Page 29 of Viken Command

Wrapping my hand around the disk in Oran’s shirt pocket, I kept to the shadows until the three males—I couldn’t think of them as my mates, not anymore—the three Viken males walked in the direction of their private quarters. Where, in a few minutes, they would find me gone.

The moment they disappeared I took off at a sprint for the transport station. The doors slid open silently, and a startled technician looked up. Beside him stood someone in a uniform with lots of decorations. His uniform was steel gray, as was his beard. I didn’t understand what the different types of uniforms meant. Alarr, Oran, and Teig all had different colored outfits, not the same as this guy’s. He looked like someone who was in charge. Thank God.

“I need to transport to Viken United immediately.” I took a deep breath, then another to calm down.

The older officer stepped away from the tech and looked me over from head to toe, taking in my tear-streaked face and heaving chest. Maybe I wasn’t holding up as well as I had convinced myself, but my mother wasn’t here to shame me, so I held my chin high and stared him down.

“Are you all right, my lady?” he asked. “Where are your mates?”

“They’re—it doesn’t matter. My name is Whitney Mason. I’m from Earth. King Drogan said there would be instructions in the transport system about me, that I could go to Viken United at any time.”

He lifted a brow but said nothing until he turned to the startled technician who was having trouble keeping his composure. “Check the system for a royal security clearance for Whitney Mason from Earth.”

I heaved air into my lungs as the young man’s fingers raced over the screens before him, then nodded. “She’s correct, sir. Automatic send. Full transport clearance.”

The older male turned and looked at me. “Very interesting.”

“Can I go now? Please? I need to leave right now.”

“Of course.” The officer reached for my hand and led me up onto the platform as if he were afraid I would fall if I tried to get up there on my own. It was only two steps, but he might have been right. My knees were so shaky I could barely stand, the adrenaline in my body at war with the Seed Power, making me feel like I wanted to scratch my own skin off. I needed my mates. Those bastards. I needed them.

“Thank you.”

His smile turned sour. “Aren’t you mated to Alarr, Oran, and Teig?”

Shit. What should I say? Yes? No? “Excuse me? I need to leave now.” I still clenched the disk in my fist. When his gaze focused there, I wished I’d left it in my pocket.

As if he had x-ray vision, he said, “I’ll take that, my dear.”

I tried to step back, but his grip held firm. “What? No.”

There was no smile now, and he twisted my wrist so it was palm up, and my shoulder was about to come out of the socket. I yelped in pain as the disk clattered onto the platform. He shoved me to the floor, then bent over and picked up the disk, pressed play. There, before his eyes and mine, the entire scene with Oran, Teig and Alarr played out. The weapons as clear as day.

“So, they are the ones I’ve been looking for.” His gaze fell to me, where I glared up at him. “And you belong to them.”

I shook my head. “No. I refuse the match.”

He laughed, the sound cruel. What the hell was wrong with this planet? Warden Egara had some serious explaining to do.

I turned and looked at the technician who stood at the controls. “Please. Just transport me to Viken United.”

He shook his head, and although his look wasn’t as callous as the older man’s, there was no sympathy there either. “I’m sorry.”

I frowned. “What? Why not? You have the orders from the king himself.”

“Lock her up,” the older guy said. “You know where to take her.” With that, the officer put the disk in his pocket, and the young technician came toward me with a small space gun in his hand.

What the hell was going on?

“Lock me up? Why? I didn’t do anything. It was my mates. I just got here.”

This was like a flashback to Earth, to the police thinking I was part of my family’s scheme.

The technician blasted me with the gun, and I figured out it was some kind of stun gun because I was instantly frozen in place. It wasn’t like a Taser where I was shocked—thankfully, because that had always looked painful as hell, and I’d always figured I’d probably pee myself if it were ever done to me—but I couldn’t move. Couldn’t do anything but watch as he drew closer, feel as his rough hands lifted me off the ground. After that, everything went black.

8

Oran

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