Need Me

by Shelli Stevens

  Ryder stepped forward, gaze troubled. “We have been unable to locate Talia and Molly all day. They are not at the lodge or my house, and neither has answered their communication mobile.”

  Brendon frowned and glanced at Emmett. “Is this true? When did you last see Molly?”

  “This morning. Before we met earlier.” Emmett shook his head and glanced away. “She has been quite determined to see Nika released from your care. I fear she may be planning something and may have convinced Talia to help.”

  “That’s preposterous. Don’t they know I will not hurt her? I am trying to help her.” Brendon scowled and thrust his hands into the pockets of his trousers.

  “They are convinced she is being held against her will,” Emmett murmured. “As she should be. The woman is—”

  “Enough.” Brendon held up his hand and glanced around. “We must censor our words. There are ears everywhere.”

  Ryder nodded as they all began to move away from the building and off the base.

  “We will search for the women, but I am not too worried, for there is little they can do,” Brendan said slowly. “Nika is locked safely in my room and they do not have the code to enter.”

  “Not exactly true.” Ryder muttered. “Talia’s former servant and his lover might be involved now.”

  Brendon cast him a sharp glance. “I am not following you.”

  “This lover is a soldier and, if I recall right, has access to the codes for each housing unit.”

  “By the gods, I hope you jest.”

  “I wish he did.” Emmett sighed.

  Foreboding stirred his gut and Brendon drew in a slow breath, trying to push aside the unease.

  “Perhaps we should check upon Nika in my bed chamber,” Brendon muttered. “Sooner rather than later.”

  Arriving back at his room, Brendon let out a sigh of relief to find the door still shut and locked.

  He gave his friends what he hoped to be an encouraging glance as he typed in the code to open the door. In a moment they would all see that Nika was still safely imprisoned, though that still would not answer the question of where Talia and Molly were.

  A series of beeps sounded as the code was accepted and then the door hissed open.

  Brendon strode in briskly, his gaze scanning the room.

  It only took a moment to realize his friends’ fears had not been unfounded.

  His vision blurred as the realization sunk in. He clenched his hands into fists as the bitter taste of acid filled his mouth. “Gods. What have they done?”

  “I will throttle Molly for this,” Emmett seethed.

  “Talia is just as much the fool,” Ryder agreed, his shoulders so rigid with anger that Brendon knew his friend was barely restraining it. “To risk so much while pregnant with our child.”

  “They cannot have left so long ago,” Brendon said, shaking his head and pacing the room. “I came back and lunched with Nika. There was no indication that she had plans to escape. No signs that—”

  He stilled, trailing off and stared at the door to the bathing chamber. Something had sounded in there. Like a wounded animal or such. The door was closed and yet a light shined from beneath.

  “What is it?” Emmett asked, stepping toward him.

  Brendon lifted a hand, indicating for silence as he approached the door. Another long groan sounded.

  “Is that even human?” Emmett muttered in alarm, following close behind.

  With one hand on his electro-mace, Brendon reached for the handle of the door to the bathing chamber.

  With a deft twist, he slid the door open—then froze. Ice slid through his blood at the sight before him.

  “Gods!” Ryder did not have the same stunned reaction as he thrust past Brendon to get to his lifeless wife.

  Emmett was right on his heels, reaching to help Molly, who was awake but groggy, to her feet.

  “What has happened?” Brendon rasped, stepping aside to let Ryder carry Talia to the bed.

  “She lives,” Ryder muttered. “Thank the gods, she lives.”

  Brendon could not convince his feet to move, to jump into action and help the women. His heart twisted with disgust at the realization of it all.

  Nika had done this to the women. Had betrayed and injured her friends to escape him and Belton.

  “Will you fetch a glass of water, Brendon?” Emmett called out, glancing away from Molly.

  Brendon gave a sharp nod and forced himself to stride to the refrigeration unit where the water was kept chilled. He filled a glass and hurried back to the bed, where everyone had gathered.

  Talia still appeared pale and entirely too still, but the rise and fall of her chest proved her to be alive. Molly reclined against a pillow, her gaze unfocused and diluted with pain.

  “Do you know where she went?” Brendon asked, his voice harsher than he’d intended.

  Molly gave a small shake of her head and her eyes filled with tears. “I haven’t the faintest. I was attacked first.”

  Gods. Denial and disbelief raged through him. That he could have again been duped by her. He almost refused to believe it. It just didn’t make sense.

  “Talia might have learned more than I,” Molly added after a moment. “For I am certain I heard him speak with her before I lost consciousness.”

  “Him?” Ryder asked sharply.

  Brendon blinked, trying to comprehend the shift in the conversation. Him?

  “There was a man here?” Brendon asked slowly. “You mean that Nika likely had an accomplice?”

  “An accomplice? No, whatever do you mean?” Molly pressed her hand to the back of her head and winced, obviously still in a great amount of pain. “Nika was not involved in the attack. He took her. I’m quite certain of it. She was his target.”

  “Who took her?” Emmett and Brendon asked at the same time.

  Molly’s lips parted in surprise. “I thought you knew. It was the blood drinker. The bounty hunter.”

  * * * *

  “I wish you would not insist on going alone,” Emmett muttered, pacing the room as Brendon packed.

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “Why not let me come?”

  “Because you are not on this retrieval mission. I am. My superiors have approved me to fetch back the thief.” Brendon shut his case and ignored the tightening in his stomach.

  Emmett shook his head and grunted with displeasure. “It’s suicide.”

  Quite possibly. But he couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t try and bring her back.

  And if he somehow did manage to retrieve her, that alone created another problem. He would need to discover a way to keep Nika from being convicted. But telling his superiors that he had a lead that the thief was on Multron was the only way he could get the time away from the compound.

  What he had not mentioned was that the man who had kidnapped her was a bounty hunter seeking the reward for turning her over.

  There was a knock on the door to his chamber and he glanced at Emmett.

  “Would you mind seeing who that might be?”

  Emmett sighed and walked to the door. A moment later Ryder strode in, his mouth set into a tight line.

  “How is she?” Brendon asked, straightening from the bag he knelt over.

  “She is awake and well,” Ryder replied briskly. “Though quite anxious about the fate of Nika.”

  “Yes. As am I.” Brendon pushed aside any disturbing possibilities of just what Nika’s fate might be right now.

  One puzzling fact was that the bounty hunter had not simply turned her in for the reward. Which only led Brendon to conclude he’d taken her back to his own planet. For what sinister purpose was still unknown, though the potential made him want to retch.

  “It would appear that Talia’s assistant and his lover did indeed help infiltrate your room.” Ryder shook his head and pressed a hand to the back of his head. “That woman will be the death of me, for the amount of trouble she gets herself into.”

  “Yes. Well, I am no
ne too thrilled with Molly, either,” Emmett began and grimaced. “She should have known better. Though when I tell her as much she nearly boxes my ears for daring to treat her as a child.”

  Brendon grunted in agreement, not about to argue with either of them as he carried his bags to the doorway.

  “Brendon, wait. I think now is the time we must intervene.” Ryder stepped into his path. “Before you do something foolish.”

  Brendon’s brows drew together in a scowl. “Whatever do you mean?”

  “He means that perhaps you should rethink this mission,” Emmett said softly, approaching him from the side. “You have no need for guilt any longer. If you let the bounty hunter turn her in, then it would not be on your conscience.”

  Drawing a slow breath, Brendon tried to control the slow burn of anger that fired in his gut at the other man’s suggestion.

  “That would only increase my guilt,” he finally said after a moment.

  “But why?” Ryder’s tone sharpened. “What is she to you—besides just another woman you’ve bedded? Wait, I can answer that. She is a thief. A woman who used her body to seduce you and steal from the military.”

  Brendon shook his head, fighting the urge to resort to his inner child and cover his ears to stop the onslaught of bitter words.

  “She betrayed you in one of the worst ways,” Emmett continued. “And still you would try and protect her? To save her?”

  “Yes.”

  Ryder’s brows rose and he shook his head, looking genuinely confused. “But why?”

  “Because I love her!” Brendon roared.

  His friends fell back, their mouths gaping in surprise, and—thankfully—their harsh words finally silenced.

  “Are we all not guilty of some form of transgression in life? Yes, perhaps it would have been better if I had not met Nika while she was in the midst of her offense. But it is only because of what she did that we were brought together,” he said firmly, convinced by his words more and more as he went. “So I ask you, my friends, would you turn your backs on the woman you love if the situation were reversed?”

  Ryder and Emmett continued to stare at him. Their gazes had grown less shocked or accusing, and were now more pensive and reluctant.

  “No, I would not,” Ryder finally admitted.

  Emmett shook his head. “Nor would I.”

  “Then please—do not judge me in what I must now do.”

  Ryder finally nodded. “If that is your true desire, then go. I would even accompany you if Talia were not so far along with her pregnancy.”

  “I would not let you even if she were not. Either of you.” Brendon gave them both a firm glance. “This is my cause. I will take it on alone.”

  “Are you quite sure I cannot—”

  “No.” Brendon cut off Emmett’s offer before he could finish. “If I get in over my head I will call for help, but until then farewell, my friends.”

  “Farewell,” Ryder murmured.

  Emmett sighed and shook his head. “And gods be with you.”

  * * * *

  It was so cold. That was the first thing Nika noticed before she opened her eyes. The next was the metallic smell of blood and the heavy sense of death in the air.

  Fear slid through her as she lay still, keeping her breathing steady. She could not alert him that she’d awoken. Even if her hands were not tied behind her back, she still wouldn’t have been able to move. Her entire body felt numb, immobile from whatever he’d used to poison her.

  Nika lifted her eyelids just a crack in her first effort to discover where she was—though she was already fairly certain who had taken her.

  The room was dark, with a faint glow of light in the corner. Shadows bounced off what looked to be a solid rock exterior. Was she in some form of a cave?

  “Are you hungry, Donika?”

  Her breath locked at his words. She hadn’t seen him, but he must be lingering somewhere nearby.

  She did not reply, simply waited for him to show himself. It did not take long.

  The blood drinker appeared in her line of vision, his pudgy, pale face smiling down at her.

  “I myself am famished. You know, I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced. My name is Leo, I am a blood drinker from the planet Multron—which is where we are now, I might add.” He laughed. “Anyway, I digress. So happy to see you are awake, my dear.”

  It was difficult to speak, but she forced herself to respond. “We are on Multron? Where? Your…lair?”

  His smile widened, but was anything but friendly. “Oh how unoriginal, Donika. I have a lovely apartment several miles from here. But I didn’t find it appropriate to bring you there. Besides, this place has a bit of charm about it, don’t you think?”

  Unease slid through her and she swallowed hard. “I don’t understand. Why not just turn me in for the reward money? That is what you wanted, is it not?”

  “It was.” He stroked a hand down his jaw as he paced in front of her. “Now, I am undecided.”

  Her blood chilled at his last words. If he did not turn her in, what could that possibly mean? The ideas floating around in her head didn’t bode well for her fate.

  His gaze slid over her in a way that could only be described as hungry. But it was a combination of hunger. A hunger of lust and then a hunger to maybe make her his next meal.

  Nausea swept through her and her pulse began to pound.

  “You know, I so very much wanted to bring your little friend as well. The plump blonde?” He licked his lips and sighed. “But I realized I would have my hands full with just one of you, let alone two. Perhaps I will return for her after I have finished with you.”

  Finished with you. Not turned her in for a reward, but finished with her. Gods…this was not looking good for her.

  “And I cannot help but wonder,” Leo went on, “if he will come for you.”

  “He?”

  “Your lover. I would enjoy the opportunity to kill him.”

  Her heart nearly stopped. Gods, as unappealing as facing her probable death on this dark planet was, having Brendon travel to rescue her was a worse image.

  “He will not. I mean nothing to him,” she bluffed with a forced calm.

  “I am not so certain. He enjoyed bedding you. But then…why would he not?” He knelt down beside her and ran a hand over her neck.

  Unable to move, she swallowed in disgust against the bile in her throat.

  “Who would not enjoy fucking a woman whose sole purpose in life was to give pleasure to men? Whose training ensured she could suck a cock as if her life depended on it.” His thumb pressed against the fast-beating pulse in her neck. “But then I suppose it did.”

  Through clenched teeth, she seethed, “Fuck you.”

  “Yes, you will. For I have decided that having the pleasure of a priceless Rosabelle at my command… and then ultimately enjoying her blood and death is worth far more than any monetary reward.”

  For the first time in her life, Nika felt the sharp stab of stark terror. Yes, she’d been forced to sleep with men in her past. But somehow she knew this would be so much worse. And then the horrific way he intended to kill her…

  “You’re even more beautiful,” he murmured, his face moving close to hers, “when you have fear in your eyes.”

  There was a rhythmic sound in the distance. At first Nika couldn’t place it, but then it sounded a bit like heels clicking against the stone floor.

  Irritation flickered in Leo’s eyes, before he suddenly released her, stepping back.

  Nika weakened with relief. Her heart thudded so loud she was certain it must be just as enticing as a dinner bell to him.

  “Leo,” a low husky voice of a woman rang out. “Did you bring her?”

  A woman rounded the corner and stepped into the cold room of the cavern.

  Another blood drinker? Nika wondered.

  She was rather on the short side, with pale skin and short black hair. Her eyes were rimmed in black and her mouth a color that was
almost a purple.

  The outfit she wore showed off more skin than it covered. Her breasts were pushed up beneath a tight black corset-type top and her skirt barely covered her buttocks.

  Her curious gaze landed on Nika as she crossed the floor to Leo.

  “Isn’t she pretty,” the woman purred, then slipped her arms round Leo’s waist. “Hello, my lover.”

  “Bernadette, my pet.” Leo nuzzled her neck while one hand slipped into her bodice to grab a breast. “Mmm, how I have missed this little body.”

  “It’s yours, my darling. To do whatever you wish. As you well know.” She ran her tongue over her lips as he fondled her breast. Her gaze never left Nika. “But I want her to play with us now.”

  Disgust raged through Nika and her mouth tightened. Her face was still the only part of her body she could move. Gods. If it weren’t so, she would’ve made an attempt to take the lives of both of them. But then…how did one kill a blood drinker? Wasn’t there some legend that they could not be killed? That they indeed lived forever?

  “Unfortunately, Donika is not able to participate in our play. Not just yet anyway,” Leo said thoughtfully. “She is still paralyzed from the injection I gave her.”

  Bernadette pouted, but slid her hand down to grasp Leo’s cock through his trousers. “I suppose we are to entertain ourselves for a bit, then.”

  Further repulsed, Nika closed her eyes, not wanting to see what was certain to happen next.

  “For the next few hours, yes. Is that a problem, my pet?”

  “Mmmm. No problem. But I want her to watch.”

  “Of course,” Leo agreed and then more sharply, “Open your eyes, Donika. Or I will make you wish that you did.”

  Grinding her teeth together, Nika reluctantly lifted her eyelids. This was not the battle to fight. Especially when it was literally impossible for her to do so.

  Leo’s expression turned smug at her obedience. She blurred her vision, not focusing on the hand he now moved beneath Bernadette’s skirt.

  They began their vulgar foreplay and coupling, but Nika had already disappeared mentally. She’d slipped back into that vacant, happy place in her mind she’d been so familiar with when she was a Rosabelle.