She retaliated. Her booted foot slammed into his stomach and his breath exploded from him. She didn’t wait, slipping in quickly to punch him in the face. He stumbled but didn’t fall. His hands rose to protect his face from another blow. Her closed fist drove against his ribs before she danced back out of reach.
He came back swinging. His fists drove forward. Dari jumped back once and then again as his long strides cut the distance between them too quickly. She scrambled to keep out of range of those huge fists.
She knew that soon she’d find a wall at her back. She had to do something before that happened. She dived in under one of those swinging arms. Her fist slashed in a low vicious arc, straight for his groin. He didn’t even have time to realize her target before her clenched fingers hit their mark. He drew in a startled choking breath. He stumbled forward and she jumped to the side, unsure of how effective the blow would be on him. He dropped to his knees with a groan. Dari pounced. She leaped behind him, her arm slipping around his neck. She was determined to do whatever it took to remove the threat even if it meant killing him. She pulled back, keeping him off balance as he began to fight her hold. His hands clawed at her arm but she held on to him. At first, she barely registered it when he went totally still. And then she finally saw what was right in front of her. Four men stood there, boots braced apart, hands on their swords. They looked vaguely stunned.
Rygar and Logan stood side by side. Marin stood at Rygar’s side and a man she didn’t recognize knelt at Sian’s side. She eased up on the pressure on the man’s throat but kept him off balance.
“You want this one alive or dead, Achan Logan? I have my preferences, because he hasn’t exactly been cordial but I will of course defer to your wishes.” She winked at Rygar, enjoying having him off balance and unsure for once.
“Alive but we’ll take over holding him now. You looked a little too tempted to end it permanently there for a moment,” Logan said.
Marin walked forward. His hand slashed down and struck the man in the side of the head. The man’s sudden limp weight nearly dragged her to the ground. She released him and stepped back.
Rygar started forward and suddenly his arms were around her. He lifted her off her feet. Tremors shook his muscular body. Her hands settled on his shoulders and she held on to him, a little bit stunned by the emotion she could see and feel from him. As hard as she’d tried to reach him, she could suddenly feel the emotion and hear his shaken thoughts without trouble. It felt right but she did wonder why she hadn’t been able to do it on her own.
I could have lost you. His forehead touched hers as he held her a little closer.
She shook her head and cupped his cheek with her palm. I’m not that easy to hurt, Rygar. I’ve taken care of myself for a long time. I would have felt better if I had a knife but I was fairly certain I could handle him.
He shook his head at her but she felt some of the tension ease out of his shoulders. She savored the feel of his hard body against her. She had a lot of questions to ask especially since she’d started remembering what the man had said as he’d grabbed her. Someone was trying to hurt either Rygar or a man who looked very much like him.
Rygar stepped back and ran his eyes from her head to toe. “Are you hurt? Did he hit you?”
Dari’s brows rose. She’d just been in a fight. Most fights involved contact between both opponents. He was utterly serious in that question. And he looked like he wanted to hurt her attacker. The man was in ultra-protective mode.
“He hit me a few times in the side.” She shrugged. Right now, she didn’t feel anything more than a little soreness and she’d have been surprised if that wasn’t there.
“Your side? Your ribs. Did he hurt them?” Rygar’s hands cupped gently over her ribs.
“They’re fine. No real pain, just a little discomfort.” She put her hand over his on the side that had taken the blows, pressing just a little to show him that she wasn’t hurt.
“We’ll find out why this man attacked you,” Rygar assured her.
“Well, I can tell you it wasn’t because I was his primary target.” She folded her arms across her chest and waited for the question or the denial. She knew they didn’t believe this had anything to do with their pack.
“What do you mean?” Logan asked. He stepped forward as his men carried the attacker out of the alley.
“The man said something like he found a new woman quickly and that he would pay as well. So, Rygar, have you been with someone recently or is it someone who looks very like you?” She took satisfaction in the surprised looks on their faces. She looked pointedly over at Logan. He was the only one she knew who looked anything like Rygar.
“It’s not me.” Logan shook his head.
“So, it’s you.” Dari raised her brows. In her experience, male Zarain didn’t encourage females. They might have sex with them but they didn’t lead them to believe it could be anything permanent if the woman wasn’t the man’s mate.
“Not me either. I have a twin. He recently found his mate but there’s been some trouble.” Rygar pulled her against his side and looked down at her with a smile on his face.
Dari blinked. Twin. Two men who looked like Rygar. She shook her head. She couldn’t think about that now. She needed to find out more about what had happened. She suspected that it was at least partly responsible for their overprotective annoying attitude.
“What kind of trouble?” She put her arm around his waist and leaned into him.
Rygar’s head tilted toward her and his voice lowered as they walked back to the main area. “He found his mate on a world near this one. The family was very against the woman having a shifter mate. They tried to stop him before he left with her and chased after them when Gaden did get his woman off the world.”
“Hers wouldn’t be the only family to get angry when a shifter suddenly carries off their daughter without more than a few words.” Dari shrugged. Usually the family eventually came to terms with it. She’d seen it happen a few times since the males had joined Oroyai pack.
“This was different. And there’s been more trouble while I was gone,” he explained.
Dari looked up at him and saw the clenched jaw. She could see the tension in his body and could swear she caught a bit of his thoughts and emotions. Anger was definitely there but also disapproval. He didn’t want to talk about this here.
“I’ll stop asking questions now but I want answers later. Don’t think I’m going to forget.” She poked one of her fingers into his ribs and walked slowly beside him.
“You’ll get your answers. Let’s get out of the market and on our way. Just to be certain there’s not another person waiting to attack.” Rygar quickened his pace. Logan was helping a now-conscious Sian to walk. They made their way back to the main market and then out of the city. She looked around for any of the others but didn’t see them. They’d probably already been contacted. At least about the change in plan if not told all the details.
They left the city and moved off the road, waiting in the forest on the west side of the city. A few of the men were already waiting for them but she knew some of them were missing. Rygar led her over to where the men had settled. He spread the leather underlining of a pallet on the ground. She smiled and sat. He dropped down beside her on the ground. He seemed determined not to let her out of his sight or touch.
“Now that we’re out of the city, tell me about the trouble.” She turned on the mat to face him. “What happened after you left?”
“There were several attacks on Zarain men and Nina, Gaden’s mate, disappeared.” Rygar brushed his hand along the side of her face, pushing a few strands that escaped her braid behind her ear. His eyes roved over her face and she felt such determination from him that she knew that he was thinking that he could have lost her.
“I’m here and I’m not going anywhere without you. How did she disappear? Is she still missing? What about the link thing and the dreams? Can’t he just talk to her like you do to me?” Dari asked, ve
ry confused.
“She’s still missing. She was taken on a normal visit to this market. So maybe you can see that we’re not being protective of you for no reason,” Logan said. He stood a few paces away from them.
“But how? And what about the rest of my questions?” She looked up at the Achan.
“They attacked her guards and knocked her unconscious, before anyone could get to them. They were gone, taking her with them. We tracked them to a river but lost the trail there. Gaden says she’s not on this planet but we don’t know where she is.” Logan’s hands clenched at his sides. He looked fierce and dominant and very much like he wanted to rip someone apart.
“As Logan said, Gaden has talked to her but there’s a problem. She doesn’t remember anything. She thinks Gaden is either a dream or a demon tormenting her.” Rygar’s mouth twisted and he shook his head. “Not knowing where she’s been taken is pushing him to his limits.”
“Not remember? Was she hit on the head?” She put her hand on his thigh.
“Gaden doesn’t know but her memory loss isn’t like anything anyone here has ever heard of. She doesn’t remember anything. Not Gaden, not her childhood, not even the city where she was born and reared.” Rygar frowned and drew her closer.
Dari stiffened. The words “doesn’t remember anything” echoed in her head. They sparked a memory about a woman who had disappeared and had no memory of any of her life. She tried to remember everything she could about that long-ago conversation but the details eluded her. She didn’t know how it had been done but she’d bet there weren’t many people who could make a person forget their entire life.
“Is something wrong, taneen?” Rygar asked.
“One of my friends told me about a woman, a friend of hers, who’d been found in a city. She had no memory of friends she’d grown up with or her life before she woke up in that city,” she explained.
“It’s good that the woman was found and was again with people who knew her.” Logan nodded.
Dari could only stare at him in disbelief for a moment. He acted as if she’d just been making conversation. Couldn’t he see what she was trying to tell him? If this had been done to someone else, there might be a way to find Gaden’s woman. She clenched her hands and kept them locked firmly to her side. There was no real connection between them but she couldn’t help thinking that there had to be. Total loss of memory almost never happened.
“The woman had been born a shifter.”
“Nina hasn’t been hurt. So we’re fairly sure that none of our enemies did this. It had to have been arranged by her family.” Rygar frowned down at her.
Dari narrowed her eyes but held back. She didn’t have enough information about what had happened to the Feiral woman her friend had mentioned. She didn’t even have the name of the planet where the woman had been found. In a way, she didn’t really blame Rygar and Achan Logan for their doubts. There was so much she didn’t know about this situation. The fact that the incident she’d told them about had happened years ago didn’t help. She couldn’t help thinking about the fact that memory loss was such a rare thing to happen. The knowledge of how to do it had to be carefully guarded.
“We keep leaving cities before I can get to a messenger. I want to write a letter to Acine Caidi and Achan Raven to let them know where I am.” She looked steadily at Rygar. She was going to write more than that but until she got some solid answers she wasn’t going to say anything more about it. “I suppose you’ve checked her family.”
“You can write the letter as soon as we get to the Taivain. We checked her family. She’s not there,” Logan said almost before she’d finished speaking.
“Not that she’s with them. That they arranged her disappearance. Maybe taking her away from a shifter’s worth not seeing her, at least for a while. They wouldn’t know that the search would never stop with any shifter.” Dari leaned forward, intently watching his expression.
She saw the doubt on Rygar’s face. “It could be a possibility but it’s not likely.”
She shrugged. There could be so much more to the situation than she knew. Some unknown person just taking a woman and somehow erasing her memory just didn’t sound right but maybe it had happened before.
Chapter Six
Rygar held on to Dari as he guided the mican up the path to the Taivain. As much as it relieved him to know the danger wasn’t aimed at her, he still felt the need to keep her close. She was in danger and a target. Not only because he and Gaden looked alike but because she was associated with him and with the Achan. There had been attacks on both of them since Gaden had brought Nina to the Taivain. They knew that Nina’s family was behind it but had just dealt with the men while trying to work for some sort of agreement with her family. None of the messages they’d sent had ever gotten a reply. For Nina and Gaden, they had wanted to try for at least a token relationship with her family.
He felt the tension in Dari’s body as they approached the Taivain. She sat forward as they approached the walled fortress. Beneath his fingers, her muscles tightened and he could see the throbbing beat of her pulse at her neck. She was anxious and excited.
He felt a bit of excitement hum through his own body but he knew it wasn’t for the same reason. The thought of having her alone in the comfort of his bed without interruptions had been racing through his mind. It had sometimes made the ride very uncomfortable. She must have caught one of his thoughts because she turned a little and looked at him. A smile curved her deep pink lips. He thought he caught a glimpse of amusement flashing through her eyes but he couldn’t be sure.
She hooked one leg over the saddle and turned, totally at ease. He tensed his arms, lifting to catch her if she lost her balance, but she settled easily. Her arm curved around him and she leaned against him, her head resting against his chest. She looked up at him and her brown eyes were shielded by her long lashes. He couldn’t read any emotion there.
“Is your brother here or is he still out looking for his mate?” Dari asked.
“He’s here,” Logan said as he rode beside them. “He’d like to be out searching but we have no new information and don’t know where to continue the search. Doing nothing is hard for him.”
Rygar hadn’t really appreciated how hard it was for his brother until he’d found Dari. If she disappeared, he’d want to destroy anything that stood in the way of finding her. He couldn’t even think about it without anger boiling and the Zarain stirring inside him.
Her hand stroked over his chest. “I’m right here. Now why don’t you tell me about the other attacks you mentioned?”
“There’s not much to tell. One of them happened in the city around the gatehouse. The other two happened here. All three times, we traced the attacks back to Nina’s family. One of the times happened after Nina had been taken.” Rygar shrugged.
“And they’re still trying.” She bit her lip and appeared to be thinking about it. “That’s why you’re almost certain that her family isn’t behind her disappearance.”
That was most of the reason. The family would probably stop sending people if they knew Nina wasn’t here any longer. There wouldn’t be a reason to continue.
“I know you can take care of yourself. After seeing you in the city, I can’t deny it. I do have a lot of questions about your life but I can’t ignore what I saw. I still have to make sure you’re safe, especially when there are people actively attacking us.” Rygar leaned down and brushed his lips across her forehead in a soft caress.
Because he was so intensely focused on her, he felt the surge of emotion go through her. She smiled up at him. Her arm tightened around him. Her reaction wasn’t what he’d expected. He’d thought she’d argue again or become angry.
“I’m not going to argue now, because I know why you feel I’m in danger. Before, you didn’t bother to explain. You just threw out orders and it felt like you were trying to lock me in a cage. Once this is finished, I expect a little more freedom and definitely no guards in most cases.” She put her h
and on his arm and looked into his eyes.
He searched her eyes and saw only calm acceptance.
“What do you think of the Taivain?” he asked.
She didn’t look at the building but kept her eyes on him. “It’s what I expected. It looks solid, defensible.”
“Is that all you have to say about it?” Rygar tilted his head. He didn’t try to hide the laughter lurking in his voice.
“It’s a dark gray-walled fortress. It’s not exactly a work of art. What do you want me to say about it?” She tilted her head and looked at him as if he was crazy.
“Maybe that it’s home and you’re glad to be here.” He drew his hand up her thigh and his eyes caught hers.
She still hadn’t really accepted that she belonged with him. He occasionally caught her looking at him, her eyes considering, weighing. He wondered sometimes if she was thinking about leaving.
“I haven’t even stepped inside it yet but I am looking forward to a few things. Eventually it will be home.” She shot him a teasing glance from beneath her lashes and leaned into his body.
He could feel the sensual turn of her mood. He’d have liked her immediate acceptance but that “eventually” satisfied him for the moment. She hadn’t been talking about leaving nearly as much. Not that he’d just let her go if she did try but he wanted her to want to stay with him, to be happy here.
“What are you looking forward to?” He leaned down close enough to brush his lips over the shell of her ear.
“Hot food, a long warm bath, a soft bed and privacy.” As she said the last word, her palm slipped up his thigh and stroked his cloth-covered cock.
He stiffened and nearly fell off the mican. He could only be thankful that the ground was relatively level and the animal’s pace slow and easy. Hot arousal slammed through him. He couldn’t agree more with one of her desires. They definitely needed privacy. He wanted to continue the teasing little game she’d started and he was determined they’d both enjoy it.
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