by Sierra York
All of the Htflds had been warriors on the planet Warden before they were exiled. Grys was too young to remember their home planet, but Ryn wasn’t. Ryn talked all the time when they were growing up about how he was going to go back. He’d prove that he was needed. He’d laid the burden of the family’s return to Warden on his own shoulders, claiming he’d make himself so invaluable that they’d have to let them all come back.
That scenario never really played out the way he’d thought it would…but what childish pipedream ever does. Ryn was lucky though. He’d almost gotten what he’d been looking for. He was an Intergalactic solider, which was much more impressive than being a marshal. Being a marshal required extreme physical strength and great mental abilities, but intergalactic soldiers were the elite of the elite, and Ryn had been a shoo-in from the moment they’d started training. He’d beaten everyone in every activity they’d thrown at them.
Grys was proud of, and a little humbled by, his brother—but he wasn’t about to let him know that.
“You’ve got the ass part right.” He chuckled as he passed him and went into the control room. Grys went straight to the monitor he’d need and began to punch in coordinates that he now remembered better than his own identification number. Ryn came and stood behind him, watching over his shoulder. “So, why were you hiding out on my ship? Do mother and father know you’ve returned?”
Ryn was quiet for a moment. “No. They don’t. I was on your ship because I wanted to talk to you before I did anything else. I’ve been hearing things. You’re the only one I trusted who would give me the information I needed.”
Grys stopped pushing buttons and turned back to his brother. “What’s up?”
Ryn stared at him, his blue eyes locked on his brother’s. “There’s been talk that the Mcys made a ballsy move against us. One that wasn’t retaliated against.”
Grys tried not to let the disappointment show in his eyes and turned back to the panel. “It’s not just talk. It happened. They attacked Tylr, and then took him and zapped his ass to Earth.”
Ryn’s large hand fell onto Grys' shoulder at his response. He turned his brother to face him. “What the fuck, Grys? We need to go get him. Earth is a closed planet. This could screw all of us.”
Grys shook his head. “I’m sorry, brother. I wanted to retaliate, I swear I did. But Tylr wouldn’t let me.” He looked back to his brother’s eyes. “Tylr is fine. He’s returned home, and he even got a wife out of the deal.”
Ryn lifted his hand from Grys’ shoulder. “You better start filling in the blanks before I get pissed off and turn this ship toward Mcy.”
Grys turned frantically back to the panel so he could show his brother what was going on. “No. We have to head for Earth. I have to rescue her.” He punched in a few more buttons. “See?” he said, pointing to the screen.
Ryn shook his head. “What the hell am I supposed to be looking at? Grys, what gives? You’re not making any sense.”
Grys scanned the screen. She wasn’t there. He watched every face as it passed. She wasn’t there. What would they have done with her? He moved his fingers across the screen, spreading out his search area. He watched as the picture zoomed out and he saw the perimeter of what he assumed was the woman’s compound. He watched as it zoomed out further and another, bigger compound came into view. He had the computer zoom back in, this time on the larger compound. He was noticing major differences between the two places.
There was far less wooded area, and the buildings looked newer and bigger. He also noticed that there were vehicles. He didn’t remember seeing vehicles last time he’d been on Earth.
“Is that what I think it is?” Ryn asked.
Grys looked behind him. “That depends. Do you think there is a male military compound on Earth? Cause if you do, then it is what you think it is.”
Ryn’s eyes bugged out a bit. “You can’t be serious.”
Grys looked at his brother, full in the face this time. He wanted him to understand. “Serious as finding a Mcy in your kitchen.”
“Fuck off. You can’t have left Htlfd thinking you’d go to Earth alone to perform a rescue. You definitely couldn’t have been planning to infiltrate a male military compound.”
Grys thought for a moment. “Yes and no. I absolutely did have every intention of going to Earth and carrying out a rescue. My fated mate is being held against her will. I have to admit that I wasn’t planning on the male military compound being a part of it. Come to think of it, it’s really awesome you’re here, my amazing intergalactic soldier brother.”
“Abso-fucking-lutely not! You’re out of your damn mind.”
Grys turned back to the screen, continuing to move his fingers over it, searching. As he searched, he attempted to send thoughts to his mate, desperate for her to hear him. “I assure you I’m not.”
Ryn was pacing behind him now. The control room was too small for the both of them to move far, so Ryn had gone into the hallway. His voice echoed a bit. “Wait. Did you say fated mate?”
“Yes.”
“That is impossible. There is no such thing, not outside of the fairytales from Warden.”
Grys left the screen and stood in the doorway. “I used to think the same, until Tylr met Maria.”
“Maria?”
“Yes. Maria. She’s our sister-in-law, Tylr’s wife and fated mate.”
Ryn could feel his blood pressure rising. Grys was being evasive on purpose. There was way more to this story than he had heard through whispers on his way home to Htfld. He lunged at Grys, clamping his hand around his neck. “Start filling in the holes.”
Grys was struggling a bit to talk. Talking required air. He tried his best. “The short version is that Tylr pissed off a couple of Mcys at the Space Station so they scuffled. Tylr lost, and they zapped his unconscious body to Earth where Maria found him in the dirt. Maria brought him back to health. I was able to track Tylr because the Mcys left blood behind. When I showed up to return him to Htfld, they’d discovered they were fated mates. Maria returned to Htfld with us.”
Ryn squeezed his brother’s throat tighter. “That explains Tylr but not you.”
Grys nodded. “When I teleported us all back to the ship, another female was trying to make Maria stay. She was transported with us. She stayed on the ship with us for a few days before an Earthling zapped himself onto my ship and stole her back.” Telling the story was getting him heated. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, and could tell his face was turning red. “I didn’t know she was my mate, or I would have gone immediately. They’re treating her poorly because she was with us. Earth is closed. I can only imagine what they’ve done to her. They’re not bound by Intergalactic Law.”
Ryn loosened his grip, as he let all of the information sink in. “So, how did you realize she was your fated mate?”
“I heard her asking me to rescue her.”
“What?” Ryn’s confusion shone on his face as he dropped his hand from his brother’s throat.
“I heard her. In here.” Grys tapped on his temple. “It really happens, just like in the old stories. I can hear her thoughts.”
Ryn slumped a little. “Holy shit.”
“Exactly,” Grys said, nodding before he went back to his computer screen. He kept zooming in and out of buildings, watching and hoping to see her face. He only had two buildings left to check, and one was huge. He decided to start with the smaller one. It looked like an office building from the outside, but as soon as he zoomed into the interior he knew differently. This was a safety facility, one that the military would use for all sorts of things; meetings, interrogations, quarantine, and universe only knew what else. That was when it hit him. They’d quarantined her. He yelled for his brother. “Ryn. What do you know about Earth?”
Ryn came through the door almost immediately. “What do you mean?”
Grys turned to him. “I mean, what do you know about Earth. Its policies and social things.”
Understanding cloaked Ry
n’s. He stiffed his spine and went into solider mode. “Not much. Earth is closed. Like you said earlier, they play by different rules. What little I know probably won’t help us get in, though.”
Grys stared at him. “Us?”
“Well, yeah. You think I’m letting my little brother infiltrate a military compound on his own? Even though the tests showed it, now I know I’m the smarter of the two of us.” He finished with a shake of his head as he pushed Grys aside and replaced his brother’s finger on the screen with his own. “This is a male compound, so she shouldn’t be hard to spot.”
Grys stood very still as he watched his brother work. He was more thankful than he could admit that Ryn would be with him. He knew when they found Carissa, if anything happened to him, Ryn would get her out. It made his heart hurt just thinking about it. He was snapped out of his downward thoughts by his brother’s exclamation.
“Bingo! Told ya.”
Grys rushed to Ryn’s side as his brother pointed to the screen and began to zoom in further. “Is this your lady?”
Grys’ legs wobbled under him. She looked horrible. She was too thin; her hair was stringy and dull. She was sitting on a metal table, continuously wiping her cheeks. He nodded. “I’ll kill every single one of them!” he roared.
Chapter Three
Carissa was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open. Tears continued to leak from them and run down her face to cross her neck. It was torture. A knock sounded at her door. She wondered why anyone bothered. She’d never once invited someone in—yet they always came.
She looked up and saw two men in khaki standing above her. “The Board needs to see you.”
Her throat was raw from all the crying she’d done in the last few days. “The Board?” she croaked out.
“Yes. They have some questions for you, as well as the results from your testing.”
Hope began to fill Carissa. If they had her results and were going to tell her what they were, she felt that was an indicator that the results would be good. She didn’t see how they couldn’t be. No one had touched her. She wasn’t contaminated. This quarantine was unfounded.
She sat up, slowly pushing herself to standing. She hadn’t been eating or sleeping much, though she’d had ample opportunity for both, so she was weak. “Lead the way,” she said, finally standing on her own.
The men shuffled around and walked her toward the door. They looked at a camera that was high in the corner before they opened the door. She walked with them down a long hallway and entered a small conference room. There was a long table with about twelve chairs around it in the center of the room. One wall was completely made of windows and the others were painted muted beige. No color anywhere. The carpet matched the walls, and the furniture was all a light colored wood. It was a depressing room. The orderlies pointed to the chair at the head of the table. “You sit there. Everyone will be here soon.”
Carissa’s nerves were on high alert. She didn’t think they’d really hurt her but stranger things had happened. She’d been accidently kidnapped by aliens for crying out loud. She moved slowly to the chair, her body too weak to move very quickly. She sat in the chair the orderlies had indicated, and tried to slow her breathing. She watched the clock as the minutes ticked by. The steady rhythm calmed her and allowed her mind to wander. She thought of Grys and wondered what he was doing right that moment. She conjured his face. She sat in the ominous chair, blissfully happy to be staring into the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. She moved from his eyes to his nose, memorizing every tiny piece, finally landing on his lips. She sucked in a breath when they opened and he spoke to her.
“Hang on. I’m coming.”
Carissa felt herself start to tip in the chair. She popped her eyes open just in time to see a suit clad man walk through the door while she waved her arms and wobbled, desperately trying to keep herself and the chair upright.
She was eventually able to get the chair back on all four of its legs, and she moved closer to the table and looked toward it. She didn’t want to make eye contact with the man. She took a deep calming breath and exhaled it slowly, waiting for someone to say something.
Just above her head, someone finally spoke. The harsh cold voice asked one simple question.
“Where did they take her?”
Carissa was really confused. She’d been over this with them more times than she could count…why were they asking again? It wasn’t like she would change her answer now.
“I’ve already told you. I don’t know where Maria is.”
The man leaned down so his mouth was right next to her ear. She could feel his warm breath with every word. “Not Maria. The other one, the new one. Roxanne.”
He didn’t stand back up. He stayed there, his hot breath brushing past her face with every exhale.
Carissa shook her head. She wanted to turn and look at the male, but she didn’t dare. She stayed stock-still. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She felt him stiffen beside her and slowly straighten up. He then tossed a folder onto the table in front of her. It landed with a thud and then slightly slid across the table, landing just out of arms reach. “Well that’s too bad, isn’t it? We’ve gotten all your results back, and now the committee just needs to make a decision about your future. I suggest you figure out how you want this to go before everyone else gets here. There aren’t many options for a tainted, used female in the compound. The vast expanse of the wild country is, of course, always open to you.” He was pacing behind her. Finally he came to her side, crouching down next to her chair. He put his hand on her cheek and used it to gently push her face toward his. “You’re too pretty to waste, though. I imagine that someone would forgive your contamination, especially if it was only temporary.” An evil shine had glossed over his eyes.
Carissa’s heart was pounding against her chest. She couldn’t breathe. His hand on her face was making her very uncomfortable. Even the threats he was uttering couldn’t compare to the terror his eyes were causing to settle into her chest. She thought about what he was saying as fear gripped her, rendering her momentarily mute.
He spoke again when she didn’t respond. “I see. I’m sorry you feel that way. It would have been lovely to be able to keep you.” He ran the pad of his thumb across her cheek as a tear leaked from her eye.
Desperation replaced the fear, and she forced herself to speak. “I’m really sorry I can’t help you. I don’t even know a Roxanne. Please. I swear I’m clean. No one touched me. I want to be a wife, a great wife to a wonderful husband. I know I’m undeserving, but please give me a chance.”
The male with the evil eyes studied her face as he continued to wipe away her tears with his thumb. “Shh, darlin’. I’m sure we’ll be able to work something out.”
Though his voice had changed—it had become more soothing, and he was saying nicer things—Carissa felt a new level of fear. He was more dangerous than ever when he seemed to be nice. She could tell. His eyes gave him away. She closed her eyes and nodded slightly. He said nothing. She said nothing. She looked around the room expecting to see at least the men that had brought her in.
There was no one. The room remained silent.
After a few more moments of silence, Carissa heard a voice she recognized—and her head snapped up as her eyes darted to the door.
*****
Grys followed Ryn through the brush, trying to stay out of sight. Right before they’d landed they’d finalized their plan, and they knew that their best bet was to stay hidden as long as possible. Grys suggested that they just get close enough to Earth to teleport Carissa to the ship but Ryn reminded him that it might not be safe to do so. First, they had to think about if she wasn’t alone or if someone was touching her when they found her—and then, of course there was her physical health. Neither of them had ever teleported a less-than-healthy being before. From the looks of her on the screen, she was far from healthy.
Grys’ gut clenched as he thought of how thin she’d bec
ome. He remembered her red cheeks, too. He wanted to make it in time. He had to. He couldn’t bear to think of what could be if he didn’t. He just needed her to do her part and stay where she was. He needed her to stay alive. He began to speak to her in his head again but frustration mounted when he still got no response. Through his anger he yelled to her in his head.
“Hang on. I’m coming.”
Ryn and Grys had made it from the ship into the building they knew the Earthlings were holding Carissa in. They’d had no trouble gaining access to the building itself. The foolish Earthlings thought that they were safe from outside forces, so they didn’t lock anything; they’d been able to walk right in through the front door.
On the ship they’d decided it was better to stay together, even if it took longer. They would gain entry, find Carissa, and get out of there as fast as universally possible. They knew little of the building’s function, but were able to study a few floors of the lay out before they’d arrived. From the door they’d come in through, Grys knew they’d have to turn right then check many rooms on a long hallway before going left again. He followed his brother.
Ryn was much quieter than Grys, even though he had a good fifty pounds of solid muscle more than Ryn did. Grys wasn’t surprised though. They’d all know from the time they were very little that Ryn would be the tallest, the fastest, the biggest, and the best. They’d all taken their turns trying to usurp him, and each had failed in turn until they all finally just learned to accept their place would never be first. Then they’d all decided to vie for second. Brothers were like that. Close ones anyway. Grys shook his head, trying to clear out the nostalgia. Carissa was what was important now. He shouldn’t be thinking about stupid sibling rivalry.
“We need to go right,” he whispered.
Ryn turned slowly and held a finger to his lips, motioning for Grys to stay silent as he leaned against a wall right beside a door. After making eye contact with his brother, Ryn moved his hand from his mouth to his ear, letting Grys know he should listen. There were soft voices coming from behind the door. The brothers listened intently but could not make out any specific words, only tones. There were only two; one was male and the other was distinctly female.
