by Laurie Roma
“We will find them,” Malik told her. “We will find every person who is working for her, and figure out where she went after she left the station.”
Tavius looked toward the Dragon Warriors. “Can you use your magic to, I don’t know, scan the universe or something and find Quilla?”
Katra shook her head. “Our magic does not work that way. If she were here on New Vega, we could track her, but it does not work across long distances. We can only do that with those of our own blood, and there are still limitations.”
“So, we still have two places to start looking.” Matt paused for a second, then asked, “Jax, will you be going?”
“Hell, yes.”
“Then I’m going, too.”
Jax glared at Serra. “No, you aren’t. You’re pregnant. You’re staying here.”
Serra’s chin lifted. “If you go, I’m going.”
Jax glared at her, then he turned to Sullivan. “You’ll stay with her, won’t you?”
“We’ll both be staying with her,” Sullivan told him coolly. “As High Commander you have more shit to deal with than just this one issue, no matter how essential this is. We need to prepare for the upcoming Ministry of Nations meeting, and—”
“Look around the damn room. Almost half of the fucking people who are supposed to be at that meeting are here right now,” Jax countered. “We’re pushing back the meeting until the beginning of the new year.”
Tavius nodded. “That works for me since I’m not leaving New Vega until we know everything is back to normal.”
Maddox shot him a look. “Since when are things ever normal on New Vega?”
“True,” Tavius said with a grin. “But I’m still not leaving. So, as the Krytos chancellor, I’m saying a delay would be good.”
“And for us as well,” Katra added. “Alexis just had her twins, and she will not be leaving Tartarus for a while.”
“I am the Tarin chancellor, and I will not be attending any more meetings until we find Quilla,” Malik stated.
“That would leave us with the D’Aire, the Helios, and the Reema chancellors. Even with my father there, it won’t be enough to convince the Xenon chancellor to form a treaty, and now that we know about them, we need them as allies,” Jax said.
“Remember, the Xenon haven’t chosen a chancellor. We don’t even know if they’re willing to come yet,” Serra added. “So, it makes sense to push back the meeting. The whole point to the Ministry of Nations is to have a representative from every race there.”
Sullivan lowered his voice as he spoke to Jax. “That still doesn’t mean I am going to deal with your father when he gets here. You need to help your family deal with Mya’s change. I’m guessing that your fathers and mother are going to need help understanding that their daughter is now Krytos.”
“Shit.”
“Hey, don’t blame this on me,” Mya protested.
“It’s not your fault, tava,” Daimon said, calling her his alpha mate in Krytos.
“You all talk too much.” Amari frowned at everyone. “This is very unorganized.”
Malik agreed, and strove to simplify things. “We will be taking my vessel to Beta Station 4 to find the people working for Quilla. Reva, Kahla, and Amari may come with us.” He turned to Amari. “Do you have a vessel?”
“Eden and I split our vessel, and I can merge my portion with yours…temporarily.”
“How—forget that.” Matt shook his head. “If you don’t mind, High Commander, I would like for Lieutenant Caporele to take the Stargazer to X13 to track down any information about that ship with the rest of the Strike Force Team. I will go with the Tarins and bring one other officer, if that would work for Lord Rego.”
“That would be fine,” Malik assured, but he paused for a moment. “I believe it would be wise to send some of my warriors with your human crew.”
“I will go with the humans,” Isak offered. “Lord Tor already requested that I be allowed to go with the search party.”
Matt nodded. “Good. Looks like we have a plan. We will have a few more Strike Force Teams searching other space stations and on planets, but I think we are going to be the ones to find her.”
“I want reports, Commander Malloy,” Jax demanded. “Daily.”
Some of Matt’s enthusiasm seemed to disappear. “Yes, sir.”
Jaden held onto Katra’s hand on top of the table as he said, “We will stay on New Vega to fix what is needed before we return home.”
Katra looked at the Adaro brothers and Mya. “And we would like to install a better venting system for situations like the one that happened in the lobby.”
Maddox was startled for a moment, then said, “We would appreciate that.”
“Speaking of magic.” Tavius pointed to the case that contained the other canisters of the Genesis Project drug. “Can someone do something with this? We were going to boot it out of an airlock, but I’m still not comfortable with this shit floating around out there. We wanted to destroy it, but every way we’re considered would release some—”
Suddenly, the entire case went up in a cloud of black smoke. The dark mist swirled, forming into a ball before it caved into itself and disappeared completely.
“Done,” Amari said. “Now, we can leave.”
Hope surged inside of Reva. Now that they had a Dragon Warrior going with them on the mission, things were looking up. They would find Quilla and everyone who worked for her.
And she wouldn’t stop until every single one of them paid in blood.
CHAPTER FIVE
Malik tried to stay away.
It had been hours since they had left New Vega, but he couldn’t seem to settle himself. He paced the confines of his quarters like an animal in a cage, trying to force himself not to go to her…to Reva.
After the meeting ended, Malik had returned to his ship with his warriors to wait for the others that were going with them. It had been decided that Iolas and Pharon would go with Isak and the humans on the Stargazer, while Reva, Kahla, Amari, and two humans would stay on Malik’s ship. Commander Matt Malloy and Officer Rob Perez were going to be disappointed if they had come to ensure that everyone adhered to Alliance rules.
There was no regulation that would stop Malik from doing what was needed.
The only thing that could get in his way was the female who had touched his heart. He had never been a male that believed in love. Never thought he would want to take a consort. To share his life and his energy with someone would be the ultimate bond, and it was one that could never be broken. He’d once thought he could have that with Reva. She had made him wish for more, for a future.
But all hope of that had died when he’d discovered his sister had killed her family.
How in all the worlds could he ask Reva to be with him after all that she had lost? He couldn’t ask her to take his name when it had the blood of hundreds tainting it. Couldn’t ask her to live in the palace where her enemy had plotted and planned the enslavement of countless females. The shame he bore wasn’t something he could ever force someone else to bear, and so he should stay away from her and not tempt fate.
But he wanted her with the heat of a thousand suns, and that wasn’t going to change. Not when she was so close. It was torture, pure and simple, but he would rather suffer being around her than not be near her.
Cursing himself for a fool, Malik left his quarters and strode down the hallway, heading to where he heard the sound of voices. The ship was big enough to hold almost half of his warriors, but he’d left most of them at home with his second-in-command, Aldric, watching over the palace. He’d figured stealth would be essential for taking down Quilla, but with a Dragon Warrior onboard that seemed more dangerous than a lightning storm, that was no longer a possibility.
Amari’s ship had been made of the same strange metallic black as his, and it was still difficult to believe that she had merged her smaller ship to the top of his with just a thought. Now, it looked like it had always been there.
&nb
sp; It had been shocking to hear that she had created the ship when she had decided to come to New Vega instead of going to Tartarus with her sister. When he’d asked her why she had made that decision, she’d just said that she found humans fascinating. He got the impression there was something more to it, but he didn’t bother asking because she made it clear the subject was closed.
Turning the corner and walking into the lounge, Malik felt disappointment slam into him as he realized that Reva wasn’t there. They had set up a command area in the main lounge on the floor where most had claimed sleeping quarters. Data units covered several tables, however, only two people occupied the large room. Commander Matt Malloy stood near the windows on the far end of the room, talking with someone on his wrist unit with an ear piece so his conversation couldn’t be overheard.
Kahla Adaro sat in front of one of the data units. The Krytos were a deadly race, and their females were just as dangerous as the males when they shifted into their battle forms. Their black pupils turned red when they changed, and their fingertips grew into lethal claws. Each Krytos had fangs, but in battle mode, their fangs grew and their voices deepened. Looking at Kahla, it made Malik wonder how the Tarin females used to be, back when they had been warriors who had fought beside the males.
It had been obvious that Reva and Kahla were good friends. However, it was a little terrifying to realize that Amari had easily bonded with them, making them a feminine triad of trouble.
He felt the weight of having three females on his ship, since he was honor bound to ensure their safety, though, they would have been angry if he told them that. Still, he wanted to protect them from what was to come, though, Amari could kill them all with one thought if she wanted to, which he hoped to the gods would never happen. She was family now, but blood-ties didn’t mean a damn thing after what Quilla had done.
They would just have to wait and see if they could trust her.
Kahla looked up and met his gaze, and she raised a brow as if she knew he had been studying her. “We thought you’d gone to sleep.”
“I’ve been thinking.” And driving himself mad. “Are the others in bed?” He tried asking the question casually, but her black eyes seemed to see more than he wanted.
“The others just went down to the training room.” She pulled a chair closer to her using a boot-clad foot, then gestured to the seat beside her. “It’s good you’re not asleep. Sit your fine ass down here. You’re just in time for a very important vid call that I think you should hear. It should be coming in any minute now.”
Fine ass? Malik hesitated before sitting down next to her, but he made sure to move the chair a reasonable distance away. “Why don’t you put the call up on the wall monitor?”
She smirked a little as she leaned back in her chair. “Sure thing.”
“Who is contacting you?”
Kahla moved her neck until one side cracked, then she did the other side. “I’ve arranged a call from the owners of Artane Electronics. Magnus and Nico Artane’s family adopted Razar Tolvan as a baby when his Krytos parents died. Razar converted both of his elite brothers several years ago, and the three of them run the company together.”
“Interesting. I’ve heard of them. They make data units, right?”
“They make everything from data units, vid games, and—the reason that we are going to talk to them right now—holo-masks.”
“Ah.” It all made sense now. “If the version Quilla had is banned, how is talking to them going to get us anywhere?”
“Because I spoke to Nico a few days ago, and he was pissed. I mean, seriously pissed. They created the holo-mask for general use, but after the Council of Regents banned the mask, they changed it to the toy version that is programmed to only replicate a few choices per unit. If someone tries to tamper with the unit, it has an automatic shutdown, and the unit fries itself.”
“Maybe it was made by someone else, then. And it isn’t impossible for someone to get around programming. Someone once told me, if tech could be made, it could be altered.”
“That is what my cousins said, but I don’t believe it. This kind of tech is pretty rough to duplicate without the specs. It took years and several geniuses to create it. The Artane family made the holo-rooms years ago, so they already had something to work with. I sent Nico an enhanced photo of the one she was wearing, and he thinks it was one of the prototypes that was given to the Regents to be locked away in a secured facility.”
That made him stiffen. “It was someone within the Alliance who gave it to her.”
“I don’t know about giving, but she got it somehow.” When her wrist unit signaled, she turned in her chair and put two fingers in her mouth, whistling extremely loud.
“That’s some skill you have.”
“I have more skills than you know.”
Matt quickly crossed the room. “Malik, glad you’re joining us for this call.” He pulled a chair over to her other side, and sat down. “Let’s put it onscreen, Kahla.”
Kahla turned to Malik and winked since she had been planning to do that all along. She tapped a few keys on her wrist unit, and the large screen on the wall went from black to showing three Krytos males in a room with dark gray walls and light fixtures that looked like flames.
Malik studied the males on screen, and tried to figure out which one had been born Krytos rather than made. One of the males had short black hair, while another had a longer light-brown mane. The male sitting in the middle had a shaved head, with black tattoos starting from behind his ears, running down both sides of his neck, over his shoulders and down his arms.
Since he was the only one wearing a tank top, only his tattoos showed, but there were similar marks on the other two males’ necks that hinted that they had the same. All of them had smears of dirt and sweat on their faces, and their eyes had hints of red within the black of one and pale-green of the two others.
“Kahla, Malloy…and friend,” the one in the center said in an extremely deep voice.
“Thanks for getting back to me, Magnus. Let me get introductions out of the way. The shaved bad-ass in the center is Magnus, the pretty boy to the right is Nicolo, and the one glaring at me is Razar. Together, they are the Artane brothers, emperors of Artane Electronics.” Nodding her head to the side, she said, “And this is Lord Malik Rego, and remember, play nice because he’s not an asshole like his sister.”
Nicolo snorted out a laugh, but Razar and Magnus just sighed. Still, Kahla had added a little humor into the mix that had all three of the Artane brothers calming enough so the red disappeared from their eyes.
“Just call us Magnus, Nico and Raz,” Nico said.
“Is everyone up to speed?” Magnus asked briskly.
“I told them about my last conversation with Nico.” Kahla’s eyes narrowed. “Do you guys have blood on you?”
“Yeah, a little. Magnus has a temper.” Nico shot a glance as his brother. “After I spoke to you, I told my brothers what you said, then we contacted Roman Newgate. We just got done visiting a hidden vault in the mountains with him, then we made another visit before we came back to our headquarters.”
Malik’s eyebrow rose. “Regent Newgate showed you where it was?”
Razar snorted this time. “Like we gave him a choice? We entrusted the regents with something that belonged to us because they said it would be safer with them, but that was a big fat pile of bullshit.”
“And Roman is a friend, and he wasn’t a regent when we had to hand the damn things over. She has one of the prototypes we fucking created,” Magnus growled, his eyes changing from black to pure red now. “Once we—”
“Wait,” Malik leaned forward. “You said prototypes. You made more than one?”
Magnus’ voice deepened even more, making it more of a low rumble of sound. “There were two. We gave one to the regents that was an earlier prototype, one that had glitches. But kept the completed one. We knew it was safer in our possession.”
“And we were right. It is supposed to
be,” Nico assured with a hard grin.
“How in bloody hellfire did Quilla get the other mask?” Malik growled.
“From one greedy fuck who is now dead,” Magnus fired back.
“He took credits, then blackmailed his partner and threatened to kill their chosen if he said anything,” Nico explained. “They have a child, and he threatened her, too.”
“He wiped the security cameras the day he took the mask, but we ran the data back, and found when the masks were taken,” Raz explained. “He was too stupid to consider that we would figure out who was working that day. When we tracked them down, the partner spilled everything. The traitor also told us of two more men that were working for Quilla in the Capital. Then, we killed them.”
How many lives would his sister destroy, Malik thought warily as he closed his eyes and sighed. “She has one of them, but it doesn’t work right.” His eyes opened, and he tried not to show how tired he was. “That doesn’t help us find her.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Magnus admitted. “But we found three men who worked for Quilla, one of which transferred from Tartarus several months ago.”
“Ah.” So, that was the connection. Malik frowned as he looked over at Matt. “You need someone to check all of the people working at the Hades Outpost.” As Matt cursed, Malik tapped on his wrist unit, and contacted Jaden, taking matters into his own hands.
A few seconds later, Jaden’s face popped onto the small screen. “Miss me already?”
Malik wasted no time explaining the situation to him. “Can you handle it?”
“Consider it done.” Jaden paused and looked at something Malik couldn’t see. He assumed that he was talking to Katra. When he turned back, his glowing eyes were swirling with rage. “We are already on our way home. Boosting the ship with our magic, we should be home in a few hours. We will go directly to the outpost when we land. I’ll be able to tell if they are lying, and I will find out what I can before I kill the traitors.”