Alphas of Pandora, page 30
“How convenient.” Aura shot up from the bed and stomped toward the window, peering through the boards. The dingy sky was clear with no evidence of flying drones or anything else.
But it was a mistake to place herself so close to him. Heat emanated from his body and warmed the bare skin of her arms where it rested next to his, not quite close enough to touch. She wanted to throw herself into his arms and also slit his throat. Hate and desire wrapped up together so tightly that it was impossible to separate them.
But she didn’t trust this new calm that he exhibited, eventually the other shoe had to fall. The man who had consumed her very being would never just let her walk away. But for now, she needed him to escape this. No matter how much she hated him, whatever the Vigilians planned to do to her would be considerably worse.
Castor’s voice was resolute. “We leave at nightfall.”
“What will happen to you if the Vigilians find us first?” she asked, even though she already knew the answer. “Do you really think they would kill you?”
“There is no official record of me entering the region as my presence violates any number of international laws.” He briefly glanced at her face before returning his attention to the window. “If Faseer is smart, he’ll murder me in cold blood and deny that I was ever here.”
And then Aura would be taken prisoner with no one left to save her. They would have to escape this place or both die trying.
Thirty-Five
Seeing her strapped to that bed had changed something in him. The anger remained, barely simmering under the surface, but now it was tempered by a sort of despair as Castor finally understood the truth.
They were destroying each other.
Aura didn’t seem to realize that the uncontrollable rage that loosened her tongue and made her reckless belonged to them both. It made him ashamed of himself to recall all that he had done in the quest to possess her, regardless of the terrible consequences..
Castor had done so many things that embarrassed not only himself but the throne itself. He recognized that he was incapable of controlling himself around her. His own advisors had become terrified that he would rip out their throats for speaking out of turn. He had stomped around, raving and raging, for the better part of three weeks while she had been gone.
Which was why he had let her stay gone for so long.
It was almost laughable that the girl thought there was anywhere in the city that she could truly hide from him. He had raged for the benefit of his advisors and threatened violence if she wasn’t found because those emotions had been real. But he had known where to find her almost from the beginning, it wasn’t as if there were many people with both access to the palace and the means to secret her away in the dead of night. Castor even assumed that Adrian had noble intentions, which was why the man hadn’t been strung up by his toes in a rehabilitation center.
And the dramatic display for the benefit of his cabinet had proved a distraction for them from the mounting tension with Vigil. He had no intention of marrying their princess and eventually he would officially set her aside. The move would destroy the relationship between their realms for at least a generation, but Castor had enough of attempting to live a lie.
He could not abdicate the throne because the obligation he felt to Pandora had been ingrained in him since birth. However, he would not rule the way his father had, or how his advisors assumed he would.
But it took everything in him not to fall on his mate like a rutting stallion, especially with her so close and in reach. It had been impossible to resist the pull during her manufactured heat cycle, but now that had ended and control was within grasp. What she likely considered to be coldness was truly just the incredible effort he expended to maintain control.
If he acknowledged even the smallest feeling, then the floodgates would open and both their fates would be sealed. For most of his life, he’d had little respect for the Alphas who seemed to lose any speck of higher intelligence in the presence of an Omega. And he had always sworn to himself that he would never reveal such weakness. Then he was trapped in the wild wilderness with an Omega who had never heard the word and lost everything he knew about himself.
He couldn’t know if the fates intended her to be his salvation or his downfall because there was equal evidence for both.
Aura slept fitfully on the filthy bed, resistant despite his insistence that she might not have another opportunity. He knelt beside her, close but not touching, and studied her furrowed brow. She was not relaxed, even in sleep, although that shouldn’t surprise him. The girl had been subjected to more than any one person could rightfully handle and still responded to him with a surprising ferocity.
Even angry, she was the most beautiful thing that he had ever seen.
And the urge to bundle her up and hide her away from the world nearly overwhelmed him. His fingers clenched into painful fists, nails digging into the skin of his palms as he resisted the desire to grab for her. Just the sight of her sent shivers of desire straight to his knot, destroying his ability to think rationally. He had not felt like himself from the moment they met.
Or perhaps he was more himself than he had ever been before.
Aura had wrapped the sheet around herself in a makeshift dress, but it provided little in the way of protection against the elements. She couldn’t help but wonder how many times she would end up walking on bare ground with no shoes on. At least Castor had the decency to carry her when they travelled like this through the Forbidden Zone, but he didn’t offer now and she refused to ask.
They were in a part of Vigil that seemed nearly uninhabited and the darkness was penetrating. Every stone and stump seemed to find its way into her path. Her barefoot would be unrecognizable meat by the time they reached their destination.
If they ever reached their destination.
She had to assume that Castor had some idea of where they were going because the alternative was scary to contemplate. If Faseer caught up with them, he would revel in making a show of Castor’s demise, likely forcing her to watch while he did it.
The landscape grew rougher as they trekked and their pace slowed when they reached a steep rise. She quickly grew out of breath as each step became more difficult to take than the last, but still she didn’t ask him for help. Collapsing was preferable to admitting weakness to him.
Dawn would break soon and they had not seen anything resembling a shelter. In the daylight, they would be no better than sitting ducks if another drone passed this way.
Aura had used her anger as a shield to the fear, but that was getting harder and harder to maintain. Especially since Castor seemed to make a point of interacting with her as little as possible. It was hard to maintain her rage when all she got in return was a nod and neutral expression.
It just made her hate him even more for somehow mastering the restraint that eluded her. She didn’t want to be full of hatred and desire, what she wanted more than anything else was to look at him and feel nothing at all.
Castor finally broke the silence after they had been walking for several hours. “If I remember correctly, there is a small farming settlement over the next rise that should be abandoned.”
“Why are so many of these places empty?” she asked, conversation with him only slightly less oppressive than the silence.
“The Vigilians do not take as much care to secure the boundary into the Forbidden Zone as we do. Raiding parties are a regular occurrence and have worsened in recent years. Villagers flee or are murdered.”
And that was certainly reassuring, she thought darkly. She would never forget the chase that brought her to him in the first place. The Alphas who attacked her after she landed in the Forbidden Zone seemed capable of anything, murder the least of it.
“You’d think the government would do something about it,” she murmured, ignoring the frisson of fear that eased down her spine.
“The farms are worked with slave labor, so I doubt they think much about it at all. There are barriers in place near more prosperous areas but this is only farmland. And the lives of slaves aren’t worth much. Pandora is many things, but none of my ancestors would ever tolerate slavery.”
“I’m sure there are Omegas in your city who would disagree,” Aura snapped. “Even if they are used for a very different sort of labor.”
His gaze cut to her but his face remained expressionless. “That isn’t quite the same thing.”
She rolled her eyes. “Agree to disagree.”
“As always.”
Disgusted with both him and herself, Aura hurried to get a few steps ahead of him. She stumbled a bit as she passed him and shook off the hand he reached out to steady her. With his silent footfalls and him behind her, it was almost possible to imagine that he wasn’t there at all.
They mounted the hill above a large valley below. From this vantage point, it was possible to make out the thick crop of trees in the distance that had to be the boundary of the Forbidden Zone. In the valley, she saw a cluster of roofs that must be the abandoned village. Bracing herself on a rock, Aura took a step down the hill.
A strong arm wrapped around her waist and yanked her back.
“What the hell—”
“Be quiet.”
Castor crouched low to the ground and took her with him. “There are people there.”
And unfortunately, he was correct. She followed the path he indicated with her gaze to see a handful of people gathered near a small cottage with a thatched room. They were dressed differently from Faseer or the other Vigilians she had encountered, and it obvious even from a distance that they were dirty and overworked. One held a scythe over his shoulder as he shuffled toward a field of grain on the far side of the cottage while another followed with a large basket for the harvest.
“So much for the village being abandoned,” she murmured, pitching her voice low even though the workers were too far away to hear them. “Is this even the right place?”
“They must have repopulated since the last satellite images were taken.” He continued to hold her close to his side as if he didn’t trust her not to continue down the hill. “This is the last settled area between here and the Forbidden Zone. We have to turn back.”
And return deeper into Vigil where sadistic men waited to experiment on her? “You said those people are slaves. Maybe they’d want to help us if they’re here against their will too.”
“That isn’t the way it works. Slave or not, these people will obey their masters. They know what fate they’ll suffer, otherwise. We will find no aid here.”
“But you can’t know that for sure,” she protested.
“It isn’t worth the risk.” His chill gaze drilled into her, issues of her safety not up for debate. “If even one of them raises the alarm, then we have nowhere left to run.”
She wanted to argue more, but his attention had returned to the village below. As dawn broke, they could see at least a dozen people down there engaged in various types of industry on the land. It was mostly men and a handful of women, but all with backs that bent too low as if gravity pulled them toward the center of the earth. Whatever work they did here was bone-breaking.
It became clearer as the sun inched over the distant horizon that there was no alternative plan. They hunched in a small outcropping of rock that provided some concealment, but a drone would spy them quickly if one happened across the sky.
Aura stayed silent as Castor brooded, his searching gaze moving over the valley below as if the answer to their problems would materialize out of thin air. His silence annoyed her. What good was an Alpha who didn’t have a plan for every possible situation? But each time she opened her mouth to ask him what they should do next, he silenced her with a quelling motion.
So she watched the villagers go about their work to pass the time, hoping that Castor would come to some sort of decision before they were forced to sleep out on the rocks. Traveling during the day was dangerous as they risked being discovered by drones or search parties.
The Vigilians wouldn’t give up on having her so easily.
A woman wandered closer to the hiding place, but the valley was far enough below that they remained out of sight. And even if they weren’t, all the slaves were entirely focused on her work. The whip scars decorating her bare arms were evidence of the consequences that were delivered for failing to complete her work. Aura’s gaze drifted to the woman’s face and in the next moment, the world stopped.
Because Aura recognized her.
She was already barreling down the hill when Castor let out a surprised shout. He wasn’t fast enough to grab her before she had already half run and half fallen down the steep embankment. Sharp rocks dug into her feet and underbrush scratched her legs, but Aura could barely feel it.
The slave woman was from the station. They’d had little interaction, but she used to make woven blankets to trade and Aura had encountered her only a few times before. But if another one of her people were here, perhaps her family was too. Aura couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be reunited with them, regardless of the danger.
Castor called out a warning from behind her, his voice carrying on the wind, but Aura ignored him. He’d insisted on caution, but they wouldn’t be traipsing through the wilderness at all if it wasn’t for him.
Aura struggled to remember the woman’s name as she slowed enough to avoid barreling into her. It was something like Libby or Tippy. “Bitty!”
The woman looked up with a confused expression on her face. When she saw Aura approach, the confusion changed to wariness. Obviously, the woman didn’t recognize her and did not expect a stranger to approach.
But when Aura let out a rush of questions, she didn’t account for the fact that the translation implant would produce words in a language native to Pandora, and not the one spoken on the station. Had the other woman spoken first, the translator would have identified the language and allowed Aura her native tongue. She did not realize her mistake until Bitty’s eyes widened in true alarm.
“Sound the bell,” Bitty screamed, practically at the top of her lungs and with enough force that her voice went hoarse. “Enemies sighted. Sound the bell!”
Aura tried to shush her, but the woman only screamed louder. When Aura reached for her, the woman turned on her heel and ran back toward the house as if she were being chased by demons. As soon as she reached the small structure, an ear-piercing siren went off, loud enough to shake her bones.
“They’ve set off a perimeter alarm,” Castor shouted from behind her, his voice full of anger and what sounded like fear. “It’s meant for incursions from the Forbidden Zone, but soldiers will already be on their way. We have to leave.”
“I know that woman,” Aura insisted as he grabbed her arms and pulled her backwards. “She’s from the station, same as me. There’s a chance that she knows where my family is.”
“It doesn’t matter now.”
Castor swung her into his arms without a word and her weight barely seemed to slow him down. Escape became the only thing that mattered. So they ran to the only place left, the only place that the Vigilian soldiers would not immediately follow.
Straight into the Forbidden Zone.
Thirty-Six
Castor did not put her down for several hours as they trekked silently through the forest, partly to maintain a faster pace, but he also did not trust her not to run straight back to the farm.
At least that was what Aura assumed because she didn’t dare ask him. She knew better than to engage in conversation now that they had entered the Forbidden Zone. The forest was eerily quiet around them, daylight shone through the trees but that did nothing to reassure her. She knew what dwelled here.
They had no weapons and no way to defend themselves. It was only a matter of time before a predator marked them as easy pickings.
Aura did not fight as Castor pressed her close enough against his chest that she felt the strong beat of his heart against her cheek. Fear had overtaken her anger as they moved further into the forest. She waited for the inevitable growls of Alphas bearing down on them, but there was not even the sound of wind whistling through the trees.
Castor had told her as they crossed the boundary that Vigilian soldiers would not follow them, at least not immediately. They would either breach the forest in large numbers, which would attract the attention of Alphas, or send a smaller infiltration squad who wouldn’t be moving much faster than they were. Drones were useless with the thick tree cover, they wouldn’t be able to see anything from the air.
He had explained it and then immediately silenced further questions, citing the need to remain as quiet as possible. Aura suspected that he had grown tired of the sharp side of her tongue. But she had no more angry words for him, at least not while the imminent danger consumed her thoughts.
At one point, he shifted her body so that she rode his back with her arms wrapped around his neck. Her grip tightened every time a tree branch snapped beneath his feet or the dead leaves seemed to rustle overly loudly when he took a step. If she was impairing his ability to breathe with her death grip around his throat, Castor made no mention of it.
It made it easier that she could not see his face, especially with his body pressed so closely against her own. She was very aware of the heat emanating from his back to soak between her spread thighs as her legs wrapped around his waist. The chill wind became barely noticeable as the heat from his body rose around her, enveloping her in an invisible cocoon. It didn’t make sense that she could find a measure of peace in a situation like this, but silently clinging to his back as they trudged through the forest was the closest she had come in weeks.
The terrain looked both puzzlingly familiar and also completely foreign. The shuttle that brought her to this planet had been on its way to Vigil and they could be near the crash site, perhaps even close enough to stumble across it. But she had also been running for her life the last time so her recollection couldn’t be trusted. They could be in a completely different area and she likely wouldn’t know the difference.
