Page 19 of Warrior's Captive
She was only out for a moment. An unfamiliar face peered at her, speaking in a high, alarmed pitch. Great, her translator was on the fritz.
Then Tai’ri was there.
“You were following me,” she slurred. “No way you could have got here so fast.”
That was the last thing she said before darkness claimed her again.
* * *
Tai’ri cradled Vivian’s weight in his arms, eating ground to return to the security of the center. His team, the guards assigned to Vivian, were already canvassing the area to find her attacker.
Heknewit wasn’t dizziness due to her condition. She’d been fine just a moment before, and then suddenly, out. As soon as he’d broken cover, sprinting towards her, the male on the sidewalk switched directions and crossed the street. Maybe innocent, but just as he ordered his team to detain him, a transport landed and the male jumped in. A smooth extraction, which took under thirty seconds.
The timing told him one thing.
He burst through the front doors, barely waiting for them to open. The receptionist gave him a startled look. She must have signaled to Bey, because his sister met him halfway down the hall leading to the intake rooms.
“Tai’ri! What happened?” Her voice was startled, eyes wide, but she turned on her heel and led him to an open room. They were all stocked with medical supplies and equipment needed to take care of minor emergencies. “Get her on the table.”
Tai’ri laid Vivian down, watching as Abeyya ran a scanner over her.
“Hit. Went unconscious three minutes later.”
His marks reacted to the cold fury snaking through him, sparking and slithering on his skin. They revealed his inner turmoil even if none of it showed on his face.
“Pulse and breathing are normal,” Abeyya said. “I’m detecting an abnormality in her blood. One moment.”
“They’re gone,” Banujani, the lead for Vivian’s team, reported, her brisk voice cool in his ear unit. “No DNA trace.”
“How did they know I was bringing Vivian here today? We checked her for trackers.” The question was rhetorical. He cursed himself. He’d let the enemy get the drop on him, too distracted by Vivian.
Vykhan’s voice came onto the private comm line; Vivian’s unit would have sent an automatic distress signal and alerted him.
“They would have had agents posted in all the places it’s likely you would take her. It is no leap of logic to assume you would come to your sister’s birthing facility sooner or later.”
Tai’ri refrained from snarling with impatience, or saying he alreadyknewall of that. “Fools. After capturing theirkheter,they must know we’re aware of their plans.”
“They are not fools. They’ve invested too heavily in the child’s production to take the loss.”
“I’ll get with Evvek and check the chatter on the darksphere,” Tai’ri said. He might technically be off duty, but this was still his team despite the monumental fuck up that had led to his capture, and they would still follow his orders. “Find the client.”
“Belay that,” Vykhan said. “Tai’ri, Banujani can recon.”
Tai’ri reminded himself Vykhan deserved his respect and obedience. “This is my bondmate, my child. I want in on the hunt. I know you’re searching for the leader of the cell that imprisoned us.”
“We continue to have this conversation. My thoughts on the matter have not changed.”
“I have served theBdakhunand you well for three decades. Have I not earned the right?”
There was a long moment of silence. “The quality of your service is not in question. You are emotionally involved. You cannot be trusted to make the decisions necessary—”
Tai’ri exhaled and forced his voice to remain emotionless. “Vakshit, Vykhan, and you know it. I can be whoever I need to be to get the job done. I’m trained to be whoever I need to be.”
“And right now,” was the soft, but not yet dangerous reply, “you are a male infuriated by the danger to his mate. Every instinct in you is crying out to protect your loved one, to exact vengeance. To kill, destroy, with no thought to subtlety or consequences.”
“Don’t trust me?”
A longer, colder, silence. “Very well. Your sole task is to find the most recent broker arranging for the sale of females like your mate. The broker will be the weak link that breaks and leads to the head of the supply chain.”
