Page 13 of Stolen By the Alien Mercenary

“What did you do!?” he snarled at his captain. “I told you it wasn't safe to let her off the ship! Now look! There’s a tracker, her implants.” He turned the scanner to show it to his captain, and when the male released his wrist, he tossed the scanner casually in Dravion’s direction.

The doctor caught the scanner with a tentacle and perused the readings with a hiss. “He’s right. During her trip through Strewn, she must have passed something that activated a dormant tracker. We have to get it out now.”

My world spun when Nick picked me up in his arms and rose to his feet with a rustle of his huge white wings. I didn’t make a sound but flung my arm around his neck instead. “Hey, you were out cold a minute ago. Should you be doing that?” I asked. But I wasn’t complaining. Despite the scary news, I felt myself relaxing; Nick was looking out for me. He was the one I could trust.

His body heating mine was the best feeling; I could feel the strength in his arms, and I felt safe. This was the other shoe, it had dropped, and I was happy about it. A tracker? They’d take it out, and then all would be well. Once we left this place, nobody could find me. As Nick started to carry me from the brig, I had this feeling in my stomach that Batok was eagerly receiving the news of my location right that instant. Why would the crimelord who had locked me into the vault care where I was? He’d left me to die, he didn’t care about me.

Chapter 9

Mitnick

Cradling Harper gently in my arms, I felt the pain in my chest ease. She was finally where she belonged, with me. At last, I was in control of her safety and it eased all the raging anger and the protective instincts that had ruled me the past few days. When Asmoded got a little too close on my left, I bared my fangs toward him but reigned in the instinct to lash out and slap him with my wing.

Dravion was racing ahead of us, and I knew he was moving fast to prep the med bay for the removal of my mate’s translator implants. I cursed myself for not checking them more thoroughly, but their presence had tripped no alarms the entire time I’d had her in my care.

The security scanners at Strewn’s entrances, they’d activated the tracker. It was very clever, and whoever had thought of it had executed the plan perfectly. Nothing had seemed off, nothing had tripped any of my careful alarms. This was a whole new threat we’d have to take into account with any future visitors.

I inhaled deeply to draw my mate’s scent into my lungs and more of my tension eased. Yes, this was a threat I did not like, a worry that had niggled at my mind all year, but I had her in my arms. She had curled her arm around my neck and clung to me with a trust on her face I was eager to prove warranted. Nothing about our courtship was going right, and still, she was here with me.

From the soft fall of her blonde hair to the bright look in her azure eyes, she was so beautiful and exotic. So different from any of the females I’d been used to. I was going to make sure that as soon as I had her alone; she knew exactly how much I loved and worshiped each part of her, each delicate feature and gentle curve. I wanted to claim her mouth, but the urgent situation held me back. Soon, very soon.

Her eyes widened and her mouth parted with a silent gasp. In her scent, I caught notes that hinted at arousal. A grin curled over my face in satisfaction. She could not deny our bond, our attraction; her body already wanted me, and I was certain the rest of her would not be far behind.

We stepped into the med bay where Dravion had already laid out supplies and I smiled when I discovered he had pulled out visual implants as well as new translators. I didn’t want to let go of my female, my fingers tightening against her skin before I managed to lay her on the medical bed. “This won’t hurt,” I assured her. “Dravion will get the tracker out and give you new translators. All will be well.”

I ignored the Captain and doctor as they discussed the implants; I knew my captain would come through for Harper. He didn’t like giving away secrets, and those visual implants would reveal a big one, but Harper was my mate, and that meant she could be trusted.

“Okay,” Harper said calmly, “I trust you.” And my hearts swelled in my chest in pride, just like that. My smile was wide as I gazed back at her, and I couldn’t resist her, not after all this time we’d been kept apart. I dipped down, my wings shifting against my back, spreading as the urge to cocoon her against me struck. Her eyes grew wide when I got closer, but she did not pull away when I brushed my lips along hers.

A soft gasp and then I was inhaling her air, her taste flooding my senses. My crest rose on my head, and I felt her fingers slide along my jaw, into my hair until she touched it. Fuck, that felt good. She felt so good, and her fingers stroked, tentatively brushing a part of me that was so very different from her.

It was a discrete coughing noise that drew my attention back to the urgent matter at hand. That did not mean I did not spare a moment to enjoy the dazed, hazy look in my mate’s eyes. Or glanced with lingering desire at her pink lips and the rosy tone in her cheeks. “Mitnick, can you feed them false information?” the Captain asked, and I jerked my eyes away from Harper to look at him.

I shrugged, contemplated my options, and nodded. “I can try, sir.” Then I looked back at Harper and curled my fingers around her hand for support. “As soon as the implants are out I can hook them up to diagnostics. I’ll need my tools.” I brushed my free hand against my left temple to indicate what I meant. They’d taken my prototype visor when they locked me up. I needed it.

“Jaxin? Get what the male needs,” Asmoded said, not glancing over his shoulder to check if our Weapon Master was there. The large Rummicaron male thudded away in a hurry and then Dravion ordered all the other curious eyes out so we could get started. I didn’t leave, staying at Harper’s side and holding her hand. The captain backed up to the doorway but stayed to keep a watchful eye, and then it was just Dravion as he titled my mate’s head to prepare for the first incision.

She was brave, not flinching from the cool, numbing spray. She did not say anything as Dravion carefully extracted the first one and got a more high-tech replacement installed. I had to withdraw my hand to accept my tools. Then I had to get started on figuring out the tracker embedded in the tiny device. I gave her one last, lingering squeeze of encouragement before I did so.

I turned to work on a nearby bed tray, unwilling to go much further, and I kept a wing spread so I could feather the tip along her legs for contact. She spread her hands along the edges; I could not feel that other than pressure radiating up through the quills, but I liked it.

Slapping my visor over my eye, it took a moment to reconnect and sync with all the contacts, but then the world opened to me. It wasn’t the same as the implant of a navigator, the way Solear could hook up to the navigational computers, but my ability to control machines expanded exponentially.

“Got it,” I said to the Captain after a minute. “They know she’s on the Varakartoom. I will make it look like she is deboarding and heading deep into Strewn. There is a lot of encrypted data on this device… It's not just a language database. How curious.” That data could be what Batok was after; it could be the reason she’d been locked in a vault for safekeeping. They didn’t need her to be alive to retrieve that data at a later point in time. The callous idea rattled my protective instincts, and my need for vengeance surged in tangent. Harper hadn’t deserved any of this, and I was going to make it right.

“Did you trick them?” the Captain asked after a long silence, and I glanced from the data streaming on the visor projected over my eyes to the Harper. Dravion had finished with the second implant and added it to my tray, and he was quietly instructing my mate on the next added procedure. The addition of permanent contacts that would translate scripts for her and unlock the Varakartoom at the same time. The big secret we were all supposed to take to our graves. It was a secret that the Captain did not give out to just anyone.

I jerked my head in Asmoded’s direction, a smile spreading that I could not hold back. If the captain had agreed to give those to Harper, that meant he was going to allow her to stay, and that meant he wasn’t going to kick me off his ship. His slow nod as he met my look said it all: it was approval, permission. It was forgiveness for hiding Harper from him for as long as I had.

Then my final readings came in and I groaned, “Ah, damn. I think I successfully spoofed that data but scans indicate watchers at the airlock. They know she did not leave.” This meant Batok knew Harper was still on the Varakartoom, and I had this sneaking suspicion that he was going to risk going toe to toe with us to get back his data.

Asmoded sighed, “We can’t leave yet. Vital supplies are still being loaded. Can you stall them? We need two hours.” I rolled a shoulder, my mind spinning as plans popped into my brain that I contemplated and discarded in rapid succession. Then it struck me, and I knew what to do. A smirk came naturally; I knew this was our best bet.

“I will give it a shot, sir,” I told him. That was good enough for my captain, and he turned and slithered from the med bay without a sound. I turned to look at my mate, my crest rising on my skull and then flicking back. She was scowling, her arms crossed over her chest, but she was back to sitting upright.

“Why the hell are they after me? What’s on those implants that’s so important?” she demanded to know. She glared at the pair of still slightly bloody translators I’d been analyzing and curled her lip in disgust. “Is that why they locked me up in the vault?” She shuddered in recollection and I instantly abandoned my improvised workstation to go to her side.

“I don’t know. But I will find out,” I assured her. “You are safe. I will keep you safe.” I glanced at the med bay’s exit after Asmoded’s departing back and noticed that Mandy was peeking around the corner, ready to get back to Harper’s side, when Dravion gave the go-ahead. He was done; she wouldn’t wait much longer.