Page 9 of Warrior's Captive
Vivian whirled and began to walk, fast, pushing her body into something approximating a run. She looked around frantically. Anything, anyone that could help her. The same couple from before were watching her and casually began following.
Too fast. Too fast to be a coincidence. Were they plain clothes security? Something more sinister?
Ibukay had said she was safe. Ibukay had promised.
Not just Ibukay.Him.
He had promised.
She brushed aside the nonsense image that rose in her mind like a memory. It felt real, but there was no time to process the softening warmth emanating from her tattoos when she thought of him. The sense of peace and possibility. As if this man represented a possible future path she had yet to take the first step towards.
“Security,” she heard thekhetersnap in a low, restrained tone. It wouldn’t do to appear to be kidnapping an unwilling person when kidnapping an unwilling person. Until they were out of the way of witnesses, facades must be maintained.
If she hadn’t thought she’d wanted her baby before this, she now knew she did. The flare of protectiveness shocked Vivian. She held her swaying uterus to keep the precious bundle inside from sloshing around too much.
The couple was gaining ground. Vivian cursed herself, then punched the face of her comm unit.
“Help! I need help, please.” She should have done that already, but evidently panic was not congruous with practical thinking.
She shrieked as a form clad in black from head to toe, face masked, snapped into existence in front of her. It was no holo—it swept her into its arms and turned to shield her from her pursuers.
“Got you,yadoana,” it murmured. Not it, he. As if gender wasn’t obvious since the jumpsuit left nothing to the imagination. “Abort the distress signal.”
Her one glimpse before he’d wrapped her in an oddly protective embrace revealed honed muscles and broad shoulders, a warrior’s physique.
“Who are you? I’m not aborting the signal.”
“TheBdakhunsent me,” he replied calmly, then nodded to indicate several more black clad figures popping into existence. “And them.”
“Teleportation?” Her voice trembled.
“Hardly. Basic cloaking tech.” His voice hardened. “We were watching for something like this.”
She shivered. The chill in his voice left no room for imagining what would happen to the doctor. “I think she was trying to medically kidnap me.”
“We’ll find out why.”
“That doesn’t require a leap of logic considering the circumstances. Who are you?”
And why did she feel none of her now customary panic in his arms? Embarrassment at the necessity of being rescued and carried, but he felt . . . familiar.
“Your shield,” he said.
* * *
Tai’ri escorted Vivian to one of the waystations for trafficked people founded by Ibukay years ago, as thekheterwas escorted to a location for questioning.
“Thank you,” Vivian said once he left her at the front desk.
She turned somber dark eyes on him, studying Tai’ri with an intensity that caused his insides to clench. She couldn’t know who he was, that they had shared, in some vein, a harrowing experience together. That they now shared even more.
He kept his gaze trained on her face, though he ached to reach out and cradle her—them. His chest tightened at the thought that she likely, and understandably, didn’t share his hesitant joy. The possibility of a newfound matebond, the presence soon of a new child. On the heels of his hope always came guilt—his redemption came at the expense of her abuse. To think of this as a second chance felt selfish, even exploitative.
At every step in this journey he’d rein in his impulses, his instinct to claim, to offer everything that was his to give. Let her come to him, let her choose.
Questions swirled behind her gaze, but she wouldn’t ask. Even tired, scared and confused, a gentle dignity cloaked her. In her quiet voice was a steely strength.
“You’re welcome,” he murmured after that long moment of considering his response, then left.
