Ruthless

by Kate Rudolph

  “Talk,” Toran demanded.

  Dan sucked in an unsteady breath. “I was coming here to see if anything was wrong. She didn’t look like she wanted to get into that van. Iris is a lot of things, you know. But she ain’t no alien-fucking slut.”

  Toran dug his knee in deeper to where it was holding Dan down until the other man yelped; the human was lucky Toran hadn’t done worse. “Just facts, no commentary.”

  “Who the hell are you anyway?” Dan got brave enough to ask. “I shouldn’t be telling you shit.”

  “What van? Where is she?”

  “I don’t know! I swear.” He sounded just honest enough that Toran was willing to believe him.

  “Tell me what you saw,” he demanded again.

  “Let me up and I will,” Dan countered.

  Toran wasn’t about to do that. The minute he let go, he knew Dan would bolt. “Talk.” He raised his knee just enough so that Dan might not need to whimper in pain, but not enough that he could escape.

  The fight went out of the man and he slumped on the grass under Toran. “Fine, whatever. Some big purple dudes surrounded her and shoved her into a white van. It headed north. That’s all I saw.”

  Toran considered his options. Dan was a liar, and he had treated Iris terribly, but would he stoop to kidnapping? And would he blame aliens for it? Was he a good enough actor to pull it off? From the way he was trembling under Toran, the answer was no. And if he’d kidnapped Iris, the pathetic human had no reason to come back to her house like he had. With regret, Toran lifted his knee off of the shithead and removed his hand from his neck. Dan was up in a flash and running, but Toran didn’t bother to chase him. He wouldn’t offer any more help, that much was obvious.

  But now Toran knew that his worry, his anxiety, was well-founded. He pulled out his communicator to get a hold of his team. It was time to get his mate back.

  SHE TRIED TO STRUGGLE as Varrow forced her from the ground up onto the gurney. But it was no use. Between her injuries and his strength she couldn’t manage to fight back. In a matter of minutes, she was strapped down and completely at his mercy. She wished for the oblivion of unconsciousness; at least she couldn’t feel the pain then.

  “I tried to tell my friend that he was not cautious enough,” Varrow said conversationally as he ran his hand over the assortment of instruments he could use on her. “But his arrogance, and your bumbling, have cost us years of work. And then he left me here to clean up the pieces. Not that I would want to go back to that waste of the planet he calls home.” His smile sent a shiver down Iris’s spine as he finally selected an instrument. It was a thick cylinder with a lighted tip at one end, and Iris had no idea what it was supposed to do. It didn’t look like a laser or scalpel, but she had no doubt that it could cause a lot of pain or damage or both.

  “So you just do what he tells you?” she asked, scrambling for a reason to keep him talking. If he was talking, she hoped he might hold off on the torturing.

  Varrow rolled the cylinder between his fingers and glared at her. “I’m not a minion.”

  “You’re his partner?” If he was going to talk, she had to survive this. She had to get this information to Toran, she had to see her mate again.

  The Oscavian shrugged. “If you want to call it that. Are you trying to get me to spill the master plan?” He grinned. “Keep me talking until your friends can rescue you? They won’t find you.”

  “That means we have more time to talk, doesn’t it?” Her hope was running out but Iris couldn’t give up.

  Varrow tipped back his head and laughed. “Oh, I wish I had more time with you. I can tell you would be a fun one. You’re not too clever, but you aren’t dumb. It’s people like you who always last the longest, you never know when to give up hope.”

  She already felt low on hope, but she wasn’t about to tell Varrow that. Did Toran know she was already missing? Had anyone seen her get taken? “Why are you working with him? Or why were you?” She knew whatever was happening was Yormas’s idea, he’d done it before. Why would an Oscavian be involved?

  “Money. Power. Fun, take your pick.” Varrow twirled the device between his fingers and Iris’s eyes couldn’t help but follow it. He saw where her attention was locked and tossed the device in the air, catching it before could fall to the floor. “Now let’s play a little game, would you like that?”

  She really wouldn’t, but Iris kept quiet.

  “I love this little shocker, it’s been one of my favorite toys for years.” He held it up and gave the dark metal a quick kiss. “But you’re in luck, this one needs to be recharged between uses. So I offer you a deal. For every shot you take without passing out, you get one question. And I’ll even answer truthfully. What do you say?”

  Iris glared at him, but her mind raced. She needed answers to her questions, and it wasn’t like she was going to get out of here anytime soon. She gritted her teeth and ground out, “Bring it on.”

  Chapter Twenty

  EVERYTHING WAS PAIN, and it took Iris several moments to realize that the shocker had been turned off. She panted and tried to curl to her side, but the restraints at her wrists and ankles kept her in place. Had the room somehow gotten brighter? She’d never been tortured before, had never imagined that it would feel like this. She knew pain, she could manage pain, but the helplessness was the worst part. There was no way to escape it, no way to stop it, her only choice was to endure.

  Something clattered down beside her, and Iris jerked her head to see Varrow lowering the shocker to the table. He clapped his hands together in genuine glee. “Oh, very good. I didn’t expect you to make it through that first one.”

  “Will it—” Iris bit back the question, her mind clearing enough to remember the game he wanted to play. What could she ask? What would be useful? Her mind was all fuzz and mud and pain, and stringing two thoughts together was way harder than it should’ve been. “Is Yormas working alone?”

  Varrow sighed, and though she couldn’t see him she could tell he was disappointed. “You already know that he’s working with me.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” she tried to explain. “Is he working on behalf of his government? Or for his own means?”

  Varrow clicked his tongue. “That’s not what you asked, and you only get one question. Do better.”

  Iris wanted to cry at the unfairness of it all, but she doubted her torturer would show any pity. Her eyes were laser focused on the torture tray beside her, counting down the seconds until he picked the shocker back up and started up on round two. She didn’t know how she stayed conscious through the last one; it all blurred into one mass of pain and screaming, and if he’d said anything to her while the voltage ran through her body, she couldn’t remember. But she must’ve stayed awake, and she would need to do it again, more than once, if she was going to make any use of what was being done to her. She might be able to live with herself, to live with the nightmares this was sure to give her, if she could convince herself that it was all done for a purpose.

  She sucked in a deep breath and waited for Varrow to make his move. She wasn’t going to argue, wasn’t going to beg, not until she couldn’t stop herself from holding the pleas back.

  Varrow picked up the shocker and Iris’s entire body went taut with terrified anticipation. The Oscavian sighed and looked at her for several seconds. Iris jerked her head towards him so she could glare straight at him, rather than at his table of horrors. “He’s not working alone,” Varrow offered. “That’s the last freebie you get, so be grateful for it.”

  She wasn’t about to thank him for it. Not when the bastard was practically vibrating with delight at the opportunity to extract pain from her. “They’re going to kill you,” she warned him. “The second you touched me, you signed your death warrant.” Even if she didn’t make it that long, Iris was sure of it. Toran would tear the world apart to find her, and he’d destroy it to get his revenge, if it came to that.

  “You’re so sure?” Varrow asked, seemingly
unconcerned with the threat.

  “Yes.”

  “Then isn’t it in my best interest to kill you quick and make my escape?” He said it like it was a joke, but Iris’s stomach curdled at the thought.

  Before Iris quite realized what he was doing, Varrow scooped up the shocker and jammed it against her neck, activating the power switch in a blaze of pain. Everything around her went white as she screamed. Time stretched between the seconds, and while she tried to gasp in breaths, her heartbeat was so fast that it hurt her lungs to take in any air. Her fingers gripped the leathery cover of the gurney under her and she tried to ride, tried to escape the pain, but there was no getting away.

  As suddenly as it began, it ended. Iris heard a curse, as she was trying to come back to her own mind, and by the time conscious thought returned the Oscavian had disappeared out the door.

  She gulped down steadying breaths as her heart rate returned to something like normal. Her entire body was covered in sweat and the room had not seemed cold at first, but she was starting to shiver, whether from the temperature or shock she didn’t know.

  Where was Varrow? Why had he left like that? She needed to get a look around, but all of her muscles were shaky and she couldn’t force herself to turn her head. Okay, a five second break. You can do this. She counted down the seconds and when she got to zero she still didn’t move. Five seconds wasn’t nearly long enough to recover. But Varrow could get back at any minute, and she needed to take this unexpected reprieve and use it to her advantage.

  With a grunt, Iris turned her head and confirmed that she was alone in the room. She was still strapped to the gurney, but in his haste to leave, Varrow had upset the surgical tray beside her bed. Out of desperation she tried to flex her fingers far enough to reach for something, anything, but it was too far. She took a deep breath and tried not to panic. Her legs flexed, and her hips came off the gurney, but the straps were too tight and she couldn’t wriggle free.

  As her hips slammed back down onto the gurney, the surgical tray rocked with the motion. A small cylindrical object, possibly a laser scalpel, rolled near the edge, and almost fell off. It was so close that Iris could practically taste it, but it was still out of reach of her fingers and when she reared up, trying to reach for it with her head, she couldn’t quite close the distance. Iris plunked down again and the scalpel moved some more, rolling even closer towards her.

  She stopped breathing, holding herself completely still, afraid that any movement might send it rolling away. It was so close her fingers could practically brush it. There was a little give in the bindings at her wrist, allowing her to slide the binding cuff closer to her elbow to give her room to reach. She just needed a few more centimeters and she would have it.

  Iris lifted her hips up off the gurney again and let them drop and the scalpel rolled. Her fingers brushed against it and she had to bite back a yelp of victory. She wasn’t free yet, not even close. Varrow could be back at any moment. But now she had a weapon, and now she wasn’t helpless. She had to get out of here before he could realize she was gone.

  EACH SECOND THAT TICKED by without a lead on Iris was a torture that Toran had never before known. The information that Dan had given him was solid, but it took more than an hour to find a way to tap into the security feeds and find identifying information on the vehicle. He felt like he was doing nothing while an algorithm trolled through the city’s feeds, following the van back to its home base.

  Raze had no words of comfort to offer him, knowing how awful it would be to lose his mate. Kayde was silent as always. Dryce paced back and forth in the center of Iris’s almost unnaturally clean apartment, the only one of the four Detyens letting his feelings show.

  “I’ve got it!” Sierra cried, looking up from the tablet she’d been using to track the truck. “They’re in Arlington.” She engaged the hollow display and pointed to an old brick building on the 3-D map.

  “Let’s go,” Toran said, holding onto his composure by a thread.

  Kayde held up a hand. “We don’t know what we’re facing. If we charge in without more intel, we could be walking into an ambush.” His voice was flat and emotionless and Toran wanted to punch the sedate look off his face.

  “They have my mate,” he said, grinding out each word. “I’m not waiting another minute. Stay here if you want.” Toran took off, pressing a hand against the blaster in its holster on his side and stomping towards the vehicle that his men had taken to the apartment. He let the door slam behind him, and a moment later it opened again as everyone rushed out of the apartment.

  “Don’t think for a second we’re letting you go in there alone,” said Raze.

  Toran reached for the driver’s door, but Sierra placed a hand on his arm and nodded towards the back seat. “I know this city better than any of you,” she said. “Let me drive, we’ll get there faster.”

  He wanted to control the driver’s seat, but he knew Sierra was right. This wasn’t his city, wasn’t his planet. If he got lost than there was no one to save Iris. He got into the backseat without a fight.

  As soon as the vehicle started moving, Sierra engaged the call display and contacted Quinn, who was waiting back at the Detyen’s quarters. “Do you have news?” the woman demanded as soon as the call connected.

  “Yes,” Sierra confirmed. She told Quinn everything they knew. “Get in touch with Mindy and Jo,” she said, referring to two of her partners from the SIA. They’d been instrumental in liberating the women from Fenryr 1, and saving the lives of Toran, Raze, and Kayde. Due to their actions, they’d been suspended along with Sierra. But unlike Sierra they didn’t have a close connection to the Detyens, and they hadn’t been called in to help with the investigation into Yormas of Wreet. Now that they needed backup, though, the two women were perfectly placed to help.

  “I’ll call them,” Quinn promised. “What about the police? Or your dad?”

  Sierra was silent as she contemplated, but she finally said, “Don’t call my dad. If I haven’t called you back in an hour, or if Mindy and Jo say to do it, call the cops. But give us time to get our girl out. We don’t want to be hampered by any rules.”

  A moment stretched for several beats before Quinn responded. “Okay. Good luck.” They ended the call and made the rest of the drive in a tense silence.

  Toran tried to keep his thoughts focused, but the denya bond pulsed strong in him and he could feel Iris’s fear and the echoes of her pain. Something was being done to her, something very bad, and his mind reeled as he tried not to imagine what. If he was too focused on the horrors being inflicted upon his mate, he would be useless as a soldier, unable to focus enough to do what needed to be done.

  He clung to whatever calm he could and tried to send it through the bond, tried in this way to let Iris know that they were coming, that she only needed to last a little bit longer until she would be safe, until he would destroy the people who tried to harm her. But her fear spiked and Toran’s claws burst out a moment before he ripped up the leather of the seat he was sitting on.

  “You need to calm down,” Raze said from where he sat in the front seat. His entire body was twisted around as he glared at Toran.

  “How can you expect me to remain calm?” Toran practically yelled. He could feel Dryce flinch beside him, and Kayde was a silent statue on his bench in the back.

  “I expect it because you are our leader and your mate needs you.” If they’d been any closer, he knew Raze would have clutched the front of his shirt and held him immobile until he was sure that Toran understood. Luckily Toran was just out of reach.

  “She can count on me,” he promised.

  “She better,” Sierra said, pulling the car to a stop. “We’re here.”

  IRIS ALMOST SAWED HER hand off the second the laser scalpel fell into her fingers. It burned a line of fire across the edge of her palm, but she was able to turn off the laser almost as soon as it ignited. She bit her lip to keep from crying out in case Varrow was anywhere nearby and manipulated
the device so the laser was pointed out and away from her body. It took her a few minutes to figure out the best way to cut herself out of her bindings, but with careful contortions she was able to slice through the chain holding one of the cuffs to the side the gurney.

  Once one hand was free, everything became a lot easier. Iris peeled out the second cuff and then freed her legs, but when she swung to the side of the gurney and tried to stand, the room went wobbly. She wanted to run away, wanted to find a way out of this place, but she couldn’t do that if she couldn’t walk. A few deep breaths made things much better and she barely swayed by the time she made it to the door.

  Her hand froze on the handle as she realized that she had no idea who was out in the hall. It could be empty, or it could be crawling with guards. All she had was a laser scalpel, and while that weapon was certainly deadly, it was no match for a blaster. One shot and she’d go down, and she wasn’t sure she’d be getting back up. Varrow didn’t strike her as the kind of man who made the same mistake twice.

  What would her mate do? How would Toran get out of the situation? As soon as she thought it, she knew it was a useless path to travel down. She wasn’t Toran, she didn’t have his training. He might bust out of the room, claws bared and ready for the fight. Iris knew how to throw a punch, but this wasn’t the boxing ring at her gym, there would be no tapping out here.

  But she couldn’t just give up. If she stayed in this room, she’d end up strapped back to the gurney or worse as Varrow played with her. He’d give her no more answers, and she couldn’t trust that anything he told her was truthful. She couldn’t just wait for Toran to rescue her. She had faith that her mate was coming, but it would take him time to find her, time she couldn’t afford to lose.

  Mind made up, Iris tested the handle and found the door locked. Of course it was. She didn’t let frustration get to her, remembering a trick she’d once seen on a media show. She glanced down at the laser scalpel in her hand before kneeling beside the door and using it to overheat the locking mechanism. Seconds ticked by, then a minute; the scalpel grew hot in her hand and the smell of frying metal burned her nose. Maybe she shouldn’t have been relying on a media program to find a way to escape from the clutches of the sinister alien. But just as doubt started to assail her, the light on the lock went out and something in the door clicked.