Sanctuary's Aggression Complete Collection Box Set: A Post-apocalyptic Survival Thriller Series

by Maira Dawn

  He mentally shook himself, pushing away any kind thoughts. Now was not the time for reminiscing. It would hinder what he needed to do. He was a tracker, a hunter, and he needed to act accordingly.

  His mission had two objectives. Stop the traitor from continuing to murder Atlantians and get the Artifact. If possible, bring the traitor home for punishment. If necessary, eradicate him.

  It is time to do what he'd come here to do. Then he could sink beneath the waves for good and stop sensing his edinara.

  Ian's gaze turned icy, and there was no mistaking the hard edge to his voice as he spoke in Atlantian. "Here or elsewhere?"

  Argos closed his eyes for a moment, then glanced around. "Please, anywhere but here. Someone could walk in any minute." Argos stumbled over the words of his native tongue.

  Ian stepped back from the door and held his arm out. "Let's go then. My car is on the street."

  As they walked to his car, Argos waved to the man working on a vehicle in the garage. "My son-in-law."

  "I do not care." After everything this man had done, he didn't want to think of Argos having a loving wife and children. Something he taken from so many others.

  The men got into the car and drove in silence. A few times, Argos started to speak, then stopped. What could he say to defend himself? There was nothing.

  Ian drove into the park toward the secluded place he had found earlier. Argos shifted in his seat as they pushed further and further into a forest of towering trees cutting off the light of the sun and causing the day to seem dim. Ian shot him a narrowed glance. There would be no escape for the traitor.

  The path disappeared, but Ian kept on driving on the grass to the end. It was so shadowy here it appeared to be evening. The forest was deadly quiet. It knew there were intruders.

  "Get out, Argos.” Ian ordered.

  Argos clenched the handle of the door. Sweat ran down his face, but he did not obey. "Blake. It's Blake now."

  Ian's anger lit and hardened his resolve. Argos was a destroyer. Did he really think a different name changed that? "I do not care what you like to call yourself. It does not make you something other than what you are. Get out, or I will drag you out. Argos.”

  The old man reluctantly left the safety of the car. His eyes widened as he waited for what came next.

  Ian circled the car, flames of anger working at him. He stopped in front of Argos. "I want to hear why you did it. From your own mouth, before I take you back." How had this man ever been a friend to him?

  Argos brought his hand out in front of him, beseeching. "I have no excuse. I was just so young when I lost her. I was angry and so, so lost—“

  "You are right. You have no excuse. I have also lost my Jata Ara. I did not murder!"

  Argos took a step toward Ian, sorrow covering his face. He reached out a hand to comfort his friend.

  Ian jerked back and practically hissed. "Do not touch me!"

  Argos blinked his tear-flooded eyes. "Of course. Of course, I'm sorry."

  "You killed our people! Continue to kill them!" Contempt for Argos filled Ian, and he felt ill as the sight of murdered friends and family flooded back to him. "Do you mutilate them? Or do you let your human friends do that?"

  Argos stumbled backward, his face slack with shock. "Killed? I have never killed a single Atlantian! Why would you think that?"

  "Because, Argos, our people have been disappearing since the time you left. Some return to us. Dead and in pieces! As if we are being mocked." Ian's mouth twisted. "As I recall, you did a lot of mocking when you left us."

  Argos' face turned a lighter shade. "Ian, I took the Artifact. I shouldn't have. It was wrong, very wrong to do so. I fully admit to what I have done. But I have never killed one of our people!"

  Ian uttered a harsh laugh. "According to you, we are not your people. That is what you said when you left us." Ian shook his head. "You would say anything to get out of your just punishment. I had hoped you had some kind of empathy left, that you would be honest with me. But you have turned as unfeeling as humans."

  Ian paced back and forth in front of Argos. He wanted the answers, but to get them, he would need to hurt an old man. Ian ground his teeth. Even in such a rage, that was something he was unwilling to do. The council could proceed from here.

  Ian grabbed Argos' arm, ignoring the man's wince, and shoved him back into the car. When Ian returned to his seat, he said, "I'm taking you back to Atlantis. I only hope you can still hold your breath. I didn't bring any baby equipment. Or I will drag home a corpse."

  Ian floored the gas pedal, and dirt and stones ricocheted off the car as it left deep ruts behind in the long, thin grass. He shot a glance at Argos, wondering if the traitor had even been in the sea since he had left.

  Argos’ hand came up to brace against the dashboard as his head narrowly missed it.

  "Ian! Ian, wait! When I was first here, I was in a place..."

  Ian stomped the brakes and stared at him.

  "I was in an awful place..." Argos raised his shirt. Scars lay on top of scars. So many Ian wondered how he had survived.

  Ian gasped. "Argos."

  "I swear to you on everything Atlantian, and my human family too, that I did not kill our people. But I know someone who may have done so.”

  "Do not throw the blame elsewhere. You are still going back."

  "I did not kill our people. I can take you to the place I was, and I can get back the Artifact. Then I will go back with you to Atlantis and face judgment for the crime I have really committed."

  If there were any Atlantian left in Argos, swearing on his family would be the highest oath possible.

  "Your family will be killed if you do not hold your oath," Ian reminded him.

  Argos nodded. "I swear on my family."

  Ian let the car idle. "Speak."

  Argos shifted in his seat and swallowed before he started. "This will sound… well, please hear what I say. I know what has to happen. I've always known one day someone would come. So this isn't about punishment."

  Argos' gaze went to the trees out of his window before coming back to Ian. His face was set, and his look direct. "We were friends. I didn't lie then. Even with all that happened, I said what I would do, and I did it."

  He waited for Ian's nod confirming his words before he continued, "I am not lying to you now. I will go back with you. I only ask one thing of you first."

  Ian's hands tightened on the leather steering wheel, causing it to squeak. "What do you want?"

  "My granddaughter is getting married tonight. Let me go to her wedding. Please, don't let them wait there for me, wondering where I am on the most important day of her life."

  The request stunned Ian. "What kind of fool do you think I am?"

  "If they are waiting for me, they will realize I'm gone that much sooner and start looking for me."

  Ian shook his head. "We will be long gone before then."

  Argos almost begged. "Just the wedding. You can be beside me the whole time."

  Ian had never attended a human wedding, but he knew they usually involved many people. Even if Argos hadn't committed the murders, there was still the Artifact. It would be idiocy to allow this. He shook his head. "Ask for something else."

  The old man's eyes welled with tears. "My family is my whole life. They are all I have."

  Family. It beat in the heart of every Atlantian. It was the linchpin of their society. Family. It was also the way he could control Argos if he would allow this.

  Ian pulled a long Atlantian knife from his belt. The sharpest blade on earth, water or air. It would cut the heart of a man or beast from their body while still beating. Ian had once used it when he was surrounded by a frenzy of unfamiliar, hostile sharks. With one twist of his body, he felled them all.

  "I have permission to retrieve you in any way necessary," Ian bluntly said. "That includes using your family. Do you understand what I am saying? I'll kill the one you love the most."

  Argos reared back in surprise
. The counsel rarely included families in the hunt for criminals. "I guess since my family is human, they don't matter as much."

  Ian grunted, not affirming either way. "You tell me everything about the person who killed our people. I want him caught."

  "He's human."

  "I don't care what he is. This will not stand."

  "Okay," Argos said. "I agree to all that, and I offer one more thing. My help in getting the Artifact back to our people."

  "I know where the Artifact is. I don't need your help."

  "My name is on the paper. It is a loan. All I need to do is ask for it. Please let me right that wrong, no matter what the council decides for me."

  Argos was right. It would be less of a problem to let him help get it back. Ian rubbed his hand across his chin. If he allowed this, he would take Argos and the Artifact back, and the whole thing would be done.

  "Do not let me regret this last request from you, my old friend. You will rue this day if you do.”

  Forty-One

  The Wedding

  Chapter Forty-one

  Ian assured himself he was no fool, though, at the moment, he felt like one. But if he had Argos' cooperation both with retrieving the Artifact and getting back to Atlantis, it was worth an evening of his time.

  "We will take this slow," Ian warned. "If at any time, I think you are dealing falsely with me, we will immediately head to the sea. Is that understood, Argos?"

  Blake eagerly nodded his head but said nothing, probably afraid one misspoken word would change Ian's mind. His granddaughter's wedding seemed to be the only thing he cared about right now. Then he hesitated. "But Ian, would you call me Blake? No one knows me as Argos." He looked down. "And I hate that name now."

  “Yes. Only because it would seem odd to call you anything other than Blake in front of your family.”

  Ian studied the older man and looked at his own casual clothing. "Is there a set wardrobe for your weddings?"

  All Atlantian schools included a human cultures class. However, human weddings were barely mentioned. It appeared they believed that was knowledge Atlantians would never need. Ian pulled a face. That was clearly not the case today.

  "Yes," Blake said, "there is. My tux is at home. We’ll need to get that, and we must get you, at least, a suit. We can get that at a store."

  "No, we are not going to your house. Tell me of a store that will take care of both our needs."

  Blake mentioned a local men's shop that would have what they required and directed Ian to that. It was a few buildings down from the pawnshop.

  As the two shopped, they shot troubled looks at each other. After so many years apart, they were unable to read each other as well as they once had. But throughout the afternoon, they became more comfortable with each other's company. Not to where Ian trusted Argos, but at least enough for him to ask any lingering questions.

  While waiting for adjustments on their suits, Ian directed them to a restaurant across the street. As they sat at a corner table in the Italian bistro, Ian leaned back in his chair and asked, "Why did you take the Artifact? You could have just left, done anything you wished up here. We would not have cared. But you took the Artifact. Why?"

  Blake sighed and lowered his head. "After my wife died, I was a raging, wounded man with flawed reasoning. I thought if I took it and gave it to the humans it would somehow… I don't know how, but that it would start a war between human and Atlantians. I wanted the humans wiped out, and that is one way I could accomplish it."

  Ian scoffed. "Kind of ironic since the Artifact is for the humans."

  Blake shrugged.

  Ian sat up in his seat, leaning toward the older man. "It actually would take very little for the council to go to war once they were aware the murderers are human. If we were to rise from the ocean and demand their citizens for punishment, what do you think humans would do?"

  "Deny us, fight us."

  Ian leaned back, decisively nodding his head once. "That is why this thing with the humans needs to be handled very carefully. You have family here now. You have a stake in this."

  The men were quiet for a while as they ate, each deep in their own thoughts. Ian shoveled in the food as if feeding a furnace, while Blake picked at his.

  Ian looked at his old friend, noting all the changes in his appearance. “Were you aware you would get old?"

  Blake cleared his throat. "I knew the rumors. I can't say that I cared though, at the time. Death couldn't come soon enough then." Blake gave a half-smile. "Now though, what I wouldn't give for a few more decades with my children and grandchildren."

  "Why do you think it happens?"

  "I don't know for sure. But it's hard on our bodies to live up here. Not enough moisture, too much oxygen. Who knows what else? It took years of battling before I could breathe properly. I still can never drink enough. It wears on an Atlantian."

  Ian agreed. He had felt the pressure, they all did when they were on land. “Perhaps it will slow when you come home."

  "Maybe, but at what cost? Never seeing my family again? I would trade the years to spend the time with them."

  "They might come if the council allows. And I think they would. Your family is part Atlantian. They have just as much right there as here. The idea of living longer may appeal to them."

  Blake brightened, then winced. "But how would they be treated? They would be a hated man’s children. And there have been no mixed people, have there?"

  Ian shook his head. "They would be the first that I know of." He stood. "It is time to retrieve the clothing. On the way there, explain all the customs at a human wedding. And remember we are going only to the ceremony."

  Ian timed their arrival so they had only minutes to spare. They went straight to the family area and sat down. Many quizzical looks came Ian's way, so once seated beside the wall of the small auditorium, he sunk down in his seat. He didn't want his height to make him stand out.

  The music started.

  Ian sensed her before he saw her, the feel of her slamming through him. He swung toward the back of the building. His eyes locked on her face. His breath left him. His heart thundered. The room narrowed. Everyone in it disappeared. Blake could have tripped over him and left, and Ian would never have noticed. There was only her.

  Jatale, his love. Edinara, his heart, Jata Ara, his Intended.

  Sunny stood in the archway, a bouquet of flowers in her hands, matching her rose-colored dress. The gown flowed from the waist, similar to the dresses Atlantian women wore. Ian wondered if it had reminded her of them, of him?

  Her blonde hair unbound, it flowed over her shoulders and down her back. Memories of its silkiness between his fingers rushed back to Ian, making him ache to touch it again. His muscles bunched. It was all he could do to stay seated.

  Sunny had a little smiled plastered on her lips, and she mostly focused on the official performing the marriage, though every so often she threw a glance over the crowd. She was nervous.

  Ian realized Blake rattled on in the background. "Oh, there she is, isn't she just the most beautiful little woman? I'm the proudest grandfather!"

  Ian's heart stopped, and he clenched the side of the chair until it protested. "This is your granddaughter?" he hissed at Blake.

  Everything faded from existence as Ian contemplated what this meant. She was Atlantian, part anyway, but also a traitor’s granddaughter.

  Ian’s eyes narrowed as a man come from Sunny's left and held an arm out to her. She smiled and took it, seeming too comfortable with him. A low growl started at the base of Ian's throat.

  Blake gave Ian a strange look, but continued, "And that young man is my nephew. My granddaughter wanted to have as much family in the wedding as possible."

  "So, these are not the two being mated today?"

  Giggles and chuckles broke out around them, and Blake quickly whispered, "We don't call it that here! It is married. Mar—“

  Ian gripped the armrests of the chair again, his body taut. "I do not ca
re what you call it here! Is it her? Is she the one?"

  "No, Ian." Blake seemed disappointed Ian hadn’t listened to him enough the first time around. "I told you Sierra is getting married. She comes down last. This is Sonora, my other granddaughter. She is a bridesmaid. Bridesmaids—" Blake’s voice faded away.

  Ian's heart slammed to life again. He slumped with relief while continuing to track Sonora. He hadn't known what he would do, but a wedding for Sunny wouldn’t happen. Not unless he was the one standing beside her. Ian shook his head. That was not what she wanted. But it didn't matter what his mind told him. His heart spoke louder. Actually, it roared.

  Ian's gaze followed Sonora's every move, her every breath, as the ceremony continued. Occasionally, she would frown and cast a glance to the audience. Did she feel his presence? Now he was aware Sunny was part-Atlantian, he knew it possible. Maybe. Perhaps he had given up too soon.

  He tried to reach out to her. To wrap all his swirling emotions around her. Perhaps she would sense him. Sonora shivered. Then she ran her hand down a thin, silver chain at her neck and played with the charm hanging at the end of it. A small pink conch shell. One that used to sit on the shelves behind his desk.

  Ian chuckled, the sound low and deep as hope, however slim, entered his world again. Seems she took after her grandfather with those sticky fingers. Ian was not upset, but instead, filled with joy. Sunny did think of him. She had just now. He sensed it.

  Eyes flashing, Ian turned to Blake. "Where is the gathering that happens after the wedding?”

  Forty-Two

  Secrets