But first, I had to take care of Thalia and the VSS supporters who had infiltrated our station, who were helping her.
“And what did she find?” He was in full commander mode now, his tablet out so he could take notes, send orders over the communications network. Take action.
“Liam is innocent.”
Dravon rolled his eyes. “Liam? Of course you would make that claim, big brother. But we all know he’ll be executed,” he said, walking over to sit across from our father.
I ground my teeth together as I stood between them, not wanting to get into an argument about that. There was a bigger issue. Thalia.
I took a deep breath, let it out.
“The true culprit has been discovered and identified. We have a full security feed of the traitor accessing the control panel and switching the security codes. And it wasn’t Liam.”
Acid churned in my stomach at what I was about to say. Thalia was my younger sister. Viken males were trained from birth to protect their female family members. I’d done that with Thalia, ensuring she was stationed near me so I could watch out for her, protect her, even though she was an adult.
Despite everything, she’d gone rogue, her actions turned from service to Viken to what? I couldn’t understand why she’d chosen to betray us. I knew she was upset that Rager agreed to share a bride, but her infatuation with him had been little more than a young girl’s crush.
My father would never forgive her. And while I chose Bella over my family, I was still a true Viken in my father’s eyes. But Thalia? When he learned the truth? He would take the blow hard.
“Did your little hacker actually get through the security? You’re sure she wasn’t tricking you? It would be in her self-interests to make sure Liam was found innocent,” Dravon said. While he made it sound derogatory, as if he was insulting her, I took it as a point of pride.
The corner of my mouth tipped up, remembering the flare of elation in her eyes, the way she almost vibrated with energy when she’d broken through the complex cyber defenses. I’d been so proud of her, so amazed that I’d fallen in love with her in that moment. But my joy had been like a bright flare, quickly extinguished when I saw the monitor, saw the traitor. The truth.
“She did.”
When he didn’t get the expected rise out of me, he slumped down in his chair.
My father was studying my expression, watching me closely. He knew me well, knew the worst was to come. “Well? You came to me for a reason. Tell me what you don’t want to say.”
The words were hard to speak. Words I never expected to utter. “I’m sorry, Father, but the traitor is Thalia.”
Father stood, took a step toward me, outrage on his face. Perhaps he remembered all of the very private facts Bella had pulled up on him after just a few seconds, or perhaps he realized that I would never come to him with something like this if I had a shred of doubt. I loved my sister. Traitor or not, I loved her still.
“You’re sure?” he asked.
As I nodded, Dravon stood. “You can’t believe him! Thalia wouldn’t do something like that. Stolen goods? Murder?”
“The monitors don’t lie.”
“No, but perhaps you do. Just how far would you go to save your friend Liam?” Dravon countered.
I glanced at my brother. People had thought we were twins when we were younger. We still looked much alike, but his unwavering beliefs hardened him. I recognized some of that in myself. It was a new discovery, brought about by Bella and her insightfulness. Somehow, over the course of one day, I’d softened around the edges. Yes, there was black-and-white, like seeing Thalia change the security codes for her VSS allies, but there was some gray, too. I had even let Bella take charge in bed.
I was going soft. But I still had to deal with my father. And Dravon.
“Thalia did it. You can put Liam before the hearing later, but the evidence will prove his innocence without doubt. And once that hearing is over, I will have to take a security team and arrest our sister.”
“I want to see this proof!” Dravon said. He was becoming angrier; the idea of his sister being guilty brought out his ire. But was his belligerence fueled by anger or pride? Was he more concerned with our sister, or with the inevitable blow this would cause to the family name once he returned to the city?
“We will all see it at the hearing,” Father said, his voice resigned, weaker than I’d ever heard it.
A beep came from my wrist unit, then Rager’s voice. “Evon.”
All of us looked to my wrist.
“Rager. I am with my family.”
“Is Thalia with you?” he asked. He sounded…off. Why was he asking after Thalia when he was in the suite with Bella?
“No. She’s not here. What’s wrong?”
“Thalia. She stunned me. I…I refused her and she went insane. I tried to calm her, but the last thing I remember was her telling me she would ensure we would always be together.”
I glanced at my father, then brother. Their eyes were wide, the truth coming not just from me, but from Rager, too.
“Are you hurt?”
“I was in the fucking shower when she hit me with current.” He sighed, the sound loud through the speaker. “Still am. The water, shit, it made the ion charge worse. I can barely move.”
“I’ll call for a med unit,” Dravon said, moving to the communicator on the wall. I stared at him for a moment, surprised he was so swift to help. He’d been so angry just a minute ago.
“Help is coming,” I told Rager. “Wait. Where’s Bella?”
“She’s with you.”
I stilled. “She’s not with me. I took her to the suite to stay with you. I saw her go in.”
“What?” Rager’s voice changed then. I heard him stumbling about. “She never came in. I was in the shower and Thalia came in, came on to me. She was fucking naked, Evon.”
I looked to my father, Dravon returning to our side. “The med team is on the way, Rager. And we all know my sister has wanted you for a long time.”
“Yes, I know,” Rager growled. “And I made it clear years ago the interest was not reciprocated. I have a mate now. I want Bella. Only Bella.” His voice sounded weak, gravelly, as if he fought to remain conscious. I heard voices and sighed in relief as I heard a medical team enter the room.
My father spoke up, addressing the commotion. “This is Commander Tyrell. What is Rager’s condition?”
“We’ve got him, Commander.” A matter-of-fact voice came through the line, a female medical officer whose voice I recognized. “He’s been stunned, but the ReGen readings are non-critical. He’ll be back on his feet in a couple hours. Maybe less.”
“Keep me informed.”
“Yes, sir.”
The communication went dead and I spun on my heel, heading for the door.
“Where do you think you’re going?” my father asked.
“I have to find Bella.” My mind was spinning, but the activity was welcome after the last hours of helpless waiting. I lifted my hand to the comm station in the wall. “Liam?”
In seconds, our system had tracked my friend. “Evon.” Liam’s voice sounded odd, restrained, as if we were strangers. Since we’d both had our cocks buried in our mate last night, and shared falling asleep in the same bed after, his cold demeanor startled me.
“What the fuck is going on, Liam? Where’s Bella?”
Long seconds ticked by as tension flooded my back and chest, wrapping me up like a fist squeezing my entire body. “Liam? Fuck. Talk to me. Thalia’s the traitor. I took Bella to our suite so I could meet with the commander, but Rager says he never saw her. Thalia offered herself to him in the shower, and when he refused her, she hit him with an ion pistol. She told him she was going to make sure they could be together forever. So, I’m going to ask you one more time, brother, where is our mate? Is she with you? Is she safe?”
Liam’s sigh spoke volumes. “No. I left her with Warden Vora.”
“What? Why was she at the testing center
?” Cold terror and pain washed through me, nearly making my knees buckle. I pressed my forehead to the wall as I waited for Liam’s answer.
“She requested a new match, Evon.”
No. No. No. No…I didn’t want to hear any more, but Liam continued, driving the stake deeper into my heart.
“She was convinced that you and Rager both betrayed us. She saw Rager with Thalia in the shower. After you refused to take her discovery to the panel immediately, she assumed you would do anything to protect Thalia, that you chose your sister over our family. She was hysterical.”
I slammed my hand against the wall. This was my fault. I should have been gentler. I should have explained. But I’d done what I always do, take command and expect everyone to trust me.
With my sweet Bella, I realized, I hadn’t yet earned that right. And now? Now, it might cost me everything.
I remained in place as my father called Warden Vora on his personal comm, but it was another who answered.
“Apologies, Commander, but Warden Vora is not here.”
“Where is he?”
“He’s been taken to medical. We are reviewing security footage now. He had a female in the processing center. A new bride. But she was taken hostage by the attacker.”
I was breathing hard, every molecule of air burning through me like acid.
“Where are they now?” I yelled from across the room. On the other end of my comm, Liam’s silence let me know that he, too, was listening.
“We don’t know, sir.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?” I demanded.
“The attacker was Lieutenant Thalia Tyrell. I’m sorry, sir.”
“Stop fucking apologizing and tell me where she took Bella!” I walked toward my father as if I could strangle the young officer on the other end of the comm. “Where did they go?”
“We tracked them to the northwest exit.”
“Fuck.” Liam’s shout came through loud and clear.
My father raised his hand, and since he was calmer than I was, I relented. “Pull up satellite tracking. We should be able to follow them across the tundra.”
“Already working on it, sir.”
My blood went from boil to steady simmer. Thalia had my mate out in the ice and snow. Why? What the hell was she going to do out there?
Nothing good. She’d already blasted Rager with an ion pistol, and she loved him to the point of obsession. I didn’t want to think about what she might do to my mate. The one person who truly stood between her and Rager.
I was at the door when Dravon dashed across the room, grabbed his ion blaster and thigh holster. “I’m going with you.”
I gave my brother a quick glance, not expecting anything from him, most of all support. “I’m going after Thalia. I will do anything to protect my mate. Anything,” I repeated.
He glanced at my father, then his blue eyes met mine. He lifted his chin. “I understand. I’ll be at central command looking at the satellite feeds and tracking data. I can guide you from there.”
I nodded as he lowered his head and started barking orders. I had no idea why he had a change of heart, but now wasn’t the time to figure it out.
“We have a hostage situation,” I said. “Assemble a team of elites. We need to be outside.”
Liam’s voice echoed to me through the room. “Northwest exit, Evon. I’ll meet you there.”
Chapter Thirteen
Rager, IQC, Personal Quarters
The med tech was waving the wand over me as I put on my clothes. I’d been stark naked when they’d found me in the shower as I talked with Evon. I had my balls hanging out for everyone to see and I didn’t care. My mind was muddled from the hard shock Thalia had given me. My body was back to working again, enough for me to connect via comms to Evon. But with each pass of the ReGen wand, my muscles began to work, my mind began to clear.
As soon as I was able, I pushed off the tiled floor of the wet shower and made my way, albeit stumbling, to the wall unit and some clothes. When the med tech objected, I gave her a steely stare. “Follow along or stay behind.”
I wasn’t used to speaking so harshly, but Bella was out there. Not out in the IQC, but outside. With Thalia, who was fucking insane.
She’d scared the shit out of me when she’d called to me. I’d been under the hot spray, stroking my cock and thinking about eating Bella’s pussy again when I heard her. I spun about, dick hard, and saw not the woman of my dreams, but Thalia. Naked.
She was gorgeous, all long limbs and perfect tits. But my cock had deflated at the sight of her. She wasn’t the woman I wanted, the woman my body craved. Her dirty words had done nothing for me. When I’d told her to leave, told her that Bella was the only woman I wanted, ever, Thalia went crazy. Where she had the fucking ion rifle stashed, I couldn’t remember, but the next thing I knew, I was all but sizzling on the shower floor as she loomed over me, hatred in her eyes. Her words chilled me, even under the hot spray.
“I’ll take care of everything, Rager. Then we can be together forever.”
She left me there, muscles in spasm, my spine and nervous system singed and struggling to function. Just what was she planning? How would she ensure we would be together, that nothing—no one—stood in the way?
That thought had me shoving my feet into my boots, grabbing my ion pistol and holster from the table. The med tech continued to follow me and wave the blue light over me. I felt better, hell, except for a headache, I was fine. Good enough.
“Enough.” I’d fought the Hive in worse shape. I didn’t give a shit about a damn headache, or any other injury. I was functional enough to walk, to go after my mate.
Grabbing the wand from her hands, I took a deep breath. “Thank you for your help. All of you.” I looked to the other two medical officers who’d come to my aid but now stood to the side. “But I need to go. Now.” I held up the wand. “I’ll take this with me.”
I didn’t wait around to chat, but stalked out of the suite.
“Evon,” I said, summoning him on my comms unit. I waved the damn blue wand over my torso and head as I walked because the hallway blurred a bit. “Location.”
“North exit. Liam just arrived as well. We’re here with Dravon.”
I turned left down a corridor to meet them. Dravon was with Evon? That seemed insane, but everything was insane right now. I would question it later.
“I’m two minutes out.”
“Too long,” Liam said. “Meet us outside. Thalia has Bella out on the south plateau.”
“My sister intends to kill our mate,” Evon said.
My anger, usually easily quelled, roared to life. My head pounded, but I set the wand to the side of my skull, left it there, let the blue light do its work as I walked. If Evon was saying this, it was serious. I knew how intense and driven his family was. How he’d tried to be like them, but went his own way. He fought it daily, even up until the judicial hearing. I’d had to punch Dravon in the face for him. I’d do it again. Hell, I’d punch Thalia in the face, or worse, if she so much as gave my mate frostbite.
“That will not happen,” I said. My voice was deep. Angry. So unlike me. I might be the patient one, but I had no patience in this moment, so I moved faster. Faster still. The deep rage, the berserker part of me, exploded from the depths of my soul with a silent roar. No one was going to take my mate from me. I’d tear Thalia’s arms off before I let her get away with this.
“My father is feeding us coordinates,” Evon added.
“I hear you, Rager,” the Commander said, his voice surprisingly helpful. For once. “I see you on the positioning system. At the next corridor, turn left. Yes, good. As my son said, I’ll guide you to them.”
I wasn’t sure if he was guiding me to Evon and Liam or to my mate and Thalia. Either way, I was going in the right direction. I healed myself as I ran toward the exit, I was going the right way. To my future. I just had to save it.
* * *
Bella
Shit, it was col
d. My eyes hurt from the glare, my cheeks stung from the wind, but I was overheated marching along with Thalia at a ridiculous pace. The snow was thigh deep in places and barely covered the hard, rocky terrain in others. But Thalia pushed me on, prodding me with the end of her pistol when I stumbled. Threatening the lives of my mates if I refused to cooperate.
Sweat dripped down my back. I was no world-class athlete, but fury fueled me. And the constant nudge of Thalia’s weapon in my back served as a nearly constant reminder of why I was mad. Why was she doing this? She and Rager were having their fun, playing their games. As much as it hurt me to admit, she’d already won.
“I was in the testing center requesting new mates,” I said. I hoped my voice carried on the wind toward her. I wasn’t going to look over my shoulder. I felt the damn weapon, I didn’t need to see it, too.
My feet were heavy, the walking hard as we crossed through the snow. It had been deep at first, near the main buildings, but the farther away we walked, it thinned out, became crusty as the terrain grew harsher. I wasn’t trudging through snowdrifts any longer, but we were hiking rugged boulders and winding ice chasms. The wind must constantly pummel the land, hardening the frozen moisture to a crust that scrunched beneath our boots where the soft powder was exposed.
“I don’t want Rager,” I added. “I know you love him. You can have him, Thalia.” That earned me a harsh nudge in my back. I winced.
“Liar,” she countered.
“You said you weren’t going to kill me. And you win. You can have him. I went to Warden Vora and requested to be reassigned, to have new mates. Just take me back. I’ll be gone before dinner.”
“You’ll be gone soon. Somewhere Rager will never find you.”
Her Viken Mates (Interstellar Brides Book 11) Page 13
