Chapter 38
Cass was abruptly awakened from a beautiful dream where she was back with Nahash, and they had returned to Earth for real this time. Only in her dream, everyone was accepting of their love, and no one tried to capture him and haul him away to experiment on him.
Even before Kotesri shook her shoulder to awaken her, she knew it was only a dream, but she wanted to stay there. When she woke up, she couldn’t keep the tears from falling. She did try to hide them from Kotesri, turning her face away from him so he didn’t see. She didn’t want to answer any questions about why she was crying. Her dream brought home to her how much her heart, mind, and soul still belonged to Nahash. There just wasn’t a place for another male in her life—as compelling as he might be.
Since she didn’t have the energy to address that or come up with a plan to help Kotesri with his body’s need for her at the moment, she wanted to return to sleep, and even tried to lie back down and curl under the blankets, depression swamping her—drowning her.
“We must leave now, Cass. There’s no time to grab any personal items. They’ll all be provided for you on the shuttle.”
His words caught her attention enough to bring her back up into a sitting position. She swiped at her eyes impatiently.
“What do you mean, leave? Where’re we going?”
“I’ll explain later.” He had a tight look on his face, and the chill in his eyes had chased away any sign of warmth from the hidden fires she’d seen before.
Cass looked down at herself. She wore a sleeping robe with nothing underneath save for a tiny slip of silky panty.
“I need to get dressed.”
“No time!” He grabbed her arm in a firm grip and pulled her to her feet, then towed her along in his wake.
His twitching wings brushed against her arm as she stumbled after him, unable to shake off his hold.
Jia and Cici were waiting for them in the main room, twin looks of concern on their faces.
“Where are we going?” Jia asked, clenching her fingers together in front of her.
Kotesri shook his head. “The two of you aren’t going anywhere. It’s Cass who must be moved. It’s not safe for her here anymore.”
Cici stepped forward with a hard look on her face. “By whose orders? We’re Cass’s companions. It’s our job to care for her well-being and keep her comfortable.”
Kotesri waved her words aside with an impatient hand. “That’s my job now. And I will do it. Rest easy in that knowledge. As for who ordered this—”
Several guards stormed into the room, cutting off his explanation.
Kotesri nodded at the lead guard, then turned back to Cici. “Their orders. We’ll be going now. Make your farewells short.”
Those farewells were far too short in Cass’s opinion for the amount of time she’d spent with Cici and Jia and what they’d all been through. Not to mention how frightened she was about leaving them behind and to head off to some new prison with a male who remained a stranger to her, despite his body needing her to survive.
Cass looked around at the interior of the vehicle she and Kotesri rode in. “Are we seriously in a freaking carriage right now?”
She winced as a bump in the road sent her bouncing on the seat.
Kotesri didn’t look at her, focused on peering through the dusty silken curtain that covered the window. “It’s a temporary measure until we reach the next spaceport.”
She held up a hand, the other gripping the arm of the carriage’s plush seat hard enough to keep herself from bouncing all over the place. “Look, I know some women find a carriage ride romantic, but this thing….”
She stared at the dust-coated upholstery on the opposite seat, where Kotesri sat. He seemed completely unconcerned with the dust on his robe.
“It’s a mess,” she said. “I’m pretty sure it belongs in a museum.”
A slight smile tilted his perfect lips. “It came from a museum.” He spared a quick glance at her before returning to his vigil at the window. “We had to improvise. The important thing is that this vehicle is undetectable by scanners.” He threw her another glance, his smile growing just a bit wider. “You should feel privileged, Cass. This was once an imperial carriage—at least, a replica of one. The original was very old.”
She shook her head, charmed enough by his smile to share her own. “I’m on an advanced alien planet where you guys make rainbow shields to cover entire cities, and I’m riding around in a carriage pulled by unicorns. I’m trying to figure out now if I ever woke up from that dream I was having.”
Technically, they weren’t actually unicorns, but the shaggy-coated beasts of burden had a horsey-vibe to them and one long, spiral horn in the center of their heads. They weren’t slender or elegant like what she might think a unicorn would be—they were built stocky like oxen—but they still had all-white coats and that horn, so she was going to keep thinking of them as unicorns.
Kotesri’s smile faded, and she regretted the disappearance of it. Smiles came so rarely from him that she looked for opportunities to startle one out of him, but hadn’t found many. He really didn’t seem to have much reason to show amusement.
She felt partly responsible for that. She couldn’t be the mate he needed to love him into a more joyous demeanor. She’d already done that for Nahash, and had lost her heart in the process. Now she had nothing to give to Kotesri but a friendship he rejected.
“What are we running from, Kotesri?”
A muscle in his jaw ticked, as if he bit back his answer. When he finally did speak, she suspected he wasn’t saying what he’d wanted to. “Your location was compromised. Enemies of the emperor would like to see you and your son eliminated.”
Her heart pounded at his words. She leaned forward on her seat and clutched his forearm in a clammy hand, shaking with fear as her other hand rubbed her belly—a soothing reminder that her precious baby was still safe, for now.
“What about Nahash? Kotesri! Please, I need to know what happened to him! Are these enemies of the emperor… are they a threat to him too?”
A slight sneer pulled at his lips. “What makes you think I know that kind of information? I’m nothing but a parlor pet. They don’t trust mated males with classified military intel.”
She squeezed her hand on his arm. “Don’t fucking lie to me, Kotesri! You know something, don’t you? I don’t think you’re a typical mated male.” Her words surprised even her, until she realized that she’d had subconscious suspicions about him from the moment he’d first met her eyes. He just didn’t behave the way everyone had told her imprinted Iriduan males behaved towards their mates.
“You’re an agent of the emperor, aren’t you? Are you even truly imprinted on me?” But he had to be. He didn’t wear a mask around her and the other females, and he wasn’t being exposed to another female, that she knew of. Or course, he occasionally left the monastery, but—
“No, I’m not imprinted on you.” His tone sounded sharp as he broke her grip on him with an abrupt movement.
She jerked back into her seat as if he’d slapped her. “So, all this time, you’ve been lying to me. You pretended a desire you can’t even feel just so you could… what? Keep an eye on me? Don’t they have cameras in my prison?” she asked with acid bitterness souring her tongue.
He shook his head, not turning from the window to even meet her eyes for his confession. “You’re wrong about many things, Cass. But the one mistake you’ve made that truly matters is that I’m not an agent for the emperor.”
When he finally did look at her, his cold eyes made her shiver. “I’m an agent for his enemies. I was sent to kill you.”
She shook her head in denial, but her pounding pulse and the adrenalin that shot through her and had her baby kicking served as proof that her primitive brain believed him. He was an assassin sent to kill her and her unborn son.
She desperately considered her options.
He outweighed her, and carried all of his weight in lean muscle. He was also much taller than her, and no doubt far stronger. They were cramped inside a tight carriage on a road she hadn’t even checked yet, outside a city where she’d never even set foot. He had every advantage on her. She couldn’t brainstorm a way out of her situation other than to plead with him for her life.
“Please,” she begged, tears filling her eyes as she pressed both hands to her stomach, rubbing them over her baby to soothe him as he kicked in response to her body’s fear reaction. “Please don’t kill my son.”
Kotesri’s ice-cold expression didn’t soften at the sight of her tears, and that’s when she knew he wasn’t the same person who’d held her while she’d cried. The other differences had been subtle, but the complete lack of sympathy he showed now told her that—whoever this person was—he lacked the compassion of the Iriduan who’d cradled her against his chest and soothed her with an alien lullaby.
“I won’t. My contact wants the boy alive.”
“And me?” she whispered through numb lips.
His shrug held no concern. “It’s likely they’ll find some use for you, if you do as you’re told.”
“You said you were sent to… to kill me.” She didn’t dare feel any relief at his words yet. Not until she understood exactly what danger she and her son were in.
“And yet, you remain alive. It would appear that plans change.”
She wanted to slap him across his face, still unfairly beautiful, despite how monstrous he was inside.
“You don’t even care, do you? What happens to me?” She pointed to her stomach. “To us?”
His brows lowered over the diamond-hard chips of his green eyes. “I’m long past the point of caring about anyone, Cass. I do what will benefit me and me alone. I’m going to be paid a great deal of money for delivering you into the hands of my employers.”
“I hate you, you bastard!”
The smile he gave her held none of the charm of his earlier smile. It froze her blood.
“Good, Cass. Hate is very good. It will help you survive.”
She was about to insult him even further, perhaps unwisely, when the carriage jerked to a sudden halt.
Kotesri immediately tensed, then drew a weapon that looked a lot like the one Nahash had used when he’d fought those smugglers. A strange light flickered over Kotesri’s body as he pulled aside the curtain to glance at the road.
“Halian!” The voice sounded like one of authority, and came from just outside the carriage. “Traitor! Come out with your hands where we can see them.”
Kotesri’s jaw ticked as he shot her a chilling smile full of perfect, even teeth. “I really hate that word.” He pressed the barrel of the weapon against the side of the carriage and fired it.
Apparently, whatever round came out of it hit the person on the other side, and they screamed in pain. The exit hole on the carriage sizzled from the heat of the round.
“Don’t shoot back!” another authoritative voice said. “We want the woman alive.”
Halian’s grin looked downright diabolical at that point, and Cass realized he wasn’t afraid. He seemed anticipatory about the upcoming battle. With one foot, he kicked up the carpet covering the tiny floor space between them, revealing a trap door that didn’t look like it could fit a child.
“I recommend you stay put, Cass. They’ll be careful not to shoot the carriage. You don’t want to be caught in the crossfire. I’ll return when I’ve taken care of these men.”
Then he reached into his robe and withdrew a small, jeweled dagger in a tooled leather sheath. He handed it to her, and Cass took it automatically, half expecting him to pull the dagger and plunge it into her heart.
“I’d keep that handy, if I were you,” he winked at her, wearing a smile that would’ve been devastatingly attractive if she didn’t still see the coldness in his eyes. “Don’t lose it. I want it back”
Before she could think of a response, he climbed out of the trapdoor, contorting his body to fit, keeping his wings tight so they didn’t catch. She couldn’t believe he’d managed it, but somehow, he’d made it through the door and under the carriage. He reached up and pulled the trapdoor closed just before she heard several rapid shots firing from below her.
More screams followed as he shot down the men outside who couldn’t shoot back because they didn’t want to hit the carriage.
Cass had to make her decision quickly as she buckled the strap for the dagger sheath under her robe. Despite having to wrap the strap around her above her belly, the sheathed dagger fell at her side, a comforting weight that reminded her she wasn’t completely helpless.
The last thing she wanted was to remain in the carriage, waiting for one of the combatants outside to win. Neither side really cared about the welfare of her or her child. Still, she had no idea where to go. If she were on Earth, she could chance making a run for it and hopefully encounter another human being sympathetic to her plight. The baby bump would definitely help garner compassion from most humans.
She didn’t think it would work the same if she came across other Iriduans. If they were male, they might resent her or even outright hate her for being a pheromone-producing female, and the females weren’t likely to be out just roaming around in the outskirts of the city—at least not from what she’d been told.
That meant she’d be on her own, in nothing but a silky bed robe, slippers, and panties, carrying an assassin’s favorite dagger as her only weapon, running from deadly guards and the same ruthless assassin. Despite at least having a weapon, it wasn’t an ideal situation.
But she was going to take a chance on it anyway. She was tired of not being in control of her own destiny. She’d spent the last seven months cooped up inside a monastery, staring at the same four walls and ceiling for what felt like an eternity. Most of that time had been spent with crippling depression that made it difficult to even get out of bed and pretend to care if she lived or died. If it hadn’t been for her son, she would’ve given up long ago on feeding herself or taking care of herself at all, despite all Jia’s and Cici’s attempts to cheer her up.
Now, adrenalin pumped through her, and she suddenly wanted to live. She also wanted to be free. She needed it.
The carriage had two doors, one on each side. She braced herself and threw open the door on the one side towards where Halian had shot, hoping the guards wouldn’t have closed that gap since the guard went down.
There were several guards lying on the ground, and Cass didn’t pause long enough in her mad dash away from the carriage to check if they were still breathing. She headed for a thick copse of trees that bordered a road that looked old and long-untraveled. It was little wonder the carriage ride had been so bumpy.
She ran without thinking, certain her enemies were pursuing her, despite the continued sounds of combat behind her. Halian appeared to be making his last stand—and doing a good job of it. She’d heard some shouting when she’d flung open the door, followed by a deafening hail of weapon fire directed at the carriage and the assassin, but now, all she heard was the pounding of her pulse in her ears and the rustling of her slipper-shod feet over the weedy ground beneath the trees.
In any other circumstances, the lush, beautiful trees shrouded with a light fog that gave the forest a mystical appearance would’ve been enough to bring her to a halt to enjoy the sight. She didn’t have that time now, so her surroundings passed by in a blur as she ran, her gaze fixed on the ground just in front of her, watching for anything that might trip her up. The last thing she could afford to do was fall. Not only would it slow her down, but it might hurt her baby.
Thoughts circled inside her head, but found nowhere to alight for her to examine them. Her mind stayed too focused on escaping her captors. She hated them all, and hoped they all killed each other, which would be an ideal situation for her since it would buy her time to make a better plan of escape.
As she raced deeper into the forest, the trees crowded closer together, standing in a less-orderly fashion, as if they hadn’t been deliberately planted but had grown wild, and no one had been there to thin them recently.
Something had been cutting them, though. A fresh pile of fallen leaves around a halfway-cut tree trunk partially covered the machine that had been sawing through it. It looked as if the machine had just stopped in the middle of its task.
The sight gave her pause, which also gave her a chance to catch her breath and look around. She spotted other machines, lying still and silent like the one at her feet—all of them stopped in the middle of cutting trees.
The sight seemed incongruous enough to consider its implications. If the machines performed the task of clearing overcrowded trees, they should’ve finished up their work and returned to whatever storage unit they came from rather than stopping in the middle of the task. None of them looked old or rusted, as if they’d been abandoned for any length of time. It looked like they had all just malfunctioned recently, perhaps even at the same time.
She gasped as a possible explanation for the inactive machinery came to her.
Halian hadn’t chosen a carriage to avoid detection by scanners in the city. They’d avoided the city’s spaceport for a damned good reason.
Nahash! He’s coming for me!
The fact that she had no idea how to find him and they remained in grave danger of being captured quickly overshadowed her joy at the knowledge that he still lived. If only she could find him, she knew they’d be able to escape. She had to believe that.
She just had to follow the clues he’d left behind. She could track him. He’d told her about his psionic ability and had talked about his range of effect. Knowing that allowed her to follow the trail of downed machines to what looked like a small security outpost.
A few rectangular buildings lacking the beauty of any Iriduan architecture she’d seen up to that point sat in a small cluster behind two gatehouses flanking a tall barrier. She approached the clearing cautiously, though she heard no sounds of habitation. As she stepped out of the forest, more of the outpost came into view.
She stifled a scream when she saw why there were no sounds of life.
So many bodies lay over the ground between the two largest buildings that she couldn’t see dirt beneath them.
The worst part was the clear evidence of what had killed them all—the tracks from a giant serpent.
Her serpent.
She wanted to vomit. Her stomach heaved and her gorge rose, threatening to overwhelm her as bile burned her throat. She turned her gaze away from the horrific sight of all that death. Death caused by her beloved. He had done all this, and she knew he’d done it to get to her. All those men had died because they got in his way.
She had to push all of that out of her mind. Her safety and her son’s freedom depended on finding Nahash. She would deal with what he’d done and how it made her feel when she had a time to breathe. At least she knew Nahash truly had imprinted on her, unlike Halian, so she never needed to fear that he would harm her.
Nahash had left a clear trail that was unmistakably his in the dirt and mud that surrounded the outpost. Cass was no expert tracker, but she was able to guess which direction he’d entered and which he’d left by examining his tracks.
She ran along the path he’d taken through the trees, leaving behind weeds crushed to the ground by the weight of his tail.
If she could track him so easily, so could others. She only hoped she reached him first, fearing that he planned to assault the city to get to her. Even with his incredible psionic ability, she didn’t see how he could do such a thing and survive it. She needed him to survive. She just needed him.