Berserker's Rage (21 page)

The clearing of a throat interrupted his thoughts. Dag informed him they were ready to enter hyperspace. He nodded, then gave the order to begin the long journey home. In two moon phases, his life would return to normal. He'd take the first assignment the Council offered him, as long as it didn't involve returning to earth.

He'd spent a moon phase on the strange blue planet. Everywhere he and his warriors went the female inhabitants approached them and quite a few of his warriors ended up bonded. He'd adamantly refused their attempts at seduction, although being around them kept him in a constant state of arousal.

"Thank, Tor, that's over," Ronin Hughson said as he joined them. "Another month on Earth and I would have ended up bonded to one of those long-legged beauties."

Thorn shifted in his seat. The journey was just beginning and he had over ten-thousand Earth females on board. It was a starship commander's nightmare. "You'd better stay away from the second level. Unlike Dag here you haven't met your mate yet."

Dag smiled. "Lisa is all I've ever wanted in a mate."

"Have you set a date for the bonding ceremony?"

"We've decided to do it two moon phases after I return to Zarronia. I'd like you to be there, Thorn."

"I can attend before I leave again."

"You could stay. The Council has offered to give you a post closer to home," Dag said. "Why don't you accept it for a while to see how it works out?"

"I can't, Dag."

"You have to stop blaming yourself for what she did," Dag said. "Sooner or later you're going to have to come home."

Thorn frowned. "Not yet."

Dag nodded and changed the subject. "If those Earth females ever find out about our mating fever and how susceptible we are we'll be in big trouble. Can you imagine what they'd do?" He laughed, then continued, "I've had nightmares about being abducted and held hostage until I'm forced to bond with one of them."

Ronin chuckled. "Sounds interesting to me."

"Yes. But, in the nightmare the female always starts out as a tall, leggy blond then turns into a four foot tall Witvian troll."

Thorn grinned and Ronin laughed.

"Now, that would be a real nightmare." Ronin settled onto a nearby seat. "I've spent most of my credits on the fourth level. Sometimes, I think it would be easier to choose a bondmate."

When Ronin and several of the other warriors began comparing the various talents of the pleasure-givers Thorn tuned them out. The mating fever they carried was a well-guarded secret. It began when a Zarronian warrior turned twenty, and grew stronger as he aged. By the time he was thirty-two he was forced to choose a female and share his fever with her or die as the fever grew in intensity. During his father's time, after the Wrothians attacked Zarronia and killed all of the Zarronian females, many warriors had been unable to find compatible females and had died from the fever. His father and many other starship commanders had searched the Universe for mates and found the Wrothians and later the Earthlings. His mother Lia was a Wrothian.

Thinking about his parents, Valan Eirickson and Madami Lia, reminded him that his fever had grown worse in the last six moon phases, ever since his father had commandeered his starship and traveled to Earth. Since their return he'd transported them on several ambassadorial visits and whenever he entered their quarters he sensed a lingering scent that made his fever flare.

Between the unidentifiable scent and exposure to the Earth females on this mission he'd had to visit the pleasure givers frequently to keep his fever at a manageable level. He'd even been tempted to use ZL3 which he usually avoided as the drug left him feeling hyper-alert and raging the next day.

"Thorn?"

He returned his attention to the warriors around him. "Yes?"

"Which do you prefer? Blondes or redheads?"

"Neither."

Ronin cursed and Dag laughed. "You owe me five credits, Ronin."

Thorn's brow lifted in inquiry.

Dag slapped Ronin on the back. "I told him you preferred females with black hair but he didn't believe me. He's the one who insisted on the wager."

"But, every time I've seen you with a female, she's been a blond or a redhead," Ronin insisted. "The only black-haired female I ever saw you with was Naline."

Dag elbowed Ronin, drawing a grunt from him as Thorn stood up. "Dag, you have the bridge." The words were said harshly before he stalked away.

"Hell, Dag, I'm sorry. I didn't think."

"It's alright. Sooner or later, Thorn's going to have to come to terms with the past."

"Are Dane and Dev making any progress with him?" Ronin asked.

"No. They're not any closer now than they were before the journey began."

"When's he going to wake up and realize his sons need him? If he doesn't do something soon, he's going to lose them forever." Ronin ran his hands over his face. "We're not doing enough as their mentors to make him see how he's harming them."

"I don't know what else to do. We hoped this time together would improve matters but it's only made things worse. Even the boys are beginning to dislike him."

"Yes, and after all the time we spent telling them what a great warrior he is and trying to convince them he regretted not being with them."

"I still believe he regrets it. He just doesn't know what to do about it."

***

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The Found

Book Three

By Caitlyn O’Leary

“What the hell do you mean Sarah’s gone?” Nate pressed Kota against the wall of the parking garage at the John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California.

“She booked three flights this morning. I was here confirming what Sierra found out.”

“Which is?” Nate demanded as he pushed Kota harder into the cement wall.

“She hopped flight 760 to Atlanta at six am.” Nate gave his friend and Navy teammate a hard look.

“Did you confirm it?”

“Of course I did. I got two valid I.D.’s confirming what we all saw on the video.” Kota gave him an offended look.

“I don’t understand. Why would you need to go that far? Call Sarah’s family, they have to know where she is in Atlanta.” Nate’s fingers tightened on Kota’s shirt in frustration.

“That’s the problem. She didn’t get off the plane in Atlanta.” The frustration in Kota’s voice was clear.

“Fine, she got off at the layover.”

“It was a direct flight.”

“Sierra must have fucked up. She had to be on the video getting off the plane.” Nate’s voice held just a hint of desperation.

“We had her brother Cyrus look at the video too.” Nate’s arm tightened against Kota’s throat.

“Cut a guy some slack,” Kota gasped. Nate looked at his friend, whose normally bronze skin was turning a lovely shade of purple. Releasing him, Kota slumped against the wall.

“Fuck. Would you please quit with the crazy?”

He’d like to, he’d really like to, but where the hell was Sarah? “I’m going to Atlanta.” He grabbed his duffle and turned towards the terminal.

“I’m telling you, she wasn’t on the plane.”

“And I’m telling you, you’re all forgetting Occam’s razor. You’re looking for a complicated answer to a simple problem. She disguised herself while on the plane and you missed her when she deplaned.”

“Fuck you, Nathan Goodman. I looked, Sierra looked and there is no way her brother would have missed her.” Kota no longer looked injured, he looked worried and pissed.

“She’s one of the
found
. She has special abilities. You forget they’re beginning to take on each other’s gifts. Seth can blend into any situation. She disguised herself and blended in with the other passengers. It’s simple. She’s in Atlanta. Those fuckers at Rixitron are still gunning for her, and she’s out of her mind for leaving the safety of the apartments. When I find her, I’m going to set her ass straight for putting herself in harm’s way.”

Nate’s eye twitched and his palm itched as he strode through the same doors he just exited. He booked a flight taking off in less than two hours. He was surprised Kota didn’t follow him. In the past his naval buddy stuck with him when he went on one of his wild rides.

Just as he passed through security, his phone rang.

“Nate. I agree with you. She’s in Atlanta.” A little bit of the tension left his shoulders when he heard his commander’s voice. He had worked with Noah Kukailimoku in the Navy for over six years. He trusted him like no one else.

“Finally, someone with some sense. Why didn’t you say so sooner?” There was a long pause.

“We were at the hospital, Kali was having Braxton Hicks labor pains.” Noah said, referring to his wife.

“Fuck, I’m sorry.” Why the hell wasn’t Sarah by Kali’s side? She was a doctor and a healer, and should be with Kali if she was going into labor. None of this made any sense. When he said as much, he was surprised by Noah’s reaction.

“Sarah’s already been through this false labor with us three times. What’s more her specialty is pediatrics.”

“All the more reason for her to be there, you’re having children.” Nate emphasized the last word, since his friends were having twins.

“We’ve got a great obstetrician. We don’t need Sarah and she knows it.” There was another long pause. “This has to be huge for Sarah to leave like this.”

“Why wouldn’t she tell everyone and ask for someone to escort her?” Nate knew the answer as soon as he asked the question.

“Because we wouldn’t have let her go. She’s in too much danger. You know those fuckers are still looking to take her into their breeding program.” Hearing the phrase had chills running through his body.

“Nate, I think Cyrus should be the one who goes after her. He’s her brother, a cop, and knows Atlanta inside and out. It makes the most sense.”

The twitch over Nate’s eye increased. “Except he doesn’t even think she’s there, so he can just sit this one out.”

“You’re on tap to act as undercover security for one of the next Rixitron rotations. This is an important operation. We can find out what they’re up to, it took a lot of maneuvering to arrange this.” Noah sounded every inch the commander.

“You can fix it, put Cyrus in for me. I’m doing this Noah.” He disconnected the call and stood in the middle of the causeway. Dammit, he wanted her back in the apartments, safe and sound, not out where people would be trying to capture and hurt her. He shoved his hands in his pocket, knowing worrying wouldn’t help anything, he needed to focus on the present and what he could accomplish. First things first, he needed a clear head. He hadn’t eaten in damn near fourteen hours, a lifetime for him. He headed to the Mexican restaurant up ahead. At least there was a decent one in this airport, with good beer and good fajitas. The food would soothe him as he concentrated on the next steps.

Nate was tired and not paying attention as he made his way to his seat on the plane. He followed a mother holdinga small child, who must have been about three years old. The boy started to cry as he stared at Nate, and Nate cursed himself and immediately smiled. He knew better than this. At six foot six, and a face like a block of granite he could easily scare small children. It never bothered him to scare the enemy, now
that
he enjoyed. But he should have realized there was a kid in front of him and been smiling. He could always get a kid to smile back at him when he worked at it. The little boy stopped crying and gave a shy wave.

Nate got into the aisle seat, thankful he would be able to stretch out his legs for portions of the flight. He closed his eyes and attempted to get some sleep, but found it useless. Instead he kept thinking about the last assignment in Mexico where they had to rescue the American factory owner who had been kidnapped.

Thank God the kidnappers had wanted such an outrageous amount of money that it had given them more time than normal to find their location. It was when the kidnappers wanted smaller sums the length of time was shorter and the odds of finding them in time was reduced. Another thing in their favor was the family called the embassy as soon as they received the internet feed showing the victim being held with the ticking clock and a knife to his throat. They had five days to get twenty million dollars in diamonds. It had been close, but they had managed to get to him in time.

Nate and his team had been on their way stateside after a month in Afghanistan rescuing three journalists when they had gotten the assignment in Mexico. He had wanted to get back stateside. He wanted to start working with others on his team whose job it was to protect the
found.

That had been his plan. He had worked one mission in Florida with the team, but mostly he had been overseas, and was tired of it. He worked with some of his teammates when he was overseas, but these days the majority of his friends were stateside, and he missed them. He missed Sarah, he missed her too much. And if the way he just lost his shit on Kota was any indication, obviously he had pretty deep feelings for the woman, so why the hell hadn’t he been pursuing her?
Because you’re a dumbass.
Well that was about to change, just as soon as he got her safely back to California, he was going to start by asking her out on a date. God that sounded lame, but he had to start somewhere.

He was going to have to talk to Admiral Sakuro about having his orders changed so that the majority of his time was spent in California. He would still be part of the elite naval unit, just focused on the enemies of the
found
, not on the hostage and rescue they had been doing for the last few years. With that decided Nate was finally able to get some sleep.