Kept From the Deep: Venora Mates Book Two

by Octavia Kore

  “How could any dam ever treat her pup so poorly?” he had heard her ask Calder once after a particularly bad fight. “He deserves love, Cal. So much love.”

  He hadn’t known how to show Nyissa how much her love had saved him. The female may not have carried and birthed him, but she had loved and protected him his whole life. She had fought fang and claw for the terrified pup he had once been. She was and would always be his Daya.

  These cries though… Brin grimaced as he strained to listen. No, these weren’t Nyissa’s.

  “I know it seems hopeless, but if you keep crying, they’ll come back. We can’t do anything to draw their attention.” The voice was louder this time as if whoever it was wanted to be heard.

  Shayfia?

  “I want to go home!” another voice demanded.

  Brin willed his eyes to open even as the darkness tried to overtake him. His need to see Jun, to know she was alright, was stronger.

  He managed to lift the heavy lids and peered around. Nothing from his neck down responded to his commands. Brin knew this tech; it was similar to the hex he kept on him, the one he’d used to immobilize Raou.

  It was like being caught in the vise-like grip of the plokami, a large creature from his homeworld who lived within the okeanos and restrained its prey with its powerful tentacles.

  The room he found himself in was small, but open on all sides. The last thing he remembered was being shot by the human males and then watching helplessly as the Grutex carried his mate away.

  “Jun?” Her name was barely recognizable to his own ears. He swallowed hard and tried again. “Jun!”

  There was another cell in front of him, and a pair of dirty, underfed humans turned toward him with wide, curious eyes.

  The floors and what walls he could see were made of a black metal similar to adamantine, the metal the Venium favored for all of their crafts and off-world structures.

  A well-built forcefield separated the cells, and from the hum he could hear, Brin knew touching it would deliver a nasty little shock.

  He had come across the types of cells during his travels, but had never seen them used on the ships of their allies. If he were honest, the Grutex had always been more foe than friend.

  A prickle of panic slid across the back of his neck as he imagined all of the terrible things they could inflict upon her. Raou’s words taunted him, making his heart race.

  “Brin?” Jun stepped into his field of vision, off to his left, and relief swept through him. “I’m right here.”

  The tightness that had clutched at his chest moments ago released, and he wished, not for the first time since meeting her, that he could wrap her up in his arms and hold her to him. He would have given anything at that moment to be free, not just physically, but mentally. He wanted to tell her she was his mate, the most important being in his world.

  Brin wanted to be free to give her everything she wanted: the children, the home, the family she deserved. But even if they escaped this, Brin would never be free to offer the things she dreamed of.

  “Are you okay? Have they hurt you?” He fought to clench his fist, to pull free, but it was no use.

  Jun shook her head, her eyes roaming his chest. “I’m fine. No one has hurt us.” Her tongue swept over her lips as she narrowed her gaze, distracting him for a moment. “You can’t even tell.”

  “Can’t tell what?” he asked.

  Jun thrust her chin toward him. “That you were shot six times. They’re gone. Completely healed.”

  He remembered the pain of his flesh tearing as the human projectiles burrowed into him, and the gut-wrenching fear of his mind slowly slipping into the darkness as his mate screamed for him.

  “The Venium are quick healers, remember?” he reminded her, but something told him he had some outside help this time.

  “God, I wish we could bottle that,” she murmured. “Are you okay?”

  “I can’t move anything below my neck, but I think I’ll live. Do you know where we were taken?”

  Jun shrugged, stepping close enough to the forcefield to give him anxiety. “Telisa said we’re on one of the Grutex’s ships, but neither of us has any idea where exactly that is.”

  She glanced behind her to a spot he couldn’t see, but the soft weeping resumed.

  “How long have I been unconscious?”

  “I have no idea.” She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth as her shoulders rose and fell. “I woke up not too long ago, and Telisa thinks she was only here a couple hours before they brought us in.”

  Her arms wrapped around her midsection as if she were trying to hold herself together, and he caught a glimpse of her red, swollen fingers.

  The sharp, tangy scent of her lifeblood reached him as he inhaled desperately, tasting it on the air. His whole body tensed involuntarily.

  Mine. My mate.

  “Who hurt you? They touched you!” he growled.

  “No one touched me, Brin,” Jun said, looking down at her fingers. “I managed to do this to myself.”

  He needed to find a way to get her out of here before they realized what they had. If the Grutex put their hands on her, if they harmed her in any way, Brin wasn’t sure what he would do.

  His muscles ached from the lack of movement, but his brain blocked it out. Brega put him through far worse as a pup during her training sessions. All he needed was a way out…

  A Havacker being held captive by tech. The irony of the situation was not lost on him.

  Brin cursed his immobilization and the fact that he didn’t have any of his tools on him. Despite the way they looked, most of the Grutex weren’t stupid.

  The tools in his clothing would have been the first things to go after his capture. A thought occurred to him, and he sent up a prayer to the goddess that they hadn’t considered it.

  “Nyissa?” he whispered.

  There was a short pause, but the sound of her voice made him smile. “Yes, Master?” she whispered back.

  They obviously hadn’t thought to disable his AI. “Can you sweep my bindings for any weakness and run a check on security?”

  “Security on the ship is… formidable. Getting through will take time.”

  “And the bonds?” Brin asked.

  “I won’t be able to touch those until I can bypass security.”

  He’d figured as much. While they waited on Nyissa to work her magic, Brin watched Jun pace in her cell, stopping only to check on Telisa, the senator she’d snuck out of her dwelling to speak to. The crying had stopped, but Brin caught a sniffle every now and then.

  Jun stepped up to the forcefield that separated them and held her hand up like she was going to touch it. “Don’t,” he warned her. “It’s––”

  “Electrified? Yeah, I figured that out already, Glowworm.” She grimaced, rubbing a spot on the back of her fingers.

  The nickname brought a smile to his lips. When she settled on the floor, Brin craned his neck as far as he could to get a look. One of the panels in their cell was lifted a fraction, and she worked her nails between the edges, trying her best to pry it up.

  “What are you doing?” he whispered.

  “Mostly just hoping whatever I find under here is worth the scrapes and broken nails,” she muttered. “I figured, if I’m lucky, there might be some sort of wiring I can get access to. You’re Mr. Tech, so I was thinking you might be able to use it to get us out of here.”

  His mate was something else. She didn’t cower in a corner, waiting to be rescued. No, his shayfia took her fate into her own hands and worked with what she was given.

  Out of every female in the galaxy, the gods had selected him for her, and he couldn’t have been more humbled by their decision.

  Hours seemed to pass in silence, with nothing but Telisa’s sniffles and the rustling sounds of the other captives to break it up. By that point, it was getting progressively harder to ignore the burn in his limbs, and his mind was demanding he move already, even just the tiniest bit. Heavy footsteps ech
oed down the hall.

  “Shayfia!” he hissed, hoping she heard them as well and covered her work.

  She scurried back to the mattress at the opposite end of the cell and he heard the crying begin again, this time a little louder for show. If the Grutex thought the females were fearful, perhaps it would keep them from noticing the panel.

  “You’re awake,” a deep, familiar voice spoke from the front of the cell, and Brin turned to see Raou. His armor was still chipped on his chest, and he seemed to have acquired three more scars across his face in the time they had been apart.

  He’d suspected the male would have been eager to capture him after his time in the hex, but he was surprised to find him still on the ship.

  From the intel the Venium had on the Grutex, they kept a very rigid system, and warriors were most often kept on the ground or stationed nearby with their teams, ready to deploy at a moment’s notice.

  This ship didn’t seem like any of the ones they kept in rotation, but he hadn’t been inside enough of them to be able to tell for sure.

  “Get kicked off the ground team? I suppose being captured didn’t look very good on your record,” Brin said coolly.

  Raou grinned, and his eyes strayed into the other cell, roaming over Jun’s huddled form.

  “Actually, I requested to stay. A lovely opportunity may be opening up for me soon.”

  The thinly veiled threat was clear. Raou wanted Jun. He’d said as much doing his time in her dwelling, but Brin would die before he’d let the male get close enough to make good on it.

  At his earliest opportunity, Brin was going to pluck each of his six eyes from their sockets and force them down his throat until he choked on them.

  Jun was his mate and he was the only one who would ever touch her.

  Raou didn’t deserve to look at her like she was something to savor. He didn’t deserve to touch her, or even breathe the same air as her.

  Make him suffer.

  Raou’s gaze slid back to his, and he chuckled darkly before raising his arm and sliding his palm along the outside of the cell.

  Whatever was there triggered the bonds to release him, and he fell onto the hard metal of the floor. His knees took the brunt of his weight and he groaned as pain sliced through his hips and up his back. Every joint ached, and the prickle in his muscles from the lifeblood rushing back into his limbs stung.

  His head swam as he tried to right himself, falling forward onto his hands. Everything doubled as he looked up, watching the male pull a tray from the hovering cart at his back.

  He pushed the food through the barrier, and Brin lurched toward him, swiping at both of the hands as his brain tried to figure out which was the solid one, but Raou must have been expecting it. He dropped the tray onto the ground, jerking his limb back through the forcefield.

  “A valiant attempt, Venium, but you’re in my territory this time.” Raou continued on down the corridor, stopping at Jun’s cell to slide two trays along the floor.

  Brin stared at the meager meal: a nutrition brick and a water pod. It wasn’t the worst thing he’d ever had, but his mouth felt dry just from looking at it.

  With little thought, he shoved the brick into his mouth, softening it with sips of the water. If they were going to break themselves out, they would need to fuel their bodies. Sooner or later, Brin was going to be free, and Raou would pay with his life.

  Chapter 14

  Nuzal

  Nuzal grunted, his muscles shaking as he pushed through his morning workout. It was a habit left over from his days as a warrior, a routine so ingrained within him during a past life that even now he continued it.

  When he’d physically exhausted himself, Nuzal stepped off of the track and jogged into the cleansing room, inhaling the hot, steamy air. He let the water run down his plating, groaning as it heated the sore muscles beneath.

  It was something he did every day cycle, and yet something felt off. It had felt that way ever since the bonded pair had been brought into the lab.

  Although he had felt sympathy for the humans in his care from time to time, he had never been so consumed by one of them. Not even the little light-haired female he had removed from the Kaia’s office had stayed in his mind for this long.

  He closed his eyes and let himself imagine the bonded female there with him, water trickling down over her golden brown skin and her hair as black as the endless void of space. What would it be like to reach out and touch her?

  She would be soft, like the others, but Nuzal knew there would be… something different. The thought made him shudder, but he wasn’t entirely sure whether it was in disgust or need.

  There was something about this female that had drawn his interest, and like a beast sighting his prey, Nuzal couldn’t shake the urge to hunt; to know everything he could about her and this male she had bound herself to.

  It’s a new project, he told himself. Some obsession is to be expected. After all, this was the first Venium-human bonding they had ever seen. The information they gathered from them could be useful.

  With his morning routine completed, Nuzal dressed and headed toward the lab, giving his feet a quick glance to make sure he was, in fact, wearing his boots this time. He didn’t need Erusha’s lectures or questioning gaze falling on him today.

  There was a quickness to his step that surprised even him. While Nuzal was good at what he did, top of his class, in fact, he hadn’t ever felt excitement over starting his day. He made sure his speed was the only indication of his interest in the day’s work. Unlike Erusha and many of the other males he worked with, Nuzal never revealed his feelings.

  Until recently…

  Although he’d intended to go to the lab, Nuzal found himself at the entrance of the holding cells. Raou was standing in the night guard’s nook, his red eyes watching as the doors slid open to allow Nuzal entry.

  The scratches on his cheek from Erusha’s outburst had already healed, leaving behind a pink scar. This was nothing new. Most of the warriors carried these as proof of their bravery in battle, but only a few would know this was a mark of shame and failure.

  Unless the younger males who had witnessed his punishment wanted to challenge the male, they would keep their mouths shut and go along with whatever lie he made up about it.

  Nuzal might have questioned why Raou was still aboard the ship were it not for the obsession he too seemed to have with the bonded human. He’d seen the way he watched her; it made his lifeblood heat and muscles tense with the anticipation of a fight.

  That instinctual urge to dispose of a competitor was wasted on him, anyway. Nuzal would never be considered a suitable mate; not in this lifetime.

  “Will you be working with the bonded human today?” Raou asked.

  Nuzal nodded, moving past the male as he continued down the corridor.

  “She is compatible with the Venium male, yes?”

  “If she is bonded to him, then I would assume so,” Nuzal ground out, already annoyed at the intrusion into his work.

  “It’s unheard of,” Raou continued. “A mating between a Venium and any other species has never occurred.”

  Nuzal shrugged. “As far as we know, but I’m sure there are things they do not share with us; things they do not wish us to know about them.”

  “Yes, but what is it about this female that makes her so… unique?”

  “Perhaps she isn’t unique. Perhaps she is only the first of many to respond to the species, but we won’t know that until we begin our testing.” Nuzal rounded the corner with the warrior hot on his heels. “Her DNA will tell us if she is descended from the first experiments.”

  Raou’s eyes widened with interest, and Nuzal wished he had kept his mouth shut.

  “Outside DNA? You think she may be compatible because she isn’t completely human?”

  “It may be a possibility. I wasn’t in the lab during those experiments, but I’ve read the reports. They used a wide variety of DNA samples.”

  Nuzal had poured over the
m after leaving the female last night cycle. Pages of notes, files filled with documentation of just how many species they had attempted to recreate. The scale of their efforts had shocked him. The Kaia at that time had ordered them to capture human women already carrying offspring so that they could insert foreign DNA into the already developing fetus.

  The goal hadn’t been to change them completely, but to alter them just enough that they could pass down desired qualities from their donors. Trial and error.

  The humans taken in those early tests had gone back to tell their abduction stories, but they had been ridiculed. For generations, the Grutex brought males and females on board, altering their genetics, changing the very essence of what made humans human. The fact that their families, friends, and even their governments decided to ignore them had worked in the Grutex’s favor.

  Every birth was recorded, and included photos and exact locations of where the successful experiments had been released back into the human population. One could fault the Grutex for a lot of things, but they were meticulous recordkeepers.

  The majority of the offspring modified during the experiments were born with the desired human physical traits, but for those born with the traits of their donors—tails, horns, claws, fur, extra limbs—they were disposed of.

  Something akin to sadness had come over him as he read the files of those “failures.” They couldn’t allow them to return to Earth and risk others in the galaxy finding out exactly what they were doing to this primitive species. Especially the Venium.

  Their fragile alliance rested on a razor-thin edge, and the exploitation of the humans would have surely pushed it over. The current Kaia no longer saw fit to cover up their deeds. The Grutex, he believed, didn’t need allies.

  “Do you believe she will be able to breed successfully?” Raou asked as they neared her cell.

  Nuzal didn’t even register the movement of his body until he was staring into the other male’s eyes, his clawed hand wrapped around his throat as he slammed him into one of the stark white walls between the cells.