Claiming His Unexpected Baby

by Michelle Howard

  “Who took her? Who has Fleur?” Though in her heart, she already had an idea.

  Saedra pulled away from Garik as much as he’d let her. “I think it was your ex, Roan. Fleur said the bad man was here. I looked over my shoulder and he shoved me aside. I tried to keep him away from your daughter but he grabbed her. It happened so fast. He put his hand over her mouth and started running. I chased him and slashed with the knife but he pushed me again.”

  “You need to go to the medical center and have a scan run. Amelie, call the authorities and report this.” Scarlett rattled out instructions like a general and Amelie responding instantly.

  “Scan? What’s wrong with her?” Garik barked. The whites of his eyes were larger than the silver orbs as he stroked her hair.

  “For the baby. I want to make sure everything is fine. Sounds like Roan got rough with her.”

  Amelie hurried inside and grabbed her comm. Her fingers shook as she entered the emergency code for the authorities. The confirmation alert sent back a message immediately. Someone would be on route shortly.

  Unable to breathe, Amelie fell into her counter and braced her arm there to support her weight. Roan had her baby. He’d taken Fleur. Was she scared? Looking for her mommy?

  “The staff at the medical center will take good care of you,” Scarlett said to Saedra behind her.

  Amelie turned and wheezed. Her chest was tight and a heavy weight pressed down on her. Scarlett took one look at her and hugged Amelie close. “Breathe. It’s going to be alright. That bastard won’t get away with this, Amelie.”

  “Fleur,” was all she could say. She couldn’t return the embrace, her arms hung limp at her sides while she imagined Fleur’s fear right now.

  Scarlett rocked Amelia from side to side. “Fleur is tough. Roan better watch out. Our girl will give him more trouble than he’s ready for.”

  “I want Sulen.” Her heart screamed for him. He’d find Fleur and bring her back to Amelie.

  “I contacted Sulen and he is on his way back.” Garik came in with his hand clenched around Saedra’s.

  Medics came in behind the group through her open door. Then the colony authorities. Suddenly there was a flurry of activity in her home. Scarlett let Amelie go and went to speak to the medics about Saedra. Garik reluctantly let go of Saedra and walked straight toward Amelie. “We’ll find her. Saedra insisted I stay and help get her back.”

  The distress and conflict at the directive was easy to read in his gaze. His hands twitched continuously and he had one eye on the medics talking to Saedra the entire time.

  “You should be with Saedra. I remember how scary it was when I was pregnant and alone.”

  “Noo! He’s staying or I’m not leaving. This is my fault. I wasn’t paying attention and I have zero fighting skills,” she broke on a sob then held up a hand to stop Garik from going to her. “Until Sulen returns, you’re the best chance that little girl has Garik. You know that.”

  “No, I don’t like the idea of leaving you with strangers,” Garik snapped back.

  Scarlett looked between the two of them, her brows low slashes as she frowned. “I’ll go. I’ll go with Saedra but you better make damn sure you catch Roan and bring Fleur back.”

  Based on the glare he shifted to Scarlett, Amelie wasn’t sure it was a deal the assassin would take. Then his lips firmed and he gave an abrupt nod. “Tell Sulen when he arrives, I’ll have my comm set to our old frequency.”

  He gripped the back of Saedra’s neck and kissed her hard. Amelie was surrounded by the three enforcers who’d responded to her alert. Their questions pounded at her and she answered them as detailed as possible.

  “Can you hurry?” she broke in finally. “I know Roan is the one who took her. He’s been threatening to take my baby since he arrived.”

  “Roan Dunn with the Ambassador of Trigodor’s party, correct?” The apparent lead investigator asked.

  “Yes.” She’d told them that over and over.

  He and his team finally seemed as if they’d act. “We’ll contact him and see if they have information leading to the whereabouts of Dunn.”

  If? Amelie pressed her knuckles to her mouth to still her screams. No one else would have had a reason to take Fleur. He’d obviously received the notice to his claims just as she had. This was his way of striking back.

  Amelie wanted her daughter back. Now! Everyone was wasting time as if Roan was rational. There was nothing rational about snatching a little girl from the front of her home.

  “I’ll be back, Amelie. I promise.” Scarlett had an arm curved about Saedra and turned to Garik. “Remember that Fleur is just as important to us as Saedra is to you.”

  Then she left with the medics.

  All but one of the enforcers stayed behind. As far as she was concerned, Amelie was alone. Alone with her fear and her worry.

  ***

  Sulen met with the Guild to give them the information on completing Drekul’s assassination. They were pleased with his performance as usual. He bowed to the men seated at the long table and was about to leave when the Master of the Guild stopped him with a question. “Your contract is up for renewal, Sulen Czen. Do you wish to confirm now?”

  There was a goblet of golden liquid on the table. One drop of his blood in that cup would change his future for the next two years if Sulen accepted the renewal. All the years before, he’d never hesitated to cut himself and confirm his contract.

  If he did this, could he still be a family with Amelie? Would she wait for him when he was gone for days at a time doing what needed to be done and unable to tell her the where or when of what he was doing?

  Then there was Fleur. She called him daddy with such ease and even though it was a stretch, Sulen felt like he was her father. A part of him was connected to that little girl and he didn’t want that feeling to change.

  “Sulen?”

  His hesitation drew stares. Pushing his shoulders back, he met their gazes. “I will return with my answer for the Guild once I’ve seen to a private matter.”

  “A...private matter?” the Master repeated with a strategic pause.

  “Yes.” Sulen kept his answer simple.

  A heavy silence fell through the room. Then. “Very well.”

  Bowing again, Sulen hurried out. His comm vibrated in his pants as soon as he turned it on. There was a single message from Garik.

  You need to have your ass back here.

  Sulen entered Garik’s comm code. As soon as he answered, questions spewed forth. “What happened? Is Amelie alright? Fleur?”

  Outside the Guild main headquarters, Sulen picked up his pace and took a multi-passenger rail car.

  “Roan. Get here now,” Garik snapped.

  Unable to sit, Sulen stood by the door, so he’d be the first one off at the transport station. Fear and worry churned in his gut. Other passengers cast odd stares at his tense black leather coated figure. He didn’t care. Outwardly he appeared calm, but inside, his anger was climbing at an astronomical rate and passing the fear. Roan needed to die.

  Sulen lowered his voice. “Just tell me what Roan has done, Garik.”

  “He’s taken Fleur. Your bond mate is a wreck and Saedra has been taken to the medical facility here. If I get my hands on him first, there will be nothing left for the authorities.

  Sulen pressed his palm against the mechanical doors, wishing he could get to the transport station faster. Fleur taken? Saedra seeing medics? If Roan was the reason Saedra was hurt, it was a miracle Garik hadn’t killed him already.

  “Tell Amelie I’m on my way.” He couldn’t talk to her directly or he’d break.

  The rail car doors chimed and Sulen slid through the barely open gap, racing toward the nearest station. There was a shuttle leaving in five minutes.

  “Seats are sold,” he was told at the gate by a mechanical voice.

  Sulen banged his fist on the window plate of the machine in hopes of getting the attention of whoever manned the device. “You don’t under
stand. I need to be on that ship. My mate needs me.”

  His bond mate. He and Amelie had made their bond a reality in truth and without the focus of his assignment, her growing worry stabbed at his senses through the bond with relentless jabs.

  A human voice replaced the mechanical one and came through the speakers. “How can I help you?”

  Sulen took a deep breath and controlled his rage. He curled his fingers and dropped his hand. “I need to leave. Now.”

  “There will be another shuttle taking off in thirty minutes.”

  Shaking his head, Sulen plowed his fingers through his hair. “It might be too late. My bond mate and child are in danger.”

  “One moment.”

  Silence hummed and Sulen braced himself for a denial while mentally going through all of those he could reach out to for possible help. There was Xyman but the mercenary hadn’t been seen or heard from in a while.

  “Passage approved. Please insert payment for the appropriate credits,” the mechanical voice stated.

  Relief had Sulen’s hands shaking as he secured a seat on the shuttle. Every second of the trip left him vibrating with tension. He didn’t like the feeling and cursed Roan. If anything happened to Fleur—Sulen couldn’t even finish the thought. Her world was bright and colorful. She didn’t deserve to have Roan’s darkness taking up space in her head.

  He reached the Gerelin colony a few hours later and commed Amelie. No answer. Getting to her house was paramount. Sulen ran down her street, ignoring those who called out greetings. It was late and the sun was going down. Up ahead, her house stood out like a beacon. He leaped over Amelie’s small gate and pounded up her stairs.

  When he reached her door, he banged the code in but the door was roughly opened from the inside. Amelie cried out when she saw him and fell into his arms. “Sulen! He took my baby, Sulen. Bring her back.”

  She broke into shuddering sobs as he wrapped his arms around her. Her cries tore at him and he didn’t know what to do. Lifting her in his arms, Sulen carried her inside and closed the door behind him with his foot.

  He stiffened at the sight of a uniformed man seated on a stool at the kitchen counter. He rose at Sulen’s arrival. “I’m Enforcer Targis. You are?”

  “Her bond mate.” Sulen ran his hands up and down Amelie’s back. “What happened?”

  Targis glanced from Amelie then back to Sulen. His gaze softened. “We received a report that a male suspect approached the woman and child out front. The woman tried to defend herself and managed to injure him. The child was taken as the assailant ran off.”

  Sulen tried to work it out in his head. “Saedra. Was Saedra the one with Fleur?”

  Amelie eased from his arms and wiped her face. Her cheeks were puffy and her eyes were red. “Saedra was playing with her when Roan came up to them. She cut him with her knife.”

  She grinned maliciously as she said the last part.

  “Garik must have freaked.” To put it mildly and Saedra was pregnant.

  Amelie released a watery chuckle. “I thought the way he was around me was intense but when everything happened, he reacted in a way they chilled me to the bone.”

  It was the assazi in him. Years had not dulled Garik’s edge. If anything, time away had increased his vigilance because of Garik’s obsession with seeing to Saedra’s safety. Her background was filled with a dark past and Garik was determined she never experienced anything close to it again.

  “Scarlett went with Saedra and Garik left to search for Roan and Fleur. He said to use his old comm code.”

  The one Sulen used earlier. Time to join Garik. He nodded, kissed Amelie on the forehead and whispered, “I’m going to find her. He will pay for this, Amelie.”

  Her hands gripped his shirt tight then she released him. A sheen of tears glimmered in her eyes but she appeared to remain strong, holding his stare. “Okay.”

  Chapter 17

  The evening grew dark and Sulen’s temper flared. Beside him, Garik snarled, “Where the fuck is he?”

  That was Sulen’s question. Granted, he and Garik were working without any intel or prepared report to go off but between the two of them, it should have been easy to find a trail or sign of Roan. “I think it’s time we question his wife and the ambassador.”

  They were the two who might have an idea of where Roan had taken Fleur.

  Garik’s silver gaze narrowed. “Do you think they have a hand in this?”

  “I’m sure you have the same information I have from your background check on Roan. His work with the ambassador has not been seen in a good light of late, not that it was ever great. Aviana’s reputation as a spoiled socialite seems fairly accurate.”

  They’d canvassed areas within a wider and wider radius of Amelie’s house in desperation and found nothing. The trail had vanished once Roan left the residential area. There was a wooded park that spanned hundreds of acres they hadn’t had a chance to explore yet.

  “I’m at a loss,” Sulen reluctantly admitted as they stood at the end of the city line and gazed into the wooded darkness.

  Garik answered his buzzing comm and his face drained of color. He turned on his heels, snapping out words as his pace quickened. “I have to go. There’s something wrong with Saedra’s numbers. They want to do testing to see if the baby is in distress.”

  Sulen was torn. He stared in the direction he was willing to bet Roan had taken Fleur. There was nowhere else for him to hide. Roan wasn’t from here, so he didn’t have specific places to connect him to. The woods was his only option to hide.

  Sulen thought of Garik’s temper. He needed to make sure Garik didn’t kill anyone in his worry for his bond mate. He chased after him but Garik stopped and jabbed a finger in the air between them. “No. Getting Amelie’s daughter back is your priority, Saedra is mine. You find the bastard and make him pay. I don’t care how many of our peers you have to contact. He does not get away with this, Sulen.”

  Garik took off again, leaving Sulen behind with the truth of his words. Time was ticking, Fleur needed her father and it wasn’t Roan. She needed him. Filled with a rush of determination to not fail her, Sulen started sending out comms to all of his assassin compatriots.

  As soon as he’d sent out the last emergency message, his comm began a continuous vibration. Responses piled in, message after message of his peers offering their services immediately. A sense of purpose filled him. Scrolling through the names, Sulen selected the one with unparalleled tracking abilities due to his genetic traits.

  He entered the correct comm code and the call was picked up instantly. “When and where do you need me, Sulen?”

  His pulse steadied and Sulen finally felt in control since receiving Garik’s call. Amar. His skills were exactly what he needed. “I’m on Covard, the Gerelin colony. Faster is better. There’s a little girl’s life on the line.”

  “Yours?” Amar asked, surprise reflected in the question.

  “Yes.” As far as Sulen was concerned, Fleur was his.

  “On my way.”

  Not willing to go back and see the disappointment on Amelie’s face, Sulen headed toward the woods. He’d do his best tracking until Amar arrived. It could be several hours depending on how far Amar was. Sulen had no intentions of waiting when Fleur could be terrified.

  ***

  It was well into the night and the sun had gone down when Sulen received Amar’s comm. A simple message scrolled over the screen.

  I’m here and tracking. I found your marks easily.

  Good. Sulen had deliberately left signs for Amar to be able to catch up to him quickly. Within minutes a low whistle came from above. Sulen tipped his head back and the other assassin dropped down from a cluster of trees.

  Amar walked toward Sulen and flicked his hands, retracting the deadly claws he’d more than likely used to jump from tree to tree to reach Sulen. Sandy blond hair ruffled in the cool night air. Temperatures were falling and it would soon be cold. Too cold for a little girl who tended to wear frill
y skirts for twirling.

  “Any more info?” Amar asked when he was close enough their voices wouldn’t carry.

  “Nothing. Garik and I checked around the home but we feel certain he’d use the woods to hide.” If Roan thought they’d exhaust the search and he’d be able to hide on the ambassador’s ship when they departed, he was sadly mistaken.

  Amar closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. His nostrils flared and a low rumble rolled forth. “Blood. Not a lot.”

  He opened his eyes and pointed toward the right. It was the direction Sulen had been heading. They both took off at a run, Amar soon outpacing Sulen with his animal grace and speed.

  The sound of crying reached them before they caught sight of anything. Amar veered sharply to the left and leaped for the nearest tree, his claws silent as he scrabbled to the top, leaving Sulen behind.

  Sulen dropped to a crouch fighting the urge to burst into the clearing and beat Roan within an inch of his life.

  “Shut up! Let me think!” Roan screamed, digging his fingers in his hair as he walked back and forth in front of Fleur.

  She was sitting on the ground, her yellow skirt torn and flared about her legs. Leaves stuck to her hair and her lips trembled while she worked to still her whimpers. Her dark hair was in a tumble, the lone ponytail covered in more leaves and bramble.

  For all her energy and mischievous ways, Sulen had never seen Fleur in such disarray. She worked hard at her princess angle and loved to be neat and flashy.

  “I wanna go home,” Fleur whispered stubbornly, kicking her legs out.

  Roan spun around and glared. “You’re going with me.”

  “I want my mommy.” With a pout, Fleur jumped to her feet and stomped. “You’re mean and a bad man.”

  “Aviana will be your mommy and I’m not a bad man. I’m your daddy.”

  Hurt flashed on Fleur’s face and her bottom lip poked out. Then she shook her head and backed up. The stubborn and brave nature Sulen admired came back in full force. “You’re bad. My daddy hugs me. He picks me up and smiles at me. You yell.”