Taken by Surprise

by Anna Argent

  It wasn’t until she heard that crunch right outside the truck that she realized it wasn’t part of the battle—it was coming for her.

  Panic stole her breath and narrowed her field of vision. Outside in the snow were clear footprints leading right for her from the van parked several yards away.

  A second later, her door was ripped open and the form of a Raide came into clear focus, shimmering out of thin air.

  Part of her mind was so busy figuring out how that was possible that she didn’t react before he grabbed hold of her.

  She felt herself being pulled toward him, toward that painful gaze he used as a weapon. The urge to keep her eyes open so she could see to defend herself was nearly overwhelming, but she knew what waited for her if she looked at him: invasive, searing pain.

  Zoe scrunched her eyes shut and grabbed the angular edge of her box of weapons. She slammed it into what she guessed was the side of the enemy’s head. The grunt of pain she heard in response was more satisfying than a peace-loving woman had a right to feel, but she was too busy pulling her arm back for another blow to worry about her pacifist side.

  If the asshole was going to hurt her and her friends, she was going to hurt him right back. Hard.

  Before she could land the next blow, a bony hand gripped her wrist tight enough to make her drop the box.

  That had been her father’s box. It was filled with his creations as well as hers. It was precious, and because of that, her instincts were to open her eyes and see where it landed.

  That was the most painful mistake she could have made.

  Before she had a chance to look away, Krotian caught her gaze and held it.

  Zoe screamed.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Talan heard Zoe’s scream of pain. Everything in him seized up in fear. He recovered in a heartbeat, but the pause had been long enough to open him up to attack.

  The Cytur he’d been fighting slashed out with one of its chitinous legs. He saw the blow coming right for his neck—saw the exact trajectory it would take. There was nothing he could do to stop it, nothing he could do to get out of the way without throwing himself into range of several other Cyturs.

  As his options blazed through his mind, the only thing he could think of was living through this fight so he could get to Zoe and save her.

  The bright glowing tip of Radek’s maulst whooshed through Talan’s field of vision in a blue blur. An instant later, the Cytur’s leg was severed and flew off into the snow.

  It let out a series of furious clicks that passed for a scream and fell back.

  Radek followed up the creature’s retreat and finished it off with a brutal slash of his weapon. “Pull your shit together, man.”

  Talan didn’t waste breath apologizing. Instead he gave in to his fury over Zoe’s pain and fed that into a handful of sheengs. He let them fly into the mass of enemies. The power fueling them was hot and crisp, and every one of them sailed with an extra burst of speed.

  Three more of the Raide’s war beasts fell where they stood.

  “I got the rest,” Radek said as he waded through the corpses toward the last enemies standing. “Go after the girl.”

  Talan hoped his friend’s confidence was not misplaced, because if it was, he was abandoning the man to way too many enemy combatants.

  Still, Zoe had to come first. Her survival could mean everything to turning the tide of the war.

  Deep down he knew there was more to it than that, but there was no time to deal with frivolous emotions right now.

  He had a Raide to kill.

  As he cleared the combat area, he saw Krotian holding her by the throat, his grip right next to the previous wound he’d inflicted. Her gaze was fixed on his face, ensnared. A series of ragged, choking screams broke from her mouth, cut short by the Raide’s tight grip.

  As before, he was dressed in his combat suit, which made him impervious to any projectile weapon Talan could send his way. But right now, this wasn’t about killing him—at least not yet. Talan needed to get him to look away from Zoe and release her from the pain.

  He charged toward his enemy, head down, intent on physically knocking him to the ground. The Raide were frail, and if Talan got his hands on Krotian, the asshole wouldn’t last long.

  A bellow of rage exploded from Talan as he flew over the snowy ground. Krotian must have heard the danger speeding his way over the sounds of combat, because he looked up, releasing Zoe’s gaze.

  She slumped inside of his grip, flopping around as he shoved her between himself and Talan’s attack.

  He was only a few feet away when he had to slow down or bowl right into to her. At the last second, Krotian flung her toward Talan.

  He held out his arms as he calculated her path. The second he made contact with her flesh, he wrapped her inside of his embrace, and spun to the side to put the truck between her and the enemy.

  It took only a second to ease her to the ground, but that was long enough for Krotian to activate the invisibility function on his suit and disappear.

  Footsteps appeared in the snow not far from where Talan had last seen him. He slid a vial of liquid fire from his vest and aimed for what he determined was the widest spot of the Raide’s back.

  The vial followed the trajectory he set in on perfectly, and burst on impact, spewing out liquid that instantly turned to flame.

  The combat suit Krotian wore sparked and hissed as it struggled to protect him. The heat was simply too much for the armor to withstand, and a few seconds later, Krotian’s form flickered into sight. A wide, scorched spot marred the armor.

  He didn’t seem to realize that he was on fire until the heat reached his skin. His scream of pain sounded like victory bells to Talan’s ears. He made sure Zoe was in a safe spot, then raced around the truck to finish off his enemy.

  Krotian fell to the ground, writhing around in an effort to put out the flames. It wouldn’t take long for the snow to do the job, but it was more than long enough for Talan to take him out for good.

  He was halfway to his enemy when he saw a flutter of motion from the corner of his eye.

  One of the Cyturs had broken free of the melee and was headed right for Zoe. The insectoid creature moved at a dizzying speed. Talan saw its path glowing bright in his mind and instantly he knew he wasn’t going to have time to kill Krotian and get back to Zoe before that creature reached her.

  Before the question of what to do even entered Talan’s mind, he was already changing course to get back to Zoe.

  As he ran, he pulled a pair of sheengs from his vest. He fed power into them in the time it took him to set his aim, then let them fly. Each of them followed the course he’d set, trailing along a path his mind had already seen.

  The first weapon hit one of the Cytur’s legs, slowing it for a second. The second sheeng used the hesitation of the creature and the opening that injured leg had created to slice all the way to the thing’s center.

  As the sheeng cut through its eye and into its brain, it came to a fumbling stop, tripping over itself as it fell into a pile of blood and spindly black legs.

  Bloody snow was cast into the air. The creature kept clicking as it died, but the sound slowed and became faint.

  Talan glanced Zoe’s way to make sure she was safe once again. She was. Satisfied that no more enemies were approaching, he turned to finish his job with the Raide.

  Krotian was already gone. There was a trail of sooty footprints leading into the woods, indicating where he’d fled.

  Talan briefly considered following. The urge to go after his enemy and finish him off was nearly impossible to resist.

  And then he thought of Zoe. She was still suffering from the effects of the Raide’s gaze—helpless to defend herself if another enemy came for her.

  Radek had nearly cleaned up the remaining enemies, with only one more to go, but there were no guarantees that more wouldn’t arrive—that more weren’t lurking in the woods nearby. If Talan went off on a Raide chase now, he was
risking Zoe’s life.

  That he would not do.

  With one more glance in the direction Krotian had gone, Talan gave a resigned sigh and turned away to go back to Zoe.

  She sat slumped in the snow, staring off into space. Her breathing was fast, her skin was pale, and her whole body was shaking.

  He placed himself in her line of sight and put a gentle yet confident smile on his face. “Everything is fine now, Zoe. Krotian is gone. He can’t hurt you anymore.”

  Her focus moved from distant to zeroing in on his eyes. As soon as that connection was made, she seemed to come back into her body.

  Her neck was red from where that bastard had grabbed her. The liquid skin was still holding, but there was a good chance she’d wear bruises from this encounter.

  He had to get her home. Soon. There was too much risk here.

  If not for the data sphere, he would have simply sent her through the next window. But that sphere was vital. Their entire planet was depending on him finding it. And he couldn’t do it without her. Only she could solve her father’s riddle.

  Talan stroked her hair in slow, soothing sweeps of his hand. “Are you hurt?”

  She nodded.

  “Where?”

  She closed her eyes and swallowed. “He was in my head, tearing it apart. I don’t know what the hell he was looking for, but he nearly killed me to find it.”

  “What did he find?” asked Talan.

  “He knows we have half of the sphere. He knows we’re looking for the other half.”

  “But he can’t know where it is. We don’t even know.”

  She licked her dry lips and shook her head. Her voice shook with fear. “He’s going to come back again.”

  “I won’t let him reach you.”

  Her brown eyes were huge, her pupils tiny with anxiety. “I felt his intent, Talan. I know what he’s going to do.”

  “What?”

  “He’s going to keep trying to get me—force me to find the other half for him.” She swallowed. “And if he can’t do that, then he’s going to wait until we find it and come after us then.”

  “There won’t be any time for that. Once we find it, you’ll be on your way to Loriah and out of his reach.”

  “You don’t know that. You can’t know that.”

  She was starting to spin out of control. He could tell by the way her voice was raising in pitch and her body was tightening in on itself. The fear was eating her up, and if that happened, her creative nature would be useless—hidden too deep inside her to reach. And he needed her mind clear and sharp to solve the riddle.

  He cupped her face in his hands and forced her to look him in the eye. “You will be safe on Loriah. We protect all of our Builders. You have to trust me on this.”

  “I don’t want to go. I don’t want to have any part of your war. I just want you all to go away and leave me alone.”

  “That’s not the way it works, honey. You’re smart. You know that. If you stay here—even if we kill Krotian—another of his kind will come for you.”

  Her gaze started to go distant again.

  Radek came up behind him, panting from combat. “Ease up on her, man.”

  “She’s from House Imon. This is none of your business.”

  “Really? Not my business?” Radek asked. “Then why am I splattered with Cytur blood?”

  Talan was screwing everything up—with Zoe, with Radek. He had to find a way to keep it all together long enough to complete the sphere and get her home.

  He stood and faced his friend. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. Of course I appreciate your help. I wouldn’t have been able to keep her safe without it. But we both know that it’s hard for some of the Taken we find here to face reality.”

  Radek nodded toward Zoe, who was still shaking and pale. “I realize that, but dude, you’ve got to work on your timing. Make nice now. Tough talk later, when she’s more stable.”

  He was right. Zoe was in no condition to deal with the thought of more danger when her pulse hadn’t even slowed from the last encounter.

  He crouched in front of her again. “Don’t worry, honey. I’m going to make sure you stay safe. No more staring contests with Krotian, okay? Let’s get in the truck and go someplace safe.”

  It took a few seconds, but she finally looked at him like she’d just noticed he was there. “Safe?”

  He helped her to her feet and steadied her while she climbed into the spacious back seat of the truck. He followed right behind her, leaving Radek to deal with the corpses.

  Talan cradled Zoe’s body against his, stroking her hair. He kept offering her words of comfort and confidence. He wasn’t sure if she bought his line of bullshit or not, but she seemed stronger by the second, coming out of the daze she’d been in.

  He was asking too much of her—placing far too many demands on her slender shoulders. She wasn’t built for this kind of pressure. As a Builder, she was more suited for a calm, quiet life, not constant chaos and violence.

  It was a wonder she’d been able to figure out her father’s first riddle at all, considering what she’d been through. Solving another was asking too much.

  Still, he had no choice.

  He wanted to kick her father in the ass for making this search so difficult.

  Of course, there was no way her father could have known that she’d be working under such pressure. He probably hadn’t considered that the Raide would have already found her by the time she set out to find the sphere. Maybe he should have, but he hadn’t.

  It was typical Builder mentality to focus on one thing so intently that nothing else entered into the equation. He could hardly fault the man for being true to his nature.

  As that thought entered his mind, he realized what he needed to do to help Zoe. He had to get her away from all of this so she could relax, think. The riddle had to be her only concern right now. Not going home, not running from Cyturs or hiding from Krotian. Talan had to take away all the bad things for her so that she could let her mind fly.

  Besides, the idea of tucking her away from the world where only he could reach her held great appeal.

  Zoe pushed herself up, out of his embrace. “Is Krotian here?”

  Talan shook his head, trying to ignore the shame riding him. He should have found a way to kill the bastard. Instead, all he’d done was piss him off. Chances were he even had a second combat suit to replace the one that had been fried.

  “He’s gone, Zoe. You’re safe now.”

  Radek had finished cleaning up the dead bodies with a set of dissipation rods. All that was left now were scorch marks and melted snow.

  He slid in behind the steering wheel. “Where to?”

  “Out of town. Nearest campsite,” Talan said.

  “We’re going camping? What about the other half of the sphere?” Zoe asked.

  “What sphere?” asked Radek.

  As much as Talan trusted the other man with his life, it wasn’t his place to divulge the secrets of the Builders. “It’s none of your concern.”

  Radek grunted as he pulled onto clear blacktop road free of snow. “So we’re back to that, are we?”

  Zoe looked at him in confusion. “He’s not allowed to know?”

  “No one is,” Talan said.

  “Well, that’s just stupid. The more people we have helping us find the sphere, the better.”

  “It’s okay,” said Radek as he hit the highway with a throaty roar of the truck’s engine. “I have no interest in Imonite secrets. My only goal here is to get you back home so you can use that big brain of yours to kill the Raide.”

  “We’ll find what we’re looking for,” Talan said. “She won’t need your help unless I’m dead.”

  Zoe went stiff beside him. He swore he could feel her glare blasting the side of his face with furious intent. “Don’t you dare even think about dying.”

  “It’s not on the schedule, but you need to know what to do if things go bad. If I’m killed, it’s imperative
that you continue the mission with Radek’s help.”

  “You’re freaking her out, Talan,” Radek said. “I can feel her temperature dropping.”

  He was right. She’d gone pale, and had that far-off look she’d had when she’d nearly lost it back in the bank and again after Krotian had attacked her. Her hand was clenched so tight on his arm he was sure she’d leave bruises. Worse yet, she was going to damage her fingers—fingers she needed to make all the inventions in her head come to life.

  Talan gently pried her hand away and rubbed the delicate joints. “I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “We’re in this together.”

  She didn’t respond. He wasn’t even sure if she’d heard him.

  “Zoe?”

  She didn’t even blink. She was gone—retreated to some place inside her mind where things weren’t quite so bleak. He’d seen other Builders do the same thing before, but it had never bothered him like it did now.

  None of this would have happened if her father hadn’t gone to such great pains to hide the data sphere. Talan still couldn’t believe what the man had done, leaving behind puzzles, like this was some kind of game. He’d been sure that the sphere would be in the bank, but instead, there was only one half of what he needed. And another riddle to solve—one Zoe didn’t seem to understand.

  Anger pulsed beneath Talan’s skin. There was no way her father could have known that his games would put his daughter in danger, but it had. And that pissed off Talan until he was shaking with the need for violence.

  Beside him, Zoe sat squished between him and the door, pale and silent. She stared straight ahead, barely breathing.

  She was nearing her breaking point. He could see it in the lines of strain around her eyes, and the way she trembled more with each passing mile.

  She hadn’t gotten much sleep last night—just a few hours on the lumpy bed his lap had offered. He should have laid her down and let her sleep in peace, but he hadn’t been able to let her get too far away. Still couldn’t.

  How the hell was he going to leave her on Loriah to come back here and do his duty? Leaving her alone—worlds away—to face a war seemed like an impossible thing to ask of himself.