Chapter 30
Uma sat in the cell, staring miserably into space. The stench of Adrin’s drying blood and slowly decaying corpse was starting to get to her since Drake hadn’t bothered to have anyone remove the body yet. That definitely prevented any case of arousal from reoccurring as the hours passed. Not that they could have done anything about it since their chains kept them outside of touching distance.
“What a sadistic ass,” she grumbled. She rubbed her eyes with one hand. “But who else would be involved in a plan that came up with fucking Heat of all things? That is beyond the scope of the Order. Just plain inhumane brutality.”
Laro grunted in agreement at her right, his hand stretched as far as it possibly could in her direction as if just the promise of contact comforted him in some small way. “We will need to escape before they can do this.”
Uma nodded, her lips pinching angrily. “And destroy their supply of Heat while we are at it. Not to mention stealing a sample to bring back to the citadel as proof of what they are up to. And oooh, I am going to kick Ava in the ass so hard she is going to taste my boot after this.”
“So fierce.” Laro chuffed softly, bringing a smile to her lips.
She glanced over at him fondly, scarcely able to believe that the large scarred Ragoru whom everyone in the tavern had been terrified of possessed such a mild personality. It seemed that he reserved his scary side for huntsmen and potential rivals to a certain degree. With her, however, he was incredibly gentle. It truly made her feel special. Even Vrin had proven to be incredibly affection and protective despite his mouth and aggressive demeanor. Her gaze slid over to Vrin and she grinned at the sight of the male stretched out along the bars of the cell, his head tipped back and his ears flicking faintly where they poked through the bars as he slept like a rock. Even Kam was asleep, his body curled in on itself as if missing the warmth of his brothers.
“I have no idea how we are going to get out of here,” she admitted.
“Good thing that I have an idea,” a voice whispered so close from the other side of the bars that Uma nearly jumped out of her skin.
Laro shot to his feet with a growl, promptly waking the other two males who took on defensive positions. “Who is there?”
“Relax,” the voice hissed. “Damn Ragoru. You three are going to bring every huntsman in the outpost down on our heads if you are any louder. Are you sure you want to save their hides, Captain?”
Uma blinked rapidly against the gloom but slowly smiled as recognition dawned. “Katiera! What are you doing here? Adrin said that you disappeared.”
“Adrin is also a grease smear on the ground,” the guardswomen countered as she stepped into the room from a side chamber. “I followed his dumb ass... with some help, I might add. Not exactly thrilled help but they were willing to give me a hand in saving you as long as I did something for them.”
Uma groaned. “Don’t tell me you are running off to mate some unknown triad in exchange for helping me.” She squinted at her. “They didn’t kidnap you, did they?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Kidnapping is such a strong word. Besides, I can’t exactly blame them, all things considered. There is a rog being held in a human settlement, and they came to the citadel to find help to negotiate with the town to return the rog to her fathers.” Katiera shrugged. “You know I’m a sucker for kids, and we just happened to run into each other at the right time. I knew Adrin had something nasty planned, and I didn’t want you to walk into a trap. But it seems that I got here a little late.”
Uma scooted closer to the bars. “What are the numbers like for the huntsmen?”
“Bad,” the other woman admitted. “Two hundred at least. This is a larger outpost, but it is still not big enough to accommodate all of them. They have set up a camp around it. Thankfully, regardless of how much my dad disapproved of it, my mama was a thief and taught her daughter well. No one saw me. I am confident that I can bust you out of here. The guys are just waiting for my signal to create a distraction.”
“I’m afraid that is not all we have to be worried about.” Uma bit her lip nervously. “Have you seen anything that could qualify as a storage area in the outpost?”
Katiera frowned thoughtfully. “Most outposts have an armory. I think I passed it when I entered, it is on the left wing of the outpost. I am assuming that is where the weapons are stored.”
“Did you see anything that looked unusual in there when you passed it?”
“Unusual?” Katiera slowly shook her head. “There were some crates stacked in a corner but I know that some huntsmen get a little dynamite happy.”
“That might be it,” Uma whispered excitedly. “Look, I think that what they are storing in there is not dynamite... or at least not only dynamite. I think that they are storing a drug that affects people in a gaseous or smoke form. It has a disgustingly sweet smell, and I think pheryne dust may be a component. Whatever it is, in concentrated amounts it screws with Ragoru hormones. And in an even more direct dosage, it apparently makes them crazy enough to kill their own triad members in a lust rage.”
Katiera whistled quietly, her eyes shooting over to the Ragoru silently watching their conversation. “I suppose that means that there is no waiting on this. We need to get you guys out of here.”
“I need a sample though,” Uma whispered. “It is the only evidence that I will have to take to the Council, and to prove to the guild that my triad isn’t guilty.”
“Your triad, huh?” Katiera’s eyebrows arched as her lips tipped in a smug smile. “I knew that you had to admit it sometime that you fell hard for the fuzzballs. You know you will risk your career trying to get the guild’s decision overturned.”
Uma shrugged. “I devoted years of my life to the guard. If they throw me out, I can always go live it up elsewhere with my mates.”
“Wow, mates even.” Katiera’s smile widened. “Okay, let’s bust you out of here,” she whispered gleefully as she removed a key from her sleeve. “Just to warn you that we are likely going to have to fight our way out of here. It sounds like a good time to me, but I figured that you would appreciate the warning.”
Laro squinted at her suspiciously. “Can we trust her? This female is concerning.”
“That’s just Katiera for you. She likes to play straitlaced when she is on duty, but she has multiple invaluable talents and is something of a danger junkie,” Uma assured him as the cell door clicked open and her friend stepped casually inside.
“Danger junkie,” Vrin muttered skeptically. “That sounds exactly like someone I wish to trust the welfare of my mate to.”
“I’m not your mate yet,” Uma cheerfully reminded him as she held out her manacled hands toward Katiera.
“Fucking straight,” Katiera agreed approvingly and pointed a dagger in Vrin’s direction. “And just you all remember that if you think you’re going to be calling the shots here.”
Sheathing the dagger at her waist, the guardswoman lifted the small rings of keys again and bent toward Uma’s manacles. Uma held her breath as she watched the key slide in, eager to get the hell out of there. The key turned and clicked uselessly.
Her gaze snapped up and met her friend’s eyes. “Uh, what is it?”
Katiera shook her head and immediately tried another key, and then another. “Fuck!” she hissed, tossing the keys across the room. “Why the hell would they have it on a separate key ring from the key for the cell?”
“Shh,” Vrin growled as he strained against his chains, his head tipped toward the door.
Katiera frowned but nodded as she slipped back out of the cell to flatten herself against the wall behind the door. The door squeaked open on its rusty hinges as a huntsman holding a small tray of food entered. The guardswoman swung around the door, bringing her leg up into his stomach. He immediately doubled over as he wheezed, and she fisted her hands together before bringing them down on his head, sending him to the ground in a heap. She bent down and ran her hands over his clothes, until she straightened again with a victorious smile and another ring of keys in hand. Her smile fell in the next moment, however, when two huntsmen rushed in, their swords ready. She spun out of the way, ducking below the sword that sliced the air where her head had been just moments earlier.
Vrin snarled and jerked forward violently against his chains. The guards ignored him as they swung their swords at Katiera, every wicked strike practically singing with their effort as the guardswoman ducked and dodged out of the way. She brought her own sword up to slap their blades away as she danced slowly across to the floor in the direction of the cell. The huntsmen rushed after her, their feet clearing the entrance to the cell just as the anchor holding Vrin’s chain broke free from the wall with the audible crack of breaking stone.
Everyone froze, even Vrin, who wore a faint look of shock on his face as he turned and looked at the sagging chain. Kam shook his head in disgust, however, and sighed heavily.
“Now you break it?”
Baring his teeth at his brother, Vrin leaped forward, taking down both huntsmen as Katiera danced out of the way and turned to rush for Uma.
“Hurry, hurry,” Uma urged, “before all of this ruckus brings the whole damn Order down on our heads.”
“Patience is a virtue,” Katiera replied as she tested one key after another.
“Right now it is not,” Kam countered with a frustrated growl as he tugged at his own chains. “We need to get our mate out of here.”
“Working on it, working on it—ah-ha!” she grinned triumphantly as the manacle opened and fell from Uma’s wrist and immediately turned to do the other one.
Uma rubbed her wrists and turned to Vrin to see if he needed any help only to find one huntsman dead at his feet and the other dangling from the length of chain Vrin had wrapped around his neck.
“Quit playing with the huntsmen,” she whispered. “It’s time to go.”
His ears flicked and he nodded as he gave a sharp yank of his arms. The crack of the huntsman’s neck breaking filled the silence of the cell, but Uma gave him a thumbs up and hurried out as Katiera hurried over to unlock his manacles too.
They filed out of the cell into the holding room, their steps light and quick. Katiera slipped over to the window and cupped her fingers over her mouth. The birdcall the guardswoman cooed was good enough to at least sound something like a bird. That had to be the signal. Uma waited patiently as Katiera rejoined them, but her friend raised her hand silently bidding them to wait a moment longer. Uma raised her eyebrows at the other woman, but Katiera merely smiled and touched a finger to her lips... and then she heard it.
The crash outside triggered a shout of alarm as the sound of chaos erupted outside. She glanced over at the guardswoman with concern, but Katiera merely smiled as she signaled for them to move forward. Uma followed with a shake of her head. Crazy-ass woman. She didn’t even want to know what kind of triad she got involved with.
They raced out in the hall, taking their lead from the guardswoman as she navigated the winding halls of the outpost without trouble until they ended up in the main hall. Katiera tipped her head toward a large set of doors at one end as she quickly shrugged off the sack loops over her back and passed it to Uma.
“That over there is the main entrance. I am going to go out and see if I can help with the diversion and make sure those males didn’t kill themselves with all that. The small door to the right leads to the armory. Good luck,” she whispered.
Uma nodded and squeezed the other woman’s arm briefly before peeling away in a light jog toward the armory doors. Her males fell behind her like shadows as they slipped inside. Uma was immediately impressed with what she found inside. The walls were lined with weapons on display, and then there were even more racks of weapons in front of the walls. It was only at the far end that her eyes finally fell on the boxes that Katiera mentioned. Whispering an order to her males to guard the door, Uma hurried toward the stack and threw open one box. Several long sticks as thick as her forearm and about the length from her wrist to her elbow filled the box in black casing. She ran a hand over one and lifted it tentatively to her nose.
That was it. Heat. The sickly scent made her gag, but she quickly stuffed several of them into the sack that Katiera had given her. She cast a worried glance over the remaining tubes and unopened boxes. There was nothing she could do about them. She didn’t have the means to transport them out of the outpost, and as much as she wanted to set the entire building on fire, she knew that would be a very good way to poison every Ragoru with Heat within breathing distance of the outpost.
“Shit. I’ll just report it and the citadel can send a team to collect it,” she grumbled.
“I don’t think that will be possible,” Drake growled as he entered the room from an antechamber that she hadn’t even realized was there and dusted off his hands. She studied his hands, taking in the remnant of powder on his fingers. Was there a hidden room back there with a lab? She made a mental note to have the team check into it as his eyes fell on her sack.
He smiled coldly. “You always took far too many risks for your own good, Uma. One would have thought you would have learned your lesson by now about playing the hero.”
“And I would have thought that by now you would have learned your lesson about being treacherous scum. I guess we will both have to be disappointed,” she shot back.
Grinning sadistically, he lunged forward, the sword she didn’t even see that he had cutting through the air in a blur of steel. Lunging for the wall, she grabbed the nearest sword and brought her own blade up to parry his thrust. She felt a moment of concern, however, when he brought his other hand up, driving a dagger toward the sensitive flesh of her stomach. Uma’s stomach dropped, and for a moment she felt genuine regret for not having enough time to actually mate her idiotic triad, and another regret for not finding and murdering whoever took her armor that could have saved her ass before throwing her in that cell. She didn’t even have her sword, the empty sheath hanging uselessly from her belt as they fucking made sure to take that too.
Their swords clanged and she shoved forward to send him off balance even as she mentally prepared for the bite of steel. But it never came. Instead, the growl that ripped through the air sent a shockwave through her as Laro’s huge body collided with Drake, toppling him back into the box as cannisters immediately popped, sending dust into Laro’s face.
Uma watched in horror as her mate coughed and shook his head as he backed away. Drake followed after him with a cruel laugh, but Uma rushed forward, rage pumping through her blood. It was enough. Drake had already taken far too much from her. He wasn’t about to take one more thing—certainly not her mate.
With a shriek, she ducked low and spun as she brought her sword around, driving it with every bit of her strength into his belly as he brought his arms up to attack Laro. His entire body jerked in shock, a wet gasp falling from his lips as he stumbled back and collapsed. Uma watched dispassionately as he fell and didn’t even blink as Laro stalked over and drove his claws into the man’s chest, tearing brutally through muscle and sinew as bones cracked and split. She was almost surprised that the heart he tore out wasn’t pitch black, but she didn’t even try to hold back her smile as his hand closed around it, crushing the organ completely within his fist until fleshy bits dripped out.
It was done.
Sighing with relief, she reached for him only to freeze when he jerked his head around toward the males rushing toward them with a violent growl.
“Fuck. Heat,” she whispered. Spinning toward Kam and Vrin, she put her newly gained sword into the sheath at her side and shouted, “Get out of here. He has been exposed to Heat!”
Vrin slowed to a stop, but he shook his head, and stalked forward with a look of determination on his face until Kam grabbed ahold of him and hauled him back.
“Come on, Vrin,” Kam snarled. “Laro will not hurt his mate, but in his state of mind he will most definitely kill us!”
Uma nodded, quietly urging him to go. Vrin whined uncertainly and he gave her a long look before finally dipping his head in assent and allowing Kam to drag him out of the armory, and hopefully out of the outpost altogether. Laro’s growls calmed as the male fell silent, but Uma’s breath caught in a nervous hitch. Aggression wasn’t the only side effect of Heat but she needed to get him as far from the outpost as possible before he succumbed entirely.
Flattening a palm against Laro’s abs, she smiled up at him sweetly. “Hey, honey, I know what you need. You need your female’s tight cunt wrapped around your cocks, right?”
He squinted suspiciously at her but nodded. She wasn’t even sure if he recognized her in any sort of rational way outside of his need to claim her.
“Okay, and that’s a fine plan. But first let’s get out of here, okay?” She stepped closer to his and trailed her fingers through his fur. “Let’s get away from all these people and then I’m all yours. How does that sound?”
“Mine,” he growled, and Uma squeezed her eyes shut apprehensively as he plucked her up off the ground.
To her surprise his touch was gentle, and he was infinitely tender with her as he tucked her against his chest. It seemed that her mate was still in there, and she could have wept then and there with gratitude. He had received a huge dose of Heat, but she was confident that he would come back to her. He had to.