Unexpected (14 page)

“They
are being held at the terminal.”

“Being
held? What’s wrong?”

He
caught her gaze for a moment, and she flinched back at the anger she saw
flaring in his eyes. “They have, yet again, behaved with poor judgment and
embarrassed me in front of the prince. It’s impossible for me to manage the
fallout any longer. This situation has put me in an impossible position.”

The
car accelerated, and she glanced out to see they were on a highway. “What can I
do?”

“Nothing.”
The spiteful
tone in his voice gave her pause. “I’ve already made arrangements to resolve
this so it won’t happen again.”

“Are
you going to send them back to Alpha?” Alisa’s stomach plummeted at the
thought. How long would it take for her to join them if they were sent away in
disgrace? The reality of her desires hit her. She was willing to leave Earth
forever in order to be with Felix and Mikel. Even a month before she never
would have considered such a
thing,
and now she was
anxious to go.

“Of
course,” the commanding officer hissed. He shifted on his seat and frowned out
the window as the car made a sharp turn. Alisa clung to the seat, as otherwise she’d
have fallen to the floor.

“So
I’m going to be able to say goodbye?” This was the only reason she could think
of that would explain this hasty trip with a man who clearly could barely stand
being in the same space as her.

“Why not?”
A tight smile
spread across his sharp features, and her vague sense of unease expanded into
full-fledged fear. Something wasn’t right about this.

The
car jolted to a halt, and she looked out to find they’d parked inside some sort
of large building. Without a word to her, the fuming man left the car and
slammed the door shut before she could even ask if she should get out. A second
after that the locks engaged. She leaned close to the window and watched as
Ivar strode over to a small group of burly Alphan men dressed in the same dark blue
uniforms Mikel and Felix wore on duty. He spoke to them, and some of them
turned to stare at her. Rather than shrink back like she wanted to, she met
their gazes with a frown. Two of them broke off from the group and walked to
the car. They loomed in front of the window and blocked her view of whatever
was taking place. Being confined, the ill-will of Felix and Mikel’s commander,
and the realization that as soon as she’d entered the car no one would know
where she was all combined to convince her she was under threat. Her breathing
accelerated,
and her hands tingled as she fought back sudden
flashbacks to her time under the
Xyran’s
control. For
once, the fear didn’t overwhelm her. Felix and Mikel would be proud.

As
she shifted to the opposite side of the car and looked out that window,
something in her pocket poked her thigh with a sharp edge. It was the small
communication cube Mikel had given her. Making sure that she was hiding it from
view as well as she could, she activated it, the pink lights reassuring her
momentarily. But who could she call? Felix and Mikel were in trouble and
couldn’t help her. Pushing aside the notion that she was exaggerating the
situation, she depressed the call button and whispered into it.

“Please,
if anyone can hear me, I need help. I’m Alisa Sorrel. I’m near the airport,
with some
Alphans
, and I don’t think they’re going to
let me go. I just want to walk out of here.”

That
had sounded stupid, and who would be likely to respond to such an amorphous
plea? Before she could formulate another sentence to try, the door she’d been
leaning on opened and she tumbled half out of the car, her hands hitting the
pavement and the little device skittering away across the cement floor. The two
security officers had apparently circled around as she’d cowered and they
loomed over her, one pulling her to her feet, the other leaning down and
retrieving the communicator. Hoping for the courtesy she’d been shown in her
previous encounters with the alien men, she held out her hand for the device’s
return. The Alphan holding it merely narrowed his eyes at her and tucked it
into his pocket.

She
tried to look past their shoulders but couldn’t see much other than open space
and a few
hovercraft
at rest. That idea of freedom
blossomed in her heart, and she decided to listen to her instincts like she
hadn’t so long ago.

With
a quick scuttle, she swerved away from the closest Alphan and sprinted toward
the far wall of the hangar, hoping there would be a door or ladder leading out
of the building. She knew the men were following her because she could hear
their surprisingly light footsteps behind her as she stretched her legs into a
full run and prayed she wouldn’t slip or twist an ankle. There were raised
voices behind her, and she found another burst of speed as she accelerated up
to the wall. The corrugated metal surface flashed in front of her eyes as she
desperately searched for a doorframe or handle.
Nothing yet.

A
big hand clamped onto her arm and she was forced to slow, and as she stumbled
at the sudden change in velocity, an arm snaked around her waist and lifted her
off her feet entirely.

“Kick and scream if you like.”
Her captor
swung her around and began to carry her back to the staring group of men. “I
enjoyed your momentary flight and the corresponding pursuit. I only wish it
could have gone on longer and had an even more satisfying conclusion.”

She
did struggle then, even though she knew she couldn’t escape the heavy, strong
man clutching her. It helped release some of her stress and fear. Too soon she
was back among the other
Alphans
, Ivar stepping to
the forefront with a dark scowl twisting his features.

“She
had this, sir.” The Alphan who’d stolen her communication device handed it over
to his commander, and Commandant
Offen
sneered.

“I
don’t have to wonder where you got this.
Those
Taurides
providing a human with proprietary technology.
Yet another matter I will have to deal with.” With a quick twist of his hand,
the commanding officer dropped the small cube on the floor and stomped it with
his heavy black boot, sending tiny cracked bits skittering away. “It’s of no
use where you’re headed.”

“Sir,
I didn’t have a chance to check for any messages she might have broadcast.” The
other Alphan security officer frowned at the broken shards.

“It’s
of no consequence. The two she’s bedazzled are too far to come to her aid at
this point, and when they return, there’ll be no trail to follow. Once I drop
you off in one of those lawless slums your planet sprouts like infected boils,
you’ll be dead in days. Mikel and Felix will be free to consummate the match
I’ve arranged with a proper Alphan female. They’ll never think of you once I’ve
returned them to their proper path of keeping our bloodlines pure.” Ivar’s eyes
twinkled with malevolent intent, and cold terror iced her stomach.

The
man holding her tightened his grip, and she twisted at the discomfort. They
were going to dump her in some festering, lawless camp where she might not even
know the language. She’d be raped, and killed for her clothing within hours.
Felix and Mikel would return and find her gone, probably to think she’d turn
coward and fled from the life they had offered her so generously. The thought
of their grief and confusion made tears spring to her eyes.

“Put
her in the hover. There are shackles you can attach to one of the benches.”

The
man holding her acknowledged the order and carried her toward a large, pale
grey craft. The other security officers fanned out to surround the landing
struts of the ship, none of them paying much mind to her and her ignominious
passage. Deep despair filled her as she was hoisted up the ramp toward the dark
interior, and she couldn’t hold back a frightened moan. A quick trip down a
narrow corridor and she soon found herself dropped on a hard bench, the firm
seat and back thumping her knees and elbows. Struggling to roll, she tried to
pull herself away, but the Alphan had soon strapped her kicking legs and
swinging arms to flexible and heavy straps threaded around the seat.

“Exhaust
yourself by trying to escape. It will make you more compliant to our desires on
the flight.” He looked down at her with cold eyes, and she suppressed a
shudder. Would rape be the next way these men decided to overpower her?

“I
can guess by your expression you are considering the possibility of a forced
sexual encounter. Don’t concern yourself on that score. We are Ivar’s personal
retinue and as such, would never sully ourselves by contact with an alien.
There are many among us disgusted by the current trend of breeding with inferior
stock.”

Alisa’s
mouth fell open. “But Mikel and Felix—”

“Are
security officers with good pedigrees and not much awareness of anything that
doesn’t pass directly in front of their
noses.
They
aren’t part of our commander’s true plans, but merely act as decorative
distractions for his work.”

“What
work?” She couldn’t help asking even though she expected he’d never give her
any more information.

“Saving our species.”
With that, the
man turned on his heel and exited the room, leaving her bound and uninformed.

****

“Yes,
Your Grace, we checked the
autogyro
thoroughly before
departure.” Mikel listened to his bondmate assure the prince that the ship was
functioning normally despite the slight vibrations they were experiencing due
to wind gusts. Felix was piloting the small craft while Mikel sat beside the
prince, ostensibly to guard him, though there were only two other Alphan
bureaucrats on board. They’d gotten quite a late start, thanks to royal
dithering and last-minute flight checks. Their special passenger glanced around
the interior of the compartment with tight lips and blinking eyes. Mikel wondered
how the man had fared in the rigors of space travel to get to Earth, but was
distracted by the vibration of his personal communicator. With gratitude for
the interruption, he pulled the cube free from his pocket.

Alisa’s
pleading voice filled the cabin, and Mikel’s immediate happiness at hearing her
instantly morphed into concern as he understood her words. Felix whipped his
head back to stare at the communicator, leaving the flight controls
unmonitored.

“Repeat
that,” his bondmate ordered with a growl.

Mikel
hit repeat and listened intently, anxiety for her filling him with the heated
impulse to smash whatever threatened. When he tried to reply, there was no connecting
signal. The prince tilted his head, the jeweled circlet crowning his braided
hair tilting a bit. The craft shuddered wildly as Felix decelerated and banked
the vehicle in a tight turn, throwing all the passengers against their seat
restraints.

“What’s
happening?” the prince asked as he clutched at the belts crisscrossing his
chest.

“We’re
returning to base to check on that mechanical issue with the stabilizers.”
Mikel’s lie flowed from him with ease. “We don’t want to risk your safety, Your
Grace.”

Felix
leveled out their trajectory with rapid adjustments that left them reeling and
soon had the ship accelerating toward home at the highest speed possibly for
their altitude. Mikel scanned the flight data displays around him and watched
as the kilometers rushed below them. He could only imagine what the humans
might think was passing overhead with screaming engines and flaming contrails.

Mikel
tried to contact Alisa again and again by the communications link but made no
further connection with her. His heart thudded in his chest as the adrenaline built
in his body. He knew his bondmate was equally agitated, could sense Felix’s
anxiety and rage almost as strongly as his own. Time stretched slowly, so when
Felix made landing arrangements, prioritized courtesy of their royal
passenger,
it felt like hours had passed when in fact it had
been only minutes. Soon enough they were descending in big, looping circles and
the ship came to rest on the landing target with a clang and shake of the
landing struts. Mikel had his restraints unfastened before the vehicle stopped
moving and was forced to pause, thanks to protocol edicts that forced him to
bow to the prince before he could step ahead of him and exit the ship. Felix
would be delayed by flight checks, and Mikel wanted to be free of the
constraints of the ship as quickly as possible.

He
prowled around the landing deck, looking for a communications module. Spotting
one at a small work terminal, he instructed the occupant to leave and took
control of the device. After entering his security clearance code, he gained
access to the key data of the apartment and verified Alisa was not inside.
She’d left a half an hour after they had, which meant she had been walking
around, vulnerable to this attack, while they’d been cooling their heels
waiting to take off. He remembered his sense of foreboding increasing the
longer they’d waited, and now realized it hadn’t been merely the thought of
spending hours ferrying a royal around, but his connection with Alisa had been
alerting him to her peril. Remembering her words, he debated whether she was at
the human airfield, or at the Alphan space dock. Felix emerged from the ship
with a bound, tossing a weapons harness his way with a snap of his wrist. As
Mikel shrugged into it and double checked his blades and projectile weapons,
his bondmate took a turn at the monitor, pulling up the feeds to the Alphan
landing fields that had spread adjacent to the human landing strips and
terminals. Checking the time stamps, several vehicles had entered hangars in
the past few hours, but it was impossible to see the occupants of the vehicles
once they drove them inside the large structures. No ships had left yet.