by E J Darling
“How do you not have access to Maeve’s files?” It nagged at him, the power he thought Vint had was getting less and less the more he knew. “You could have found her yourself. You shouldn’t have needed me. I assume that’s how you found me.”
Vint eyed him and leveled him with a snarl. “Maevelin does not have a slave file.”
“How could that be? Unless,” Teak rubbed his face with his hands and shook his head. “You didn’t.”
“I did. Several cycles ago.”
Teak smiled, but it was anger that filled him, not joy. “You fucking asshole.”
“The both of you can hate me later. Right now, I feel her life is more important than her status. Use the anger you have for me and direct it at Roth.” Vint’s knuckles clenched and turned even more white on his pale hand.
Teak looked out the other side of the transport. There was no way he could look at Vint. He’d played Maevelin her entire life and it ended up playing him.
“She hated me.” That fact still pained him, a sore spot that hadn’t been healed. “She couldn’t look at me because I had taken her entire future away from her. I made a vow to pay her slave debts, to pay you for her freedom.” The pain turned to anger, and it was all directed at Vint, despite his request to center it another direction. “I could have fucking died trying to pay for them, and you’re telling me she’d been free the entire time?”
“Yes.” The cold, level tone only heated him more. There was no emotion behind it. It was as if it didn’t register that he’d been a piece of shit. “I had my reasons. She was going to leave this place. To be free. She’d have credits to her name and me to still ensure her safety. I never wanted to keep her to myself. I wanted her to be free, Teakin.” Vint snapped his head around and leveled him with a glowing yellow glare. “But, right now, all I want is for her to be alive, and for you to shut the fuck up about shit you have no hand in.”
Teak was happy he was about to beat in the face of a fucking Tallek, because if he wasn’t, it would’ve been Vint’s blood on his hands. One day, he was sure he’d get past it, that he’d be able to digest what the master had done and be okay with it, but right now, Teak only saw red.
Thirty-Six
Maeve awoke to the hum of engines and the muffled sound of a busy docking port. She’d been in that exact place countless times, and didn’t need to open her eyes to tell she was on Trident.
If she pretended to still be asleep, maybe she could understand what the fuck was actually happening. All her memories were still intact, and she knew with great detail who hurt her. That wasn’t the confusion. It was the why he had that had her racking her brain. Her heart hurt that someone so close to her could do something like that. Betrayal for herself, for Zekekiel, laced up her spine. Did Zeke know his best friend in life had done something so terrible?
Feet shuffled by her and Maeve cracked her eyes open just enough to see Cookie walk by. She willed her hand with great effort to move out from where she lay on a bench, and Cookie spun on her.
“Oye, my dear! What is wrong? Are ye sick?”
Help me, is what she wanted to say, but Roth came into view with a kind hand on the cook’s shoulder.
“Cookie, dear. Leave her. She just isn’t feeling well.”
Cookie looked down with pity in her eyes. “When we get settled, dear, I’ll make you some soup.”
Roth patted her shoulder and gave her a genuine smile. “We’d all love that, Cookie. Thank you.” It was the authenticity that scared her more than the actions. There was no guilt, no shame behind his actions. It was terrifying and she wanted to choke on his words. Cookie needed to run far, far, away from there.
As luck would have it though, a black creature followed Cookie into the cargo bay. He nuzzled by Maeve’s still sluggish body, and she tried to speak to him, but Roth called him over. Not him, not her Säiph. Anything but that.
As Roth rubbed the head of her protector, he glanced over at Maeve. “I wouldn’t dream of leaving your beast here. I know you love him. In time, I hope you love me, too.”
“Fuck. You.” She was elated to just manage those two words.
“One step at a time, love.”
If she could spit right now, she would, right in his fucking face, but her body didn’t respond to anything. It was as if the drug he’d given her would only allow the smallest, most deliberate movements. Maeve hated him more.
In one quick motion, Roth tied a cord around Säiph’s neck and attached it to an exposed pipe. To her horror, Roth smiled at her and winked. “Wouldn’t want him to get an idea in his head with this next part.”
What next part? If she could say that, if she could do anything with her body at all, Roth would be lying in a pool of his own blood at her feet. But, of course, that was why she’d been drugged. He’d trained her himself and knew, if given the opportunity to fight for her life, she would do well.
Roth reached for her, and lifted her off the bench, cradling her nonresponsive body in his arms. Säiph went nuts behind him and she tried to call out for help from anyone, but her hope was vanishing before her eyes. Roth looked so different, had since they got back with Teak, and he seemed all but lost to her now. The noble Tallek, a father figure in some extent, was now nothing but a criminal and a kidnapper.
He carried her into the main part of the ship and down the corridor before depositing her on the floor of the bridge. If they took off, there was still hope that Zekekiel would find her. All she had to do was stay alive until then. Once Roth got them into the air and into space, there would be no way in hell she could get them back down to the ground. She’d be lost somewhere out there, and out there wasn’t safe for her to be alone.
Standing before the captain’s chair, Roth tapped away at the controls. The ship came to life, and the engines began to whirr and vibrate the floor. It was happening. They would leave the planet, leave Teak, and her entire life was beginning to feel less tangible by the second. Tears welled in her eyes as she felt the locking mechanisms detach from the dock and they began their free float.
Roth stepped toward her, his boots heavy on the floor. “It truly was too easy,” he whispered in her ear. She opened her eyes and saw him hovering just an inch above her. His lips crashed into hers, but she still couldn’t push him off. When he was done with the assault, he stood back up and sat himself proudly in the captain’s chair as the light of Ascena Pura began to fade. “Too easy.”
It only took a few seconds to leave the planet’s atmosphere and enter the deep blackness of space. It was too late now. When her body came back to her, there was nothing she could do to Roth and risk being trapped in space.
“Do you want to hear a story, my love?” Roth spoke eloquently from his chair where she knew he felt like a king. The only place in the world he could pretend to be better than Zekekiel.
With all her strength, Maeve found a voice. “No.”
Her fingers began to twitch without too much coaxing, and she could feel herself slowly coming back to life. Much good it would do her now that they were off the dock, and on there way to who the hell knew where. Her only hope was that Zekekiel could track her down, but she didn’t know how long that could take. Roth could do any number of things in that time.
“Well, I’ll tell it to you anyway. We have a long journey ahead of us.”
She wished she could ask where they were going, and though her body was beginning to respond at will, she hadn’t the heart to know her fate.
Roth began his story.
Within minutes, the giant gleaming beasts came into view at the docking ports.
Teak looked out into the two hundred yards or so to the one ship he knew by heart. Trident shone like polished silver in the morning glow of the light star. But something was happening, the cargo door was beginning to close. They were going to be too late.
Without a second thought, Teak leapt from the transport, leaving Vint with a curse on his lips. There was nothing he wouldn’t do to get Maeve back into his arms, and
he ignored the master’s calls.
He tucked his body, and rolled until he got to his feet, brushing off the pain of the fall. His feet moved faster than they ever had, and his legs carried him on the wind over roots and planking, all the way down to the dock. Bodies were a blur as he ran past them, his heart hammering in his chest. He couldn’t be late. He wouldn’t be late. She needed him and he would die without her.
Keeping his eyes fixed on the closing cargo door, it was nearly halfway up when Teak leapt into the air, his body felt weightless but controlled. He was tempered and agile where his body was concerned, and he dove into the cargo bay with near precision. He tucked again and rolled to his feet on the metal flooring of Trident.
He made it.
The door sealed shut behind him and he felt the engines whirr to life beneath his booted feet. It was pitch dark, but not silent. A whine came from his left and he instantly found the creature.
“It would seem Roth has made another critical error,” he told the beast. He invited the monster himself on that ship by bringing Säiph. A critical error indeed.
Teak flipped the lights and tapped into the ship's communications, finding what he wanted with ease. He linked the ship wide coms to Zeke’s portable pad, whatever happened in there, Vint deserved to know.
After he linked the ship, Teak went to work getting the cord off Säiph’s neck. The beast growled, but Teak knew it wasn’t directed at him. They seemed to share a common enemy today. The knot came undone and fell to the floor. “Go. Find her.”
“You’re a fucking monster.” Maeve had been subject to too much information in too short a time.
The things Roth admitted to doing made her skin crawl and her heart hurt for her master. There was too much betrayal, and Zeke would never know what had come of his Arlo. She was alive, as hard as it was to wrap her mind around, Zeke had a daughter and she was alive out there somewhere.
“I do what I must.” Roth’s favorite line. It was obvious now what that meant. He did what served him best.
“Is that what you tell yourself? That you’re doing what you must?” Her attitude and disgust hadn’t gone anywhere, and she praised herself for it. Finding a backbone was exactly what Zeke told her to do. He’d been right. The universe didn’t care about her, and she would do well to remember that fact.
“I loved Nami.”
“You loved and coveted your best friend’s wife. It wasn’t your place to take anything from Zekekiel.” It didn’t matter what her current thoughts on Zeke were, or that he’d swiped Teak out from under her nose without warning. He was good, mostly, but no one deserved what Roth had done. It was only now that she could finally understand why her master had always been distant, despite his caring nature. He didn’t want to get close to anyone. There had to have been fear inside him that it would all get taken away again.
Her body was sluggish, but it was coming back to her slowly, but she hadn’t let Roth know that yet. She would bide her time, until…
Feet padded down the corridor and broke her from her brooding. Säiph entered the bridge and immediately sniffed her out. He nuzzled her and spun quickly, baring his teeth to Roth.
“Look who slipped their leash.” Roth tried to soothe the beast, but Maeve doubted her protector was buying it.
“Not quite.” A deep steady voice said from beyond the bridge door. When Teak stepped into view, a blade between his fingers, Maeve’s breath caught in her chest. The man she loved was truly standing there, death and vengeance in his eyes.
“I told you, the next time you touched her, I would kill you.” Teak growled his words, but he didn’t seem phased like he should.
Standing to his feet, Roth tapped the controls before him, and the ship went into autopilot.
“You can’t kill me, slave. I’ve turned off every location device on the ship and inside her.” He inclined his head towards Maeve, but his eyes never left Teak. “You’ll be stuck out here in space until your precious master can find you. If he can find you.”
“Another misjudgment on your part today, Roth.” There was a sinister smile on Teak’s lips. “You’ve made quite a few.”
Teak flung the blade at Roth, just over his left shoulder. He reacted exactly as Teak knew he would, and he spun the opposite direction, kicking his leg out into the male’s chest. Roth was still on his feet, but he was breathless. The first blow was meant to hurt, to throw his opponent off kilter, and to give him the edge.
Roth came back with fists to Teak’s face, landing most of them. He was fast still even winded, but Teak had built the strength in his jaw fight after fight in the pits, with those that had no honor. The metallic taste in his mouth only furthered his bloodlust and he spit the black blood from his mouth with a smile. His eyes opened, his pupils dilated, and his mind saw more than his eyes did.
Säiph growled as the two fought in hand to hand, and crept too close to Maeve. Teak wouldn’t mind at all if the beast would just rip out Roth’s neck and end it all, but he wouldn’t. He was a protector, and not trained to kill with an attack, only to maim. Teak made a mental note to change that when this was over. To train the beast to protect his mate if ever he couldn’t.
Roth spun and attempted to land another blow to Teak’s face, but he dodged it, returning the move with a fist slamming into his opponents’ ribs. Roth fell to the floor with more breathless gasps. The male was good, but Teak was better. He knew it. Roth knew it. That’s why he needed to sneak her out under their noses. If he’d tried fighting Teak on that first journey home, when he was weak, tired, and hungry, maybe then the Tallek could have taken him. But not now.
Teak stood straight and rolled his shoulders, as Roth clutched his chest on the floor, spitting blood. “Why not just kill me when you had the chance?”
Roth chuckled, and dragged his feet beneath him to stand on weary legs. “When I realized you loved her, it became less about you and Zekekiel not living, and more about the hurt it would cause for the rest of your days. My best friend took everything when he stole Nami away from me. He planted that bastard child inside her and slapped me across the face with a daughter named Arlo. She should have been mine, both of them should have. I loved her.”
“Why take Maeve then?” He wondered what any of that had to do with him or her. Maeve was an innocent victim. His eyes darted to hers, something he hadn’t wanted to do until it was over. The last thing he needed was for Roth to catch him unaware. “She wasn’t even there.”
“Because.” Roth smiled, blood staining his teeth. “He thought he could try and replace what I took from him. His suffering was lessened by her mere presence.”
“Then you yourself fell in love with her?”
“Yes,” he hissed. “And, there is only one last thing I can do before you kill me.” Roth fell to the floor, rolling as he did.
Before Teak could react and stop him, the Tallek had the blade Teak had thrown just moments ago, and it was soaring through the air. He moved, but he knew he wasn’t fast enough. “If I can’t have her. Neither can you.”
“No!” Teak roared, trying to be faster than the blade that toppled end over end toward Maeve’s body.
A fraction of a second. That’s all it took for Roth to grab the blade and expel it from his hand with a killing blow.
The moment it left his fingers, something had reacted fast enough, but it wasn’t Teak. Säiph leapt from the floor where he’d guarded her from their fighting blows, and without one single selfish thought for himself, the creature caught the blade in his chest. He fell limp onto Maeve, and she fell back, unable to hold the extra weight. He heard her head slam into the metal floor, and she didn’t move.
“No!” Roth hissed. His attempt on her life was spent, and now Teak stood on the high ground once again.
His rage turned back to Roth. In two short strides, Teak stood before the male who sat on his knees, his hands gripping onto either side of his head.
“You failed. I will not.”
With one clean, quick mo
tion, Roth’s neck snapped, and his limp body fell against Teak’s legs before sliding to the floor.
Maeve moaned beneath Säiph, and Teak rushed to her side. Gently, he removed the heavy creature and thanked him for doing what he couldn’t. That brawny beast saved his mate's life and there was nothing he could do for him now but thank him over and over.
He pulled his mate into his arms, and held her gently against his chest. They were alive, both of them, and the threat was gone forever. “I have you, Mahla. I’m right here.” He whispered to her over and over until she slowly wrapped her arms around him. He held her there, her face hidden in his chest, until she was ready to face the world once again.
He’d be there for her.
Always.
Thirty-Seven
Maeve clutched the black hair of Säiph’s body as Teak brought Trident back into the docks. They had been silent the entire journey home, and she didn’t know if it made her better or worse.
There’d been too much death, too much destruction in the last few days, and all she wanted was to crawl into her bed and sleep for days wrapped up in Teak’s arms. He placed his hand on her shoulder from the captain’s chair. Teak looked like he belonged in that chair. He naturally exuded the confidence it took to claim captain, and damn did he look sexy as hell. If it weren’t for the circumstances, and the amount of blood everywhere, she’d demand he take her right there in that seat before they fully docked. She sat at his feet after he carried Säiph over for her to cling to and monitor. He was panting now, he felt hot to the touch, but there was hope as long as he was alive.
“You stay with me. You can’t leave me.” She demanded him to live his full life until the end. He deserved to die at the foot of her bed, his stomach full, and his hair gray, many cycles from now. She wouldn’t accept anything less than that. He’d saved her life, Teak had saved her, and both of them would be with her until the end of their days.
