Page 31 of Victoria's Embrace

His voicing her fear aloud did absolutely nothing for the anxiety knotting her stomach, but she shoved it down and thought through the possibilities.

“Okay, Salesh obviously has contacts in the city. Maybe… maybe Aria hasn’t returned. Maybe Salesh tipped someone off to Aria’s mission and sent them after her.”

Victoria felt like she was grasping at straws, but it was a reasonable hypothesis, nonetheless. Salesh damn sure didn’t seem like the kind of person to put herself in danger, so it made sense she’d want Aria taken care of before she had the chance to return.

But there was a glaring flaw in her theory.

Salesh wouldn’t be as confident in her position as the lack of guards suggested if she hadn’t received confirmation Aria and her team were taken care of.

Unable to contemplate the possibility that Aria was dead, Victoria cut off that line of thought and forced herself to only think about the mission at hand.

“After we break in, first order of business is getting ourselves and everyone else cloned, if at all possible. Which means we need to find a Gaelli. We’ll tranq and stash any henchmen we come across, but we need to do that first.”

Vi’kail nodded. “Snitch, Thorn, and I will go first. You stay—” He cut short at the narrow-eyed look she gave him.

She knew exactly what he was about to say. He wanted her to hide in the back, but there was no way in hell that was happening. His expression turned insistent, then pleading, but she shook her head, silently refusing. Even when Thegan and Thorn moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with him, adding their own glares to his, Victoria didn’t give in.

She understood they wanted to protect her. But she wanted to protect them just as badly and, aside from that, there was zero chance she was going to hide in the back of the group and let these people act as meat shields for her. After a couple of seconds, Vi’kail blew out a hard breath and growled, baring his fangs in a snarl.

“Crikking stubborn female. Fine. But stay behind us.”

Victoria nodded, knowing that was as much ground as they were going to give. They all looked pissed. Even Thegan was silent, radiating tension as he moved to stand at her side while Thorn, Vi’kail, and Snitch set off for the complex, but she wouldn’t—couldn’t—give in.

When the signal came a couple of minutes later, she set off in a run at Thegan’s side, tranq gun drawn, while the rest of the group followed on their heels.

* * *

They crept silently downthe halls, separated into three groups. Thorn and Vi’kail led the way with Snitch and the octofly flying above while Victoria and Thegan stayed right on their heels.

The middle group was tasked with clearing the rooms they passed, and those in the rear watched their backs.

It was slow going, but they’d picked this floor specifically with the hope Salesh wouldn’t bother patrolling it.

They were on the highest underground level, above the labs and levels previously used to store the gladiators’ bodies between tournaments, but below the ground floor that held the lobby. Being that this floor was used mainly to store parts for the stasis and cloning equipment, they didn’t anticipate encountering many guards.

The fact that they were hoping anyone who’d managed to stay free of Salesh’s clutches might hide there was likely why Vi’kail and Thorn didn’t immediately shoot the male who turned the corner and entered the hallway they were moving down.

Recognizing him, Victoria smiled, beyond relieved to see a familiar face free and uninjured.

“Vaiz’ak!”

He looked shocked to see them and, for a moment, just stared. “How did you– Where have you been?”

She started to respond but cut short when Snitch landed on her shoulder and growled softly.

Oh shit…

Vi’kail started to take a step forward, obviously not hearing Snitch’s warning.

Heart skipping a beat, Victoria jerked her tranq gun up before he could finish the move and shot Vaiz’ak square in the chest.

“What the—” Vi’kail whipped around to pin her with a confused look.

“Snitch growled.”

Switching his gaze to Snitch, he demanded, “Vaiz’ak? Are you sure?”

Her little beastie sniffed at the air then growled again, leaving no doubt he scented Salesh on the male.

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