Stolen Desire (Outlawed Realm) (22 page)

She was speaking as though he’d already decided to stay on E1. He could not. Would not.

Paige offered him her hand. Zekin wanted to hesitate, to reason this out, but his heart wouldn’t allow that. Too easily, he laced his fingers through hers.

Several of the pleasure slaves had gathered around them, their curiosity again overcoming their reserve. Among the crowd were Qatar and Bruda.

“See to everyone’s safety until I return,” Zekin ordered.

His men nodded.

Zekin took the device from Paige and activated it. The wall in front of them quivered, then liquefied, the fishlike creatures and water disappearing, replaced by blazing light. Air hissed from the portal. Its vacuum pulled.

Together, he and Paige entered the unfamiliar space.

Unmindful of her direction, Eeete ran to the intake area, stopping finally when there was nowhere else to go. Her chest heaved with her ragged gasps. She swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. She had no right to love. No right to expect the same from Zekin.

He wanted Paige. That truth was in how he gazed at her, the way he spoke when they were together. He’d never desire another woman more. However, he would return to the colony—without her—and Eeete knew she’d have to be here to welcome him. Help him to ease his grief.

She’d mimic Paige’s voice, how she moved, the way she touched him. She’d do all that she could to become Paige so Zekin wouldn’t feel so alone. She’d remain at his side, serving and loving him until the end came.

She’d want him even after that.

Eyes closed, head down, Eeete sank to the floor, misery and then weariness claiming her. She wanted only to sleep, to dream of Zekin. In her fantasies, she’d pictured them in their own room at the Pleasure Palace, away from the other slaves and the guards. Free to do what they wished. She always imagined him regarding her with lust and tenderness. His embrace was gentle, as though he valued her.

They spoke of a future where they’d always be together in their room. Safe. Happy. Wanting nothing except each other.

Eeete dropped to the side and pulled her knees to her chest. The metal floor vibrated beneath her weight. Despite its heat from the volcanic ground, there was also a whisper of cold air. She wrapped her arms around herself to keep warm. She wondered where Zekin and Paige were now. Had they reached their destination? Were they all right?

Eeete squeezed her fists at the thought of anyone harming either of them. She wanted nothing bad to happen to Paige. The woman had shown her kindness and respect. If it hadn’t been for Zekin, Eeete would have gone to the other realm with Paige, grateful to stay there, prepared to serve her.

The floor vibrated again. The cold deepened. Eeete heard a faint sucking sound.

She turned to the doorway, expecting to see Zekin’s men or some of the pleasure slaves approach, their movements responsible for the noise.

The hall was empty.

Beneath her, the metal shivered once more. The cold and sucking sound persisted.

Confused and uneasy, she pushed to a sitting position and glanced at the door that led to the water. The metal barrier remained closed. Intact.

Water creatures swam by, their colorless bodies turning orange as they darted past eruptions of lava. Great clouds of steam hid their retreat from Eeete. Underwater smoke reached the pod’s transparent wall, pressing against it, making it seem to move.

To dissolve.

One minute, intense light surrounded Paige and Zekin, their bodies buffeted by icy winds. The next, they faced the kitchen of an obviously upscale home with shiny hardwood floors, mahogany cabinets and granite counters.

Zekin pulled Paige out of the portal. She sensed it closing behind her but didn’t bother to look.

The scent of cinnamon, bacon and baking bread permeated the air, capturing her attention, along with a hint of furniture polish with a fresh lemon fragrance. Everything had a homey, vintage look about it, like something out of the 1950s.

However, this wasn’t a scene from
Leave It to Beaver
or
Father Knows Best
.

Paige couldn’t stop shaking. Her teeth still chattered from the cold inside the portal—and the couple facing them.

The man was about the same age as Zekin, with the same features. Nikoli. He pointed the muzzle of his weapon at Zekin’s chest. The redheaded woman next to him trained her weapon on Paige. Had to be Regina. Their guns were similar, though not exact, to the ones Paige and Zekin had taken to E5’s surface. These weapons were an even metallic gray rather than blue or red that indicated what kind of dart they contained. Sedating or lethal.

Not wanting to find out, Paige lifted her hands in surrender. “We’re unarmed.”

Regina and Nikoli regarded Zekin. He lifted his hands.

Wasn’t enough for Nikoli.

“Wait,” Regina said as he moved toward Zekin.

“It’s all right,” Nikoli assured, his accent and voice similar to Zekin’s but not as deep. “Just keep me covered.”

Worry etched Regina’s features. “No. Wait.” When he did, keeping his distance from Zekin, she continued, “Your father didn’t say anything about a man coming here too. There were only supposed to be two women.”

“I couldn’t tell Domm Zorr about Zekin,” Paige blurted, gesturing to him. “I didn’t know whether we could trust Domm Zorr or not. If he was loyal to Vakar, he might have alerted the bastard about what was happening in the colony on E5 and his men would have taken Zekin prisoner again. No way could I allow that. That’s why I lied about the guards discussing Nikoli. To get Domm Zorr to help. None of it was true. They don’t know about you,” Paige said to Nikoli. “At least I don’t think they do.”

He and Regina exchanged a glance.

“Zekin won’t hurt anyone,” Paige added, stepping closer to protect him with her body.

Regina wasn’t having it. “Uh-uh.” She gestured with her gun for Paige to move back.

She couldn’t.

Regina frowned. “Don’t make me fire this thing.”

“It’s all right,” Zekin said to Paige. “Move away from me.”

Fisting her hands, she did. With a great deal of caution—no doubt for Regina’s benefit—Nikoli patted Zekin down. He reminded Paige of actors on cop dramas checking out the perps they’d caught. Satisfied that Zekin carried no hidden weapons, Nikoli turned to Paige, hands raised, but didn’t touch her.

“I’ll do it.”

Paige regarded the young woman who stood next to a man at the kitchen table. She wore her dark hair very short. Her skin was a rich coppery shade, her exotic features betraying her mixed ethnicity. She held a regular gun, with bullets, that she pointed at Paige’s heart.

“Don’t worry, I’m an RN,” she said. “I save lives instead of taking them. I promise not to hurt you unless you force me to do so.”

Uh-huh. Paige stiffened at the woman patting her down. The man—who seemed to be with her—stepped closer. He was decidedly handsome, his brown hair long, the ends grazing his broad, muscular shoulders. They tensed in what appeared to be fury as he continued to glare at Zekin.

Zekin, in turn, didn’t try to restrain his frown. Something he rarely did.

“Don’t.” Nikoli put out his arm to stop the other man from moving closer. “Zekin’s not one of the rulers.”

“I’m not a loyal subject of the realm either,” Zekin said. “Not any longer.” Hurriedly, he told them of taking over the penal colony, rescuing the pleasure slaves and women the guards had kidnapped from E1.

“I only travelled here with Paige,” he added, “to make certain she’d arrived safely. That no one would harm her.”

“That’s not entirely true,” she said, ignoring the way Zekin glared at her. “Zekin’s men and the pleasure slaves they’ve rescued can’t stay in the colony forever. If Vakar doesn’t find out about them and attack, the guards on E5 eventually will. They’ll either kill or imprison them again. This time, they’ll probably torture them to death. We need to bring them over just as you did with the escaped slaves. I saw a hologram of them at the guards’ outpost.” Paige turned to Zekin. “What did you say their names are?”

“Lukan and Arez,” Regina offered.

Paige regarded the young woman with the gun and the hot guy next to her. He certainly looked like a pleasure slave, though not the one from the hologram. The dark-haired woman didn’t even come close. She was striking, not gorgeous. Unusual in appearance, not flawless.

“This is Gwen and Kuma,” Nikoli said.

“A werewolf from E4,” Zekin added.

Paige stared. “What?”

He ignored her question and spoke to Nikoli. “Are the guards still coming to your plane to kidnap women?”

“Kuma and I are out every night to stop them,” Gwen said. “The times they do show up, we kick their asses to E3.”

“How many of them have you stopped?” Zekin asked.

Kuma frowned. “Not enough. They keep crossing over.”

Zekin looked troubled at this news, then resolved. “Take care of Paige,” he said to Nikoli, his tone imploring. “Keep her safe, please.”

“No—wait.” She gripped Zekin’s arm before he could reactivate the device. “You can’t go back and keep risking your life until you die. I won’t let you.”

He regarded her with longing and obvious torment, more emotion than he’d ever shown. As if they were alone, Zekin cradled the side of Paige’s face. “I have to help the others,” he murmured. “I have no choice. You heard what Kuma said. The guards are still crossing over.”

“We could stay here. We could fight the guards with Kuma and Gwen so no other women are taken.”

“What of the ones we don’t destroy? What of the pleasure slaves Vakar and his kind still hunt in E4’s jungle?”

Paige didn’t want to care about them. She wanted to be selfish, to have him next to her. Safe. Protected. Happy. Alive. “You can’t save everyone,” she whispered, hating herself even as she said it.

He kissed her cheek, then brushed his mouth over hers before easing back. “I know I can’t. But I have to try.”

Dammit, no.
This couldn’t be it. Paige wrapped her arms around his torso. “If you’re going back, then so am I.”

“
No.
”
He broke her embrace and stepped away, putting distance between them. “Your life, your future is here.”

“I have no one on this side. No family, husband, children. No one cares about me. Wait—please,” she begged before he could move farther back. “Hear me out.” She spoke to Gwen. “What day is it?”

The question appeared to surprise her. “Ah…Thursday.”

“Has anyone reported me missing?” Paige gave them her full name, the law firm where she worked and her address. “Are there any reports about me?”

Regina spoke first. “No. We monitor the news carefully because of what the guards are doing here.”

“I’ve been gone for days,” Paige said to Zekin. “In the middle of a damn work week. I know Johnny wouldn’t have reported me missing. He’s probably relieved I didn’t come back to our place after he bugged out on our wedding. But you would think the partners at my firm would be looking for me. I had depositions scheduled, clients to see. Not a one of those bastards cared enough to even call the cops.”

“That’s not necessarily true,” Gwen said. “Could be they did and it just hasn’t hit the news yet. Let me check.”

Paige frowned. “You’re calling the newspapers?”

Gwen punched in a number on her cell phone and brought it to her ear. “Nope. A cop I know who’s assigned to the area where you live. Like I said, I’m an RN. I’ve worked on a lot of those guys in the ER. If anyone’s filed a missing person’s report, he’ll—Jacobi?” she interrupted herself, then listened and smiled. “Yeah, it’s me. Have a question for you, if you don’t mind.” She listened again and nodded. “Great. I have an acquaintance who hasn’t seen her friend in a couple of days. She’s kind of worried about her, you know? She hasn’t filed a missing person’s report or anything. However, this lady who’s missing is apparently a lawyer, and I was wondering if her firm reported anything. I would have called them, but if she’s been fired or something, I didn’t want to get involved in all that, make things worse than they already are. So, can you check?”

She gave a thumbs-up at his answer, then told him the information Paige had just provided, adding, “I’ll wait if you don’t mind.”

It didn’t take long for the information to come back. “Thanks,” Gwen said. She pocketed her phone. “No one’s filed any report on you.”

“See,” Paige said to Zekin, then cleared her throat to keep it steady, to hide her hurt that not one person cared that she’d been missing. “No one…nothing is holding me here. No one freaking cares.”

Least of all her, not anymore. Paige had given until it hurt, and it hadn’t mattered to Johnny or her damn firm. Until Zekin came along, no one really knew she was alive. With him here, there’d be a reason to stay. With him gone… No, she didn’t want to think about it.

“I’m sorry,” Regina murmured.

“Maybe it’s not as bad as you think,” Gwen said. “Could be your firm contacted your guy—former guy—Johnny—and he told them about the wedding being off. Could be they figured you just needed some time by yourself.”