“And we will not be touch you, not like this.” He took a step closer, but Blade was already at the door. Styx’s dark gaze rested on my face as I shook, my knees suddenly weak. “Ask me again, Katie, when you are yourself, when you are healed.” He bent down and kissed me on the cheek, the gentle touch hurt more than if he’d screamed at me.
He turned and joined Blade and then Styx waved his hand beside the door. It slid closed, them on one side, me on the other.
I realized then I was in the room I’d shared with Bryn, not their quarters.
I dropped to my knees, the weight of what had happened, Bryn’s death, Styx’s rejection, it was too much.
Tears fell then. Tears I hadn’t cried even when my father left, when my brother was killed. Even when I was sent to prison. All of that was to get me to space, to Bryn. And now it was all for nothing.
Bryn was dead. I had no idea how long I cried, but at some point, I crawled to the bed, slid beneath the covers.
With the dawn, I had no idea what Styx would do with me. He’d made it very clear he would not claim me. Would he send me back to Everis as Blade had mentioned? Would he give me a few weeks to make up my mind?
Thoughts of my future, visions of Bryn dying swirled and swirled in my brain until I fell into a fitful sleep.
It was only then I found peace. Oblivion.
And Bryn.
“Katie,” he murmured. “Get out of here! Leave me.”
“What?” Shocked, I was pulled into his dream. His nightmare.
A woman cut him with knives, not enough to really do any damage, just enough to make him hurt. Thin cuts. Razor cuts on his arms. His hands.
His mark.
“Is your mate here now, Hunter?” A woman’s voice asked, a woman I didn’t recognize. And Bryn, damn his stubborn hide, held his eyes closed.
“She drugged me, Katie. I’m sorry. Go back. It’s a trap.”
“Where are you?” I asked. “Open your eyes. Now.” I made the demand, shocked to discover that I could make Bryn respond in this strange dreamland, almost like I could control his body.
I opened my eyes—his eyes—and stared into the ice blue eyes of my enemy. She was attractive, around fifty with pale blond hair and an emptiness behind her gaze I’d seen before. They were ruthless. Without conscience or remorse. They were the eyes of someone dead inside, someone who had nothing left to lose and nothing to live for but power.
“Let him go.” I spoke, but with Bryn’s voice.
“There you are.” She smiled at me and the vision was terrifying. “Tell Styx to come get his pet. I’m in the Core, section five. And my dear, I’ve sent my Hunter for you.”
“Garvos,” his name was past me lips before I could censor myself.
She laughed. “Make sure you scream his name when he fucks you. If you make it good, be might let you live.”
Bryn was fighting me, his mind trying to push me back, but whatever drug this psychotic woman gave him held him down, trapped in his own mind.
The woman tilted her head to the side and I watched her bring some kind of injection closer to my mate. I tried to pull back, but it seemed my control of Bryn’s body only went so far.
No. That wasn’t it.
I looked down and found the Bryn was tied with layer upon layer of heavy rope. Chains. Blood everywhere.
I was going to kill Garvos, and then I was coming for her.
Lifting my—Bryn’s—head, I sneered. “You fucked with the wrong woman.”
She raised a brow. “Good luck, human. Tell Styx I’m killing this Hunter in exactly one hour. He knows what I want. Tell him to bring it to me.”
“I’m not telling him anything.”
She didn’t respond, just shoved the needle thing into Bryn’s body and somehow broke our connection.
I sat upright in bed, my skin damp with sweat, my breath caught in my throat. I was on Rogue 5. Alone. But I knew. Bryn was alive.
Garvos was coming for me.
And the whole damn thing was a trap for Styx.
Chapter Ten
Katie
I knew Styx would argue, so I didn’t ask, just used the S-Gen station in the corner to order a Styx uniform. The stupid thing wouldn’t give me a gun, so I was already plotting how to steal one.
Garvos was coming for me, and I needed Styx’s help to get my mate back alive.
Dressed in armor and boots, I pulled my hair back into a twist and yelled until the guard I suspected was on the other side of the door—and I was right—opened up.
“I need to talk to Styx,” I said evenly.
Silver shook her head as she did a slow perusal of my armor with a grin that was not at all friendly. “He’s wasted enough time on you. Go back to sleep.”
I stomped my foot in frustration, which felt childish, but I couldn’t punch her, which was what I wanted to do. “Listen Silver, Bryn’s alive, Garvos is on his way here and Astra set a trap for Styx in the core. I need to talk to him. Now.”
She must have seen something in my eyes—perhaps the damned truth?—because she stepped aside to let me out of the room. “If this is a prank, I’m going to beat you until you bleed.”
She reminded me of…me, so I didn’t do more than grumble right back. “Fine. Just get moving.”
She led me down several long corridors, past twists and turns until I was well and truly lost. Convinced she did it purposely, I didn’t much care. I had no idea where we were going, but when I saw where we ended up, I understood her caution.
The nursery, or whatever passed for it on Rogue 5. And there was Styx, bare from the waist up with a huge, angry looking old man standing behind him. Styx was covered in an intricate web of tattoos that I’d never seen before, his clothes having covered all of it. Fascinated, I stepped closer and inspected one line as the old man continued adding another branch, another link with the tattoo gun.
Names. They were all names. Hundreds of them. Maybe thousands. Too many too count. And where did it end? Was his entire body covered in names?
Styx looked from Silver to me, his eyes gave nothing away. Not even the pain he must be feeling from having the little needle inject ink beneath his skin.
“What is this?” I asked, gesturing toward the complex but striking detail all over his back and sides. It twisted around his shoulders and down half of his arms, up the side of his neck to just below the chin. And that was just what I could see.
“The names of my people, the people I’m sworn to protect, to keep safe, to rule. They are the burden I carry, a reminder that the choices I make affect more than just me.” He glanced at one of the cribs with a small smile, at a bundle wrapped in white that I could barely see. A baby. Sleeping. Sweet and innocent and beautiful. Even the ruthless Rogue 5 started off perfect and precious. “And we have a new life among us, born yesterday. While she is not my child, she is mine nonetheless, and so her name is added to the others.”
The buzzing of the tattoo gun resumed and Styx looked at me calmly, unaffected. If I hadn’t already been in love with Bryn—holy shit. This guy was—I didn’t know what he was. His honor was not only an invisible cloak he wore about his shoulders like a heavy mantle, but the ink was visible proof.
I turned to Silver, who shrugged and pulled away the collar of her uniform to reveal similar markings, though smaller. “The names of those under my command. Those sworn to me. This is Styx, Katie. This is who we are.”
Their absolute loyalty shocked me as nothing else could. This wasn’t like the MC at home. While they demanded the same kind of loyalty, the trust only went so deep.
’No one walks away from me.’
Styx’s words floated in my mind with new potency. And I would need all that loyalty on my side now to get Bryn. I took a deep breath and turned back to the man watching me as if he had all the time in the world. Perhaps he did, but I didn’t. “Look, Bryn is my Marked Mate.”
“So he said.” Styx shifted in his seat, but the buzzing of the needle continued.
“Do you know what that means?”
His blank stare was answer enough, so I blazed ahead.
“We dream share. When we sleep, we can touch each other’s minds, share experiences, thoughts, other—things.” I blushed at the last and Silver chuckled, but Styx didn’t move. It was like talking to a wall.
“Look, I was sleeping, just now, and Bryn was there. Alive. But some psycho blond woman named Astra drugged him and told me to give you a message.”
The old man was finished, wiping at Styx’s skin with some kind of cleaner that smelled like rubbing alcohol. Styx pulled his uniform back on over his head, his pace casual. Yeah, all the time in the world. “And what was this message?”
“She says she has Bryn—she called him your pet—in the core, in section five. That you know what she wants and you need to bring it to her in the next hour or she’s going to kill Bryn. And that Garvos is on his way here.”
One dark brow winged up. “And what does Garvos want so badly he’s willing to risk coming back into my territory?”
I sighed. “Me.”
“Ah.”
I expected a bigger reaction. Something. Anything. Why didn’t this rile him? “Well?”
Styx stood, and though I’d expected fire and fury from him, he was remarkably, annoyingly calm. “Silver?”
She tensed. “Just Blade, or everyone?”
“Everyone. Call in every favor.”
“Done. I’ll have everyone ready in twenty minutes.”
“Make it ten.”
She nodded once. “Yes, sir.” And she was gone.
Hands on my hips, I tapped my foot. “Well? What does that mean?”
“It means we’re going hunting.”
He walked toward me and I fell into step beside him as he led me to the control room where I’d thrown my dress on the floor just a few hours ago.
Thank god they hadn’t done what I wanted them to do. When I was at my lowest. If Styx had bit me, fucked me, and then Bryn was still alive? I shuddered.
It was too terrible to imagine.
“Thank you. For saying no. For not letting me—” I rubbed my hands up and down my arms as I realized the true value of Styx’s honor. Kingpin or thief, whatever he was, he’d saved me from myself.
“You were not yourself.” He offered me a quick glance as he strode down the hallway. “And I am not interested in taking a mate who does not truly want me.”
“I’m sorry.” Sheesh. My offer hadn’t just been reckless, but insulting. He deserved a woman who wanted him, and only him. Maybe Blade, too.
We were at the door now, and I could hear the others moving around on the other side. Styx stopped us both and turned me to face him. “You love your mate, Katie. I respect that. I knew it was your grief talking. You have nothing to apologize for.”
I wiped a tear from my eye. Had no idea why I was crying. Not now. Swallowed hard and willed the rest of them away. “You believe me when I say my mate is alive. You don’t even blink and organize people to help. You’re a good man, Styx.”
“No. I’m not. These people don’t need me to be good. Your mate doesn’t need me to be good. I am the monster who devours the world.”
That made me laugh for absolutely no good reason. “Who will save Bryn, who is not one of yours,” I added. “I’m coming with you. You know this.”
“Fine. You will stay in the vehicles until we clear the area.”
“I want a gun.”
“No.”
“I’ll just steal one.” I was dead serious.
He grinned, knowing my words held truth. “All right. You may have a small ion blaster on a non-lethal setting.”
“And a knife.”
He chuckled, but I knew he would give me what I wanted so I smiled back. “Good. Settled. Now, can you please turn monster and devour this crazy Astra lady before she kills Bryn—again? And Garvos is probably already here somewhere. Use me to catch him. I’m happy to be your bait.”
His smile was a little sad, but his eyes were the softest I’d ever seen them. “I would have been honored to add your name to my flesh, Katie. If things had been different. If I had met you first.”
“If things had been different,” I agreed. If I wasn’t already heart and soul devoted to Bryn, this man would have been impossible to resist.
He waved his hand and the door slid open to reveal the chaos of a large team armed to the teeth and getting ready for battle. “After you.”
* * *
Katie
I was locked in a bedroom. Again. But at least I was armed this time.
Styx set me up in a less secure area of the base, in a guest room used by people the legion trusted. Apparently, the bedroom he’d given me and Bryn hadn’t been in the “trusted” section. It was apparent that Astra was someone Styx knew, that my dream was credible. I knew she was evil, but the fact that they’d worked lightning fast, entering data, changing things up and making sure Garvos would find me, proved the depth of his own dislike for her.
I’d asked Styx what Astra wanted from him, but he just shook his head and walked away. It was bad, whatever it was.
Secrets. Everyone had them. I wasn’t going to argue when he was going to help me save my mate.
So, I didn’t. Argue. I went where Silver told me to, laid down on this stupid bed, and had been pretending to be asleep. My mind was tangled with thoughts. I was thrilled Bryn was alive. Petrified that he soon wouldn’t be. Happy Styx believed me. Annoyed I was left out of the details. And yet here I was. Bait. Time moved slowly, so slowly. Twenty minutes passed.
Which meant Astra was going to kill Bryn in less than half an hour.
Maybe it was insane to wish for a killer to walk through the doors, but I did. If Garvos was coming for me, I wished he’d get on with it.
This area of the building was considered secure. No guards. No alarms. Deep inside Styx territory. Somewhere only a Hunter would be able to reach me.
The bed was soft, the blankets smelled fresh, like crushed flower petals. Oddly feminine in such a harsh world.
But then, Rogue 5, and its leader, were full of interesting and unique contradictions.
I didn’t hear a thing. No opening of a door. No footsteps. No breathing. Nothing. And then Garvos was just…there.
“You can stop pretending to sleep, Katie.” His voice washed over me and I inwardly cringed. Could he hear the pounding of my heart, the burst of adrenaline that flooded my system? Careful not to move, I hoped Styx’s people were monitoring the communicator they’d put next to me in the pillow. They suspected he would take out the standard communications and monitors in this area, so I had a backup. My life now depended on a piece of old technology the size of a button. Styx’s people were supposed to swarm the room and take Garvos out.
I needed to stall him long enough for them to do so.
It was a risk. I knew it when I agreed. But I knew from touching Bryn’s mind that this Hunter wasn’t here to kill me. At least not yet. He wanted to hurt me. Play with me first. Take from me what I had yet to give to my mate, my virginity, my body. Destroy the Hunter who loved me, the Hunter who’d dared come after him.
So, I ignored Garvos and kept my eyes closed. Maybe he’d never met a human before. Maybe he had no idea what we looked or sounded like when we were asleep.
And maybe, he’d stab me in the back.
This time, when he moved, I heard something heavy settle on the floor with a soft thud and hoped it was his weapons. When the bed dipped behind me, I knew he’d taken the bait.
“Time to wake up and play.”
Wait. Wait. Fight the bile rising in my throat, the panic choking me. Wake up and play? He sounded like a serial killer from 80’s horror flicks.
Wait.
His hand settled on my shoulder, another on my hip. I couldn’t help the shiver that went down my spine at his touch.
I gripped the knife hidden beneath me tight. Ready. When he rolled me over, I was going for his nose with my fist, and his
gut with my knife.
If I did this, I couldn’t miss.
He tugged me gently, as if savoring the moment.
Using the momentum, I twisted violently and struck hard. Fast.
He blocked both, my punch falling short of his face and my knife embedding in his forearm.
“Bitch! I would have made you mine.”
I scrambled back on all fours across the bed, terrified when he didn’t even try to stop me. His eyes blazed at me like twin hells as he pulled the sharp blade from his flesh slowly, as if relishing the pain. Bile rose in my throat at the sight.
I didn’t have time to be afraid. The door opened and Styx was there, pulling Garvos off me, then throwing him against the wall. He struck with a harsh thud, the blood from his arm smearing and splattering.
Styx’s men surrounded the Hunter, blasters pointed at him as his eyes darted everywhere, assessing his options, looking for a way out.
Styx ignored him, seemingly trusting to his people to take care of Garvos, and took time to glance at me.
I was breathing hard, as if I’d run a marathon instead of rolling over in bed and stabbing a guy in the arm. I couldn’t speak, my mouth dry. My stomach rolled. A dip of my chin to let him know I was unharmed, and he walked straight up to Garvos, grabbed him by the head and twisted his neck until it cracked.
Done.
Dead.
Styx dropped him like he was trash. Already forgotten.
Holy shit. It was that simple. No big movie showdown that involved gunfights and explosions and car chases. I winced, reliving the sick cracking sound of bone, but it was done in a split second.
Four steps back to me and Styx held out his hand. I should have been afraid of him, I really should have, but I didn’t have any terror left in me for myself. Only for Bryn.
He’d done exactly as he’d said. While I doubted he wanted to use me as bait, he’d gone along with it. Protected me. Finished Garvos. But while he’d done it to keep me safe, it was just a hurdle for him to get to Astra. Now that Garvos was dead…
“Come Katie. Let’s go save your mate.”
I put my hand in his and let him pull me to my feet.
His Virgin Bride (Interstellar Brides: The Virgins) (Volume 2) Page 12