Page 101 of Victoria's Discovery

Setting her hand on his back, she stayed right on his heels as they entered the almost pitch-black room. Snitch flew straight in while Thorn went left and she and Vi’kail went right. They’d just cleared the main room when she felt Vi’kail go ramrod straight.

Voice barely a whisper, he asked, “Do you hear that?”

“No. Lights?”

He hesitated. “Try it.”

Still whispering, though they were about to lose the element of surprise, she commanded, “Computer, activate lights.”

No answer. No lights came on.

Vi’kail grunted as if he’d been expecting that. She hadn’t, too focused on thoughts of Thegan and Catty and what the hell was going on, but she should’ve.

“There’s got to be a lamp or something.”

Thorn’s voice sounded from the darkness to her left. “Here.”

Lights immediately illuminated the space, blinding her for a second. Squinting, she quickly scanned the huge room, jaw dropping at what she saw.

It had clearly been used for storage. Crates were still stacked almost like a barrier between the door and the rest of the room. But, beyond them, someone had furnished the rest of the space into a cross between a Middle Eastern harem room and a throne room.

There were gossamer drapes in a multitude of jewel tones starting in the middle of the ceiling before falling to cover the walls. The majority of the floor was covered in a variety of pillows and rugs. And in the middle of it all was a throne. An actual throne.

Victoria spotted three doors peeking through the drapes a moment before Vi’kail started moving again. He headed for the one nearest to them on the right while Thorn moved for the one on the far left.

Peeking around him once he opened the door, Victoria felt her eyes go wide. It looked like a BDSM sex room in there. Or a torture chamber. Eyeing the bench…thingwith the straps and spikes and what she was pretty sure was a penis hole splattered with blood, she decided maybe it was a mixture of both. She wasn’t one to judge people’s kinks, but when she spotted the alarming amount of blood sprayed on the ceiling and dried in pools on the floor, she felt sick to her stomach.

Vi’kail’s back was rigid as he backed out and shut it behind him, but he was silent as they met Thorn at the third and final door.

What were they going to find on the other side? After seeing the last room, and knowing Thegan was either in there somewhere or had been at one point, Victoria was absolutely terrified they were going to find him dead.

The guys exchanged a look, one that had her stomach cramping. Bracing herself, she grit her teeth and tried to prepare for anything as Thorn pressed the screen and the door hissed open.

She didn’t make it more than two steps before freezing in her tracks.

Relief, shock, horror, and anger hit her one after the other, leaving her unsure for many moments if she was going to throw up, cry, or collapse to the floor. She did none of them, instead just stood there, frozen, for one heartbeat, then two, before her mind caught up with what her eyes were seeing.

Chapter 49

He’s alive.

That thought repeated in her mind for a long second as she stared at him, relief making her knees feel weak, shock insulating her from everything else.

It took a moment to filter in that he was locked in a cage, much like the ones on the spaceship, though far smaller, situated in the middle of a room full of at least six other, thankfully, empty cages.

Victoria’s stomach wrenched violently when she noticed his mussed clothes. His pants were undone, hanging low on his hips, and his shirt was torn. She was terrified of what that might mean he’d endured before they’d found him, but most of her attention was held by the wild, glazed look in his eyes and the fury distorting his features.

His mouth was open in a soundless roar, his fists beating on the clear wall, barely audible even as the blows vibrated the entire cell.

For a long moment, it was almost as if he couldn’t see them until, finally, his eyes landed on her. He went still, his hazy, unfocused gaze sharpening slightly as he paused, fists raised, body swaying. She saw his lips form her name, saw relief make his features go slack. As though fury had been the only thing keeping him upright, his legs crumpled, sending him falling to his knees.

Gasping, she snapped out of her shock enough to stumble forward, dropping to her knees in front of the cage.

“Thegan! Thegan, can you hear me?”

His head was slumped forward, his long, blonde hair obscuring his face, but his shoulders were rising and falling with rapid breaths, so she didn’t think he’d passed out.

Whipping a look at Thorn and Vi’kail, standing frozen, she snapped, “Get him out of there!”

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