Rowe took in as much detail as possible as they slipped through the narrow crack provided by the partially open gate. Stepping into the large cavern beyond the gap, he saw that the warlords had come prepared. At least a dozen miners waited inside. Most were covered head-to-toe in fur and leathers.
“Why have you come ahead of the rest?” Warlord Sparx asked as he pushed back the hood of his cape.
Rowe stepped forward, ready to supply them with a reasonable answer. “We—”
“You know why,” Paine interrupted with a shrug, which elicited chatter of discussion amongst the miners.
Rowe closed his eyes in irritation. This was exactly why he wanted to be the one to speak. He had known that Paine was going to do or say something that would cause them grief. He opened his mouth to apologize when the other warlord held a hand up.
Matrix, Warlord of the City of Gunning, waited for silence, which was quick to come. Not as tall as Sparx, he still presented the visage of a leader. His shaved head with a wicked scar running the entire left side of his face gave off a formidably menacing impression.
“You’re here for Indigo.”
“Partly,” Rowe answered before Paine could respond. “We have other tasks to attend to as well.”
Paine snorted beside him.
As the miners glared at them, Rowe made a mental note to kick his ass when the next opportunity arose. He’d counted eighteen men, most of them larger than he and his partner, that seemed less than pleased with Paine and his snarky responses.
“Let me wish you good luck then,” Matrix offered.
At his words, the others chuckled. Soon, the cavern was filled with deep laughter with the sound echoing around them.
What was happening?
Rowe looked at his partner to see if he understood. Paine looked just as confused as he felt.
“Why?” Paine asked.
Sparx walked forward and laid a heavy hand on his shoulder in what Rowe assumed was supposed to be a friendly pat. “Because you will need it.”
That didn’t sound good.
“Come.” Matrix jerked his head away from the gate they’d just entered. “There’s a long walk ahead and I’m sure you have questions. You’ll be much more comfortable if you take off the suits and use one of our cloaks while you’re here.” When he nodded his head, a few of the men appeared at his side holding a pile of furs. “Go on, I’m sure you can find something that will fit you well enough to serve while you’re on Djaromir. A little time in the dining hall with the ovens firing will thaw you out.”
“Warlord Matrix,” Rowe began as he unbuckled the multiple straps keeping his suit sealed, “what did you mean when you wished us luck? Is there a problem with the brides? An issue we have not been made aware of—”
“Have more decided to stay?” Paine interrupted. He’d somehow managed to get out of his suit faster than Rowe and was already picking through the cloaks to find one that fit.
Sparx shook his head. “No, there are still only thirteen females that are staying.”
“So far,” Matrix said with a smile that put Rowe on edge.
“What does that mean?” Paine dropped the fur he was holding and picked back up his staff.
Rowe quickly stepped between the two men. Scooping up the forgotten coat, he pushed it into the other warrior’s midsection. “Paine.”
Paine kept his steel-gray eyes pinned on Matrix, who seemed to be goading the situation as he smiled bigger.
“Enough.” Sparx slapped Paine on the back, breaking some of the tension. “What he means is you’re not the only ones here to meet the women.”
That news caught Rowe off guard. He quickly realized Paine wasn’t the only one about to lose control. None of what he was hearing sounded good…at least for them.
“Explain,” Rowe snapped. His patience was wearing thin the longer the men stayed silent.
“We were actually here waiting for one of our troops to arrive when your ship’s communication came through,” Matrix said. “It seems a hundred of my men from Gunninng will be arriving with a grain transfer at any moment. We have already sent word to the council but feel that it might be best to reiterate it to you as well.”
“And what’s that?” Paine asked, his jaw tight.
“That until your ship leaves, nothing is guaranteed,” Matrix answered. “No council, pact, or warship can stop a Djaromir mating bond. My men will have a chance to meet the women tomorrow morning before your friends arrive. If further matches are made, so be it.”
Chapter Eight
“What is the plan?” Paine asked as he leaned against the wall of the room they’d been escorted to.
Not long after Matrix and Sparx dropped the news on them, their odds had plummeted even further. They’d had a very long and tense walk into the tunnel city. As they’d walked away, Paine had looked back and seen Matrix still standing there with that stupid grin on his face.
When the warlord had waved at him cheerfully, Paine gave him the finger. He hadn’t necessarily expected Matrix to understand the gesture but felt the need to do it regardless. Considering the glare Matrix gave him, the warlord had understood it perfectly. He had obviously pissed off a human before.
After meeting him, Paine didn’t find that shocking.
“I’m thinking.” Rowe pinched the bridge of his nose as he sat down on one of the large carved chairs in the room.
“Well, think faster because this could be very bad for us.” Paine tried to tamp down the anxiety he felt over this development. “Rowe, I don’t know how I will handle it if she triggers a bond in one of them—”
“Same.” He nodded grimly. “I feel quite attached already, even though we still haven’t even spoken to her.”
“Good.” Paine clapped his hands and moved towards the door.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Rowe stood up to block him. “Where do you think you’re going?”
Paine gave him a resolute look. It was more than obvious where he was going.
Rowe just blinked back without moving.
“I’m going to go and find our bride, so we can get her away from this place before she triggers one of these cavemen.”
Rowe’s mouth opened and closed a few times before he shook his head..
Paine squared his shoulders, prepared to take Rowe down if needed. His brother would thank him—in the end.
“It’s the middle of the sleep cycle here,” Rowe argued.
“It’s the perfect time for an exfiltration.” Tapping his staff on the stone floor, Paine shifted restlessly.
“Just wait a moment!” Rowe held out his hands as if to hold Paine back. “I need to think.”
“It’s not the time to think, brother. Now is the time to act. It is not too late, and we have the advantage.” Paine held out his staff, waiting for Rowe to knock his own against it—their ritual since they were children.
When the moment came and Rowe struck his staff, Paine knew his brother was with him.
“Do you have a plan for finding her within this city?” Rowe whispered as they opened the door to leave. “The options seem endless, considering all the offshoots we passed on our way here.”
Paine peeked around the corner, surprised to see the tunnels empty. “Humans are much more fragile than either of our races. While this area is warmer than the corridors we followed from the gates, it is still far too cold for the miner’s to comfortably live, let alone their delicate brides. I think they use these outer rooms for storage with the coldest nearer the surface.”
“So, we move inward,” Rowe said with a nod.
“I’d wager they’ve given the human women rooms closer to the kitchens to keep them warm.” Paine gestured toward the direction his instincts told him would deliver him to his bride. It wasn’t a solid plan, but it was the best they had, and time was of the essence.
Rowe nodded. “Follow the warmth?”
“Follow the warmth.”
Swiftly and silently they weaved through the tunnels, using th
e change in temperature as a guide. Occasionally, they’d come across a door, which they’d carefully investigate. So far, they had only found supply rooms, but Paine felt they were getting close. The air around them had begun to reach a comfortable warmth, meaning the women were likely occupying tunnels on this level.
Paine was just about to round a curve in the tunnel when he ran into Rowe’s staff. The impact hadn’t been hard, but it spoke volumes. With one small hand movement, his partner let him know he’d heard something.
In unison, both men flattened themselves to the wall and remained completely silent. Years of conditioning kicked in as Paine automatically began scanning for the threat his partner had sensed.
From the size of the miners they’d encountered so far, they could likely handle at least ten easily. Especially with surprise on their side. Paine focused past the sound of his own breath as he tried to distinguish what Rowe believed he’d heard coming.
He frowned.
It wasn’t footsteps that he heard. More like the cry of an animal.
As he tried to understand the new sounds, Rowe was already in motion. Rounding the corner and passing one door, he stopped in front of the second.
Chest heaving, Rowe looked back at Paine with a worried expression. Before Paine could ask his partner what was going on, Rowe shouldered the door open and entered the room as if he owned it.
Biting back curses, Paine rushed forward and slipped through the crack Rowe had opened. His brother was a warrior who was cautious. Not one who rushed into an unsecured room without reason.
“Rowe!” he whisper-yelled into the darkness. Taking a moment to let his eyes adjust, he scanned the space. In the dim lighting, he saw his friend moving farther into the room towards a platform in the far corner where the crying emanated.
Paine turned back towards the door and closed it quietly, casting them into pitch darkness. He didn’t necessarily want to be trapped in a room with a wounded animal, but they also didn’t need to broadcast their location. He was surprised that whatever was making that noise hadn’t already brought the Djaromir running.
“Don’t touch whatever it is!” he hissed, carefully moving towards where he’d seen Rowe standing.
He had no idea what kind of mess they were in and wouldn’t know until he could see something. It was dark enough that he could barely make out shapes much less anything else. Once he got close enough, he figured he’d use the small illuminator on his band to see what it was and if it needed to be put out of its misery.
“Too late,” Rowe answered in a whisper before turning around with a bundle in his arms.
“I said not to touch it!” Paine triggered his band to glow until it lit the small space around them. “What the—"
“It’s a woman, Paine.” Rowe moved closer with his lumpy burden.
Paine squinted at the heap. The only thing sticking out of the pile of covers were two arms, which he assumed looked female, but it was hard to tell with their lack of light.
“She was crying. When I sat beside her to see if she was okay, she kind of climbed into my lap.” Rowe shrugged with a stupefied look on his face.
“She what?” Paine moved his light around, finally able to see they were in someone’s bedroom.
A large bed—the platform he’d seen earlier—dominated the corner farthest from the door. Other than that, the only other items in the room were a set of drawers and a large rocking chair.
And apparently a woman.
“I swear,” Rowe said with a goofy grin on his face. “She crawled right into my arms.”
“What?” Paine asked, unsure he’d heard correctly, since they were still speaking in whispers.
“Like she trusted me to take care of her,” he mumbled, looking back down at the woman in his arms.
“Is she sick?” Paine questioned, worried that they’d possibly stumbled into the med center. Spotting a bag on the floor, he crouched down and began to look through it. “She sounded like she may be ill or wounded. Maybe you should put her down. If she’s injured, we don’t want to make matters worse.”
“She won’t let me. Watch.” When Rowe bent to lay her down on the mattress behind him, her arms tightened around his neck.
Even from where Paine kneeled, he could see how tightly she was clinging to Rowe. “She won’t let go?”
“Nuh-uh,” the pile mumbled, earning another silly grin from Rowe.
“Not that I want to put her down anyways,” Rowe said softly, allowing her to settle back against his chest. “I can’t believe we found her.”
“What do you mean?” Paine stood so quickly he almost tripped over the bag he’d been searching. “Rowe?”
“It’s her. I saw her face and it’s her,” he said, tightening his arms. “It’s Indigo. I don’t know how we managed to find her, but we did.”
“Are you—”
Rowe walked forward with her cradled in his arms. “Look for yourself.”
Paine raised his hand to the blanket still shrouding the woman’s face.
“Wait!” Rowe whispered just as Paine was about to move the blanket. “Dim your light a bit. She just settled and I don’t want you to disturb her again.”
Quickly following the suggestion of his partner, Paine once again reached for the blanket. Holding his breath, he carefully peeled back the fabric until it framed the same face he’d stared at for the past few weeks.
“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Rowe asked, his voice catching.
“She is.” Raising his light slightly, he studied their matched bride. Paine frowned as her features became clearer. “Something’s wrong. Even sleeping, she looks…pinched. Do you think she’s ill? Maybe that is why she was crying in her sleep?”
Rowe looked worried himself as he watched her. “I don’t know, Paine. Even with so little light, I see she’s exhausted. I hope the circles beneath her eyes are because she’s tired and not something more serious. She seems smaller than I expected.”
“She does look like she’s lost weight since the photo,” he agreed with an even deeper frown as he tried to assess her form under the layer of blanket surrounding her.
Her plump softness was one of the things that had attracted him so greatly to their match. She was tall, which was nice because of their height, but she was also thick. It was all the extra that he’d found appealing. The bounty of her curves had not only been an incredible turn on, but also a relief. Both he and Rowe preferred their partners to be able to handle their size and passion. It had been one of their biggest worries when applying for the Pact. They’d seen the so-called examples of human female beauty from the videos retrieved of Earth media, and they had not matched their own. Rib and hip bones showing did nothing for them personally, but he figured those females were pretty in their own way as well. He knew a few warriors who preferred thinner bed partners, but it just wasn’t their taste. They wanted a waist and thighs they could sink not only their fingers into, but also their teeth. He’d had more than a few fantasies about nibbling on the soft parts of their new bride.
All pleasurable, of course.
“Indigo?” Paine crooned gently, brushing back the chocolate-colored curls that fell across her brow. “We’re going to take you home, love. Rest now.”
“M’kay,” she mumbled, turning her face into his hand.
“It looks like we will need to do a lot of caring for our mate,” Rowe said. “Starting now.”
“I’ll lead, you follow,” Paine said, picking up Rowe’s staff and moving towards the door. “Matrix was waiting for some miners to arrive. Hopefully, they’ve arrived and cleared out the tunnel by now.”
“And if not?”
“Then we’ll see what it’s like to take down a horde of angry Djaromir miners?” he suggested, partially serious. There was no way he would let anyone take Indigo away from them now.
Not even an army of Djaromir.
“Sounds like one of your plans,” Rowe replied sarcastically. “Don’t forget to grab her bag from the
floor.”
“Good idea,” his brother said with a nod. It only took a second for Paine to secure the bag over his shoulder.
“Let’s try to do this as quietly as possible. It looks like she needs all the sleep she can get.”
Chapter Nine
Indigo was hot.
Really hot. The type of hot that made her feel gross and sweaty and in desperate need of a shower.
Cracking her eyes, she wasn’t surprised to see the underside of the thick blanket she’d used to keep warm in her room. Bigger than a California king, the bedding covered her from head to toe with tons of room to spare. The size and weight were more than perfect for the tunnels on Djaromir. Even in the women’s corridor, the temperature was uncomfortably chilly most of the time, despite being close to the kitchens. At night, it only got worse as most of the ovens died down.
Indy didn’t mind it though. She loved the colder temperature at night. There was something comforting about burrowing into a soft pile of covers and wrapping herself up, and honestly, she needed those few moments of comfort and peace before she fell completely asleep.
If she were lucky, she’d get in an hour before waking from a bad dream. Feeling well-rested, Indigo figured last night must have been a rare exception. For the past week, she’d struggled with nightly visions of being trapped in a box while the room burned all around. So yeah, the fact that she hadn’t woken up screaming was a relief.
The nightmares had come like normal—that much she could remember—but apparently, they hadn’t been so bad they’d woken her up. As sad as that sounded, she was going to count that a checkmark in the win column today.
Baby steps, Indy. Baby steps.
Yawning, she stretched under the covers, grimacing at their oppressive weight. What was once comfortable now felt stifling. If she spent much longer under the covers, she was going to start feeling more than just a little gross. Already she felt a little nauseous simply from the lack of fresh air.
Squirming, she gave a few half-ass kicks at the heavy fabric. When they didn’t budge at the minimal effort she put forward, she decided she might as well go ahead and get up.
Warriors of Phaeton: Paine and Rowe Page 7
