Slave Gold 2: Cardinal Warriors (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Becca Van

  She turned back to the warrior she’d first encountered in the hall. “What’s your name?”

  “Ryker, Nav.”

  “Can I just call you Ryker? Or do I need to use both names?”

  “Both names?” Ryker asked.

  “Ryker Nav.”

  He shook his head at her. “I am Ryker. You are Nav Tammock.”

  “Oh.” Annie wondered what Nav meant. She would have to ask her mates later. She knew Tammock was her men’s last name. Maybe it meant Mrs. She pulled her wayward thoughts back to the situation at hand. “Are my men in there?” She pointed to the closed doors.

  “Yes, Nav. They are being held against their will like I was. The Sytax are a mind-control race. We have warred with them for many years and were able to kill many using the weapons from our battle and fighter ships, but we cannot fight mind to mind.”

  “Well, we can now.” Annie took a deep breath and released it. “Can you get the doors open? Have the Sytax taken control of the ship?”

  “They have, my Nav.”

  His Nav? That is just weird.

  Annie turned to the biggest green alien and, using her mind, commanded him to open the doors. They swished open, and she glanced about the room. When she couldn’t see her guys, she looked up. Rage permeated her to her soul when she saw them stuck to the ceiling. Shar, Baro, Mott, and Riek were in their animal form.

  They were the biggest damn cats she’d ever seen, but they were so beautiful her breath caught in her throat. Their gray coats had an almost silver sheen to them and looked as soft as silk. The fangs weren’t as long as a saber-toothed tigers would have been, but they were longer than any other cats she’d ever seen. And their claws were elongated and looked to be razor sharp.

  Her men were struggling, and even though their mouths were open as if they were roaring, she couldn’t hear them. There were at least ten other warriors in animal form pinned to various parts of the walls, floor, and ceiling. None of the other cats had fur as light as her men.

  Annie stepped into the room, Ryker on one side of her and big green alien dude on the other. She reached out to the four green aliens she'd connected her mind with and directed them to the six green, slimy dudes near the command chairs and control panels.

  The other aliens must have thought the green things she controlled had taken them all prisoner and after a glance, looked back to whatever they were doing. They didn’t know what hit them. They were all dead within moments. Annie then turned toward the big green bastard and had him kill the other four things she had gained control over, and then she made him release all the men pinned down.

  Shar, Baro, Mott, and Riek landed on their feet with a soft thud and rushed toward her but stopped when Annie held up a hand. She looked into big green dude’s eyes and with a thought, ordered him to slash his own throat.

  As her mind disconnected with its, blinding agony pierced her skull, and she sank toward the floor and into oblivion.

  Chapter Nine

  Baro roared with fear and fury when Ryker caught his bonded. He didn’t want any other warrior touching his woman, but he was glad that he’d saved her from hurting herself when she fell. He was still shaking with anger and fury at what the Sytax had tried to do, but his worry for Annie was like nothing he’d felt before. He kept changing from his crug to man and back again.

  He also wanted answers, but first he and his male kin needed to make sure their mate was well.

  “Must,” Baro yelled and looked toward the door. What he saw gave him pause. All their men save for a few were looking at his bonded with reverence and concern.

  “What the fuck is going on?” Shar roared.

  Baro glared at the hundred or so warriors standing in the hallway. All of them were jostling each other as they tried to see Annie.

  Ryker gently transferred Annie into Baro’s arms, and he sighed with relief when Must pushed through the men and stopped next to him. He ran the medi-scanner over his mate but looked at him with contriteness before speaking.

  “You need to put her down so I can get a correct reading of her,” Must said.

  Baro didn’t want to put Annie down on the floor, but he wanted to know what was happening, too, so he moved away from the dead Sytaxes and their wretched-smelling blood before gently placing her on the floor. What happened next was an enigma. Ryker and five other warriors opened their uniforms and ripped the tops halves off. Each of them folded the material, and then Ryker placed them one on top of the other before gently lifting Annie’s head and placing it between her and the cold metallic floor.

  He stayed kneeling beside her, quiet and apprehensive, as Must examined her. When the healer was done, he looked into his eyes.

  “Your female is well, but totally exhausted. It’s like she has been depleted of all strength, physical as well as mental. I expect she will sleep for a long time.”

  Baro reached out, gripping Must’s uniform top when he went to get up. “How long?”

  Must cleared his throat nervously. “A moon rising or two. Maybe even as much as a seven moon risings.”

  “You will scan her every…day.” Baro had difficulty saying the words Annie normally did, but he did so in hopes of feeling closer to her. He felt guilty enough for cutting off all his emotions from her when the Sytax had breached the control room, but he hadn’t wanted her to feel his fury or pain when he’d been pinned to the ceiling like a helpless youngling. Maybe if he had stayed connected to her she would still be awake.

  “I will, Nava.” Must nodded in agreement to his order before rising to his feet.

  “Nava Shar,” Ryker said nervously. “Your bonded saved us all.”

  “What?” Riek asked.

  “Nav Annie was somehow able to get into the mind of the Sytax leader and control him. She had him kill many of his own kind and then infiltrated the mind of four others. As you saw for yourselves, she directed them to kill the Sytax in the control room before getting that one to release you all and then she made him terminate himself.”

  “How the hell is that even possible?” Baro asked, although he didn’t really expect Ryker to answer the question. When he looked from Annie to Ryker, the warrior was shaking his head.

  “No wonder she is so tired.” Mott knelt beside Annie and lifted her into his arms. “Must, make sure no damage was done to her mind.”

  “The scans of your mate read normal. Her brain activity was as before. The only thing I could detect wrong with Nav Annie was exhaustion.”

  Baro stood and then helped Mott to his feet. He didn’t want his kin stumbling and jostling their bonded.

  “What are you all waiting for?” Shar roared his question and glared at all the warriors. “Get to work and clean this fucking mess up. Sanjay, when all the bodies have been jettisoned, make sure the air is purified. We don’t want our female having to smell their stench.”

  “Yes, Nava Tammock.”

  “Ragga, what’s the fighter’s status?” Shar moved toward Annie and smoothed her hair back from her face.

  “All fighters accounted for. The Sytax weren’t able to penetrate their protective shields and control the pilots. The pilots were able to blow the Sytax ship apart.”

  “Good.” Shar looked toward Ragga. “Get the technicians to upgrade the battleship shields to the same as the fighters’. We don’t ever want to have this happen again. And make sure to pass the upgrades on to the fleet. Every battleship is to have the enhanced protection shields.”

  “Right away, Nava.” Ragga bowed to Shar, Baro, Mott, and Riek. And then he bowed low toward Annie before giving her the respectful salute only a high commander or ruler ever received from their men.

  Baro moved in front of Mott and began to stride toward the doors. Riek fell in behind Mott as added protection, but as each and every one of their men bowed low and saluted Annie, he knew it wasn’t needed.

  Their bonded had earned the respect and gratitude of every single warrior onboard ship, and he knew they would protect her with their
lives.

  Shar’s commanding voice faded in the distance as he and his brothers headed toward their quarters. Baro just wished it would be this easy for them to have the Council Elders accept their mate, too. But somehow he knew they were going to baulk at the fact that their bonded was a human.

  * * * *

  Mott could barely stand to take his gaze from Annie’s face. He’d been scared shitless when he’d seen her walk into the control room with five big-ass Sytax at her side and behind her. The fear had made him tremble. Well, at least on the inside, since he’d been pinned to the fucking ceiling and hadn’t been able to move. He’d been so frightened that Annie would be hurt or even killed.

  With a sigh, he pushed those disconcerting thoughts aside.

  He still couldn’t manage to wrap his head around the fact that their woman had somehow infiltrated the Sytax’s mind and taken control of their bodies. But right now he was more worried about Annie’s welfare. Did being in those slimy fuckers’ heads affect hers? Is that why she was unconscious in his arms?

  He paused outside their rooms, waiting for Riek or Baro to open their quarters’ door. He could have done it, but he didn’t want to jostle Annie in any way. He followed Riek in and headed straight for Shar’s sleep chamber, or bedroom, as his bonded called it. When she woke, he wanted her to be somewhere familiar. Plus, Shar’s room and bed were the largest out of all four sleep chambers. There was plenty of room for all five of them to sleep comfortably. Although there was a bedcover, the ambient temperature was always comfortable enough for it to be unnecessary.

  Mott paused beside the bed, and although he was reluctant to relinquish Annie from his arms and put her down, he knew her sleep would be more restful. He carefully lowered her to the conforming mattress and with his male kin’s help, removed the small warrior uniform they had created for her. When she’d first put in on, his breath had hitched in his throat and his cock had begun to harden again. She was so fucking beautiful and sexy, she took his breath away.

  With a sigh of resignation, they covered her up, before all of them headed back to the greeting room.

  “How long before we arrive back on Cardinal?” Riek asked.

  “You should be able to answer that question the same as me and Mott,” Baro said in a growly voice.

  “My mind is still trying to catch up with everything that’s happened. Give me a break,” Riek snapped.

  “Would you two calm the fuck down,” Mott interjected. Although he was feeling as aggressive as his brothers, he was able to keep his emotions in check better than they could.

  “How much damage was done to the ship?” he asked, hoping the change of subject would help calm his kin.

  “Just the loading dock was blown out. Thank God it wasn’t on the port side where all the fighters were and no one was in there at the time.” Baro wiped a hand over his face.

  “Yes, we were damn lucky,” Riek said.

  “What I’d like to know is how the hell the Sytax were able to get so close without us detecting them,” Baro snapped. “They never had the shielding we did. Even though they have mind control, they were always way behind us with technology.”

  “That’s a damn good question.” Mott sat on a plank and waited for it to mold to his body. But when a supposition entered his mind, he straightened again. Riek had just grabbed a bottle of lacca and brought it with goblets to the floating table. He poured the fermented juice before handing it out.

  “Who else in the galaxies has cloaking technology?” Riek asked.

  “How were they able to see us when we were cloaked in the first place?” Baro picked up his goblet and drained it.

  “Someone has to have handed over the schematics,” Mott said.

  “That’s what I was just thinking,” Baro snarled.

  “You think we have a traitor onboard?” Riek frowned.

  “Who said they’re onboard?” Mott asked. “It could be anyone back on our home world.”

  “But why?” Riek’s hand tightened around his goblet, turning his knuckles white. “Why would one of our own sell us out?”

  “Credits,” Baro said.

  “Control and power?” Mott speculated. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense.

  “What would be the point? They would be putting our species in danger of extinction,” Riek said. “The Sytax are afraid of us and normally do everything they can to steer clear.”

  “What if they were promised something?” Baro asked.

  “Like what?” Riek questioned.

  “Planet control and rule.” Mott downed his lacca before refilling his goblet.

  “You think someone’s trying to usurp our regime? Why?” Riek asked.

  “Absolute power.”

  “That doesn’t make sense, Mott. By handing our technology over to the Sytax, whoever wants us gone to take over supreme rule, they would be putting their own plans in jeopardy. There’s no guarantee the Sytax will step back if they are able to destroy us.”

  “It doesn’t have to make sense,” Baro said. “Not everyone is as sane as we are.”

  “Damn.” Riek sank back into his seat. “What the hell are we going to do?”

  “We try and find our traitor.” Baro rose to his feet. “Shar agrees and wants me in control. We keep quiet about this until we know for sure no messages were sent out from this ship.”

  “And if they were?” Riek asked.

  “Then we find out who, when, and what was sent. Whoever has committed treason has just signed their own death card.” Baro exited.

  “Do you think Annie is going to be all right?” Riek asked, echoing Mott's concerns.

  “Must said she would.”

  “I don’t think I will be able to stop worrying until she awakens.”

  “Nor I,” Mott agreed.

  “I can’t even feel her through our bond.” Riek rubbed at his chest and sighed. “It’s like she’s not there.”

  “I know.” Mott pressed a hand to his aching head. His crug was pacing continuously and making it damn hard to concentrate. He just hoped that Annie woke up before their beasts got out of control. Baro and Shar were the most dominant and aggressive of them, and if they let their inner animals reign supreme, he didn’t hold out much hope for him and Riek to keep it together.

  The emptiness was a huge void in his heart and mind after being filled with their mate's spirit. He wasn’t sure how long he could endure it, but he would hold on for as long as he could. Giving in to his animal side wasn’t an option. If they did, all their warriors would be in jeopardy.

  Once mated, they needed to be connected to their mates, in mind, body, and spirit, nearly constantly. Not having her with them could drive them all insane. Hopefully, by keeping busy by trying to find the illicit traitor, they could keep it together until Annie woke.

  Mott pushed to his feet and headed toward the door. “Keep an eye on our mate. I need to go and do something productive.”

  Riek nodded, got up, and walked toward the sleeping chambers.

  “Contact us if there’s any change.”

  “I will.”

  Mott left their quarters and headed for control. If there was a traitor, he and his kin would find them. He couldn’t imagine why one of their own would want to sell them out to the Sytax, but he wouldn’t give up until the traitor had been found.

  He hurried over to his command chair, pausing to confer with Shar and Baro before getting to work.

  “Have you found anything?”

  “No.” Baro sighed in frustration.

  “What have you looked at so far?”

  “All outgoing communications for the last Sept, or six months, as Annie would say,” Shar answered.

  “Do you think that’s going far enough back? For all we know there could have been comms happening for eons.”

  “Mott has a point.” Baro glanced at Shar.

  “And I want all comms from Cardinal sent to the ship. We need to look into every single person from our world.”
r />   “That would take forever to go through.” Shar paced away before coming back. “Start with the Council Elders and the higher warriors.”

  “You don’t think our men would betray us, do you?” Mott asked.

  Shar shrugged. “Don’t overlook any possibility. None of us know how long the Sytax have had their hands on our technology.”

  “Damn it. I wish we could question one of those slimy bastards.”

  “They wouldn’t have answered, Mott,” Baro said.

  “Maybe not, but Annie might have been able to get the answer from one of them.”

  “There is that.” Shar smiled and pointed a finger at him. “She was so fucking amazing.”

  “Yes, she was,” Mott agreed.

  “Let’s just hope there was no permanent damage done to our bonded,” Baro snapped.

  “Must said—”

  “I don’t give a shit what Must said,” Baro snarled, and his talons erupted from his fingertips.

  Mott placed a hand on Baro’s shoulder and squeezed. “Calm. We have to stay in control for our mate. Think of our Annie every time your anger takes hold. You don’t want to have the deaths of innocent warriors on your hands if your crug takes hold.”

  Baro drew in a deep breath and exhaled. Mott felt the tension leave his kin’s shoulders and removed his hand from him. “I’ll get to work on the planet comms.”

  Shar nodded.

  Baro, Shar, and Mott worked tirelessly searching for their traitor. It didn’t matter how long this took. He and his male kin wouldn’t give up until they found the treasonous bastard intent on selling them out.

  It would take them just under a week to get back to Cardinal. Mott hoped that he and his brothers found their criminal before arriving home.

  They needed to strategize to draw their quisling out. Losing wasn’t an option.

  Their whole species was already in jeopardy because of the lack of women, but this was worse. That one of their own could give their technology away for credits was unconscionable.