Her face burned while the man quickly went over some of the features, the comm, that she’d be tracked at all times, and how she would need to remain within her designated boundary markers.
“Almost done,” Mace said from behind her.
And then what?Seconds passed as she stared at the metal encircling her wrists, her new reality sinking in.I’m a slave.She lifted her chin to glare at Mace. If she thought she saw regret cross his features, she knew she imagined it. There was no way he regretted doing this to her.
The blond man’s palette beeped. He scanned it, his eyes widening a second later. With a snap of his head, he looked straight at her, lips parted. Then a strange glint entered his gaze—the most emotion she’d seen on him since they’d arrived.
Her heart thumped in her chest. Her blood tests.He knows.The remainder of her time with these people would be spent in pain. The Mullers had told the media reporters they’d been tortured for weeks, healed only to start the process over again. No one returned to the CORE unharmed.
She shook her head, trying to deny her lineage before he spoke a word. The tension between them grew.
“I’ll need to inform Commodore Cache at once,” he said quietly, almost to himself.
Mace’s hand snaked out, gripping the man’s wrist to take the palette from his fingers, then froze when he read the information.
Words spewed from his mouth, undecipherable and clipped. The blond man startled, uneasy, then replied in the same language.
A conversation went back and forth, Mace becoming increasingly threatening, the man alarmed, but stubborn in his responses.
Fear and pressure built in her head, and she had the urge to cover her ears and scream. Then something Mace said made the color drain from the other man's face. He glanced at her, then at Mace, locking eyes. The Tellusian who had taken her from her home looked murderous, ready to kill for her.
Why would this warrior step between her and being ransomed?
Finally, Mace’s tone softened a fraction. He accessed the controls of his vambrace with a clenched jaw.
The man stared at his palette and nodded once before looking at Nia. “You are now processed,” he said in Common. “Your warder has a duty to make sure you’re safe at all times. Do you understand?”
Her stomach still climbing her throat at what just happened, she shook her head. “Warder?”
“Commander Mace will be your warder. You are the ward, protected by Captive Mandate 216 and the old laws.” His gaze flicked to Mace.
Her mind raced. Protected? She’d thought she would be turned into a sex slave, or something like it, but they’d asked about her medical expertise. She scrubbed a hand over her face and encountered her bonds. Her fingers rolled into fists.
She didn’t care about a Captive Mandate; she wanted to go home.
Another panel on the left bulkhead popped open. The man reached inside, this time pulling out her necklace. “It came out clean.”
Relief made her knees weak. She reached to snatch it, but he insisted on passing it to Mace.Not even my belongings are my own.
But it didn’t matter, not any longer. Not when Mace held the chain on either end to clasp it around her throat. All she needed was a moment alone to turn it on.
Averting her gaze from Mace’s icy blue one, she turned, presenting her nape and lifting her hair. A moment later, the cool of the chain brushed her neck.
As soon as he’d secured the clasp, Nia stepped away and pressed the locket to her heart.One step closer to home.
“We’re finished here” the man said. “Good day.” He hurried off behind them.
Instead of following, Mace indicated for her to continue along the corridor. They stopped at a rectangular door. He scanned his hand on the panel and the door slid open, revealing a small room, brightly lit.
Her breaths shortened. What would come next? The white bulkheads gave her no comfort.
“I have to follow the rules.” Mace’s voice rumbled loud in the tiny space. “You’ll need to remain bound in the general population.”
Stomach fluttering with nervous tension, she swallowed against the sudden dryness in her throat.Click.Her wrists snapped together. She glared at him, her chest burning.
Another scanner was positioned on the opposite bulkhead beside a white door. This one opened into a corridor with metal grating on the deck and gray bulkheads. The murmur of people pulsed from nearby.
Fingers gripping her elbow, Mace guided her out. The vacant corridor led to a densely packed one. She tensed and Mace pulled her closer, heading toward noise.
