Chapter 6
Raevu
And now, on top of everything else, the humans have allowed my mate to be kidnapped from right under their noses!
I could sense the warriors around me feeling just as agitated as I was. With more control than I thought I had, I held calm and kept myself still. We stood at the top of the ramp, waiting for the signal that we had finally landed and could lower the doors and descend.
I was not looking forward to speaking with Ambassador Reynauld in person. That squat, bumbling idiot had made a mess of everything so far. I made a note to have T’ral review the treaty and find a way to get Reynauld replaced. He had been in the suite when Eva had been taken, and he had done nothing to protect her. He was less than a man in my eyes. He was a coward.
I felt my anger rising again and went through some breathing exercises to calm myself down. In a moment, I would have to deal with humans who were unused to Juhlian tempers. It wouldn’t do to scare the fools to death when I needed their help to recover Eva.
I also would be calling a friend from our transport vehicle. Ken had been a minor state official on my very first visit to this planet. His job had been to show me, the Juhlian heir, around, to make sure I had fun, and to keep me out of trouble. He’d done his job well, unlike the idiotic ambassador. After that, Ken and I had formed an instant friendship. I’d heard he’d moved up a few steps on the bureaucratic ladder, and I was tired of going through official channels. The humans had already botched everything. It was time to start calling in favors and dropping names.
I felt the almost indiscernible thump of the airlock regulating. The hiss of the opening doors cued us to move forward into the sunlight. I’d had the captain open the viewport screens before coming to a full stop, so our eyes would be accustomed to the yellow light from the sun when we emerged. We strode out as a unit.
A group of humans waited for us. The one in front was not Reynauld. Good. I will not deal with that one any longer. Inept fool.
This man was almost as tall as my warriors and me and easily as broad. He also wore a “power suit” as crisp and tailored as my own. He held out a hand in greeting. Remembering T’ral’s advice and our previous journeys here, I clasped it with my own and shook it once.
“Derek Willoughby, sire, at your service. I’m here to take you straight to the president.” He fell into step beside me. I heard a grumble or two from my warriors about how close he was standing. Could he be a threat? I stopped walking.
Willoughby turned to look back at me. “Sire? President Maeda is waiting.”
My eyebrow rose. “He is a president and will be replaced. I am a king and irreplaceable. He can wait on me. I haven’t seen your President Maeda in quite some time. I have been dealing with your Peace Opportunity Program Ambassadors for months. Why is your planetary president finally getting involved now?”
Willoughby had the grace to look a bit discomfited. “We believed we had placed the breeding program in the most capable hands, sire. Reynauld was given extremely good references. He had the scientific background to handle executing administration of the Peace Opportunity Breeding Program, and he understood the science behind it as well. Unfortunately, we were wrong to trust him with this program, as both he and the medical director in charge are now being investigated for mismanagement.”
I stared at him. “Now that Eva has been kidnapped right out of his hands?”
“Yes.” He lowered his gaze slightly, and then looked back up at me firmly, his manner remaining calm and polite. “All of the details have been brought to our attention, and we have every intention of getting Ms. Knight back safely.”
“I do not plan on sitting through endless meetings, Willoughby, while your bureaucrats debate what actions to take. My warriors and I will be taking action immediately. Take me to Eva’s quarters, so we can start tracking her. Maeda can meet us there.” I started walking again, heading toward the limousine Willoughby had motioned to when we started out.
There were a number of vehicles in the motorcade. I stopped several feet away and gave a hand signal to Baelon. Our squad separated on cue, each warrior heading for a different vehicle.
“What are they doing?” Willoughby asked me.
“Inspecting,” I retorted.
“Inspecting for what? These vehicles have been thoroughly searched and vetted by our mechanics and security personnel.” Willoughby seemed more confused than anything.
I snapped, “And now they will have been thoroughly searched and inspected by my security personnel. So far, Earth’s government has done little to earn my trust—and an appalling lot to lose it. So I’m sure you understand when I say that we will take no more chances.”
Willoughby swallowed and then nodded slowly, seeming to understand that I would not tolerate any further problems.
I moved forward again at Baelon’s all-clear. I knew Baelon’s search would be thorough and complete. Willoughby lengthened his stride to beat me to the door and open it for me.
I was surprised President Ken Maeda himself was already seated inside the vehicle. He was on the shorter side, like the ambassador, but slender and fit. His hair was a mix of black and silver, interestingly with more silver in it than the last time we’d met.
He gave me a small, polite smile and inclined his head. “I figured that’s what you’d want to do. Take action. So, that is what we will do,” he said dryly.
I relaxed slightly. “Ah! Your presence here saves me from making a call to you. I grow tired of the embassy channels. They have made a mess of things. I had already decided to go straight to the man in charge—you. This will be dealt with today, Ken.”
***
I reintroduced Maeda to Baelon and T’ral. All of us had actually previously met Ken before he had been elected to his current position of planetary president. I hadn’t been aware of just how much of a promotion my friend had achieved, so he had managed to surprise me pleasantly despite the tense circumstances.
The ride to the local Center didn’t take very long. Baelon, T’ral, Maeda, Willoughby, and I used that time to discuss Eva’s abduction.
“We’ve reviewed the hallway footage of the attack, sire.” Willoughby put in. “No group has claimed responsibility as of yet or asked for ransom for Ms. Knight. Of course, it has only been a few hours since she was taken, but sometimes terrorists move quickly with their demands. We were hoping to have more information by the time you arrived.”
“That’s what I was hoping as well. My warriors are also trained trackers. We will find her,” I stated. I would accept no other outcome.
Maeda broke in with his quiet, yet firm, voice, “There are a few restrictions we will have to place upon you and your warriors while you are here, Raevu. You can’t have free rein to dispose of these radicals any way you desire. I won’t have innocent citizens endangered.”
My eyes narrowed. “This female bears my family crest, Ken. She will be my life mate and my queen. These ‘radicals’ have not kidnapped some ordinary woman off the street. They will be dealt with accordingly,” I insisted.
Maeda nodded. “Yes, but if you go for a full-force extraction, she and innocent civilians might get hurt or killed. I don’t believe her captors see her as anything other than a pawn in their game against the government and your race. Expendable. I’m not sure if it would be better to keep them in the dark, or to let them know the true value of their hostage.”
I exchanged stares with my two most trusted advisers. We had discussed this same idea in the time before landing. “We believe they should not be informed of her importance as of yet. Let us…what do you say? ‘Play our cards close to our vest’ and use our information as the secret weapon it can be.”
Maeda nodded in agreement. “Absolutely. That’s the answer we were hoping you’d give.” The fleet pulled up smoothly to the entrance of the Center’s ambassadorial guest quarters. Grand columns held up an entryway, and several doormen moved as one to start opening car doors. My warriors were out of the vehicles and surrounding my limousine before the doormen could get close. We stepped out, and the men surrounded us, escorting us inside the building.
After just a few short corridors and turns, we came to the rubble that I was informed was once the entryway to Eva’s quarters. A security detail stood at the entrance of the hallway that led up to the suite, but they moved aside silently when they saw us and stepped back into place on guard after our passage.
My warriors fanned out, making their way over bricks and shattered paneling littering the floor. In our tongue, they quietly shared information of what they saw, keeping only with the facts at hand.
I stepped into the room and looked around myself. I knew T’ral and Baelon were accumulating the data and would come to conclusions we would discuss when the survey was complete.
In the middle of the conversation area, a silk scarf patterned in green and pink caught my eye under a small side table. When Eva had asked my name, this scarf had been at her throat.
I bent over and picked it up. A whiff of scent drifted to me. I breathed deeply. I couldn’t identify it, but somehow, I knew it was hers. Now, I had her scent.
Four of my men moved back out into the building. I knew they were going to canvass the Center’s nearby entrances and exits. They would interview any people they saw, no matter the person’s rank, to discern if the person had been a witness or not and bring that information back with them when their task was finished. Knowing the job was in the best possible hands, I asked sharply, “Ken, why was her room right off a public-access plaza? Surely, a visiting diplomat receives quarters more secure than this.”
“That’s a good question. One we need answered. We put too many details under Reynauld’s authority,” Maeda replied. “He’s in custody, as are his assistants. Anyone involved in the Peace Opportunity Program is under surveillance.” He coughed into his fist. “The device they used to deactivate the security system makes it clear that they had help from the inside.”
Brusquely, Baelon inquired, “You, the president’s aide. You never answered my king’s question. Why did you step into this matter now and not before?” T’ral cleared his throat. “No, T’ral. I want to know. I won’t ask it in a more polite manner.”
I glanced over to see T’ral shake his head.
Willoughby answered, “Reynauld called our office in a panic after the attack. He was in over his head. When I reviewed the communications and records of the program, it was obvious that when he interviewed for the job, he faked several of his references and commendations. I’ve taken over. The program will now fall under the oversight of my office.”
“And who are you?” Baelon continued just as bluntly.
“I’m President Maeda’s secretary of state. We’ll be coordinating with the Department of Security, and we can get resources from the Defense and Justice if need be to ensure a smooth recovery of Ms. Knight.” Willoughby’s answer was slick and well-prepared. I had no doubt that he and Maeda had rehearsed it on the way over to meet us.
Baelon continued his interrogation. As these were questions I wanted answers to as well, I let him continue. I liked Ken, but these mistakes were simply unforgivable. “What department was over the Peace Program? The Department of Ineptitude?”
Willoughby’s calm response was a stark contrast to Baelon’s heat. “The Department of Science and Advancement, sir. Your Majesty, if I may?” He turned to me.
“Yes?” I answered.
“How did your government decide which DNA to send to us to use for the experiment? How did you know it would work?”
“We sent mine,” I answered. “The royal lineage is the most genetically pure, with little degradation.”
He blinked at me slowly, then removed his spectacles and polished them before replacing them on his face. “It makes sense that you would send the best sample. However, if a human were inoculated with your personal DNA and survived, that would mean that she has a compatible biology to your own.”
And that explained the mark. If she weren’t my life mate, it would have killed her like the others. It helped my confusion to draw these connections, but I hated the idea of the setback costing lives. Mixing our genes with humanity was a huge gamble. And we didn’t yet know if it would work.
I took a deep breath and offered the two humans more honesty than I had before now. “Our Council hasn’t approved this treaty yet. The Council will not agree to this exchange on a planet-wide scale if it isn’t feasible. There was only one way to proceed with the biological trials.”
They both blinked back at me in surprise and said nothing, so I went on, “The treaty is actually just between your planet and my family. I couldn’t ask someone else in my family to send DNA for an experiment, so I had them send mine. If it works, then I have proof for our council to go planet-wide.”
“Is that why the crest appeared on her skin? Would some other family crest have appeared if other DNA had been sent?” Baelon sounded curious.
T’ral answered, “No. Traditionally, the crest appears on the life mate’s skin after the bonding ceremony, which is a blood exchange. The DNA we sent had no blood traces. We double-checked the samples before we left. Also, historically, no other families have ever had life mates with visible skin markings—only the royal family.”
“Perhaps the exposure to your DNA was enough,” Willoughby ventured.
Baelon was still skeptical. “So even with a personal treaty with the royalty of another planet, you assigned an incompetent man to the task?”
“Baelon, enough,” T’ral interrupted.
I stayed quiet, just lifting an eyebrow. I wanted them to work out their dispute without my intervention.
“No, T’ral, I’m not sure it is enough,” Maeda interjected. “He has a point. We let Reynauld have too much slack, and Ms. Knight and the other volunteers paid for our mistake. We won’t make a mistake like that again. You have ambassadorial quarters waiting for you here in the Center. I’ll be staying next door until this matter is resolved.”
“Sir…” Willoughby began.
“No, Derek, we need a show of solidarity with the Juhlians. We need to show our citizens that we fully support this peace initiative. I feel we have not done so prior to now. By giving the assignment to an underqualified individual, we did not show our people how important it was to us. They must think we’re not endorsing this treaty, when, in fact, we need it. Get the two topmost floors. We’ll reserve the highest one for Raevu and myself, and the one just beneath for his warriors and our security detail. If we need more space than that, continue taking over whole floors as a safeguard.”
“Yes, sir,” Willoughby conceded. “I’ll make it happen.” He turned and left the room, speaking into his communication device as he went.
Maeda turned to me, “Now what, Raevu?”
I smiled slightly, finally getting the sense that something around here was being done properly. “I’m impressed, Ken.”
“It’s time. Policy stands, but we need to uphold it and reinforce it. This is a start.”
Maeda and I watched my warriors converge on T’ral. He pulled up a data screen and began compiling information. One by one, the four that had spread out through the Center came back and added their details to the rest of the gathered intelligence.
T’ral’s fingers flew across the screen. Baelon pulled out his own data screen and watched the data organizing itself within the display. I waited for their conclusions.
A chime rang through the room. My warriors went on guard and moved into defensive positions around me. A rich but strangely emotionless male voice sounded over the intercom.
“Mr. President, Your Majesty, there is an incoming transmission. I am attempting to track its source, but it is encrypted. I will send all information to Lord T’ral’s data communicator as I receive and decode it.”
“Who was that?” I barked, wary.
“Thank you, Geoffrey. Hold the transmission for a moment, please,” Maeda said as he turned a mild expression on me. “Geoffrey is a computer interface we assigned to Ms. Knight. Unfortunately, Reynauld did not think to put a communication chip in her lapel so Geoffrey could track her and reassure her of our progress.”
“Geoffrey, who is calling?” I asked.
“Unknown, sire. As it is encrypted and coming to Ms. Knight’s suite, I’m assuming it could be her kidnappers. May I patch it through? I will continue to collect information as it relays.”
Willoughby started to protest, but Maeda held up a hand, and I ordered, “Yes, Geoffrey, patch it through.”
The monitor flashed to life on the wall, and we all turned to face the screen.
The focus of the picture was a man dressed completely in black, including a black mask. He couldn’t disguise his eyes, though. They had a wild, gleeful gleam in them, almost crazed.
Immediately, my rage burst from the tight hold I’d had it under, and I spat out at him, “I know your face from when she pulled your mask off. The mask does you no good.”
He snatched off his mask and sneered at us through the communicator. “That’s fine. I don’t care if a blue alien freak knows who I am.” His voice was a high wheeze, as if his throat had been damaged.
His ashy, blond hair and pale skin appeared washed out against the black turtleneck he had on. “We’re the Humans for Humanity League, and you won’t be taking any human women from this planet,” he declared in a righteous fury.
“Is that so?” I replied, unimpressed.
“Yes! Every woman you attempt to kidnap we will free from your alien clutches. We will shut down the ‘Peace Program,’ which is nothing but human trafficking, and we will liberate our women to live happy lives where they belong. Here on Earth with human males!” He shook his skinny fists at the screen.
President Maeda cut into his tirade, “Where is Eva Knight?”
“Ah, Mr. President, finally we get the recognition we deserve.” The terrorist’s scratchy tenor voice was grating on my nerves, and all I wanted to do was leap through the screen and strangle him. But I held still and silent, waiting for his answer.
He smirked. “She’s fine. She’s right here with me.” He stepped to one side to reveal a figure sitting in a chair behind him. No, not sitting, at least not voluntarily. Tied to it and struggling against her bonds. My anger flared anew. Eva didn’t look hurt, but her eyes held so much anger it made me want to rip off the man’s head.
He scuttled over to where she wrestled against her restraints. Now that he was next to her, the microphone clipped to his collar picked up her voice, and we could hear how she yelled against the gag in her mouth.
“Trust me. She has plenty of human fire to give to a human male.” He reached out a hand, cupped her breast, and gave it a squeeze. She bucked in protest to the touch, rage in her eyes. I took an involuntary step forward. How dare he touch her?
The pervert’s lips twisted, wet and trembling. “She likes my touch. See how she arches into it?”
What I could see was Eva’s jawline firm in threat as she grew very still. My guess was that her thoughts were very similar to my own…I’ll kill you.
“She, like all human women, craves the touch of a man. A human man’s touch.” The man took his hand away and slipped it under the top front of her dress. “Human women’s nipples grow nice and hard when a man tweaks them a bit. Give them a nice little pinch, and they’re perfect—”
Just then, Eva struck. The man had leaned over a bit to watch himself play with her breast. She slammed her head forward and into his face. Blood immediately gushed from his nose and lip. My rage at her being mauled shifted slightly at her fighting spirit. I hoped she’d broken his nose.
His hands flew to his face, and blood drizzled out from between his fingers. For a few moments, all the man did was choke and stagger back as his eyes and nose both streamed blood.
“You crazy bitch!” Striding forward again, the kidnapper backhanded her across the face with enough force to knock her chair over to the floor.
I growled and stepped closer to the screen. T’ral and Baelon were hurriedly exchanging words behind me, but I only had attention for the woman on the screen. Her gag must have been knocked loose by the blow and the fall because she spat it out and started to speak in a low, controlled voice. “You fucking bastard. Touch me again, and I’ll kill you. Do you hear me?” She licked her lips and turned her head to wipe her mouth on her shoulder. A smear of blood was left behind. “Untie me now, you nasty son of a bitch. You didn’t rescue me. You took me hostage!”
“Cunt! You’ll regret that. You broke my nose!” He held a rag to his face and turned back to the communicator. “These are our terms: she gets released when the alien freaks have left our planet and have promised not to return ever again. That’s all. They go away, she goes home.” And the screen went black.
“We need to track down her captors and rescue her at once!” I pivoted on my heel to see what my advisers had come up with. I hoped it was a plan of action that ended with me killing that human idiot with my bare hands. No other outcome would satisfy me…or the anger that boiled inside.