by Stone, Ciana
Well, it would have been only a matter of time. HE was here to see that it didn’t happen. He was determined to fulfill his mission and enjoy the rewards his Queen would bestow upon him, but saw no reason not to have some fun in the process.
Which turned his mind back to the operatives he was following. He fetched another tablet from his work station and activated an app he’d developed to retask satellites for brief periods of time. He needed to see where that yacht was headed. Whatever their destination, he’d be waiting when they arrived.
Chapter Nine
Leonidas watched her. Even in sleep she gave off an air of sensuality. He’d been fighting with himself for hours. Bonding with her had been the last thing he wanted. She was D’Harahn, the child of Constantine Belenus, a man whose family had kept him and his kind in virtual servitude for millennia.
Despite the peace that existed today between he and Constantine, Leonidas still harbored harsh feelings. Had it not been for the ill-conceived plan by Constantine and Octavian all those centuries ago, he would not be here today, an exile on this alien world.
No, you would be as dead as the rest of V’Kar. He bit down on the snarl that rose at the thought. Yes, he would have been dead. But he would have had years with his mate, years to have a family.
He stiffened in surprise as it occurred to him that his thoughts no longer carried the violent sting they once did. The black hole filled with bitterness and pain he had lived with for so long was fading.
Because of her and the irresistible hunger she inspired. She’d taken him. Offered what was within her with her bite and he’d succumbed to the lure with an ease that shocked him.
What was it about her? She was a smart-ass, independent, brash and bold almost to a fault. A valiant warrior as she’d demonstrated, but one given to taking unnecessary risks with no regard to her own safety.
His blood stirred at the memory of her in battle. She rivaled her mother who was a formidable warrior. And, she was ShaDahn, capable of bearing children. He’d not considered that until now. With her he could have the sons and daughters he’d been so long denied.
With her, he could have love. Love? It was almost a foreign concept to him,he’d lived so long without it. Now it seeped into his every cell, permeating him. It was almost frightening; something he’d never admit aloud, but recognized. She was his mate, part of him and he would die before losing her.
With something akin to reverence, he smiled at her, allowing himself the luxury of sinking into the feelings.
Shilah felt him in her mind before she gained consciousness. To her surprise, it did not seem like a violation or intrusion. It felt…right. A smile took shape on her face. She opened her eyes and tilted her head back to look up at him.
Leonidas lay watching her.
“Good morning.” She lazily ran her hand over his bare chest.
She saw his smile fade and felt his tension. Almost immediately he tried to erect to bar her from sensing his feelings. “What?” She sat up.
“Your father will not be pleased.”
She fell back on the bed in relief. “Whew, I thought it was something serious.”
“This is serious.”
“No, it’s not.” She rolled over on her side to face him. “He’s my father, not my owner.”
“It took a lot of time for us to make peace, Shilah. This may fracture that peace.”
“No, it won’t.” She argued. “Leonidas, this is my life. My choice. And I chose you. It’s done. He may be surprised, but why should he care? He should be happy. You and he – like you said, you made peace. You trust each other, depend on each other. It should make him happy that I bonded so well.”
She laughed at her own words. “That sounded so trite. Like a human saying they’d married well. And you know I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I know. Still…”
“Do you regret it?”
He shook his head. “I never thought to know this again.”
That brought a stab of jealousy. From their bond she’d learned a lot. Like the love he had for his first mate.
“You have nothing to fear,” he said softly.
“Are you sure?”
“Quite.” He reached out to cup her face in one hand. “You are mine, Shilah. Now and for as long as we draw breath.”
“That sounded quite proprietary,” she teased.
“It is.”
Okay, here it was, the problem she knew they’d have. “Look, just so we’re clear, I get it that I’m yours. You’re mine. And that’s how I want it. But don’t think for a second that I’m going to suddenly stop being me, hide away and stop doing what I do.”
He rolled away and got off the bed. “I don’t want to have this conversation.”
“I can see that. But we’re going to. Leo, look at me.”
He ignored her and started dressing. She got up and went to him. “Leo, I’m serious.”
“Yes, I know.” He turned to her. “You are who you are. As am I. And we will have this conversation. One day. But not today. Today we reach Trinidad and deliver the data.”
She was relieved and annoyed all at the same time. She’d prefer to go ahead and get their roles in this bonding made clear, get in on the record, so to speak, that she wasn’t about to become some sit-in-the-wings mate who spent her time spitting out babies and waiting on her man.
That wasn’t her. And she knew he realized that. They were bonded, after all. It was hard to hide much of anything from a bond mate, something she was just now starting to realize the ramifications of in their lives.
A bond mate wasn’t like any other relationship. A V’Kar could shield their mind from a parent, sibling or compatriot. Blocking a bond mate required a lot of energy.
“Already trying to figure out a way to keep me out?” His voice interrupted her thoughts.
She pivoted on one heel and headed for the shower. He was right. Today their attention should be on the mission. They had plenty of time to work out the kinks in their relationship.
I like it kinky.
She laughed at his voice in her mind. It might be a challenge, but she thought she was going to like being mated to Leonidas.
*****
A car was waiting when they docked the speedboat, two of their agents standing beside it. “Sir,” one of them nodded respectfully to Leonidas. “Our field officer in Tobago requests an audience.”
“For what purpose?”
“They have Intel on a possible lead to our suspect. And would like for you to personally review the data and decide upon their subsequent assignments.”
“We have an appointment here,” he stated.
“Yes, sir. The office here has been thoroughly inspected and cleared. We have a full contingent awaiting Agent Belenus. She will be safe until your return.”
Leonidas looked at Shilah and as one they stepped away from the men. “I know,” she said before he had time to speak. “You need to go to Tobago. That’s fine. I have the card with the data. I’ll deliver it and report in to my father.”
“Wait for me there.”
“Will do.”
He turned toward the men. “We will deliver Agent Belenus to the office here then you will take me to Tobago.”
“As you wish, sir.”
Twenty minutes later Shilah and Leonidas stood at the door to the V’Kar office. “Wait for me here,” he said.
“You already said that.”
“Shi.”
It was the first time he’d used the diminutive of her name and it brought a smile to her face. “I got it, Leo. Wait here for you.”
His eyes narrowed for a split second and she grinned up at him. “Go on. I’ll see you when you get back.”
He cut a look over his shoulder to see if they were being watched. They were. “Later,” he promised.
She knew what he meant by the word. It wasn’t time for them to announce their bonded status. For now they had to appear as comrads. Later, well she was already looking forward t
o the promises she heard him make mentally.
“I’ll hold you to it.”
“Repeatedly,” he replied and escorted her to the door.
Shilah entered the office, closing the door behind her and looked around. The lobby was pretty much like the lobby of any office. An attractive woman sat at the reception desk.
“Shilah Belenus,” Shilah announced herself.
“Oh, Ms. Belenus!” The woman hurried to stand. “Angelina Montrose. Please let me escort you to the Director’s office. He’s expecting—“
“Leonidas has other matters to attend to,” Shilah filled in the information she knew the woman was seeking. “He will join us later.”
“Of course. Please, this way.”
The woman led her to what Shilah would have described as a control room. Equipped with cutting edge technology, technicians monitored satellite feeds and data transmissions around the globe.
A tall man with piercing blue eyes and pale skin hurried to them. One look told Shilah that the man was Valian. “Welcome,” he greeted her. “Ian Shavantz, director of the Carribean field office.”
“Nice to meet you,” Shilah shook his hand.
“I was under the impression Mr. Kahnn would be accompanying you.”
“He’ll meet us here later. He had things to attend to in Tobago.”
“Yes, of course. You have something for us?”
Shilah took a micro SD memory card from her pocket and gave it to him. He hurried to one of the techs with the card. The man inserted it into the card reader on his laptop.
Shilah had taken no more than two steps in the direction of the technician when the door leading out into the hallway blew.
The explosion sent her flying, along with everyone between her and the door. She banged against a workstation, flipped across it and took the technician seated at it to the floor with her. By the time she was on her feet, men in what looked like black SWAT gear, wearing face masks with breathing apparatus were storming the room.
It took her all of two seconds to access the situation. These were not Alliance forces. They were not armed with blades, a standard issue, and their weapons were not the typical favored by the Alliance.
A gas canister exploded at almost the same moment she flew into motion, rushing one of the men who was focused on others in the room. She came up beside him, grabbed his gun with her right hand and jerked. It threw him off balance, turning him toward her. She immediately threw an elbow strike with her left arm and felt it connect with the side of his head.
The blow didn’t incapacitate him but it threw him off enough that she was able to follow with a kick to the sternum that sent him flying. Shilah went for his weapon as he fell but the gas was making it impossible to breathe and the way her eyes were watering she could barely see.
Someone grabbed her from behind, twisting her left arm up behind her. She tried turning into the twist to strike with her right arm but at that moment stars exploded in her vision from a blow to the back of her head.
She had only time enough to think Leo before blackness took her.
Chapter Ten
Leo felt her alarm and bolted from his seat at the conference table. Six sets of eyes looked at him with alarm of their own. His sudden bursts of anger were almost as legendary as his warrior skills.
This time, his emotions were not running along the path of anger but of fear. Shilah was in danger. He opened his mind fully and heard her mental call. Leo! When he suddenly lost all sense of her, his body tensed against the pain that settled in to fill the void.
He grit his teeth against the agony. He’d felt this before, knew it as intimately as a sadistic lover. He could not endure this again. He had to find her.
“Contact the Trinidad field office now!”
No one argued. Two men scrambled for their phones while the other four bolted to their feet and raced to the communications center. Leo stretched out his senses, searching for a thread that would lead him to her.
Nothing.
“Trinidad is not responding,” one of the men at the table announced.
Mere seconds later a man entered the room. “We’ve recalled a team from the field. They are enroute and should arrive at the Trinidad field office within minutes. We have all surveillance of the area on screen in the situation room if you would like to monitor the feeds.”
“Give me a comm link. You can keep me updated,” Leo replied. He wasn’t about to sit around waiting. He was going to find her.
Two minutes later he was on his way.
*****
Shilah sensed a presence before her eyes opened. She allowed herself to become fully conscious before she attempted to move. She could feel heavy shackles on her wrists and ankles, but a soft surface beneath her. Whoever had taken her was allowing for comfort, but also insuring against escape. It was information her people needed to know. More importantly it was information Leonidas needed.
Leo.
I am coming for you.
There was no need to mentally communicate words, describing her situation. He was aware of it through their link.
His presence in her mind gave her comfort. He would home in on their link and find her. All she had to do was stay alive long enough for him to get there. She opened her eyes and pushed herself up to sit.
“Would you care for something to drink?” A male voice from the right side of the room asked.
Shilah looked in the direction of the voice. A very tall, muscular man stood framed in the doorway. Behind him was what appeared to be a well appointed sitting room.
“Who are you and why am I shackled?”
The man entered the room, moving to stand at the foot of the poster bed. “I’m surprised that you recovered so quickly from the gas.”
“Sorry to disappoint,” she replied sarcastically. “Who are you?”
“It was my understanding that iridium was fatal to V’Kar. And to Vox Narr.“
The mention of Vox Narr had her tensing. Not even the Alliance was aware of the Vox Narr. Unless it was knowledge they had recently acquired.
“Who are you?” She asked again.
“You are quite interesting,” he said. “And appealing. I believe I’ll keep you alive to study. And play with.”
She opened her mouth to deliver a scathing remark but choked on her words at a sudden onslaught of violent and depraved images that bombarded her mind. She clamped her mouth shut, grinding her teeth to keep from screaming at the mental rape.
His soft laugh released her. “I’m going to kill you,” she promised.
“Highly unlikely, considering your current position,” he remarked carelessly. “Not even a child of the Crown Prince is strong enough to break those bonds.”
His words told her a lot. He knew who she was. At least who her father was. Perhaps he knew of her mother. But he could not know who Resa’s father was. That was a well guarded secret, shared only with a select few.
Because of her mother’s heritage, Shilah and her siblings had more abilities than normal V’Kar. They could withstand the poison of iridian far longer, and their powers of transformation were very advanced.
Something that she counted among her blessings at the moment. She focused her mind on an image she and her sister, Chaya had come up with as kids. An ogre.
She felt the transformation start. It would only take a few seconds and the shackles would break. Her ogre was enormous and strong as a battalion of men. She smiled to herself, anticipating the look on her captor’s face.
Her anticipation was short-lived. He suddenly dove at her, knocking her back on the bed and pinning her. The chains on her shackles prevented her from doing anything more than thrashing around.
It wasn’t enough. He sat atop her, his weight bearing down on her abdomen painfully. “Get the fuck off me,” she gasped.
“I don’t think so,” he replied and smiled.
Shilah felt a stab of fear. Rather than the elegant incisors of a V’Kar, his canine’s were long and thin like
twin stilettoes. She thrashed around frantically, trying to buck him off but could not dislodge him.
He grabbed her head, yanked it to one side, baring her neck. All Shilah could do when he sank his teeth into her was scream. She’d never felt that kind of pain. It was like she was being injected with acid, the intolerable burn radiating out from the points of entry and burning its way through her body.
She felt her heart beat eratically and her lungs strain to draw air. She was going to die, helpless to fight or run.
Shilah felt her body shutting down and used the last of her strength to scream.
“Leo!”
And then she fell into the darkness.
*****
Leonidas followed the mental link like a homing beacon, reporting his location via his comm link. Two blocks from the target location a team caught up with him. He spared precious minutes formulating a quick plan of attack. He could sense that Shilah was unharmed. Mad and a bit fearful but otherwise unharmed.
Just as he finished issuing orders something hit him with the force of a train. Shilah’s terror exploded inside him, followed swiftly by her pain. It was enough to stagger him.
“Move!” He growled between clenched teeth. There was no time to spare. He had to get to her.
With only a block to go he lost her. Lost all sense of her. Fury inspired by fear had him jumping out of the car and taking off on foot. He would destroy anyone or anything that got in his way or tried to prevent him from getting to her.
The problem was, he now had no real idea where to go. He scanned the area as he ran. Three high-rise luxury apartment buildings loomed before him. His heart sank. Having lost the link with her there was no way he could find her. There had to be hundreds of apartments in each of the towers.
He stopped, searching for her with his mind. Nothing.
His cell phone rang and he snatched it from his pocket. “Shi?” he answered immediately when he saw her number appear on the screen.
