by Ravenna Tate
Gia swallowed hard. “How do you know where they are?”
She clicked a few more times, and then the outline of buildings overlaid the blinking dots. “This is how.”
“But you can’t track individuals?”
“No. Too risky. One person carries the GPS device the same way a person carried flags on Earth. It’s akin to their regimental colors. But for them to each carry devices could lead an enemy back here, or to another tracking station. If the person carrying the GPS device is captured, he has the responsibility of getting it to another member of his team if he can. If he can’t, he destroys it.”
“But then no one knows where they are.”
“There is one backup. So if both are captured and both devices are destroyed, that’s correct. We wouldn’t know where they were.”
“But they have radios and stuff, right?”
“Yes. They can communicate with each other. And there are reporters now from both Sera and Addo on Voyeur Moon. Nothing is secret about this mission. We’ll hear something soon, Gia. It will be okay. Jakara is a warrior. Never forget that. And so are Thane and Rune now. The guys know what they’re doing.”
Gia turned around when she realized that Betsy, Marianne, and Fallon were gathered close to Callie’s computer as well. They all sat down together to watch the blinking dots.
****
Thane, Vaughn, Blake, and Arlo finished rounding up the last of the prisoners in the B Section of the Zoo. Others were busy with the remainder of the Sections. The guards had already been marched out into the courtyard and executed, along with the Wardens. Rune, Cord, and River were with the troops currently inside the holding cells.
Thane and Rune, along with River and Vaughn, and Cord and Arlo, had asked Jakara to split them up in case one of them didn’t make it. None of the pairs wanted their woman to lose both her men.
He and Rune thought of Gia as their woman, regardless of the fact they hadn’t made that official the way Cord and Arlo had done with Fallon, Jakara had done with Callie, and Vaughn and River had done with Marianne. They were going to make it out of this alive, and they were going back to her.
He hated not being able to talk to her. She must be worried sick by now, and he was even more grateful that she’d chosen to stay on Addo with the other women than he’d been three days ago. She and Fallon would have felt too distant from everyone for the duration, and that wouldn’t have been good for either of them.
He was carrying one of the GPS devices that tracked their brigade, and another soldier carried the backup. Thane wished there was a way to let Gia know the flashing dot she could view online was his heart, beating only for her.
He’d told her he loved her, but she hadn’t responded to that. He’d told himself that was because she’d believed he’d simply said it in the heat of the moment, not because she didn’t also love him. Later that night, after Gia had fallen asleep, Rune had chided him for saying the words at all, reminding him they’d agreed not to tell her. Thane had told his brother to fuck off.
All that mattered was Gia. He kept her dark eyes and all that dark hair in his mind constantly. It was the only thing keeping him going right now. The haunted faces of the Zoo prisoners were horrible to look at, and he could only imagine how much more terrible it would be to face the women who were in the holding cells. When he realized the depths of what Gia had endured, he longed to hold her again and tell her it would be okay.
He had to make it back alive so he could that. He had to.
****
Rune was certain he’d be sick by the end of this day. Most of the women they’d rescued from the holding cells were too thin, and the haunted, dead looks in their eyes tore at his soul. Hearing what Gia had gone through was bad enough, but seeing these women barely react when they were told their ordeal was over was too much for any man to bear. Any decent man, that was.
The guards and Wardens had all been executed, and now the women were being loaded onto transports to make the journey back to Sera or Addo, where physicians would first see them, and then they’d be given housing and jobs. They also would be able to try to locate their families in time, even if it was to find out they were already dead. They had a right to have some kind of closure after what they’d been through.
The stench inside the tiny cells where they’d kept the women was horrible. It was a wonder any of them lived without contracting skin or respiratory diseases. And there were so many of them. The record-keeping was shoddy at best, but it appeared they now housed over five hundred Earth women in this facility. Freeing them all would take most of the day.
And considering how many people had been taken from Earth in two years, Rune could only imagine how many women had died in that time if there were only five hundred of them in this facility today. How many were still out there, with the men who had taken them? Would they be able to find those women, too, and get them to safety?
Rune wondered how Thane and the others were making out in the Zoo. He hoped they were having as much success. These two facilities had been considered the easiest to overtake since they weren’t as heavily guarded as the actual prisons.
As he worked, Rune kept Gia’s sweet face and dusky voice in his head. It was the only way to keep from screaming. He’d never missed anyone so much in his life, and this was the first mission he’d ever been on during which he had a woman to think about. One who waited for his return. One he couldn’t wait to hold again.
He would return to her. He and Thane both would. And then they would spend the rest of their lives making themselves worthy of her love.
Chapter Thirteen
Gia and the others finally heard something substantial on the fourth day. The news stations aired footage of the holding cells and the Zoo ablaze. They reported that all the Wardens and guards were dead, and every woman inside both facilities, plus the male prisoners inside the Zoo, were on their way to Addo or Sera.
Troops were going door-to-door in the countryside, looking for citizens or Tyranns hiding in homes, and other units were still inside the three prisons scattered on Voyeur Moon. The reporters couldn’t get close to the prisons because those running the mission didn’t want them hurt, but drones and other craft had been able to do flyovers from time to time.
It was estimated by each news station that over twenty thousand Tyranns had already been apprehended, but that there were at least that many more either hiding on Voyeur Moon, or working inside the prisons as guards and other officials. The Regum and Addonians still had their work cut out for them.
The women learned that the troops who had liberated and then burned the holding cells and the Zoo were now joining the other teams scouring the countryside or inside the prisons. That meant that Thane and Rune might find themselves in one of the prisons.
Gia asked Callie to find their dot, and when she did, she breathed a sigh of relief. “They’re looking for homes.” She pointed to the far left of the grid. “That is Atkins Prison, where Blake and Betsy were held.” Then she pointed toward two other buildings. “And those are the other two. Our guys aren’t anywhere near them.”
“How long do you think this will take?”
She shrugged. “No clue.”
By the sixth day, Gia was cranky all the time. Even the ocean failed to lift her spirits. The other women were on edge, too, and they were all snapping at each other over silly things. The mood lightened considerably when Callie let out a war whoop late in the evening, and they all came running into the room to gather close to her computer.
“An email,” she said, her voice breathy. “From Jakara. Finally.”
They pushed close to read it.
Callie, my one true love, I only have a moment. Communication is difficult so I’m sending this to all of you who are waiting. Tell Marianne that Vaughn and River send their love and cannot wait to see her again. Tell Betsy that Blake sends his love and is counting the moments. Tell Fallon that Cord and Arlo miss her more than words can say, and love her with all their heart
s. Rune and Thane have asked you to tell Gia they are coming back to her, and want to spend the rest of their lives making her happy, if she will have them.
As an aside, they did use the “L” word, but I’m not supposed to tell you all this. They want to say it to her in person.
We are scouring the countryside for citizens and Tyranns alike, and are approximately sixty percent finished. Other troops have taken each of the three prisons. It won’t be long now, my love. I cannot wait to hold you again. All my love forever, Jakara.
The women all talked at once, but Gia stood in front of the computer and read Jakara’s aside over and over again. Thane and Rune loved her. They’d told Jakara that. Those two big, strong, alpha men had told their commander that they loved her. It didn’t matter that they hadn’t asked him to pass that along. She understood why they hadn’t. It was the same reason she hadn’t told them she loved them before they left.
They were coming back to her. She could feel it now, down to the depths of her soul. And when they did, she would tell them, and then she would never leave their sides again.
That evening, the women cooked together and drank more alcohol than they should, but it was a celebration, after all. The talked most of the night, about their lives back on Earth, about their new home on Addo, and about anything and everything else that came up. The mood was festive, bawdy, and lighthearted.
Gia felt like she was back in middle school at a sleepover, and she hadn’t been this comfortable around a group of people since before the invasions. She could live here in this home, with these women and her men, for the rest of her life. Was that really a possibility? She hoped so.
It took three more days before the news stations finally had reporters close enough to the prisons to show the outsides of the buildings on TV. The prisons no longer belonged to the Tyranns. The combined forces of the Regum and Addonians were busy transporting prisoners to Addo or Sera, in the same way they’d transported the prisoners from inside the holding cells and the Zoo.
The guards and Wardens of all three prisons had been executed, as had most of the ancillary staff. Those who claimed they’d been forced to work in the prisons by the Tyranns would be given trials on Sera in the coming months.
The news stations also reported that ninety percent of the countryside on Voyeur Moon had been swept, and every home within those parameters was now empty. As soon as they finished the remaining ten percent, they would burn the prisons. Each home they found had been emptied of people and their possessions, if the people living there were ordinary citizens, and the home had been burned. The Addonians and Regum were leaving no structures on the planet.
The military bases close to each of the prisons, and next to the holding cells and Zoos had been destroyed. There was one additional base, on the other side of Voyeur Moon, close to where Jakara had lived, and that, too, had now been destroyed.
The power of the Tyranns was broken. If there were any left on Voyeur Moon, they were in hiding, but the Regum and Addonians had plans for them, too. They had deployed drones to fly over the caves and rocks, looking for heat sources. Unless the Tyranns had built a secret underground bunker that no one had ever heard about, they now had no place left to hide on Voyeur Moon.
As the information that Fallon and Gia distributed reached the citizens of Addo and Sera, their attitude on TV changed as well. Most expressed shock and outrage that such atrocities could have gone on for two years without anyone knowing about it. Many citizens of both planets volunteered to join the Regum and Addonians who planned to help rebuild Earth.
As Gia and Fallon helped Marianne, Betsy, and Callie gather all this information and work on a database that one of the Ministry departments now oversaw, Gia was struck over and over by the generosity of the people on Sera and Addo. When she’d first come here, even after being rescued from the holding cells, she’d looked at everyone as the enemy. They were the aliens who had invaded her planet and then turned a blind eye while she was gang-raped by groups of men.
But now she realized the majority of the people living on Sera and Addo had no idea what had really been going on inside those facilities. Only one group was responsible for it, not the people on all three planets. And that group was now nearly wiped out. No woman from Earth would ever again have to endure what countless others had gone through. At least not at the hands of the Tyranns. Gia would dedicate her life to making sure of that.
The men had been gone two weeks when Callie heard from one of the Regum generals. She went into the communications room to talk to him, and when she came out, the look on her face said it all. “The mission is a complete success. They’re coming home.”
That day on each TV station, the reporters showed celebrations going on in every city on both Sera and Addo. They interviewed countless prisoners from Voyeur Moon, who each told the same story. After listening to a few, Gia couldn’t watch anymore. She’d glimpsed that same haunted look in her own eyes in the mirror for two solid years. Was that what the guys had seen, too, the first day they’d met her?
She’d see them again soon. It had only been two weeks, but it felt like she’d lived those first two years here all over again, only this time with the knowledge that there were men she loved, and who loved her.
The day dragged on with no word. The group made dinner, and then just as they sat down to eat, each of their cell phones rang at the same time. Chairs toppled over, and the room was filled with squeals and excited chatter as they each ran to answer their phones.
“Gia, it’s Thane. We’re on our way to Addo.”
“Oh God! I’m so happy! I don’t know what to say!” She felt like a schoolgirl talking to her first crush on the phone.
“So are we, love. We’ll be at the house in less than two hours.”
Love…
“Thank you. I can’t wait to see you both.”
The phone was silent for a few seconds and she thought she’d lost the call, but then Rune’s voice was on the line. “And we can’t wait to see you, sweetheart. We have so much to tell you.”
“And I have something to tell you both, too. But not on the phone. I want to look into your eyes as I say it.”
She swore she heard them high-five each other, and then Rune told her they needed to go, but they’d see her soon.
The group did more talking than eating, and when the first sounds of land crafts reached their ears, they abandoned the table and the rest of their dinner to run out onto the beach. Three crafts approached them at a rather high speed, and when they stopped, no one waited until the men had disembarked to approach the ships.
Gia could hardly breathe as she ran toward Thane and Rune. They were still dressed in their combat fatigues, and both men needed a shave and a haircut, but she’d never seen them look sexier. Rune reached her first and pulled her into a tight bear hug, twirling her around so many times she became dizzy. She was laughing and crying so hard she couldn’t even speak.
He kissed her, and she could barely catch her breath, but that didn’t stop her from returning the kiss. As soon as he released her, Thane pulled her close and held her so tightly she was sure she’d pass out. “I love you,” he whispered, close to her ear.
“I love you, too.” To finally be able to say it was so freeing that she cried harder.
He pulled away, the smile on his face bright enough to light up the dim sky, and then he kissed her deeply, passionately, until nothing existed but him and Rune. He released her, and then Rune gathered her in his arms again. “I love you, too, Gia. So much.”
“I love you, too. I love you both. You’ve saved me, both of you. Do you understand that? I was lost. I was dead. I was only existing. Nothing mattered, but that’s not true anymore. I want to stay here, with both of you. For the rest of my life.”
She swore Rune’s eyes were moist as he gazed at her. He cupped her face, and then he kissed her again. “Just try and leave us, beautiful girl. Just try it. You’re stuck with us forever.”
“There’s no
place else I’d rather be.”
They each pulled her close again, stroking her hair and back, and Gia was lost in their scents, their voices, and their touch. She was dimly aware that the others had already gone into the house, but she didn’t care. She was here, on the beach, with her two men, and this was where she wanted to stay forever.
They loved her and she loved them, and she would make sure they always knew that, every day, for the rest of their lives. This was her home now, and they were her whole world. She belonged here, with Thane and Rune, and that’s where she would stay.
Epilogue
Gia rolled over and smiled at her men. She had lived in this beautiful home by the Great Western Ocean on Addo with Thane and Rune, plus Blake, Betsy, Callie, Jakara, Marianne, Vaughn, River, Fallon, Cord, and Arlo for six months. She and Fallon still worked on writing and translating propaganda for the people of Sera and Addo, but now they also worked on writing content for the people of Earth.
Teams of volunteers from Sera and Addo had been dispatched to Earth, along with those prisoners rescued from the holding cells, the Zoo, and the three prisons who wanted to return to their own planet. It was estimated that complete reconstruction of the infrastructures and defense systems, including the satellites, would take three to five years, but the important thing was that it was finally underway. The Regum had kept their promise to the Addonians, and were fully cooperating in the efforts, as well as financing them.
Gia had elected not to return to Earth. Her place was here, with Thane and Rune. They, however, had talked her into visiting once the planet was made whole. But this morning, no one was working, and she didn’t want to talk about reconstruction or returning to Earth. The weather had turned colder outside, but she was warm, snuggled up in Thane’s arms.
“What would you like to do today?” he asked.
She gave him a sly smile. “You did promise to take me out in the snow.”
