Page 30 of Victoria's Embrace

Once everyone was loaded back up,they flew over the retaining wall and across the grey sands of the arena then over the shorter wall enclosing the lupka territory. They’d use the trees there to hide the runners.

Exiting again, she saw Vi’kail murmuring to Luna’eva, the lupka alpha, before he turned and approached her.

“What’s up?”

“The pack has agreed to let us ride them to cover the ground between here and the complex quicker.”

Victoria blinked up at him then over at Luna’eva then at Tesha. A grin began to stretch her lips.

“Oh. Hell. Yes.”

Okay, yes, they were headed into danger and she should be stern-faced and grim, but that was momentarily outweighed by absolute delight at the prospect of riding the Clydesdale-horse-sized lion-wolves.

Turning to the octofly hovering at her shoulder, she commanded, “Relay to the other vesps not to record my group’s movements.”

That done, she kissed her guys then made a beeline for Tesha who was watching her a short distance away.

“You’re okay with me riding you, right?”

Tesha made a low whuffing sound, nudged her with her snout, then turned so she was standing at Victoria’s shoulder and layed down. Biting her lips to hold in a squeal, Victoria grabbed a fistful of Tesha’s mane and swung a leg over, so she was sitting astride her back.

Victoria glanced to her left when Vi’kail, sitting atop Luna’eva, came to a stop at her side, then to the right to see Thorn and Thegan sitting atop two of the largest lupka, males if she wasn’t mistaken.

Looking back over her shoulder, she found most of their group mounted atop the rest of the pack. Some of the smaller people rode double, but even with that, there weren’t enough lupka to go around. Thankfully, they’d seen that, as well, and the ones left standing were those most capable of running the distance on their own steam.

As she looked at them, it struck her how different they all appeared from when they’d found them at the recycling warehouse. Gone were the slumped shoulders, the dead looks in their eyes, the resignation slacking their features. Now, every last one of them looked confident, ready to wade into battle. They stood straight, their eyes bright with purpose and determination.

They looked like an army.

Despite their differences, despite most being from different worlds, they were all ready to stand up and fight together, not just for their own freedom, but for total strangers.

“We ready?”

Nods, murmurs, grins, and gestures she had no name for answered her.

“Let’s go kick some ass.”

Chapter 20

When the complex was within sight, Victoria called a halt while Snitch and the octofly scouted ahead. They came back not five minutes later and relayed there weren’t any guards posted anywhere outside, only octoflies.

That struck Victoria as odd and from the look on Vi’kail’s face, he thought so too.

Ifshe’djust staged a hostile takeover, she damn sure wouldn’t leave the backdoor unattended. Salesh was obviously impulsive, as evidence from her kidnapping Thegan when his absence would be immediately missed, but she hadn’t struck Victoria as stupid.

So, what was more important to her than guarding the backdoor against potential intruders?

“Maybe she just doesn’t have the numbers to station lookouts in the arena? Maybe she’s more concerned with the front doors?”

“Maybe,” Vi’kail murmured.

It was plausible. Only maybe a dozen people had the clearance to disable the octoflies Salesh had watching the perimeter and arena interior, but to Victoria’s knowledge, Aria and her mates were still out in the city and could return at any time. Even thinking Victoria and her guys were no longer a threat, wouldn’t Salesh have taken Aria into consideration?

Unless…

“You don’t think… If Aria’s returned, there’s no way Salesh could’ve taken her down, right?”

Thegan shook his head, but his expression was just as troubled as she felt. “I would not have thought so, but the lack of guards speaks to a confidence in her possession of the complex. Why have lookouts if you believe you have removed anyone who could stand against you?”

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