Alien Mine (Zerconian Warriors Book 7) (15 page)

My God, what had happened to her friend? Beau had always been the positive one. The one who’d kept her going with her ability to laugh even in the worst of circumstances. Now she was reduced to this emotionless, blank person?

“What have you done to her?” she hissed at Husan. She glared at him, knowing it probably wasn’t wise. Husan enjoyed when people fought back. Made it all the more enjoyable when he got to put them in their place.

Or watch someone else do it. He never really got his own hands dirty.

But she didn’t feel very sensible right now. She felt murderous. Not all of her ire was aimed at Husan, though. She should have come back earlier. How could she have left Beau here? How could she have just gone on with her life?

No longer. She wouldn’t leave until everyone here was safe from this bastard.

Willa was right. Asshole had to die.

“Beau has merely learnt her place.” His eyes flashed with anger. “As you will.”

He wasn’t native to Lazarun. He’d completely wiped the natives out when he’d taken Lazarun from them. She actually wasn’t certain what he was. He tried to appear human, but once you looked at him closer there were a few things that were off. His ears were slightly pointed at the ends and elongated. His eyes were just a bit too far apart and his nose too small. She often wondered if he had some sort of glamour. Because it wasn’t until you really stared at him that these differences became obvious.

“What are you?” she blurted out. Maybe she’d taken a knock to the head when Lor was kicking her ass. She really needed to get some self-defence lessons. Okay, so they probably wouldn’t help her against someone of Lor’s size, but enough to help her protect herself at least.

He stood abruptly. “None of your business.”

Beau shrank back and immediately Lucy knew she needed a different course of action. She didn’t want to risk him turning his wrath of someone else. Lucy dropped her head. “Sorry, sir.”

He grunted and she risked a glance up. He hadn’t sat but he appeared somewhat appeased.

“I hope you have learned your lesson, Lucy. I would hate to have to get Lor to give you another one in obedience.”

That made two of them.

“I have,” she squeaked not needing to fake her fear. “I promise I won’t disobey you again.”

“Good.” He sat and pulled Beau next to him, running his hand over her hair. He treated her like a pet. No, worse than that. Like a possession. Lucy fought hard to keep herself calm and limp. Jumping up and scratching his eyes out was not a good idea right now.

Damn though it would make her feel good.

“Because I need your particular talents. You have returned to me at just the right time.”

Crap. She didn’t like the sound of that.

“I have someone for you to trace. You and Beau will work together to find this person for me.”

“Who is it?”

His face hardened and she swallowed heavily. “Just so I can be certain that I’m getting the right person.”

Jesus, Lucy. Get your act together.

He stared at her a moment longer. “You will find out if and when you need to know. I am going to take back my rightful place. And you are going to help me. We leave in two days.”

He his hand at Ernie dismissively.

Two days? What the hell was she going to do?

***

Lazarun was a beautiful planet. Peaceful and serene. Hard to imagine a monster lived here. Lucy had warned them to stay far away from where Husan had built his own little empire. The rest of the planet was unpopulated so they had managed to land without worry.

Now they just had to wait.

His stomach churned. “Something is wrong. I know it.”

“You can sense her?” Darac asked.

Thor shook his head. “Not exactly. She’s keeping me blocked.” But there was an underlying sense of unease that he couldn’t shake. “Wait. There she is.”

Fear. Concern. Pain.

Then it was gone.

“She’s in pain,” he snarled. “Someone has hurt her.” He stood, moving. He had to find her. Protect her.

Darac moved into his path and he roared. “Out of my way.”

The other man shook his head. “You can’t. The wards.”

“I do not care. My mate is in pain.” The bond had been shut down quickly so he knew she didn’t mean for him to sense those things. That made it all the worse. She was hiding it from him so she had to be in a bad way.

“And if you go off like this then she’s going to be in an even worse way because you will be dead. Do not let her bravery go to waste, Thor. Do not let her have to live with your death or worse.”

She’d follow him into death.

Thor took a deep breath then turned and sat again. “She needs me.”

Darac moved back to sit across from him. “We’ll get her out. We will get them all out.”

Willa sat next to him, cuddling close, Norman on her other side. “I kind of wish I hadn’t come up with this plan now. I feel like this is my fault.”

Darac pulled her onto his lap. “This is not your fault.”

“Darac is right, Willa,” Thor said. “Husan is at fault here.”

“And he is going to die,” Koran added.

Thor had argued against Koran accompanying them. But he would not listen. He was determined to get his revenge for the pain and injuries Husan had inflicted on Mila and his warriors.

Rye stretched. “Waiting is the hardest part.”

Thor nodded. He much preferred action. Around him, the thirty warriors who had accompanied them prepared themselves.

“I’m going to send out scouting parties. Any of you want to go with them?” Darac asked.

Rye and Koran nodded and Darac organised groups of warriors to scout around. Willa jiggled her feet up and down nervously. “I hope she can do this soon. There’s less than twenty-four hours left. Did we give her enough time?”

“She can do this,” Thor reassured her, even though he wasn’t that certain. What if something went wrong? What if she trusted the wrong person?

Damn it. Who could she trust? She didn’t even know anymore. Tell the wrong person her plan and everything could go pear-shaped in an instant. She had to do something, though. If she got on a spaceship with Husan then it was going to make things that much harder for Thor to get to her.

Or would it be easier? There would be no wards to get through. But they’d have to be able to track them. She didn’t even know anymore. She really wasn’t cut out for this stuff.

At least Ernie hadn’t taken her back to the room she’d been in. She was still in the new part of the building, but he’d shoved her into a large room with about a dozen other people. Some she recognized, others were new.

But they all had that tired, defeated look she knew too well.

Beau had returned soon after her. Maybe that’s where she should start. Except the other woman was still staring blankly in front of her. No, not Beau. The person she really needed to get on side with was Elika, the witch. None of these people surely held any love for Husan, but it didn’t mean they wouldn’t turn her in if they thought it might help them get out of here.

So she needed to tread carefully. Very carefully.

Slowly, she approached Elika. The witch had been here for years. She was here long before Lucy arrived. But she seemed to fare better than a lot of the others. Maybe because Husan knew he needed her. If she died then Lucy assumed the wards did as well.

Could she get the other woman on board with her plan? Elika didn’t look like a typical witch. No warts or cackling laugh. She was very average looking. Light brown hair, pale skin, thin build. She looked human, unless you got a closer look at her skin. It kind of glowed. A soft, soothing glow, but Lucy had watched her while she creating a spell and her skin had shone so bright it hurt to look at her.

Lucy sat beside her. “Elika.”

“Lucy. I’m surprised to see you back here.”

“I had to save some friends.”

“No friendship would make me come back here. I’d rather have killed myself. Believe me, I’ve tried.”

“You have?”

Elika snorted. “That bastard Husan just gets his healer to patch me back up. Can’t have his pet witch dying, can we? Beaten, starved, that’s okay. Dead, not so useful. Hope your friends were worth the sacrifice.”

“I hope they were too.” She stared at Elika, willing her to understand.

Elika’s eyes widened and she stared around. “Us? You came back for us?”

She nodded. She’d done it for Mila and Koran, of course. It was her fault that Husan bought them. But she had also done it for Beau, Elika and the others.

“Are you crazy? You can’t get us out of here.”

“Alone, no.” She needed to figure out what side Elika was on. “Why have you never worked a spell to get you out of here?”

“Where would I go?” Elika snorted.

“Do you want to stay here?”

Elika’s eyes flashed with fury. “No. Do you not think I would leave if I could?”

“Then why? I know you’re powerful.”

Elika snorted. “Only as powerful as Husan allows me to be. People think I can just create spells out of nothing. I need magic to create a spell. I draw that magic from the sky. Not a lot of that down here.”

There were no windows in this room, no light. Disappointment surged inside her. Their plan just feel apart. “So you can’t take down the wards without being outside?”

“Oh no, I can do that. I can take down a spell, I just can’t create a new one.” Elika’s gaze narrowed. “You want me to take down the wards? But he’ll know. He’ll come for me and it’s not going to help us get out of here.”

“What if I said I had help to do that?” She was all in now, there was no turning back.

Elika’s gaze turned calculating. “You have someone out there. On the other side.”

“Yes.” God, please don’t let her have made a mistake in trusting Elika. She could have just signed Thor’s death warrant. “But they can’t get through your wards.”

Panic entered the witch’s gaze and she stared around her. “There are spies here. I know there are.”

“Yeah, I guessed that. But I trust you, Elika.”

“You think we’re friends?”

“Maybe not typical friends. But we’re friends of a sort. Right?”

The other woman nodded hesitantly. “I can’t take the wards down. He’ll know. He’ll hurt me.”

“He won’t have a chance to.”

“No? What if your people can’t get to us quick enough? It won’t take him long to realize something is going on then it’s me he is going to blame.”

“No, he won’t. Because I’ll kill him before he can do that.”

“Bloody hell. Are you insane?” Elika gaped at her.

“Maybe. But it has to be done. The wards are going to be attacked, when that happens, you bring them down and then we’re all getting out of here, got it?”

She had to turn away from the doubt she saw on Elika’s face. She already doubted herself enough for the both of them.

***

Thor stood, looking out at the distance lights of the compound where Lucy was being held. “I will come for you, my mate.”

He’d stepped away from the others for a bit of quiet. He needed to calm himself. Being apart from his mate, not knowing whether she was well, it was eating at him, eroding his control. He took a deep breath in then let it out slowly. He needed to keep himself calm. Grounded.

For Lucy.

The ground under his feet suddenly shook and he hastily stepped back in shock as the ground literally opened and a small head popped out.

“What the stars?” What kind of animal was this?

It chirped at him and he shook his head. He could almost swear it was trying to speak to him. The being shook its head then jumped entirely from the hole. Short, it’s head didn’t even reach his knee. It was covered in short, brown fur and stood on four legs with claws and a long, pointed nose.

Then suddenly the air shimmered and in front of him stood a naked male. Short and rounded with dark brown skin, the male studied him closely as Thor just gaped at him.

“Who you?” the male asked in a husky voice, using Standard.

Thor opened and closed his mouth. A shape-shifter? But like no shape-shifter he had ever met. His voice sounded harsh, as though he seldom spoke.

“I am Thor. Who are you?”

The male bent over at the waist. “I am Dunar. I Lazarun.”

“Lazarun? I thought all of you were wiped out.”

Lucy seemed to think that all the natives had been killed by Husan’s people.

“Few of us. Survive.” The male studied him, his nose twitching as he sniffed. “You here?”

Thor struggled to gather his thoughts. Should he tell this strange creature? He could be a spy.

“Are you an ally of Mortef?” he asked.

The little creature spat on the ground and said something so fast Thor couldn’t understand him. But he did understand the fury on the creature’s face.

“My mate is being held by Husan Mortef. I am here to rescue her.” In less than two hours they planned on attacking the compound with fire bombs. According to what Lucy knew, the fire would deflect off the wards, which would alert the witch they were here and to take them down.

Danur turned to look at the compound. “He powerful. Evil. Difficult.”

“I know. But I must get her back.”

“You kill Husan?”

“Yes,” Thor said firmly.

The small male grinned and Thor was taken aback by his sharp pointed teeth.

“Good. We help.”