Alien Mine (Zerconian Warriors Book 7) (14 page)

“You heard that through the bond?”

“Yes. Willa taught me how to block you,” she confessed.

He ran his hands up and down her arms. “I would rather you did not. I wish to have some link to you.”

“Me too. But sometimes I might need to block you. For my sanity as well as yours.”

He nodded. He understood. He didn’t like it, but he understood it.

“You will take every care to protect yourself.”

“You too,” she told him fiercely. “I’m not the only one going to be in danger and I’m valuable to Husan, you’re not.”

Thor resisted the urge to smile. His fierce fighter. “Remember to eat. Try to sleep. You must look after your health, keep yourself strong so you can help others.”

Mainly he wanted her to keep herself safe and healthy for her own wellbeing. But he would use what tools he could to get her to comply. He knew that she was likely to run herself down helping others and that was unacceptable. He had seen the toll using her abilities had on her, yet she would use it time and again if she thought someone was in need. She needed him to protect her from herself.

“I’ll try to remember.” She smiled at him. “I love you, Thor. I cannot wait until we get home and start our life together. I never dreamed of you, because I never thought you existed. I will come back to you, Thor.”

“You better. I will chase you. No matter how far. No matter where I have to go. I will find you.”

Lucy worked hard to keep her limbs limp and lifeless. Willa had given her a low dose of sedative. Enough to try to relax her but not enough to put her completely out. Somehow, though, her adrenaline seemed to be counteracting the drug.

Nerves strummed through her and she wondered if anyone else could hear her rapidly beating heart. It was going so fast she worried it would leap from her chest and flop on the ground like a fish out of water.

Tae held her in his arms, carrying her as Willa walked in front of them.

“Okay, we’re here. Time to get this thing started.”

Darac and Thor had left the ship a while ago, moving into the vast markets in case Husan had anyone watching. Then Willa, Lucy and Tae had left. Tae carried Lucy into a waiting shuttle. Lucan was driving the shuttle. She was wrapped up in a large blanket so she appeared ill in case anyone took any notice of the three of them. 

Rye had his contacts ready to provide back-up to Willa and Tae should anything go wrong.

Please don’t let anything go wrong. Please don’t let her friends die.

“Lucan stay here with Lucy. Tae come with me. We’ll go have a chat with the asshole.”

Lucy waited nervously. At least the shuttle had no windows so she didn’t have to pretend to be unconscious. She and Lucan waited in silence until the shuttle door opened. She acted limp until the door slid shut. Willa bounded in, Norman by her side. Tae followed.

“Asshole. He’s got our people off-site. I said I was going to send someone over there. Rye will have heard me so I should hear back soon. As soon as I’ve heard that they’re safe and Rye has people there to take them to safety, I’ll get Tae to bring you in.”

She nodded suddenly. “Okay, Rye says his people have them surrounded. There are guards that Mortef must have put in place, but they can take them. You ready for this? We could leave now. Get Rye to get our people out by force and go back on our deal with Husan.”

“No, he’ll have a back-up. Some way of destroying all of them if you betray him. He wouldn’t have told you where to find them if he didn’t. Tell Rye to be careful.”

“All right,” Willa said, squeezing her hand.

“Even if we could safely get everyone and keep me safe as well, he’d never rest until he had his revenge.”

“Yep, he seems the sort to hold a grudge. Someone needs to help him chill out. Permanently.”

***

Thor paced across Darac’s office. He couldn’t sit. Energy thrummed through him. He knew he probably wouldn’t rest again until Lucy was back with him. Safe. Unharmed.

What had he been thinking to let her do this? There must have been some other way.

“They’re approaching,” Darac stated. “They’re all going straight to medical. Apparently your aunt is unconscious and a few of the others, including Koran, have been beaten and starved.

An hour later, fury engulfing him, Thor stormed out of the medical centre and punched his fist into the wall.

“I let her go with this bastard. I let my mate willingly put herself into the hands of someone who would do that?” he roared.

“Thor!” Darac followed him. “You know most of this happened at the hands of the Nerifs.”

“But not all of it,” Thor said, turning to him. “Some is recent.”

“He was mad.” Willa stepped out beside them, her face pale. “Mila said he was furious by our refusal to swap Lucy for them. He had a tantrum, like a child. Only with far worse consequences. He truly believes she belongs to him.”

“She does not. She is mine.” Thor seethed. He had never known fury such as this. The bruises, cuts, signs of torture, some of which was only hours old had finally gotten to him. The only person to escape unharmed was his aunt and that was probably only because she was unconscious.

“They will heal once they have all been in the regen chamber, right?” Willa asked, wiping her hand over her face.

Darac pulled her close. “You should go to our quarters, my own. Rest. Today has been long.”

“Lucy’s my friend. It was my plan, if anything happens…”

“Nothing will happen,” Thor reassured her. He could not contemplate that. He took in Willa’s too-pale face. “Rest, Willa. Darac is right. You will get sick if you do not take care of yourself.”

Willa shook her head. “I want to sit with Mila while Koran is in the regen chamber. She gets upset when he’s not close.”

Koran had insisted Mila be the first in the regen chamber. Despite Koran’s far worse injuries. Thor had agreed, knowing he would feel the same way was it Lucy lying there injured.

“All right. You may sit with Mila as long as you don’t become too tired. Do you have a headache?” Darac rubbed Willa’s temples lightly.

“I’m okay. I’ll take a pain inhibitor. I promise. This headache is nothing compared to what Mila has gone through. Did you see the bruises on her arms? Her face? Someone hit her. Bastards.”

“She is safe now.”

Unlike Lucy.

“After Koran comes out of the regen chamber I will need to debrief him,” Darac said.

“I will have Mila moved to her chamber so she’s more comfortable,” Thor said. “After Darac is finished, Koran can join her there. The only person I will keep in medical is Aunt Liula.”

“Mila said she never awakened,” Willa said. “Do you think she is permanently in a coma?”

“It is hard to know. It is rare for one mate to survive the death of another. I do not know if she will ever awaken.”

***

Lucy opened her eyes, staring around her slowly. She’d been dumped into this room a while ago and had kept up her pretence just in case someone watched. But she couldn’t keep this pretence up forever.

The room was small, windowless. She sat up, wincing slightly. Husan’s men hadn’t exactly been gentle when they’d shoved her in here. Shit. She couldn’t believe she’d done this. A longing for Thor filled her and she searched for him through their bond. He was angry. Furious. And worried about her.

This was going to be a test for both of them. She built the wall up between them, last thing she wanted was to cause him more fear and worry. The door to the room slid open and she jolted.

Remember your role.

“Where am I? What’s going on?” she asked, crying out in fear as Husan stepped through the door. She didn’t have to act scared, she was out of her mind with fear.

“Hello, Lucy,” he drawled, a sick grin on his face. “We are reunited.”

“Where am I? What the hell is going on?”

“You’ve been returned to your rightful place. I own you, Lucy. You had no business leaving me. And you’re going to be punished for your disobedience. I believe a little reminder in obedience is necessary.”

He stepped forward to let Lor into the room. The huge Kian male filled the room. Kian’s had no conscience, that she could tell anyway. They also had no mind of their own. They were followers. They tied themselves to a master or mistress and they would do anything that person demanded of them.

No matter how sick or awful.

Husan had owned Lor for a long time and Lor was intensely loyal. He was also huge. He reminded her of these images of a gorilla she’d once said. Made sense when you discovered how stupid they were. His upper body was nearly twice as wide as his hips giving him an almost comical appearance.

She deliberately hadn’t told Thor about Lor. It didn’t serve any purpose and it would only worry her mate. Lor acted as Husan’s enforcer. Whenever Thor wanted to make an example of someone, wanted to punish someone he called for Lor.

She’d always avoided the large male.

Only now there was nowhere to hide.

***

“He had this big enforcer. A Kian. He physically hurt us, although it was at Husan’s direction. I could not work out why he would purchase us from the Nerifs. I felt certain that it would be the Coizils who would wish to own us. But now it makes sense. Why he was so angry. He must have really wanted Lucy back. I believe he paid the Nerifs a lot of money for us.”

Thor paced back and forth as Koran sat on the sofa in Darac’s office, recounting his story. The other male was pale and thin. The regen chamber could fix his scrapes and bruises. It could mend tears in his skin and any broken bones. But it couldn’t help him instantly regain muscle or stamina. That would take rest and care. For all of their people.

“Most of our injuries were inflicted by the Nerifs, but they held back because they wanted us in one piece to sell us. Mila said they never harmed her. But our worse injuries came from Husan’s enforcer. Mila called him the Gorilla.”

“How did the Nerifs capture you?” Darac asked.

“We were hit, it sent us into a spin. We had to crash land and it was the closest planet. Many of us were knocked unconscious. A patrol of Nerifs came across us while we were weak and overpowered us. We knew you would come. The worst of it was being separated from Mila. I didn’t know where she was. What they were doing to her.”

Koran clenched his hands into fists. Thor knew how he felt. He had no idea how Lucy was. She had shut down her end of the bond and it was killing him.

“Lucy saved us.” Koran looked over at him. “I am under no illusions that he would not have killed us. She saved us all. Now it is up to us to save her.”

***

Lucy rolled over, groaning in pain. Three days had passed since Husan had ordered Lor to punish her and she still felt half-dead. They’d arrived on Lazarun at least. But she was shut up in a room alone. The door was always locked. She hadn’t seen or spoken to anyone. Her food was delivered through a small hole in the bottom of the door. She’d tried peering out the hole into the hallway beyond, but there was nothing out there to see but darkness and dirt.

Great, if this continued there was no way she’d ever get free and back to Thor.

Thor. God, she missed him. More than that, she craved him. He filled her dreams until she woke up shivering with the need to see him, touch him. Now she understood what he meant. They couldn’t go that long without each other—she really had to get this show on the road. Tomorrow night. They were coming tomorrow night. That didn’t leave her a lot of time to convince Elika to help her. That is if she even got a chance to talk to the witch. She hadn’t seen anyone but Lor and Husan since they’d arrived.

At least today she could move without wanting to pass out. Bruises covered her body and her right eye was still half-swollen shut. She moved like an arthritic eighty-year-old. But at least she could move. He hadn’t broken anything, which meant he’d been holding back.

Suddenly, the door opened and she squinted as light filled the dark room.

“Smells like shit in here,” a rough voice stated. Ernie. Husan’s assistant. He was an asshole. Someone else she would really rather avoid. “Boss wants to see you.”

Much as she didn’t want to see Husan at least this was getting her out of this room.

“Let’s go then. Chop-chop. After you.” She swept her hand out.

Ernie frowned. “Something’s changed about you.”

“You mean this eye.” She pointed at her eye. “Thought I’d try a new look. Don’t you like it?”

“You’re not scared. Why aren’t you scared? You were like a frightened little lamb before.”

Crap. Willa was rubbing off on her. She needed to act scared, last thing she wanted was to make them suspicious that she might have a reason to be unafraid.

“I’m scared out of my mind. Makes it hard to think.”

“I’d watch that mouth in front of the boss. He’s not as nice as me.”

She wrinkled her nose, trying to keep her groans quiet as she pushed herself up into a standing position. Ernie just stood and watched, a smirk on his ugly face.

Yeah, he was a really nice guy.

Ernie kept a tight hold on her arm as he half-dragged her through passageways that should have seemed familiar but weren’t.

“This seems unfamiliar.”

“A new addition to the palace. Like it? Boss decided to add another wing onto the place. We were kind of overflowing. Too many people in one place ain’t good for people’s hygiene and health.”

Umm, say what now? Like Husan cared about others health.

“How many live here now?” she asked, a sick feeling developing in her stomach. When she’d escaped, Husan had about ten other prisoners like her, whose abilities he used to his advantage. Then he’d probably had around twenty slaves who took care of his other needs. The slaves that worked the land and mines had numbered around fifty, plus around two hundred others like Ernie who were with him out of choice. But most of them had their own houses. So how many were in the main house? Around forty or fifty she’d have guessed.

“Oh, about two hundred,” he replied gleefully. “The boss is building himself a nice army. Time to take things a step further.” He shoved her through an open doorway. She fell to her knees, unable to stop the low groan of pain from escaping. Ernie thrived on the pain of others. She knew better than to react. But she was already battered and bruised, she wasn’t sure how much more she could take.

“Lucy, so nice of you to join me.”

She raised her head to find Husan sitting on a large chair in front of her. At his knees sat Beau, her eyes blank and unseeing. Unkempt red hair lay straggled around her face. Husan patted her head, but she didn’t react, just stared right through Lucy as if she wasn’t even there.