Page 19 of Victoria's Embrace

As planned, everyone turned outward to keep watch while Rykar input the code he remembered his old Master using. The moment the screen came to life, illuminating them all like a fucking spotlight, her heart leapt into her throat. Vi’kail cursed and spun around, using his cloak to try and block the glow, but not before she caught movement in the shadowed street she was facing.

Every single muscle in her body went rigid. Not daring to take her eyes off the spot, she swatted blindly at Thorn next to her.

“I saw something!” she gasped.

As though whoever was hiding heard her speak, even fifty feet away, they stepped out of the shadows followed by eight, no, nine beings that looked like someone’s worst drug-fueled nightmare come to life. It took a beat to see past the horror of their bodies to realize they were all aiming guns right at them.

Gasps sounded from her group. She saw them jerk around to face the threat from the corner of her eye before her view was blocked by Thegan and Thorn closing ranks in front of her. She used the small gap between their bodies to aim her gun at the nightmares, more in an instinctive reaction to the threat than because she consciously decided to do so.

The male standing in the lead was horrifying enough, his features reminding her sickeningly of a cave spider, including spiked pincers bracketing his hinged, fang-filled mouth, but the beings flanking him looked like they’d been cobbled together from many different parts, like Frankenstein’s monster.

“What a merry chase you’ve led me on,” grated the male in the lead, his voice a rough hiss that had the fine hairs on the nape of her neck standing on end.

She heard Vi’kail make a sound like he’d just had the breath knocked out of him and pried her eyes away from the monsters to scan him quickly, thinking at first that he’d been shot. It took a second to sink in that he was physically fine and another to notice his expression. Rage and loathing like she’d never seen from him twisted his features.

He knows him.

Focusing back on the male and his monsters, Victoria noticed the device in the leader’s hand and realized he was the person to which Catty had sold them. He must’ve gotten close enough to pick up the signals from their tags.

She felt like her thoughts were racing a mile a minute as she tried desperately to think of some way out of this. They were severely outgunned. Rykar was still at the screen, but there was no way he’d be able to get the door open before they started shooting. Even if he did, not all of them would make it inside.

Making a run for it was out of the question. She was ready to stay and provide cover fire so at least some of them could escape, but there was no guarantee the freed slaves would actually run.

The realization that they were trapped with nowhere to run, and no chances of escape, washed over her in a chilling wave. This showdown was either going to end in their capture or death.

Regret settled heavily on her shoulders. She wanted more time with her guys, wanted the chance for the newness of their relationships to settle into something more comfortable, something deeper and more familiar. She wished she hadn’t wasted so much time wondering and worrying if they liked her before confronting them.

She regretted not having the chance to be with Thegan so badly she physically ached at the loss. She wished she could’ve felt him inside her, to experience that intimacy with him. She wished she’d told them she loved them more than once. She should’ve said it every day, should’ve shown them how much they meant to her instead of hesitating. Did they know? God, she hoped so, because she really did love them, so damn much.

She wished she could’ve said goodbye to Snitch. He was okay. He had to be, because she couldn’t bear the thought of anything else.

On the heels of regret came resolve.

In the span of a heartbeat, images flashed through her mind, slowing her frantic pulse and sending a wave of calm washing over her. Thegan’s playful smile, Thorn’s scowl, Vi’kail’s wicked smirk, Snitch crooning over some new, stolen treasure.

Keeping those images in her mind, she slid her finger over the trigger button and shifted her weight, preparing to step in front of her giants. They were going to be pissed, but that was okay, so long as they lived. She knew the chance they’d let her save them were about as good as a snowball’s chance in hell, but she had to try.

Victoria cut her gaze to Rykar and, by some miracle, caught his eyes. She nodded once, hoping he understood, then zeroed back in on the leader. She’d shoot him first then aim for the biggest monster to his—

“R’aithe Re’deia.”

She thought the guy was just saying some random alien words until she caught the livid stare he was giving… Vi’kail?

Chapter 13

“Rukeel,” Vi’kail growled.

Victoria went perfectly still.Thatwas the name Catty mentioned. The male made a sound like the screech of nails on a chalkboard. It took a second for her to realize the awful noise was laughter.

“I wonder if Princess Salesh has any idea the treasure she sold me or if this is just delightful happenstance.”

Salesh? Was that Catty’s name? Victoria raked through her memories, trying to dredge up why it sounded so familiar and finally recalled Rellik mentioning the name. But who had he been talking about? The queen from his old court? No, that wasn’t right.

Victoria sucked in a sharp breath as the memory surfaced.

Salesh was the firstborn daughter of Rellik’s old queen, the one who’d sold him into slavery after he turned her down. But he’d killed her, hadn’t he? Or maybe he just thought he had, because it had to be her. The first time Victoria ran into her in the hallway, she’d had horns, the same orange eyes as Rellik, the same pale whitish skin. They looked too similar to be different species, she just hadn’t connected the dots at first and, then, Salesh had changed her appearance somehow.

How the hell did she get in the complex?

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