Alcandian Rage

by Mary Wine

  So she had found reason to not mingle with males. Her mother had voiced objections but there was a comfort inside her studio that grew more enticing every day that Zeva didn’t let Paneil drag her out of it.

  Ravid and Keenan had walked right into her studio. Judgment officials were the only warriors who traveled over the gender boundaries without penalty. The two huge males had silently appeared in the doorway and searched out their prey. It had been a move of ruthless precision that she remembered in detail. The way they moved was deadly. Their eyes slashed through you in seconds, baring your deepest thoughts to their precise mental interrogations.

  Judgment officials used their psychic abilities to search for truth in their investigations. Teams like Ravid and Keenan held absolute authority when they were hunting. Both warriors wore dark maroon coats that signified their enforcement status. The black binding of those long coats told her they were also empowered to impose death if necessary.

  Warriors like that were rare even in the male sections. They kept to themselves and only socialized with other Judgment officials. Zeva didn’t even know where they lived, except that it was on Judgment grounds. Information was kept completely confidential on warriors like them. It was meant to shield their families from retribution but Zeva couldn’t help thinking that it suited the two warriors.

  Ravid had stepped into the front doorway at exactly the same moment Keenan entered the back door. It was silent but lethal in its execution. One moment her studio was full of training girls and the next everybody was shocked into frozen horror as the two pairs of eyes moved over each and every face. Zeva felt her frustration rise as the memory played its way through her mind. Both warriors had scanned her studio and settled on one girl. A nineteen-year-old who had only begun classes with her shortly before that day. One touch from Ravid’s mind and the girl had panicked. Zeva had no idea why she interfered, but it was her studio and impulse sent her across the floor despite the fact that she knew the two warriors held the authority to do whatever they wanted with the girl.

  Both warriors closed the distance to their target on swift strides. Her other students had parted, frantic to avoid any contact with them. Like a frightened herd of mares, they had scurried aside as the predators targeted one of their number and they gratefully gave them free passage as long as it would satisfy them and gain the rest of the herd freedom.

  Zeva had been furious. Her student was terrified and she didn’t care what the reason was, only that warriors didn’t have the right terrorize her students! She moved into Ravid’s path and still smiled over the astonished expression that crossed his eyes as she stood between him and his prey. She’d tipped her head back and glared at the warrior.

  “You are disrupting my class and there are no shoes permitted on the mat.”

  A corner of Ravid’s mouth had twitched with amusement before he clamped his lips into a solid line. His eyes moved over her face before he stepped closer and loomed over her. His eyes flashed with a current of blue as her body went hot. The wave of heat had been so intense, she’d almost folded at the knees. A frown appeared on his mouth as his huge hands curled around her biceps. Just a whisper of a touch before the student let out a scream behind her.

  Ravid lifted her out of his path as he went to help Keenan. Her student aimed her hardest blows at the man as she tried to escape. Keenan looked annoyed as he turned to block the attacks with non-vital parts of his body. He raised his topaz eyes to his partner as Ravid dropped her and captured the student in arms that encircled the girl completely. “Be still.”

  The command had been full of arrogant strength but not ego. Both warriors could back up that arrogance. It was more than strength of body, it poured from them like water. Everything else was swept up in the rushing current. Even with his arms full, Ravid had shot Keenan a look that caused the warrior to look at her with curiosity. Every nerve ending on her skin had snapped with a rush of emotion. Zeva felt her stomach twist with just the memory. Two more maroon-clad warriors appeared in the doorway to break the odd contact.

  Her body refused to forget that pulse of energy. Zeva labeled it anger over her studio being invaded but there was a nagging doubt that tugged on her thoughts. Little details of both men were floating around her brain, the way their coats spread over wide chests, the powerful legs that she’d viewed as they moved across her studio floor. Everything shouted out their incredible strength and her body quivered with that knowledge.

  She did not understand her reaction to them. Everything she had ever trained for all boiled down to control—discipline was only another name for control. Ravid and Keenan dissolved the very foundation of who she defined herself to be.

  Instead she was stuck on Earth. Zeva slammed a stack of splotch-painted fabric onto a shelf and stood up. The warehouse was perfect for her quest to understand the English words on her list.

  A smile curved her lips. She did understand and very soon she was going to free herself. Where was she going? Who cared! Any free life would be better than captivity. She would blend into the human population with a little practice.

  * * * * *

  Alcandar

  “I will enforce justice.” Ravid wasn’t sure who he was trying to convince with his words. His brother’s widow looked at him before she nodded her head. Keenan’s hand landed on his shoulder as Amin stood up and walked across the hall. Ravid looked at Keenan with a dark frown. “We almost had them today.”

  Keenan only raised an eyebrow. Almost wasn’t nearly good enough. Helmut and Craddock were deviants of the worst kind. They killed like animals and preyed on their own females. The trail wasn’t cold but it was a hunt that had consumed them both for an entire year now. The only good thing Keenan could think about the last year was the fact that they did not have a mate to worry about protecting while they pressured the deviants.

  Zeva’s image floated through his head and Keenan couldn’t stop it from snagging his interest. Details from their brief meetings were etched into his memory. It left him hungry for more information about her. Things like the sound of her voice when she was happy and the scent of her skin. Deeper cravings lingered in his head as he considered what her lips tasted like.

  Ravid growled as the image floated into his head. Keenan watched his companion’s eyes brighten. Leaving his drink on the table, Keenan stood up. “I wish to check the progress on the gate.”

  Ravid stood as well and the two left the eating hall. With their hunt for Helmut and Craddock stalled for the moment, they turned to the next order of business. Retrieving Zeva from Earth. They would be the first warriors allowed through the new gate being constructed between Alcandar and Earth.

  Retrieving their citizen was the first order of business, and Ravid and Keenan held the assignment because they were the only Judgment officials who had ever encountered her. As brief as those contacts had been it could grant them the advantage in finding her.

  Ravid curled his lips back from his teeth and growled. It was one assignment he was going to enjoy…completely.

  “As will I.” Keenan’s voice was low and hard as he cast a side-glance at Ravid. His body was tight with need that shot through his blood and even into his cock. It was the beginning of a mind-bridging. The proof that could not be denied, Zeva was their mate. On Earth, Zeva wouldn’t hide behind a border and Keenan found himself enjoying the fact that he wouldn’t be bound by Alcandian law while he searched for her.

  * * * * *

  Six weeks later on Alcandar

  “This gate is viable.” A mutter of approval rippled over the room as a grey-haired warrior studied his computer data. In the background, there was the electronic hum of a newly engaged gate. It was a wormhole built to be used as a portal. The opposite end of this one was on Earth in a remote part of the Sierra Nevada forest. Despite the humans’ knowledge of their technology, they did not have the ability to detect a new gate. While the new gate was almost identical to its predecessor, their frequency was different and the humans did not kno
w that the portal could be constructed with different light speed signatures.

  Even if they could decode the signal, the gate would have been built. The blue current of light offered survival to Alcandar. Without females from other races their own would continue its decline into a solely male race. Fresh DNA was essential to rebuilding a healthy society and Earth had a perfect match in their evolution towards the female gender.

  Honor had demanded they attempt to negotiate with the planet’s government. Having failed, they would turn to taking what they needed. Earth had too many females and it was only fair that humans learned to share. It was a battle for survival and not a single Alcandian warrior was willing to walk away from it.

  The gate portal began to fill with the first wave of warriors willing to risk their lives to search for a mate. Their faces were alight with eagerness to begin and not a single one looked back. A pair of Judgment officials moved forward and the warriors parted for this elite pair. They wore human clothing and had large backpacks on their backs. The portal ended deep in a cavern in the heart of a glacier-carved granite valley. Once on the planet, they would have to hike out of the forest before entering the populated areas that might yield females.

  Keenan eyed his companion and grinned as the gate filled the room with its blue light. “I agree with you, Ravid.”

  “On what?”

  “That this is a duty I enjoy far more than I should.”

  Ravid stepped closer to the portal. “A warrior must take his comforts where he can, Keenan.” Ravid laughed before he stepped into the gate. Enjoyment had been missing from his life for too long. But finding Zeva wasn’t filling him with elation. Icy cold fear rose from the idea that he might bring her back. The craving to touch her remained and touching her could awaken far more than just a craving.

  Binding fever was more powerful than any warrior’s discipline. If Zeva was his mate she would also become the only soft spot that deviants like Helmut and Craddock could use to strike at him and Keenan.

  Remaining unbound seemed far more intelligent.

  Chapter Two

  Cole Somerton smiled before his chest rumbled with amusement. Oh sweet! The day was here at last. There was a reason a man needed to listen to that little gut-twisting instinct that warned him not to trust someone too far. Keeping a little insurance was always a good idea no matter who you were dealing with.

  His face went serious as he looked at the little bit of Alcandian technology he’d secreted away over two years ago. This one thing that he had failed to report to his commanding officer. Well, maybe it wasn’t such a little thing. Just a key to tracking any further wormhole activity on Earth’s surface. The Alcandian portals had to operate in a single bandwidth of frequency, but contained in that band were forty-two different sub-dimensions that might be used. Sure, he’d reported the bandwidth but forgotten to mention the sub-dimensions. It was sort of like pointing out the yard line in a football game but not showing your fans that yards were made up of inches.

  Maybe he’d always suspected Rinehart would knife him in the back. Rage boiled slowly through his bloodstream. Cole sort of enjoyed the burn of anger, it had been his companion for a solid year now. Every damn friend he thought he had was a goddamn liar. Men he would have gone to war with turned out to be bigots. They called themselves “human purists” and condemned him as an “alien-lover”.

  He chuckled even lower as he caught sight of his frame in the bathroom mirror. Alcandar was an interesting place. There were all sort of interesting side effects to living on the planet. Ingesting their genetically advanced food had unlocked his pituitary gland and set off another growth spurt just like a teenager. His frame had widened and his bones thickened and now he towered over men he’d once looked in the eye.

  The mirror showed him a seven-and-half-foot giant who resembled an Alcandian warrior more than a human. Cole grinned. He picked up the flashing, portable scan detector and stared at the Alcandian symbols flashing on the screen. His grasp of the language wasn’t strong enough to translate it but he knew exactly where to find a good translator.

  Zeva would be relieved to hear that Alcandar was once again joined to Earth with a wormhole portal. Cole grabbed a duffel bag and tossed in a few necessities. He looked around the spartan quarters that York had banished him to and sneered. He wasn’t coming back either. He knew where Zeva was, and with her help they would leave Earth far behind. York and Rinehart were welcome to their human pride.

  But they were not welcome to imprison Zeva in some twisted plot to bend Alcandar to their will. Call him a traitor, Cole intended to see to her return to her home personally.

  Or die trying.

  * * * * *

  “Zeva, don’t you think it’s time to call it a night?”

  No, she didn’t, but Zeva couldn’t let Cassandra know that. Night was just falling. Winter season brought sunset far earlier than summer and Zeva had been counting the days until the Earth moved away from its main star. She needed the cover of darkness to escape. “I just want to finish this last page.”

  “Why?” Cassandra leaned against the doorframe and gave Zeva a bored look. “There will just be another list tomorrow.”

  That was true enough but Zeva aimed a small smile at the human girl to soothe her. She really did harbor some affection for the human. Cassandra was a likable girl but that did not change Zeva’s determination to flee. “I just enjoy finishing what I begin.”

  Cassandra shook her head and stood up. “You’re a better woman than I, Zeva. Whatever turns you on.” She turned and went back into the office that housed the warehouse paperwork and computer system.

  Smiling with triumph, Zeva lowered her arm. All the blood had flowed down the limb because she’d held it up against the metal shelving. Reaching for a small bar of soap she’d hidden among the boots, she smeared it over her hand and wrist. A black location beacon was strapped to her wrist. The thing replaced her prison walls by transmitting her location to her jailers. For three weeks she had starved herself to lose enough weight to slip the thing off.

  With the help of the soap, the black binding slipped over her hand and off. Zeva nodded with satisfaction as she held her captivity in the palm of her hand. Her smile faded as she looked at the office. She had to take care of Cassandra. Distaste rose in her throat but Zeva tightened her resolve. The girl wouldn’t leave without escorting Zeva back to her secured housing and she would raise an alarm out of duty if she found Zeva missing.

  Zeva needed time to get off the base. Moving towards the office, Zeva struck silently. Cassandra’s blonde head fell to her desk with only a slight thud as a blow to her head thrust her into unconsciousness.

  “Couldn’t have done it better myself.”

  Zeva hissed with rage and turned to face her company. She tightened her fingers into fists as she steeled herself to deal another blow. She would not fail tonight!

  “Hello Zeva.”

  Recognition flashed across Zeva’s eyes as she noticed the black location bracelet dangling from one of Cole’s fingers. He smirked at her as he held it up. “Very nice work. What’s the rest of your plan?”

  Zeva felt her heart leap. Confidence surged through her as she drank in the details of Cole’s face. It had been far too long since she had looked on the face of a friend! He was the only human she would have been happy to see and her face couldn’t contain her joy. “I have a bag hidden with clothing. A hat and the same uniform your soldiers wear.”

  Cole nodded approval. “And the security gate?” Her blank look made him cuss. His eyes moved over the office looking for anything to use for their escape. “Get dressed now.”

  Zeva didn’t hesitate. She had managed to pry open a small window and it wouldn’t be very long before someone reported that she had not arrived back at her housing. The sound of the faucet running filled the office right before she finished.

  Cole had handcuffed Cassandra and had the girl’s head leaning against his chest while he stood behind her. Looking
up he nodded approval at her clothing and lifted a coffee cup of water. “We need an hour or we don’t stand a chance. They’ll run us down on the road with a helicopter.”

  Cole turned the mug over and dumped the water on Cassandra’s face. She jerked and muttered as she came around. Cole’s fingers clamped over her mouth as her eyes focused and her body jerked. He held her in a sturdy grip as she yelled through his hand.

  “Listen very carefully, Sergeant. If you want to live you are going to do exactly what I tell you to.” His words were ice-cold. Zeva blinked her eyes because she wasn’t sure it was the same man she remembered as a friend. Cole’s eyes were razor-sharp as he lifted the phone and transferred his hand to Cassandra’s hair. “We just want to leave. Tell the housing staff you’re working late. Mess up and you’ll be dead before they punch the alarm.”

  His face was absolutely ruthless. Zeva forced her eyes to be just as sinister. Cassandra trembled as her blue eyes fluttered between them both and Cole tightened his grip on her hair. “Just do it, Sergeant. Tell them you need an hour, I don’t want to break your neck.” Her eyes went large with horror as Zeva struggled with her distaste. She couldn’t stop Cole—if she did, she condemned herself.

  “What’s the number? And don’t mess up, darling.”

  Cassandra swallowed and spat out a number. Cole punched it into the phone before holding the receiver to her ear. His hand tugged on the strands of her hair in warning as she took a shaky breath.

  “Sergeant Blane, we are finishing a late request.” Cassandra’s eyes shot a venomous look at Zeva before she drew a deep breath into her lungs. “Yes, I will escort her when we finish. One hour.”

  Cole dropped the phone and smoothed a hand over Cassandra’s head. The girl violently shook her head and glared at him. “Happy?”