Page 3 of Darken
“Yeah, five long, endless days, and I will feel every minute of every one,” said Gina.
“Well, Axel could pick you up tomorrow night, and you could come to spend Saturday with me,” Layna suggested.
“But don’t you want some time alone with Axel?”
“Oh, he will be working so I could use the company. It’s been weeks since we’ve had any girl time together, and we could do some research on your cyborg.”
“Yes, that will be wonderful. I forget you have access to those things. I should be done by four, so Axel can pick me up whenever he gets done with his shift.”
After Gina ended the call with her friend, she took a prepared meal out of her small refrigerator and heated it. She sat alone at her tiny dining table, eating it with relish. Since it was still early, she had time to work in her kitchen garden that she had started in the spring. Although she had mulched between the rows, she still needed to weed between the plants.
Things were quiet in the small neighborhood filled with widely spaced single-family dwellings like her own. Finally, she felt safe away from the gangers and Farringay. She had run there to escape life as a sex worker for an abusive overlord. Unfortunately, she’d traded one nightmare for another.
Gina had been lucky that Axel’s team pulled them out of Farringay when they did. Word on the streets was that Devlin White had called in a favor from Overlord Alexander Berke to help him find Gina. She hadn’t heard anymore after that as Axel’s team transported them out of the city. Alexander Berke would not interfere once they were under the cyborgs’ protection.
After a year, Gina started to relax, figuring Devlin had given up and found someone else to service his friends and associates. But working in her garden so deep in thought, she never heard them come up behind her. As she stood to stretch, he grabbed her from behind and pressed a strong-smelling cloth over her nose and mouth. She tried to push his arm away, but the world went black.
Arriving two days early, Darken settled his sky cycle on the tarmac beside the old milk house disguising the Enclave’s underground facility entrance. It housed the elevator that would take him six stories underground to the facility that spawned him and his brothers.
He paused in front of the conventional door for a moment and took a breath, tamping down his emotions. He’d been both excited and nervous from the moment he got the message that his mate had been found. Announcing his arrival, the moment he landed, Gina would be waiting for him at the reception area by the elevator at sub-ground level 1.
The elevator opened as soon as he stepped inside. Though it only took seconds to carry him down, each one seemed so much longer than that.
Darken stepped from the elevator and frowned when he saw an older woman waiting there instead of his mate Gina Malcolm. A quick check of his memory banks told him she was Gwen Fielder, the Enclave’s chief administrator.
By the look on her face, Darken felt certain he didn’t want to hear what she was going to say.
“Darken Wolf?”
“Yes, I am.”
“I’m sorry to tell you, Gina Malcolm has disappeared. No one knows where she is. She was supposed to visit a friend in the mountains, but she was gone when they stopped to pick her up,” she explained. “We think someone from her old life took her. Axel Rex is investigating.”
“I don’t understand. Gina left? She knew I would be here today.”
“No, I don’t think she left by choice,” said Gwen. “She was excited to meet you, that you were her genetic mate. Axel should be contacting you through the cyborg net soon. He may know more.”
Darken let out a breath and nodded. “Thanks for letting me know. I won’t take any more of your time.”
He stepped back in the elevator and directed it to return him to the surface. On the way up, he pinged Axel Rex through the cyborg network. That his mate had gone missing before he even met her was greatly disturbing, especially after they’d agreed to meet at the Enclave headquarters.
“Darken,” Axel replied almost immediately. “I was about to contact you. “Here’s what I know. Apparently, Gina was claimed by an overlord in old Virginia, not far from Farringay. She escaped making her way there, where she became friends with my wife, Layna Rose. Her father is the overlord of Farringay. Gina’s overlord commed Layna’s father for advice on how to find her, so he told him that my cyborg teams rescued the women from the streets and transferred them to old Chicago.”
“Why would he do that?”
“Devlin White is part of his syndicate. Berke didn’t know Gina was Layna’s friend until I inquired about her. He was pretty sure White sent men to New Chicago to look for her.”
“Why now? The Farringay Starport was completed almost two years ago.”
“White is obsessed with getting his harem back. He’s had people looking for her all that time. Either Gina is in hiding someplace, or White found her,” said Axel. “Layna thinks White found her and took her because Gina hasn’t commed in a few days. She was excited to be matched with you and anxious to finally meet you in person.”
“Then you are probably right. Where can I find this Devlin White?”
“I will give you the coordinates, but we can’t help you officially. The Enclave has a treaty with the overlords agreeing to noninterference with their businesses. We cannot pursue lawbreakers into their territory.”
“But they took mine---my mate. They had no right!”
“Darken, I fully understand your feelings. I’m not saying you should not go after her, only that none of us can officially help you.”
