A rift like that must have caused quite a lot of damage throughout the country. It spread out for at least a mile, and the lava flows around had likely destroyed an entire state. The earthquakes that came with it must have moved mountains. Or produced the sudden hills she had to keep dodging.
She sighed, tense with Rex near, tired and sore from the events of the last few hours, and angry that she was helpless. She’d felt so safe with Rager as her mate, especially when she was near him. But Rex had made it clear that safety wasn’t always something she could count on. He’d made it crystal clear, in fact.
For a moment, pure hatred filled her until it made her hands shake. He’d messed up everything, likely put both their parents in danger, and had threatened to kill her child. He’d been so vicious when he pulled her from that closet, she’d been terrified of him. Now that he was certain he’d escaped Rager, he thought he could relax. He didn’t exude evil, and that almost lulled her into a false sense of security.
She knew better though. Rex was a snake, hidden in the grass, capable of a strike at any moment. To relax around him would be stupid.
She tried not to think about what must be happening with their parents. Rager would, hopefully, be lenient with both her and Rex’s parents. For now, she tried to focus on an escape plan. She tried to think of what might be stowed in the transporter. There were no weapons other than the one he’d brought in with him, and she doubted there was much she could use. She wasn’t a power-lifter or an expert in martial arts.
She’d have to outwit him, then. Make him believe she’d given in to her role as a captive and that his trauma-inducing speech when he’d first nabbed her had cowed her into obedience. Her brain screamed ‘fuck that’, but she didn’t want him to know it. She just drove on.
Minutes passed, Rex began to tap his fingers against the arms of his seat, and she glanced over at him. He wouldn’t be able to hold it much longer.
The tap of his fingers against the metal arm irritated her, but there was little she could do. If she complained, it might make him angry, and now wasn’t the time for that. She went back to watching out for trees and waited, her breath calm and even.
She wanted Rager to be there with her, and for a moment, thought tears might fill her eyes. Every time she thought about him, she felt this warm glow in the middle of her chest, as if he knew she was thinking about him, and gave her a part of himself to reassure her. Maybe it was the tie that connected them now, but she knew he must be alright.
That gave her the strength to put up with Rex’s shit and to keep the tears at bay.
She thought about the baby that grew within her, and that reminded her to be very careful however she managed to play this out. So, the news about their child hadn’t exactly thrilled Rager, he’d come around, she hoped, and if not, it was too late now. It was what was expected of them, and there was nothing they could do to change those expectations.
Or the fact that she was pregnant. And so was her mom.
She hadn’t thought about that for hours. What if something had happened to her mom? How far had the fighting spread? Would her parents be alright or would the aliens be super pissed and use her parents as examples? She knew Rager must be alright, but what if he wasn’t and whoever took control went on a rampage.
She glared over at Rex, once again lost in his own thoughts, his eyes closed as he tapped his fingers against the arm of his seat. This idiot had caused most of this, if not all of it. It might not be fair to blame him for it all, but she wanted to. Mainly, because she knew he’d complained from the beginning, he’d hated the fact that he wasn’t allowed the same freedoms as non-shifters.
He resented it because all of his life he was the star, the schoolgirl crush and every father’s hope of what a son should be. Well, misogynistic fathers, anyway. He was the golden boy, the best athlete, and even the teachers would titter when he walked by. He’d had it all, and life promised him even more before the end came. To be thrown into a bunker for years on end, then allowed out only to be made a virtual slave must have stung.
It would have stung her if that had been the position she’d been given. She could admit that and sympathize, but to be so damn selfish you put your own parents in danger to get what you wanted? That was some seriously flawed logic.
“Where are you going now?” he asked when the transporter started to veer off to the left.
“Nowhere, sorry. I’m tired and drifted for a minute.” She got them back on a course that should take them in a straight line to the east, and tried to concentrate.
She hadn’t lied, though, she was tired, exhausted even. She glanced down at her wrist and wished she’d worn her communicator to bed. She’d taken it off, as she always did, and now she couldn’t call for help. Not that she could call with him right there, anyway. If he’d just go to sleep, she might be able to figure out how to get rid of him.
She knew he’d force her out of the transporter when she finally found somewhere to set the transporter down, and he’d probably make her sleep outside of the transporter when he finally let her rest. She could demand to be allowed the toilet and run away, maybe circle around and jump into the transporter, but would she get the glass cover closed before he got back?
She wasn’t sure if the blue light the weapons used to do damage would penetrate the glass, but she didn’t want to find out. That was too much like putting her life in danger.
Not something she was prepared to do. Not with her baby to think of.
She longed for some sign, some thought that would give her an idea of how to get out of this mess, but nothing came. Everything she thought about, every plan or scheme, ended with him shooting her. He might be calm right now, thinking he’d won, but she knew that the minute he thought he was about to lose he’d turn into a petulant child all over again. He’d do anything to make her suffer, and probably would when he felt like he was safe.
She wondered how much he knew about alien technology. Surely, he knew that the transporter was probably being tracked. She hoped it was anyway. Rager said they all were, but was it true? Or was it something he’d only told her? Maybe that meant the aliens knew exactly where she was and just needed to catch up to them?
If Rager had sent someone for her. He might think she was dead, or maybe he was too busy fighting off Rex’s compatriots. No, she knew he’d do whatever it took to get her back. He needed her in his life, even if hadn’t admitted anything of the kind to her. Besides, she was pregnant with his child. He’d want that baby back, at the very least. Right?
4
If one more person asked him for guidance, he’d scream. The transporters he’d sent out to intercept Ann hadn’t made contact yet, and he knew that was because Ann was still traveling. The minute it stopped, they’d scope out the scene and get back to him for further instructions.
In the meantime, he filled his hours by checking on Ann’s parents, then had them and the Wolfson family sent home. They didn’t know anything. The two wives had been working with an underground organization that wanted to improve the plights of the wolf shifters, but it wasn’t affiliated with Rex’s group in any way. They’d been fighting against them, in fact, from all the intelligence he’d received so far.
He was glad to send his mate’s family back home in peace, but he wanted his own mate back, and some peace of his own. He’d been up for hours, and he wouldn’t rest until she was home, but he wanted to do something about that. Instead, he was stuck running his fledgling empire. For once, he wished his brothers were there. Or his sisters. His parents. Anyone that could help him make these decisions.
It wasn’t that he felt he couldn’t make the right choices, he was confident about the choices he made, it was just that he didn’t trust anyone else to make those right choices. His second in command should be able to, but this was too important to be left up to anyone other than an overlord. Lives depended on the decisions made now, and the future would be determined by the outcomes. He had to say he knew it, but it didn’t mea
n he liked it.
He climbed back into his transporter and headed back toward their home. It was a mess, but most of it was salvageable. Some of it would have to be rebuilt, but it was the wings they didn’t use right now, anyway. He went into the house once he’d landed and saw that the cleanup had started already. The floors were cleared, the walls washed, and debris had been removed. That must have taken an army in itself.
He didn’t care, he wanted it clean and functional when Ann arrived home. Because he refused to contemplate an alternative. There was no scenario he could think of where that didn’t happen. Unless Rex just killed her for the thrill of it. Which was possible, given what he knew about the man, but he hoped not. If that happened, Rex would pay in ways he couldn’t imagine.
Rager thought about life on some of the exoplanets in his own galaxy and knew that he wouldn’t even have to torture the man himself. There were planets that would make him beg for death. Like the one so low on breathable air that you could only last about a month before your body shut down. Every moment was like being strangled until you died in horrible pain.
That was the place he’d send the man. Whether he harmed Ann or not, he decided. That’s what he deserved. A slow and agonizing death that was little more than prolonged torture. A good place for someone like Rex.
He went into their bedroom, saw the room had been untouched by the fighting and nodded. Good, she could go back to bed, as if nothing had interrupted their sleep at all. The garden had been all but destroyed by blasts, feet, and transporters, but he’d seen her cow and the horse that she loved so much, happy in the barn she’d had built for them. That was a good thing, at least. She adored her animals.
Life could almost get back to normal when he got her home, but he knew it wouldn’t be the same. There was a real problem that needed to be addressed, the wolf problem, and he’d have to find a way to solve it. That was a decision for later, though. For now, he went back downstairs and found a young woman, Ann’s friend Skye, in the living room.
“Have you found her yet?” the young woman asked, and Rager looked at her, his eyes narrowed.
He’d always wondered if she was a spy, but he’d never accused her of it. She was Ann’s friend, a confidant probably, and Rager didn’t want to take that from her, but he did have his worries about the woman.
“We know where she is, yes, but we don’t have her back yet.” He went and poured himself a glass of the flavored drink Ann loved so much, from a pitcher with ice on the drinks stand. He moved over to where Skye sat and refilled the glass she held, with the liquid Ann insisted was lemon-flavored tea. He didn’t really care for it, but it was something to drink.
“How long will that take, to get her back, I mean?” The woman was brave, and she met Rager’s orange gaze steadily, without flinching. He had to respect her for that.
“I don’t know. It depends on how long they stay in the transporter. We can’t get to them if they stay inside it, the vehicle is impenetrable. If he takes her out of it, however, we can get to him.”
“That little prick. I knew I should have choked him when I had the chance.” Rager heard her mutter and looked at her more closely, his eyes narrowed in a frown.
“When you had the chance?”
“Yeah, he, um, he comes to the bar, at the edge of the sector, that I go to sometimes. Causes trouble all the time, and got in my face one night.” She didn’t volunteer anything more than that and Rager decided he needed to know more.
“You were in a bar on your own?” He looked her over, saw a powerful woman, with very little fat, and a look about her that said she was capable of taking care of herself.
“I’m not the typical woman you’ll find in one of your wife’s little luncheons , Rager. I’m not into men, if you get my drift.” She said it with a waggle of her eyebrows and a tone in her voice that probably should have meant something.
“You aren’t into men?” It was a phrase that mystified him. He’d learned most of the American phraseology, but this one stumped him.
“I prefer women when it comes to romantic relationships.”
“Ah! Right, I get it.” He nodded his head, a memory flashed in his mind. “Ann told me that, but, forgive me, it slipped my mind.”
“No problem, you’re under a lot of stress. Is there anything I can do to help?” She seemed genuinely concerned about her friend, but he couldn’t think of anything she could possibly do in the situation.
“I don’t think so. You’re welcome to wait if you’d like, but I really don’t know how long it will take.” Rager looked around for the man that served as a butler here but didn’t see him. Perhaps he’d been killed? That would be a shame, he’d come to like the stuffy man with the cold attitude and overbearing manner. “How did you get in?”
“The soldier at the door let me in.” She pointed at the door, as if to explain, and he nodded.
“Right. Forgot about that too.”
“Have you eaten? You should probably eat something. It will help you focus,” she advised, and he shook his head.
“No, but you could be right. Care to try Ann’s ideas of vegetarian food?” He gestured her to follow him, and he went back to the kitchen. He found some leftover zucchini casserole and put it in a pan to reheat on the stove. Skye had tasted the casserole before and said she’d join him.
They sat at the kitchen table, and he had to admit, it was weird. He should be out looking for Ann, instead, he was here, waiting on more demands for answers. Waiting on information. Waiting on her to be safe. Just… waiting.
He took a bite of the casserole and washed it down with the strangely flavored tea. He wanted to rush out of the kitchen, beat his fist into a wall, and roar his way across the sky until he found his mate, but instead, he took another bite of food and wondered at this particular custom.
Even in his own world, food was used as a distraction, a way to comfort, and as part of celebrations. It was the same here, though they were still finding creative ways to use canned and dried foods as they waited for fresh produce and meat to become available on a larger scale. People found food important though, and many of the homes that were now occupied had a garden with fruit trees and bushes.
The work of his people had helped to speed up the process of growing trees and plants, even animals in some cases, so that his people and any survivors found would be able to eat a proper diet. But it was also so that his people and the people of Earth could join in celebrating new life with food as an ice-breaker.
“I’m going to head back down to the clinic, I just wanted to come by to ask about Ann,” Skye said as she finished and stood up from the table. “I hope you’ll let me know when she returns home? She is my friend, after all.”
“I’ll make sure she calls you herself. After she’s rested, and able to, of course.”
“Indeed. Thank you, sir.” She tilted her head for a moment and left.
If she was working down at the clinic, she’d need to rush back to check on the many patients there. From what Rager had been told, the place was overflowing with wounded humans, caught in the crossfire, and likely hiding a revolutionary or two. Not that the clinic was to blame if there were fugitives hiding with the wounded. It was just that they would be removed and taken to the ship for care before they were questioned, and a sentence given.
Rager still wasn’t sure what to do with them, but it was a question he decided to talk about with Ann when she came home. She loved to talk with him about the plans for her planet, and she was an intelligent woman. She was also a pseudo-ambassador for her people. They could discuss ideas together and it helped him to get a better picture of what the results might be.
It was an unexpected benefit to having a mate, and one he was grateful for. So many of his people had abrasive, simpering wives that wanted to ingratiate themselves to him. They couldn’t think beyond the next week, much less the next month or year. Or even decades from now. Rager needed to think well beyond the here and now, which was why he remained in
his chair.
His connection to his mate allowed him the knowledge that she was safe, but not a lot more. For now, he’d have to take that knowledge as all he would get. Bootsteps rang out from the front door and Rager turned, a look of concern on his face.
He saw a messenger, one of the smaller of his kind, but still more powerful than any of the best human specimens about. “Sir, you’re needed.”
“Of course, I am, Milkos, let’s get back to the ship.” He followed the man out of the house and before he could think about it too hard, he was back on the ship.
He gave new orders, kept old orders in place in some situations, and looked over the reports from some of his generals below. “The fighting is almost over?”
“Yes, sir.” A general, a man named Denlux, snapped to attention and answered Rager. Rager noted the mint green eyes showed signs of fatigue and found it petty, but couldn’t but feel glad that he wasn’t the only one.
“Good. We all need our beds.” Rager flipped through a file with pictures, maps, and detailed accounts of the information gained when each new fighting group surrendered or, well, died.
“The last group is camped out on a hill, but we’re about to take them out with a transporter if they don’t surrender.” The general shook his head in confusion. “I still don’t understand what this fight is about. I don’t think I’ll ever understand these earthlings.”
“It’s not hard to understand really. These aren’t humans alone. They’re shifter people too. They’re more like us than we care to admit.” Rager let slip a truth that nobody had spoken about.
While his people took on the characteristics of humans, their DNA wasn’t pure. Some of it was the cause of the wolf shifters below. The DNA they’d left behind had come to life when the cataclysm released certain chemicals that had been trapped in the Earth’s crust so that the mostly humans with alien DNA had manifested as wolf shifters.
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