****
Callie did as he said, but she couldn’t stop the scream in time when she heard one of the windows break. The doors were both steel covered with wood, but he had plain old glass in all the windows. The interior doors were solid wood, so she knew the lock wouldn’t keep whoever was in the house out of this room for long.
She wedged herself under the desk and tried to stay calm, but that was like trying not to breathe. Callie closed her eyes and pictured Jakara’s face, willing him to somehow reach her in time. When this was over and she was back in his arms, she was going to tell him she loved him. It was time he knew that. She knew he’d whispered it to her more than once when he thought she was asleep, and she’d always held back from telling him the same thing out of fear. But no more.
There was nothing to fear from him. And now, she might lose him forever. What if whoever had come here knew he was hiding her, and they hurt him because of it? She’d never see him again, and she’d never have the chance to tell him how she felt.
Callie forced her breathing to slow down, and she fought to control another scream rising up in her as she listened to two pairs of heavy boots stomping around the house. The sound of cupboards and doors opening and closing reached her ears. She couldn’t understand their words, but one of the voices was the same one she’d heard weeks ago, arguing with Jakara.
Walton…
He’d been right about Walton. And now she had no way to warn him because she didn’t dare risk contacting him again.
****
Jakara approached Voyeur Moon as fast as he dared to fly. Callie had contacted him nearly twenty minutes ago. There was no way she could stay hidden in the house that long. It wasn’t large enough. Even if she’d locked herself in the communications room, an axe would soon make short work of the door.
He could barely operate the controls. His fingers shook, and his palms were damp with sweat. No battle he’d ever fought in had rendered him this helpless or afraid. The fear he used to feel as a youth when he was first learning to fight and defend himself was nothing like this. This tore at his soul and made him want to weep. He could hardly breathe. He had to reach her in time. He had to. If they took her somewhere he’d never find her.
The idea of not seeing her sweet face ever again or holding her in his arms forced a frustrated cry from him. He’d kill anyone who hurt her, but he’d never get that chance if he arrived too late and couldn’t see who had taken her. They’d never tell him, and any attempts to find out would land him in prison or worse.
His worst nightmare was coming true, and he was powerless to stop it. And she’d never know he loved her. He should have told her when she was awake. He’d inadvertently sent her to a horrible fate. And now she would go without knowing she was the one he wanted to spend his life with, not merely for sex, but because he loved her with his entire being.
****
Callie cried out in pain as the two men reached under the desk and yanked her out by one arm. “Ouch! Don’t hurt me! Let me stand up.”
“Be quiet, girl.” The man she didn’t know slapped her across the face, and Callie saw stars. She put a hand up to her face, blinking through her tears. Her heart pounded, and she’d never been so afraid in her life. “Who are you?”
They were speaking English so they must know she was from Earth, but should she tell them her real name?
He slapped her again, and she cried out, trying to pull her arm from his grasp.
“I asked you a question, and I will not ask it again.”
“Callie,” she whispered. “Callie O’Doyle.”
He and Walton exchanged a startled look. They hadn’t known Jakara was hiding her. Oh dear God. What have I just done?
“From Earth?”
His tone of voice was sarcastic, further confusing her. Had they already known who she was, or had they only suspected Jakara was hiding someone? She nodded her answer because she couldn’t seem to find her voice.
“How long have you been here?” asked Walton, his voice tight and angry.
“I’m not sure.” That wasn’t entirely a lie.
“Who brought you here?”
She was afraid to lie. If the other man hit her again she might pass out from the pain, and then she’d have no control over the situation. “Jakara.”
The men exchanged a knowing look this time, and then the one whose name she didn’t know wrenched her arm again. “Playtime is over, Callie O’Doyle. It’s time to take you back where you belong.”
No!
She tried to grab the door jamb with her free hand when he pulled her through, but all that did was earn her a cut on her arm from the wood splinters.
The man holding her jerked her arm once more, sending sharp pain down it. She would have fallen if he wasn’t holding her upright. He eyed Walton. “Maybe we should have a bit of fun before we take her over to the compound?”
Hot bile rose up in her throat. Oh God please no…
Walton gave her a wary look. “She likely contacted him. He’s on his way back.”
“Good point. Let’s get her out of here.”
Callie scanned the sky as they dragged her outside, but Jakara’s craft was nowhere in sight. She dug in her heels as they pulled her toward a large craft, but then the man picked her up and flung her over his shoulder like she was a sack of potatoes. Both men laughed, and Callie gave up. There was nothing she could do now. A few more steps and they’d be inside the spaceship, and then Jakara wouldn’t be able to find her. She had no way to tell him where she was.
She was too numb to cry when they put her inside a cage and slammed the door shut. She curled up against the bars and hugged her knees, watching them at the controls. Maybe she could stall for time? “I have to use the bathroom.”
“Go in your cage,” said the man, his voice bored and indifferent.
“May I please have some water?”
“No,” said Walton. “You’ll be given food and water at the holding cells, and a place to wash up and take care of your needs. It’s not a long ride.” He turned and smirked. “But then, you already know that, don’t you?”
“What?”
He shook his head and returned to the controls while she tried to think back to that first night. It now seemed years ago rather than mere weeks. No one else had seen them, had they? Not that she remembered. When Jakara had sneaked her outdoors, there had been no one around.
But the holding cells were right here, on Voyeur Moon. Had they been seen on the roof, looking through Jakara’s telescope? Or had they assumed Jakara had told her about the compound? Either way, this man had betrayed Jakara and wouldn’t care what happened to her now.
As the spacecraft began to ascend, Callie dug her nails into her palms so she wouldn’t scream. She prayed that Jakara was close enough to see this, and would know whose ship it was and where they were taking her. She willed it. She pictured his face, and cried out his name over and over in her mind.
He would find her. He had to. She couldn’t lose him now. Not after everything they’d shared.
****
Jakara stood in his front yard, holding the copy of Brave New World he’d found on the chair. She must have been reading it when the drone flew overhead. She’d told him it was in the yard, which meant she didn’t realize that what she’d seen land was the larger craft. He knew what kind of a ship it was by the marks from the landing pads and the blast pattern, but it was nothing more than a guess that it had taken her across the planet to the compound.
How was he going to get into the holding cells without being seen? It wasn’t possible. They’d be watching for him. They’d torn his house apart before taking her, so they either guessed by now she was an Earthling, or they’d forced her to tell them who she was and where she was from. Every time he pictured them hurting her or worse, his stomach contracted in hot fear.
Lesha had come to the house with several men she said could be trusted, and they were in the process of fixing his broken window and ruined interior doors. But he di
dn’t give a shit about his meager possessions right now. He only wanted to find Callie.
“You have no choice,” said Lesha. Jakara startled at the sound of her voice. He hadn’t heard her approach. “You have to contact him. No one else will help you.” She was right. He had no one else to turn to. He couldn’t go to Logan, and as soon as he landed near the compound he’d likely be apprehended. If that happened, there was no chance of finding or saving Callie.
It was time to contact Eldon once more and ask for help, but he’d never asked him for anything this monumental. But he had no choice. He needed a Regum to help him save the woman he loved.
Chapter Eleven
Jakara took the long way around to Sera so it was less likely he’d be tracked by Logan or anyone else watching. It took over an hour to land, and way too long to go through the security checks before he was allowed off the landing pad. He tried not to think about what might be happening to Callie, but it was impossible not to.
When they finally decided he wasn’t there to murder one of the Regum, they escorted him under armed guard to the palace where Eldon and his family lived. Jakara knew how they lived, and he’d been inside their homes before, but coming face-to-face with the ridiculous display of wealth after so long made his stomach turn. Most of the Regum lived as if there was an endless supply of money and resources, and yet wouldn’t allow him and his kind to enjoy basic comforts.
What the hell was he doing here? Eldon would turn him away at this request. Working behind the scenes was one thing, but would he actually help Jakara save an Earth woman? The fact that Eldon was his only hope had made him fearful and paranoid, and Jakara didn’t like it.
Eldon left him waiting in a drawing room for ten minutes. Jakara paced the entire time, knowing that if this failed he’d have to risk it and fly to the compound. He couldn’t leave her there. His own life wasn’t worth anything without her, and he’d be damned if he’d simply place her in their hands without a fight.
The door finally opened, and Eldon greeted him like he always had. As an old friend he was happy to see. Jakara did his best to return the greeting, but he was ready to jump out of his skin.
Eldon glanced at his face, and then frowned. “What you have come to tell me is of great importance to you.”
Jakara took a deep breath. “I’m in love, and she’s in danger. A person I thought could be trusted has taken her, and my Section Chief will likely throw me in prison or kill me if I try to rescue her. I have no one else to turn to.”
Eldon raised his brows. “You’d better start from the beginning.”
After Jakara told him the story, Eldon nodded slowly. “This situation grows more precarious each day. You know I share your views on this, my friend. I don’t agree with treating the Earth women like animals or nothing more than sex slaves. Does the girl know your views on this?”
“Yes. That isn’t how I’ve treated Callie. Not even at first.”
“And does she love you, as well?”
Jakara ran his fingers through his hair. This was taking too damn long! “I don’t know. I know she cares for me. And right now she must be frightened beyond her limits.”
“I’m sure she is. I find it fascinating that you risked so much to hide her.”
“What I did was foolish but I cannot change that now, and I would make the same choices again. I know that much. Please, I need your help.”
“You come to me for help, and yet you realize you disobeyed a direct order in taking her for your own, and in hiding her.”
He swallowed hard. There was nothing to say in response to that. Eldon was right. This had been a mistake. A mistake that had cost him valuable time.
“Our ancient laws, while useful at one time, have become outdated. They are far too restrictive. If they weren’t…” Eldon smiled and waved his hand toward Jakara. “If they were less severe, there would be no need for uprisings and battles, would there?”
Jakara forced a neutral expression to his face. This wasn’t the time to talk politics. “I suppose not.”
“The ancient laws do not take into account the true love that can occur between a man and a woman.”
Jakara dared to allow hope to build at those words. “Yes. That’s what I have with her. I do not want other women. I only want her. I’m willing to have no other girl for the rest of my life.”
Eldon stared at him as he might examine an unusual insect on the ground. “Fascinating. I never thought I would see this emotion in anyone, but especially not in you. If I help you, what will you do then? For you know if you take her back, you cannot return to your command. You will never fly those types of missions again. They will look for you. And if they find you, they will kill you both.”
“I know that.”
“Then you and I must reach an accord, for I would take great risk as well to help you.”
Jakara took a deep breath, and then he bowed. “Whatever you ask of me, my old friend, I will gladly do.” Better to lose his position and be in debt to a Regum for the rest of his life than to hand over Callie to a fate that would likely kill her, and destroy his very soul in the process.
****
Callie was led to a room with stone walls and a stone floor. She was cold and terrified. Her mouth was dry, and her entire body ached from being cramped in the cage during the flight, even though it couldn’t have been that long. A stern-faced woman pointed toward a toilet, and Callie used it, not caring that the woman was three feet from her. When she finished, the woman handed her a cake of rough soap and pointed toward a shower stall with no curtain or covering of any kind.
She did a cursory wash, not giving a shit what she smelled like, and then the woman handed her a towel and a thin cotton shift to put on. She gave her sandals that were similar to flip-flops, and then she motioned for Callie to follow her.
Callie didn’t understand why she was unshackled until the woman opened a metal door and ushered her through. There was no need to shackle her because there was no place to go. The corridor was lit with bright bulbs that hurt her eyes, and it was lined with more stone. The door at the end seemed miles away, and she didn’t want to know what was behind it.
She wanted to be back in Jakara’s house, playing cards with him and listening to him tell her about the battles he’d fought and the missions he’d flown. She wanted to hold him and feel him inside her again. She ached for the taste of his kisses, and the sound of his voice, deep, sexy, and commanding.
They’d almost reached the door when the radio on the woman’s jacket sprang to life, startling Callie. The woman held out a metal baton and stopped just short of touching Callie’s arm. “Move, and I’ll use this on you.”
She had no intention of testing the woman’s words. Callie listened to her speak in the same language that Walton and the other man had used while they were searching Jakara’s house, and then the woman narrowed her eyes at Callie. She nodded a few times, said more things into the radio, and then Callie was led back toward the same door through which they came.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Be quiet.”
The woman led her to another part of the building, and Callie couldn’t help wondering if her parents and sisters had gone through something similar. She took several deep breaths as they walked so she wouldn’t start crying again at their memory. How could they be dead? So much had happened to her in the last eight months that she was no longer sure what was real, and what wasn’t.
The only things she was certain of were the way it felt to be in Jakara’s arms, and the look in his eyes when he made love to her. Would she ever touch him again, or look into those dark eyes? Just once … just long enough to tell him she loved him, too.
****
Jakara felt like a blood traitor standing in one of the rooms reserved for clients to look over the girls brought from the holding cells. This was where men waited to hand-pick the women they wanted to use until they grew tired of them, or until they sent them back here, broken and terrified t
o be touched. He had no place here.
But Eldon had explained that this was the only way to avoid all-out war. He had the power to come here and demand Callie’s release, but it would start a chain reaction that would end only in bloodshed. This was more risky, but in the long run would do the least damage.
Callie wouldn’t know Eldon, even without the ridiculous hood, and she wouldn’t recognize him until he was able to remove his. She’d be so frightened, but fortunately it would only be for a short time. And then he’d spend the rest of his life making this up to her.
His pulse raced as they heard footfalls. This had to work. A sour-looking woman dressed in green fatigues brought in close to a dozen Earth women, and Jakara recoiled at the way they were dressed. Their hair hadn’t been combed, and it was obvious they were frightened out of their minds.
This was the fate he’d condemn her to if this plan failed. He and Eldon exchanged a glance. None of these women were Callie. What if they didn’t bring her? How would he or Eldon ask for her specifically without tipping their hand?
Finally, the door opened again, and a second female guard brought her in. As soon as she saw them she tried to back away, shaking her head. It was all Jakara could do not to run toward her and put his arms around her. The woman yelled at her to behave and stand still. Jakara made fists with his hands, pinning his arms to his sides.
Eldon caught his eye and then glanced toward the ceiling. Jakara followed his gaze, spotting the camera. He made a show out of moving next to each of the women, pretending to look them over, but inside he was screaming. It was important to keep up the ruse, but Callie looked as though she would faint any second now. His heart nearly burst from pain.
He grabbed her arm, dying inside at her frightened moan. Her body stiffened, and then her eyelids fluttered and her breathing became rapid. If he hadn’t held her up she’d have fallen.
He glanced toward Eldon. “This one.”
Eldon nodded, and the others were herded out of the room. He and Eldon took Callie out of the building. She barely resisted them, and Jakara knew she must be in shock. They had to get her someplace where he could reveal himself to her so she’d know she was safe.
Kidnapped by a Warrior Page 8
