Tropical Temptation

by Nicole Krizek

  “Saric, there you are!”

  It was Kaitie. The men disengaged from each other and turned to face her.

  “What’s up, Kaitie?” Saric asked.

  “It’s Adrianna. She’s missing.”

  Duran looked at his mate, and saw him turn slightly pale.

  “What do you mean, missing?” Saric asked.

  “I can’t find her,” Kaitie answered. “You haven’t seen her today, have you?”

  Duran looked Adrianna’s roommate up and down, and noticed that she was soaking wet and cold. Her boots were completely covered in mud, and she was out of breath, but bouncing on the balls of her feet, as if she couldn’t stand to remain still for the length of their conversation.

  “I saw her earlier this afternoon at the gatherers’ shack,” Saric told her. “She was excited because she’d found a grove of mushrooms, and was coming back to retrieve another hovercrate.”

  “She’s probably still out there,” Kaitie commented more to herself than the males. She turned to leave, and Saric stepped forward to take her arm.

  “Wait, Kaitie. Why do you think that she’s missing and not just late?”

  “She always meets me at the shack at four-thirty, sharp. Unlike me, she’s never late.”

  “But today she didn’t show?” Saric clarified. Kaitie shook her head.

  “No. I waited until after five, then called her on her comm. She’s not answering.”

  Duran glanced down at his own comm unit. It was five-thirty. He looked towards the nearest window and saw that it was still raining hard, thick clouds darkening the sky, intersped with the occasional flashes of lightning. It was a horrible evening to stay out too late. Adrianna shouldn’t have been out in that weather at all, much less into the evening.

  “We need to go check for her,” Saric told Duran as he turned towards him. Duran nodded in agreement.

  On the way to the gatherers’ shed, the trio stopped by Kaitie and Adi’s house, but it was empty. A quick check of the bathhouse and at the evening meal produced the same result, and she still wasn’t answering her comm. Adrianna was nowhere to be found, and Duran could tell with each passing moment that the other two were getting more and more nervous. The increasing frequency of lightning didn’t help the situation.

  When they made it out to the shed in the jungle, it was empty of people. There was also a single hovercrate missing from the charging station. Saric was sure it was the one Adi had taken back into the jungle earlier that day.

  “If she’s still out there, I need to go look for her,” Kaitie declared as she headed out of the shack and back into the rain.

  “Wait,” Duran stopped her. She halted at the threshold.

  “We shouldn’t just go wandering around the jungle.” He raised a hand to stop her when she began to protest. “Let’s use the sensors and see if we can find her first.” She nodded her ascent.

  From his comm unit, Duran initiated the grid of sensors that they’d placed around the colony upon their arrival, but he couldn’t get them to function. They weren’t sending out signals at all, as if the entire grid was down.

  “I can’t get them to initialize,” Duran told the other two. Saric’s shoulders fell.

  “What does that mean?” Kaitie asked.

  “It means they’re not working,” Saric answered. “They’re not going to help us find her.”

  “How’s that possible?” Kaitie asked, her voice tinged with panic. She turned Duran’s wrist so that she could see his comm unit for herself. “I thought your equipment was infallible?!”

  “Hardly,” Duran answered.

  “It must be the storm,” Saric concluded. “One of the units probably got hit by lightning, and it set off a chain reaction.”

  “Can you fix it?” Kaitie asked. Saric shook his head.

  “Not without knowing which one was hit first, and going through them one by one. It’ll take too long.”

  “Well, we can’t just stay here,” Kaitie declared. “We have to go find her.” Both men nodded in agreement.

  “We need equipment first,” Duran insisted. “Lights, jackets, a portable scanner, and more people.”

  The three of them hurried back to camp, contacting Rex on their way. Saric and Duran broke off from Kaitie to make a speedy stop at their cabin to collect gear. They changed into pants and sturdy boots, grabbed packs with flashlights, spare comms, and a small medical kit. Saric pulled a case from under their bed that held their Defense-issued hand weapons, and Duran raised an eyebrow.

  “Just in case,” Saric told him as he handed Duran’s to him. Duran nodded, and strapped the holster and weapon to his side.

  As they left, Saric snagged their waterproof jackets off their hooks and threw Duran his, while his mate tossed him an extra baseball cap to keep the rain out of his eyes.

  By the time their feet met sand, Rex had assembled an overwhelming number of volunteers to help look for Adrianna. Duran was surprised by the number of people who dropped everything to help look for her… but he shouldn’t have been. It wasn’t just Saric who had a high opinion of the female.

  He looked around and saw Bilal, Ian, and Lauren at their side. All of the free divers were there, and the crew from Duran’s fishing boat. Dozens of others were also gathered around with comms, flashlights, and coats. Rex and Maggie were positioned at the front, with a portable medical kit and a hover stretcher… just in case.

  It took time for everyone to get organized and equipped for the inclement weather—more time than made the males comfortable. Duran held it together, but at his side, Saric grew more agitated by the minute. He shifted on his feet, and kept rechecking the equipment he’d brought with them. Duran knew that it was taking a great deal of effort for him to hold himself together.

  As he watched his mate pace back and forth with worry marring his features, Duran realized something: Saric was in love with Adrianna.

  He should have known, or at least should have seen it coming. Saric had told him that he had feelings for the female, but love? That was a whole different situation: it changed everything. Duran suddenly realized how difficult it must have been for Saric to keep that to himself the past few months. He didn’t know how his mate had accomplished keeping something like love from him.

  He did it because he loves me too.

  Duran knew he was right. Saric had either hid his feelings, or refused to acknowledge them, because he hadn’t wanted to cause strife in their relationship.

  Guilt crept into Duran’s mind. He’d caused Saric to do this, to feel this way, because of his stubbornness and refusal to listen. His mate was in love with a caring and lovely woman—there were worse things in the universe.

  Like losing their female.

  Duran stepped into Saric’s path, and put his hands on his mate’s shoulders.

  “We’re going to find her,” Duran stated. He left no room for argument. In his mind, there was none. They would find her, and he’d do everything in his power to ensure his mate’s happiness.

  “What if we don’t?” Saric asked quietly so that others didn’t hear him. “What if she’s lost, or hurt?”

  “She might be,” Duran replied honestly. “But we’ll find her, and bring her home. That’s what we need to focus on right now.”

  Saric nodded and took a deep breath. “Okay.”

  Duran stroked his hands up and down Saric’s arms in an attempt to console him, until (finally) the group was ready.

  “We’re going to fan out to search,” Rex called to the assembled crowd. “The sensors in the jungle still aren’t picking up her location, so we’ll be using different versions. Even so, the storm may throw off their signals. Be diligent, keep your group together, and we’ll find her.”

  Saric stayed close to his side as Duran initiated his sensor, and they began the trek towards her last known location: the eastern jungle.

  *****

  My head is killing me.

  That was the first thought to go through Adrianna’s mind
as the blackness of unconsciousness receded. The pain throbbing in her skull made it difficult to concentrate on anything besides the tha-thump, tha-thump, tha-thump, of her heart. Each beat felt like a hammer hitting the inside of her brain.

  What happened? Where am I?

  She blinked rain droplets out of her eyes, but the brightness of a nearby fire only made the pounding in her head worse. For a moment the pain was so severe that she thought she’d lose her lunch on the ground beneath her. She closed her eyes and breathed slowly until the worst of the nausea passed. Keeping her eyes closed to stop the spinning, she noticed that she was sitting on muddy ground, her arms tied at her back and secured to… her hands felt around for a moment… a wooden pole. Maybe the base of a small tree?

  Her arms were sore from being in that position for who-knew how long, but nothing was broken. A shift of her legs, and she concluded that nothing was broken there, either—just soreness from sitting too long. She put her head down and tried blinking her eyes open again, slowly this time. Her stomach didn’t roll.

  Next, she listened.

  There were voices nearby—men’s voices. They were discussing… she listened harder… her. They were talking about her.

  “We wouldn’t be having this problem if you two hadn’t decided to drag her to camp.”

  “You’re blaming us for bringing her here? This is the first woman we’ve seen in over three years! Hell, she’s the first outside person we’ve seen since being here!”

  “Yeah, I’m sick of you-all’s company.”

  Adrianna listened to them bicker with a sense of confusion. Where was she? She didn’t recognize any of their voices, which was no small thing. She knew everyone who lived in the colony. Who were these men? Was she even still on Aeonas?

  A new wave of nausea rolled over her. What if she’d been taken offworld? How could anyone find her if she was on a different planet?!

  Calm down! she chastised herself. Panic wouldn’t help. She needed to be calm and think rationally.

  She took a deep breath, and slowly brought her eyes up to look around through the curtain of rain. It was raining when I was taken. It was likely that this was the same storm. She’d never been so happy to see rain in her life. It meant that she was probably still on Aeonas, although not anywhere she recognized.

  There was a cooking fire under a lean-to at the center of a ring of makeshift buildings. The huts had been built on the ground, unlike the colony’s buildings, which were in the trees. Doesn’t it flood here? How far away from the colony am I?!

  She felt fear rising, but pushed it back down. Panic wouldn’t help her. She focused on the outline of trees she could see beyond the buildings. They looked familiar.

  I’m definitely still on Aeonas! The thought was extremely comforting. If she was still on the planet, then there was a chance she could escape and find her way back to the colony. Even if she was currently miles towards the interior, she could go west and eventually run into the ocean. It wouldn’t be too hard to find the colony from there.

  “She’s going to be missed,” one of the men argued.

  “Let them miss her! They won’t find us all the way out here.”

  “What the hell have you been smokn’? Who knows what kind of technology those alien bastards have? They could be sneaking up on us right now and we’d never know. Damn vermin they are.”

  “That’s enough,” a new man’s voice called. The others quieted, so she assumed he was their leader.

  “The way I see it, what we’ve got here is a bargaining chip: our way out of this hell-hole that bastard forced us into.”

  There was quiet muttering from the others.

  “What we need to do is lay low for now, and make a list of demands. We can deliver it to ‘em once the storm passes.”

  Adrianna didn’t recognize the leader’s voice, but he sounded older, with a definite accent. It sounded like another colonist who’d been born and raised in southern United States. The drawl was unique, and hard to mistake.

  “What do we do about her?” another voice asked.

  Adrianna’s skin crawled. She could feel their eyes on her, but she held still with her head hanging low, trying to not draw more attention to herself or let them know that she was awake.

  “Leave her alone. They’ll want her back in one piece,” the leader answered.

  “But… can’t we have a little fun with her first?” someone asked.

  “Yeah, Boss. We won’t hurt her too badly—nothing that would make ‘em not want her back,” another added.

  “Hey!” another voice piped up. She recognized it as the man who’d captured her. “We’re the ones that found her. If anyone gets a chance at her, it should be us!”

  An argument broke out for a moment, before the leader quieted them all with a, “Shut up!”

  There was a moment of silence, and Adrianna hoped that the leader would say no. She could imagine their version of “fun,” and it was accompanied by a new wave of nausea.

  “That’s fair,” the leader conceded, much to Adi’s dismay. “But first let’s set up a watch and perimeter, in case they’re already on their way. None of us needs to be caught with our pants down… Literally. I’ll stay here to keep an eye on her, and finish cooking that stew, so we can eat something tonight.”

  Adi heard sloshing as the men waded through mud to do as they’d been told, but she had to suppress a shudder as one stopped close to her.

  “I’ll be back for you soon,” a man leaned down and whispered.

  Gross! Hell no! her mind screamed.

  He sloshed away, and she breathed a momentary sigh of relief.

  I can’t stay here!

  With the men out of her general vicinity, Adi knew that she needed to try to get her hands free. That was the first step. The problem would come after that; the men were setting up a perimeter, which meant that it would be harder to get away from their camp.

  “Can’t we have a little fun with her first?”

  Adi shuddered at the memory of their words. No matter what, she knew that she had to escape… Or die trying.

  CHAPTER 7

  The longer they searched for Adrianna, the harder Saric struggled to keep himself in check. He felt as though he was on the edge of losing his cool, losing his mind, and losing her.

  Where the hell is she?

  They’d been searching for the patch of mushrooms, which grew in a place that only she knew. He and Duran had traipsed through the jungle for an hour until, finally, they’d seen the hovercrate’s battery indicator light blinking in the dark.

  “There!” Saric yelled as he began running towards the small illumination.

  He jumped over a downed log, and came to a halt at its side. The crate was only partially filled, but there were dozens of mushrooms still growing at their feet. She hadn’t picked them all.

  “Something interrupted her,” he told Duran, who was now at his side. “She wouldn’t have left this here, especially during a storm.”

  Duran stepped away a few feet and bent down. When he stood, he held objects in each hand.

  “What’d you find?” Saric asked.

  “A hat and a broken comm unit.” Duran brought the pieces to him, and Saric took them. He knew immediately that they were Adi’s.

  “Oh, no.”

  Saric’s stomach dropped. This wasn’t good. Her tardiness during a storm, the abandoned hovercrate, her hat and broken device… Adrianna was a responsible and dependable woman; she was never late, never would have neglected her duties to the colony by leaving food sitting out in the jungle. She wouldn’t leave a piece of her gear behind, and would never damage her comm unit on purpose.

  Until this point, he’d hoped that maybe she’d gotten turned around in the storm and was lost—possibly holed up somewhere, waiting until the storm passed. But now—all signs were pointed to foul play.

  Who could have done this? Was it a colonist? Whoever it was, Saric was going to beat the ever-living shit out of anyone who’d
harmed a hair on her perfect head. Had they hurt her? He didn’t see any blood, but the rain could have easily washed it away. If she was hurt…

  Saric knew that his thoughts were spiraling, and made a concerted effort to calm. He focused on Duran, his level-headed better half, who was turning in a circle, using his flashlight to look for signs.

  “Can you tell which way she went?” Saric asked, mirroring his mate’s movements.

  “No. The rain has washed away her tracks.”

  Saric’s stomach fell. He closed his eyes and clenched her hat in a fist. This couldn’t be happening—not the same day as he’d been given so much hope for their future.

  “Come look at this.”

  Duran’s words broke Saric out from his dark circle of thoughts.

  “What is it?” Saric asked as he moved closer.

  Duran’s light was shining on a rotten log that had clearly been stepped on and crushed in the middle. It was off to the side… not where Adi would have accidentally stepped on it while picking the mushrooms.

  Duran swung his light around and spotted a broken branch further away.

  “This way,” he called as he began walking.

  Saric followed his mate, his light illuminating their path. Duran had been right—there weren’t any footprints, but other signs of movement were clear: squashed plants, broken branches, and broken vines lying on the ground. In a jungle where there were no animals, all of these were good signs.

  “Why would she go inland?” Saric asked.

  “I don’t think she was going willingly.”

  Saric’s forced himself not to panic. Duran had been much more composed than he was since finding out she was missing. If he also thought that Adi had been taken, it didn’t bode well for their female.

  “Who would have taken her?” Saric asked. “Do you think another race landed on Aeonas and we didn’t know it?”

  “No. We would have known if another race had landed here; either the Adastra or the Greys would have notified us. I think it was the bandits that took her.”

  Anger bubbled in Saric. He’d seen firsthand how dangerous that group of men were. They’d nearly killed Marjorie, and elderly colonist. If it hadn’t been for Maggie’s quick work to heal her wound, Marjorie wouldn’t have made it.