would not give him the satisfaction of a reaction, even as emotion burned in the pit of her heart. He could take her body, but she would never allow him to have anything else.
“And do you know what else? I was the one who manufactured the charges against him. Legion ran his little fiefdom with the air processors that wasn’t always perfectly legal, but he wasn’t conspiring against the Crown. I should know, because I am.”
It was in the moment that she understood he intended to kill her. There would be no term of service in Eros House where she would service Guardian Alphas. The Undersecretary had orchestrated all of this because he was pathetic and needed one last conquest. Whether it was borne of jealousy of her mate or a desire for power that drove him was immaterial, this man wasn’t worthy of her attention.
“How does it feel to know that your mate has been executed for the murder of Prince Castor? What makes it so much sweeter is that, not only is Legion innocent, but Castor may not even be dead. I’ve exhausted significant resources in an attempt to confirm his death. But it’s no matter, no one ever returns from the Forbidden Zone.”
She would not give him the satisfaction of her fear. Finally responding, Ianthe turned her head to take in the pathetic man before her, the one who thought he had anything to offer that could move her. The man who claimed to be Alpha but was smaller than he should be with no force of presence.
“I’ve heard of your father. He was a trusted advisor to the Crown for decades before he passed away, many thought that his son would follow in his footsteps. I wonder why you have never risen beyond the role of Undersecretary.” She watched his narrowed eyes for a reaction as the barb found its mark. Her words were meant to sting. “Could it be because your superiors realize that you are not even half the Alpha that you should be? That must be where all of this resentment comes from. I almost feel sorry for you.”
Anger burned in his eyes as his face contorted into something ugly. “Shut your mouth, you little bitch.”
“Is that what you say to all of the women you’ve left unsatisfied? You must come to Eros House often, paying Beta females to pretend that you’ve satisfied them because no real Omega would have you.” She pushed to her knees. The frame of the bed was high off the floor that the position made her slightly taller so she glared down at him with all of the condescension that she could muster. Her gaze deliberately strayed to his crotch as a mocking smile touched her lips. “Will I even feel your knot? There doesn’t seem like much to see from here--“
His hands were around her throat, choking the breath from her body, before she could finish her last sentence. Ianthe clawed at his hands, nails sharp enough to rip into the skin, but he was incensed enough to be beyond pain. Dark shadows drifted at the edges of her vision as oblivion beckoned her with welcoming arms. She embraced the concept of death like greeting an old lover. Finally, she could leave all of the pain of this world behind.
Then she could breathe again. The Undersecretary’s hands loosened from her throat as his body slumped against her. She collapsed under the sudden weight and they both fell back heavily to the bed. The Undersecretary’s face hovered just above hers, eyes closed and lips slack. When she turned her head to look past him, Ianthe experienced another shocking vision.
Adrian stood at the foot of the bed, face inscrutable. He held a rifle identical to the ones carried by Guardians, the butt raised in the air as he had clearly just used it to strike the Undersecretary in the back of the head. He surveyed with a bland expression as if they had just run into each other on the street.
“Are you coming?” Adrian asked, voice droll. “He won’t be out for long.”
Ianthe shoved at the Undersecretary’s unconscious form, finding herself trapped beneath his weight. “I could use some help.”
With a disgusted sigh, Adrian used his free hand to lever the Undersecretary’s body up enough that she could get out from under it. She stood on shaky legs and regarded her mate’s second-in-command with fearful hope. “Are you really here?”
He cast her an odd look but did not appear to be overly concerned with the strangeness of the question. The Undersecretary’s prone form dropped back onto the mattress as he shoved it away. “Does it matter? Let’s go.”
“I dreamed that Legion was here. At least I think it was a dream.” Ianthe hesitated at the end of the bed, looking from the unconscious Undersecretary to her mate’s closest confidante. Perhaps this was all just another trick of her mind, allowing her to believe that escape was possible so the dream could ripped away ad turned into a nightmare. How did she know that Adrian wasn’t a part of another plot to make her situation worse than it was?
“Ianthe.” It was the first time that he had ever spoken her name. The utterance seemed to come as a surprise to them both. “We have to leave right now.”
“How do I know this is real?”
“You don’t.” He stepped forward and gripped both of her arms tightly enough that she gasped at the shock. Adrian’s narrow gaze took in the sprawled body of the still-unconscious Undersecretary and the tiny room that had become her makeshift prison “But your only other option is to stay here with him.”
“How did you know I was here?”
“I promise that I will tell you anything that you wish if you just come with me right now.”
But she was frozen in place, unable to bear the heartache of another failed attempt at something better. She wouldn’t be able to survive it if this were all just a trick. And what did it matter now if her mate was dead. All that awaited her in the world was more suffering. There was no point to fighting it any longer.
“I can’t.”
“You must. We’re running out of time.”
At that moment, the Procurer appeared in the doorway with an exasperated look on his face. “Why are you still here? Those Guardians at the door are going to wake up eventually.”
Adrian cast her a narrow look. “The girl appears to have some reservations about leaving.”
The Procurer turned towards Ianthe and immediately noted the stricken look on her face. It was clear that she had gone to a place that made her incapable of reason. “My dear, Adrian is here because I called him. He will take you away to a place where the Guardians cannot find you.”
Her voice was barely above a whisper. “The Undersecretary told me that Legion is dead. Is he?”
The two men glanced at each other before either answered. The Procurer spoke gently as if trying to
tame a wild animal. “All of this can be discussed while you make your escape. You are on borrowed time as it is.”
“I’m not running again just to end up in a worse situation.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at them both. “Tell me the truth. Is he dead?”
Adrian tried to grip her elbow but she yanked it away. “Your bond should tell you the answer to that question.”
But she wanted there to be no doubt. “Is. He. Dead?”
“Not yet,” Adrian glared down at her as both of his hands gripped her arms. She had not noticed it before but he was nearly as tall as her mate, large for a Beta. He briefly looked away but then met her questioning gaze with a deep frown. “It might be worse than death, but he still lives. Come with me and I promise that you will see him again.”
And what choice did she really have? Her fate inside of Eros House would not be better than what awaited outside of it. “Fine, I’ll go.”
“Excellent,” the Procurer said, voice heavy with sarcasm. “You must make haste. I intend to tell the Guardians that you overpowered me and escaped in a stolen skycar. That explanation is unlikely to work if you are still here when they wake. Hurry and I’ll show you to the landing pad.”
She stopped next to him at the doorway, expression pensive. “Why are you doing this?”
“You may not have noticed it, given the circumstances, but those who come to Eros House are my responsibility. I take that responsibility very seriously. You were with us for a short time but that doesn’t change the fact that you are one of mine. Take care of your child and yourself.“
Ianthe didn’t know where the urge came from but she reached out and hugged the Procurer. She was wholly unused to being the beneficiary of good deeds, particularly when the other person did not benefit in return. “I don’t even know your name.”
“You may call me Damian.” And to her surprise, he kissed her gently on the forehead before pushing her towards the other man. “I would wish you luck if I thought it would do you any good. I hope you are able to reunite with your mate.”
Adrian appeared wholly exasperated but did not interrupt the tender scene. “We have to go.”
She let him usher her down the long hallway and towards the entrance. The two Guardians who had been standing sentry at the front door were now slouched unconscious on either side of it and had been stripped of their weapons. Adrian hustled her past them. When the door opened she could see outside to the landing pad that was awash in paradoxically beautiful sunlight.
The Procurer — Damian, she reminded herself — had followed closely behind them, but stopped at the doorway. The sky was clear of buzzer drones or other skycars, but one could never be too careful when committing treason.
“Will he be alright?” Ianthe asked as she was hustled toward the waiting skycar.
“Damian is a survivor and always has been. He’ll be fine.”
Adrian climbed into the front of the skycar. She was so used to seeing them be automatically piloted that it surprised her when he manually took the controls. But he seemed to know exactly what he was doing as he flipped switches and turned dials. The skycar lifted gently into the air and they were away.
Ianthe was silent for as long as she could stand it, but her curiosity finally took over. The numbness had begun to fade into something more familiar, a mix of anticipation and fear.
“Where are we going?” she asked, repeating herself more loudly when it was obvious he couldn’t hear her over the engine.
“Somewhere safe.”
“And where is that exactly?”
“A place in the midlevels, it’s better if you don’t know the details.”
“Will Legion be there? “
He glanced back at her, lips tightening. “Legion is still in the custody of Central Command at one of the black sites they use for people that the Crown just wants to make go away. His liberation is imminent.”
“And how are you going manage that?” Her voice came more strident than she intended, but Ianthe was past the point of trying to keep herself calm. “A Central Command black site is going to have significantly greater security than a whore house. Are you planning to rescue him by yourself?”
“That shouldn’t be necessary, although I won’t pretend that it wouldn’t be fun. Me and a platoon worth of hired guns, yes. You’d be surprised how many Guardians are willing to moonlight if the pay is good enough.” Adrian’s voice was droll. “We have access to significant resources but the difficult thing has been locating him. That’s why we needed the Undersecretary and his very convenient confession.”
“I don’t understand.”
He held up a small portable terminal. “I took this off of the Undersecretary. Barnard is the only one who knows where Legion is being held. If we hack this terminal then we’ll have his location and Legion can be recovered.”
She tried for calm but her voice still shook. “How do you know he’s still alive.”
Adrian glanced away from the controls to regard her for a long moment. “You would know the answer to that question better than I would. Tell me, is he still alive.”
For the first time, Ianthe tried to reach past the metaphysical wall that had been erected between them and consciously searched through the bond for her mate. When she did, she felt pain and suffering, along with a madness so deep that it threatened to overwhelm her.
Her eyes rolled up into the back of her head as she collapsed.
Ianthe woke on the floor of the skycar, belatedly realizing that she had passed out. The wall that she had felt was erected once again, slamming between her and whatever her mate might be experiencing. Adrian hovered over her, his inscrutable face telegraphing nothing more than a mild curiosity. But he helped her to rise and sit back on the plush leather seats. Nausea rose up and she fought it off with effort as everything seemed to be slowly spinning around her.
“He’s in pain,” she whispered even as she felt the echo of knives slicing through her skin and electric shocks penetrating her to to the bone. “So much pain.”
“And keeping you from the worst of it, I imagine.” Adrian moved back to the controls as the skycar began its initial descent, banking slowly downward to their mysterious destination. “I told you that there are things worse than death.”
Ianthe gripped the seat underneath her, trying to separate herself from what she had felt through the bond. Legion was suffering terribly, but also actively trying to hide it from her. She did not want to think about what kind of shape he would be in when they were finally reunited. The momentary flash that she had experienced had been enough to make her pass out, it wasn’t hard to imagine that his mind might break completely.
“Why are you helping him like this?” She held no illusions that Adrian was doing all of this for her. “Why not just leave him to rot?”
Adrian’s gaze was solemn “I owe him significantly more than that.”
She looked out the window to see that they were located in a less populous section of the mid-levels, far from the commercial centers or government buildings. A handful of residences were spread around a landing pad made of packed dirt. The place appeared to be deserted for as far as she could see. The skycar touched down with a jolt, rocking her against the door.
“Where are we?”
He did not initially respond as the skycar powered down until she asked again. “This is a safe-house. It’s off the grid and disconnected. As long as you don’t try to access the CommNet or leave, it should stay that way.”
The way that he said it tipped her off. “You’re leaving?”
“You’ll be safe here. If I want to have any chance of recovering Legion then I have to leave now.” He slid the door open and gestured for her to jump out. “Just trust me.”
Ianthe opened her mouth to reply, but something moved near one of the outbuildings, diverting her attention. Momentarily forgetting about Adrian, Ianthe jumped out of the skycar and hurtled across the landing pad. Her bare feet struck hard against the crack
ed pavement, but she ignored the discomfort to focus on the achingly familiar figure that had emerged from an open doorway.
A moment later, her arms were wrapped around the sister that she had not seen in weeks. Circe still wore wore the familiar scarf around her head that obscured part of her face but Ianthe would recognize her from a mile away.
Both of them were crying as they embraced. Circe for reasons that were unknown and Ianthe because the feelings of guilt and forsaken responsibility momentarily overcame her. She had not thought about what fate awaited her family given her actions and seeing her sister alive and unharmed relieved a burden that she had not even realized she carried.
Ianthe was not aware that she cried until the tears burned her eyes and obscured her vision. She could barely speak through the sobs. “How are you here?”
“You’re friend Adrian brought us. He said that it wasn’t safe for us at home and that you would explain everything when we saw you.”
Ianthe looked back at the skycar to see him leaning against it, arms crossed casually over his chest. He did not look much like an avenging angel, but Ianthe could not deny that he had saved her life now many times over.
“Is Eaon here, too?”
“Yes, he’s asleep inside.” Circe used the end of her scarf to dab at her eyes. “I don’t know why I’m crying. It’s just been so long and I’ve heard so many crazy things. Adrian wouldn’t even tell us how you’d met.”
The man in question was climbing back into the skycar, clearly intending to take no part in their reunion. “It’s a long story, but I promise to tell you everything.”
Because how hard could it be to explain that she had been mated against her will by a criminal Alpha who had been arrested by Central Command for crimes against the Crown, resulting in her own imprisonment and near rape at the hands of the corrupted official actually responsible for it all?
The answer, of course, was not difficult at all.
Chapter Seven
Circe sat with one hand cradling her chin as she listened to Ianthe describe all that had occurred since the last time they’d been seen each other. Eaon was in the corner pretending not listen as he idly poked at a piece of wood with a knife that she assumed he had picked up from somewhere in the tiny kitchen.
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