No Rules (20 page)

F
enton frowned when he saw the fire in their living quarters had burned down to embers. Maybe she was in pain again. Guilt flayed him for leaving her to cope with his niece by herself when she was already hurting. He couldn't make out either Alison or Ari amidst the mounded-up pillows. “Alison? Is everything all right?”

No answer. He listened but didn't hear any sounds of breathing. Heart pounding in his chest, he stalked forward, calling her name again.

The place was empty.

Adrenaline spiked as he whirled around looking for a note or data pad, looking for an explanation as to where they'd gone. Nothing. Had Gwella found out about his part in Dani's underground army? Perhaps she'd taken his females as hostages. Ari's pack was missing, which meant they had time to prepare for their departure.

He considered alerting Dani, but dismissed the idea, instead charging toward the empress's lair. Best not to jump to conclusions. Alison and Gwella had a friendship of sorts, and if anything was wrong, she would have turned to the empress for help.

His keen night vision aided him in following the path through the tree-farmed woods to Gwella's doorstep. Patrollers were stationed at the corners of the porch, and both moved to block his path. “What's your business here, breeder?”

Though he didn't want to have to explain himself, a lash from a chem whip would slow him down more. Dropping to one knee, he bowed his head in a show of respect. “Please, my females are missing. Does the empress know where they are?”

“What's going on?” Swathed in a blanket, Gwella stepped over her threshold.

“Forgive the interruption, Empress. This breeder says his females are missing.”

Gwella waved the patrollers off. “Alison's missing?”

Her reaction appeared genuinely concerned. “Yes, Empress, and Ari as well.”

“How long?”

“I am uncertain. The fire had almost gone out completely by the time I returned.” He ducked his head, hoping she wouldn't ask where he'd been. It was one thing to keep her in the dark about his and Dani's actions, but another entirely to lie to her face.

Luck was on his side because Gwella turned to address the patrollers. “Go to Alison's domicile and search for signs of a struggle.”

“There were none, Empress,” Fenton offered.

She eyed him shrewdly, then waved the patrollers off. “Follow my orders.”

“Gwella?” A large, hulking shadow lurked in the doorway. “What's the matter?”

“Alison's breeder is here. He says she's missing, along with her young.”

Still on his knees, Fenton tuned them out. Where could Alison have gone if not here? His blood chilled as he considered that the assassin had come for her, waited until she was alone with his helpless niece, and spirited them both away. Regardless of her dislike of him, he needed to tell Gwella about that possibility.

“Empress, forgive me but there's something you need to know.”

She held up a hand to silence him, and he turned his head as the patroller she sent returned.

“It is as he said, Empress. No signs of a struggle and her clothes and the supplies for the child have been packed.”

Gwella glared down at him. “Why would she have left? Were you fighting?”

“No.” They'd actually been getting along better than ever, or so he'd believed. They talked openly and honestly, shared thoughts and feelings. She'd seemed contented, at least until right before he'd left. Though her no sex edict might have been wise, he couldn't help responding to her, his body aware of hers on a primal level. He recalled her puzzlement over his going out, the stunned look on her face. She'd been curious about where he intended to go. Had she followed him? He recalled the disturbance he'd heard at the end of the training session and consequently dismissed. If it had been Alison, why wouldn't she have made herself known?

The more he thought about the events of the evening, the more sense it made. Alison didn't leave her fate up to chance. She was smart and she would have known he kept something from her. He winced as he realized the vastness of his mistake. By not informing her of his plans, he might have inadvertently put her in danger.

Meanwhile, Gwella was barking orders to her breeder and the patrollers. “Call a meeting in the town square. We need every able-bodied person to help in the search effort. Double-check at the gates and make sure she didn't leave the compound.”

The patroller ran off and he got to his feet.

“We should check the tunnels and caves,” Fenton spoke up, his worry for Alison and Ari overriding his customary caution. “She may have thought to escape that way.”

“How do you know about the tunnels?” The empress glowered at him.

“Dani informed me.” He held her gaze, unwilling to back down with everything he held dear at stake. “She discussed strategy with me earlier this morning.”

“My daughter knows better than to go to a male for advice. Especially an alien male,” Gwella spat.

“She is not burdened by your prejudice, Empress. Ask her if you don't believe me.”

“Insolent breeder!” The remaining patroller backhanded him. His head hardly moved, but the blow would undoubtedly leave a sizable bruise. “How dare you overstep your role!”

“Enough!” The big man moved forward. “My love, this will not help your friend. He knows her better than anyone, and if he says to check the tunnels, I say we should follow his advice.”

Gwella's eyes shot daggers at him but she nodded. “Fine. But this is not over, breeder. Your disrespect will not be tolerated. And if any harm comes to Alison, I swear I will hold you responsible.”

Bowing his head, he closed his eyes, listening as she gave out orders for a few breeders and patrollers to accompany him into the tunnels. If either Alison or Ari were hurt, her loathing would be nothing compared to his self-inflicted wrath.

 

Ari finally quieted when she fell into a fitful sleep. Exhausted, Alison closed her eyes and leaned her head back against a rock, holding the baby to her chest for warmth. How could she have been so damn stupid, so selfish? She might as well have asked Gwella to open the gates and feed them both to the helcats. At least that would be a fast death, instead of slowly dying from exposure.

No matter how tired she was, staying here wasn't a good plan. Better to stumble around in the dark and hope she came across the way out than to sit here and freeze. Her beautiful clothes were grubby and in no way adequate for the chilly tunnels. She had nothing to ignite a fire for either torch or light.

With a groan, she rose to her feet, ignoring her stiff muscles and various aches and pains. Forward. Or backward. Either way the exertion would help keep her warm rather than sitting on the cold stone floor.

The knowledge that she was going to die was secondary to the thought that she'd hand-delivered Ari's death sentence. Probably Del's too. He'd devoted his life to his niece's care. If Ari died, Alison could easily envision him crawling through the hole in the redwood fortress and out to face a helcat with his bare hands.

His magnificent body would be torn in two, ripped to shreds by one of those monsters. The picture still etched in her mind from the death of the other patroller. And as he breathed his last, he would curse himself for not being strong or capable enough to save his niece.

Or to save her.

Hot tears spilled down her cheeks at the thought of him dying like that. Did it really matter if he had shagged someone else when she'd essentially driven him to it? What kind of whore was she that she ignored the basic nature of a man, hoping to change him into her girlish dream of Prince Charming, faithful, loving, and all that rot?

A dumb whore. Soon to be a dead whore.

Her throat ached, dry with lack of water. Though the stone walls were wet, she didn't see any standing water. Probably just as well; with her luck she'd infect herself with some sort of alien microbe and end up hosting a colony of angry killer insects that would eat their way out of her body.

She was responsible for everything wrong in her life. It was time to stop blaming her father, her mother, the johns, the universe for her misfortune. Her fat was in the fire because she sat in the wrong spot and was too stubborn to move. It broke her heart to see Del take ownership of all the bad things that had happened to his family when he'd done nothing except survive. He hadn't hurt anyone else for profit.

She wanted to tell him that, to confess all her sins. Hell, if she made it out of this cave and found a way off this world, she'd go with him to the empaths' homeworld, turn herself over to them for punishment. The assassin could piss directly off—she didn't owe him or Illustra anything, and the thought of dying by way of one of his mind fucks was worse than calling it quits in this maze of tunnels.

“Please,” she begged whatever deity might be listening. “Let me get Ari out of here. I'll fix all my mistakes, just let me see her safe.”

The tunnel inclined sharply, and her breaths huffed out faster. This definitely wasn't the right way; she would have remembered a steep grade when coming in. Exhausted and teeming with frustration, she sat down hard, probably bruising her tailbone in the process.

Where had she gone wrong? This whole experience was like one big, screwed-up metaphor for her life. Stumbling around in the dark, making bad choice after bad choice, all shortsighted decisions because she was ill-equipped to see beyond the end of her nose. Wiping the tears away with her grubby sleeve, she tried to summon the strength to turn around and try again.

A weird scratching sound broke her from her mental flagellation. “Hello?”

No answer. Ari stirred against her breastbone, leaving a trail of sweat. Her fever had broken and Alison breathed a might easier. The scraping noise came again.

Climbing to her feet, she decided to investigate. Moving slowly, she climbed up the steep hill, bracing one hand on the wall to help her balance.

Up ahead, a mountain of rock loomed. Scowling, she moved closer so the bioluminescent light from Ari's pack highlighted what was obviously a cave-in. The scraping sound came again, from the other side of the mounded-up stones.

“Is someone there?” she shouted, hoping someone might be trying to dig through.

Still no answer.

“If you can hear me, I'm trapped in here with an infant!”

As if to underscore her statement, Ari started to cry again.

An eerie cry pierced through the stone and her blood flash-froze. That wasn't a person trying to get through the wall of rock; it was one of those helcats, looking for dinner. Could it smell her?

Heart pounding, she backed up, spinning around as the tunnel sloped back down. If she wasn't so afraid of tripping and landing on the baby, she'd sprint through the darkness. As it was she moved much faster, putting as much distance between them and the predator as possible.

The sound of rocks being dislodged made her scream in terror. The creature was breaking through. “Help me!”

“Alison!” The male shout came from up ahead, the most beautiful thing she'd ever heard.

“Del! I'm here!”

“Stay where you are. I'm coming!”

Her feet stilled and she waited, afraid to take yet another wrong turn, more afraid he wouldn't reach her before that thing managed to break through.

The one good thing about Ari's nonstop crying, it made for an audio trail of bread crumbs, easy for him to follow. The welcome sight of a torchlight glinting off the wet cave walls filled her with relief. “Over here!”

Then he was there, running to her for all he was worth. He hugged her, careful not to squish Ari between them.

“Thank the stars,” he breathed.

The relief in his voice filled her with remorse. “Del, I'm so sorry.”

“Later,” he muttered, shoving the torch in her hands. He unfastened the carrier, trying to soothe the angry child. “She's burning up. Did you give her anything?”

More guilt, layered so thick it choked her. “I didn't know what was what.”

“Let's get out of here. The others took different paths. We'll meet up with them and get the hell out of here.” He strapped Ari back in her carrier and reached to take it from her.

The sound of tumbling rocks from behind her made them both jump.

“What was that?” Del grabbed the torch instead of the baby and turned.

The howling cry filled the space. “It's a helcat. It's trying to break through the cave-in back there.”

Del swore as an angry roar bounced off the walls. “I think it just did. Quick, give me Ari, we need to get to someone with a weapon.”

Oh, hell, she hadn't thought of that. Of course Del wouldn't be armed, and while he might be able to lead them out of here, all he could do against a helcat was die with them.

She shucked the carrier and he strapped it on quickly, taking the burden of the helpless infant off her shoulders and gripping her hand. “Hold the torch, my eyes are better in the dark.”

She took the wooden torch from him and held it away from her face. After stumbling around with only the bioluminescent pack to guide her way the light actually made her eyes water.

“As fast as you can.” With one arm wrapped around a frighteningly silent Ari and the other holding on to her, Fenton led her back down the tunnel. He bypassed several forks along the path, not even hesitating.

In the distance a voice called her name. “Who's with you?”

“Dani and a few of the patrollers under her command.”