by Sadie Carter
Except she’d chosen the wrong man and ended up living a nightmare she couldn’t shake free of. Right now, her dreams of a simple life seemed so impossible she felt completely disheartened.
Anxiety curdled in her stomach as she studied the warriors surrounding her. There was only four of them, but they filled the room with their presence. The Zerconians had been nothing but kind and generous and, well, sweet to her and Saffron since they’d arrived. Not that they’d like being called kind and sweet. Nope, it would ruin their tough guy images. At first, she’d been completely intimidated by their size and their gruff demeanour. But after a few weeks here, after realizing they were likely to cut off their arm before hurting a female, she’d started to relax.
Exhaustion washed over her. She always seemed to be tired. Every time she closed her eyes at night, she was swamped with worries and memories. So she cat-napped where she could and tried to rest as much as possible.
Her gaze wandered over to the biggest warrior in the room. Toriq. Her head told her that she should be scared of him. Just one small punch and he could knock her out. But her body…oh her body sat up and said dammnn, that is one fine man. Nobody would ever mess with Toriq, not unless they were insane. Or had a small army on their side. He wouldn’t let anyone bully him around.
After he’d rescued her a few weeks ago when she’d smashed a carton of eggs on the ground, someone had left a carton of eggs on her doorstep. She knew it was him. But before she could thank him, he’d gone to Vexeran with the Emperor and Empress of Zerconia, and she hadn’t seen him since.
He was always serious, but right now he almost looked grim. Her mouth grew dry, her heart beat rapidly. What was going on? Why had they barged in here? Macon stepped forward, staring down at her, studying her intently.
She resisted the urge to cower. Just. There was something about Macon that made her want to confess every little sin. The other four warriors looked just as stern, just as intimidating. None of them smiled, but then the Zerconians weren’t known for their happy, friendly personalities. They took intense to a whole other level.
Still, there had to be some reason they’d come in without announcing themselves first. Some reason they were all glaring at her like she’d stolen their favorite shirt and used it to clean up dog poop. Although these guys didn’t really wear shirts. Mostly, they wore these leather vests that displayed far too much of their muscular chest and arms.
“W-what’s going on? What are you doing here?” An awful thought occurred to her. “Has something happened to Saffron?” Her sister had gone to do some shopping. Had she had an accident? “Where is she? What’s going on?”
“Your sister is not here?” Macon asked, narrowing his gaze.
She frowned. “No. Is she all right?”
“She is fine as far as we know,” Toriq told her. His voice reminded her of distant thunder. A low rumble that filled the room. She risked another glance over at him. She could swear she saw a note of sympathy in his gaze before it hardened and he looked away.
“Then what’s going on? Why are you all looking at me like I ran over your grandmother?”
Macon frowned slightly. “Sophie Eastern, do you have anything to declare?”
“To declare? You sound like a customs agent. I’m not trying to smuggle drugs in or anything.”
They all frowned harder. Whoops. Probably the wrong joke to make, Sophie.
She laughed. Even she could hear how nervous it sounded. Shut up. I sound like a lunatic. She pressed her lips together.
“We have reason to suspect you of being a spy for the Humans for Humans group, which tried to kill Empress Zoey. I ask again, do you have anything to declare?”
Sophie just stared. Her brain froze, and she felt her mouth drop open as she stared at Macon in complete disbelief.
Spy?
Spy!
Oh, my God. A spy. A rush of dizziness overcame her, and she sat, grateful that the couch was behind her and cushioned her fall.
“Spy?” she finally managed to squeak out. “You think I’m a spy?”
“Hellooo? Anyone home?”
Sophie turned as though in a daze, watching as Alice stepped into the room, a wide smile on her cheerful face. “The door was open, so I just walked on through, hope you don’t mind. What’s going on? You having a party or something?”
Alice looked around in interest, and Sophie felt herself deflate even further. Alice was her closest friend on Zerconia. She’d been on the same transporter as Sophie and Saffron. She’d hidden up in the ducts with them when their transporter had been taken and boarded. Sophie had thought they were really done for then. But Alice had managed to contact her cousin, Rich, and the Zerconians had rescued them all.
Alice was sweet, friendly, and a little naïve. She was also mated to a huge warrior called Jaxan. He was one of the Emperor’s personal bodyguards. What would Alice think of her now? She wouldn’t want to be her friend once she learned the truth.
But wait, she wasn’t actually a spy. And she definitely didn’t work for Humans for Humans. Those assholes had nearly caused the death of all the women on the transporter.
Alice’s gaze narrowed as no one answered her. She moved forward. “What’s going on? Sophie? What’s wrong?”
Macon reached out and grabbed Alice’s arm before she could move closer. What did he think, that she’d actually hurt Alice? The idea was kind of laughable. Sophie might be bigger than Alice, but Alice was far stronger.
“Macon? Let me go.” Alice tugged at her arm, glaring up at Macon.
“You need to leave, Alice.” Macon gave the redhead a firm look that would have had Sophie jumping to do his bidding.
Alice just rolled her eyes. “I’m not leaving. Not until I check that Sophie is okay. I don’t know what you guys are doing here, but you’re scaring her. Sophie, you look really pale. Do you need a glass of water or something?”
“I’m okay.” Although she felt a bit ill. Sweat broke out across her forehead. Great, that was all she needed, to start sweating like a racehorse. Way to not look guilty, Sophie. “They think I’m a spy.”
“What?” Alice started to laugh, but when as no one else joined in, she stopped and stared at them all. “You’re not serious. You believe Sophie is a spy?”
“I gave you an order to leave, Alice.”
Alice smiled at Macon sweetly. “I’m afraid I don’t take orders from you, Macon.”
“I am your cousin. For your safety, I will have to insist that you follow my order.” The coldness in Macon’s voice made Sophie shiver. He was really serious. He thought she was a spy. But why? She bit her lip anxiously.
Sophie knew that a spy had fed Humans for Humans information about the Zerconians. It was how they were in place, ready to poison Empress Zoey when she’d visited Vexeran. Luckily, Alice had prevented the Empress from being killed.
Sophie couldn’t believe they thought she had a part to play in that.
“You only call yourself my cousin when you want me to do what you tell me. Sophie is my friend, I’m not going anywhere.” She yanked her arm free, although Sophie knew she’d only been able to free herself because Macon allowed it. Her cute nose wrinkled as she placed her hands on her hips and scowled up at Macon.
Sophie tensed, getting ready to defend her friend if she needed it.
“Your mate needs to teach you how to obey better, Alice.”
“Oh, I’m about as good at obeying idiotic orders as Annabel is.”
“Um, maybe someone could tell me why you think I’m a spy?” Sophie finally managed to ask, concered that Macon was about to forcibly remove Alice from the room. Not that he’d physically hurt Alice, but it wouldn’t take much for him to pick her up and carry her out of here. And Sophie could really use some support right now.
Where the hell was Saffron?
No. Sophie straightened her shoulders. She’d complained that she was being smothered in good intentions. She needed to be stronger. She needed to stick up for herself.
“W
hat is it that I’ve supposedly done?”
“We have a witness who overheard you talking to someone via vid and giving detailed information about our trip to Vexeran.”
Was he kidding?
“You’re joking, right?”
Macon remained stony-faced.
“I forgot. You guys don’t know how to make a joke. Holy shit. Who is your witness because they’re lying.”
Macon raised his eyebrow. “You have proof of this?”
“Proof that I’m not lying.” A wave of nausea hit her. Okay, this stress really wasn’t good for her or the baby. “Shouldn’t you be asking for proof from the person accusing me of this? Who is it?” Who would say these things?
“Who it is does not matter. They are being protected.”
“So this person gets to just accuse me of whatever they like, and they’re being protected? What happened to innocent until proven guilty?”
“I don’t think they believe in that here.” Alice looked apprehensive.
“I didn’t do that. I’m not a spy.” She stared at Alice as she said it. Surely, she would believe her.
“Of course you aren’t,” Alice said briskly. “It’s the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard or have you forgotten that Sophie and Saffron were kidnapped by the Coizils as well?”
Sophie licked her dry lips. “That’s right, we were. Why would we do that if we were part of the group?”
“You knew to hide in the ducts. From what Alice said you had days’ worth of food in there. I am certain you had some sort of back-up plan to save yourselves.”
“But they helped save me, why would they have done that?” Alice placed her hands on her hips.
“Because you were a loose end that needed taking care of, especially once they realized you had contacted Rich.”
Oh God, he had an answer for everything.
“But if they wanted to come here to spy on you guys then they wouldn’t have risked being caught by the Coizils.”
“Unless that was the plan. The Coizils would murder everyone else, but the two of you would hide and be rescued. You knew we would bring you here to Zerconia where you could spy on us.”
“It wasn’t the plan,” Sophie whispered. “There was no real plan. We hid food so if things went to shit, we could get out fast.”
Macon narrowed his gaze. “Things went to shit?”
“Went wrong,” Alice explained.
“How did you know things would go wrong?”
“We didn’t. It’s called preparing for the worst.” Her body grew chilled then hot, sweat dripped down her back. Shoot, she wasn’t made out for this. She wasn’t some super spy. “I’m not a spy, and neither is Saffron.”
“You knew about the trip to Vexeran.”
“Yes, because I told her,” Alice said. “But lots of people knew about the trip.”
Macon grunted then turned to the warriors behind him. “Largan and Argus, search the place.”
“What? You can’t just search through our stuff.”
“Of course we can.”
Of course, they could. This was their planet. Their rules. They could do whatever the hell they liked. Suddenly, she wished she’d listened to her sister when she’d argued that they needed to leave Zerconia. To go somewhere else.
Sophie had thought this might be home, even if they weren’t mates, she’d hoped the Zerconians might let them stay. But there were few jobs for women here, and Saff wasn’t happy to be dependent on any man to provide for her.
Oh, she was so going to gloat over being right.
Alice came and sat beside Sophie and took her hand in hers. “God, you’re freezing.” Alice held her hand between her warm ones. “Don’t worry. When they don’t find anything, they’ll realize they don’t have two legs to stand on. I’d sure like to know who the hell is accusing you of being a spy though.”
So would Sophie.
She could feel Macon and Toriq staring at her. She didn’t look up, not wanting to see the accusation in their eyes. She was almost starting to feel guilty, damn it.
Perhaps because while she wasn’t a spy, she was keeping secrets.
Big secrets.
“Macon.”
Largan stepped back into the room and handed something over to Macon who studied the small metal object.
“What is it?” Alice asked.
Macon’s gaze grew impossibly colder. “Where was this?”
The warrior who handed him the object looked over at Sophie. “In her belongings, stuck in one of her shoes.”
“What? I don’t even know what it is. It’s not mine.”
Macon snorted.
“Macon.” Alice sat forward. “What is it?”
“It is a sound amplifier and recorder.”
“What? Like a bug?” Alice asked. “Pretty big for a bug and don’t you guys sweep for bugs regularly?”
“We do. But this is not exactly like a bug. A bug can only record conversations within a few feet, this object can record within a five mile radius. It doesn’t have to be placed in a room, it could be outside in a tree or on a roof or in a shoe.”
Macon stared at her.
“I’ve never seen it before in my life.” But she knew he didn’t believe her, and why would he? It was in her shoe for God’s sake. Her stomach bubbled with anxiety.
“Because it records so much feedback it can only record for short periods at a time before it needs to be cleared.” He handed it over to Largan. “Take this to Annabel and have her check to see if there is any data on it. If she was smart, she would have cleared it, but I have not determined that she is all that intelligent.”
Ouch. That burned.
God. They really thought she’d done this. What was she going to do? How would she prove she was innocent and who was setting her up? Would they interrogate her? She wasn’t on Earth now. She didn’t get a lawyer and a phone call. Where would they take her? What did they do to spies here?
The buzzing in her ears grew until she thought her head was about to explode. “I-I need some fresh air.” It felt like the walls were closing in on her, she could feel her panic growing.
“You go nowhere. Stay seated.”
Uh-uh, not happening. Sophie stood then immediately wished she hadn’t as she started to sway.
“Sophie!” Alice’s voice seemed to come from down a long tunnel. Sophie’s breath came in rapid pants as dark spots danced in front of her eyes. Shit. She was going to faint.
She fell back into the seat, and Alice pushed her head between her legs then rubbed her back. But it wasn’t Alice’s voice that cut through her panic and cleared her mind.
“Take long, slow breaths.” The low voice was soft, but the command was clear. “In. Then out. Follow me. In. Then out. Good girl.”
She breathed in deep then let it out slowly, thankful as her head stopped spinning and her nausea faded.
“Thanks. I’m okay now.”
The warm hand didn’t move for a moment, and she started to panic a little when it abruptly lifted up. “You may sit up.”
Yeah, that’s what she’d been planning on doing, without his permission. As she sat and looked up, surprise filled her.
Toriq.
“Thank you,” she whispered quietly.
He frowned. “She’s pale. Call the healer.” He turned away and stalked across the room.
Coldness filled Sophie once more as she stared at his back. He couldn’t even bear to turn around and look at her.
Because he thinks you’re a spy. They all do.
Lord only knew what they did to spies here. She really didn’t want to find out. She knew they’d once thought Annabel a spy. And they’d been right. But she’d been saved from whatever they’d had planned for her when Macon mated her. What would happen to Sophie? She didn’t have a mate to protect her.
“Soph, I’m home! Do you know the door is…” her sister came to a stop, her voice trailing off as she stared around at everyone. “What the fuck is going on?”
Shit. Things had just gone from bad to worse.
Chapter Three
Toriq watched as the dark-haired female paced the room, her face furious as she waved her arms about. Macon had just explained the charges against her sister and the female called Saffron was not taking it well.
To put it mildly.
He nearly winced as her voice pitched. The insults flying from her mouth mostly didn’t make sense to him, so he tuned them out and instead turned to the pale, blonde female.
Sophie.
Even her name sounded feminine. Dainty. Very suited to the tiny female. She wasn’t the shortest human female here. Alice was far shorter. But there was something delicate about her. Something that made you want to pull her into your embrace and keep her safe from any harm.
She looked almost too perfect to touch. He couldn’t believe he’d actually dared place a hand on her back. What had he been thinking? What if he’d been too heavy-handed and hurt her? Toriq was a big male, even for his own kind. He had no business touching a human female. Not even to care for her.
He watched her as her sister raged at Macon. There was something wrong here. It didn’t feel right, accusing this female of being a spy. Sure, his judgement could be skewed because of his attraction to her. He wasn’t being impartial. But she’d seemed genuinely surprised by the accusation. But what about the amplifier in her belongings?
It could have been planted.
She raised her hand to her head and winced, looking like she was in pain. Although with how loud her sister was currently being, it was no wonder her head ached. Even he felt the beginning of a pain in his head.
But she seemed to pale even further and swayed. Where was the healer?
Just as he debated moving back to check on her, another male stepped into the room.
Rich. The human councillor who was currently staying with Macon and his mate, Annabel, who was Rich’s half-sister. What was he doing here? He was the very last person they needed. Rich could make any situation ten times worse.
“What is going on in here?”
Macon sighed. “Go away, Rich.”
The other male moved into the room, placing himself between Macon and Sophie. That was surprising. Was Rich interested in the blonde female? Jealousy stirred and he attempted to stifle the feeling.