Page 70 of The Alien Reindeer's Bounty
Svallin nodded; this was no surprise. “That is why, despite his crimes, there was no pressure to apprehend the male.”
Mads ran his hand through his hair, kicking up more dust and soot. “I saw his equipment. Some of it was old, used for decades, but other pieces were new.”
“And he destroyed it, rather than move the useless items.”
“He’s not coming back to this location,” Mads said. Karl destroyed his equipment. All of it. “Or moving to a new location.”
Svallin snapped out his arm and scowled at the images on his skin. Mads tried to block anyone from witnessing Svallin use the Reilen communication unit. “Did he have a ship?”
“I do not know.”
“I’m finding traces of a quantum energy drive in the atmosphere. Leaving or entering, I cannot tell.”
“My mate,” Mads stated, ashamed that he just now worried for her safety.
“I’m not interested in your human female. Enough.”
“Karl wanted research subjects. He knows of the mate bond with Odessa.” He’d been in her house, collecting genetic material. “He wouldn’t leave without her.”
Odessa
A low thrumthat worked its way through her entire body greeted Odessa when she woke. The humming reminded her of the way the ancient central heating system rattled in her first apartment in college. Whenever the blower kicked on, the vents shook, and the noise of the boiler carried throughout the apartment.
The second thing she noticed was the mind-numbing headache. The top of her head hurt, like her hair weighed too much and her neck felt stiff.
She remembered: the flat tire, Karl, and breaking glass. Her hand fluttered to her neck, rubbing the sore spot from the injection.
“If you’re thinking your headache feels familiar, it is. Sadly, it is a side effect of the sedative, but there are no long-term complications,” a familiar male voice said.
Odessa squinted in the bright light, attempting to turn toward Karl but found she could not move. She was encased in a glass tube, just large enough to squeeze herself in but not so accommodating to move. Not good. So not good.
How many mornings had she woken up with a pounding head and assumed it as stress or sinus pressure? Had it been Karl sneaking in the entire time? “You’ve been in my house! Drugging me!”
“Do not panic. An elevated heart rate will ruin my readings, and then we’ll have to start over again.” He sat on a stool directly in front of her tube—cage? Aquarium. A goldfish in a bowl, that’s what she felt like—and watched her with utter fascination. He wore his antlers, but the gray branches were gnarled and twisted. Bloodshot eyes examined her, and despite being clothed, a feeling of vulnerability swept over her.
“My daughter—”
“Is perfectly safe.” Karl waved a hand dismissively. “I have no use for the calf. Yet.”
“Where is she? I want to see her. Now!” Odessa pounded a fist against the glass, not that she was in a position to make demands.
“Do not,” he warned. “That is a precision instrument and I spent hours calibrating it, so behave like a good doe.”
Wow. That was incredibly weird and more than a little sexist.
“Where am I? Why did you kidnap us?” Her eyes had adjusted to the harsh lighting. The room had an organic feel with curved walls and gentle arches, like the space had been grown rather than built. Alcoves lined the far wall. Nestled in her own glass chamber, Ruby slept.
“Ruby!” Unable to raise her hands, she threw herself against the glass.
“Do. Not.”
Oxygen left the chamber with a whoosh and Odessa choked. She slumped forward, her head pressed to the wall of her prison, unable to do more than breathe. Her vision narrowed and grew black.
In. Out. One breath at a time. Don’t panic. Karl didn’t suffocate her but he must have lowered the oxygen to uncomfortable levels.
She despised him. The part of her that wanted to be a good person told her to be compassionate. The man was obviously out of his mind. The other part of her, the wild part that would do anything to survive and protect her daughter, wanted to claw his eyes out. He knew for years how Arne treated Mads and did nothing. He watched his brother neglect and verbally abuse his nephew and allowed it to happen.
Her chest tightened with panic. Was it getting harder to breathe? Had he lowered the oxygen again?
