Stolen Desire (Outlawed Realm) Read online

  More color drained from her face. Her skin was greasy with sweat. “Then don’t come,” she mumbled. “I can do this without you. In fact, I’d prefer it.”

  Qatar made a sound that on E2 resembled a stifled laugh.

  Zekin frowned at Paige. “You intend to do this alone?”

  “I’ll need some of those darts you used on the guards.”

  “The ones that killed them.”

  She looked like she might be sick. “Do you have any like the kind I’m presuming they used on me?” Cautiously, she touched her neck and the wound from where the tip had pierced her skin.

  Zekin glanced at her naked breasts.

  As though she remembered them suddenly, along with Bruda and Qatar being here, she snatched back her hand and draped her arm across her breasts again. “Just make certain the tranquilizer is enough to put the guard out. Once he’s down, I’ll—”

  “What?” Zekin challenged. “You’ll drag him across the frozen terrain? You’ll fight the creatures up there? You’ll locate the body of water where these pods are located? You’ll—”

  “I’ll do my best,” she cried. “It’s all that I can promise. But at least I won’t have harmed anyone here. Yeah, I’m scared. I don’t want to die. I’m terrified at the thought of being hurt even a little. However, I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to anyone else, especially you and Eeete.”

  “I want what Zekin wants,” Eeete said. She spoke just above a whisper, her manner typically meek. “I’ll gladly do whatever he wants, no matter what happens to me.”

  A tear slid down Paige’s cheek. She wiped it away with the back of her hand. “Don’t you worry, sweetie. Not one damn thing is going to happen to you. Not while I’m here. I’m going, you’re staying, and that’s final.”

  Zekin squeezed his arms so tight, his muscles hurt. “Leave us,” he ordered the others. “I want to speak to Paige alone.”

  No one argued. They looked relieved.

  Paige waited only until his men and Eeete were out of earshot before she warned, “No matter what you say, you’re not changing my mind.”

  “That’s because you’re using emotion.” He uncrossed his arms. “Not reason.”

  “I don’t want you or Eeete to die.”

  “You want what you can’t have. Listen to me.” With his hands on her arms, he forced her to turn back to him, to understand and accept the inevitable. “Eeete has no future here. None of us do. The guards will eventually try to take the colony back. We may not win the next time. I didn’t rescue Eeete or the others believing they’d have a long and pleasant life. I wanted to stop their immediate pain. Even if we were all to die tomorrow, at least there was some peace, a measure of freedom before we—”

  “Don’t.” She’d pressed her fingers against his lips to stop him. “I can’t bear to hear it.”

  She still refused to accept reality. Zekin would have gladly given his life to spare her this pain, but she needed to face the truth so she could eventually return to her realm. To people who were the same as she was.

  He wrapped his fingers around her wrist and pulled her hand away. “You’re the only one we can save.”

  “No.” She kept shaking her head. The ends of her hair swayed, a few strands sticking to her tear-dampened cheeks.

  Zekin watched, captivated by her emotion, disheartened at how everything she did affected him. A reminder of all that he’d never known until he’d met her. Desire he couldn’t abide. He had to chance everything so she’d be able to go back, no matter how much she resisted. No matter how much he’d miss the sound of her voice, the way she met his gaze so directly, her fragrant heat, loving kisses, sheltering embrace.

  “Please,” he begged, “don’t fight me on this. I’ll go to the outpost to get the guard. If you don’t want Eeete to come with me, I’ll choose one of the other women. Before we leave, I’ll order Bruda and Qatar to send two others to the surface—one of our own kind and another female—if the first slave and I don’t return.”

  Paige’s shoulders trembled.

  He whispered, “I’ll get you home safely, just as I promised.”

  An anguished cry escaped her. She threw her arms around him. “No. I can’t let you.”

  “You’ll die here with the rest of us if you don’t.”

  She rubbed her face against his shoulder. Her breath glided over his skin, soft and hot. “I’m not doing that either. Someone has to watch out for you down here and up there.”

  Was there no reasoning with this woman? “Not you,” he insisted. “I won’t allow you to do this.”

  “How will you stop me? You’re going to put me in chains as the guards do with the pleasure slaves and the women they kidnap? You’re going to make me your prisoner? You’d actually do that?”

  “If I’m forced to.”

  She kissed his shoulder. “No you won’t.”

  Her tender caress defeated him. Zekin couldn’t think clearly. He held her as close as he could, struggling to find a way to get her to listen to him, to accept his decision. There had to be an end to this.

  As he strained for the correct words, Paige whispered, “As you said earlier, we have so little time. Let’s not use these last moments to argue. No matter what you say, you won’t change my mind. I’m going to the surface.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Zekin didn’t argue anymore, nor did he plead. On what sounded like a frustrated or pissed sigh, he released Paige, left their bed and pulled on his clothes.

  He was definitely pissed.

  She didn’t bother to ask where he might be going. No damn way was she about to let him out of her sight. As far as his stony silence was concerned, Paige had endured far worse from jerks she’d dated, clients she’d tried to appease, the full-of-themselves partners at her law firm and snotty retail clerks. She could take whatever Zekin doled out. As long as he didn’t carry out his plan alone.

  Whatever his plan might be.

  She pulled on her shirt and padded after him through the numerous halls and pods, her quick steps causing the floor to rattle.

  He slowed and looked over but didn’t say anything. Nor did she. On his next frustrated huff, Zekin continued past the dining hall and a series of what might have been offices. Men who resembled him sat in front of circular monitors, the screens’ green glow tinting their complexions a sickly color. Paige guessed their equipment were some kind of computers. For security purposes? To detect if anyone approached, like Vakar’s men or the guards?

  She could only hope.

  Qatar and Bruda spotted her and Zekin. Immediately, they stopped conversing with another look-alike guy. Zekin motioned for them to follow. The two men fell in step behind Paige, keeping an appropriate distance, whispering something she couldn’t make out.

  Zekin stopped at the intake area. With nowhere else to go, he turned to Bruda and Qatar.

  “Paige is accompanying you to the surface?” Bruda asked.

  “Yes,” she said, before Zekin could tell them no.

  He tightened his jaw, saying nothing until his expression was as blank as theirs. Then he addressed them in their language.

  It was harder to follow than Greek spoken at supersonic speed. “Aw, come on, guys,” she cut in. “English, please.”

  Zekin stopped mid-word, sentence or curse, Paige couldn’t be certain. His shoulders tensed.

  “I need to know the plan the same as you,” she said. “Keeping me in the dark isn’t going to make this safer for me.”

  “How many darts do we have?” Zekin asked Qatar in English.

  “Enough for both of you. Of course,” the man added, “try not to use them unless you absolutely have to.”

  “Why?” Paige asked. “If we take them with us will that make you vulnerable here?”

  “No,” Zekin answered, not glancing her way. He kept his attention on his men as they discussed their current supply of darts and the additional ones they were making, both the tranquilizer type and those that killed.
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  Zekin wanted to know most about the lethal variety. How quickly it would bring a man down, not allowing him to even blink.

  Paige found it difficult to listen. If anyone threatened Zekin, she’d do whatever it took to protect him. A natural instinct. However, the thought of shooting a guard, watching him die, didn’t come easily.

  She turned away, surprised to see Eeete at the area’s entrance. The young woman remained there, not moving closer. Coming here at all was most likely the boldest action she’d ever risked, driven by her adoration for Zekin. Paige ached for her. She wanted Eeete and all of the rest here to have a future. She wanted to give Zekin everything. A chance to laugh, love, be free.

  Again, she had no idea what he and the others were talking about. They’d slipped back into their own language, undoubtedly so Zekin could tell them his real plans.

  Didn’t matter. She’d made up her mind and would go to the surface even though she couldn’t stop trembling. Paige recalled how scared she’d been after her dad had died, leaving her alone without any close relatives to care. That had been so awful. This was a thousand times worse. Not only was she afraid for herself, she didn’t want anything happening to Zekin. Especially on her behalf.

  She studied him as he quarreled with Qatar in their language. Neither man frowned nor did they raise their voices. However, she figured they had to be arguing, given how quickly they spoke.

  Paige had little doubt Zekin would win the debate. Although he’d been an engineer and a city planner on E2, he was also a born leader who thought of everyone before himself. He was a good, kind man Paige had to protect.

  She went to him and touched the back of his hand. His words stalled. Cautiously, he regarded her as though she’d have a new demand that would make him go postal.

  “What are you arguing about?” she asked.

  Qatar spoke first. “He doesn’t want to take anything to eat or drink to the surface.”

  Zekin shot the man a look. “It’s not needed.”

  “Why not?” Paige frowned. “If we have to wait as long as you did the last time, we’re going to get hungry and thirsty.”

  “We’ll return here to eat,” he explained. “We’ll go up for a few hours, no more than that, and if nothing happens—”

  Paige spoke to Bruda. “Show me where the food is so I can pack it to take with us.”

  “That’s not necessary,” Zekin insisted.

  “Sure it is,” she shot right back. “If not for you, then for me. I’m not coming back here unless it’s with a guard.”

  “It’s still not necessary,” Bruda said. He cleared his throat at the frown Zekin gave him, obviously disconcerted at such an emotional display. “Nourishment is provided within the suit you’ll wear, the same as the one you had on when you arrived here.”

  How was that possible? “The garment feeds whoever wears it?”

  “If it’s been prepared for that,” Zekin said. “Which isn’t necessary, as we won’t be on the surface that long.”

  Paige made a face. “How can your people be smart enough to create a suit that allows you to breathe underwater without oxygen tanks, protects you from the cold even though the fabric’s thinner than plastic wrap, and also feeds you to boot, yet be so damn dumb when it comes to what people really need? Some measure of warmth, a parents’ unconditional love, real honor, the kind that protects a populace rather than exploiting it?”

  None of the men responded. Bruda and Qatar seemed perplexed by her question, while Zekin simply shook his head.

  Paige’s shoulders sagged. “Are we ready to go?”

  Qatar nodded. “You are.”

  Zekin looked as though he wanted to slug the man for his answer. Paige squeezed his fist to keep him from it. From a shelf to the left, Bruda pulled a silvery-blue square from a tall stack of the same fabric. He placed it on the floor in front of Paige.

  “This suit has a week’s worth of nourishment,” he said.

  Un-freaking-believable. It was no thicker than a sheet of paper. “Thanks.”

  “You don’t have to do this,” Zekin blurted, lifting her hand to his mouth. He kissed her knuckles. “I don’t want you to.”

  Paige leaned into him and whispered, “I can’t let you do this alone.”

  “Yes, you can.”

  She shook her head. “I couldn’t live with myself if I did. You’re not the only one who has honor.”

  “You don’t have to prove it now.”

  “I’m not proving anything. It’s just something I have to do.” Not giving him a chance to respond or argue, Paige eased away. “We better get going.”

  Uncertainty flickered across his face. He seemed to want to say something else but remained silent, his manner going from concerned to resigned.

  Paige wanted to believe he finally understood that he couldn’t sway her, but didn’t quite buy it.

  “Wait,” she said.

  His hand stalled just above the seam of his shirt. She spoke quickly before he made the thing morph into the silvery-blue suit. “Do you have food with you?”

  “He doesn’t,” Bruda offered.

  “Get him a suit that has it,” Paige said. “The best you have.”

  “They’re all the same,” Zekin mumbled.

  Given his expression, Paige knew he was lying. She waited for Bruda to do as she asked, needing Zekin to have as much protection as possible against hunger, thirst or harm.

  “Wait,” she said again.

  “What now?” Qatar asked, actually arching one brow.

  She arched one of hers in return. “This suit can do just about anything, right?”

  “Define anything,” Bruda said.

  “Does it protect the wearer from harm?” Paige pushed the square with her big toe, flinching as it trembled like a living thing. She moved back several steps. “If the guards shoot their darts, will the fabric keep them from penetrating and hitting skin?”

  “No,” all three men answered.

  She rubbed her temple, her migraine returning. “It can feed us and breathe for us, but it can’t do that?”

  “Nothing’s perfect,” Qatar said as though that settled it.

  Bruda tossed the fabric near Zekin’s boots.

  “Please put it on,” Paige said.

  He didn’t.

  “Even if you leave in what you’re wearing now, I’m still going to be with you,” she insisted.

  Zekin shook his head. “I can’t let you do that. I won’t.”

  “I can go with him,” Eeete offered.

  Paige went to her. Cupping Eeete’s face in her hands, she murmured, “You’re going to stay here and be safe. Don’t let anyone do anything to you that you don’t want, understand?”

  Eeete seemed uncertain how to respond.

  “Tell her, please,” Paige said to Zekin.

  He yanked off his shirt and threw it on the metal floor. “Remain here. Take orders from no one unless it involves your safety.”

  The young woman hesitated as though she wanted to argue.

  Zekin looked at her. Eeete nodded quickly, the obedient slave once more.

  He stripped to skin. Paige returned to his side and pulled off her shirt, dropping it on top of his. A short while ago, Paige would have freaked out at having two men and a woman regarding her nudity. She wasn’t flawless like Eeete. Always a realist, she knew her body was too chunky, her face too plain. Zekin’s passion had eased her disappointment over that. She saw nothing except approval and desire in his eyes…when he wasn’t fighting with her about going to the surface.

  To Paige’s surprise, he took her hand to help her onto the fabric.

  “Whoa—hold it.” She held back.

  Hope shone in his eyes. “You’ve changed your mind?”

  “No.” She couldn’t cave, not if it meant his life. “What’s our plan? You didn’t tell me what we’re going to do.”

  Zekin released her hand. “You’ll follow all of my orders without argument or pause.”

  “Oth
er than that.”

  “Bruda, the weapons.” Zekin gestured for them.

  The man held what appeared to be two small pistols in each hand. Zekin pointed to them as he spoke. “The blue weapon has the sedative. The red has poison. Use it if you feel threatened. There are twenty darts in each. That’s all we have until our men can make more.”

  Paige nodded and spoke to Bruda. “Take five out of each of my weapons. Keep them here for everyone else’s protection.”

  “That’s not necessary,” Zekin said. “The darts are created easily. It takes no more than a day.”

  “Plenty of time for everyone here to become sitting targets,” she countered. “Take them out now,” she ordered Bruda.

  He looked at Zekin for direction.

  “We have a security system,” Zekin said. “It shows who or what might be approaching the pods. We monitor it constantly. The door won’t open if it can’t read an intruder’s fingerprints. The colony is impregnable.”

  “Nothing’s perfect,” Paige said, just as Qatar had earlier.

  Zekin pressed his fingers to his forehead.

  “Should I remove some of the darts?” Bruda asked.

  “Two from each weapon,” Zekin growled. “Hers and mine. No more than that.”

  The man did as commanded. “Count them as you fire,” he advised her, “especially the red darts.”

  Paige didn’t understand. “Why those?”

  Qatar answered when Zekin didn’t. “You may have to use the last of the poison on yourself.”

  “Or risk capture, torture and worse,” Bruda said.

  A wave of dizziness hit so quickly, Paige had to lock her knees to keep from swaying.

  “You shouldn’t be doing this,” Zekin insisted.

  Unfortunately, there wasn’t any other choice that Paige could live with. She hauled in a breath that was surprisingly deep and not at all calming. “I’m ready.”

  Before Zekin could argue further, Paige stepped on the fabric and suppressed a shiver at it crawling up her legs, over her thighs, torso, head. Fully covered except for her face, she extended her hand, wanting the weapons.

  Bruda gave them to her.

  They resembled toys. She had no idea how something so small could contain so many darts.