Lindsey's Rescue: A World Beyond Book 3 (21 page)

She was very sane or the Singles Program wouldn’t have accepted her but that’s not what he wanted to hear. “You should calm down or your pressure will go up.”

Smiki came to an abrupt halt. “I don’t have pressure and if it’s some obscure Earth thing I don’t care. No more trips to bars for you. I have a reputation to uphold.”

Lindsey relaxed, since she didn’t exactly want to go to any more alien bars anyway. “Should we look at baby things?”

He stared overly long then growled and strode out the door.

Lindsey exhaled in relief then her gaze snagged on her naked wrist. Remorse seared her heart. The bracelet from Baruk for her birthday was gone. Probably from their mad dash. She pressed fingers to her nose and squeezed away the burn. After a moment, Lindsey swallowed passed the lump in her throat. It shouldn’t matter that she’d lost her last tangible connection to them.

But it did.  

***

Standing alone in the rank alley, Nevo fingered the thin jeweled bracelet. Costly. At least fifteen thousand. He hummed under his breath and decided it was better than turning the woman in. Something about the disillusion in her gaze when their eyes met in the bar had created a small crack in his usually hardened heart. Nevo didn’t need weaknesses like that.

***

Later that night, Smiki snuck to his pilot’s seat after Lindsey fell asleep in the medi-center bed and was finally able to make contact with the man who’d caused all his trouble.

“What do you want, Smiki?”

“You’ve been ignoring my calls. Do you have any idea how much running I’ve had to do lately?” Smiki burst out.

The blackened screen blocked the image on the other side. No matter what illegal program Smiki used, this man managed to beat his hacks and keep his identity a secret.

“No more than usual for you I’d guess.”

Smiki found himself grinding his teeth at the reply. “Listen. You need to take her back or something. She’s not even the Chosen of the Jutak Unit Leader! She belongs to some politicians on Garulax. I don’t need political trouble on top of my other trouble.”

The man on the other end of the call sighed. “I may have miscalculated.”

Smiki decided to use one of Lindsey’s phrases. “No, shit.”

“Are you actually growing a spine, Chamele?” The voice rasped. “Has the Earth woman pulled out this side of you? Perhaps, I should see what she’s worth on the market if a hardened criminal like you can develop feelings for her. These Earth women seem to have an amazing ability to pull forth strong emotions from men.”

His heart pounded against his chest. Smiki rubbed his damp palms together. “Look, I’m not talking about selling her.”

She had babies growing in her belly. Smiki swallowed back saliva. Even he wasn’t cruel enough to sell a breeding mother.

“Do what you will with her. She’s not who I thought and my interest has waned.”

“Wait! What?”

The red light on the screen scrolled across.
Call terminated
.

“Scummy, thieving, lying…” Smiki’s frustration kept him from thinking of other insults.

Lindsey poked her head in. “You okay? I keep hearing growling noises and it’s not my stomach this time.”

Smiki leaned his head back on his chair and thumped it twice for good measure on the head rest. She slept a lot but always in short spurts. “Please tell me you’re not hungry again.”

“Weelll,” she drawled out.

He sat up in disbelief and faced her. Lindsey rubbed the disgusting bulge on her middle. “Maybe a little hungry.”

Smiki clenched his fists and threw back his head as he yelled at the ceiling.

Lindsey laughed. “I love when you get silly.”

She danced back out the doorway, presumably to go to the kitchen in search of food. Smiki mumbled under his breath another of her phrases. “This is shitty.”

And as he said it, he realized that she was right. Sometimes shit-tisms did say it all.

***

Nikol pushed back the hood of his cloak, allowing the material to fall in folds about his shoulders as soon as the call ended. He’d made a mistake. Several, but so far none costly enough to jeopardize the only person in the world he loved.

As far as the Earth woman was concerned, Nikol didn’t worry. He’d heard the concern in the annoyed Chamele’s tone after Nikol suggested he sell her. The woman was in safe hands and no longer needed to be on his radar. She wasn’t who he thought and her future was out of his hands.

“Niko, are you here?”

Nikol cursed under his breath. “Yes, father.”

He turned to face the man who entered the room. A man he reviled more than any other being. Lothar glanced around the room as if searching for something to blame on Nikol. It wouldn’t be the first time but if nothing else through the years, Nikol had learned to be smarter and more cunning than the man responsible for his existence.

“Have you confirmed our latest shipment of
bliss
?”

Nikol slid the hand-held communicator that he’d used to speak with the Chamele, Smiki, into his pocket. “The shipment arrived on time as promised.”

The highly in demand drug was in the hands of space runners who would take the cases of powder and turn it to liquid form to be sold for a higher profit.

“For once I don’t doubt you.” Lothar’s thin lips curled up in a smile.

Aside from the evil glint in his brown eyes, his father still retained his handsome looks. Looks, Nikol had inherited. They both had shoulder-length black hair, dark eyes and deeply tanned skin. Even the curvature of their horns followed the same lines.

As full-blooded Marenian, their build favored broad shoulders and chest with pronounced muscles in their arms and legs. When enraged their muscles amped up, giving them added strength.

“I live to follow your lead, Father.” Nikol hoped his tone hid his sarcasm.

Lothar’s gaze narrowed. “As you should. Not as if I have another son to teach and your sisters are worthless.”

His sisters followed Marenian culture and were raised to be properly trained submissives to the men they’d one day marry. Lothar had plans to sell them to the highest bidder to gain prominence in their society. The only reason he’d waited this long was due to their Uncle the Majad and ruler of all Marenia.

Majad Goen had no children with his four wives and insisted his nieces be old enough to pledge to a man. They’d been old enough for a while. Each year Lothar petitioned to move forward with finding them a husband and each year his brother declined. Nikol was relieved every time. Thanks to his father, he wasn’t close to any of his younger siblings but he cared for their well-being and didn’t want them with husbands who wouldn’t treat them with kindness. Showing any sign of such weakness, however, would give Lothar leverage and Nikol had learned that lesson the hard way as a boy.

“Tell me this, Niko.”

He controlled his flinch at the shortened version of his name. He despised it, which Lothar very well knew. One of the few weaknesses Nikol had revealed long ago.

Nikol crossed his legs at the ankle and folded his arms. He added a bored drawl to his tone when he said, “What would you know now, father?”

“If I had not ordered your brother’s death, would you still spit in my face?”

It took every bit of training and practice to hide his thoughts and keep his muscles lax. Why now of all times did he wish to talk of this? “What does it matter? You wanted the child killed for being the son of a traitor.”

His
bruher
. An innocent baby but because Mirim had tried to flee Marenia with her son, Lothar ordered both their deaths.

Lothar grinned. “You’re right. I just wish I knew which one of my slaves in the
kitse
did the honors.”

His father’s harem was notorious for disposing of competition and any potential heirs. The night his
bruher
went missing, it was assumed that one of Lothar’s slaves in the
kitse
killed him and hid the body for fear of retaliation.   

“Again, does it matter?” Nikol held his breath, hoping his father wouldn’t pursue this line of questioning. It wasn’t often Lothar became nostalgic and talked about the son he’d named Harat but when he did, Nikol wanted to rip him apart.

Lothar drew closer and clamped a hand down on his shoulder. All humor vanished beneath the cruelty inherent in his nature. “For every day I question your loyalty, there are dozens more when I admire your ruthless heart.” His fingers squeezed tighter. “Now tell me what I wish to hear. Do you forgive me for your brother’s death?”

“Of course, Father.” Because his brother wasn’t dead. And as long as the Jutak Unit Leader lived, Nikol would say whatever his father wanted to hear over and over. “I forgive you.”

Chapter 32

Baruk entered Zadal’s office with a heavy heart. His spouse partner broke off mid-speech when their gazes met.

“I shall continue this later.” Zadal motioned to Welsin’s Triad wife.

In a move that surprised them all, Beline had expressed interest in working as Zadal’s second assistant for his personal affairs. While he still needed a first, the pleasant woman had lightened his load.

As soon as she left, Zadal ordered, “Tell me.”

The thickness in his throat made it almost impossible to get the words out. Baruk dropped into the chair opposite Zadal’s desk. Holding in his grief he said, “A body was found, burned beyond recognition. Early reports indicate it may be…Lindsey.”

Zadal didn’t bother to attempt to be unaffected. A flicker of pain flashed across his face and his eyes darkened with anguish. “Are they sure? How can we be sure?”

“She…the body…” Baruk stopped and took a deep breath. He could do this even as his heart protested the truth of the words he spoke. “The bracelet I gave her for her birthday was discovered on a body found in a wreckage. This woman was on the run, fleeing authorities and the craft she drove turned upside down then exploded on impact. Her body cleared the wreckage but sustained significant burns.”

Zadal ducked his head and with a voice gone heavy asked, “Has there been anything on Zumei?”

Baruk didn’t think Zadal would like this part any more than he did. “Grange and his officers found him with his throat slit in the outskirts of Teeve. It seems he received a tidy sum from Lindsey’s sale to a Marenian sex ring and chose to spend his
likos
around unsavory sorts.”

More than anything, knowing Zumei had not only paid to have someone take Lindsey but then profited from her sale angered Baruk to an extent he couldn’t quantify. If he could, he would pay any sum to kill the former first assistant himself.

“I want to see for myself.” Zadal braced his hands on his desk and stood. Determination glinted. “I
need
to see.”

“I’ve already requested the time from High Councilor Jakil. It’s been denied.”

Zadal cursed and shoved back his chair. “I don’t give a fuck what the High Councilor says! This is our wife.”

Baruk slouched in the seat and sighed. He’d used the very same argument but Jakil’s counter forced him to acquiesce. “A vote on the Nether region has been called. The rebel fraction has moved and the entire Senate panel has been recalled. We’ll be in meetings for the next several days.”

Zadal scrubbed a hand over his face. A snarl rose deep in his throat as he upended his desk. His chest rose and fell with each rapid inhalation. Baruk came to his feet albeit in a calmer manner.

“We can’t leave if it means civil unrest there—.”

“Then what do you suggest, Baruk?” Zadal cut in as he faced him. No one looking at him now would doubt the unleashed fury in Zadal’s gaze but beneath the anger welled pain, a direct match for what flowed through Baruk.

“I reached out to the Unit Leader of the Jutaks again.”

Zadal scoffed. “They have nothing. If up to them, we’d believe Lindsey spent half this time running around with a petty thief.”

“Torkel Alonson’s Chosen has a connection to Lindsey. They’re both from Earth and Faye Alonson is the one who swore she shared a cell with Lindsey.”

“Tell me the truth, Baruk. Do you believe…do you believe she’s dead?”

Baruk wished he could answer the plea in his spouse partner’s gaze. Gut churning, Baruk nodded slowly and licked his lips. “I think we have to accept her death as much as we don’t want to believe it.”

“I need to see her body if I’m to accept her loss.” Zadal’s voice cracked on the end.

Baruk crossed the space separating them and gripped Zadal’s forearm, his hold unrelenting. “I’ve explained our situation and Alonson has agreed to view the body. Once we receive confirmation, her death will be filed and the case closed.”

Zadal lowered his head and Baruk feared he wouldn’t say anything more. He dropped his hand from Zadal’s arm and stepped back when Zadal’s head suddenly jerked up. “You know what grieves me most? She probably died thinking this was my fault. That I paid someone to take her away from us.”

And knowing their gentle wife’s spirit, Lindsey would have been devastated by such news.

“Do you know what I grieve the most?” Baruk bared his own anguish. “We not only lost our wife but we lost the child she may have carried as well.”