A punch snapped her mind back to the reality of her situation, and a keening wail rose around her. Arms closed around Amy and drew her to a very male chest.
No. I’m not taking a Sakk mate. That was the last coherent thought she managed. Amy started beating at the warrior holding her captive.
****
Sakkra, second son of His Majesty Sakkrel, strode down the corridor between the inner consulate and the outer. Beside him, Colonel Ezu gave his report.
The prince did his best to ignore the too-tight Earth-style pants and bare chest Ezu chose to entice the human females. Those who’d won their places on Earth had gone to embarrassing extremes to attract matches from this planet.
The clothing was the least of it, in Sakkra’s opinion. Some had posed for native magazines that featured nude males or those engaged in all manner of sex acts. A few had acted in live sex vids with human women for the ‘exposure’.
Sakkra winced at the unintended pun. He’d never fully understood how the warriors expected this form of baiting to work, especially considering the fact that more men than women indulged in watching the vids, he’d been told. Not to mention that women looking for a mate were unlikely to look for one in a sex vid. On some level, it would seem in direct opposition to what they hoped to accomplish.
Still, those engaged in the unconventional activities were having sex. Quite a lot of it, based on the rumors. Sakkra half-expected to be greeted one sunrise with the news that one of the males had inadvertently impregnated an unknowing match, thinking she was human.
We have a one in seven hundred chance, he thought bitterly.
And now this again. “We may have to alert the local authorities,” Sakkra mused.
The colonel would know that. If it turned to violence, he would do so automatically.
“Yes, Sakkra. We may. This one is particularly...intent.”
It could be worse. The religious zealots who had attacked the shields with rocket launchers had been worse, but Master Beldon had still been on Earth to handle that situation. He’d deftly countered the attack, turned the combatants and their weapons over to the American military, and had kept everyone within the shields protected.
In some ways, Sakkra would rather handle armed opponents than one distraught and unbalanced human female. Sakkan tests the worth of every man in His own way.
A prayer uttered under his breath, Sakkra returned to the situation at hand. “She is not at all close to what we need to find?” It wouldn’t matter if she was. Ms. Ferguson was mentally unsuitable to carry young for them, it seemed. He cursed the fact that the earlier testing had missed it. Perhaps they needed to make the psychological portion longer and more involved.
“No, Sakkra. Not at all.”
He nodded grimly. If she was close and not unbalanced, she might have found a male willing to accept implanted spliced young from her for the joy of a female in his bed. Or they might have been able to establish a new breeding colony with willing human females that were close stock but not close enough for true mating. Sakkra had considered both possibilities more than once. It wasn’t ideal, but what was with well over a hundred males to each female?
Sounds of a struggle stopped Sakkra in his tracks. Had the female attacked his men? Had she made threats?
Not one but two shouting women prodded him to a run. Sakkan only knew what the problem was, but it was worse than he’d expected. His heart thundering, he launched into the testing room.
The two women were struggling with a warrior each on opposite sides of the room. Sakkra looked back and forth between them, at a loss to explain it. How had this started?
Their vocalizations provided the answer for him. One was shouting obscenities and threats.
The one that hoped to be a match. We have to make the early testing more intensive. He focused on the other.
“You can’t keep me here. I didn’t volunteer. I didn’t ask to be tested.” Her voice was high in panic. Her eyes were wide and wild.
And her lip is bleeding. Sakkan, no! Please, don’t let my men have done that.
Sakkra shot at glance at the test pad, confirming that it was blue. His mind worked at the problem with all due haste. The program would have started automatically, but someone would have had to order it to complete the cycle.
Or to abort, but aborting sometimes causes a fault requiring a reset of the equipment. He would have ordered it to complete the cycle to avoid that.
She hadn’t asked to be tested. She’d touched the pad accidentally, no doubt. The warriors hadn’t considered the possibility that she would test positive as a match.
And with an unbalanced human woman who wants to be a match in the room. He prayed she hadn’t injured the other female.
And now the match is being detained by my men against her will. It was a nightmare in the making. The human governments could wage war over this. They could refuse to allow more testing. If the young female had even a single bruise caused by his men, they could—
“I’ll kill you.”
Sakkra snapped a look at the other female, just in time to see the warrior restraining her wrap a hand around her throat.
I have to move! “Stop! Remove her from the outer ring immediately. Colonel Ezu, help him.”
The colonel’s nod said he understood his actual job was to keep the warriors from killing her for threatening a match. Two more heartbeats, and the warrior would have managed that.
As if in confirmation, the warrior’s hand wavered before it withdrew. He maneuvered the struggling female between himself and Ezu.
“Turn her over to the human authorities,” Sakkra ordered. “And have her coded into the database as a threat.” With that accomplished, Ms. Ferguson would be unable to approach the shields at any consulate without the human authorities being summoned.
Ezu nodded stiffly. “Immediately. You have my vow.” He led the way out of the room, the surly female screaming curses and kicking at her guards.
That handled, Sakkra turned to the young match. She pummeled the major’s chest with her small fists, pleading to be set free. Sakkra felt a pang of regret. The match reminded him of the first caged birds he’d seen on Earth.
She would be released. Of course she would. But first, her wound would have to be tended to. Sakkra scooped her up, the major grasped her wrists, and her screams reached an earsplitting high.
“Calm, young one,” he soothed her.
She struggled against the major’s grip, trying to escape Sakkra’s arms. “Let me go. Let me go. Let. Me. Go!” She was screeching now.
She pulled a foot back to kick the warrior holding her wrists, and he switched both wrists into a single hand to grasp the foot in his other.
“When your wound has been tended to,” Sakkra offered calmly. He moved before she could protest, into the corridor and toward the main medical bay.
She kicked with the other foot, and the major released the first to block the blow. He turned his body, walking backward to take himself out of the most effective kicking range.
“People know I’m here,” she warned them. “If I don’t come back, they’ll make sure the authorities know you have me.”
If your former friend is the ‘people’ you are hoping will save you, I would rethink that hope. But saying that would only alienate and frighten her. Sakkra kept his mouth shut, quickening his step.
A crowd was starting to gather in doorways along the way. As if that was too much for her peace of mind, the young match started kicking frantically and screaming. Her face went an unhealthy shade of red that made Sakkra worry her heart would give out before they managed to tend to her medically.
At the first sight of the bio bed, she shrieked and bucked against their hold.
Healers ran from every direction. “Sakkra, what is this?” the master healer asked.
“She has a wound that needs tended. Do so.” The sooner, the better.
The healer shot an incredulous look back. “In this state? Perhaps I should—”
“You have my vow,” Sakkra assured her. Hadn’t he already promised she’d be free to leave when her wound was tended to? How many times would he have to say it?
Her struggling ceased, and she stared at him. “You’re giving me your word?”
Sakkra bit back a growl of frustration with her. “Yes. I am. Now will you allow the healers to see to your wound?”
She looked from face to face, trembling in his arms. Her throat bobbed, and she took ragged breaths. At last, she nodded. “Yes. Okay. As long as I can leave.”
The major met Sakkra’s gaze, waited for his nod, and eased away, releasing her wrists. She twisted, and Sakkra released her onto the bio bed, giving her the freedom she desired.
She shivered, and one of the healers draped a blanket around her shoulders. The skittish young match jumped and shot a wary look at him. When no one advanced on her position, she pulled the blanket shut around her body and huddled inside it, the toes of her soft boots sticking out from beneath it.
The healers moved away to order tests on her condition. Everyone else stayed in place, as if unconsciously forming a blockade to any escape attempts.
Her trembling eased, and her color and breathing returned to something resembling normal. At length, she cleared her throat. “I’m not staying,” she offered calmly. “I can’t stay. I have a life. Please, understand.”
Warriors muttered what were probably curses on their luck. They’d found a match only to lose her.
All of Sakk weeps for your loss. Sakkra held up a hand to motion for silence from his men. The last thing they needed was to frighten her worse than she already was. “No one will force you. Our warriors only meant to aid you. Not to harm you and not to capture you. You have my solemn vow. When your wound is healed, you are free to leave.”
She pulled the blanket tighter around her body, and one of the healers gasped.
Sakkra turned to him. “What is it?” he whispered. Is she ill? Injured? Sakkan forbid, already bearing a winged child?
“The ring, Sakkra,” he replied formally. “I have heard such a ring is called a...joining ring. It means she plans to become mate to a human man.”
Sakkra stared at the small diamond ring on her left hand, his heart aching for her.
“I have a life,” she repeated solemnly.
Sakkan, what will this discovery do to that life and those plans?
****
Amy sipped at the juice the healers had provided, eying the group of men across the room from her.
Only one of them had started speaking their language, and the one called Sakkra had ended that. Since then, they’d all spoken English. Amy suspected Sakkra was making sure there could be no misunderstandings about their intentions caused by the language barrier. She was glad for it.
She’d picked up bits and pieces of information by listening to them. Already, she could identify the master healer for the consulate, a general, a major, a colonel... And Sakkra, a Sakk prince.
The last one still shocked her. They’d sent a prince to talk to Lucy. A prince had carried Amy to the clinic.
A prince promised I can leave. Thank God! Even though the Sakk didn’t believe in lying or other forms of subterfuge, the fact that a Sakk prince said it made her feel all the better. Who, within the consulate, was going to outrank a prince? The only one she knew who could wasn’t on Earth.
The door opened, and a human man walked into the clinic. He looked around and headed for Sakkra. A body length away, he stopped and offered a sharp bow of his head to the prince.
Amy watched the interaction, trying to dissect it. She would have assumed the newcomer was a police officer sent to liaise with the Sakk consulate, but his clothing didn’t support that image. He was dressed in a pair of biker boots, faded jeans, a crisp t-shirt, blue jean jacket, and had his long blond hair pulled back into a short ponytail behind his head. Any liaison with the consulate would wear a suit and tie or at least a collared shirt with pristine jeans, she was certain. So, who was this man?
“You called for me, Sakkra?” His voice was deep, calm, and collected.
The prince nodded, his light brown curls swishing around his face, half-hiding his dark gray eyes. “I have a new assignment for you.”
The Sakk consulate hires human workers? It was the first she’d heard of it. Even jobs like cooking and janitorial were reportedly held by their own people. Usually men, though she’d heard a few older women worked as beauticians, styling hair and applying makeup for matches meeting Sakk men.
The new arrival’s gaze flicked Amy’s direction and then away. “I see.”
Her mouth went dry. “What are you talking about?”
The human opened his mouth to answer, and Sakkra waved him off. The prince approached the bed.
“Your life has been threatened.”
“Lucy wouldn’t—”
“I can’t chance that.”
“Meaning what?” she demanded.
Sakkra sighed. “Rietin is assigned to your protection.”
“I will be invisible,” Rietin assured her. “Unless you need me, of course.”
“I won’t need you,” she snapped. A private investigator. They hired a sleazy private investigator to follow me around. Amy fumed at it.
Rietin looked at Sakkra, seemingly seeking his orders and disregarding hers.
The prince took his time formulating an answer. “This...Lucy Ferguson will likely be incarcerated for tonight. We can discuss this when you’ve rested.”
Amy slid off the table and shucked the blanket they’d given her onto the bed. “There’s nothing to discuss. I am free to leave and free to live my life. Thank you, gentlemen, for healing my lip. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a life to get back to.”
She expected them to follow her toward the doors, to protest her dismissal of their plans...something. No one moved. No one contradicted her. Amy looked at the doors, challenging them.
Sakkra tipped his head. “Can I be of any more assistance, Ms. Davidson?”
“The way out?” she asked, needing an excuse to explain her hesitation. Otherwise, they might think she was reconsidering becoming a Sakk mate.
“To your right. Follow the corridor all the way to the courtyard and gardens. The warriors will open the back shields onto the street beyond for you.”
“Thank you.” Amy sauntered away, feigning confidence she didn’t feel.
Warriors in the corridor snuck glances at her, but none of them were rude enough to stare or challenge her decision. None of them spoke to her.
The door at the end of the corridor led into an atrium with stone benches and Sakk symbols engraved into the stone pathway between the many ordinary-looking plants.
They probably weren’t allowed to import their own plants onto Earth.
The sun welcomed her outside, and the breeze was brisk and clean. She wondered at that. It almost seemed that the air inside the shields was filtered and circulated, but there was no one to ask that question of.
I don’t want to know it. If I ask it, I’m getting involved in their problems.
Aren’t I? I’m what they are looking for, right?
No. They are looking for willing volunteers. That’s not me. I have a life here. I have a family. I don’t intend to move to an alien planet for a guy I don’t even know.
Amy made her way to the other side of the atrium and nodded to the warrior standing next to a console.
“Good day, ma’am,” he intoned. “Please feel free to come again any time.”
Unlikely. She smiled anyway and made her way to the street at his hand motion to do so.
Her turn toward the parking garage short circuited. They’d come in Lucy’s car. She was in town with no vehicle. It would take a train and two buses to get home without one.
Amy looked back at the consulate. I bet they’d give me a ride home if I explained the di
fficulty. She’d seen the vans with the Sakk crest around town.
Yes. They would give me a ride home and expect me to change my mind. No thanks. I can stop by an ATM, get change, pick up some lunch, and take public transportation home. That in mind, she squared her shoulders and reversed direction, heading toward the closest train station.
****
“What was that hesitation?” Sakkra spoke aloud. “Why did she change direction that way?”
Rietin sighed. “I imagine her friend drove her here, and Ms. Davidson realized she would have to take public transport to get home instead. The train station is that direction.”
He grunted his agreement, though it stung that it had been something so mundane. What am I so upset about? It wasn’t as if it was likely that she was having second thoughts about mating with a Sakk warrior. She has a mate waiting for her at home. She has a life we have no right to interfere in.
“What do you want me to do now that she’s refused my protection?” Rietin asked.
“Protect her. Is there any doubt? The other female threatened her life.”
Rietin’s silence raised the fine feathers at the base of Sakkra’s skull. He glared at the tracker, demanding an explanation silently.
The wingless male cleared his throat. “Humans often say such things and do not mean them, but after reviewing the vids of her reactions... I cannot deny there is a chance this one means Ms. Davidson harm. It is wise to protect her from harm.”
“And your concern is...?” Sakkra prompted him.
“My concern is that Ms. Davidson may consider this an intrusion into her life. Even stalking. She may suspect we mean her some harm by it. There are human laws to protect females from those who mean them harm. Even though we don’t, she may claim it and be...believed.
“Human females like Ms. Davidson are independent creatures. She lives alone, away from her parents’ nest. She is not accustomed to her wishes being disregarded. Whatever I do, it must be done gently. As quietly and unobtrusively as possible.”
Sakkra considered his evaluation and found it sound. I usually do with Rietin. There were many reasons he was their premiere tracker on Earth, and Rietin’s ability to blend in with the native population was nearly the least of it. “I agree. Do whatever you need to do. Expenses are approved.”
Unexpected Mates (Sons of Heaven) Page 9
