by Frost Kay
Blade cursed and began prowling behind his brothers, his onyx eyes distant. Coal observed his brother and opened his mouth.
“I’m fine, Coal,” Blade barked.
“Sure, you are.”
“Lev, he marked her,” the scary Av growled.
“I know,” Lev said tightly.
“He. Marked. Her.”
“I know!” Lev shouted, slamming a hand against the table top.
She jumped and cocked her head to watch the show. They were unraveling because of the sight of her back. She wanted to feel triumphant, but shame overshadowed everything else.
“What’s with the lines?” Blade asked.
“Eve’s been looking after her. She’s okay,” Lev soothed.
“That’s not normal.”
After everything, they were soothing Blade? A well of sorrow rose up. A doughy finger brushed her arm, and she turned to Virgil.
“It’s not your fault. Scars are nothing to be ashamed of.” He gestured to the leopard pattern that ran down her neck. “Your Kiterran friend would tell you that they’re a thing of beauty, a mark of courage and sacrifice.”
She brushed her fingers along her neck. “I don’t want any part of that monster on my skin,” she murmured, her voice breaking.
“I know, sweetheart.”
The sadness in his eyes was what broke the dam. Tears flooded her, and she slumped into the chair.
“You made her cry,” someone growled.
“I’m not the only one,” Virgil growled back. “Get yourself under control, Av, or I’ll throw you out of this room.”
Another growl, but then it quieted.
“We don’t deserve anything else from you, you’re right. But, if you don’t help us, he’ll go back into the world.”
Her head snapped up, and she quickly wiped away her tears. “What?”
Lev seemed to age before her eyes. “Your truth serum worked. We were able to get answers out of him, but we need more evidence. What we have is not enough.”
“How is it not enough? He incriminated himself!” she cried. Life couldn’t be that cruel.
“Everything we collected is a great start. It’s enough to keep him in a maximum-security prison, but we need more physical evidence to support his story.”
Allie swallowed, feeling like the floor was about to fall out from underneath her. She didn’t want to ask the question. She really didn’t. “What do you want from me?”
Blade snapped his teeth together as Coal dropped his head into his hands.
Fear spiked in her veins. “Just say it.”
Lev pursed his lips and then sighed. “Sloven asked for one thing in exchange for proof of his crimes.”
No.
She began shaking her head as nausea churned in her belly. Before the words even left his lips, she knew what he was going to say.
“He wants to see you.”
The world wavered, and the darkness swallowed the light.
7
Monsters Belong in Cages
Voices spoke softly, and color filtered through her eyelids. What had happened?
“She’ll be fine,” Virgil murmured. “Don’t overreact.”
A growl rumbled against her cheek, and a hand brushed down her hair. What in the worlds? Her eyes snapped open. Blade’s serious face swam into view. What the—?
Allie snapped upright, accidentally clipping Blade’s chin with her head. “Sorry.”
Blade mumbled something back, but she didn’t catch what it was as the room spun.
She wavered and placed a hand against the floor and another at her temple, the table towering over her. “I’m on the floor,” she blurted.
Nice. That was genius.
“As always, your observational skills are unparalleled,” Coal remarked dryly.
“Ah, shut it,” Allie retorted. It wasn’t her best comeback, but it was the best she could do at the moment.
The heat from Blade’s leg seeped into her thigh, making her aware of how close she was to the man. As sneakily as she could, Allie inched away, the cool wall pressing against her back. She sucked in a breath, feeling like she could think better now. Her hands dropped to her lap and she leaned her head against the wall to stare at the men hovering just out of reach.
Lev squatted in front of her. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “Yeah. What happened? Did I pass out?” The last thing she remembered was… Tension invaded her body as she remembered what they’d asked her to do.
“You fainted.”
“Fainted?” How she hated that word. It was one of those words that belonged only in romance novels, that and ‘swooned.’ “I did not faint. I passed out.”
“You swooned,” Coal needled. “The weaker sex is always prone to fainting. Especially in my presence.”
Oh no he didn’t. “Are you serious?” she blurted. What a sexist pig.
“The difference being…?” Virgil asked.
She held up a hand. “One second Virgil, I need to straighten out the idiot in the room.” Her gaze narrowed on the smug Av. “Don’t you dare degrade my sex. On earth, my society tried to give weaker connotations to the word ‘faint’ to make it seem like the reactions of a hysterical woman, when really it was that female health wasn’t taken seriously.”
“I didn’t me to-” Coal began.
“Yes, you did,” she interrupted. “And let me finish.” She inhaled deeply before continuing. “When a man faints doctors call it a vasovagal episode, but when a woman faints it’s nearly always referred to as ‘a funny episode’ or ‘just fainting’. So the word is bound up in sexism where men do try to make women seem weaker.”
“Okay,” Coal drawled. “Let’s mark that down as a touchy subject.”
“Damn straight. I passed out.”
He held his hands up. “There was no swooning in this room.”
“Exactly.”
“Uh huh,” Coal said, flashing a dimple at her that stunned her stupid for a moment. “So feisty.”
She rolled her eyes. Leave him to not be able to let he have the last word. Shaking her head, she glanced back to Lev, her playfulness draining away. “He wants to see me?”
Lev frowned, the corners of his turquoise eyes creasing at the corners. “We won’t force you to see him. It’s your choice.” He ran a hand over his face. “But I won’t lie—”
Allie snorted. “Well, that’s a first.”
Lev’s jaw clenched. “But we do need you to do this.”
He was asking her to willingly meet with Sloven, the man who’d assaulted her. Goosebumps broke out along her arms, and she rubbed at them as panic bubbled in her belly. A shiver worked down her spine as she whispered, “I don’t want to.”
Virgil leaned forward and knelt. “I know you don’t want to, sweetheart, and we hate to ask this of you.”
That broke through some of her panic. They’d ask her to do anything if it meant getting what they wanted. “That has never stopped you before, even if there was a possibility of me getting hurt.” She stared the men down. Coal fidgeted, and Lev glanced to the side for a moment before meeting her gaze once again. Her lips curled in triumph. They could pretend to be immune to her pain all they wanted, but she wasn’t going to let them off the hook. “What?” she goaded. “You can’t look a little Southern girl in the eye when you’ve completely screwed her over?”
“Women are scary,” Virgil said and fake shuddered. “An enraged woman makes terrorists look downright fuzzy.”
Lev shook his head and rolled his eyes.
“Allie…”
Her molars ground together at how Blade’s deep voice caressed her name. His fathomless eyes clashed with hers as she swiveled in his direction. “What?”
“The fact of the matter is, if we don’t get the evidence that we need, he’ll walk free. I don’t want to scare you…” he said softly.
“Then don’t.”
“You need to know what the risks are.”
“Risks?”
Her hackles rose. “Are you threatening me?”
His blank expression transformed into one of anger and offense. “I’d never threaten you. Never.”
She glanced at her hands, not able to hold his accusing gaze. Her fingers curled into fists. How dare he make her feel bad? “It was a logical question.”
“Sure thing, sugar,” he retorted.
Allie blinked and gaped at Blade. Did he just Southern her?
He ignored her expression. “We will do whatever we can to protect you. You need to understand that your life will change. You’ll have to move into one of our safe houses and hide. You’ll need a new identity, and, still, that won’t guarantee your safety. Sloven has friends everywhere. We’ll do our best to protect you, but you’ll always be looking over your shoulder. You’ll never be safe.”
Icy water seemed to trickle through her veins as fear caused her to stiffen. “What’s keeping him from doing that now?”
“He doesn’t have access to anyone or any information. The only people to interact with him are members of our team. We’ll have to lay our evidence out before a Lock council, but everything else we have control over. Once they sentence him, he’ll be put into cryosleep for the rest of his life.”
Tears burned in her eyes, and fear and sorrow clogged her throat. After everything she’d done, she was still going to be the one who got punished for doing the right thing. Allie really didn’t have a choice. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place. If she said yes, she’d have to see the monster again, but if she said no, she'd have to hide or run for the rest of her life. Not to mention, he could harm others.
She shuddered as a memory assaulted her…
“Do you see how much he cares for his woman?” Sloven whispered, his voice deep. His breath heated the side of her neck as he pressed closer. Allie held her ground and fought not to step away.
“He looks like he’s coveting something that does not belong to him,” she whispered, her voice suddenly hoarse. “He appears to be a captor, not a lover.” She glanced up from beneath her lashes and arched a brow.
The king reached a hand toward her face and brushed a curl from her cheek, ignoring the painting. A small shiver worked through her at being the king’s sole focus.
“Can he not be both?”
“Love is exactly the opposite of a cage.” Allie gestured to the picture. “How could he possibly love her if he’s holding her hostage? That’s not love. Love needs space to grow. You can’t force it.”
A thoughtful look passed over his face. “What a youthful way to think of love,” he mused. “So, are you a secret romantic at heart?” he asked.
She was, but she’d not tell him that. “No, I’m a realist.”
“Who are we to say what they had wasn’t real? Love must be protected. When we find something that precious, we must hold it close and protect it.”
She turned toward him. “Protecting something is not the same as capturing it.” It was probably the wrong thing to say to the man she was supposed to seduce, but she couldn’t hold her tongue on this.
Apparently, he liked her blunt honesty, because he smiled and leaned close.
Her heart kicked up in pace, and Allie knew this was the moment she’d been waiting for, but something stopped her. Sloven didn’t seem to be the type of man who liked things to come easy. As his lips drew nearer, she turned her face, so they grazed her cheek and lingered there for a moment.
“I’m not the sort of woman you keep chained,” she said offhandedly, and shifted to the side, just out of his reach. Red eyes pinned her to the spot.
“I would never keep you chained,” he rumbled back.
“Allie?” Blade said, leaning closer, his fingers brushing her bare arm.
She stared blankly at his hand. If Sloven was allowed to go free, she knew she’d end up just like that woman. It had only taken her a short period of time for her to figure out what kind of man Sloven was. He was enamored with her, and there was no way he’d let it slide that a Human girl had got the drop on him. If he was freed, she’d suffer.
“I don’t really have a choice, now do I?” she whispered, feeling sick.
“You always have a choice,” Virgil said.
That was the truth if she’d ever heard it, but being backed into a corner never felt like a choice. It was more about survival. She hated having her hand forced. “My mama used to say that you always have a choice, you just have to be able to live with the consequences of it.”
“A wise woman,” Lev said.
She couldn’t let Sloven out into the world. A monster like that should never be able to walk among everyone else. Allie closed her eyes, her decision made. “I’ll do it.” Bile burned her throat as she said the words. “I think I’m going to throw up.”
The room exploded into action.
“Why do we not have a trashcan in here?” Coal shouted.
Allie twisted to the side and heaved, her hair falling into her face. Large hands pulled her hair back, and she dry-heaved again, tears and snot mingling on her face, her body shuddering.
“It’s okay,” Blade murmured, stroking a hand down her back. “Just let it out.”
She panted, gazing at the shiny floor, at her colorless reflection staring back at her. Her stomach cramped, and more tears flooded her eyes. Everyone was lucky she’d not been eating much, or this situation would’ve been a lot more disgusting.
A handkerchief entered her vision, held by a wrinkly hand.
“Thanks,” she hiccupped and mopped her face as embarrassment heated her cheeks. Retching wasn’t something you wanted to do in front of anyone. How humiliating. She stilled as another memory flashed through her mind. Her puking down the back of Lev’s white jacket. Laughter tumbled out of her as she sat up. All four men stared at her like she was losing it. Well, she was. Their expressions made her laugh harder.
“Are you okay?” Lev asked.
Allie heaved in a breath and continued to laugh like a maniac. “Here I was all embarrassed that I was heaving my guts up in front of y’all, but I guess there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s not the first time.”
Coal’s lips twitched. “You should’ve seen Lev after he knocked you out that first time. He cleaned you and started heaving himself.”
Lev scowled at his brother. “It was disgusting. It got in my boots.”
“No,” she moaned, throwing her hands over her face, her fit of giggles finally calming.
“Oh, yes,” Lev growled. “You owe me a new pair of boots.”
“How about I put a homicidal sociopath in prison for life, and we call it even?” It was easier for her to joke about it. If she didn’t, she’d end up crying again.
“Deal.”
Lev stood and held a hand out to her. Allie eyed it and then allowed him to pull her to her feet. She swayed and placed both hands against the silver table, her head bowed.
“I don’t want to do this alone.”
“You won’t be alone. Blade, Coal, Virgil, and I will all be there.”
“I need my family.”
“We can’t give you that,” Blade said softly. “I’m sorry.”
“That’s not what I meant.” She straightened and crossed her arms over her chest. “I want Elijah, Sid, and Sebastian.”
“They don’t have clearance,” Coal said.
“I don’t care. Figure it out. I need them.”
“Do you want Jer, too?” Blade asked.
She shook her head. “No. I don’t think she’d stay calm enough not to try to kill him.”
“And you think your males won’t have the same issues?”
“My males?”
Blade’s face darkened. He waved a hand toward her Kiterran mark and the Kanji necklace. “Your males.”
“My family,” she enunciated, ignoring the jealousy she clearly heard in his voice.
“We’ll make it happen,” V
irgil said, eyeing Blade. “In fact, all three are already here.”
“What?”
“It seems your friends were worried for you. They didn’t wait for you to call them. That works in our favor. They can accompany you to the prison.”
Her stomach bottomed out. “Do you want me to see the king now?”
“Whenever you’d like.”
That was never, but that wasn’t an option. “I’ll go now.”
“Are you sure?” Blade asked.
She nodded. “If I don’t go now, I won’t sleep, because it’s all I’ll think of. I want to get this over and done with.”
“So be it.”
8
Tricked Out Rust Buckets
“Anyone else feel a little creeped out?” Sid asked.
Allie shifted and leaned into her friend, his scaled arm surprisingly warm. “Let’s not talk about it.” The hover changed direction and her stomach flipped.
Elijah piped in. “You mean you don’t want to talk about the maximum-security prison we’re about to enter that hosts some of the most insidious criminals our galaxy has ever seen?”
Sebastian elbowed Elijah in the arm and glanced meaningfully toward Allie. Elijah rubbed at his arm and then reached across to capture one of Allie’s shaking hands. “Sorry. I was trying to help calm you down.”
The man to her right stiffened and stared at her hand engulfed in her friend’s.
“I appreciate the gesture.” She squeezed Elijah’s hand and leaned closer to Sid away from Blade.
Sid eyed her with his pupil-less eyes and lifted his arms, so she could scoot closer to his side. She took the invitation, so her other thigh wasn’t pressed against Blade, who was serving as their escort. The other part of the team was ahead of them. A soft hiss filled her ears, and she glanced up into Sid’s face, brows furrowed. He smiled, showing all his fangs, but it wasn’t friendly.
Allie glanced to her right and froze. The look on Blade’s face made her want to hop out of the hover and brave the thousands of feet between her and the ground. His blue-black eyes shifted to her face and stayed there.