Defiance (14 page)

The camp was eve dirtier than she
remembered, probably from living in a relatively clean environment for a week. Depression
threatened to overwhelm her, but she ruthlessly pushed it back. People stared
at her, and she didn’t see any recognition in their faces. She was a stranger.

A female
stranger.

She still wore the clothes that
Sabrina had given to her, which consisted of a long skirt and tunic. She held
her head up because she was done hiding who she truly was. Her friend Derek
fell in step beside her, ogling her like he did every woman in the camp.

“
Hallo,
leibling
,” he murmured in what he
considered his most seductive voice.
Jordan
rolled her eyes.

“Cut it out, Derek,” she ordered
sharply.

He grabbed her arm and brought her
to a halt. “
Jordan
?”

She pulled out of his grasp. “Yes. You
look like you’ve never seen a girl before, and I know for a fact you’ve seen
plenty.”

“But … but … but…”

She patted his face and continued
walking toward the cabin she shared with her mother. When she entered her
section of the camp, her heart sped up. Her mother and Mr. Meier were sitting
next to each other, and Mr. Meier was holding her hand in a comforting gesture.
Unexpectedly, tears burst from her eyes, and she began to run. All she wanted
was to feel her mother’s arms around her. She was vaguely aware of Mr. Meier
pointing to her and her mother standing. A second later, she plowed into her
mother and hugged her tightly.
Jordan
buried her face in her mother’s neck and burst into tears.

She never cried. She was not a
crier, but now twice in a matter of days bitter tears poured from her eyes. She
was shaking and sobbing, and her mother was patting her hair giving small
soothing noises. Finally, the tide ebbed long enough for her to rein in her
wayward emotions. Her mother pulled back, smiling.

“I thought I’d never see you
again.”

“I know, Momma. I fought every day
to come back.”

“What happened? No one knew
anything.”

“I was taken by a
Xyran
,”
Jordan
said, and the audience around them gasped. Startled, she looked around, just
then noticing the people who had swarmed around them as she’d had her little
meltdown. “The guards sold me to them for jewels.”

An angry murmur erupted through the
crowd.

“I fought back,” she continued. “And
I managed to escape. I found a little girl, and I helped get her back to her
parents. Her parents helped me return here.”

“You could’ve gone anywhere,” her
mother said.

“I came back for you, Momma.”

Her mother hugged her again, and
once again, tears gathered in her eyes. Now that she was back, she’d thought
she’d feel fulfilled.
Content.
But all she felt was
sadness. She looked over her mother’s shoulder and saw Mr. Meier, and she
pulled back to go over and hug him.

“You helped me escape,” she
whispered. “Thank you.”

He squeezed her and then looked her
carefully in the eyes. “Why don’t the three of us take a walk,
hm
?”

He held out his elbow to her mother
and much to
Jordan
’s
surprise, she took it and held
Jordan
’s
hand as they left their gathered audience to walk. No one was ever truly alone
in the camp, but walking was the best way to avoid anyone snooping into their
conversation.

“Something happened,” Mr. Meier
said, and he shot her a quick glance.

Slowly,
Jordan
nodded. “I came to care for the
two men who abducted me.”

Her mother gasped.
“Oh no,
Jordan
.
That’s Stockholm Syndrome, a form of traumatic bonding a prisoner usually gets
for their captor.”

“It wasn’t like that, Momma. They
cared for me.”

“No, they didn’t,” her mother
stated firmly. “That’s what predators do, they make you believe they have
feelings for you, but in reality they have no feelings whatsoever. I’ve told
you over and over,
Jordan
,
men hurt women.”

Mr. Meier stopped them from
walking, but instead of looking at her, he frowned at her mother. “Not all men
hurt women, Gretchen. I wouldn’t hurt you or Jordan. Perhaps these men really
did develop feelings for her.”

But Gretchen shook her head. “No. If
you believe that then you are no better.”

“Momma!”
Jordan
said,
shocked.

“
Come
,
Jordan
,”
her mother said, grabbing her hand and all but dragging her away. Jordan looked
back at Mr. Meier and saw the sadness in his face.

“Momma,”
Jordan
said as she followed along.
“Stop.
Momma, stop!”

Gretchen turned, and they stared at
one another. In her face,
Jordan
saw pain and fear.

“Why did you say that to him?” she
asked her mother. “He’s always been good to us.”

“I told you men hurt women, and
Heinrick
Meier isn’t any different. Those
aliens
aren’t any different!”

Although her mother had always been
protective, Jordan’s recent adventure had her looking at her mother with
different eyes. Had her momma always been this paranoid? Gretchen
Kuper
was panting, and sweat beaded on her forehead. Something
wasn’t right … something didn’t make sense at all.

Why hadn’t she ever noticed how bad
she was?

“Momma, who hurt
you?”

Her mother sucked in a sharp breath
and began to shake. “I don’t want to tell you.”

“Tell me what?”

Gretchen bit her lip. “The … the man
who hurt me was the one who sired you.”

Shock poured through
Jordan
. “My
father hurt you?”

“He was never your father,”
Gretchen said bitterly. “He was the man who raped me.”

Jordan
had the distinct feeling of
falling, although she knew she hadn’t moved.
“W-what?”

“The world was beginning to go
downhill,” Gretchen whispered. “Fighting was rampant everywhere, and the police
were unable to stop the gangs from taking over. That was when talk began about
building this camp, to safeguard the innocent people.”

Her mother fell silent, and
Jordan
watched
the emotions flitter over her face.

“I remember that it was hot and I
had left a window open. He must have come in that way. One minute I was asleep,
the next a body was on top of me.”

Jordan
felt sick to her stomach. She
wanted to reach out and hug her mother tightly but was afraid of disturbing the
story. This was a poison that needed to be lanced.

“He was drunk, and he told me he
loved me,” she continued. “I guess he thought I was someone else. After … he
passed out in my bed. I called the police, and he was arrested. But he never
apologized, and a month later I knew I was pregnant.”

“You didn’t abort me,”
Jordan
said,
stunned at the story.

Her mother grabbed her and hugged
her tightly. “I never held it against you, Jordan. You are my darling girl. I
love you so much.”

“I love you, too, Momma. I’m just at
a loss for words. I don’t know what to think.”

“You don’t have to think about
anything. The past is the past. You’re here now, and no man will ever hurt you
like one hurt me.”

Her childhood now made sense. Her
mother taking the drastic measure to turn her into a boy, cutting off her hair
and making sure she was never viewed as a girl. Her mother had even encouraged
her to learn self-defense. “Momma, the two men who took me didn’t hurt me, even
when I gave them every excuse in the book to raise a hand. Believe it or not, the
Xyran
is a good person.”

Her word hammered into her heart,
giving her a clarity she’d been missing. Yes, they’d been good to her, and
she’d just walked away. Now that her journey through space was at an end, she
realized that she missed them.
Desperately.
It hurt to
think she wouldn’t ever see them again.

She had to admit to herself that
she’d fallen for both of them. So why had she left? What was the real reason?

The truth slammed into her brain
and left her reeling.

Because she’d
been scared.
Scared of loving two men.
Scared of loving an alien.
Scared of leaving everything she
knew behind. And damned if that didn’t make her furious at herself because
she’d been living her whole life in spite of the fear she harbored every day. Hiding
her true identity, fearing that if she were found out something bad would
happen, had kept her in a constant state of awareness. She had never
surrendered to her fear, and yet, when confronted with a happily-ever-after,
she’d run like a chicken.

And now it was too late to change
her mind. Not only had she left
Laith
and David
behind, she’d walked out on them at the most important mission of their lives. She
didn’t even know if they won. Yes, they had abducted her, but she’d seen it
deep in
Laith’s
black eyes that he wasn’t a monster. He’d
accused her of being selfish, and when the going got tough she’d bolted.

“Well,” her mother said, forcing a
smile through the tears. “You’re
back
home now. Since
people know the truth now, we’ll take extra precautions to make sure you won’t
be hurt—”

“Momma,”
Jordan
said, interrupting. “I love
you, but you’re wrong. Not all men hurt women, and you need to apologize to Mr.
Meier. I think he likes you, and you’re just cruel if you let him think you
blame him for what happened to you in your past.”

Tears leaked out of her mother’s
eyes, and she broke down in sobs.
Jordan
wondered if this was the
first time her mother had ever cried over what had happened.

“I’m scared,” her mother admitted.

“I know,”
Jordan
said as
she patted her mother on the back. “But we can’t let fear hold us prisoner. Life
is too short.”

No truer words had ever been spoken,
and she couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for herself that it had taken losing
David and
Laith
to figure that out.

Chapter Sixteen

Although there was a full moon,
clouds kept obstructing the bright light pouring down. David and
Laith
eased between cabins, every once in a while
Laith
scented the air to see if they could follow
Jordan
’s path. The
stench of the camp, however, prevented him from catching her smell, and
Laith
wondered how she could stand to live here.

Although they’d only been separated
from her for only a short time, it seemed like a lifetime since he’d last held
her, and he sensed David was just as impatient as he was to claim their mate. This
time, he would make sure she said yes.

“This way,”
Laith
said.

“How do you know? All I smell is
excrement and body odor, both of which are making me sick.”

Laith
waved
his hand. “Trust me. She’s this way.”

He led them to a square cabin that
looked like all the others. When he looked in the window, he immediately saw
Jordan
sleeping
with an older woman who resembled her. Her mother, he surmised.

He gestured with his hand, and quietly,
they snuck into the cabin to spray the incapacitating agent in each face,
except for Jordan and her mother. When they were sure the other humans wouldn’t
wake, they woke up their mate.

Jordan
’s eyes blinked open, and
when she saw them, she squealed and launched herself into their arms.

“I thought I’d never see you
again,” she said softly, hugging them tightly. “I was wondering how I was going
to find you in that vastness of space.”

“We never meant to keep you from
your mother, Jordan,”
Laith
said.

“I was scared,” she admitted. “After
all my preaching, I surrendered to the fear, and I’m so sorry.”

“
Shh
,” David
said, putting his finger on her lips. “No more recriminations, otherwise
Laith
and I will be down on our knees begging
your
forgiveness.”

“We want you to come with us,” David
said. “Not as our prisoner, but as our equal.”

“We’re going to work with my father,
Jordan,”
Laith
added.
“The
underground railroad.
We would like for you to help us, but I do have to
warn you it will probably be dangerous.”

She snorted. “I laugh in the face
of danger.”

“Yes,” David said dryly. “We know.”

She took their hands and turned. “Mother,
this is David
Ballack
and
Laith
.
My men.”

The door to the cabin suddenly opened,
and
Heinrick
Meier stepped inside, brandishing a
club. His gaze took in the knocked out people before settling on Gretchen and
Jordan.

“Are you both all right?”

“We’re fine,
Heinrick
,”
her mother said. “
Jordan
was just introducing me to her beaux.”

“What happened to the others?”

“It will wear off,”
Laith
assured him. “David and I had to talk to
Jordan
, to
convince her to become our mate.”