Stolen Desire (Outlawed Realm) Page 17

  He kissed her cheek, then brushed his mouth over hers before easing back. “I know I can’t. But I have to try.”

  Dammit, no. This couldn’t be it. Paige wrapped her arms around his torso. “If you’re going back, then so am I.”

  “No.” He broke her embrace and stepped away, putting distance between them. “Your life, your future is here.”

  “I have no one on this side. No family, husband, children. No one cares about me. Wait—please,” she begged before he could move farther back. “Hear me out.” She spoke to Gwen. “What day is it?”

  The question appeared to surprise her. “Ah…Thursday.”

  “Has anyone reported me missing?” Paige gave them her full name, the law firm where she worked and her address. “Are there any reports about me?”

  Regina spoke first. “No. We monitor the news carefully because of what the guards are doing here.”

  “I’ve been gone for days,” Paige said to Zekin. “In the middle of a damn work week. I know Johnny wouldn’t have reported me missing. He’s probably relieved I didn’t come back to our place after he bugged out on our wedding. But you would think the partners at my firm would be looking for me. I had depositions scheduled, clients to see. Not a one of those bastards cared enough to even call the cops.”

  “That’s not necessarily true,” Gwen said. “Could be they did and it just hasn’t hit the news yet. Let me check.”

  Paige frowned. “You’re calling the newspapers?”

  Gwen punched in a number on her cell phone and brought it to her ear. “Nope. A cop I know who’s assigned to the area where you live. Like I said, I’m an RN. I’ve worked on a lot of those guys in the ER. If anyone’s filed a missing person’s report, he’ll—Jacobi?” she interrupted herself, then listened and smiled. “Yeah, it’s me. Have a question for you, if you don’t mind.” She listened again and nodded. “Great. I have an acquaintance who hasn’t seen her friend in a couple of days. She’s kind of worried about her, you know? She hasn’t filed a missing person’s report or anything. However, this lady who’s missing is apparently a lawyer, and I was wondering if her firm reported anything. I would have called them, but if she’s been fired or something, I didn’t want to get involved in all that, make things worse than they already are. So, can you check?”

  She gave a thumbs-up at his answer, then told him the information Paige had just provided, adding, “I’ll wait if you don’t mind.”

  It didn’t take long for the information to come back. “Thanks,” Gwen said. She pocketed her phone. “No one’s filed any report on you.”

  “See,” Paige said to Zekin, then cleared her throat to keep it steady, to hide her hurt that not one person cared that she’d been missing. “No one…nothing is holding me here. No one freaking cares.”

  Least of all her, not anymore. Paige had given until it hurt, and it hadn’t mattered to Johnny or her damn firm. Until Zekin came along, no one really knew she was alive. With him here, there’d be a reason to stay. With him gone… No, she didn’t want to think about it.

  “I’m sorry,” Regina murmured.

  “Maybe it’s not as bad as you think,” Gwen said. “Could be your firm contacted your guy—former guy—Johnny—and he told them about the wedding being off. Could be they figured you just needed some time by yourself.”

  Paige laughed. It sounded weary and sad. “You don’t know those bastards. They’ve probably already replaced me with one of their buddies, maybe a kid fresh out of Harvard, a son or daughter of one of their clients. They were never going to make me partner no matter how I killed myself to rack up billable hours.” She spoke to Zekin. “I’m bringing the others here, then I’m going to help you rescue whatever other women are taken. We can do this together.”

  “We’ll help,” Gwen said. “All of us. Right, guys?”

  Nikoli looked at Regina. She appeared torn for a moment, then finally nodded. “You can bring them here. Nikoli and I will help you get them settled just as we did with Lukan and Arez.”

  “You’re certain?” Nikoli asked her.

  Although Paige still saw concern on Regina’s face, she also recognized the woman’s determination. “We have to do this,” Regina told him.

  “How many are we talking about?” Nikoli said.

  “Dozens,” Zekin answered. “Too many for you to handle.”

  “We have to try,” Paige insisted, throwing his words back at him. “We can bring Eeete, Qatar and Bruda over here first, then work on relocating the others. Like I told you before, I have enough money to buy some property, a ranch or a farm away from everything where they can live. Kuma and Gwen will take care of the guards who are coming over here. They’ll keep them from kidnapping anyone else.”

  Zekin planted his hands on his lean hips. “You keep forgetting about the Pleasure Palace. The guards will still take women from there when Vakar plans to dispose of them. What of the geneticists who keep creating the pleasure slaves for him?”

  “We’ll stop them too,” Kuma promised.

  “How?” Zekin argued.

  Nikoli stepped between the two men and spoke quietly. “We don’t know yet. But we’re going to do everything we can to stop them and free the slaves. Getting yourself killed won’t accomplish that.”

  “Don’t fight me on this,” Paige begged him. “I can’t lose you.”

  He continued to breathe hard, his head lowered.

  “You should start bringing them over now,” Regina murmured.

  Paige took Zekin’s hand, twining her fingers through his. “We can do this,” she promised, “and give everyone a future.”

  He lifted his face. His expression said he wanted to believe what she’d claimed—he craved hope as everyone did—yet feared the possibility of defeat even more.

  Paige pressed the back of his hand to her cheek. “As long as we’re together, we have a chance. I’m not afraid. Are you?”

  He smiled. It looked amused and sad. “Never.”

  She blinked back tears at both of their lies, the thought of ever losing him. Gathering as much resolve as she could, Paige spoke to the others. “We’ll come back as soon as we can with Eeete, Bruda and Qatar.”

  “Be careful,” Regina said.

  Paige nodded, not wanting to consider what she and Zekin still faced. It would have been so easy to simply stay here and pick up their lives.

  It would have been so wrong. She imagined Eeete waiting for Zekin’s return, clinging to that dream day after day, week after week, finally resigning herself to the fact that she’d never see him again. He’d abandoned her to an existence numbered in days or months just like the others in the colony. They’d sleep, they’d eat, they might even enjoy a few moments of peace, but always there would be the promise of an early death.

  Someone had to stop that.

  Paige’s belly clenched. Her legs trembled, not wanting to support her weight. Never had she been as frightened or as determined.

  After taking the device from Zekin, she opened the portal.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The journey back was too quick for Zekin, not giving him time to convince Paige that she couldn’t keep returning to the colony, putting herself at risk. He understood her desire to save everyone but couldn’t abide the chances she’d have to take. His only clear choice was to allow her to bring Eeete, Bruda and Qatar to the other side, with Zekin giving his men strict instructions to keep Paige from going back to E5.

  Within the portal, the violent winds finally quieted and the light dimmed. They’d returned to the intake pod rather than the dining hall. The transparent wall began to solidify once more as the gateway started to close.

  Before it trapped them inside the void between the dimensions, Zekin grabbed Paige’s hand and pulled her from it.

  “I’ll get Eeete,” she said. “You find Bruda and Qatar. We’ll leave with— Hey, what are you doing?”

  He’d taken the device from her. “You changed something on this.”

  “No
I didn’t.”

  “It brought us here instead of the dining hall.”

  “So? We’re back, aren’t we?” She tried to take the thing from him.

  Zekin kept it out of her reach.

  “What are you doing?” she cried.

  Taking command, as he should have earlier, keeping her safe.

  “Do you really believe if you send me back I’ll stay?” she asked. “You don’t think I’d move heaven and earth to find a way to come back?”

  “I know you would, and more.” He sighed. “I’ll return the device as soon as we have Eeete and the others.” He’d give instructions to Qatar to take it from Paige the moment they were on the other side.

  She gave him a funny look, as if she knew he was lying, but said nothing.

  “Stay here,” he said.

  “Why?”

  So he could talk to his men alone. “I’ll bring the others. Just stay here.”

  “No.”

  All he needed was a few minutes, and she wasn’t going to give him that. Zekin turned on his heel and left the pod with Paige following.

  “Where are you going?” she asked.

  “To find the others.” They’d still be in the dining hall, waiting for his return. “I’ll tell them the plan,” he added, walking even faster.

  Paige panted as she tried to keep up with him. “Fine with me, as long as I’m there to hear what you say—in English.”

  She really wasn’t going to make this easy on him. Her bravery impressed and frustrated Zekin. No matter what she wanted, he had to keep her safe. Moving down hall after hall, he reached the dining area, halting in its doorway.

  He’d stopped so abruptly and Paige kept moving so fast, she bumped into him. She said something Zekin didn’t hear. He stared at the overturned tables and benches, not comprehending what he saw. No one was inside. Even Wollum was gone.

  “Oh my God,” Paige whispered. “What happened?”

  The guards. They’d come at last just as Bruda and Qatar had always feared. No doubt the guards had watched him and Paige at the outpost when Zekin had kidnapped Wollum, bringing him here. He’d led the guards to the colony they hadn’t known existed as they’d never been sent here by Vakar.

  Zekin suppressed a growl of rage at them and himself for having failed his people. He grabbed Paige’s wrist and lifted the device to open a portal.

  “No.” She pushed his hand down. “I’m not going back without you and the others.”

  “You have no choice.”

  “The hell I don’t.” She punched his arm and twisted her other hand, determined to get free. Zekin knew she wouldn’t give up. His only choice was to subdue her. How? The tranquilizing darts were in another location, far from this area. She’d fight the entire way, possibly alerting guards who might still be within the colony. Zekin’s mind raced with other options. Open a portal and push her inside? She’d travel to Nikoli and Regina’s home, where she’d badger them into opening another gateway to send her right back.

  Swearing beneath his breath, Zekin pulled Paige to a corner of the room before anyone saw them.

  She continued to fight him. “Where are you taking—”

  “Quiet. You want the guards to hear?”

  Paige lowered her voice even more. “How did they find us? No one was following when we were on the surface. I know. I kept looking.”

  Zekin recalled what Qatar had warned about—that the guards were evolving and one day would become a threat. “It doesn’t matter any longer. They’re here.”

  “Wait—Eeete,” Paige said, holding back. “We have to find her. Make certain she’s all right. Bruda and Quatar too.”

  Zekin didn’t comment. He yanked her to the food-storage pod, hoping she’d be safe there, undetected among the carcasses of water creatures and bins filled with foodstuffs. Blocking its doorway was a male pleasure slave, several darts piercing his thighs and arms.

  Paige fought to go to the young man. Zekin pushed her back. “We can’t help him now.”

  “Why? The darts are blue.”

  “The guards used too many.”

  “He’s dead?”

  “I don’t know. If not, he’s very close to it. Come.”

  “To where?” She stepped around the pleasure slave, then saw where he was heading—one of the largest carcasses, a sickly white color, the creature’s size a hundred times their own. Behind it, she could hide and be safe.

  Paige fought even harder, clawing his hand and arm. Despite the pain, Zekin didn’t release her.

  “You’re not putting me in here and leaving,” she cried, her tone subdued to avoid anyone overhearing her. “I don’t have a weapon. No defense if the guards come.”

  Zekin shoved the device at her.

  She slapped it away and spoke through her teeth. “I’m not going back. Not without you.”

  Blood dripped from the wounds on his arm and hand, making Zekin’s grip too slippery for him to hold on to her.

  Paige stared at what she’d done. “Oh shit, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m sorry. I just can’t go back. If you make me, I’ll return here, I swear.”

  He rubbed his arm against his shirt. “You refuse to do anything except fight beside me?”

  “Yes. Of course. What the hell else?”

  Zekin heard no fear in her voice as he had when he’d first rescued her, only the same fury he felt. At the guards. Vakar. His realm. “You might not survive. Do you realize that?”

  “If you hadn’t saved me, I would have been dead already. I’m not afraid. We’re wasting time talking.”

  There was no way for him to change her mind. He recalled what she’d said about Eeete. If people were truly free, they had to decide things for themselves. “We need to get to the weapons.”

  “Okay, but don’t be Rambo, all right?”

  “Who?”

  She whispered, “I can’t lose you.”

  Zekin pulled her into his embrace, hugging her briefly, his actions telling her what no words could. She was his world. One he hadn’t believed or hoped existed.

  Hand in hand, they ran down the halls, not stopping when they saw several fallen guards. His people had fought well. Where were they now?

  Paige gasped. “Is that Bruda?”

  He’d propped himself against one of the metal supports. Behind him, a fishlike creature sucked the glass, trying to get through the transparent wall to a tasty meal. Flames rose from the molten rock, followed by steam as the water doused them. Blue darts had pierced Bruda’s right shoulder and left calf.

  Zekin pulled both out and flung them aside. The tips made slight tinging noises on the metal floor. “Bruda.” He shook his friend’s shoulder.

  The man’s lids parted. His face remained slack from the tranquilizer.

  “Where’s Qatar?” Zekin asked.

  Bruda ran his tongue around his mouth as if he were having difficulty speaking. Finally, he answered, his voice thick with the sedative. “They pushed him outside the pod. The creatures…” He didn’t finish.

  Zekin’s chest ached.

  Paige said something beneath her breath, words heavy with grief. She inhaled haltingly, then murmured, “What about Eeete?”

  “I don’t know.” He spoke to Zekin. “The guards should have come back for me as they did Qatar, but they haven’t. We must have eliminated them all. I heard one of the slaves say he destroyed their device so they couldn’t use the portal to flee. That’s how they breached the colony. With their device.”

  A short distance away, some of Zekin’s men and several slaves staggered toward them, the effects of the tranquilizing darts wearing off.

  “Do you see Eeete?” Paige asked.

  Zekin shook his head.

  “We have to find her.”

  “I’ll do that,” Zekin promised. “I want you to bring Bruda to the other side.”

  “Not without Eeete. Please, we have to find her.”

  “I will,” he insisted, “as soon as—”

  A scream�
��high-pitched, female—cut off his words.

  Paige ran toward the sound. Once Zekin caught up, she wove away from him, refusing to let him stop her. Another scream rang down the halls from the intake area.

  There, a lone guard had his arm wrapped around Eeete’s waist, dragging her to the pod that led outside. She tried to fight him, but she was no match for his strength. A blue dart stuck in her throat, the sedative making her movements uncoordinated, ineffective. The guard wore one of the silvery-blue suits. Eeete was dressed the same, her facemask not yet up, her mouth rounded in horror.

  “Help me,” she cried to Zekin, her plea dulled slightly from the sedative.

  Zekin rushed the guard, but the man had already reached the next pod and closed the door. Paige ran to it, pounding on the small window in the metal, screaming for him to release Eeete. Pivoting, Zekin hurried to the control panel to open the door.

  Too late.

  Water already filled the chamber, locking it. Just before the liquid reached Eeete’s mouth and nose, her facemask slid down. The entrance whooshed open, sweeping her and the guard outside.

  Stunned, Paige watched as the guard held tightly to Eeete. Behind her facemask, the young woman’s mouth moved as she shouted Zekin’s name repeatedly, and finally she called for Paige, her expression terrified, then pleading. Tears rolled down her cheeks. She reached out, fingers grasping, futilely trying to reach them.

  “Noooo,” Paige cried, hammering on the wall.

  Vigorously, the guard beat his thick legs as he fought the current to swim them away from the pod.

  “Stand back,” Zekin said. He was already dressed in a silvery-blue suit.

  “I’m going with you.” Before he could argue, Paige took a square of the material and stepped on it. The fabric skittered up her body. “The water’s drained away. The door should open now.”

  He lifted his hand to the panel but didn’t press his fingertips to it. Paige looked where he had, and a scream caught in her throat.

  A monstrous white creature, similar to the one that had broken through the frozen lake, impaled the guard with its horn. He writhed uncontrollably, his blood staining the sea, his grip on Eeete loosened.