Mom and I opened our arms for Stefani to join the circle. This was how we had always been, tougher together. We’d added Max to this family circle and he had made us even stronger. Stef looked at me.
“Why do you look like you’ve been crying for a week? Shouldn’t you still be in the honeymoon phase?”
“They surrounded the little apartment and took Kovo back to jail.”
“What?” She looked from Mom to Max for confirmation. “But that wasn’t part of the plan.”
“I know.”
“My ladies. My loves. We must gather our things and go. Now.”
“Go where?” Mom asked.
“They just announced Kovo’s capture on the news. He is to be executed within the hour.”
***
Atlan Prison, Execution Wing
“Get out of my way. I’m going in there.” I shoved at the hulking form of a guard with no effect. He didn’t even need to adjust his balance.
Shit. I needed to start working out.
Screw that. I needed one of those space guns.
I felt Max’s presence come up behind me. “Open the door, warlord.”
He shook his head. “No females allowed in the execution chamber, sir. I am sorry.”
“She is his mate.”
I held up my wrists to put the mating cuffs on display. I hadn’t been able to sense Kovo through our link, but he had to be okay. He had to. I couldn’t think anything else or I wouldn’t be able to get through this.
The guard looked from my wrists to Max. “Are you sure about this, sir? It is no place for a lady, especially a mate.”
“I am sure. Open the door. That is an order.”
The guard looked defeated. Max was some big deal here, on a war council. Like a five star general back home. This guard was going to open the freaking door or I would scratch his eyes out like a cat.
More like a tiny kitten attacking a bear.
Whatever. This kitten was pissed off.
The guard opened the door to reveal a long, sterile corridor. It felt like a high-tech hospital, but there were no rooms. No windows to look into. No doors. I ran as quickly as I could, the boots Kovo made for me making almost no sound when they hit the floor.
Max walked behind me. My mom and Stef had to wait in another area of the prison. The only reason I was allowed to be there was because I was Kovo’s mate. I also had Max with me to look big and scary and boss people around.
Normally, it was almost impossible to guess what my mom’s mate was thinking at any given moment. He had an excellent poker face. But he’d been in that room with Helion and Warden Egara on the comms. They’d worked out the plan to save Kovo together. Get him out of prison, hide him for a few days until the hunt cooled, then transport him to Warden Egara on Earth where she would use her contact with an FBI or CIA friend of hers, some woman she knew, to get Kovo a new identity. After that, Kovo and I would live happily-ever-after.
Thatwas the plan.
Other warlords were living on Earth now. Technically, she would be in trouble if anyone ever found out she had helped us that way, on Earth or in the Coalition. I had learned this past week that Warden Egara had no problems breaking the rules if she thought it was the right thing to do.
Me and Kovo together? That was right.
Not this.
The corridor opened up onto a circular balcony that wrapped around more than half of the room situated below. An observation deck. Below us, Kovo was strapped to what looked like a hospital bed. He looked like he was dead already.
