Xandr's Prize (Chaetdorian Mates Book 5)

by E. M Reders

  “Jepa passed. There is no hint of madness in him, I swear. But…”

  “But what?”

  “Hecto has it.”

  “And you did not detain him?” Xandr exploded, the rage that had been building within him since Mandy’s body had been found finally coming to boiling point.

  “He begged me not to. Said that he and Jepa had found their mate. You know that to kill one would kill the other. I had to give them a chance, give Jepa a chance.”

  “It would still end the same way. There is no reversing it.”

  Shaking his head, Doc tried to explain his reasoning for keeping such a dangerous secret. “Hectos’s madness is in the advanced stage. By now he should be killing every male in sight, attempting to claim every female. But he’s not. I think the link between them has somehow helped him control the urges. He hasn’t once attacked another male. He and Jepa have been unsupervised around the human females numerous times with no incidents.”

  “No incidents? What the fuck do you call that in there?” Teks asked, pointing to the closed door. “We now have two dead females on our hands. We need to stop this before another gets hurt. Now the only evidence we have points to Jepa and Hecto, and we need to act on it, no matter what you hoped would happen if indeed he was telling the truth.”

  Which Xandr doubted. Just because three of their males had now amazingly found their mates, it didn’t mean the twins had. Hell, it was even less likely as they had always said that they needed to find a mate to share.

  “Then can we at least do this sensitively. Hecto has the disease, but Jepa does not.”

  Nodding in agreement, Teks turned to Xandr. “Normally I would ask you to track them down, but not this time.”

  Wait, what? “Why?” He was their best tracker. He could find them and have them detained in a detention room within minutes. If he didn’t kill them both in the process.

  “Because I believe your close friendship with Mandy may affect your judgement in this case and that you will act out your own punishment before all the facts are clear.”

  Unfortunately, he couldn’t argue with that. He was in no doubt that with just one look at the pair of them he would stop at nothing until they were both dead.

  Chapter 11

  Hearing the door open behind her, Jessie spun around, her heart clenching with fear. Finding Hannah stood in the doorway, she sighed, “Oh, it’s you” before focusing back on the mirror before her.

  She’d never felt antsier in her life. She’d woken a few hours ago, from another disturbingly intense, sexy dream to find her door sealed shut and the main room a mass of activity. Just as she had moved to bang on the door and demand to be let out so she could find out what the hell was going on, a strange feeling had come over her. A need. A longing to be on the other side of it. She had known instantly what that feeling meant… He was out there. She had been overcome by the same feelings when she had spotted the male through the window.

  Fiddling with her hair for what felt like the hundredth time she tried to get it to sit as flat as possible. Her blonde locks were naturally wavy in an almost uncontrollable way. A day didn’t go by where she didn’t get the straighteners out. Unfortunately, that seemed to be another thing the aliens had not thought to make available.

  “No need to look so happy,” she snapped, seeing Hannah practically beaming behind her. “I’m still getting the hell out of here.”

  “Whatever you say.”

  A few minutes later they exited the room on their way to get some inedible food to find the brainwashed gang waiting for them.

  “Where are the guys?” she heard Katie ask Nora and Alice.

  “Some important meeting,” Alice replied.

  “And as always we cannot be trusted to look after ourselves and have been dumped here,” Nora complained, sighing heavily.

  “Hey, it’s not so bad,” Hannah said with a smile.

  “Speak for yourself,” Jessie snapped, dropping into a chair. “The beds are uncomfortable. The food is foul. Oh, and the guys are creeps.” Like loser Joel.

  “Well, I can assure you the beds are of the best quality available,” Hex, the alien that had brainwashed Katie informed her. “The guys, unfortunately, suffer from the same disease as all the other males of your race - idiocy - so I cannot do anything to change that. But what I can do is supply you with these to help improve the taste of the food until I can work my magic on the consoles to have them produce human meals.”

  At the sound of movement behind them, the women turned to find the arsehole twins entering, carrying large bags of herbs and spices. Jessie wasn’t convinced that all the flavourings in the world could make the slop these aliens ate edible, but she had to admit it was a nice gesture.

  Suddenly the door opened, Corr and Torq stepping out with a large group of males behind them. Hannah gazed at her friends to see if they knew what was happening, but their worried expressions told her they were just as confused as she was, even more so when the males moved to stand protectively before their mates.

  “Take them,” the lead male commanded. It was the same male that had turned up a little too late when Nora had been dragged out of the white room by that crazy one. He actually looked a lot like Katie’s new mate. Obviously some close relation.

  The males moved forward as a group and grabbed hold of the twins. “What is the meaning of this?” one of them asked, gazing at the lead male.

  A second later both males were in a heap on the floor having been drugged themselves. A part of Jessie couldn’t help but think it was their comeuppance.

  “What are you doing?” Hannah screamed as the males picked up the unconscious bodies and turned to leave. “Get off them.”

  When Hannah moved to intercept them, Katie grabbed hold of her.

  “Let go of me. They can’t do this.”

  “Just wait a moment. I’m sure everything will be explained.”

  Explained? Yeah right. An hour passed and her friends didn’t manage to get any information out of their so-called soulmates. But Jessie knew all she needed to know. This place was not safe, and she was leaving, right now.

  ***

  Xandr was fuming about being kept away from the confrontation of Jepa and Hecto, but he understood his commander’s reasoning. Still, that did not mean that he was going to stay away now that they had both been sealed in an isolation room. He needed to hear them say it, admit to their crimes before he could let the matter rest. Before he could let Mandy’s memory rest.

  He would never forget her, never forgive himself for his failures, but once she was avenged he hoped her spirit would be at peace.

  “I wondered how long it would be before you showed up here,” Teks said the moment he entered the medibay.

  “I want to speak with them.”

  “I expected that you would. But I must insist you do so only via vidcom. Hecto has already attacked two of our males that tried to enter that room. He is beyond reasoning now, though Jepa still seems to be of sane mind. He does his best to hold his brother back, but the drugs they were given to get them here weakened them some.”

  “We believe it is the madness that is giving Hecto an extra advantage,” Doc said, indicating for Xandr to follow him. As he positioned himself in front of Doc’s console, Doc asked, “You sure you want to do this?”

  “I need to. I need to find out the truth of what happened to her.”

  “Very well.”

  After Doc had taken his leave, knowing without asking that he wanted to do this by himself, Xandr booted up the console and opened the vidcom to the isolation room the twins were being held in. He had no doubt that Doc and Teks were watching on another screen further down the bay but he didn’t care. They were giving him some sense of privacy at least.

  The moment the screen lit up and the inside of the isolation room became visible, all hell broke loose. Hecto’s howls of rage filled the air. They didn’t need the microphones in there to hear him; it echoed through the bay.

 
; “Xandr, what’s going on?” Jepa asked, his arms wrapped tightly around his brother who was attempting to rush the vidcom screen.

  So this was full blown madness. Xandr was horrified. He’d been witness to Dekon and Sekon’s execution, but even they had not been this far gone. And to think that at the time he had felt badly for their deaths. Now, he thought they had had a lucky escape. Death was certainly preferable to this.

  Struggling to hold is brother back, Jepa asked again, “Xandr, what is going on? Why have we been brought here?”

  The male looked truly confused. If anything it only helped to push his horror to the back of his mind and bring forth his anger. The discovery of Mandy’s body kept replaying in his mind. The way the pair had acted upon the discovery.

  “How could you?” he asked. “How could you just stand there unaffected, knowing that it was your own brother that had killed her? You make me sick.”

  Eyes wide, Jepa’s grip slipped momentarily before he refocused restraining Hecto. “What are you talking about? Killed who?”

  “Mandy, you bastard. Hecto killed Mandy, didn’t he? And then last night he killed Rebecca too, though you were there to witness that one, weren’t you? Tell me, did you stand back and watch as he snuffed out Rebecca’s life? Mandy’s too?”

  If anything, the male only seemed to get more confused.

  Shaking his head violently, he said, “Hecto did not kill Mandy, Xandr, I swear. And as for this Rebecca? I have no idea who you are talking about, but I can promise you that neither of us was involved with her passing.”

  “Rebecca was one of our human volunteers, her body was found in one of the feeding rooms on deck seven in the early hours.”

  “Hecto didn’t do it. I know he didn’t.”

  “I don’t believe you. He has the madness. Look at him; you cannot deny it.” No one could at this point.

  “No, I do not deny it. It has slowly been consuming him for the past few months, though I did not know about it for some time. Still, he is no danger to anyone.”

  “No danger!” Xandr raged. “Look at him.” The male was uncontrollable. It was only his brother’s tight hold that was keeping him from attacking Xandr’s image. He completely understood Teks’ insistence at using the vidcom now. “There are two dead bodies, Jepa. Two! How do you explain that?”

  “I’m telling you it was not him! We were…”

  Xandr cut him off. Lies, all of it. He would listen no longer.

  Chapter 12

  The path was finally clear. Jessie had been waiting for what felt like forever for her friends to leave so she could make her move. The other humans she could care less about. So what if they saw her heading towards the feed rooms. But Hannah? Katie? No, those two would stop her, ask questions. They would know that she was up to something.

  Stepping out of her room, she turned towards the feed rooms, doing her best to act normal, nonsuspicious.

  It failed miserably.

  “Where are you going?” Joel asked as he stepped in front of her, blocking her path.

  “I don’t think that is any of your business.”

  She pushed past him, only to be halted in her steps by his hand tightly gripping her wrist. Oww.

  “Let go.”

  “You’re leaving, aren’t you? I know you are. I see it in your eyes.” Pulling her closer, he whispered, “I’m coming with you.”

  Wait, he was what?

  “I think it’s this way,” Joel called from up ahead as he took another right turn. When they arrived in the last feeding room and prized off the vent covering, Joel had insisted he go first, that with him having more knowledge of the ship it would be easier for him to navigate their way out.

  Yeah, right! They had been going round in circles for forever.

  “Maybe we should try this way.” Indicating to the left.

  “NO!” came a sharp bark. “I mean, you saw the storage bay from that last vent. The exit is this way. Trust me.”

  Trust him? Jessie didn’t trust any man, not anymore. She had trusted her father once. She’d trusted her brother. And she’d trusted her husband. What a mistake that had been.

  Still, she followed him. They had to find an exit at some point, surely?

  When she almost slammed right into the guy a few minutes later, she opened her mouth to yell abuse but shut it when she realised why he had stopped.

  “Seriously?” she heard a male ask, one of the aliens, his voice coming through a vent beside them.

  “Seriously. The female walked straight up to Teks and demanded to be let in with the twins. She is in there now with them fucking like their lives depend on it from what I heard. Doc and a few of the others had it all on screen in the medibay a few minutes ago.”

  “Think they are still at it? That’s something I wouldn’t mind catching a glimpse of.”

  Both quickly departed but Jessie couldn’t get what the males had said out of her head. Twins? Female? It had to be Hannah. The woman had literally freaked when the alien pair had been taken away.

  “Damn you, Hannah.” And damn those alien bastards. If they hadn’t brainwashed her friend, Hannah wouldn’t be in the dangerous situation she was in now. What was the woman thinking?

  “Well, it seems another of your friends has decided to filthy herself with one of those degusting freaks,” Joel sneered, spitting.

  “It’s not their fault,” she snapped. “They have been brainwashed. They cannot help what they do.”

  “Oh they have not been brainwashed, Jessie. They are just like all the others, and need to be dealt with in the same manner.”

  Now, what the fuck did that mean?

  ***

  “So what's the diagnosis? Is he cured?” Teks asked as soon as Doc and Hecto exited the assessment room. After Xandr had stormed out of the medibay, it seemed Hannah, one of the human females Torq had brought on board had approached Teks and begged to see the twins. She had told him that she was their mate and that they had been with her the night before when Rebecca was killed. He didn’t want to believe it, had yelled it was a lie upon first hearing it upon his return, but then he had been shown the proof. Hours before the female had entered the feeding room the twins had entered their so-called mate's cabin, not leaving until after the body was discovered.

  It appeared they were innocent… of one of the killings at least.

  “Of course I am,” Hecto said with a wide smile, heading straight for his twin and new mate. “After a loving like that, how could I not be? I tell you, my mate is one special lady.”

  “She's special alright,” Xandr muttered. “Anyone who would enter a room with a madness induced male to mate with him has to be insane.” Turning, he glared at Doc. He needed answers, now. “So is he?”

  “Sane? Cured of the madness? Back his normal annoying self? Yeah, I'd say he is.”

  How the hell was that even possible?

  “Doesn’t change what happened to Mandy and Rebecca though,” Xandr growled, his angry gaze now locked on Hecto once again.

  “I didn't kill Mandy, Xandr. And as for this recent death, my mate has already told you where myself and Jepa spent that night.”

  “Then who did?” he snapped, his fist smashing into the wall beside him, leaving a large fist sized dent. He wanted to scream in rage, ram his fist into flesh, not metal, and spill blood.

  “Calm yourself, Xandr,” Teks urged placing a supporting hand on his shoulder. “We will find whoever is doing this. All our males have now been through assessment and have been cleared of madness, which leads me to believe that the killer is not Chaetdorian. “

  Then who? A human? Xandr knew that the race capable of terrible things, the death of his old friend Darr proved that. But still, a human?

  “The human male, Joel. He seemed to want to keep us from Hannah, warned her away from us, even threatened us when we told him to keep away from our mate. That was the night the young female named Rebecca was killed.”

  “We’ll start with him then,” Teks sa
id, turning to relay instruction. It appeared he wouldn’t be kept away from this hunt. “I want…”

  The door to the medibay opened, Corr, Torq and Hex entering with their human mates.

  “Jessie’s missing,” Nora, Corr’s small female stated, her lips trembling, tears filling her eyes.

  “Oh no,” Hannah cried, covering her face with her hands. “She said she was going to, said she was not staying here and that she had found a way out. I’d hoped I had talked her out of it.”

  “When Jessie makes up her mind there is very little anyone can do to get her to change it,” Torq’s mate, Alice said, gathering the female in her arms.

  “How long has she been missing?” Teks asked.

  “Last time any of us saw her was back on deck seven when you had those two carted off,” Hex’s mate replied, indicating to the twins. “But Hex found footage of her leaving the ship an hour ago.”

  Without anyone stopping her? They were in the final stages before departure. As they spoke, a team of Warriors were going about the cavern planting explosives to allow the ship an exit. The tunnel system also was being rigged. They didn’t want anyone finding any evidence of their existence. The humans would think there had just been an earthquake; the place was prone to them, they had made sure of that.

  “Find the female,” Teks ordered. “And bring her back.”

  “But what about the male? I need to find the one that killed Rebecca, who took Mandy from me. Stopping him is more important than finding one human female who is foolish enough to think she can escape the tunnels. I deserve retribution.” Someone else could attempt to find the female before she stumbled down the wrong path and was blown to smithereens.

  “You can do both,” Hex informed him. “Because she didn’t leave alone… Joel went with her.”

  And if this male was indeed the killer they were looking for, then she was in much worst trouble than he had first thought.

  Chapter 13

  Jessie was really starting to think that she had made a big mistake leaving the ship with Joel. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. He apparently knew the way to the cave exit, and if someone saw them, she could throw him into their path and make a run for it.