Devoured: Brides of the Kindred 11 (8 page)

“You…you’ll never get away with that. Not
everyone will believe you.” Tess was beginning to sound desperate now.

“If you mean your good friend Di—who I’m
pretty sure had something to do with you hiding up on that fucking ship in the
first place—don’t worry about her. It’s her day off. By the time she comes in
tomorrow morning, you’ll be long gone.”

“No, I won’t!” She looked poised to flee
but Pierce just laughed.

“Look around you, Princess—where are you going
to go? This lot is completely fenced off and we’re all alone out here. The only
way out is through the HRK building.”

“I…” Tess scanned the area desperately.
She had the look of a hunted creature—one who is caught in the shadow of the
predator and knows there is no escape.

Pierce seemed to know that. He took one
long stride forward and grabbed her by the upper arm. Garron saw his grip
tighten as his fingers bit into her soft flesh.

Tess gave a choked cry as he pulled her to
him. Pierce cut it short with a brutal, bruising kiss. She pushed and beat
against his chest but he gripped her by her long hair and didn’t let her go
until he seemed to feel he had established mastery. Then he broke the kiss
abruptly and slapped her hard across the mouth.

At the sight of another male touching
Tess, taking her mouth,
hurting
her,
Garron felt like he was going to explode with rage. The
dr’gin
within him woke and roared angrily. How dare this fucking
bastard hurt her? How dare he lay so much as a finger on her?
I’ll kill him—rip him to shreds! I’ll—

But there was nothing he could do. Nothing
but watch as Pierce shook the little Earth girl angrily.

“You little
slut,”
he said in a low voice, throbbing with rage. “Look at this
get-up your wearing—no better than a prostitute.” He shook her again, glaring
at the black lace dress she had on. “But I guess that’s just about right
because I hear you’ve been hiding in a fucking
whore house.
Were you happy up there, Princess? Did you get enough
Kindred cock to finally fill you up?”

“It wasn’t like that!” Tess protested,
still trying to pull away from him. “It was just a place to hide. I never
did
anything with anyone! I would
never—”

“Fucking little
liar,”
he snarled. “That big blond Kindred, Commander Sylvan, told
me you’d been caught by one of the customers when you went with him to his
room. What the hell were you doing in his room if it wasn’t fucking him?”

“He just
held
me.” Tess was still trying to put on a brave face but Garron
could see the tears rolling silently down her cheeks—marked red where Pierce
had hit her. “I swear it’s true. We didn’t do anything else.”

“Lying little whore.” Pierce spat on the
ground contemptuously. “You think I believe that? Stop lying right now or your
punishment is going to be even worse when I get you home.”

“You’re not even taking me to the station,
are you?” Tess said dully. “You probably don’t even have a warrant. Why would
you need one? You can just flash your badge and everyone believes you.”

“One of the many benefits of being one of Tampa’s finest, my dear.”
He laughed angrily and yanked her roughly towards the back door of the large
building. “Come on, let’s get you home and decontaminate you. I want you nice
and clean before I shove my dick in you again.”

“I don’t want that—I don’t ever want to do
that with you again.” Tess sounded frightened now. “If you do that to me it’ll
be rape.”

Pierce laughed again, sounding genuinely
amused this time.

“Stupid little slut—a husband can’t rape
his own wife. Ask anyone.”

“Why can’t you just let me go?” Tess
begged as he dragged her towards the door. “Why, Pierce? There’s nothing
special about me. Why can’t you just let me have the divorce and go find
someone else?”

“Don’t want anyone else, Princess. I just
want you. Because like I told you, you’re
mine
.
Mine to punish, mine to fuck…mine to do whatever I want with until I get tired
of you. Which might be pretty fucking soon the way you’ve been acting.” He
shook her roughly. “So you’d better straighten up and fly right pretty quick.”

“I can’t pretend to be something I’m not.
I don’t belong to you—I don’t
want
to
be with you,” Tess said desperately. “Why can’t you understand that?”

Pierce eyed her narrowly.

“You’ll pay for that little remark once we
get home. Let me see…should I use the belt or the cane? Because whoring around
is
definitely
a whipping offense. I
think you need a few bruises on your backside to remind you who you belong to,
Princess.”

Tess’s big dark eyes widened.

“No—Pierce,
please.”

He shook his head. “Guess I’ll decide
later. For now, just shut your pretty little mouth and keep it shut while we go
through the building. Remember, everyone in here thinks you’re crazy and a
criminal. Mouthing off won’t get you a damn thing but more punishment.”

Then he opened the door and dragged her
into the HKR building, and out of Garron’s line of sight.

Garron tried to follow, to find out where
Tess was going—where Pierce was taking her. But it was no use. He suddenly felt
like he was being yanked backwards, up into the sky and away from the scene of
brutality and shame he had just witnessed. Away from the little Earth girl who
was clearly in desperate trouble.

Trouble
I put her in,
Garron thought as the
surface of the Earth receded, becoming nothing but a large blue and green ball
in the blackness of space.
I turned her
in—I got her kicked off the ship and that bastard was waiting for her. Waiting
to swoop in and do Gods know what to her the minute he got her alone.

She’s
in pain…in danger and it’s all my fault. All my fault. All my…

“Fault.” He spoke the last word aloud and
found himself sitting straight up in bed.

In
bed…was it just a dream then?
But no—he could still
smell the tropical air, still hear Tess’s soft, broken voice begging to be left
alone. He could still see that bastard touching her…threatening her…hurting
her.

This dream was real. It was happening.
Garron didn’t know how he knew but he did. It was real and he had to do
something about it.

It was still dark in his room but the
lighted chronometer by the side of his bed showed that only an hour had passed
since he had drifted off to sleep.

“Lights!” he roared and was getting out of
bed even before they came on, illuminating his small room in a soft glow. He
pulled on his flight leathers, boots, and his royal blue uniform shirt without
taking time to button it. Then he ran out the door, not even bothering to make
sure it shut behind him.

Nothing was important right now but Tess.
He was still true to Nella’s memory but he was certain his lost love wouldn’t
want him to sit idly by while an innocent girl was tortured. He had to get down
to Earth and find her. Had to find her before it was too late.

Chapter
Ten

The trip down to Earth took longer than he
liked and Garron cursed the fact that he didn’t yet have clearance to pilot a
Kindred shuttle himself. Truth had taught him how to drive one on their way
from Pax to the Mother Ship but until he passed his clearance exam with Baird
who was the head flight instructor, Garron was reliant on others for
transportation.

When they finally touched down in back of
the Tampa HKR building, all his fears and suspicions were confirmed. Not only
was the scenery exactly what he had seen in his dream, Tess’s sweet scent still
lingered in the air. It was delicate and feminine—and laced with the bitterness
of fear. Another male couldn’t have smelled it—not even another Kindred. But
Garron was completely attuned to her now. He could have followed her scent for
miles or picked her out of a crowd of thousands.

He didn’t know why he felt such a strong
connection to her—he couldn’t explain it and didn’t want to. Examining it too
closely might reawaken the voice of his guilt. Right now, all he cared about
was finding her and making sure she was safe.

And
after that I’ll deal with that sick bastard that hit her. That son of a bitch,
Pierce…

The
dr’gin
stirred within him, growling approval. Yes, it was going to feel wonderful
to plow his fist right between those narrow green eyes and rip out Pierce’s
throat with his teeth, to bathe in his blood and crack his skull open to get to
his brains…

Be
careful!
warned a little voice in his head.
Is that you talking…or the dr’gin? Because
if you let it out, no one will be safe. Pierce won’t be the only one you hurt.
Everyone
will die if you can’t control
yourself and the beast within.

Yes, that was true. Garron took a deep
breath. The first thing to concentrate on was finding Tess. His dream had ended
before he saw where she was taken but he could always follow his nose.

Accordingly, he followed her sweet scent
through the quiet and minimally staffed HKR building, out the front door, and
onto the steps in front of the building that led down to a paved road where
alien vehicles were zooming back and forth.

But there, to his dismay, the scent trail
ended as though it had been cut off with a knife. Garron cast about, lifting
his face high in the air, trying to find where she’d gone. Nothing. He watched
as the alien vehicles whizzed past him, their round black wheels gripping the
road and leaving the stink of rubber and exhaust in their wake. Possibly—no
probably—
Tess had been forced into one
of those primitive conveyances. If the windows and doors had all been closed,
there was no way for her scent to escape. Pierce could have taken her back to
his domicile to do whatever he wanted with her. Even now he might be—

Garron choked off the thought. He couldn’t
bear to consider it.

Just then, one of the alien vehicles—a
small blue one—came to a screeching halt in front of the HKR building. An older
Earth woman with neatly trimmed, graying hair jumped out and ran up the steps
without giving Garron a second glance. He watched as she threw open the glass
door and scanned the interior of the building rapidly.

“Joseph? Joe!” she yelled at one of the
building attendants. “Look, I just got a call from Maria. Is it true that the
police came and took some girl away from here not long ago?”

“I dunno,” a man’s voice answered. “Ask
Maria.”

Garron’s heart leapt and he followed the
woman quickly into the building. She must be talking about Tess—so maybe she
would know where Pierce had taken her.

“Maria, please…” The woman was talking to
a girl who was standing behind the information counter. “You told me on the
phone a girl was caught hiding on the Kindred ship and she got taken away by
the police—is that right?”

“Well, sure.” The girl shrugged as though
it was of no importance. “But it wasn’t like a big deal. I mean, they didn’t
come in with their lights and sirens blazing or anything. Actually, it was just
one detective—a really nice looking guy with green eyes. He showed me his badge
and everything.”

“And the girl. Was she about this tall
with long, dark brownish-red hair and big dark eyes?” The woman made a motion
to indicate Tess’s height.

“Uh-huh, yeah.” The girl frowned. “Why, do
you know her? I just called to give you a heads up in case you had to think of
something to tell the tourists tomorrow. I didn’t know—”

“And how long ago did it happen?” the
woman demanded.

“I dunno—a couple hours I guess. I called
you as soon as I took my break.”

“Shit!” The woman put a hand to her
forehead. “Shit, shit,
shit.”

“I’m sorry, Di. I just—”

“No, it’s not you. It’s not your fault—you
did the right thing calling me. Thank you, Maria.” The woman, whose name was
apparently Di, ran a hand through her neat gray hair. “Damn it, that bastard…”
she muttered under her breath, moving away from the counter. She pulled out a
handheld device and began tapping at it.

This seemed like a good time to Garron—it
was clear this woman knew Tess so maybe he could get some information about
her.

“Excuse me,” he began as she put the
device to her ear.

“Not now.” She didn’t even look at him.
“Hello? Tampa
PD? I need to know if you took my friend into custody tonight. Yes, I’m trying
to find her so I can pay her bail. Her name is Tess…Tess Evans or it might be
under Evans-Hughes. Yes, I’ll hold.”

“Excuse me,” Garron said again, beginning
to get frustrated. “I need to talk to you.”

The woman named Di barely glanced at him.
“If you’re trying to get on one of the tours, you have to sign up at the
information desk. Over there.” She gestured over her shoulder and went back to
her device. “Yes, you spell her name T-e-s-s E-v—”

“I’m not here for a tour,” Garron growled.
“I’m here for
Tess
.”

“What?” Clearly he had her full attention
now. “What do you know about Tess? And how do you know her anyway?”

“I know she’s in trouble. And the way I
know is…” He sighed. “Because I’m the one who put her there.”

“What?” She let the personal communication
device sag. “Who
are
you?”

“I’m the one who turned Tess in to the
authorities.” Garron hated admitting it but there was no sense in lying—the
ugly truth would come out eventually. “I didn’t know why she was hiding or
anything about her,” he said in a low voice. “I only knew I was angry when I found
out she wasn’t…what she was pretending to be.”

“So you got mad because you couldn’t
screw
her is that it?” Di demanded, her
eyes blazing. She slapped him hard on the chest with her free hand.

Garron accepted the blow.

“That wasn’t it,” he said in a low voice.
“I…told her things. Private things. I thought—”

“No, you didn’t
think
. You got mad and turned her in just in time for that bastard
of an ex-husband to come get her and take her God knows where…”

“I didn’t know!” Garron held up both hands
in a gesture of peace. “If I had, I never would have taken her to the
authorities. I’m here now to try and make things right—only I can’t find her.
Her scent ends right outside the building and I don’t know this world. I can’t
track her any further without help.”

“Well, you—” Just then her handheld device
started squawking again. Di put it to her ear and listened for a moment. “Yes,
I understand. Thank you anyway.” She pushed a button that seemed to end the
communication. “He didn’t take her to the station.” Her voice was quiet with
despair.

“I could have told you that,” Garron said
evenly.

“How?” She frowned at him. “How could you
know that? Were you in communication with some of the Kindred guards down here
or something?”

“Something like that.” Garron didn’t want
to tell her about the dream. It sounded crazy for one thing. And for another it
was too…intimate. Like a secret he shared with Tess, even though he didn’t
really know her.

“Well it sounds like you’ve got more
information than I do—where did he take her?” Di demanded.

“I was hoping you would know that.” Garron
felt a surge of frustration—was this going to be a dead end?

“Let me think.” She sighed. “Well, he
didn’t take her to the station and he wouldn’t take her back to her
apartment—he’s been trying to get her out of there for months. I’d say it’s a
pretty safe bet he took her back to his place.”

“All right. Where is it?” Garron was ready
to go at once.

“He has a house out in Old Seminole
Heights—Central
Tampa.”

“Can you take me there?” He was shifting
from foot to foot with impatience. “Please, I
have
to find her. I have to make this right.”

Di shook her head grimly. “Knowing Pierce,
this situation is so wrong
nobody
will
be able to make it right. But I’m with you—we need to find her.” She frowned at
him. “But before we go, why do you care so much? You didn’t even know Tess
before today—she was just some girl you turned in. Why the change of heart?”

“I don’t know,” Garron said honestly. “I
just know I
have
to find her and make
sure she’s safe. Please, will you help me?”

She gave him a long, speculative look and
then nodded.

“Okay, big boy. Let’s go.”