The Vilka's Captive: Scifi Alien Romance (Shifters of Kladuu Book 3)

by Pearl Foxx

  Zayd slammed a fist down on the table. “It’s a Vilka? A Vilka has been kidnapping people?”

  Gerrit nodded with embarrassment. “It appears that not only has he been engaging in flesh trade, but has been working with a very high-ranking military official on Earth. We believe he has been selling our trapped young in exchange for the humans.”

  Debj’an, Zayd, and Maxsym all began speaking at the same time. Anger and frustration filled the room, overwhelming Nestan with the cacophony of emotions.

  “Enough!” Rayner shouted above the fray. “We will get nowhere arguing amongst ourselves. This is a real threat to all Kladians.”

  Maxsym leaned back in his chair and interlaced his fingers over his chest. Glittering green eyes looked around the room with a squint. “How do you know this?”

  “We have nothing concrete,” Gerrit said.

  Before he could continue, Linnea’s soft voice broke through the aggressive energy of the room. “I snuck here aboard a slaver ship.” Everyone instantly fell silent. “I came to Kladuu looking for my sister, Jude, and the only way I knew to follow her was to infiltrate the flesh trade. While I was there, I heard some of Savas’s men talking about an arrangement they had made with Commander Gideon. He’s the leader of the American Corporation’s galactic military fleet. He’s ruthless. Fanatical. And if he’s involved then we have a problem.”

  “Gideon,” Zayd hissed. The words sounded like a curse on his lips.

  “When I arrived on Kladuu, I witnessed not only the imprisonment of Dirim but also another clan they were working with.” Linnea looked at Nestan for a moment, hesitancy in her eyes.

  He wasn’t sure what to say, he was the son of the man who had committed these horrors. He was complicit in them by blood. But he probably knew more about the underground arrangement than anyone else. “Savas has been working with the Hylas,” he announced.

  He could have sworn he heard the flapping of wings even though none of the Draqons had shifted.

  “The Hylas have always been secretive,” Gerrit continued. “While we were at their city recently, my mate and I witnessed firsthand that they are not only partaking in the flesh trade, they are exploiting those who are sold for sex.”

  “How is it we haven’t heard of this?” Maxsym asked.

  Gerrit’s eyes were steady on the Draqon Swarm Master. “You’re hearing of it now.”

  “If it was known that the Hylas were working with this trader, then such information should have been shared with the rest of the clans,” Zayd said.

  Gerrit’s jaw tightened, and Nestan knew his cousin well enough to know that while his skills in diplomacy were well-trained, he was not without a breaking point. Taking a deep breath, Nestan decided that if there was ever a moment to declare himself a man worthy of someone like Linnea—a man unlike his father—then it was now.

  “Anything Gerrit may have seen at the Vydal is certainly second to the acts of my father,” he stated, sitting up and straightening his back. Black and golden eyes snapped to him, and for a moment, he couldn’t breathe, but Linnea’s hand in his and his absolute belief that his father had to be stopped kept him speaking. “The Hylas can’t be trusted. They are taking men and women through the flesh trade not only for their pleasures but also for manual labor. The Hylas have been trading with my father since he split from the Vilkan pack six months ago. But I believe it’s been going on for some time before that, and from what I have seen, there’s no reason to believe they will stop.”

  “There’s supposed to be a treaty between the Vilkas and Hylas,” Debj’an said.

  “There is,” Gerrit replied. “But the Hylas have broken that agreement in more ways than one, and the most important has been their complacency in Savas’s crimes.”

  “What’s to be done?” Zayd’s gruff voice scratched across the massive table like an assault. “If you can’t stop your own clan members from committing crimes, what’s to make us believe you can stop the Hylas?”

  “That is precisely why you are here.” Gerrit leaned back in his chair. “This is not a war we can wage on our own. The Hylas are powerful, and while they may be untrustworthy, we all are still in need of their assistance in one specific matter.”

  Debj’an leaned forward. Her long, black hair fell over her shoulders, and for a moment, Nestan was sure he could see her fangs peeking out from beneath her top lip. “Our young.” The woman minced no words, bringing to the forefront of the conversation the issue no one wanted to face directly. “The clans of Kladuu had been losing their children, and the only clan with any solution has declared themselves the enemy by aligning with a flesh trader and betrayer.”

  Gerrit looked at Jude, who nodded and handed him a dark red bag. Rising, he placed the bag on the table. “During my last meeting with the Hylas, they promised medicine for members of our clan who were pregnant, which would ensure their children were born with the ability to shift between the two forms.” He opened the red bag and pulled out three boxes. “However, as the problem we are facing is not only for the Vilkas, we feel it would be wrong to keep this medicine for only ourselves.”

  Gerrit opened the box, showing the gray powder which would be used to concoct the necessary medicine. “In the spirit of peace, I have split the medication three ways. I hope this gesture will prove our dedication to Kladians as a whole, not just to one clan versus another.”

  Jude stood and took two boxes. Walking around the table, she handed one first to Debj’an and the other to Zayd.

  Zayd held the small box in his hands, turning it back and forth as if unsure of what he was looking at.

  “What would you have in exchange?” Maxsym asked. The Swarm Master had not shifted position, unfazed by Gerrit’s gesture of peace and betraying no emotion as to his thoughts on the issues of flesh trading, the trapped youth, or the humans.

  Nestan took an immediate dislike to the man, sure that someone who displayed such disdain for his Alpha in this moment of reconciliation could not be trusted.

  “We ask nothing in exchange.” Gerrit replaced his box into the bag and closed it before sitting down. “We hope that you will join us in defending Kladuu against any human invasion, because if Savas is trading shifters with this Commander Gideon, then there is nothing stopping him from selling our location to the human military. Savas is an enemy to us all. As he is the one with the alliance with the humans, I believe it’s essential we attack his stronghold and destroy the flesh trade before it becomes more firmly established on our planet.”

  Debj’an’s hand closed around the box in front of her. The golden hue of her eyes faded and was replaced with a warm brown. “My daughter is pregnant. Your man, Nestan, saved her life. He says you’re not like the rebel Vilkas who live by the cliffs of Sandiv. He tells me you’re honorable. This gesture to split the medicine tells me he speaks the truth. That you would share this medicine with the Katu is more important to our people than any display of power or agreements made in words. But if we are to assist you with Savas, then you must also help us in securing access to the rest of the medication we so desperately need without having to supplicate ourselves to the Hylas. They have wielded power on this planet for too long.”

  Gerrit nodded, but before he could respond, Zayd said, “This box means little to me.” Placing it on the table, he pushed it away from himself. “You and your people have been responsible for the deaths of thousands of Draqons. Why should I believe anything you say? Perhaps this is merely the ashes of our people.”

  Nestan leaned forward with a growl. “We are not that different. I know you hate us because I hate you. There’s no reason why we should work together. Other than that boy right there.” He pointed to Dirim who had fallen asleep in his father’s arms. “That boy was a prisoner, and I saved him. I don’t need your thanks or empty gestures. What I need is to make sure that my father never hurts another Kladian the way he hurt Dirim again. If the medication doesn’t mean anything to you, fine. If peace doesn’t mean anything to you, fine. B
ut if you care even a drop for that boy and others like him then you will help us stop this.”

  His words hung in the air, echoing around the large room with the intensity of his emotions. He was certain he’d spoken out of turn, but when he glanced at Gerrit, he received a wink and a nod. Perhaps the Draqon leader merely needed to be spoken to with the same gruffness with which he spoke.

  Suddenly, Maxsym leaned his head back and laughed. It was a splintering sound that broke the tension between the clans. “Zayd, I don’t think I’ve heard anyone speak to you that way since Sotu died.”

  Zayd’s face tightened, and his eyes grew blacker, but Maxsym ignored his obvious fury. “You will need a new mate soon. Perhaps this Nestan would be good for you. He has the strength to balance out your bullheaded ways.”

  Nestan couldn’t believe that the Swarm Master would speak to Zayd this way in front of other clan leaders, to display such disrespect to an Alpha would be considered treason among the Vilkas. But the Draqon woman who said she was Zayd’s sister-in-law chuckled, and even Zayd seemed to relax at the aggressive admonishment Maxsym gave.

  Rayner pulled out a vidscreen and tapped on it, bringing up a holomap of Kladuu. It showed the Sandiv cliffs where Savas lived, the jungles where the Katu reigned, the high snow-capped peaks of the Draqon hive, and the Vilkas’ mountain in the center. “If we are going to attack, we need to do it soon.”

  Zayd grunted, and a puff of smoke came from his nostrils. “Then we best decide on a plan of attack. First, we kill this Savas traitor then we shall align against the Hylas. Once and for all.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Linnea

  Linnea sat alone in one of the small chairs in Nestan’s room. Dirim had left with his parents hours ago, and Nestan was still holed up in the war room with Gerrit and the other clan leaders. She’d stayed for longer than she’d expected to be welcome at an intergalactic alien internal crisis meeting, but after a while, it became apparent she had no business being there. She and Jude had made their excuses and left together, and while Jude invited her back to her and Gerrit’s home, Linnea just wanted to be alone for a while.

  But if she was honest, that wasn’t true. She didn’t want to be alone; she wanted to be with Nestan. And she wanted to be here, waiting for him when he got back.

  She fiddled with the new jade-colored dress Jude had bought her in the market, appreciating the sturdy silk the fabric was woven out of. It was hard not to think about what Jude had said about her staying here and this being her home now. In all honesty, it never occurred to her that she would stay here, but then, it never occurred to her that Jude would either. In all her daydreams and thoughts about coming to Kladuu, she had always imagined that she would be rescuing Jude from some unknown horror and bringing her back to the space station she loved. But Jude didn’t want to go home, had never intended to go back to the space station, and didn’t seem to miss it.

  Would Linnea miss it?

  She’d been happy on the space station, or content anyway. Yet it had never been her dream to live amongst the stars. She’d only followed her sister as Jude chased her own destiny. Linnea had always just followed along.

  But would staying here just be more of the same?

  Would she be following Jude, following Nestan?

  The thought of him with his trimmed beard and ancient eyes sent a warmth flooding through her body. She knew she didn’t want to leave him, but she wasn’t sure she was the kind of woman who would stay just for a man. Is that what she would be doing? Staying for a man, or staying for a life?

  These were the kinds of decisions she’d avoided up until now. It was the sort of thing Jude took care of in their life. However, she knew she couldn’t let her sister make a decision so important for her this time. If she wasn’t going back, it was going to have to be for the right reasons, or she knew she’d regret it.

  She leaned back in her chair, throwing an arm over her eyes with a deep sigh. What would she be going back to if she went back to the space station? She didn’t have much of a life there beyond work and Jude. There’d been a succession of entertaining men, but none who were important enough to consider returning for. And yet Nestan had become important enough in just a couple of days for her to consider staying.

  She hadn’t noticed when it happened. It was like a virus had run through her system, and now that she was at the other side, the fever which had kept her in denial of her own feelings was finally breaking. She knew that what she felt for Nestan was more than anything she’d ever felt for one of her lovers before. It was more than she’d ever felt for anyone before. Really, the only other person she’d ever loved was Jude.

  Loved.

  She couldn’t believe she’d just thought that word.

  She didn’t love Nestan. She couldn’t. She didn’t know him well enough. What kind of person fell in love with someone after a few days? That was ridiculous. And while she knew she wasn’t always the most logical or methodical person, as Jude loved to point out, she also wasn’t the type to rush off and fall for the first man who cast his eyes her way.

  But that wasn’t what attracted to her to Nestan. It was his goodness. It was the risks he’d taken for her and for Dirim. He’d clearly been suffering at his father’s camp for quite some time, but he had endured it out of some misguided sense of loyalty and a lifetime of ingrained fear. Yet when push came to shove, and the lives of other people were on the line, he had stood up and fought even though it was a battle he was almost guaranteed to lose.

  He was good. Brave. Honorable. Gorgeous and sexy as sin.

  She smiled as she thought of his long hair and scraggly beard. Even though he had looked like some kind of wild man out of stories of olden Earth before his trim, she had known he was beautiful. His strong features and deeply toned skin made her think of nights by the fire when she was young before everything turned to shit with her childhood. Nights back when her mother was still alive to roast marshmallows despite the raging heat.

  The door clicked and she sat up, pulling her arm from her eyes and blinking into the bright light of the room. When Nestan stepped in, her breath escaped her, and for a moment, she couldn’t breathe.

  He stood so tall, so strong, and in the meeting with the clan leaders, he had spoken with such force and determination about what he knew was right that her belief and admiration had soared. Whatever else she felt for him, she was certain he was a good man, the kind of man who deserved to be treated well. Not the kind of man who should be dealing with a flake like her who couldn’t even decide what planet to live on.

  Stepping into the room, he closed the door behind him awkwardly. “What are you staring at?”

  “You,” she replied. “You are amazing.”

  He shifted back and forth on his feet in the way he always did when she looked at him for too long or said something that made him uncomfortable. It was adorable in that totally sexy kind of way.

  “I didn’t do anything. I was just there to listen and make sure that Debj’an didn’t decide to tuck tail and run. Or eat us.” He sat in the chair on the other side of the small table from her so they could face each other. As he placed his hands the table, she immediately reached for them, intertwining her fingers with his.

  “That’s not true and you know it. Debj’an wouldn’t have even been there if you hadn’t talked her into it. And you managed to keep Zayd from leaving because you stepped up and spoke straight with him, which seems to be the only way to get through to those Draqons. I was a little surprised by how gruff they were after how sweet Dirim was.”

  “His parents seemed nice enough,” he said.

  “That’s true. Maybe it’s just Zayd and Maxsym. They didn’t exactly inspire trust.”

  Sighing, he leaned back in his chair with a nod. “How to deal with the Draqons from here out is up to Gerrit. I’ve done what I can, and hopefully soon Gerrit will give me a new assignment.”

  “Won’t you be on his guard duty again?” she asked, surprised that a
nyone had even considered anything else.

  “No.” He shook his head, lowering his eyes. “I failed him once before. I couldn’t possibly be on his personal guard now. Any hopes of being groomed to become his Beta is gone. After my father.”

  “Nestan, you have to start forgiving yourself for what your father did. You didn’t kill anyone and you didn’t take anyone hostage. You saved lives. You’re two completely different people.”

  He shifted in his seat, and she knew he’d probably rather eat his left foot than have this conversation, but if he didn’t face up to the damage his father had caused he was never going to be able to move on.

  “I know, but I feel responsible. I’m not him. And I’ll do everything I can to make sure he’s stopped. But there’s so much that happened, and there must’ve been something I could have done to stop it. I was there for six months, and I had no idea what was going on right under my nose. And before that, how had I not seen what he was plotting? It’s not the kind of thing my father would’ve gone about subtly.”

  Rising, she walked over to him, straddled his lap, and gazed deep into his eyes. The sadness that dwelt there was so deep it tried to pull her under. “You are not him. You are good. I know it. I know it so deeply that I think it’s one of the few truths of the universe. If there is such a thing as good, you’re it. The fact that you’ll stand up against your father and fight with these other clans to help bring them together and make sure more people aren’t hurt, people you don’t even know, tells me more about who you are than anything that happened in the past. It’s hard to stand up against someone who’s abused you.”

  He flinched away from her words, but she held his face firm.

  “I know you don’t like to think of it that way.”

  “It’s not that. I know he’s horrible. I know he hit me and killed his own brother. He practically tortured my mother when she was alive. But I can’t help wishing things were different. No matter what else he is, he’s still my father.”