Rocor (Dragons of Kratak Book 5)

by Ruth Anne Scott

  Hell, I had no idea who the guy was who'd grabbed me. Or what he wanted. My first thought was that he was another trafficker. He had snatched me to force me into the alien sex trade. It was how I'd come to Optorio in the first place – which immediately brought to mind how I'd met Jendrish.

  He'd been so brave. So gallant. He'd saved my life. He'd saved the lives of a lot of women that day, actually. Everything that had happened since then went by in a blur. Most days, I still couldn't believe that I was living on an alien world – or that I'd fallen in love with one of them. But it had happened. It was all real.

  A tear rolled down my cheek and I scrubbed it away, irritated with myself.

  “Crying isn't going to solve anything,” I said. “Pull yourself together.”

  I needed to think. I needed to figure out what was happening – and figure out how I was going to get out of this. But all I wanted to do was sleep. I felt weary. Exhausted. I wanted nothing more than to lay down, close my eyes, and sleep until this nightmare I was living went away.

  Except that it wasn't a nightmare. It was all too real. And I had a feeling that I had to do something because my life was hanging in the balance. I stood up, letting the blanket fall to the ground at my feet. The room was windowless and had just the one door, but I wanted to be thorough. Maybe I was missing something. Some secret way of getting out of the room.

  I walked around the room, staring at the stark white walls, but saw nothing at first. Then I noticed that there was a small, square outline in the wall next to the door. A keypad that controlled the lock, perhaps? Though, I didn't get my hopes up. If somebody was going to go to all the trouble of kidnapping me, I had my doubts that they would throw me in a cell with a lock on the inside that I could use to escape.

  “Probably too easy,” I muttered.

  Still, I was going to be thorough. Logical. Calm. It was the only way I was going to survive this. I ran my fingertips along the outline of what looked like a panel of some sort. Not finding a way to open it, I placed my palm in the middle, ready to push it. But just as I laid my hand on it, it glowed a bright white and the panel slid down, revealing a gray pad that had several buttons on it.

  “No way,” I said to myself, feeling a surge of hope.

  I pressed the first button and heard a whirring noise behind me. I spun around, my heart thundering in my chest, to find a panel in the wall sliding aside as what looked like a bed slid out of the opening. I pressed the rest of the buttons, my hope fading each time some other amenity – a toilet or a sink – emerged from the walls.

  It was a prison cell, nothing more and nothing less.

  I growled in frustration and slammed my hand against the wall. Walking back over, I grabbed up the pillows and blanket, tossing them on the bed before sitting down, pressing my back against the wall, and swaddling myself in the blanket once more. I wasn't going anywhere.

  If I was going to get out of this, I was going to have to fight my way out. Or at least, be clever enough to slip out and way somehow.

  I leaned my head back against the wall, wishing and praying that Jendrish would find me. Rescue me like he had before. But I wasn't sure that he even knew I was missing. He hadn't come to see me off. He'd stuck me on a ship and had apparently washed his hands of me. I had no idea why he'd done it. Why he'd decided to send me back to Earth.

  I thought he loved me. As the tears rolled down my cheeks I realized how stupid I'd been. So naïve. I'd sworn that I was done chasing after men until I could do it on my own terms. But then Jendrish had come into my life and everything changed. He'd turned my entire world – and my heart – upside down.

  And then he'd cast me aside like I was nothing to him.

  What had happened? What had changed? Why had he suddenly decided that I was no longer what he wanted. That I was no longer who he wanted to spend his life with? We had just been talking about marriage and children. Everything had seemed so positive and so – wonderful. It had been like a fairy tale.

  “Maybe that's the problem, stupid,” I said to myself. “Fairy tales aren't real.”

  No, real life didn't always come with happy endings. In fact, in my experience, life never had happy endings. It was one long string of misery that, if you were lucky – really lucky – had a few moments of happiness mixed in with all of the pain.

  And clearly, I was not one of the really lucky ones.

  Wrapped up tightly in my blanket, I laid down on my side and let the tears flow. There was no point in stopping them anymore. I was alone. I was probably going to die. Who would care if I cried my eyes out?

  I sobbed and sobbed until the darkness of sleep overtook me.

  Chapter Five

  Jendrish

  “How are you feeling?” I asked.

  I looked down at Vink and smiled. His color was coming back and he was able to sit up in bed, which were good signs. The doctors had assured me that he was going to make a full recovery from his wounds. But they'd been extensive and it was going to take a little time.

  I had been concerned about his safety as he recovered, so I had moved him into the palace. He didn't like it, but I wanted to make sure there wasn't another attack while he was unprotected. The last thing I wanted was for him to come under fire again when he was not yet fully healed.

  His eyes fluttered open and a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Watching your back is not the most fun I have ever had in my life.”

  I gave him a rueful smile. “No, I imagine it is not,” I said. “I am sorry, my friend.”

  He looked at me, his expression serious. “You understand that this is not your fault,” he said. “You have nothing to be sorry about.”

  I shrugged. “If it hadn't been for – ”

  “Nonsense,” he cut me off. “You act as if you shot me yourself. You did not. So let us not waste any more time dwelling on it. Instead, let us figure out how to proceed.”

  “We are not proceeding anywhere just yet,” I said. “Your one job right now is to heal. To get healthy again. I will need you.”

  “I am fine, Jendrish,” he said. “The only thing that will help me heal is to get out of this bed.”

  “The doctors say you aren't ready for that yet.”

  He snorted and shook his head. “They are too cautious. I know my body better than they do. I know when I am healed.”

  He started to rise, so I put my hand on his chest and gently pushed him back against the pillows. “I know you do, old friend,” I said. “Then do this for me. Take another day. Maybe two. Get some more rest and treatment. I will feel better about it.”

  He looked at me for a long moment before nodding grudgingly. “If it will make you feel better, so be it.”

  I nodded, thankful I was not forced to call the doctor to sedate him. Vink believed himself to be indestructible. There were times I believed he was. But he had limits, as did we all. He was not particularly good at knowing what his limits were. Either that, or he just chose to ignore them. Knowing Vink as I did, I suspected it was the latter. He took his job very seriously – which was one reason I was so glad to have him as my right hand.

  “Where is Riley?” he asked. “I have not seen her.”

  I shuffled my feet and looked away. I knew that he was tremendously fond of Riley – and she of him. I wasn't sure how to tell him what I'd done.

  “Jendrish?”

  I finally looked at him and saw the curiosity in his eyes – but I also saw something else in them. I was relatively certain he already knew the answer to the question.

  “Why?” he asked.

  I sighed. “I feared for her safety.”

  He shook his head. “That's ridiculous, Jendrish. We could have protected her well enough here. You know that.”

  “Perhaps,” I said. “But with what we have to do, I could not be sure of it. I did not want to put her in harm's way.”

  “What we have to do?”

  I nodded. “We're going to war, Vink,” I said. “We allowed ourselves t
o be lulled into complacency. A false sense of security. We thought we'd beaten the rebels and had taken the fight out of them. We were wrong. Very wrong. And as a result, twelve Optorion citizens are now dead. And you were nearly killed.”

  His mouth compressed into a tight line and he clenched his jaw. He knew I was right and I could tell he was anxious to get back onto his feet. He took the fact that the rebels had attempted an assassination during the coronation ceremony personally. Very personally.

  “It is not your fault, Vink,” I said. “Do not put this on your shoulders.”

  “Security was my charge,” he said. “I faile – ”

  “No,” I interrupted him. “You did not fail. We have a problem with moles within the palace. Spies. The first thing we are going to do is root them out. From there, we are going to hunt the rest of them down. We will need to be ruthless.”

  “We will be what we need to be,” he said. “What Optorio needs us to be.”

  I nodded. “Indeed. I expect quite the fight,” I said. “Now, do you understand why I sent Riley away?”

  He gave me a small, sad grin. “I think you are more concerned with her seeing the ruthless, warrior side of your personality than you are with her safety.”

  I ran a hand through my hair. “Perhaps. When I'm at war, I feel like a different person. I feel like a savage,” I said.

  “The important question you have to ask yourself is – do you love her?”

  I answered without hesitating. “I do. I want to spend my life with her. Raise a family together.”

  “Then what are you afraid of?” he asked. “Because to me, it looks like you're simply scared. Scared of what, I have no idea.”

  I thought for a moment and then lowered my eyes. “Maybe you are right. Perhaps I didn't want her to see that. I want her to see the real me. The man beneath that savage.”

  “It's all part of who you are, Jendrish,” he replied. “You may be able to accentuate the side you want others to see, but that does not mean you can cut out the other side. It's always there, underneath the surface.”

  I sighed again. “This is true,” I replied. “But we can create the conditions for that other side of me to not be necessary. Right now, it's necessary.”

  “It is. It is very necessary,” he said. “We must be as ruthless as our enemies. But when all of this is over, and we have created the right, peaceful conditions, you are going to go find that woman. She is good for you, Jendrish. She makes you a better man.”

  I nodded. “She does that indeed,” I put my hand on his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Rest easy, my friend. I will be back later. And maybe I'll even bring your dinner with me.”

  Chapter Six

  Vink was right. Riley did make me a better man. I knew that she did. And it wasn't because I didn't love her that I sent her away. I was, as Vink said, afraid that she would see me, see that other side of my personality, and be repulsed. I wanted vengeance. I wanted blood. There was a rage, deep and abiding, burning in my belly and I was going to do some very bad things.

  I had to. Had to make an example of these rebels and snuff out their movement once and for all. That was going to require plenty of bloodshed, I already knew. And I didn't want to expose Riley to that. I wanted her to see me as the man she'd gotten to know. I didn't want her to see that other side of me.

  I looked up and found myself standing at the transport hangars. It hadn't been my intended destination – but then, I was simply wandering, lost in thought and hadn't had a real destination in mind. As I watched the hustle and bustle on the flight deck and watched one of the transports lift gracefully off the ground before zooming off into the sky, I realized why I was there.

  Clearing my throat, I crossed the flight deck and made my way over to the officer in charge. When I stepped into his office, he looked up – and did a double take. He almost knocked over his drink and fell out of his chair in his scramble to get to his feet.

  When he finally managed to get himself on even footing, he snapped a quick salute. “Your Majesty,” he said. “Forgive me, I – ”

  I gave him a soft, gentle laugh. “Relax Blyn,” I said. “You don't need to be so formal. It's just me.”

  He gave me a grin. “Yeah, and you're the king.”

  I shook my head and leaned against the doorway. Blyn was an old friend from my days with the Guard. He'd refused to serve in one of the Regents' militias, believing they were corrupt and not serving the interests of Optorio. He'd scratched out a living doing odd jobs, but hadn't been in great shape when I found him. He was a good man and a good friend. So, as we restructured our government, I'd put him to work, finding a job that utilized his talents. He was efficient, organized, and was a natural leader of men.

  I shrugged. “I'm just Jendrish.”

  “Then you won't mind if I take a seat,” he grinned.

  I motioned to his chair. “I wouldn't have minded it if you hadn't stood up to begin with,” I said. “You could have killed yourself. And I'm going to need men like you when we go after the rebels.”

  He smiled and I saw the light in his eyes. Like Vink, Blyn enjoyed a good fight. He said he liked what he was doing well enough, but I knew that being out on the hunt – rather than scheduling and directing all of the traffic on the flight deck – was what he yearned to do. He was a Guardsman to the very core of him. Just like Vink.

  He seated himself behind his desk again and looked up at me. “So, what can I do for you?”

  I cleared my throat. “I actually wanted to see if that transport the other day made it to its destination?”

  He gave me a look that said I was an idiot. “You're going to need to be more specific than that,” he said. “You see how many shuttles we have running in and out of here?”

  I gave him a rueful grin. “It was the shuttle with the special cargo I asked you to keep confidential,” I said and looked around to be sure we were alone. “The shuttle transporting Riley back to Earth.”

  He nodded and looked at me apologetically. “Right. Of course. I should have known.”

  “If it's no trouble, that is,” I said. “I know you're busy.”

  He waved me off. “Thesa,” he said, talking to his own biosystem. “I need information.”

  He routed his biosystem feed into the communication speaker on his desk. “Of course,” his biosystem replied. “What information do you require?”

  “Status of transport number three twelve omicron eight,” he said. “Please display flight tracking visually.”

  “Coming right up,” the computer voice said.

  I watched as an image sprang from the unit on his desk. It showed me a three dimensional view of Optorio in light blue. A line of red began where we were and appeared to be heading toward the atmosphere. Riley's shuttle. A moment later though, the red line of ascent just – stopped.

  I cocked my head. “What happened?”

  Blyn looked at it curiously. “I don't know,” he said. “Thesa, I need you to display full flight tracking. I need to see the entire route.”

  “That is the entire route. At least, what we have access to,” the voice said.

  “What we have access to?” Blyn asked. “What does that mean?”

  I could see something akin to concern crossing his features as he looked at the visual display.

  “It appears that the flight tracking beacon was tampered with,” the biosystem replied. “It was deactivated. Likely destroyed.”

  I felt a knot forming in the pit of my stomach. “What do you mean deactivated?” I asked. “Did the shuttle go down?”

  “Unlikely,” the biosystem said. “It is more likely that somebody was attempting to disguise their flight path to prevent it from being tracked.”

  “Why would they do that?” Blyn asked.

  The knot in my stomach twisted painfully. “Because they have Riley,” I said. “They took her.”

  “Who did?”

  “The rebels,” I said, my rage deepening and growing in intensi
ty. “They took her to get to me. They couldn't kill me, so they're striking out elsewhere.”

  Blyn looked at me, a stricken expression on his face. “I – I'm sorry, Jendrish. I didn't know.”

  I shook my head. “You could not have known. It is not your fault,” I said. “Who was the pilot on the shuttle.”

  “Pykor,” he said. “I assigned Pykor to it because I thought he could be trusted.”

  “Like a lot of things lately, we were wrong,” I said.

  I turned and walked out of the office, my rage threatening to consume me – and anybody who got in my way. I would rip this world apart looking for Riley. I was going to find her – and punish those who had taken her. I would punish them severely.

  Chapter Seven

  Riley

  I heard a faint chime that was followed by the sound of the locks on the door disengaging. A moment later, it slid to the side and revealed the man who had abducted me. He stepped inside and pressed a button on the small control panel I'd discovered. A bench slid out from the wall and he took a seat.

  He was a tall man – taller than most of the Optorions I'd met. He was thin and severe looking – all angles and points. His long dark hair was shot through with silver and his eyes were a violet color – a shade that would have been pretty had they not been in such a harsh looking face.

  I sat up on the bed and pressed my back against the wall, pulling the blanket up around my shoulders and stared at him, trying to convey my level of contempt with just my gaze. He gave me a small, condescending smile and remained silent – just stared at me.

  “Do you try to be this creepy?” I asked. “Or does it come naturally to you.”

  “I do not know what the word creepy means, but judging by your tone, I would say that you are attempting to insult me,” he replied.

  “Wow. Creepy and smart too,” I said. “Color me impressed.”

  He let out a small, dry laugh that set my nerves on edge like the sound of nails on a chalkboard. “You have fire. Spirit,” he said. “I like that. And I can see why Jendrish is so fond of you.”