Mated (The Sandaki Book 1) (22 page)

The elevator slowed, and the doors opened. She stepped back so he could get off, but he turned to her with something in his hand and everything went black.

Dev strapped on his boots and rose from the bed. He and Rakin had stayed in bed far longer than either of them had planned. And waking to find Laira gone had not put either man in a good mood. The note she’d left about her run made them both smile, and he wondered when she would return.

Rakin stepped out of the shower room. Dev admired his mate’s naked body. They really didn’t have anything truly pressing, so perhaps they should wait for Laira to return. He wanted them both again. Now.

Rakin looked over at him. “Our mate should be back soon.”

“I was just thinking the same thing. We should both claim her. Together.”

Before Rakin could reply, the COM chimed. Dev shook his head and accepted the call. “Go.”

“
Taj
Dev,” Kavich’s voice filled the room, “Zarak tells me that you pulled him from his duty with the
Taja
. Who is now assigned to her?”

“I gave no such order,” Dev said, looking over at Rakin.

“Neither did I,” Rakin said.

“Where did this order come from?” Dev demanded. “Who gave it in my name?”

“Zarak told me that Belleck ordered him to other duties since he was no longer needed,” Kavich said.

“Find him,” Rakin barked. “Search the ship. And find the
Taja
, immediately.”

Laira rolled onto her back and rubbed her head. She felt like shit. Slowly, she blinked to clear her vision. Damn, where was she? The place she found herself in was a total unknown and certainly didn’t give her comfort. Neither did her situation. Fuck. She tried to think back to the last thing she could remember. She and the girls had run, and she’d headed back to her room for a nap. But what?

Elevator. She’d gotten on the elevator and…Belleck. Belleck had been in there and had hit her with something. What an asshole! So great, she knew what, now, where was she? She looked around the space. She was on the floor, in some kind of cubby area. She scooted out to see where she was. The view didn’t comfort her since a large front window showed stars whizzing past. She obviously wasn’t on Rakin’s ship any longer.

She bent farther and saw the back of a man in a front seat. Belleck probably, she couldn’t be sure. Were other people in on this…whatever this was? Did Dev and Rakin know she was missing? Could they track her? Shit, there was so much she didn’t know. Maybe she should have asked more questions instead of falling in bed with them all the time. It had been so good. The way both of them had touched and kissed and… Fuck. Stay focused, she told herself.

She crawled back to her spot, sagged against the wall and closed her eyes. If he came back to check on her, she wanted him to think she was still out. She wasn’t sure why pretending to be unconscious was a good idea, but she’d seen it in a lot of movies. How could so many Hollywood movies be wrong? Now what? She didn’t want to lie here and wait for rescue. That was lame, and what if Rakin or Dev didn’t find her in time? She wasn’t sure what Belleck had planned for her. It couldn’t be good though.

Hold on, she thought, she could access the Sandaki systems. So could she do it from where she was? Only way to know was to try. She opened a channel in her mind and thought about Dev. For a long moment, nothing happened. Then a voice informed her that she was blocked from contacting him. What? What the hell? She tried Rakin next and got the same message. Fuckers, did they somehow block her calls? No, they wouldn’t, but someone had. Okay, so she couldn’t contact them, so who?

She smiled and though of her friend, Zarak.

“
Zarak.
”

“
Zarak, thank fuck
,” she said. “
This is Laira. You’re the only person I could contact. For some reason, I can’t reach Dev and Rakin. And jeez is this the strangest way to talk ever? I’m like in your head, and you’re in mine.
”

“Taja
, where are you?”

“
I got nothing for you. I think I’m on some kind of ship, I can’t see too much though. I think Belleck is the only one on here, I don’t know for sure.
”

“
I’m with both
Tajs.
They have tracked your signature and are coming for you.
”

“
Oh, okay.
” She had no clue what that meant. “
Awesome, dude. Oh, and in the future, if I tell you not to hang around, ignore me and hang anyway.
”

“
Of course,
Taja
.
”

“Are you awake?”

The voice outside her head jarred Laira from her internal conversation, and she opened her eyes to find Belleck standing over her. She didn’t know why the little weasel was doing all this. It certainly wasn’t going to get him anything good.

“I’m awake,” she said, looking up at him. “What’s the deal? Where am I? What have you done?”

“You are nothing but a slave. You are not worthy of a Sandaki warrior.”

“Thanks for your opinion. None of that tells me what’s going on.”

He growled and bared his fangs. Shit, when Dev did that, it totally turned her on. This guy, not so much. Shut your mouth, Laira. Wait for your moment. Don’t antagonize him.

“You are a slave. You are going to the person who rightfully purchased you. I do not know what you did to convince Dev that you’re his mate, but you’re not. Once you are gone, he will forget about you.”

Shit, this crazy guy was planning on taking her to Nahlas and dumping her. No worries, she told herself, Dev and Rakin would find her. She just needed to keep him talking, something else she learned from the movies. “Even if Dev forgets me, Rakin is still there.”

“You will not refer to him by his given name,” he roared at her. “He is the
Taj
to you and nothing more.” He paced away from her and came back. “Rakin will not be a problem. Then I will be
Taj
and rule beside Dev. I have stood beside him and done everything he has asked. There is no one more loyal, no one that cares more for him. I will lead the Sandaki people to glory. We are warriors. We deserve so much more than what we have.”

Batshit crazy was the only explanation for him. If she followed what he said, he was planning to kill Rakin then somehow Dev would magically like him, and the two of them would skip off together in a field of flowers and rule together. Sounded like something from a bad fairy tale. Was this guy for real?

“If it weren’t for Rakin, everything would be good. He had to go out to the outer edge of our space. He had to find the Silarin and rescue the slaves. If he would have stayed where he should have, then everything would be fine.”

“I’m sorry,” Laira said, trying to sound incredibly sincere.

Her words stopped him in mid rant, and he looked at her in puzzlement. “What?”

“I’m sorry things aren’t turning out right for you. I know what that’s like. It sucks when you want certain things in life, and for some reason you can’t have them.”

“Once I take you to Nahlas, things will get better,” he told her.

“How did the Silarin get the equipment they used to change us?” The question popped out before she even realized she was going to ask it. Maybe she was off base, but someone gave the Silarin the technology once used to create the Sandaki. To her thinking, it had to have been a Sandaki. There could be no one else who’d known about it.

He smiled. “You are smart. Figured it out, did you?” He nodded. “I found the early schematics the Makers left. In the beginning, they tried it on their own people. Did you know that? No, probably not. Most people don’t. They tried to remake themselves by tapping into their own DNA. It didn’t work. Or, at least, it didn’t work the way they wanted. They ended up with things they refused to talk about. That’s when they created the Sandaki, the perfect warriors.”

“So did you build the technology or just give the plans to the Silarin?”

He laughed. “They’re too stupid to build anything. They even have to buy their ships from somewhere else. Besides, if I build them, they have to keep coming back to me. If I give up the plans, I have no control.”

Laira nodded. “I understand.” She really didn’t, though. What the fuck was in this guy’s head to make him think making anything from the bad guys was a good idea?

A beeping noise from the front of the ship pulled his attention away from her. He whirled around and ran to the controls. “How? This can’t be possible?”

“What’s wrong?” Laira asked, pulling herself up off the floor. Whatever he’d hit her with hadn’t lasted, so she felt good. Well, as good as she could after being taken and dumped on a hard floor.

“A ship is approaching,” he said, tapping at his console. “It’s the
Drakon Scaal
. How? No one should have been able to find us.”

Laira moved up so she could see the screen he was staring at and didn’t see just one ship, but multiple ships. Multiple, giant, black, scary ships that bristled with all kinds of weapons. Her mates had come for her.

Belleck turned on her, a knife of some kind held in his hand. “They will not find you alive.”

“Don’t be a fool,” Laira said, watching him. “This ship will never outrun them, and killing me will get you nothing. Just give up, please.”

He laughed. “Oh yes, please beg me for your life, slave.”

“Fine, fucker, forget it. You do know once Dev and Rakin get here, they are going to tear you up. Right? You’ll never have Dev. You never had a chance with him. He doesn’t go for crazy assholes.”

Belleck screamed and rushed her. Laira ducked out of the way. As he passed her, she kicked him in the side of the knee. A popping sounded through the ship, and he went down hard on the deck.
Shit, the Tae Bo worked!
The knife in his hand slid away, and she scurried after it. She swiped it up off the floor and turned to face him as he staggered to his feet. She knew the knee wouldn’t hold him. She had to have, at the very least, dislocated, if not broken it. She hoped she’d broken it since the space was small, and he was big.

“I’ll kill you,” he roared at her.

“Don’t think so,” she said calmly. She’d been through too much to let some asshole kill her.

He tried to rush her, but between the blade and the fact that his leg wouldn’t hold him up, he couldn’t get close to her. He finally lunged at her and she kicked him in the face, snapping his head back. He staggered and fell to the floor as Dev, Rakin, Zarak, and Kavich appeared. Kavich immediately dropped beside the fallen man and pressed something into his neck. Belleck jerked for a brief moment, and his eyes rolled up in his head. Whatever Kavich had done to him, he wasn’t going to get back up.

Dev and Rakin rushed to her and enfolded her in their arms. She dropped the knife on the floor and wrapped her arms around them. “Fuck, I’m glad to see you two.”

“Are you hurt?” Dev asked.

“No, I’m fine. Can we just get out of here? I really want to go back to our cabin.”

“Of course,” Rakin said. “
Krich ta
.”

A moment later, they were in their rooms, and Laira was never so glad to be home. Home. Yep, that’s what this place was. Of course, anywhere her men were was home to her.

Laira slumped to the bed and closed her eyes. She knew she needed to get clean, but just wanted a moment to lie and relax. To gather her thoughts. To realize that she was so thankful everything had turned out okay, for a change.

“Laira, are you well?” Rakin asked.

She turned to look at him. “Yeah, I am. I’m going to go in and get clean though.”

“Shower, mate, and we will talk after.”

She nodded and did as he suggested. Laira wanted nothing more than to be clean and snuggle with her men. The whole event seemed as if it was a very bad dream, although that was probably the adrenaline. Once her body and mind calmed down, she’d freak out just a tiny bit. She deserved it.

She came out of the bathroom to find Rakin and Dev pacing around the room. They stopped when she entered and immediately came to her, surrounding her. Damn, she’d missed them. It may have only been a short amount of time, but the fear she might never see them again had briefly lodged in her mind. She hadn’t recognized it, though. She knew, no matter what, they would come for her. Every time.

They pulled her over to the bed so they could sit together with her between them. Laira held their hands, needing that link. She looked up at her men both watching her and sighed. She reached up and kissed Rakin then Dev. “I love you both,” she said. “You are in my heart and soul. You
are
my heart and soul.”

“
Talla
,” Rakin said softly as he kissed her again. “We aren’t complete without you. You have brought so much to our lives.”

“Gentleness, laughter,” Dev said as he kissed her hand. “Love. We feel your love for us. Rakin is correct. You make us whole.”

“Hold me tight, okay?” Laira requested.