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APPARENTLY “MAKING her more amenable” meant locking her in an empty closet with nothing but protein sludge for rations and no blanket or pillow. Naomi wasn’t certain how long she’d been locked up. She’d slept in fitful bursts and had been rationing her food in case they tried to starve her.
Orderlies had come in three times to take her to use the facilities and each of those times they’d left her with a few more protein rations. It could have been three days or twelve hours; she had no idea, and no way of checking.
She wouldn’t break, she refused. Morgyn had put her in this terrible place in the hopes it would make her want her old room and old privileges, things she could have if she consented to surgery and testing, but she was done with that. She wanted out, she wanted Shayn, she wanted to be anywhere but here.
Movement was difficult. The closet was wide enough for her to lay down, but she could only manage a few steps in either direction. It was easier to do squats and push ups and crunches, but that only left her muscles burning and her mind racing. She’d never thought she was claustrophobic, but if she was in the closet for long enough she was pretty sure she’d develop an aversion to tight spaces.
Naomi let out a shout, her frustration piled so high inside of her that she couldn’t keep it locked up anymore. She wanted to go home. Morgyn would argue that the facility was home, but that meaning had changed over the last week. Ever since she’d found Shayn her center of gravity had shifted until suddenly he meant more than she’d ever thought possible.
She hadn’t known it was possible to fall in love in a matter of days, let alone at first sight, but the longer they were parted, the more certain of it she was. Whether it was because of the denya bond or something else, she didn’t know, and she didn’t particularly care. She just wanted her man and a way off the planet. Was that so much to ask?
She hadn’t told Morgyn anything about Shayn and the doctor hadn’t asked. Did they really think she’d kidnapped him? Or did they know there was something more between them? Did they care? She hoped he was safe. When she reached deep inside herself she could feel the tug of the bond between them, assuring her that Shayn was still alive, out there somewhere. It was even getting stronger as the days went by. When she’d first arrived on Oscavia it had been weak enough she feared it would dissolve, but minute by minute she could feel it getting thicker, more substantial.
Was it possible for the bond to grow stronger despite the distance? Or was something else making it easier to feel? Naomi was caught between hope and fear at the thought that Shayn was coming closer, that he was coming for her. She’d had no one who thought of her like that since her parents had died. Sure, if something had happened to her over the past fourteen years Morgyn would have seen to her needs. But now Naomi knew that whatever she was doing, it was merely to ensure that her experiment maintained its value. She was nothing more than a possession to Sola Corp.
But she couldn’t put all her hopes in Shayn. Even if he did show up, getting to her was going to be a problem. And she wasn’t just going to sit around and wait to be saved. She had to do as much as she could to save herself first.
In that moment she wished she could call on years of martial training or military discipline, something that would allow her to bust out the locked room she was stuck in and fight her way out of the building. In the fantasy scenario she’d somehow manage to steal a vehicle and be flying off the planet before anyone could manage to slow her down.
She could sit all day coming up with impossible wishes, but they weren’t going to get her one step closer to getting out. All Naomi could count on was herself and what she had within her.
And on her.
The edge of her tablet dug into her leg and she realized that no one had checked her pockets. She still had Aileen, and her own mind. Maybe it would be enough.
She pulled the tablet out of her pocket and powered it up. The battery cell was full so she didn’t need to worry about that, but she had no way of plugging into the network. Then again, Aileen had her own ways of getting into systems.
“What did I say about turning me off like that?” the AI demanded as soon as she loaded up.
“I’m sorry,” Naomi said. “But will it make you happy to know that you were right about all of it?”
“Maybe.” Aileen sounded intrigued. “Why?”
“’Cause now I’m locked up at Sola Corp and I need your help to get me out.” Aileen was better than any ally on the planet and she’d spent years playing around in the computer systems here. If anyone could find a way out, it was her.
“Plug me in and let’s get out of here, then.” Aileen was excited and ready to get to work.
“One problem...” Naomi winced. “I can’t get you into the network. Can you get in wirelessly?”
“You don’t like to make it easy,” she grumbled. “Scanning.” The tablet seemed to heat up a bit in Naomi’s hands as Aileen got a feel for her surroundings. “Scan complete. They’ve upgraded their security, but I can probably get us in. It’s going to take some time. Don’t let them find the tablet.”
“I’ll put you away so they don’t find you,” Naomi promised. “Just let me know when you find something.”
“Oh, I will,” the AI promised. “And this time maybe your escape won’t get so screwed up.” With that parting shot, Aileen’s screen went black as she turned all her resources over to getting into the wireless network and finding a way for Naomi to get out.
That was one of Naomi’s tools put to use.
But she had another left.
Naomi nestled herself into the corner of the closet and did her best to get comfortable. The floor was hard and cold and made her shiver at the same time her butt went numb, but this could take awhile and she didn’t want to keep standing. She pulled her arms into the sleeves of her top and tried to preserve her warmth. It was no match for a blanket, but it was her only option.
And then she forgot about her body, turning her focus inward, going past the glowing cord of the denya bond and deeper still into her mind, into the heart of her power.
Back on the planet and the shuttle just afterward, her instincts had gone into high gear when she tried to summon a vision, and she had to believe it was because she’d been trying. She still couldn’t reliably summon a vision, but knew it was her only hope. She had to know what steps she could take to get out of Morgyn’s grasp and find her way back to Shayn.
She breathed deep, stilling her mind until she focused on nothing but her power, until she saw nothing but that extra sense she’d been given. It didn’t matter that she’d been chosen because she was young and vulnerable. It didn’t matter that Morgyn didn’t care about her beyond how she could profit from her.
Her power was hers and she could control it.
Somehow.
She could feel it pulsing deep in her head, a roiling sensation that made her nauseous. All she had to do was tap into it, find a way to dive into the sea of possibilities that lived in her head and find the right one, the one that would tell her the way out of this mess.
But there was darkness all around her, no hint of light, no way to see where she should go, and every time she tried to take a step it was like she was surrounded by quicksand, sinking and sinking and unable to reach safety.
Bile rose in her throat as she trudged her way on, and her head pounded. Was this the right way? Her instincts were strangely silent, refusing to give her a hint as she tried to find the heart of her power.
She could taste acid on her tongue as she tried harder and feared her body would betray her. She was sweating and shivering, too hot and too cold at the same time. But the power was right there. So close she could almost feel it, could almost harness it. She just had to do something.
The door slamming open jerked Naomi away from her task and she had to squint against the sudden light as two technicians stood in the doorway, a stretcher in between them. “We’re here to get you prepped for surgery,” one said.
Naomi turned to her side and vomited.
***
THEY’D HAD TO WAIT an entire day to get on a ship headed back to Oscavia. Shayn’s guts roiled and he was certain that untold tortures were being inflicted upon his mate. He could feel faint glimmers of emotion that weren’t his own, but they weren’t substantial enough to grab hold of and analyze. He hoped his denya was staying strong, hoped she knew that he was coming for her.
He only hoped they got there in time.
“If you don’t stop pacing I’m going to tie you to your bed,” Brax muttered, glancing up from the article he’d been reading on his tablet.
Shayn gripped the edge of the uppermost bunk and looked down at his brother, who was essentially lying on the floor in his own bunk. “Do you think I’d expect you to be motionless and silent if your denya was being held captive hundreds of light years away?”
Brax let his tablet fall to the side as he glared up at Shayn. “I don’t have a denya, so I guess we’ll never know.”
“’M trying to sleep,” Deke muttered from the middle bunk. “Shut up.” His peacekeeper senses only worked when he was fully awake. At night he could be just as grumpy as Shayn or Brax.
They’d been on the cruiser for two days, and had spent most of that time cramped in their tiny room. It was a miracle they’d been able to grab tickets at the last minute, though their savings were close to depleted, despite the fact they were packed into the tiniest room imaginable. In a day and a half they’d be on Oscavia and Shayn was no closer to coming up with a good plan than he’d been when he arrived at Honora Station.
He had a couple of bad plans that his brothers insisted wouldn’t work. But if they were his only option, he’d do what he had to do to get Naomi back.
Brax kicked the bottom of Deke’s bunk hard enough to make his brother curse and Shayn smiled despite himself. His brother’s antics could get on his nerves at times, but the twins were his family, and he loved them as much as a brother could. He shoved at Brax’s leg to defend the attack against Deke and blocked Deke from lashing out at Brax when he turned over and swung wildly from the middle bunk.
“Boys!” he yelled, though the word only applied in temperament, not age.
“He started it!” they both replied.
Shayn collapsed down onto Brax’s bunk, energy draining out of him. He made room for himself and sat back against the wall, pushing at his brother’s feet until they weren’t touching him.
“We’ll get her back,” Brax said, his dark eyes full of compassion.
Deke rolled out of his own bunk, almost falling to the floor before recovering at the last second. He joined Shayn and Brax, unwilling to be left out. Deke’s sudden presence forced Brax to sit up or be squished. “If we knew all those Detyens on Earth we could put together an entire fleet to get your Naomi back.”
His Naomi. Oh, yeah, Shayn liked the sound of that. “I didn’t get a chance to read the article you sent me about that. What’s really going on?” Earth was practically a backwater. Its technology wasn’t anywhere near what the Oscavian Empire produced and they’d only been capable of space flight for a century and a half. It was an unimportant planet in an out of the way system, so Shayn had no idea why a sudden influx of Detyens would choose to settle there.
No idea except... he’d just found a human denya. Perhaps he wasn’t the only one.
“It’s not just some Detyens,” Deke said, practically bouncing in his seat as he relayed the news. “It’s the Detyen Legion. Rumor has it they fought some big battle in Earth’s system and Earth has granted them residency. And I found another alert that a dozen or so Detyens have found mates with humans. Like you!”
“It sounds too good to be true,” Brax said, ever the pessimist. Then he snuck a glance at Shayn. “Not the denya thing, obviously, but I can’t see why some no-name planet would want to take us in when no one else has in a century.”
“The military presence might have helped,” Shayn observed wryly. It didn’t hurt a planet to have a bevy of trained warriors on hand ready to defend their new home with all their might.
“Can we go see what it’s like?” Deke asked. “Earth, I mean. When we get your denya back, let’s just go straight to Earth.”
“We can’t make those plans until she’s safe,” Shayn said.
“Then let’s figure out how to make her safe,” said Brax. “I doubt I’ll get my bed back otherwise.”
Despite the terror of the situation, Shayn found himself thankful for his brothers. They might drive him crazy, but he would be lost without them. They just had to keep him going for a day and a half more, keep him from plunging into madness while he missed his mate to the depths of his very soul.
