It made me wonder as to the seasons, whether they had a true summer here, if the leaves on the trees changed and fell. If they changed even to reds and oranges and yellows. Did it snow? So much to learn and I looked forward to learning it all, having Gage to show it to me.
As I was lost in thought, Geoffrey pulled what looked like a ReGen wand from his pocket and placed it in front of my body, running it briefly over my abdomen.
I glanced down at it, noticed it was similar to the ones the doctor had used after treating my ankle. It didn’t hurt, whatever he was doing. “What are you doing? I’m not injured.”
He ignored me, looking down at the odd device. His sigh was almost sad. “You are pregnant, Princess.”
My heart skipped a beat.
“What?” How could the sensor detect that? It was impossible. Well, not exactly impossible, but we’d made love just last night. It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours. “That’s crazy! There’s no way you can know that.”
He turned the device to me and I saw the report, the scientific terminology foreign to me, but I recognized two words, gestation and male. “That device can tell me I’m pregnant and that it’s a boy? How can you possibly know it’s a boy?”
“DNA scans don’t lie.”
“And you scanned my son, who has theoretically existed for less than a day, through my body?”
He tilted his head, his look condescending, full of dislike. The nervousness was gone. “This isn’t Earth, Danielle Gunderson. I had hoped to leave you out of this, as you are an innocent female, but you carry the heir.”
I frowned, stepped back.
“Because it’s a boy?” I was so confused. Why was Geoffrey, a guard, assessing whether I was having a baby?
“Because it’s Gage’s child,” he replied. His tone no longer held the neutral demeanor from our time dancing. “Boy or girl, it would make no difference.”
Well, now was an odd time to feel relieved that, if I had a daughter, she would inherit Gage’s seat on the Seven, equal to a son, but the creepy look in Geoffrey’s eyes was freaking me out. This whole thing was. I didn’t actually believe him. I mean, I’d just had sex for the first time less than twelve hours before. I cleared my throat, pasted on a fake smile. “I think I’ll go back inside now.”
He shook his head and I spun on my heel, walked toward the doors to find them closed. I ran to the handles, pulled. Locked. We were locked out. I whirled to face Geoffrey, sick with dread, looking for the guards who had stood at the top of the stairs. Gone. They were no longer at their posts and my stomach twisted in knots, sick with the knowledge, the suspicions filling my head.
It was like there’d been a missing puzzle piece and I’d found it. Once I put it in place, the big picture made sense. Oh god.
“It was you, wasn’t it?” I asked, my voice catching.
“What are you talking about, Princess?” From him, the title sounded like a curse, the way he hissed.
I shook my head. “Don’t call me that.”
“It’s what you are,” he countered. His hands fisted at his sides. “Gage’s precious princess.”
Oh fuck. He was an Elite Hunter. Fast. So damn fast I couldn’t outrun him on foot or even a bicycle, let alone in a heavy ball gown and heels. “What are you going to do? Kill me?”
He shook his head. He was nervous no longer, his intent clear now, his plan in place. Now I could see why he’d been nervous. Getting me out here, alone, had been his intention. Now that he’d succeeded—
“Oh, no, Princess. I won’t kill you yet. Not until you and the old bitch have served your purpose.”
Old bitch?
Desperate, I opened my mouth to scream, but Geoffrey’s Hunter speed truly was impressive, one hand covered my mouth and the other wrapped around my throat before I’d finished drawing in the air I needed to do so. His face was close to mine, so close I could see the cold, calculated fury in his eyes. He wasn’t insane. He was a stone-cold killer. He’d been the one to kidnap Gage, brutalize him and leave him for dead.
Oh God.
“Shhh, Princess. You can scream all you want soon enough. Not yet, or I’ll break your pretty neck and let Gage find your corpse in his bed.”
I nodded that I understood, not because I had any intention of giving in to this psycho, but because it wasn’t just me he could hurt, not anymore. I had a son growing inside me. Gage’s child. Mine. And I loved him the moment I discovered he existed. And I believed Geoffrey’s sensor now. He’d want to know the truth, to make the end result that much crueler.
“That’s better,” Geoffrey crooned.
There was something there, something I’d seen and ignored. Something so obvious, yet we’d all missed it. No, not all. Lexi had seen it, that very first day. He looks a lot like you, Gage, especially when he scowls like that.
He was scowling now, and I was shocked that no one had seen the resemblance between Geoffrey and Gage. That I hadn’t seen it. Lexi had said the words to Gage the first time we’d seen Geoffrey on the comms screen with Elon and Thomar. With Rayla and Mauve. Same eyes. Same dark hair. Same lips. Hatred in his eyes instead of love, but I recognized him now, knew what he was.
I licked my lips, said the words that I knew were true, even without a DNA sensor. “You’re his brother, aren’t you?”
He laughed, but it was cold and goosebumps rose on my arms.
“Very smart. Beautiful, too.” Satisfaction. Admiration. Something dark and filled with lust passed through his eyes. “Maybe I’ll rid you of the parasite in your womb and keep you for myself.”
Now that my brain had kicked back on, all kinds of terrible things were spinning around in there. Bile rose in my throat.
“Did you…did you kill his father? Your father?”
“Of course.” He kept one hand around my neck and pressed me flat to the cold stone wall of the palace. I wondered what the hell he was planning on doing, my mind racing. I knew I needed to keep him talking. Gage would notice I was missing. He would come for me. I just had to survive. Survive. Stall. Two things. I could do that, even in this deathtrap of a dress. It wasn’t so pretty now, the sparkles and the long skirt, it would never look beautiful again. Not after what I just learned, now that I knew I might die in this dress. Now that I knew the kind of man Geoffrey was. A killer.
I was the nervous one now. The one with the sweaty palms. “Why? Why would you do that?”
“You’ll know the truth soon enough.” It was the last thing he said to me before he lifted the strange medical gadget to my head, the same one the doctor had used to put me to sleep when I had surgery on my ankle.
And just like in the medical office, I blinked and then…nothing.
15
Dani
When I woke, my head was being cradled in someone’s lap, soft, gentle fingers strumming through my hair. It was soothing, comforting, and I didn’t want to open my eyes.
But I did. Because Geoffrey was going to hurt Gage. I had to stop him.
With a jolt, I tried to sit up, my head spinning.
“Shhh. You’re going to have a headache, dear. It’s from the anesthesia he used to knock you out. It tastes like metal on your tongue, but it goes away in a few minutes. I’m so sorry.” The female voice was one I recognized, and so were the metal bars of the cage we both sat in.
“Oh my god. Mauve? Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.”
We were back in the cave: the cave where I’d found Gage. And Mauve was right, the room gradually stopped spinning, and my mouth did taste like I’d been chewing on nails. Apparently, Geoffrey hadn’t repaired the chains, or bought new ones, simply thrown the helpless women into the cage and left them.
Either he thought we couldn’t get out of the cage, or he didn’t care.
“How far are we from the palace?”
Mauve shook her head. “I don’t know, exactly. Gage’s father never allowed me to come out here, and I had no desire to. It’s a relic of a more brutal past, one Ev
erians have worked centuries to forget.”
Well, that was interesting. So humans weren’t the only barbarians in the galaxy after all. I sighed and stood, shaking out my dress, thankful for the layers. It was cold, the sun long past setting. The twin moons that had been newly rising when I went onto the balcony with Geoffrey were now halfway through their arc in the sky. I guessed that half the night was gone.
She was crying, the tears silent but glittering like diamonds on her cheekbones. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“Why are you sorry? You didn’t do this.”
“In a way, I did, child. I did. I knew Gage’s father loved another. I knew, but loved him. I couldn’t let him go.”
“What?” I didn’t have time for this, for placing blame or trying to talk Gage’s mother out of whatever guilt-trip she was on. “We have to get out of here.” I shook the chain, stood up and pulled against it, testing the bolts that secured it to the rock walls. Stupid to wish now that Gage had shot both ends. If I could get it off the wall, I could use it as a weapon. But no. It wouldn’t budge. “Where is he? Where’s Geoffrey?”
“He went back to kill Gage. We’re just the bait, I’m afraid.”
“No.” This was not happening. I would not be the lure that led to Gage’s death.
“I’m so sorry.”
“Stop saying that. We are not dying, and neither is Gage.”
Mauve shook her head. Her beautiful gown, sprinkled with diamond dust, just like mine and Rayla’s, was torn and dirty. Her normally regal face looked drawn and worn and she looked much older than when I’d seen her last. Old, and broken.
I leaned down in front of her and lifted her chin so she would look into my eyes. “We are getting out of here. Do you hear me? I tracked Gage to this cave. I’m the one who found him. I’m not helpless. I’m a Hunter, too. So are you. We’ll figure out a way to get out of here and then we’ll warn Gage. Are we clear? No one is dying.” Except Geoffrey, but I wasn’t going to mention that. I had no doubt that he’d be gone from this world for what he’d done. And the bastards who locked the door on me? The men at the top of the stairs? I closed my eyes and thought of each and every one of them, committing every detail possible to memory, burning them into my brain for later.
Gage was mine, a tender lover, an amazing man, but this? Kidnapping and threatening his Marked Mate and his mother? This Gage would not forgive.
I found I didn’t want him to. Maybe it was the Hunter blood in me, but fury roared to life inside me, not despair. If Gage didn’t get to him first, I’d find a way to kill Geoffrey myself, for threatening me, my mate, my son, my family. They were mine. Even Mauve.
“Okay, Mom. Get up. We’ve got to move.”
“Mom?”
“Yes, you’re mine now, so get used to it.”
She actually laughed but reached her aged hand up so I could pull her to her feet. “I can see now why Gage is in love with you. You are a good match.”
I had my new mother’s approval. I’d told myself it didn’t matter, but I found myself pulling her to me for a hug anyway. “I haven’t had a mother in a very long time.”
“I am honored to have you, Daughter. And I’m sorry if I was abrupt. I love Rayla and Gage, both. I wanted what was best for them. That’s all. You were unexpected.”
I squeezed her, hard, then stepped back, turning to inspect the door. “I know. I’m sorry I ruined your plans. But Rayla is totally in love with Elon, and I love your son, so you’d better roll with it.”
“I will roll.”
The odd response made me smile, but not as much as inspecting the lock on the door. Same stupid slide bolt. Geoffrey must have found the bolt where I’d thrown it across the room after freeing Gage. “God, he must think women are stupid.”
Either that, or our escape was irrelevant to his plans. The second possibility more likely than the first.
I pulled the bolt free and unlocked the door. Swinging it wide, I stepped out of the cage, Mauve right behind me. We walked together, arm in arm, to the cave entrance to take stock of our situation. It was cold. Dark. Miles of rugged mountain terrain stretched out before us. And we were in gowns and heels. Not ideal.
But I’d been here before. I’d tracked Gage through these mountains. I mentally retraced my steps, thought about where we might hide until my mate came for us. Because he would come. I knew he would come. We just had to survive until then.
“We can’t stay here.” If Geoffrey came back, I wasn’t going to be a sitting duck, waiting for him to kill us.
“But where can we go?”
I slipped off one high-heeled shoe, then the other. Bending down, I reached up beneath my dress and tore some of the underlying, diamond-free silk from the lining, enough to wrap one foot. “Take off your shoes. We’re going to wrap our feet in silk. It’ll make it harder for him to track our footsteps.”
Mauve did the best she could, but she was older, and spent her life in the capital, not the mountains. But she did as I said and I helped her tie make-shift silk sandals around her feet. It wasn’t the best, but it was better than nothing.
“Let’s go. Stay close, and don’t talk above a whisper, no matter what you hear.”
“Lead the way, Dani. I’m with you. I’ll try to keep up.”
I nodded and started down the hill to the trail I’d followed to get here. I knew it was away from the palace, toward the Touchstone, but there were small caves and rock outcroppings where we could hide, or ambush Geoffrey if he came for us.
I helped my new mother down the hill, her insecurity fading to a determined resilience I knew was a family trait. We had to keep moving.
The farther we moved from the cave, the more worried I became. I had a feeling in my gut that we were being followed. The bait in a trap for Gage, as Mauve had suggested. Perhaps we hadn’t been chained because Geoffrey wanted us to escape.
Damn it.
Mind spinning with terrible thoughts, I pushed them aside and retraced every inch of ground I’d covered between the Touchstone and the cave to reach Gage. There had to be somewhere to set up an ambush.
If I died out here, I was taking that bastard with me.
16
Gage
Fire had replaced the blood in my veins. For the first time in my life I fully understood the significance of my family bloodline, the gifts of the original royal families. Not even Bryn could keep up as I raced across the ground like the wind.
I didn’t bother with a shuttle. I could scent the bastard and my mate, smell the terror pressed to the locked doors on the balcony. He’d held her there. Frightened her. Carried her away.
Von was tracking the others I’d scented, the six males who had stood by and watched the traitor hurt my mate. Torment her. Take her from me. I’d named them, known each and every one by the lingering trace they’d left behind.
“Gage. Stop!” Bryn’s voice carried on the still night air, but I didn’t want to stop. I needed to kill Geoffrey.
“Gage! We need a plan. If we surprise him, he might kill her.” He was behind me, running full speed, an Elite Hunter in his prime, and he was right.
I stopped, my jaw clenched, power surging through my body. I could run all night. Hunt for days. Something dormant within me was awake now, awake and demanding to go to her. Find her. Save her. I’d never been this wild, this focused and out of control at the same time. This was instinct, the innate need of a Hunter to protect his mate. And thanks to my royal blood, I was the deadliest man on Everis right now.
Bryn caught up to me, and we waited a few minutes, breathing deeply as Thomar ran up to join us. Thomar’s eyes were grave and I knew he felt the betrayal as deeply as I. Elon was absent, which was a blessing. If I’d seen him here, instead of protecting my sister back at the palace, I would have killed him and demand that my sister choose another mate, one who took her life and safety seriously.
“By the gods, I didn’t know anyone could move that fast.” Bryn was taking deep breaths, resting, his
hands on his thighs as he bent over.
“He is a prince,” Thomar offered, the explanation simple in his eyes.
“You know where he’s taking her.” Bryn tilted his head, looking up at me from the corner of his eyes.
“Yes.” I did. Thomar did not know where Dani had found me, locked in that cage, beaten and burned and left for dead, but Bryn knew and, like me, recognized the terrain. “We’re getting close.”
“You can’t just charge in there without a plan. He might kill her.”
The rage boiling through me wasn’t in the mood for a plan. I couldn’t think past killing Geoffrey and taking my mate into my arms. “I will kill him. That is my plan.”
“Great plan,” Bryn said. “But I’ve got a better idea.”
My feet were burning to move, my vision focused on the horizon. Soon I wouldn’t be able to hold back the animal inside me demanding its mate. “Make it fast, Bryn. I can’t hold back for long.”
Bryn stood and held up his hands. “We’ll split up, surround the cave, and come at it from both sides.”
“Fine.” Dani was out there. I could feel her now. “I’m going this way. If I find him, I will kill him.”
“And if I find him?” Bryn asked.
“Save him for me.”
“Done.”
I took off again, Thomar following me, Bryn veering off in a slightly different direction. We were close, and I knew Bryn was taking the more direct route to the cave. I was faster. I went around the edge, over the ridge and across to the other side, farther from the palace. If Geoffrey was the patient Hunter I suspected him to be, he would be waiting for me.
But he was going to be disappointed. Dani was out here, the link between us strong, vibrant, pulling me intuitively in a direction that didn’t make any sense. But I didn’t argue with the instinct telling me to run to her. I couldn’t. She was mine, and she needed me. Every cell in my body answered the call. My mind went quiet and I ran, moving so fast my own feet were a blur. Thomar lagged farther and farther behind, but he was young, a Hunter, and I knew he wouldn’t lose the trail. He would come.
His Virgin Princess (Interstellar Brides®: The Virgins Book 3) Page 13
