Slow down. Odintar gasped. Can’t soak that in and keep healing.
It was three and a half hours later when Odintar finally lifted his head and lowered his arms. He looked exhausted and less than confident. “I’ve done what I can.” He struggled to his feet, legs visibly wobbly. Blayne reached out and steadied him. “Her vital signs are much stronger, but…” His gaze shifted from Blayne to Tori and back, regret etched into his expression. “I won’t lie to you. Her brain took the worst of the discharge. There were numerous tiny ruptures. I repaired them all, but it’s hard to say how much she’ll be affected by the damage.”
Tori covered her mouth with one hand and sobbed.
Blayne felt tears escape the corners of his eyes though he stubbornly maintained control. “What can we do?”
“I cast her deep into sleep thrall. Her body needs time to heal.”
“Sleep thrall?” Tori’s voice hitched, so she cleared her throat before she went on. “What does that mean?”
“It’s a technique I learned on Bilarri. I suspended all of her bodily functions except regeneration. Blayne, Lor and I will take turns infusing her with energy. As long as she’s in sleep thrall, it will allow her body to use all of that energy to repair the damage.”
“Could the healers on Ontariese do something more to help her?” Tori wiped away her tears, but her chest still shuddered.
He didn’t seem insulted by the question. “Maybe on Bilarri. Ontarian healers wouldn’t have been able to utilize my nanites.” He shrugged, his gaze still brimming with compassion. “Her life is no longer in danger. The rest will just take time.”
Tori didn’t look happy with the conclusion, but she said nothing more. Odintar warned them not to attempt to rouse her then left the cabin.
The bunk was narrow, so Blayne pulled up a chair for Tori. “Thanks.” She sat and took Angie’s hand between hers. Angie actually looked much better. Color had returned to her face and her features were peaceful rather than twisted with pain.
“I can’t lose her,” Tori whispered. “She’s all the family I have left.”
“Lor might object to that.”
She glanced up at him and even managed a weak smile. “You’re right.” After a long pause she looked at him again and asked, “Does she know how much you love her?”
“I’ve tried to go slowly. I know how distrusting she is of men, but an attraction this powerful is hard to hide.”
“No doubt.”
There really was only room for one or the other of them, so Blayne leaned down and pressed a kiss to Angie’s forehead. “I’m going to check in with your mate and find out what happened after I left. Let me know immediately if there is any change.”
“Of course. Go on.”
He blew out a shaky breath as he left the cabin. Odintar was tenacious and stubborn. He would have done everything in his power to minimize the damage. Angie couldn’t have been in better hands. Still, worry pulsed in the back of his mind, making him restless and irritable.
Lor, Elias, Dekker and Odintar had gathered around the galley table. Rather than crowed the limited space, Blayne triggered one of the retractable seats across from the booth.
“Should I go down there?” Lor rubbed his forehead. “Odintar told us that Angie is stabilized, but how is Tori holding up?”
Blayne shook his head. “The cabin is tiny. I’ll send Tori out after you’ve caught me up.”
“Good luck with that. I’ll probably have to carry her from the room kicking and cursing. My mate can be extremely stubborn when it comes to her baby sister.”
“Morgan wants you to know that she’ll help in any way she can. All you have to do is call her,” Elias interjected.
“There’s nothing she can do. It’s all up to Angie now.” Blayne looked at Odintar. “Thank you. I know how hard you worked to save her life.”
“Glad I could help. And she’s a fighter. I honestly think she’ll recover.”
Needing to think about something else, Blayne prompted, “So what happened after I left?”
“Containing the two Rodytes wasn’t a problem, so I took them to the Bunker,” Elias informed.
“Zacharous is back on Ontariese,” Lor explained, “and the two women are with Morgan. She’ll interview them in-depth then release them to their families.”
“What about the other woman, the one in the lab coat?”
“She was the hidden treasure in the ratty hovel,” Lor continued. “Her name is Lynell Porffer and she’s no ordinary doctor. She’s a molecular biologist who specializes in genetics.”
“Damn.” Blayne pushed his hand through his hair. “I guess we don’t have to wonder what she was doing on Earth.”
“She kept insisting she had diplomatic immunity, so I only spoke to her in Ontarian.”
“She doesn’t speak Ontarian?”
Lor shook his head. “Just Rodyte and English. She kept asking if we had someone named Alex, but wouldn’t say anything else about him. I’m presuming he’s the blond man I saw her with initially.”
“Or he could be one of the guards.”
After another brusque head shake, Lor explained, “Makes more sense that he was one of the hunters and flashed out at the first sign of trouble. We’ll know for sure after Zacharous has been interrogated.”
“What about her claim of immunity? Did that check out?”
“Unfortunately. Charlotte said she’s obligated to contact the Rodymian consulate within the next forty-eight hours, so the interrogators are going to be aggressive.”
It always amused Blayne that Lor spoke of the high queen with such familiarity. But then he was mentored by her life mate, so he really was familiar with her. “I’ve seen Porffer’s handiwork. She deserves an aggressive interrogation and a whole lot more.”
“So we’re back to square one with Nazerel and Sevrin.” Elis sighed, obviously frustrated by the fact.
“No we’re not,” Lor objected. “We’re systematically dismantling their web. Each time we capture another one of their people we gain more information. And this is the fourth site we’ve forced them to abandon.”
“How do you figure that?” Elias sounded less confrontational.
“Team North’s house, Sevrin’s headquarters, Team South’s house and now the motel.” He held up a finger as he listed each location, then made a fist as he went on. “We have the most important medical personnel on their staff. This project is crippled and they’ve slinked away into the shadows to lick their wounds.”
“We also recovered two of their victims, alive and… Were they unharmed?” Blayne dreaded the answer, but he needed to know.
Lor looked at Elias, the subject obviously uncomfortable. “They didn’t seem to be physically abused. Whether or not they’d been coerced or seduced, I don’t know.”
Elias wasn’t quite so vague. “It’s likely they’d been intimate with their captors. That’s why we took them to Morgan. Believe it or not she has an almost maternal side though we’re seldom allowed to see it.” He hesitated and then added, “We were able to put names to the faces you gave us. Would you rather discuss the details in private?”
“We live on a ship the size of an RV. There are no secrets among the Mystic Militia.”
“Fate hasn’t been kind to any of these guys,” Elias began.
“Good,” Odintar muttered and Blayne agreed.
“The first one was serving a fifteen-year sentence for armed robbery. He’d also been arrested for sexual assault, but those charges had been plea bargained down to a lesser charge.”
“Typical. You said was. Is he out already?”
Elias shook his head. “Just the opposite. He was stabbed during an altercation with another inmate and didn’t survive.”
“How sad,” Blayne muttered sarcastically.
“The youngest of the three enlisted in the army and is currently missing in action. They never found his body, but he’s believed to be dead.”
“And the other one?”
&nb
sp; “His name is Jason Myer. There have been multiple reports of domestic disturbances, but he has never been charged. He has two children.”
“Shit.” Blayne closed his eyes for a moment, struggling through the complication. “What happens to the family if Dad just disappears?” He opened his eyes to see if anyone had any clever ideas.
Elias grinned. “I already thought of that. The wife doesn’t work now, but she has been employed in the past. Mr. Myer also has a sizeable life insurance policy. If we can make his disappearance look like murder, his wife will have a financial safety net as she builds a life without him.” Elias paused, concentration creasing his brow. “Of course, she’ll have to have him declared dead and that’s not easy without a body.”
“So we’ll give them a body,” Odintar suggested with a wicked smile.
“Or at least enough biological matter with the correct DNA to indicate that there had been a body,” Elias countered.
Lor shook his head, yet a smile curved his lips. “I can’t believe we’re going to stage a murder.”
“If the police stumbled on to the isolated spot where poor Mr. Myer had been hacked to pieces, all we would need is blood and assorted tissue to make it convincing. Maybe a couple of teeth,” Elias clarified.
“If we provide you with the needed material, can you arrange the rest?” Blayne asked.
Elias nodded. “Yeah. I know what they’ll be looking for and how much they’ll need before they’re satisfied. I’ll make you a list.”
Lor shuddered. “This is really morbid.”
“We could just slit his throat and leave him in the desert.” Odintar didn’t sound like he was joking.
“The thought has crossed my mind, but that’s not what Angie wants. And ultimately this is about her.”
“If you’re going to do it, do it soon,” Lor told them. “I want everyone refocused on our mission.”
* * * * *
“Which one is it?” Blayne squinted through the darkness two nights later. The apartment doors looked identical. Jason Myers still lived in southern California, but he’d moved from Riverside to San Bernardino.
“225 B. It’s that one.” Odintar pointed to the corner unit on the second story.
“The children should be in bed by now. If the wife sees us, we’ll pulse her and then take the memory.”
“Understood.”
It had taken two days for Elias to scout out a location for the murder scene and figure out how to plant just enough clues to lead local law enforcement to the needed conclusions. It seemed like a lot of work for someone who deserved pain and suffering, but this way Angie’s conscious would be clear. Her attacker would be punished for what he’d done to her, but she wouldn’t become an accessory to murder in the process.
Blayne focused in on the designated apartment and scanned. Judging by the strength of the energy concentrations, the two children were indeed in one of the bedrooms. There was no way to know if they were sleeping, but it was nearly midnight. One adult was in the front room and the other in the second bedroom.
“He’s in the front room.”
Odintar’s nanites allowed him to see through walls, so Blayne only nodded his head. “Let’s flash in and out as fast as we can. If things go wrong, you get out with the bastard and I’ll deal with the fallout.”
“Agreed.”
They teleported to the front room and Blayne rendered the bastard unconscious with a firm mental pulse. Odintar shoved his shoulder into the human’s stomach and lifted him to his shoulder. A gasp drew Blayne’s attention as Odintar flashed out of the room.
He turned, intending to render the intruder unconscious, but the female’s torso was draped with a sleeping toddler. Had one of the children stirred or did they have three children now. It didn’t matter. She’d seen Odintar disappear with her husband.
Her eyes were huge, face pale, lips trembling, but miraculously she didn’t make another sound.
“I won’t hurt you. We have what we came for.” She hadn’t screamed yet, but he didn’t trust her to remain calm. Her sleeping children were likely the only thing keeping her quiet.
“What are you going to do with him?” she whispered, eyes slowly filling with fear.
A certain catch in her tone made him ask, “What would you like me to do?”
“Beat the shit out of him every day for the next five years then make damn sure he can’t come back here.”
He inclined his head then smiled. He only manipulated memories when there was no other choice and her attitude made the invasion unnecessary. “The less you know the better, but he will never harm you or your children again.”
“What are you?”
“A friend.” Rather than frighten her further, he walked out the front door.
* * * * *
It was almost dawn by the time Blayne returned to the ship. Head Master Tal had insisted the rapist be taken to the City of Tears rather than the Conservatory. The Conservatory’s limited detention facilities were already full of Shadow Assassins.
Blayne wasn’t sure where Odintar had gone, but his belongings were missing when Blayne returned to the cabin where Angie slept. Tori was slumped over the bed sound asleep. Rather than wake her, Blayne pinged Lor and he came and got his exhausted life mate.
Blayne sat in the chair and studied Angie’s face as the events of the past few days scrolled through his mind. They hadn’t apprehended Nazerel, but they’d captured a doctor who might prove even more important in the long run. Would Angie be pleased with his actions regarding the rapist? He’d told her what he intended to do, but she had still seemed conflicted about it.
Well, it couldn’t be undone now. The bastard’s treatment had already begun.
Moving to the other berth, Blayne commanded his clothes away and crawled beneath the bedding. His body was fatigued and his energy stores were running low, but his mind was still troubled, keeping him from sleep. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his breathing. If he couldn’t sleep, he would meditate.
Angie was his life mate. He became more certain of the fact with every breath he took. If this tragedy changed her, regardless of how dramatically, he would not desert her. He would take care of her and assist in her recuperation. He would—
Love me. That’s what I need from you.
He opened his mind, drawing her inward with eager tenderness. I’m so relieved to hear your voice.
I’ve been trying to wake up for hours, but Odintar has me well and truly trapped.
There’s a reason for that. You need to rest.
I need you more.
Her presence surged, constructing a visualization with startling speed and skill. If she commanded this much control after only a few weeks, she would be a phenomenal talent by the time she was fully trained.
He appeared on a moon-bathed beach, waves crashing dramatically in the distance. They lay on a soft blanket and they were both naked. “I missed you too.” He grinned down at her.
She lay on her back. He was stretched out on his side with one arm beneath her neck. His hair streamed all around them and he realized she had chosen to represent him in his natural form. She was really fond of her “dark elf”.
“We kicked ass today. Didn’t we?” She raised her arm and combed his hair with her fingers, obviously fascinated by the length and texture.
“That was two days ago, but yes, we kicked ass.”
“Two days? If that was two days ago, why won’t Odintar release me?”
“I nearly lost you, love.” His hair wrapped around her wrists and pinned her arms to the blanket.
She laughed. “Okay, that’s new. Can your hair really do that?”
“No,” he admitted. “But I’m feeling particularly savage at the moment.”
“You shouldn’t worry so much. I have a damn good teacher.”
“What exactly happened? I know Nazerel forced my energy into you, but how did he do it?”
She arched her back, her breasts gently swaying. “Are you sure
you want to talk?”
“No, I want you to talk while I do this.” He bent and captured one pert nipple between his lips. He sucked her flesh with firm pulls, teasing the tip of her nipple with his tongue. Explain or I’ll stop.
“He sensed the connection and dove into my mind. He was frantically working to complete the link when you blasted him with energy.”
His lips stopped pulling and his tongue stilled. She made a needful sound and pressed against his lips. Keep talking.
“I saw the energy coming toward me and knew my only hope was to spread it out through my entire body. I figured the damage would be lessened that way. It hurt like hell, but apparently it worked. My brain is still functional.”
He raised his head and briefly kissed her mouth. “I’m glad. You’ve always been more fun when you’re feisty.”
“Is that an invitation?” She twisted suddenly, knocking him over onto his back. Then she straddled his hips and pinned his arms to the blanket. “Now I can do whatever I want with you.”
He laughed. “No. Stop. Please don’t torture me with your silky, hot mouth.”
She laughed too. “That didn’t sound very sincere.”
She started to ease down his body, but he had a better idea. With a few deft movements, he spun her around and arranged her astride his face. “Much better.” With his hands firmly holding her hips, he brought her pussy down to his waiting mouth.
“I was going to do that to you,” she cried.
What’s stopping you?
“Good point.” She leaned forward, bracing her weight on her forearms and her knees.
He felt the teasing flick of her tongue against the very tip of his cock, so he flicked his tongue against her clit. She murmured and squirmed then drew him deep into the warmth of her mouth. All she could do was keep her lips firm and bob her head, but the combination was seriously arousing.
His position allowed him a greater range of motion and he took full advantage of the freedom. At first he traced her slit over and over with his tongue, letting her scent sink into his being. He’d wanted to do this so badly after their quickie. He intended to enjoy himself now.
Somehow she freed one of her hands because her snug little fist worked his shaft while her mouth stimulated the sensitive tip. She dragged her tongue up and down his length, licking him with deliberate relish.
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