by Kate Rudolph
“Done throwing a temper tantrum?” her sister asked once the door closed behind her.
Laurel took a deep breath and told herself not to turn right back around. She’d come here for a reason. “Really? If that’s what you’re going to be like, I’ll just leave.”
Jules sighed and held up a hand. “Wait, I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, you should be.”
“You’re my little sister, I’m trying to look out for you.”
Half a dozen comments tried to tumble out of Laurel’s mouth, but she kept the vitriol inside. She didn’t need to hurt her sister just because she was a little upset. That wasn’t who they were. “I may be your little sister, but that doesn’t mean you can stop me from making decisions, even if you don’t like them.”
Jules took half a step towards her, but something on Laurel’s face must have stopped her in her tracks. “You’ve been through a lot, do you blame me for not wanting you to rush into a relationship?”
“It’s not rushing. With Dru... I can’t even explain it. It’s just right.” Laurel had no doubt about that; even apart, her feelings for him were as strong as they’d been last night, and with every moment they only grew stronger. She still had her doubts about fate, but no doubts about her mate.
Jules was silent for several moments and Laurel started to worry about what her sister would say next, but eventually the tiniest hint of a smile quirked her lips up and she shook her head as if she couldn’t believe what she was saying. “Mom and Dad are going to freak when they meet him.”
“They’ll come around.” Laurel smiled as the apprehension she felt earlier began to dissolve. If she could get Jules on her side, she could get anyone.
“You’re not coming back to the farm, are you?” The smile slipped off her sister’s face at the realization.
And Laurel couldn’t save her from that pain. “Not for good,” she confirmed. “I’m not sure what Dru and I are going to do, but I know it’s not there.” They were a team now, and whatever decisions they made, they would make them together. But he was a warrior, and Laurel knew how much the Detyen Legion meant to him. She couldn’t ask him to leave it, especially not on the eve of war.
“So it’s for real now?” Jules sounded resigned.
“Yup.” Even if she was certain of their connection, a part of Laurel still couldn’t quite believe it. It seemed too good to be true.
“Just like that?”
Laurel huffed out a laugh. “I promise you, I’ve known the guy for months. This is real.” But she wasn’t about to tell Jules about the rocky beginning of their relationship—she wasn’t going to give her sister that kind of ammunition.
But Jules wasn’t ready to give up her interrogation. “And it’s not just some misplaced gratefulness because he—”
“Jules! Seriously.”
“Okay, okay,” Jules relented. “I’m sorry. If you’re happy, I’m happy. I promise.” And now she was laughing alongside Laurel at the ridiculousness of the questions she’d been asking.
“For real?” Laurel smiled.
“For real. In fact, why don’t we actually do dinner so I can get to know the guy. Does tomorrow work?” She sounded sincere, and Laurel was about to accept the invitation before she remembered why that wouldn’t be possible.
Her face scrunched up into an apologetic mask and she bit her bottom lip. “Um...”
“What’s your face doing?”
Laurel tipped her head back, as if that would hide her expression, before schooling her features and looking back at her sister. “Well,” she confessed, “I’m leaving the hotel today. Dru wants me in a secure location after what happened yesterday, and I agree. I don’t know if you’ll be able to visit.” Laurel wanted to be out of Varrow’s reach, but she hadn’t thought to ask whether Jules would still be able to come see her. She wasn’t sure what the rules were for the SDA base.
Jules studied her for a long moment, her expression carefully blank. “That... It actually sounds like a good idea, at least until this whole thing is settled. I never knew you were so popular.”
The tension dissolved and Laurel rolled her eyes. “Tell me about it.”
And just like that, they were back to normal again. They took seats on Jules’ couch and just talked for more than an hour. Laurel didn’t go into much detail about what had been done to her, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have stories. She talked about her new friends, and about the classes she’d been taking at university before everything went to hell. Jules told her about new developments at the farm, and about the little baby their brother was about to adopt. The hours got away from them, and before Laurel realized it, it was time to go back to her room and get ready for Dru to pick her up. She left Jules with a hug and a promise that she’d find out whether or not her sister could visit her on the base.
When Laurel stepped into the hallway, she was surprised not to see Ferys waiting for her. She glanced down the long hallway in either direction, but there was no sign of him. She had no way to contact him by communicator, but figured he might have just gone back to the room for some reason. It was only three floors, so there was no reason to get worried, and he’d probably have a good explanation for it when she made her way back.
The elevator bay at the end of the hall beckoned, and Laurel pressed the call button and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Several minutes passed and the elevator didn’t come. Laurel tapped on the information screen to see if there was some notification about the lift being out of order, but nothing came up. She waited another thirty seconds before giving up. The stairs were right there, and she was perfectly capable of walking down three flights.
When the door slammed shut behind her, she was shocked by the darkness. She could barely see, the only illumination coming from lights embedded in the stairs themselves. It cast everything in dim shadows, and made Laurel incredibly nervous. But she was just freaking out because of the situation, because she didn’t know where Ferys was and because of what happened yesterday. It wasn’t like somebody was going to attack her in the stairway.
She moved swiftly though, her feet bouncing as she jogged from floor to floor. When she made it to the twelfth floor, she tried the door and found it locked. Sweat broke out along the back of her neck as a dozen scenarios played through her head, each one worse than the one before. She pulled out her key and pressed it against the sensor, but the thing was dead.
It was no big deal, maybe something was just wrong with the lock. Before she could turn around and head back to her sister’s room, a shadow passed behind her, looking larger-than-life on the wall in front of her. Something cold pressed against her neck and before Laurel could even think to scream, everything went black.
Chapter Sixteen
WHEN LAUREL’S BED JOLTED around her, vibrating like they were driving down a rocky road, she woke with a start and realized she wasn’t in a bed at all. She tried to jerk up into a sitting position, but she was chained to a chair, and when her eyes snapped open she saw that she was sitting in something that looked a lot like the shuttle she and Dru stolen from Brakley Varrow.
And speak of the devil. Sitting next to her, studying her with beady eyes that were still as blue as the summer sky, was the man himself.
Laurel struggled harder, trying to break her bonds, trying to get away. How could this happen? She was supposed to be safe in the hotel. Ferys was supposed to be there with her. How had they gotten there? Her thoughts ended up all jumbled and she couldn’t manage to ask any of her questions, not that she expected Varrow to give her truthful answers.
“Calm down, everything will be all right, my dear.” He said it in a soothing voice, the kind a doctor would use when delivering bad news.
His dear? Yeah, no, not happening. Where were they? Why were they on a shuttle? Were they still on Earth? Laurel needed to get out of here, and she didn’t really care for her safety. Dead was better than being stuck in Varrow’s clutches.
“Soon we’ll join the fleet and
this will all be an unpleasant memory,” Varrow said, answering one of the questions Laurel hadn’t been quite able to ask.
The fleet? The Oscavian fleet? How far away was that? She knew the Oscavian Empire was somewhere on the other edge of the galaxy, so far away that the place seemed more like a legend than anything real. Laurel couldn’t tell if the pull she was feeling in her limbs was real gravity or fake, and she didn’t know whether or not they’d broken atmo. She didn’t know how she would escape if they were already off the planet. She opened her mouth, trying to get answers to some of her questions, but words wouldn’t come out.
Varrow’s expression softened into something like pity. “I’m sorry about that. The compound I used to knock you out may interfere with your speech temporarily. You should be able to speak in a few minutes.”
Speak? No, she’d be screaming.
Lights flashed around them and for a second, Laurel thought it was something wrong with her vision, but from the way frustration crossed Varrow’s face, it was clear that he was seeing it too. He picked up a mini communicator and spoke into it. “What’s the trouble?”
The voice on the other end was tinny, but Laurel could hear it clearly. “The planet’s defenses have intensified since we last breached the atmosphere. We’re sure to trip an alarm and be shot down before we make it through.”
Varrow cursed, the sound ugly enough to make Laurel’s hair stand on end, and she realized that she’d never heard the man use harsh language like that around her.
“I’ve not made it this far to lose now. Retreat to the cabin. We’ll regroup there,” Varrow commanded.
“Affirmative,” said the man on the other end. The ship tipped as if they were changing direction, and Laurel couldn’t help but be a little hopeful. They were still on Earth. She didn’t know where, but it had to be better than wherever Varrow wanted to take her.
“Ho—how—” She cleared her throat, trying to get the words to come out. “How did you find me?”
Varrow clapped his hands together, his face gleeful. “Wonderful! I’m glad you can speak.”
“How?” Laurel demanded. She’d been careful, even if she hadn’t been as careful as she could have been. Still, it made no sense. They’d gotten around every safeguard, and cornered her in a freaking stairwell. He should have never been able to find her in that hotel.
Varrow shrugged. “Just a little isotope we injected you with when we were treating you. Not as sophisticated as a tracker, but undetectable. And unremovable.”
Laurel’s stomach clenched at the news. They’d known where she was the entire time. And she had no way to escape the tracking, not if Varrow’s word could be trusted on this issue. And she didn’t know if he had a reason to lie.
“You’re never going to get me off the planet. They know you’re coming.” Her faith in Dru was absolute. As long as there was any chance of finding her, he would. He was her mate.
“On the contrary, they’re going to thank me for taking you.” Varrow said it with the confidence of a man with an army behind him.
“You’re wrong,” Laurel insisted. Maybe she could talk him into giving her up. It wasn’t like she had many other options while she was tied to this chair.
“Your faith is endearing. I look forward to the day when you apply it to me.”
“I would rather die, you sick fuck.” She knew what Varrow could do, the tortures he could inflict, even if he had never inflicted them on her. Even if she hadn’t been head over heels for Dru, nothing could make her feel warm and fuzzy for Brakley Varrow.
Varrow tsked. “I have something you don’t, my dear.”
The nickname grated, but right now it was the least of her worries. Laurel didn’t want to ask, but she needed as much information as she could get her hands on. “What do you have?”
His grin froze her blood in its veins and for the first time really tested her optimism. “Leverage.”
THE DOUR MOOD AROUND the base had resolved into determination. The Oscavians and Wreetans might have been approaching the horizon, but Earth wasn’t undefended. The defenses around the planet had been heightened and all of the standard procedures were being amped up to stop their enemies from giving them any surprises.
But while the mood on the base had picked up, Dru’s own had soured, and he didn’t know why. He was just as determined as anyone else to meet the threat, more so now that he had a mate to protect. But something nipped at the edge of his consciousness, something wrong.
He needed to talk to Laurel.
Maybe it was just the pulse of the mating bond riding him hard. Newly mated Detyens were rarely able to stay parted for long while they worked through the incessant lust that defined the early days of sealing the denya bond. But even that didn’t ring true. The lust was there, of course, Dru doubted there would ever be a moment where he didn’t want his mate, but what he was dealing with right now eclipsed that.
Worry.
He was certain something was wrong, and he needed to talk to Laurel to make sure that whatever it was, she was okay. He’d heard stories of mates feeling each other’s emotions, and he hoped that his own apprehension wasn’t triggering a response in her. If this feeling was coming from his own mate, he hoped that it wasn’t anything serious. Perhaps she was just shaken from whatever her sister had said. He wouldn’t wish any suffering on Laurel, not ever, but when his mind offered up dozens of scenarios that were even worse, he found himself praying that his bad feeling was just coming from a difficult conversation.
It took him more than an hour before he could free himself from the important meeting he’d been called into. He couldn’t exactly take out his communicator when Sandon was giving detailed instructions for their new home’s defense. But Dru snuck away the first moment he could and tried Laurel’s communicator.
She didn’t answer, which only made his uneasiness even worse.
Still, there could be an easy answer for that. Perhaps she was in the shower or still speaking with her sister. Perfectly reasonable excuses for not picking up. But Dru tried again after a minute had passed.
Nothing.
He called Ferys next. When the Detyen didn’t answer, any excuse that Dru had been making went up in smoke. There was no good reason for Ferys not to answer his communicator. Something had gone wrong. Laurel was in trouble.
Hanging on to the last bit of rationality, Dru called the hotel and connected with Jules’ room. If she didn’t answer, he didn’t know what he would do. But after a moment, Laurel’s sister greeted him with a tentative hello.
“Is Laurel with you?” Dru demanded, knowing he was speaking too harshly and not caring one bit.
Jules must have realized that he was barely holding it together. “No,” she answered cautiously. “We spoke for a few hours, but she left before lunch. She said you were going to meet her and take her somewhere secure.”
“Did...” Dru scrambled to find any reason that would explain why she wasn’t answering him. “Did she drop her communicator in your room by any chance?”
He heard rustling and after a moment Jules came back to speak. “Sorry, I don’t see it. Is anything wrong?”
“Neither Laurel nor her guard are answering their communicators,” Dru said, dread filling him at every word.
“What do you need me to do?” Jules didn’t sound worried, but it was clear she was taking his concern seriously. Dru clung to that. If an untrained human could hold her fears in check, so could a Detyen warrior.
“Can you go down to her room and see if she’s there?” There was a slight possibility that both Laurel’s and Ferys’ communicators weren’t working. Slight. Dru couldn’t make himself believe that it was true, but he needed to exhaust every option before he tore the city apart looking for his mate. Because there was no way he was going to let her be lost again.
“I can do that,” Jules agreed. “Do you want me to call you back once I’ve checked?”
“Stay on the call with me.” If there was something wrong at the
hotel, he realized that he might be sending his denya’s sister into danger. The least he could do was make sure that she was in contact with the outside world when she ventured out of the safety of her room.
“You don’t think someone’s out there, do you?” Jules asked, the tone in Dru’s voice tipping her off to the seriousness of the situation.
“Probably not.” Whoever—if someone—had taken Laurel, they’d already had plenty of time to get away.
If he’d thought the wait while Jules looked for Laurel’s communicator was long, waiting her to walk down to her sister’s room seemed to take an eternity. She narrated the entire time, telling him she was walking down the hall, then getting into the elevator, then walking down another hall. Finally she made it to her sister’s door and confirmed that Ferys was nowhere to be seen. Her knock echoed through the line, a hollow warning that something was wrong.
Several more moments passed before Jules let out a frustrated breath. “She’s not answering.”
Even though Dru had expected it, the news that Laurel wasn’t in her room, or if she was she couldn’t answer, stabbed him soul deep. “Contact hotel security.” He didn’t know how he managed to keep his voice even, but the words came out steady. “And if the police are still there, talk to them. I’ll be there soon. We’ll find her.”
“How much danger is she in?” Jules’ voice quavered and Dru knew that if he let any of his own emotion out, his mate’s sister would break.
“I don’t know,” he said honestly. “But I will lay down my life before I let anything happen to her.” He was so caught up in his conversation that he didn’t notice Kayde approaching him until the other warrior tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. Dru disconnected the call with Jules after promising to check back in and turned to Kayde. “Laurel is missing.”
“I know.”
Dru advanced on Kayde, pushing him back towards the wall behind them. “How in all the hells do you know that?”