Page 104 of Mated By Twilight

“So?”

“Her scent!”

“Oh!” Sollit understood all at once. Ratchi were great hunters. Their sense of smell was among the more developed in the galaxy. She might be able to track Leah! “She’s already outside!”

“We should-”

“Tillos. Sollit.” Corvidair came bounding into the room, his normally jovial face drawn with concern. “There you are.”

“We don’t have time to talk,” Sollit said, “We’re going out to search.”

“We’re taking Skara with us,” Tillos added.

Corvidair grunted his agreement. “I just got off the comm with the station control team. They’re putting the station on lockdown. Nobody in or out. No ships are going to be able to disconnect. They’re going to make an announcement for her in a moment.”

Sollit started, surprised. “Really? All of that?” He’d heard of stations doing such things before, but it was usually for people of high importance. Completely shutting down a station was a lotof work – a lot of datawork and justification afterwards as well. There would be a whole inquiry from the Coalition government itself about why it had been done and to make sure that nothing untoward was behind the shutdown.

He adored Leah, and he was certainly grateful, but normally stations would say that one person being missing didn't warrant all of that.

Except-

“Leah is human,” Corvidair pointed out. “Taking a human is a high crime. That automatically qualifies her search to be high priority.”

Sollit had never been so happy that his mate was human. “Thank you, Corvidair. We’re going out to search. Keep in contact with us.”

“Go!” Corvidair ordered, moving out of their way.

Sollit and Tillos took off at a sprint.

Chapter 48

Tillos

This was crazy. They wereactors, not peacekeepers.

Yet, here they were, running through the station, aiming for one of the security offices. Skara hadn’t been at the exit tunnel of the Star, so maybe she had already started sniffing around for Leah. Except she wasn’t a peacekeeper either.

Despite that, they couldn’t be denied the right to search for their mate. Utilizing any tool they could to do so, including other people.

The need to find her beat at them. It wasn’t a matter of just being separated. It was knowing that she’d been taken against her will.

The security team had already been alerted to their arrival before they got there. Corvidair had messaged them, and it was hard to mistake the two purple avanava males sprinting through the station as anything else.

It was there that they got new information.

The station also had security cameras, and they were of very good quality. They were capable of getting a full view in all directions and recorded with such high detail that they were able to zoom in and recognize Biella even halfway across the station.

The pink female emerged from the docking bay in a rush. Leah had slid down in her arms and her head was lolled back, eyes closed, limbs limp out at her side. Biella surprised a family of five when she came bursting out of the entrance. They inquired something but Biella only smiled, saying something in return as she hoisted Leah up.

Though there was no sound – the video was superb, but that’s all it was – Tillos could practically hear the conversation. The family of furry, four-armed folk asking if she was alright. Biella assuring them that they both were. Trying to laugh it off. Probably saying that her friend had just been inebriated or tired or something. By the look on the rootavin family’s faces, they didn't quite believe her.

But before they could pursue it, Biella had Leah re-situated, her head and one arm over her shoulder, and she was quickly walking away, holding her tight like she was a sleeping youngling.

The security team sped through the video, tracking her as she tried to stay against the walls, out of sight, not drawing too much attention to herself. She did really well. She often ducked into service areas, out of sight of the camera, forcing them to search for her again.

Wasting more time, he thought, annoyed.

Sollit’s gentle touch on his arm, a rush of artificial calm from his brother, kept him from fidgeting or snapping because of his nerves. He knew that the security team was doing their best, but it just wasn’t good enough. Because Leah wasn’t back in their arms yet.

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