by Laurie Roma
Skylar was distracted from the conversation as she watched Arik take a few practice swings of his sword with obvious skill. He looked over at her and winked. “You’ve forgotten, keeper of my heart, the D’Aire are skilled swordsmen.”
“Well, fuck me twice,” Dom swore.
Arik laughed. “I will protect you, my friend.”
Jax grinned. “This should be entertaining. Anyone want to place a bet?”
Ignoring him, Dom grabbed Skylar, pulling her to him. He kissed her hard before saying, “If your father kills me, I expect you to avenge me.”
She nodded solemnly. “I will.”
The group made their way to the front entrance, and Arik frowned as he looked outside. “It’s still raining.”
“You going to melt, D’Aire?” Malik taunted with a grin.
Skylar sighed.
This was going to be a long night.
****
Skylar and her father spent the rest of the night talking.
Both Dom and Arik survived their fight with Jaden, although they were both sore as hell after the hours spent with him in the battle arena. Jaden had used them to work off his fury at what had been done to her, but they had shown well for themselves. He had put them both through their paces, starting slow then working them further to see what they were capable of.
Jax had paced the sidelines, eager to go out and try his own hand at fighting so Lord Rego had taken pity on him. They went out on the battlefield to square off against one another, using the time to speak about the current mission. When Calum invited Matt Malloy out on the field, the other warriors had paired up with the other Strike Force members until all the men were fighting.
Skylar had sat on a stone bench outside with Reva as they watched, using the time to plot. They came up with a good plan to get to Khan, both of them working out the details and thinking of ways to counter any arguments the men would surely come up with. Once everything was set, Skylar stood up and told the men she was starving, putting an end to their play.
Before they had left the field, Jaden had called her over to him. Reaching down, he retrieved a black dagger from his boot, the hilt a dragon’s talon clutching a large blood red stone. He had turned to her bonded ordering them both to remove their shirts so they were bare-chested.
“Will you bleed for her,” he demanded.
“Yes,” both of them had said without hesitation.
“Prove it.”
Skylar had wanted to stop him as he sliced a thin line over each of their chests right over their hearts. When Dom and Arik didn’t flinch, Jaden nodded, then turned to Skylar. He held out the dagger, giving it to her.
“They are worthy.”
The men had washed up then everyone had reassembled back in the main hall for dinner. This time when they had sat down, everyone was more relaxed and comfortable with on another despite the language barrier. Once the meal was finished, the men had gone to bed, leaving Skylar some private time to spend with Jaden.
It was like a dream for her.
They had spoken about their lives, filling each other in on what the other had missed over the years they had been apart. She liked hearing about his people, and the changes he had tried to implement to make things better for his world. In turn, she told him about her life at the Academy and her job as a Security and Investigations officer. He told her he was proud of the life she had made for herself, even begrudgingly admitted that she had chosen two strong warriors to bond with, although he was still not convinced he was happy she was bonded to the two of them.
She also filled him in on her current mission, explaining the ramifications of what would happen if Lord Lobo Khan was able to continue to sell the synthetic xili drug on the black market. Jaden was furious, wanting to know exactly what the drug did and how it worked. Skylar told him, informing him that it affected the Tarins approximately the same way it worked on humans.
They had reluctantly parted ways to go to bed. Skylar’s heart ached a little when she realized she had once again had to choose which of her bonded to sleep with for the night. Sticking to the pattern, she had sought Dom’s bed and sighed in pleasure when he had welcomed her with open arms. They had made love slowly, loving one another before they slept.
Her last thought before she closed her eyes had been to figure out a way to bridge the divide between the three of them.
It was late morning by the time she woke, hearing one of the maids enter the room to deliver a dress that was a gift from her father. Skylar wasn’t used to having people walk into her room unannounced and neither was Dom, and they frightened the maid with their aggressive reactions to her intrusion. After apologizing, Skylar had gone to take a bath in the adjoining bathing room while Dom had gone back to sleep. While she was soaking in the large bath, Arik had joined her. She watched with avid interest, her hunger for him was more pronounced now that she knew his touch.
He had sensed the moment she’d woken through their bond and had come to her. They whispered words of love to one another as they made love, then he had helped her dress in the blood-red gown before he had put on a set of Tarin warrior’s clothes that her father had given him. The tight-fitting, flexible, black armor looked wicked on him, highlighting the white hair that fell around his shoulders.
Dom had grumbled at them to leave him be as they left the room hand-in-hand, but he told them he would join them shortly in the main hall for their meal. Skylar felt strange walking into the hall wearing a dress, but the tender way her father looked at her when he saw her made the discomfort worth it.
“You look absolutely beautiful, my little Sky.”
She smiled. “Thank you for the dress. It’s lovely.”
“This dress belonged to your mother. I’ve kept all her things locked away, along with what used to belong to you,” he told her. “Perhaps in my heart I knew you would return one day.”
Skylar wrapped her arms around his waist and lost her breath when he squeezed the air out of her lungs when he returned her hug. After long moments, she pulled back and took hold of his arm and let him lead her to the table for the mid-day meal.
Dom stumbled into the hall a few minutes later, and his mood darkened when he was told there was no coffee on Tartarus. Reva entered the hall a few minutes later, frowning down at the dark-gold dress she was wearing. With her golden skin and light hair, she looked like a glowing flame, beautiful and bright.
Skylar murmured her thanks to her father for providing her friend with something to wear, but was shocked when she was told he hadn’t done it. For a moment Skylar figured one of the maids had thought to take care of the task, but she knew she was wrong when she saw the look of male satisfaction on Lord Rego’s face as he stared at Reva.
He turned his head and met Skylar’s eye, quirking up a brow in silent challenge. She wanted to tell him he was wasting his time, but thought the arrogant male would be better off figuring that out on his own.
It was when everyone was once again seated at the table that Skylar decided to bring up her plan for how to take down Khan. She had expected resistance, but the violent reactions from all the males at the table was—in her mind—slightly extreme.
“No. Absolutely not,” Jaden growled.
Dom nodded. “Fucking right it’s a no.”
“It’s too risky,” Jax said.
“Crazy,” Matt Malloy muttered. “She’s fucking crazy.”
“Look, I know there are risks involved but this is the best chance we have to find Khan and take him down. We need to move fast before words spreads about my return and we don’t have any other options. Our thermal imagining of the mountain range can’t penetrate the mineral layers in the rock, so we can’t know for sure where Khan’s hiding. We have to go in and find him, and this is the best way to do it. I can do this,” Skylar insisted.
“We. We can do this,” Reva corrected.
Malik shook his head, his lips thinned in anger as his jaw clenched. “No, you cannot. We’ve tried something like this
before and it didn’t work. It is too dangerous for you.”
“They killed our warrior before he could even get close enough to confirm Khan’s location,” Jaden snarled. “I just got you back. I will not lose you now.”
“You won’t,” Skylar assured him. “This is my job. We can and will get Khan’s location and track down the xili plants. These men subjugate and enslave women. They will never expect Reva and I to be capable of doing something like this. You will be able to track us and we can end this. End him.”
“If our imaging systems can’t find Khan, what makes you think we can successfully track you,” Jax countered. “We might lose the signal of the tracker, and then you’ll be fucked.”
Arik leaned back in his chair as he smiled. “We don’t need a tracker. We are connected mind-to-mind through our bond. I can find Skylar anywhere in the universe.”
Skylar’s heart was heavy as she saw Dom’s jaw clench, but he remained silent. She knew that it hurt him that she and Arik had a special bond he couldn’t be part of, but she didn’t know what to do about it.
“We are not helpless females,” Reva argued, her eyes flashing with anger. “You insult us both by questioning our ability to do this mission.”
“We aren’t questioning your abilities, we’re questioning your sanity,” Malik snapped, earning a glare from Reva.
“Would you like me to show you just how capable I am you stupid male?” Reva snarled.
“Try me, kitty-cat. We’ll see who comes out on top.”
Jaden slammed his fist down on the table. “Enough! It is pointless to argue about this. The females will not be used as bait.”
Reva snorted. “If we had dicks you would not hesitate to go along with our plan.”
“If you had dicks, this mission would be pointless,” Matt Malloy interjected.
Jaden crossed his arms over his chest. “It doesn’t matter. You will not do this, I forbid it. That is final.”
***
Chapter Thirteen
“Well, this sucks.”
The very next afternoon, Skylar and Reva found themselves chained together in a metal cage on the back of a vehicle pulled by an animal that resembled a horse, only it was slightly larger and more hairy. The Tarin male driving the vehicle whistled a cheerful tune as he drove them down the bumpy road.
“You’re the one who wanted to come along,” Skylar reminded her friend.
“Yeah, but I didn’t know it was going to be so freakin’ hot out today. I’m sweating like crazy. I’m a damn cat who lives in the jungle, so, that’s saying something.”
Skylar had to agree.
Sweat dripped down her face, and she cursed softly as she lifted a hand, only to be pulled short by the shackles around her wrists. They had allowed themselves to be chained by the informant when he put them in the back cage for authenticity. Raising her elbow, she used it to push her hair back from her face trying to cool her skin a little. It was blistering hot out and the humidity from last night’s rain did nothing to help. She looked around at the barren landscape as they traveled. It was a sea of reds and browns baking under the scorching sun.
This better work, she thought.
After a long argument, Skylar and Reva had been able to convince the group that their plan was the best possible solution to find Khan fast and take him down.
Malik had an informant who traded goods of all kinds to both sides of the war. They had contacted him last night, arranging with him to transport Skylar and Reva to a representative of Khan’s in the guise of selling the women so they could be tracked back to Khan’s mountain holding. The informant usually didn’t like dealing with men like Khan, but he had a source that told him how to get in touch with the right people and he agreed to go along with the arrangement to help take down Khan’s network.
The plan itself was sound, but there were many variables that made it dangerous to the women. Still, they were both fighters and could handle themselves in any situation, which minimized the risk.
“The sun is beginning to set. The heat should get better once it does.”
“Let us hope,” Reva grumbled. “Sorry, I don’t like being chained or being put in a cage.”
“I remember.” Trying to lighten the mood, Skylar grinned at her friend. “What is it about us being together that makes people want to lock us up?”
Reva chuckled. “We seem to bring out the best in them.”
The cart slowed and the driver turned around. “Hey there, my pretties. We are coming to the meeting spot where my source told me Khan’s men will be waiting. You should lay down or something since you are supposed to be unconscious-like. Good luck!”
Skylar and Reva shared a look then they both glanced down at the floor of the cage. It was dirty from the animals that the man usually transported, but they had little choice. They both lay down and the vehicle began moving again. The women spoke softly to one another for the next fifteen minutes until they heard a new voice call out, “Halt!”
The driver slowed the cart to a stop near a large cropping of boulders, and called out a greeting. Based on the noise around them, two male Tarin had joined him on the road.
“Hello! I’m Berte,” the driver replied cheerfully. “Gerrad usually meets you to sell your wine to you, but he has the fever so he asked if I would make the journey today. I have two barrels in the back, just like you requested.”
Skylar and Reva felt the cart move as the driver jumped down. They heard the crunch of footsteps heading toward the back of the vehicle and by the abrupt halt of sound, they knew they had been sighted.
“What do you have there?”
“Two stupid females that snuck away from their guards at the Hades Outpost last night. They wanted to see if all the rumors they’d heard about sex with Tarins was true. I found them passed out in the shade of a rock. Seems they wandered around some, then got lost.”
“What do you plan to do with them?”
“Sell them, I guess.”
Suspicion entered one of the males voices when he asked, “Why aren’t you going to keep them?”
Berte laughed. “I have more use for coin than I do pussy.”
“We’ll take them”
“What are you willing to give me in exchange?”
“Who says we have to give you anything?”
Berte laughed again. “Since Gerrad gets most of his supplies from me, it would be a shame if you decided to cheat me. Good luck surviving out here without the usual luxuries you order.”
One of the males cursed, then the three of them began haggling over the price of the women and the wine until a deal was struck. The cage door was opened and Skylar forced herself to remain limp as she was transferred from one vehicle to another. A few seconds later, Reva was placed next to her on the floor of a wagon. Lucky for them, this time the wagon was covered so they had some shelter from the burning sun.
“Arik, we just made contact with two of Khan’s men. They’ve taken the bait and we’ve been transported over to their vehicle.”
“I do not like you calling yourself bait,” Arik admonished softly through their bond. There was a long pause then he said, “Dom would like me to inform you if you are harmed there will be hell to pay, and your father is threatening to lock you up for the rest of your life.”
“Comforting.”
He chuckled. “We are about a mile and a half behind you. We’ll follow you back to their base. Be safe, my love.”
“They didn’t even check our chains,” Reva whispered after peeking around to make sure they were alone and wouldn’t be heard. “Some males are just stupid...like that Malik.”
Skylar had a hard time swallowing down her laugh at her friend’s obvious irritation with the Tarin lord. “We are just females to them, not a threat. I’ve made contact with the team. They are a mile and a half behind us and tracking.”
“Good.”
One of their captors let out a wild laugh from outside the vehicle. “We got ourselves a deal. Maybe we shou
ld try them out now. You know, give them a taste of a real Tarin male.”
“I want to kill him first,” Reva whispered, and Skylar couldn’t help but agree.
“No, you know Khan. He likes them clean and pretty before he gets a hold of them. Besides, he has a chase scheduled tonight. Adding these two into the mix should win us big favor with our lord.”
Skylar heard one male jump in the back of the vehicle with them, then she was roughly pushed on her side. Fighting the urge to open her eyes, as she felt a sharp sting on her thigh as a needle was jabbed into her.
Fuck!
“I’m giving them a little something to make sure they stay out until they’re prepared for tonight. I don’t like it if they cry unless I’m fucking them.” Both males laughed.
Vile little fuckers...
Oh yeah, Skylar thought before she passed out. She couldn’t wait to kill them.
****
Skylar woke slowly.
She was getting damn tired of passing out, even if she had been drugged. Not wanting to give away that she was awake, she reached for her connection with Arik in her mind and was relieved to find him waiting for her.
“Stars! Skylar, where have you been?”
“They injected me with something that knocked me out. Where are you?”
“When I lost my connection with you, we traced you to the meeting point. I could still sense you, but it is much more difficult to do so when you are unconscious,” Arik explained, his voice filled with strain. “We followed the tracks of the vehicle you were in, but we lost them at the pass leading to the mountain. I can feel you better now. We are coming for you.”
“We’d appreciate the company.”
Sky opened her eyes slowly and realized that she was in some kind of cave with a thick wooden door as its only exit. There was a torch fixed to the wall giving off a little light, but otherwise it was dark. She turned her head and saw Reva sitting up with her legs crossed at the ankles, her back up against the wall. “Feels like déjà vu, doesn’t it?”