Alien Mine (Zerconian Warriors Book 7)

by Sadie Carter

“She’ll be too scared to take them down.”

  “So we need to give him a reason to believe that there’s a reason the wards are malfunctioning.”

  What could that be? If something was wrong with Elika, maybe.

  “What if we try to attack them?” Darac asked. “Something that could also act as a signal to the witch that we’re here and she can take them down. Would she feel if the wards were under attack?”

  “They’ve been attacked before and yes, she could feel them being attacked. But no one was successful.”

  “We don’t have to be, so long as you have convinced her to take the wards down,” Darac said.

  “But how will we know Lucy has been successful,” Rye pointed out,

  “You need to give me a certain amount of time. Lazarun is a day’s travel from Torra. So maybe six days.” If she hadn’t convinced Elika by then she probably never would.

  “Six days is too long,” Thor said.

  She shook her head. “He might not put me in with the others straight away. I need that long.”

  The others all looked at each other then Darac nodded. “Five days. On the night of the fifth day we’ll attack the wards.”

  “How? They’re invisible.”

  “We’ll figure something out.”

  “What if Lucy can’t convince the witch to help her?” Rye asked. “And why has the witch never used a spell to get herself out?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe she’s too scared to.”

  “Or she’s there of her own free will,” Rye said darkly.

  “No. No, you haven’t seen her. She’s scared.”

  “That’s why I’ve come up with plan b.” Willa held up a tiny blue pill. “Inside this is poison. One touch of the liquid inside on bare skin and Husan is toast. If you can’t get the witch to take down the wards then you’re going to kill him.”

  Kill him? Could she do that?

  The memory of Beau, so hunched and defeated, filled her mind.

  Hell yes, she could.

  “Maybe I should just poison him anyway.” It seemed an easier plan than their other one.

  Willa shook her head. “This plan is dangerous. The liquid is deadly and you won’t be able to wear gloves to protect yourself. It’s your back-up.

  “I do not like it. What if it breaks open and kills Lucy,” Thor grumbled.

  “It won’t. The liquid has to touch bare skin and it is only deadly for the first few seconds it’s free from its shell. It can’t seep through clothing. We’ll wrap it up so even if it does break it won’t harm Lucy.”

  “Where will I hide it?”

  “This is a terrible plan,” Thor stated with a frown.

  Norman growled. She swore he could understand what they were saying.

  Freaky, really freaky.

  Willa reached down and patted his head. His yellow tongue slipped out as he panted. He was a hairy, horny, kind of ugly creature but he adored Willa and she obviously felt the same way. Lucy could swear she actually saw him smile. At least Willa had fixed his diet so he wasn’t quite as odorous as he had been.

  “I like the idea of killing Husan.” She wasn’t a blood thirsty person. She didn’t like the idea of taking someone’s life. But he was evil. He would continue to hurt others. Taking his life would be almost guaranteed to save others. “If anyone needs killing it’s Husan”

  “What if sow it into your clothes?” Rye suggested.

  “What if he searches her clothing? Or throws them away?” Darac asked.

  “He won’t,” she said, liking this idea. “He left me in my last clothes until they became so threadbare I was constantly shivering and growing ill. I don’t think he’ll take my clothes and I’m betting he would never imagine I would dare think about harming him so he won’t pay much attention to anything but a cursory search. I have a pair of pants with bunched-up hems. You’d never even notice a pill sown into them.”

  “But you cannot get caught.” Thor took her hand in his. “If he caught you…”

  “I know. I’d only do it if I needed to. It’s plan B, but I need a plan B, Thor.”

  Thor nodded.

  “Thank you for letting me do this.” She knew it wasn’t easy for him.

  Thor squeezed her hand. “I want you back with me as soon as possible.”

  Exactly what she wanted as well.

  ***

  “You ready for this?” Willa asked.

  “No. But it’s too late to back out now.” Lucy glanced over at Thor, blushing slightly as he gave her a heated stare.

  Willa looked back and forth between them before giving Lucy a knowing grin. “So guess last night went better than expected huh? Knock your socks off, did he?”

  “No,” Lucy told her. “I wasn’t wearing socks. I wasn’t wearing anything at all.”

  Willa laughed. “Good for you. Told you these guys are completely devoted to your pleasure, was I right?”

  “I don’t kiss and tell. But god yes, you were right.”

  “So you’re mated now. Do you feel the bond?”

  Lucy bit her lip, nodding. “Yes. But I’m a bit worried about Thor being able to sense what’s going on through me.”

  Willa frowned. “You can build a sort of barrier to give yourself some privacy. Darac taught me how to do it so I could shut him out if needed. However, Darac doesn’t do well when he can’t sense me. I can give you a crash course, but it took me a while to get the hang of it.”

  “It might be similar to what I already do with my abilities. My dad taught me how to build a wall around the part of my brain that uses objects to track people so I didn’t go completely mad.”

  “Makes sense. Here, close your eyes. We have a few minutes before we land on Torra. I’ll try to help you best I can.”

  Thor watched as Lucy closed her eyes. Willa continued to talk to her. Lucy nodded every so often. He wasn’t certain what they talked about but suddenly the bond closed off. He could still sense her, but she’d closed her thoughts off from him. So that is what Willa was talking to her so earnestly about.

  He scowled over at the other woman. She just shrugged. He had hoped to use the bond to keep a watch over Lucy. Not that he could immediately do anything to help her, but it was going to kill him to watch her head into danger.

  “Your mate is very brave,” Darac told him.

  “Braver than I wish her to be.” Thor scowled at the other man. “How long until we land on Torra?”

  “Five minutes. We will need to be seen leaving the ship in case he has spies on us.”

  “I will spend these last few minutes with my mate then.” He strode towards Lucy who now had her eyes open. Her gaze fell on him and didn’t move, filling him with gratification.

  He barely noticed Willa moving away or the others leaving the room as he drew Lucy into his arms. He held her carefully. It amazed him how someone so fragile and delicate could have the heart of a warrior. But she did.

  “I’m no warrior,” she told him.

  He drew her up into his arms, holding her against his chest before moving to a sofa against the side of the wall. They were in Darac’s office once more. He sat and placed her on his lap so she straddled his lap, facing him.

  “You heard that through the bond?”

  “Yes. Willa taught me how to block you,” she confessed.

  He ran his hands up and down her arms. “I would rather you did not. I wish to have some link to you.”

  “Me too. But sometimes I might need to block you. For my sanity as well as yours.”

  He nodded. He understood. He didn’t like it, but he understood it.

  “You will take every care to protect yourself.”

  “You too,” she told him fiercely. “I’m not the only one going to be in danger and I’m valuable to Husan, you’re not.”

  Thor resisted the urge to smile. His fierce fighter. “Remember to eat. Try to sleep. You must look after your health, keep yourself strong so you can help others.”

  Mainly he wanted her to
keep herself safe and healthy for her own wellbeing. But he would use what tools he could to get her to comply. He knew that she was likely to run herself down helping others and that was unacceptable. He had seen the toll using her abilities had on her, yet she would use it time and again if she thought someone was in need. She needed him to protect her from herself.

  “I’ll try to remember.” She smiled at him. “I love you, Thor. I cannot wait until we get home and start our life together. I never dreamed of you, because I never thought you existed. I will come back to you, Thor.”

  “You better. I will chase you. No matter how far. No matter where I have to go. I will find you.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Lucy worked hard to keep her limbs limp and lifeless. Willa had given her a low dose of sedative. Enough to try to relax her but not enough to put her completely out. Somehow, though, her adrenaline seemed to be counteracting the drug.

  Nerves strummed through her and she wondered if anyone else could hear her rapidly beating heart. It was going so fast she worried it would leap from her chest and flop on the ground like a fish out of water.

  Tae held her in his arms, carrying her as Willa walked in front of them.

  “Okay, we’re here. Time to get this thing started.”

  Darac and Thor had left the ship a while ago, moving into the vast markets in case Husan had anyone watching. Then Willa, Lucy and Tae had left. Tae carried Lucy into a waiting shuttle. Lucan was driving the shuttle. She was wrapped up in a large blanket so she appeared ill in case anyone took any notice of the three of them.

  Rye had his contacts ready to provide back-up to Willa and Tae should anything go wrong.

  Please don’t let anything go wrong. Please don’t let her friends die.

  “Lucan stay here with Lucy. Tae come with me. We’ll go have a chat with the asshole.”

  Lucy waited nervously. At least the shuttle had no windows so she didn’t have to pretend to be unconscious. She and Lucan waited in silence until the shuttle door opened. She acted limp until the door slid shut. Willa bounded in, Norman by her side. Tae followed.

  “Asshole. He’s got our people off-site. I said I was going to send someone over there. Rye will have heard me so I should hear back soon. As soon as I’ve heard that they’re safe and Rye has people there to take them to safety, I’ll get Tae to bring you in.”

  She nodded suddenly. “Okay, Rye says his people have them surrounded. There are guards that Mortef must have put in place, but they can take them. You ready for this? We could leave now. Get Rye to get our people out by force and go back on our deal with Husan.”

  “No, he’ll have a back-up. Some way of destroying all of them if you betray him. He wouldn’t have told you where to find them if he didn’t. Tell Rye to be careful.”

  “All right,” Willa said, squeezing her hand.

  “Even if we could safely get everyone and keep me safe as well, he’d never rest until he had his revenge.”

  “Yep, he seems the sort to hold a grudge. Someone needs to help him chill out. Permanently.”

  ***

  Thor paced across Darac’s office. He couldn’t sit. Energy thrummed through him. He knew he probably wouldn’t rest again until Lucy was back with him. Safe. Unharmed.

  What had he been thinking to let her do this? There must have been some other way.

  “They’re approaching,” Darac stated. “They’re all going straight to medical. Apparently your aunt is unconscious and a few of the others, including Koran, have been beaten and starved.

  An hour later, fury engulfing him, Thor stormed out of the medical centre and punched his fist into the wall.

  “I let her go with this bastard. I let my mate willingly put herself into the hands of someone who would do that?” he roared.

  “Thor!” Darac followed him. “You know most of this happened at the hands of the Nerifs.”

  “But not all of it,” Thor said, turning to him. “Some is recent.”

  “He was mad.” Willa stepped out beside them, her face pale. “Mila said he was furious by our refusal to swap Lucy for them. He had a tantrum, like a child. Only with far worse consequences. He truly believes she belongs to him.”

  “She does not. She is mine.” Thor seethed. He had never known fury such as this. The bruises, cuts, signs of torture, some of which was only hours old had finally gotten to him. The only person to escape unharmed was his aunt and that was probably only because she was unconscious.

  “They will heal once they have all been in the regen chamber, right?” Willa asked, wiping her hand over her face.

  Darac pulled her close. “You should go to our quarters, my own. Rest. Today has been long.”

  “Lucy’s my friend. It was my plan, if anything happens…”

  “Nothing will happen,” Thor reassured her. He could not contemplate that. He took in Willa’s too-pale face. “Rest, Willa. Darac is right. You will get sick if you do not take care of yourself.”

  Willa shook her head. “I want to sit with Mila while Koran is in the regen chamber. She gets upset when he’s not close.”

  Koran had insisted Mila be the first in the regen chamber. Despite Koran’s far worse injuries. Thor had agreed, knowing he would feel the same way was it Lucy lying there injured.

  “All right. You may sit with Mila as long as you don’t become too tired. Do you have a headache?” Darac rubbed Willa’s temples lightly.

  “I’m okay. I’ll take a pain inhibitor. I promise. This headache is nothing compared to what Mila has gone through. Did you see the bruises on her arms? Her face? Someone hit her. Bastards.”

  “She is safe now.”

  Unlike Lucy.

  “After Koran comes out of the regen chamber I will need to debrief him,” Darac said.

  “I will have Mila moved to her chamber so she’s more comfortable,” Thor said. “After Darac is finished, Koran can join her there. The only person I will keep in medical is Aunt Liula.”

  “Mila said she never awakened,” Willa said. “Do you think she is permanently in a coma?”

  “It is hard to know. It is rare for one mate to survive the death of another. I do not know if she will ever awaken.”

  ***

  Lucy opened her eyes, staring around her slowly. She’d been dumped into this room a while ago and had kept up her pretence just in case someone watched. But she couldn’t keep this pretence up forever.

  The room was small, windowless. She sat up, wincing slightly. Husan’s men hadn’t exactly been gentle when they’d shoved her in here. Shit. She couldn’t believe she’d done this. A longing for Thor filled her and she searched for him through their bond. He was angry. Furious. And worried about her.

  This was going to be a test for both of them. She built the wall up between them, last thing she wanted was to cause him more fear and worry. The door to the room slid open and she jolted.

  Remember your role.

  “Where am I? What’s going on?” she asked, crying out in fear as Husan stepped through the door. She didn’t have to act scared, she was out of her mind with fear.

  “Hello, Lucy,” he drawled, a sick grin on his face. “We are reunited.”

  “Where am I? What the hell is going on?”

  “You’ve been returned to your rightful place. I own you, Lucy. You had no business leaving me. And you’re going to be punished for your disobedience. I believe a little reminder in obedience is necessary.”

  He stepped forward to let Lor into the room. The huge Kian male filled the room. Kian’s had no conscience, that she could tell anyway. They also had no mind of their own. They were followers. They tied themselves to a master or mistress and they would do anything that person demanded of them.

  No matter how sick or awful.

  Husan had owned Lor for a long time and Lor was intensely loyal. He was also huge. He reminded her of these images of a gorilla she’d once said. Made sense when you discovered how stupid they were. His upper body was nearly twice as wide as h
is hips giving him an almost comical appearance.

  She deliberately hadn’t told Thor about Lor. It didn’t serve any purpose and it would only worry her mate. Lor acted as Husan’s enforcer. Whenever Thor wanted to make an example of someone, wanted to punish someone he called for Lor.

  She’d always avoided the large male.

  Only now there was nowhere to hide.

  ***

  “He had this big enforcer. A Kian. He physically hurt us, although it was at Husan’s direction. I could not work out why he would purchase us from the Nerifs. I felt certain that it would be the Coizils who would wish to own us. But now it makes sense. Why he was so angry. He must have really wanted Lucy back. I believe he paid the Nerifs a lot of money for us.”

  Thor paced back and forth as Koran sat on the sofa in Darac’s office, recounting his story. The other male was pale and thin. The regen chamber could fix his scrapes and bruises. It could mend tears in his skin and any broken bones. But it couldn’t help him instantly regain muscle or stamina. That would take rest and care. For all of their people.

  “Most of our injuries were inflicted by the Nerifs, but they held back because they wanted us in one piece to sell us. Mila said they never harmed her. But our worse injuries came from Husan’s enforcer. Mila called him the Gorilla.”

  “How did the Nerifs capture you?” Darac asked.

  “We were hit, it sent us into a spin. We had to crash land and it was the closest planet. Many of us were knocked unconscious. A patrol of Nerifs came across us while we were weak and overpowered us. We knew you would come. The worst of it was being separated from Mila. I didn’t know where she was. What they were doing to her.”

  Koran clenched his hands into fists. Thor knew how he felt. He had no idea how Lucy was. She had shut down her end of the bond and it was killing him.

  “Lucy saved us.” Koran looked over at him. “I am under no illusions that he would not have killed us. She saved us all. Now it is up to us to save her.”

  ***

  Lucy rolled over, groaning in pain. Three days had passed since Husan had ordered Lor to punish her and she still felt half-dead. They’d arrived on Lazarun at least. But she was shut up in a room alone. The door was always locked. She hadn’t seen or spoken to anyone. Her food was delivered through a small hole in the bottom of the door. She’d tried peering out the hole into the hallway beyond, but there was nothing out there to see but darkness and dirt.