Kidnapped By Her Husbands (Wings of Artemis Book 1) (27 page)

Tears sprung to my eyes. He knew more than I did, but I’d been counting on him for more answers than he had. A beep sounded on his end.

“They’re trying to get through this call, to hear what I’m saying. I can’t stay on much longer. Tell me where you are. I’ll get to you. I don’t know how, but I will.”

“No,” I answered fast. “I’m sorry you’re stuck there, but I have no time to wait. I need to get to the General. She has the others. I’m going to Truest.” Point and click. I hoped it worked. “I’m going to let myself be seen. If the General wants to make a deal, she can make it with me there.”

“I don’t know if that’s smart. Maybe…”

“Cooper. I’d love to meet you in person. If getting away is something you can do, come to Truest. That’s where I’ll be.” I paused. “Thank you for your help. I…I know that I loved you. I want to again.”

I disconnected the call and stood. I had a body to put out the airlock and a mess to clean. I needed to eat something—I wouldn’t fail the baby—and then I had to move my ugly ship to Truest Space Station, where I’d recently killed a man.

Maybe Cooper would be there.

The guys had risked everything for me. They were my family, my loves. I’d do no less than anything for them, even if it meant in the end I turned myself over to The General and faced whatever my fate was.

Cooper said I hadn’t wanted to do something I could no longer tolerate. What was it? The answer was locked somewhere in my mind. I had to find out what it was. Whatever I’d run from held power over me. I’d been desperate enough to leave the men I loved to try to run. That hadn’t worked. Cooper was alone, had made a desperate deal for me, and the others were taken.

My mother had stolen my husbands.

As I walked to the dead body currently pooling blood on my floor, I squatted, slowly and awkwardly but I managed it. I wasn’t the woman I’d been before. It was possible I was much worse because I didn’t know how far I’d go. I had no boundaries to speak of.

A girl without a past, just a future to protect.

I had to get to Truest Space Station.

Wes had told me Artemis would always keep us safe. I would find my husbands, get them all back, and if anyone tried to get in my way, it turned out I was a crack shock. Frank had called me as weak as a lamb.

His lifeless eyes told a different story.

I just hoped wherever they were, my loves were okay. If they weren’t, there would be hell to pay. I lay the gun on the floor. Time to get moving.

Chapter 17

Prince Cooper Jackson

COOPER

I
stared at the screen, waiting for Melissa. Escaping Ochoa hadn’t been a problem today. Sightings of The Bridge in the area captivated the military’s attention, and I’d managed to sneak out. Whether or not I now got caught constituted another matter altogether. With my head sufficiently covered by my sweatshirt and my general demeanor screaming for others to leave me alone, I waited in the closest bar to the docking bay and hoped I would see her soon.

The first time she’d come into my life had been the day I’d resolved to die. My sister had just gotten engaged. Beautiful, royal, and of Noble birth, my younger sibling should have been an ideal political wife. Only she’d stayed simple, never aging intellectually past her sixth birthday. The morning of her engagement announcement, I’d been helping her eighteen-year-old-self dress her dollies for her birthday party.

That had been the straw to break the camel’s back. The Pit was a nightmare, my parents were murderers, and as I was old enough to be included in the family business, I’d had a good look at how awful the future was going to be. Was I really supposed to spend my day torturing information out of impoverished subjects or injecting the unwanted with diseases we had no cures for?

I’d resolved to go out with a bang. I was going to release information to the general populace minutes after I took out a facility where they experimented on unwanted male babies. Bio-tech genetic weaponry. Really disgusting, horrific stuff.

The memory made me shudder. I’d planned on taking out the place and going over the side of the mountain in the process.

But then Melissa walked into the bar, followed by C.J. and Nolan. Where others had left me alone, the Rebel Princess immediately recognized me. By the end of the oddest conversation of my life, I’d decided to join the Nomads and blow the facility using one of Geoff’s bombs.

If it never sat well with me that we hadn’t rescued the babies, I’d tried not to focus on that aspect too much. Melissa had become my whole life. None of us were entirely happy, and she didn’t seem to care that much about our discontentment, which both fascinated me and drove me nuts on a regular basis.

I wasn’t the man I wanted to be, and I think she preferred it that way.

But fuck if I didn’t love her.

She stepped out into the shopping area and I sucked in my breath. Melissa was really pregnant now. Thinner in the face, not rounder, and her walk had changed. A cautious gait had replaced her confident stride. She looked left and right until her gaze caught with mine.

I stood. The memory erase had changed her; I’d seen it on Master’s. Who she was weeks later, I’d have to find out. She was going to want to rescue the other five and I was game. We needed to get them back so I could beat them all to a pulp for ever doubting me. Not that I could blame them. In the same circumstances, I’d have thought similarly.

They were my family. She was my wife.

The End

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About Rebecca Royce

As a teenager, I would hide in my room to read my favorite romance novels when I was supposed to be doing my homework. I hope, these days, that my parents think it was worth it.

I am the mother of three adorable boys and I am fortunate to be married to my best friend. I live in Austin, Texas where I am determined to eat all the barbecue in town.

I am in love with science fiction, fantasy, and the paranormal, and try to use all of these elements in my writing. I've been told I'm a little bloodthirsty so I hope that when you read my work you'll enjoy the action-packed ride that always ends in romance. I love to write series because I love to see characters develop over time and it always makes me happy to see my favorite characters make guest appearances in other books.

In my world anything is possible, anything can happen, and you should suspect that it will.

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