Claimed by the Warrior (12 page)

The action took her off guard, but she welcomed it. The first time she’d held his hand he’d been confused by it, but this was the second time in the last few days he’d initiated it. She loved it. “Nothing, just… I was hoping that this evening we could talk about something.”

His shoulders stiffened just the slightest fraction. She was getting good at reading the subtle changes in his body language. “What about?”

“Not now. I know you need to get to one of your job sites. Or there’s an emergency at the Samio.”

He raised a dark eyebrow. “How do you know this?”

“Because your communicator has been buzzing like crazy since we…” Her cheeks heated up and she cleared her throat. It had started going off when she’d been sitting on his face this morning. They’d both ignored it. Then when she got out of the shower she’d found him responding to what seemed like dozens of communications, one buzz after another. The sounds had been maddening. He’d stopped responding when they left his place, but she understood how busy he was and didn’t want to get in the way of that.

“Since we what?” he murmured, leaning closer as they came to a stop in front of another elevator. This one had a shiny, sleek-looking silver door.

“You know what,” she whispered, glancing around. There were two males waiting at the next elevator and though they weren’t looking in their direction she wasn’t going to talk about that in public.

“I want to hear you say it.”

“That’s because you’re a pervert.”

He gave her one of those grins that made her wonder how she’d ever lived without knowing this male. It still stunned her how much he’d come to mean to her in the past week and a half.

“That’s very true where you’re concerned.” He dropped a kiss on her forehead. “Are you certain you don’t mind making the rest of the trip alone? It is only two floors up from here. Then you’ll step right onto a transport platform and put in the code I gave you. That will take you where you need to go.”

If he was asking then there really must be an emergency. “I’m totally fine. Is everything okay though?”

“There’s been what looks like sabotage at the new residential site. Probably from that bastard Einar when he was here.”

On a construction site sabotage could be potentially deadly. Alarm jumped through her. “Is anyone hurt?”

“No, thankfully. But… I need to be there.”

“Then go. I’ve got my communicator and everyone knows I’m yours now anyway.” She liked saying that she was his. He liked it as well if the smoldering look he gave her was any indication. As the elevator made a soft ding, she leaned up and kissed him, not caring about the public affection. He didn’t seem to mind either as he deepened the kiss for a little longer than was probably publicly acceptable.

When the doors opened, there were two males inside who didn’t appear to be getting off—until Con growled at them. Without pause, they politely stepped off and let her get on. Even though there was enough room for about twenty warriors, apparently Con was feeling extra protective today. She bit back a smile and blew him a kiss goodbye in full view of the two males. To her surprise his ears tinged red.

It was the last thing she saw before the doors closed. A short laugh escaped as she pressed the correct floor. When she stepped out, she frowned. In both directions dimly lit hallways extended, but there were no signs of life. And no windows down the corridors. Combined with the eerie quiet, it was slightly creepy. But just like Con had said, there were three transport platforms on a raised dais directly in front of her as she exited the elevators. She had to use one of his codes so she guessed these transport platforms were reserved for the higher ranking warriors.

Choosing the middle one, she stepped up and entered his code. When nothing happened, she frowned and tried the other two. Still nothing. The platforms weren’t even lighting up and there was no telltale beeps from inputting the code. She had absolutely no idea how these things worked so it looked as if she’d be taking the long way. “That’s strange,” she muttered to herself.

“The Goddess must have smiled down on me today.” A male voice drifted out from one of the shadowed hallways a second before a familiar male stepped out. Einar.

His white-blond hair was dirty and his clothing wrinkled, as if he hadn’t changed in days. As he walked toward her, she realized he was limping. That wasn’t what drew her attention though. It was the predatory gleam in his pale blue eyes. She didn’t know why he was here and she didn’t care. She could tell he wanted to do her harm.

Looking at him now, she had one thought.
Run.

With no time to contact Con for help she jumped from the platform and raced down the hallway opposite from Einar. Her heart pounded a staccato rhythm, the beat in tune with the pounding of her boots.

She heard him curse behind her but didn’t dare look. She needed to escape, find a place to hide. Just get away from the male. As she reached the end of the poorly lit corridor, it branched in two directions. With no idea where she was, she raced left.

She could hear thuds behind her, but they seemed to be dragging. He must be injured enough that he couldn’t run as fast as her. But if she didn’t find a place to hide she knew that wouldn’t matter. The male was huge and trained and she had no weapons. She wouldn’t stand a chance against him one-on-one. Fear blossomed inside her but she shoved it down. If she wanted to survive, there was no time to panic.

The first two doors she tried were locked, but the third swung open into darkness. She looked back and didn’t see Einar. He must not have made it to this hallway yet. Heart pounding, she stepped in and carefully shut it behind her. She tried to lock it, but there wasn’t one that she could find. Heart in her throat, she blindly felt along the wall for a panel of light switches. Her palm skimmed over something cool and flat.

As it did, lights flickered on and she found herself surrounded by…a dark, triple-canopy jungle. Animal cries, rushing water and the chirp of birds filled the air. Wait,
what
? She tried to feel along the wall but realized there was no wall. And no door. Her throat tightened.

“Training session level X5T has commenced,” a computerized male voice said from somewhere.

Training? What the hell… A giant beast that reminded her of a black leopard crept out of oversized foliage. The build of the animal was the same as the one she’d read about in books, but it was easily three times larger than the one from her former planet. And this thing had straight up
fangs
.

That wasn’t good.

“Holy shit,” she whispered, raw fear tightening her throat. She didn’t think you were supposed to run from big animals because they liked to chase prey, but what the hell else was she going to do?

Sweat dripped down her spine as she slowly moved to her right, trying to put some distance between her and the biggest beast she’d ever seen in her life. Its eyes seemed to glow red, though she told herself that was simply her imagination. A monster was in front of her so she must be projecting her fears or something. No way did this thing have red glowing eyes. As she moved, it did too. Its ears were pinned back as it let out a snarl that made her want to curl into a ball and whimper.

Before she could formulate any sort of plan—the animal jumped toward her with a show of raw power that would have been beautiful if it hadn’t been so terrifying.

On instinct she ducked down and covered her head with her arms, curling into a ball and preparing for the inevitable pain and… The thing sailed right through her, dissipating like smoke.

Oh, sweet goddess, it was a hologram. She felt instantly stupid for not realizing it, but simultaneously grateful she hadn’t just been a snack for a vampire-leopard beast.

She jumped to her feet, some of the numbness wearing off. She reached into her pocket and clasped her hand around her communicator like a lifeline. As she dialed Con, Einar’s voice came over a sound system, much like the computerized voice had.

But his was a lot scarier. “I think it’s time we play a game, little human. How long will it take me to find you? The longer it does, the more fun I’m going to have with you when I catch you.”

It was impossible to figure out where the voice came from because all she could see in every direction was thick trees and foliage that wasn’t familiar to her. She knew that the holograms were realistic but this was taking it to a whole new level. And she had no idea how large this training area was. It could span a mile or just be a small room.

No time to worry about that now. She needed to freaking hide. As she dialed Con, she did the only thing she could. She ran.

* * *

“We have a problem!” Cyn raced at Con across the open space. They hadn’t laid down actual flooring yet so his boots thumped against the stone, echoing ominously.

Con turned away from Ruari to face his brother as his communicator buzzed. Again. Fucking insanity this morning. He glanced at the screen, prepared to ignore it, until he saw Leilani’s name and face show up. He’d taken a picture of her when she’d been sleeping. Her hair was tousled, sexy, and she looked completely sated.

“It’s Einar,” Cyn said, skidding to a halt in front of Con.

He held up a hand to his brother. Leilani rarely called so he figured she might have gotten turned around. Damn it, he knew he should have just gone with her. But she’d seemed to need some space and he’d wanted to give it to her. He found himself going against his primitive nature to please her. At least when he found it acceptable. “Hold on,” he murmured as he answered Leilani. “Everything okay?”

“Con,” she whispered. “Oh, goddess, I don’t know where I am but Einar is here. He wants to hurt me. I’m hiding but I don’t know for how long.” Her words were ragged and so quiet he could barely hear her.

An icy fist tightened around his chest as her words settled over him. “Where are you?” he was already moving to the nearest transport platform, ignoring his brother’s protests. He tuned out everything except Leilani.

“I got off on that floor you told me to but the transport platforms weren’t working. Then Einar was just there in front of me.” Her voice caught, her fear evident.

The urge to rip Einar apart piece by piece nearly overwhelmed him but he kept it together as he reached the raised platform. “Are you still on that floor?”

“Yes, I ran…” A loud screeching sound that sounded like a riacana tore over the line.

But that was impossible. The purple-skinned beasts lived in trees in the jungle… “Are you in a training room?”

“I think so,” she whispered as he typed in his master code for her floor. “A computerized voice said something about training level X5T.”

Damn it, he knew exactly where she was. “Are you hidden?”

“For now.”

When he received a response that his code was in working order, but there was no connection on the other transport platform, he cursed. It must have been disabled. He had no doubt who’d done it. Einar couldn’t have known Leilani would be using that area so going after her must be a crime of chance. “Sit tight, I’m on my way,” he said, motioning to his brother to head with him to the exit. There was a set of elevators on this floor he could use to take him directly there. “Einar has Leilani trapped in a training room on one of the instructor levels. X5T session.”

Cyn’s expression went as nuclear as Con felt as they burst out into the hallway, racing at full speed down the corridor. “I just learned that Einar has gone missing. He was down on the mainland, being reassigned and didn’t show up for his post assignment this morning. They gave him three days to get all his affairs in order and didn’t keep an eye on him.”

Which meant he could have been doing any damn thing for the last three days. Warriors jumped out of the way as Con and Cyn moved with a single-minded purpose.

“Con,” Leilani’s voice was small and terrified.

“I’ll be there in minutes. Hang on,” he ordered. “And keep quiet.” He needed her to stay hidden and safe. Now that he knew where she was he didn’t want her talking more than necessary. The sounds of the jungle in the background were loud and would likely cover up her voice but he didn’t want to take the chance Einar overheard her. Damn it, he was so close now.

Once Con got there he could disable the training session with his palm print. Only he and other senior officers had the capability to end a session early. Once the program shut down he’d be able to locate Einar with ease.

And the fucker wasn’t getting away. He’d gone after Con’s mate and for that he would pay.

Precious seconds ticked by as they jerked to a halt in front of a set of elevator doors. He placed his palm on the biometric scanner, then typed in an override code. Next to him Cyn had pulled out his communicator and was talking to someone with security, ordering them to scan for Einar’s face anywhere within the facility and demanding peace officers to their floor.

His brother was thinking rationally but Con didn’t care about any of that. If Einar had touched Leilani, he was dead. Hell, he was probably dead regardless. Going after a male’s mate was grounds for death.

“Come out, little human. If you make it easy I’ll make it easy on you. You’ll probably like it.” Einar’s voice boomed over the line. It was as if it was being projected over the main system.

The words sent another shot of raw fear slithering down Con’s spine. If Einar got his hands on Leilani… No. It wasn’t going to happen. “If you’re hidden well, don’t move,” Con snapped out as he and Cyn exited the elevator. “And don’t respond to me.” He couldn’t risk her giving herself away because of him. “I’ll be there in less than thirty seconds.”