Timtur, page 14
“No sign of a Preserve or any outdoor area for prisoners.” Camron rolled over and glanced at Timtur. “Any thoughts about how we verify Lily’s in there?”
“I’m sure not about to contact Vattan or his enforcers telepathically to ask,” Timtur said with a tight grin. “But I do sense a Badari presence in the building. More than one.”
“You always were one of the most gifted when it comes to the mental links.” Camron’s voice held admiration. “I’m not picking up anything.”
“There’s something odd about the aura,” Timtur said. “Not right. But if Vattan is there, she should be.”
The other soldier surveyed the desolate landscape again. “No cover. Go in tonight? See what we can learn from a closer recon?”
“Good plan.” Impatience rode Timtur like a physical weight across his shoulders. It was only a few hours to darkness and the moons weren’t out tonight. He hated the thought Lily was most likely inside the lab, so close to him, and yet he couldn’t rush in and get her out to safety. “Why don’t you fall back to our camp in the dunes and send Aydarr a preliminary report? We might as well get the pack moving on attacking this place.”
“I’m on it.” Camron put away his distance viewers and slunk off into the sparse underbrush, his camouflage utilities making him hard to see and his smooth movements further enhancing his ability to maneuver without detection.
Timtur studied the building in more detail, scanning with his distance viewers, finding the booby-traps which he was sure the Khagrish believed with pride were cunning and well hidden, but easy for a sharp-eyed Badari to spot. Vattan must have told them to expect the pack to send soldiers to retrieve him and Lily. Stashing his viewers in a side pocket, he reached for his pulse rifle. So, you want another Badari for your collection? Coming right up.
Keeping to the growing shadows of twilight, he sent a message to Camron. I’m on the move. Going to get myself captured.
Wait till I get back? The other soldier didn’t sound too surprised. Of course, all the Badari knew how worried he was about Lily. And no one could give orders to Timtur except possibly the Alpha. Being the healer had its advantages.
Negative. Timtur shook his head reflexively even though Camron wasn’t present to see the gesture. We need eyes on the inside, since we have no idea what’s going on or how many Khagrish there might be. I need to find out if Lily is there as we believe. I’ll keep the channel open.
Goddess be with you. I’ll be on watch.
Skulking along the base of the building’s easternmost wing now, Timtur stepped into the booby-trap. An alarm sounded and the sides of a force cage snapped up around him. He suppressed the automatic surge of adrenaline although he had to fight the cage just enough to be convincing but not enough where the security force decided to kill him and be done with it. Fortunately, he knew the Khagrish still highly valued Badari soldiers despite their customers’ decision to end the program. They’d want to take him alive, even if Akkarmogg did have four Gen 9’s in his possession already.
Back to the wall, he snarled at the black clad guards who came dashing around the corner in response to the alarms. It was easy to portray the dumb, uncivilized beast the Khagrish expected and act like a trapped animal. The pulse rifle couldn’t shoot through the force barrier.
The officer in charge of the guards knew the fact as well as Timtur did. He sauntered close to the sizzling energy wall and laughed. “Easiest catch we ever made. You’re going to be sorry you came sniffing at our facility here. I’ll see to your pain personally.”
Four of his men lined up, weapons pointed at Timtur, who continued his cornered beast act, waving his talons and growling in a way he imagined probably had Camron laughing his ass off, if he was watching. Timtur didn’t recognize the officer, so he assumed the man wasn’t overly familiar with Badari from the eighth generation.
The fence went down, Timtur made a halfhearted effort to charge the guards and was met with the combined beams from their four stunners. He collapsed face first, sliding in the dirt, unable to help himself. Two guards scrambled forward to put him in restraints then the captain kicked him a few times for good measure, apparently relishing the opportunity to beat a helpless captive.
Timtur endured the pain as he’d endured countless such sessions at the hands of the Khagrish. He’d heal fast enough, having been bred to recover from abuse rapidly, and if the ordeal resulted in his finding Lily, the cuts and bruises and broken ribs would be worth it.
“Stun him again,” said the captain at last. “I want him out like a light when we take the restraints off and throw him into a cell.”
Lily stood as close to the force barrier of her cell as she dared, staring as the guards carried an unconscious, battered and bruised Timtur past her. The Khagrish threw him into the cell two cubicles down and activated the barrier before stepping away.
Akkarmogg came to stand close to Lily, laughing. “Behold your gallant rescuer. Vattan warned us the pack might send a soldier or two to retrieve you so I set a few traps. With luck, I might even bag another one before we ‘re through here.”
She could hardly breathe as fear for Timtur choked her, and her chest constricted. Mustn’t let him see how important to me Timtur is. “What are you going to do with him?”
“Tomorrow will be the ultimate test of my special program. I’m going to pit a fully enabled Gen 9 against a ‘normal’ Gen 8 and demonstrate how easily the enhanced younger animal can kill the older version. We’ll be making a vid of the test for the scientific value.”
Gasping, Lily sagged against the wall, fighting not to throw up at the idea of mortal combat between the two men.
Akkarmogg snapped his fingers. “Pay attention because you’re going to be part of it. Unaccountably, 901 still has a fixation on you as his mate, so the two males are going to fight to the death over you. Winner gets you, either to claim as a mate in the Alpha’s case, or to walk away with for the generation 8 soldier.”
Revolted, she eyed him. Something in his voice didn’t ring true. “You wouldn’t let me go so easily.”
“They don’t need to know that. I won’t give you to the Gen 9 either, by the way. As the sister of the human who nearly killed Dr. Gahzhing you have immense value to me as a bargaining chip. He hates your family so much he’ll be glad to trade me what I want for expanding my program in exchange for you. I’m sure he can use you to lure your sister out of hiding. But I won’t risk 901 killing or damaging you in a mating fever. After a few more maintenance doses he ‘ll be satisfied with any woman and forget you.”
“I’ve never heard anything so disgusting and inhumane in my life,” she said as he walked away. “I don’t know how you Khagrish can call yourselves civilized, treating other sentient beings so viciously.”
“Pleasant dreams,” Akkarmogg said over his shoulder, as he paused to turn down the lights in the medlab. “I’ll leave the Gen 8 here to keep you company, rather than incarcerate him in the cell block with the other males, since I don’t want 901 to catch even a whiff of his scent before tomorrow’s fight.”
Lily stumbled to her bed and sat, head in her hands for a few minutes. She reviewed her options, which were depressingly few, but there was one thing she was determined to accomplish tonight, and that was a reunion with Timtur. Fetching the box, she went through her usual routine of opening the vent and crawling inside. She no longer cared if the Khagrish figured out her secret because, clearly, after tomorrow morning, conditions would have altered so drastically she didn’t have much hope left.
It only took her a minute to crawl from her cell to the vent opening into Timtur’s. The fastenings were stubborn from disuse and, as she worked on them, she kept glancing anxiously at him, sprawled on the floor, unconscious. When she finally worked the grate open, she dropped onto the bed and took a deep breath before moving to the floor to check on Timtur.
His breathing was even and the cuts and bruises were already fading, as the incredible Badari metabolism did its job of healing. He must have been shot with a stunner and she hoped the paralyzing effects would wear off soon.
Timtur groaned and stretched slightly so she knelt by his side, stroking his arm and calling his name. Muttering incoherently, he seemed to want to be on his back, so she helped him roll over, although, like all his fellow Badari, he outweighed her by two hundred pounds at least. He lay blinking at the ceiling, then without warning sprang to his feet with a roar, talons and fangs displayed, ready to do battle. Lily scrabbled away and rose to her feet behind him.
“Shhh, if the Khagrish hear you a guard might come to investigate,” she said in a low voice, finger to her lips ignoring her racing pulse. Impossibly for Timtur to be a threat to her.
“Lily?” Blinking hard as if to focus, he pivoted and stared at her before his natural weaponry slid out of view and he rushed to gather her close. “I thought I was dreaming or in lingering stun sickness. Thank the goddess, you’re real. Are you all right?”
“Mostly.” She clung to him and fought not to cry from sheer relief and a rush of the tender emotions she held in her heart for him. Around the lump in her throat, she whispered, “I was afraid I’d never see you again.”
They held each other in silence for a few heartbeats. Despite being pressed against the hard planes of his body, Lily could scarcely believe Timtur was actually there, with her. As he stroked one hand through her hair and murmured her name, she took deep breaths of his reassuring scent, the essence that was his alone. She might not possess the enhanced olfactory sense of the Badari but despite the jeopardy of their circumstances, calm spread through her like a cool wave and she stopped trembling. He came for me.
As if Timtur heard the happy refrain in her head, he tipped her face up to his and brushed a kiss on her lips. “I was going to search for you every day for the rest of my life, until I found you.”
“I know, and the knowledge gave me hope, even in the darkest moments.” She pulled him closer and, as their lips met, she licked the seam of his with her tongue, asking for entry. Lily was beyond being satisfied with gentle caresses now she’d been miraculously reunited with the man she loved. She wanted the reassurance of the passion she knew hummed between them—she was his and he was going to be hers. No more dancing around the subject of what they meant to each other. Life really was—or could be—too short and precarious on this planet. Words would have to come of course, but she needed the physical bond with her Badari healer right now.
Timtur adjusted his hold and settled into the caress willingly, his tongue dancing with hers in a sensual, warm exchange until with a groan, he broke off the kiss, although he didn’t let her go. “Having you in my arms makes me lose all situational awareness, but we need to talk, and to see what can be done about escaping.”
“Nothing,” she said, hard won knowledge dampening her optimism and flattening her tone of voice. “I wish I had better news to report. Trust me, I’ve been all over this damn building, and there’s no way out. No weapons we can grab. We can’t even barricade ourselves here in the medlab. I can’t operate any of the locks or controls. And you won’t fit into the ventilation shafts.”
You’ve been—?” He followed the direction she was looking and saw the open grate high on the wall. Jaw dropping in disbelief, he asked, “You climbed through the vents?”
Enjoying his astonishment, she tilted her head and winked, pride warm in her chest at having overcome her fears. “How did you think I got in here with you? That sure wasn’t Akkarmogg’s doing.”
“Always you amaze me with your inner strength and resourcefulness.” He took her hand and led her to the bed, seating himself and drawing her to sit next to him. “I’m full of admiration for your efforts.” He searched her face, swallowed hard and tentatively put his arm around her shoulders. “I should have asked the most important thing at once, not given in to my emotions at seeing you. Are you—have you been…hurt? Did Vattan lay his hands on you? Assault you?” He made a rapid visual check of her arms for bruises or marks.
Lily leaned into him and closed her eyes. “No, although he was pretty rough manhandling me during the kidnapping and escape from the valley. At first he only wanted to put as much distance between himself and the pack as he could. Then, later, he said he wanted my broken arm healed before he tried to—to take me. He didn’t want me to have the distraction of any other pain.” She bit her lip, remembering her raw terror when Vattan seized her in the office and she’d feared he was going to rape her then and there.
Timtur brushed his hand through her hair, which she’d allowed to fall over her face, tucking the long strands tenderly behind her ears and then laid his hand against her cheek. “I see your arm is healed. Yet you say he didn’t force you into mating?” His voice was soft, barely audible. “I would have given anything to have spared you these ordeals. I only wish I’d been there when he arrived at your office. I’d have killed him.”
Awed by the implacable certainty and ferocity in his voice, almost a snarl of rage, she opened her eyes to gaze at him. “Don’t blame yourself. None of us would ever have dreamt he’d resort to kidnapping and assault.” She fisted her hands and clenched her jaw. “I was ready to fight him if he had assaulted me—he wasn’t going to find me an easy victim. That bastard is not my mate, no matter how many times he lies to himself or how much damage he could do to my body. I was hoping to inflict some injuries at least, make him pay for his crime when he did come for me. But the Khagrish scientist locked me in here after healing my arm and thwarted Vattan’s schemes for reasons of his own.”
“But why are you here in the medlab, in isolation, rather than in the prison wing? No one’s experimented on you, have they?” Timtur’s eyes widened with anxiety and he held her gently, as if she might shatter. “Whatever the bastards did, I can heal—”
“No need.” Lily shook her head, placing her hand over his in reassurance. “I’m fine. Akkarmogg has been busy with Vattan and the others and hasn’t really touched me, except for a brief demonstration of the neurocontroller.” Raising her wrist, she showed off the black bracelet with a shudder of remembered pain. “That wasn’t fun.”
Timtur groaned at the sight of the device, lowering his head briefly before straightening and gazing into her eyes. “I’m so sorry you’ve had to endure this. I blame myself for not handling things the way I should have.”
“Whatever do you mean? You weren’t there when Vattan came after me—you’re not at fault in any way.” Surprised, Lily struggled to make sense of his confession.
“My one regret, the thing tearing at my heart more than anything else these past few days while you were gone, was that I never told you what you mean to me and how much I love you,” he said. “And I want you to be my mate. If—if we’d been mated, if you’d said yes to me, then none of this with Vattan would have happened. Even he wouldn’t dare steal another man’s claimed mate.” He took a deep, ragged breath and continued. “I had foolish reservations, held myself back from declaring myself fully to you as a prospective mate, because of my duties to the pack and my service to the goddess. I understand now she wouldn’t have given us potential mates if she didn’t intend for us to take the risk of loving and being loved.” Timtur’s brow furrowed. “I know tonight isn’t the time for this discussion but I refuse to live another minute without speaking my heart’s dream to you.”
She was stunned, afraid to believe what she’d just heard with Timtur finally laying his emotions out plainly. “That’s all I ever wanted, from the first time we met. I took one look at you, and I was lost,” she said, rising to shift herself onto his lap so she could hold him close and tight. He locked his arms around her in a comforting embrace. “I was confused because at times you acted as if you had feelings for me and then other times you were distant and I was sure I was imagining the more tender moments. I was desperate to know what you really thought, and if I was reading the situation incorrectly.” Embarrassment flooded her body. “I didn’t want to be a fool.”
“I’d hoped we could talk about what was between us the day of the interrupted picnic,” he said. “I’d worked my courage up to risk your rejection by opening my heart and sharing my desire.”
“Not our best day.” She shook her head ruefully at the memory of her pique. The incident seemed a hundred years ago and not relevant to who she was now, sitting in this cell, with Timtur holding her in his strong arms and their deadly enemies close by.
“You were angry when I left.”
Important to defuse this and make sure he understood the basis for her fit of bad temper. Lily was realizing more and more that a Badari male and a human female might have a cultural communications gulf to cross and she didn’t plan to leave anything unspoken between them again. “I was upset at first, and disappointed, but not because you had a pack medical emergency to take care of. I totally understood the need for you to leave. I just wished you’d said something to me about resuming the discussion later before you rushed off. Admit it, you were relieved to get out of the relationship conversation for another day. I could tell.”
“I can’t deny the accusation.” His broad shoulders slumped and he shook his head. “Mating is a totally new concept for the Badari, not even a remote possibility before your people came and I was afraid I’d have to choose between you and the pack. I’m the only one in this generation who can heal, who can keep my packmates close to the Great Mother because of my enhanced link to her, which is the source of my healing power.”
“A heavy responsibility,” she said, grateful her sisters had explained a portion of this to her previously. His confession made sense to her —a man like Timtur would feel his accountability to all the other Badari deeply, would never shirk his duty. He was self-sacrificing by nature and of course it was hard for him to prioritize a personal need like being with a mate after an entire lifetime of total dedication to the pack’s well-being. Tenderness for this amazing man suffused her heart.
