“He hasn’t stopped his research,” Svallin said, sensing Mads’ thoughts.
“No.”
Growling, Svallin sprang to his feet. “Is this an attempt at Earth humor?”
He paced from the unconscious female to the warehouse, like he wanted to pull the doors down and search through the flames for evidence. Acrid smoke hung thick in the air.
“You clearly do not understand humor if you think an abducted unconscious woman and a fire is humorous.” Sometimes the broad, physical aspect of human comedy eluded him. He did not understand how a species could find their own clumsiness to be amusing.
Svallin turned toward Mads, shoving a finger in the center of his bare chest. “Was this entire scene a delay tactic? Did you stall to allow the rogue to escape?”
Mads knocked the male’s hand away. When it came to hand-to-hand combat, Svallin might have the advantage of reach with his height but Mads had speed and superior skill. “I delayed but not for his escape.”
Svallin growled, hands fisted at his side. “Explain.”
“I had no intention of finding the old bull for you. If I wasted enough time, you would terminate the mission.” And then he’d slip away.
The male charged Mads, shoving him against the vehicle. It rocked with the force of impact. “Why do you insist on helping that traitor?” he growled.
“Traitor? Karl is working to save our people and you abandoned him.” Mads pushed Svallin away, sending the male stumbling backward. Hopefully, Svallin would get the message that he couldn’t physically intimidate Mads; he didn’t want to hurt his friend.
“He abandoned us.”
“Because he refused to quit his research,” Mads said. He glanced toward the unconscious female. Defending his uncle was an untenable position.
“Is that what he told you? What other lies did he spin?”
“His research—”
“His research,” Svallin spat out the word like it tasted bitter, “was reckless and unethical. His reports were filled with nonsensical ramblings. That is why the Council removed support.”
The two males stared at each other in a contest of wills. Sirens sounded in the distance. Svallin turned toward the noise.
“Fire brigade,” Mads explained. He quickly dressed, then removed the oxygen mask from the female and shoved it in a pocket. The humans did not need to discover a piece of reilendeer tech.
“He took a human mate,” Svallin said. “Just to see if it was possible. Did you know that?”
“Aunt Shelly. I do not recall much of her.”
“Because he opened up her brain to see if it changed after completing the mate bond.”
Stunned disbelief rolled through him. “No, he would not—”
“I saw the recordings.” Svallin scrubbed at his eyes and his shoulders slumped. “It was gruesome, and Karl acted as casually as if he were slicing into fruit, not a brain. So that’s why the Council pulled support: Karl decided to butcher humans.”
“He said we grow cruel without the mate bond.” Mads could not imagine the heartlessness needed to murder his mate, to vivisect her and then send recorded evidence of his atrocity like it was some interesting bit of knowledge and not a horrendous crime.
Nausea boiled in his gut.
“I did not know, and I did not willfully aid his crimes. I believed him to be harmless,” Mads said, desperate for his friend to believe him.
Svallin made no reply as the ambulance arrived, followed by the fire department. They moved back and briefed the EMTs on the female’s condition. One tried to give them oxygen, but they refused.
“Does he have another lair?” Svallin asked.
“Most likely. He made mention of having friends on the Council, who still believed in his work.”
Svallin nodded; this was no surprise. “That is why, despite his crimes, there was no pressure to apprehend the male.”
Mads ran his hand through his hair, kicking up more dust and soot. “I saw his equipment. Some of it was old, used for decades, but other pieces were new.”
“And he destroyed it, rather than move the useless items.”
“He’s not coming back to this location,” Mads said. Karl destroyed his equipment. All of it. “Or moving to a new location.”
Svallin snapped out his arm and scowled at the images on his skin. Mads tried to block anyone from witnessing Svallin use the Reilen communication unit. “Did he have a ship?”
“I do not know.”
“I’m finding traces of a quantum energy drive in the atmosphere. Leaving or entering, I cannot tell.”
“My mate,” Mads stated, ashamed that he just now worried for her safety.
“I’m not interested in your human female. Enough.”
“Karl wanted research subjects. He knows of the mate bond with Odessa.” He’d been in her house, collecting genetic material. “He wouldn’t leave without her.”
Odessa
A low thrum that worked its way through her entire body greeted Odessa when she woke. The humming reminded her of the way the ancient central heating system rattled in her first apartment in college. Whenever the blower kicked on, the vents shook, and the noise of the boiler carried throughout the apartment.
The second thing she noticed was the mind-numbing headache. The top of her head hurt, like her hair weighed too much and her neck felt stiff.
She remembered: the flat tire, Karl, and breaking glass. Her hand fluttered to her neck, rubbing the sore spot from the injection.
“If you’re thinking your headache feels familiar, it is. Sadly, it is a side effect of the sedative, but there are no long-term complications,” a familiar male voice said.
Odessa squinted in the bright light, attempting to turn toward Karl but found she could not move. She was encased in a glass tube, just large enough to squeeze herself in but not so accommodating to move. Not good. So not good.
How many mornings had she woken up with a pounding head and assumed it as stress or sinus pressure? Had it been Karl sneaking in the entire time? “You’ve been in my house! Drugging me!”
“Do not panic. An elevated heart rate will ruin my readings, and then we’ll have to start over again.” He sat on a stool directly in front of her tube—cage? Aquarium. A goldfish in a bowl, that’s what she felt like—and watched her with utter fascination. He wore his antlers, but the gray branches were gnarled and twisted. Bloodshot eyes examined her, and despite being clothed, a feeling of vulnerability swept over her.
“My daughter—”
“Is perfectly safe.” Karl waved a hand dismissively. “I have no use for the calf. Yet.”
“Where is she? I want to see her. Now!” Odessa pounded a fist against the glass, not that she was in a position to make demands.
“Do not,” he warned. “That is a precision instrument and I spent hours calibrating it, so behave like a good doe.”
Wow. That was incredibly weird and more than a little sexist.
“Where am I? Why did you kidnap us?” Her eyes had adjusted to the harsh lighting. The room had an organic feel with curved walls and gentle arches, like the space had been grown rather than built. Alcoves lined the far wall. Nestled in her own glass chamber, Ruby slept.
“Ruby!” Unable to raise her hands, she threw herself against the glass.
“Do. Not.”
Oxygen left the chamber with a whoosh and Odessa choked. She slumped forward, her head pressed to the wall of her prison, unable to do more than breathe. Her vision narrowed and grew black.
In. Out. One breath at a time. Don’t panic. Karl didn’t suffocate her but he must have lowered the oxygen to uncomfortable levels.
She despised him. The part of her that wanted to be a good person told her to be compassionate. The man was obviously out of his mind. The other part of her, the wild part that would do anything to survive and protect her daughter, wanted to claw his eyes out. He knew for years how Arne treated Mads and did nothing. He watched his brother neglect and verbally abuse his nephew and allowed it
to happen.
Her chest tightened with panic. Was it getting harder to breathe? Had he lowered the oxygen again?
One breath at a time.
She gasped for air, but the blackness receded. Counting silently, she listened to the ambient noise of the room. Machines with blinking lights crowded the room. Symbols scrolled by quickly on a large screen, presumably in Karl’s alien language. Oddly, the language didn’t feel too far out of her grasp.
Karl followed her gaze. “Oh, that’s interesting. I take it you’ve understood every word I’ve said?”
“Yes?” Clearly, the man was unstable, what with the kidnapping and drugging and sneaking into her house to do who knows what. Given how often she woke up feeling as if someone had been watching her, probably watching her sleep. Not wanting to make him upset, she had no idea what he wanted to hear. She’d tell him any fable, any lie with a smile on her face, if it kept her and Ruby breathing. She’d figure out a way out of this tube, find Ruby and then escape.
“The old sagas went on and on about the psychic connection between bond mates, but no one had seen it in generations. I assumed it was a myth or exaggeration, but here you are, speaking Reilendeer. You have an atrocious accent, of course,” Karl said, rambling. He cocked his head to one side. “Given that you’re not hyperventilating about the antlers, my nephew must have told you who we are.”
“He did. You’re an alien.”
“Then you shouldn’t be surprised to learn that this is my ship. We are no longer on Earth.”
She sagged, her shoulders knocking into the glass enclosure. Escaping just got a bit more difficult. No problem. These things had escape pods, right? They always did in the movies. Not that she could fly or read the escape pod’s instructions.
One problem at a time.
“I can see you thinking. Your aura fluctuates. What have you decided? Are you going to comply with me only enough to plot as escape attempt? Banking on Mads to rescue you? Rest assured, escape or rescue is not an option, so try to relax.”
“I don’t think that’s possible.”
He turned his attention to a handheld tablet and frowned. “You are correct. Your heart rate is far too accelerated. Now, breathe deep.” He punched in a command and a hiss of odorless gas filled the chamber. “You’ll remain conscious while you and I chat.”
She held her breath until her chest burned from the effort. Finally, she gasped and coughed, pulling the gas deeper into her lungs. “I don’t want to chat.”
“I’m not particularly fond of conversation, either, but I need to see your brain do all those weird human brain things, so our options are talking or opening up your skull. You are my most valuable specimen, but I am willing to sacrifice you if I must.” He leaned forward on the stool, body coiled like a spring about to jab her in the face.
Karl chuckled lightly, as if he heard that thought. Reilendeer couldn’t read minds. Mads told her so.
“The gas has loosened your tongue. Wonderful. And no, our species is not able to read minds,” he said.
“Your idea of wonderful sucks. Oh shit, why did I say that? That’ll make you upset and you look like you get stabby when you’re upset. Why can’t I stop talking?” Seriously, why? If she had enough room to clamp her hands over her mouth, she’d do just that.
“The expected language areas of your brain are lighting up. Rather disappointing, honestly. Learn a language psychically and the same old boring bits of gray matter are used.”
“Sound pretty interesting to me. I’m still not sure how I learned to speak Reilendeer,” she said. She could tell that the words coming out of her mouth were wrong, somehow, but she couldn’t stop herself from speaking. She still thought in English, at least.
“I would suspect that you are not, actually,” he said.
Irritation flared. Karl didn’t have to read her mind when he dosed her with the gas that made her say any darn thought in her head.
“Interesting. I wish I had a pre-bond brain scan to compare with the readings now. Alas. You proved difficult enough to collect a simple genetic sample from. Nothing short of abduction was going to get you in my lab.” A twisted grin spread across his face, all sharp teeth and empty eyes. “But you are bonded, that is beyond a doubt. The change is fascinating and happened rather quickly. I suspect my nephew contributed a rather large deposit of genetic material.”
That grin again. Odessa shivered.
Karl held up the tablet in front of her and flicked through several images before settling on a chart filled with numbers. “The genetic markers here and here are no longer strictly human.”
“I’m human. Plain old human.” She couldn’t sprout antlers or shapeshift.
“Your body disagrees. However, your brain remains disappointingly human. I know you’ve bonded. I see the evidence, I hear the evidence, but nothing in this scan is helpful. Where I would expect to find activity, I see nothing. Not a blip or a single neuron firing.” He threw the tablet to the ground. “So how are you doing it, hmm? How is that simian brain of yours doing all this work but not transforming? Can you see auras yet? Can your eyes shift to detect the necessary light spectra? Perhaps you are pregnant, and the language ability is not you but the connection to the embryo?”
His questions came at her rapid-fire. She didn’t know the answers to any of them. Before she could respond, a panel on the chamber slid open. He held out a hand.
She glanced toward the alcove with the sleeping figure of Ruby.
“Come along. I’ve learned all I can from this contraption.” He grabbed her by the wrist and yanked. She stumbled forward, her legs suddenly having the consistency of jelly. “Do not attempt to run. You simply cannot until the gas wears off. Now, one foot in front of the other.”
With little regard to her shaky steps, he pulled her forward and out of the room.
Chapter 20
Mads
They departed the warehouse fire. In the privacy of Mads’ vehicle, Svallin activated the ship. “It will be ready to depart when we arrive,” he said.
“No. We cannot wait. Call it to us.”
“It is too much of a risk. It will be seen.” The male shook his head.
“We will take the risk,” Mads said.
Svallin cocked his head to one side. Soot marred his complexion and Mads knew he looked no better. “Are you the mission commander now?”
“We do not have time to measure our dicks. Let us agree that mine is most impressive, as you’ve already seen it, yes?”
“This has nothing to do with your cock and everything to do with you and your family believing that the rules don’t apply to them. Actually, I take that back. If you kept your penis in your trousers, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
Mads growled, fangs fully descended. He gripped the steering wheel. If he attacked Svallin, he had no doubt he would be the victor, but he could not afford the delay. “Write me up for insubordination. Karl has my mate and, apparently, a ship. If he jumps to quantum, we have no way of tracking him. We are wasting time.”
Svallin’s nostrils flared. “I should write you up for desertion.”
Mads did not deny it. “How can I desert when you have me tagged like a dog?”
“What’s a dog?” Svallin over-pronounced the G, nearly swallowing it.
The males stared at each other. Mads wanted to be hard, to be angry, but a grin crept across his face.
“What’s a dog?” he repeated, bemused.
“Is it a human thing? I do not want to know what you do with your human,” Svallin said.
“It’s a canine, a companion animal,” Mads explained. “Man’s best friend,” he added, even though those words meant nothing to the other reilendeer male.
Svallin tapped on his forearm. “I agree that time is critical. The rogue must be apprehended. We will take the risk.” He gave Mads a critical inspection. “Do you have a weapon?”
“In the trunk.” He pulled the vehicle to the side of the road and retrieved an energy
pistol from the locked box in the trunk. Placing it in the waistband of his trousers, the burn on his shoulder pulled tight. Reilendeer healed quickly but accelerated healing did not diminish pain.
“The ship will meet us in a discreet location. I’m sending you the coordinates,” Svallin said as Mads returned to the driver’s seat. “We’ll track the ship’s energy signature.”
“Unless it is a decoy,” Mads said.
Svallin frowned. “It is improbable enough that the rogue has one ship. How would he have access to two?”
Good question. Private ships were prohibitively expensive, which was the only reason Mads never purchased his own ship to return to Earth. A soldier’s salary could never afford a private ship. Reilen laws prohibited charter and transport vessels from Earth. He could have tried his luck with a less reputable ship, the kind that did not care about laws and quarantines designed to protect developing planets, but those were risky. Half the time, they would hold their passengers hostage. The other half, they would blackmail their passengers to keep quiet about their dodgy destinations or cargo.
“The sympathizers on the Council,” Mads said. “Let us assume one member with more money than sense gifted Karl at least one ship.”
They rode in silence, until Svallin said, “I cannot believe you shifted right in front of me. That is so primitive.”
“It’s natural. I refused to be shamed for something that our bodies are made to do,” Mads said. He also refused to accept that shifting was somehow regressive and uncivilized.
“But, like, right in front of me. One minute you are on two legs, then the next, bam, naked. Antlers. I cannot unsee that shit.”
“Why would you want to? My physical form is admirable. Envious, even.”
Svallin snorted. “I do not envy your physical form.”
“But you do a little,” Mads said.
“I do not.”
“A little.”
“None. The amount of envy is none.”
“I’m proud of the way you’ve dealt with your feelings of inadequacy. So brave.”
“Be quiet and drive,” Svallin grumbled.
The Alien Reindeer’s Bounty Page 17
