The club reminded Maddie of what clubs looked like on Earth. Even though she had never been to a real club, she had watched enough TV and movies to get a good idea. The music was blaring with a strange beat, and everyone trickled onto the dance floor.
Maddie started moving her legs and feet to the rhythm of the music, and before she knew it, she was engrossed in it. Her legs were kicking out at odd angles, and if her friend Tynia hadn’t ducked, she would have been hit in the head with Maddie’s shoe as it accidently flew off her foot.
Maddie started spinning around wildly, and her arms turned into weapons. Since leaving Earth, she had become incredibly fast and strong. With her arms flailing around, she was a danger to all those around her. Several people came into contact with them and dropped like flies. Still, Maddie danced on, oblivious to everyone’s pain and injuries.
When the music came to a blessed end, Maddie became aware of the fact that she was the only one left on the dance floor. Several people were holding ice bags to their heads, and one person appeared to be suffering from a broken arm.
“What in the world is happening here?” Maddie asked Tynia.
“I would suggest Maddie that when you dance again, you give everyone fair warning,” Tynia responded.
Maddie snorted, “Yeah, I know I’m a really terrible dancer.”
“I was not referring to that. I was referring to how dangerous you are when you throw yourself around. I nearly got hit in the head with your shoe… of all things. It flew at me with shocking speed. I am still surprised I was able to duck quickly enough. Everyone you see with an injury sustained them because of your dancing.” Tynia was not pleased.
“Ohmygosh! I did not intend for that to happen. I haven’t danced in so long, I was not aware that I was dangerous.”
Two huge men approached Maddie and informed her that she would have to leave; the other customers were not comfortable with her in the club. Maddie couldn’t believe everyone’s reaction, but then again, she hadn’t seen herself dance. She left the club and wandered down the street toward her quarters. She was actually having a good time until she got booted out. That tickled her too: her first time to a club, and she gets kicked out! Oh, the irony of it all! She would have to call Sharra tonight and tell her about this one!
When she made it back to her quarters, she had the idea of tapping into the Guardians’ security in order to access the video links of the club. After watching the way she had tornadoed herself around the dance floor, she was surprised there weren’t more injuries. She looked like the Tasmanian devil… with no rhythm. No wonder they waited for her to stop before they ousted her from the place! Just for kicks and giggles, she decided to send a copy of the video to Sharra, knowing how much she would love it.
In the middle of the night, her transcom lit up her quarters and six holographs appeared. Sharra had shared her video with Xarrid, Rykerian, Therron, Tesslar, and Saylan. They were rolling in the floor in hysterics, and Maddie joined in. After thirty minutes of sharing barbs, they all signed off, and Maddie fell into the best sleep she had in months.
Chapter 2
It had been three months since Maddie’s graduation. Rayn was still flustered and hurt over the way she withheld things from him. He knew he could never care for anyone the way he cared for her, but he couldn’t allow himself to trust her anymore.
His family had relentlessly hounded him. He understood why. They loved Maddie. Sometimes he thought they loved her more than they loved him. He could understand that too. She was special—the kind of person you only meet once in a lifetime. Rayn knew good and well that he would never find anyone like her, and he would spend the rest of his life knowing that. Right now, however, he could not go forward in a relationship with her.
Rayn had tried his best to make her understand Vesturion males and their ways, and she simply disregarded everything he said. He couldn’t help his possessiveness where she was concerned. He was genetically coded to be that way. Apparently, she neither cared nor wanted to care.
If Rayn were honest with himself, it hadn’t surprised him when he found out that Maddie had become a Guardian. In fact, he was supremely proud of her. It was quite a difficult accomplishment… even for a born and bred Vesturion. Maddie was neither. She was a born and bred Earthling. True, she had strong Vesturion blood running deeply through her veins and derived much strength from it, but in order to become a Guardian, she had to learn more than the other trainees. For her to graduate first in her class was a testament to not only her intelligence, but also to her diligence and her willingness to work extremely hard. She was so brave. But… that did not excuse the way she withheld information from him. This wasn’t the first time, and if his guess were right, it wouldn’t be the last. He just didn’t know if he could live with that.
One thing that weighed heavy on his mind though was his last view of Maddie when he walked away from her. He had been unnecessarily cruel with his use of Command. The pained expression on her face was as clear as a bell to him. It sickened him when he thought about it. He had unsuccessfully tried to push it to the back of his mind, but her pained expression, when he saw the light die in her eyes, was unforgettable. He vowed he would never do that to a loved one again.
Maddie had been so excited about her graduation and awards. She had certainly a lot to be proud of. Her eyes had danced and glowed with joy, and he had so efficiently and succinctly shut her down. When that light in her eyes died, Rayn nearly died as well.
How could he have done such a thing… and then walked away and left her standing there in pain? If Xarrid hadn’t called out to him, she would have remained under his Command for hours. What would that have done to her? Bloody hell, he was horribly ashamed of himself.
Rayn pushed himself harder, trying to escape from his own demons. It wasn’t Maddie he was running from. It was himself, but he couldn’t admit that yet. What was wrong with him? This bonding thing was driving him to distraction. His men were worn out from his incessant and unreasonable orders. He would not let anyone take it easy for more than the required eight hours. He was punishing them all for his errors.
Rayn worked sixteen or more hours per day. He drove himself to the extreme in his workouts, lifting weights and running daily for hours at a time. He would sleep when he could no longer keep his eyes open, but usually, it was only for a few hours.
His brothers finally voiced their complaints to Rowan after they had, in turn, received many grievances from other Guardians serving under Rayn. Between Maddie’s depression and Rayn’s behavior, Rowan and Annalise had their hands full.
Rowan finally called Rayn back to Vesturon, sat him down, and told him he needed to straighten up his act or he would be permanently pulled from his leadership position. That finally woke Rayn up.
He took several days off to regroup, and then, he headed back to Earth. Once there, he pulled all his leaders together, apologized, and established a new set of rules for himself—no more self-imposed punishment and no more punishment for his officers.
********
The war was not getting any better. The Xanthians were the most difficult group Rayn had ever dealt with. Untrustworthy, scheming, and ridiculously mean, it seemed the Vesturions could not make any headway in settling the disputes that kept rising. With mounting frustrations, Rayn called together his top leaders at the compound to discuss what, if any, options they had in furthering their cause to end this war. If they could convince the Xanthians that raiding and usurping other planets’ resources was not in their best interests, maybe it would work. The Xanthians, however, felt their backs were against the proverbial wall as they had plowed through their own resources, and soon, they would be out of the very things that kept them alive. A desperate Xanthian was a dangerous opponent to be sure.
It was one month later when the Guardians discovered a secret base the Xanthians had established on one of Jupiter’s moons. Their intentions were to intercept communications sent between Earth and Vesturon, because they had th
eir eyes set on invading Earth and taking over the planet.
The Guardians had been expecting something like this. Earth was vulnerable, and the Guardians were in a precarious position for they had to keep their presence unknown to the Earthlings. They also had to keep the presence of the Xanthians unknown. They were guarding all air space around Earth, and they had put into place the highest levels of protection.
Rayn was angry with himself for not being more aware of what was occurring in the Milky Way Galaxy. He had been so preoccupied with his self-pity that he had let the Xanthians slip in and set up that secret base. There was no telling how much information they had gleaned and how much of the Vesturion’s security had been breached. Rayn came up with a plan to go to their base and set off a shock blaster—an exploding device that would release a huge magnetic wave, disrupting and destroying all detection equipment used for intercepting communications but not causing great harm to the inhabitants there.
Rykerian tried to talk him out of his plan. He argued that Rayn should not go alone and unescorted and that it was too dangerous. Rayn insisted it was his duty because if he had been more diligent in the first place, the Xanthians would never have gotten away with establishing the base to begin with. They argued back and forth for several days until finally, Rykerian relented. Rayn was to move in and out as quickly as he could. He would take several robopilots, and his ship would be modified for the worst-case scenario.
Rykerian begged Rayn to allow him to stand by with a small convoy far enough away for the Xanthians to be unaware of, but Rayn adamantly refused.
Rykerian truly never expected the worst to happen, but unfortunately for Rayn, it did.
Chapter 3
“Maddie, we need you on Vesturon as soon as you can get here,” Sharra requested.
Maddie had returned to her quarters after a tedious day, and she was about to take a leisurely shower when her transcom lit up and Sharra’s holographic image appeared.
“Hey, Sharra! I’ve been thinking of you, thinking about how we needed to plan a visit together. What’s going on that you need me on Vesturon?” Maddie asked.
“I will explain as soon as you get here—but hurry, please.”
Maddie was puzzled over Sharra’s request. She took a quick shower and arranged to be teleported to Vesturon. Since she was so far away, teleporting such a great distance required the use of a much larger device than her shadar. She made her way to the gateway, and minutes later, she materialized in front of the entrance to the palace.
The door opened and the guard said, “Welcome home, my lady. The Yarristers are expecting you. They await you in the common room.”
Maddie thanked him as she made her way upstairs to their living quarters.
As soon as she entered the room, she felt the air crackling with emotions. Something was terribly wrong.
“Don’t sugar coat anything. You must tell me immediately what is going on. I sense your emotions and they are not good,” she insisted as she marched into the room.
Rowan approached her and said, “Rayn has been taken by the Xanthians.”
Maddie felt the room spinning and dropped to her knees, placing her head between them. She forced herself to take deep breaths, willing herself to remain calm. After several moments, she lifted her head to see herself surrounded by Rowan, Sharra, Xarrid, and Therron.
Her mind reached out at once to all of them, and the whirl of anguished thoughts tore the breath from her once again. Her throat suddenly felt like she had swallowed a load of sawdust. She closed her eyes again, but Rayn’s beautiful face was the only image that appeared. Months ago, she had stopped trying to communicate with him telepathically. She had gotten his message, loud and clear. He did not want anything to do with her. With her eyes squeezed tightly shut, she sought him out once again, only to come up with a blank slate.
They all stared at her, knowing the torment she was experiencing. They felt her thoughts reach out to him but receive no response.
Sharra spoke first. “You will not reach him Maddie. He is being blocked somehow and we think it may be from his prison cell. We have all tried to reach him with not even a hint of a reply.”
She looked up again and then muttered, “I need to know it all. What happened? And don’t even think of holding anything back!”
Xarrid was the one who started first. He explained how Rayn had discovered a band of Xanthians that had set up a base on one of Jupiter’s moons. They were using it to intercept communications coming in from deep space between the Guardians on Earth and other Vesturions. The Guardians hadn’t known about it, but they knew something was amiss because every surveillance mission they had attempted kept getting thwarted by Xanthians. The Xanthians had destroyed 10 Star Fighters and their pilots. When Rayn finally figured out how the Xanthians were discovering the Guardians missions and plans, he knew he would have to figure out a way to flush them out and destroy their means of continuing the sabotage.
Therron took over from here. “Rykerian tried to talk him out of this scheme he concocted, but he has been driving everyone like a mad man recently. Maddie, you must know he is miserable without you.”
Maddie tried to interrupt, but Therron held up his hand halting her. “I know he would not communicate with you and has said, over and over I might add, that he wants nothing to do with you, but the fact remains that he loves you deeply. You are his true amashan. His behavior has been erratic, to say the least. He works endless hours, drives himself and his men to exhaustion, and eats only when his body requires it. As a matter of fact Maddie, his behavior is exactly like yours from what I have been told.”
She raised her eyebrow at him, intending to contradict him, but again, he stopped her.
“Don’t even try to deny it. Look at yourself, would you? The evidence is right in front of you, but that is not the issue at present. The issue is Rayn’s capture.”
“Yes, it is. Can we please stay on topic here?” Sharra asked.
“I agree,” said Xarrid. “So, to continue, Rayn took it upon himself to flush out this base of Xanthians by going to Jupiter and firing a shock blaster from a Star Fighter. He swore it would be an in and out operation. We tried to talk him out of it, but he said it was his lack of due diligence that prevented him from stopping them from setting up the base in the first place. Therefore, he would not let anyone else take the mission. We said he needed backup and a contingency plan in case something went wrong, but he convinced himself that it was foolproof and wouldn’t hear of it. And the rest, as you say, is history. A convoy of Xanthians was heading to the base on Jupiter and captured Rayn through their tracking device. He is now being held prisoner on Xanthus, and all of our negotiations have failed.”
“When did this happen? How long ago?
The Yarristers looked at each other guiltily, and there was a significant amount of throat clearing.
“I asked when?” through gritted teeth Maddie forcefully demanded to know.
“Over six weeks ago,” Rowan answered.
For the second time that day, Maddie fell to her knees. Staring at the floor, she asked in a deadly calm steel-laced whisper, “You waited six weeks before telling me? What in bloody hell were you thinking?!” her voice had become louder with every word.
“Maddie, do you understand what all this means?” Rowan asked.
“Other than torture and possibly death?!” she asked sarcastically, nearly screaming by now.
“That is one thing, but there are other ramifications. They have his ship.”
“I don’t give a bloody damn about his bloody ship!” she said through clenched jaws.
“Hear me out Maddie. Precautions are always taken when a Guardian is sent on a mission, such as massive encoding, stripping all unnecessary information from the ship, and so forth. Nevertheless, his ship contained large amounts of high priority information regarding security on Earth. If they haven’t uncovered his identity yet, they soon will. He will only be able to withstand their tactics for so long,
until, eventually, he will break. Earth is now vulnerable to attack,” Rowan explained.
Maddie covered her ears with her hands and screamed, “Stop! Say no more! Right now, my only concern is for Rayn. I could give a bloody damn about Earth’s security!” Her breath was coming in short and rapid gasps.
Maddie couldn’t think straight. Her imagination was running wild with visions of Rayn being tortured. She couldn’t bear the thought of it.
“We must get him out! I’ll arrange for an envoy of ambassadors to go, and I’ll accompany them.”
“Maddie, that has already been attempted. The Xanthians have refused us an audience. They say Rayn violated their space, and they had every right to capture him and his ship.”
“Then, we must break him out. We cannot leave him there. Can’t we get his location and teleport him out?”
Rowan shook his head and explained how they had checked into every possibility, and nothing seemed viable. According to their intelligence, he was being held in a high level secured cell on Xanthus. Escape was impossible.
“What method of security are they employing?” Maddie demanded to know.
“His cell is equipped with a weighted method of fortification. The way it works is that Rayn’s weight, coupled with his DNA is programmed into his cell. If his weight leaves the floor for longer than 2 seconds, his cell is vaporized. The same applies to his DNA. If, at any time, the scanners cannot detect his DNA within the cell, the cell is vaporized. So, if we storm the prison and try to pull Rayn out, then whoever is in the cell at the time will be vaporized,” Xarrid explained. “We cannot get him unless the security is deactivated.”
It sounded like a no-win scenario. Xarrid detailed everything they had tried to entertain using with no success. The end results in all cases were vaporization.
“What about an exchange? A trade? Do we have any Xanthians we can trade in return for Rayn?” she wanted to know.
“They were not interested in that,” Sharra added.
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