Rebellion (12 page)

* * * *

Ty came to his senses slowly. His lower lip pulsed, and his right eye refused to open. The straps keeping him upright dug into his arms and below his ribs. He blinked repeatedly, trying to get his one eye to focus.

“Look who’s back for more.” The image before him cleared. He’d seen this man before. Short, balding, with a high-pitched voice. He enjoyed the beatings more than any of the others. He held a bucket and grinned before dousing Ty.

The shock of cold water cleared his head some, but the shivering started again. The cell had metal walls and a drain in the concrete floor. A metal table against one wall, a small sink and the rack that held him restrained in a vertical position. Cozy. Two lamps stood facing him, and bright lights shone from the ceiling above.

Ty met the man’s gaze.

“Time you start talking, boy. Chancellor wants names of those in your little underground, and I’m going to be the one to give ‘em to him.”

He picked up a short leather strap and lashed out with precision. He’d been working that set of ribs for days.

The smell of leather, blood, sweat, and Gods only knew what else made Ty sick. He gritted his teeth. The bands that held him were something new. He couldn’t fathom how they worked, but they made it so his psi couldn’t extend beyond his body. After the first six or seven hours, the pain had morphed into something different. He didn’t feel it so much as he’d become the pain. With each strike, the agony had combined with his captive psi and defined itself into a separate entity. This alternate existence was more real now than his body. Ty could only hope there was no permanent damage
.
The thought nearly made him laugh. Last time he checked, dying was pretty permanent. He struggled to hold onto consciousness, but knew he’d faded in and out when memories of the moments prior couldn’t be true. He’d just been in the mountains overlooking Watersedge, but that wasn’t possible. He was here. In the Starfall jail.
Focus.

A loud reedy voice pulled him from his thoughts. “Let him down and clean him up.”

Lieutenant Sou.

“He’s going to have a visitor tomorrow. Get Mortog’s healers in here and make him pretty.”

The door slammed.

Baldy grumbled something about interrupting his art before releasing Ty. The band at his chest fell away. His body swung forward. Baldy freed his wrists next. He dropped to his knees and fell over sideways, his arms numb and useless to break his fall.

His head smashed into the floor…

And he was running.

Sou and his henchmen were coming after them. They broke the cover of the trees and ran along the base of the cliff. Where was he? Rain pelted his face, and the smell of the forest, fresh and clean, filled his lungs. They were close. He wanted to look back, see who was with him, but they couldn’t slow down. The entrance was just ahead. A stifled cry came from behind. He turned.

A woman with red hair plastered to her face. Ria.

He became disembodied from the dream and watched as he grabbed her arm and helped her up. Anger washed over him. Why was he helping her?

He held her tight as they stumbled forward. The vertical crevice ahead was the key. So close. He entered first, making sure they were alone. He didn’t think a worick would fit in here but had to be sure. Ty wanted to make himself stop. He shouldn’t be helping her.

She cried out, and he turned to face her.

Green eyes bore into him.

Why would I help a military crag? Anger shook him. She was Sandarian military. They kill Curzans. He wanted to kill her, not help her. Then he saw the blood pouring from the wound at her side. Grief tore through him, and he bellowed out his pain.

He lashed out only to find his hands bound to a small cot.

Standing over him was Lieutenant Sou. They were in a different room. Small, whitewashed walls and a sink and toilet. A standard cell in the Starfall jail. Not his usual accommodation. He must have been out for a while. He tested the restraints. He couldn’t move, but his body wasn’t wracked with pain.

“You’re looking better. Much better than you deserve, but don’t worry. I’ll fix that soon enough.”

“Too bad I can’t say the same for you, Sou. You need a wash.”

Sou grabbed a wood baton from the side table.

A female guard Ty hadn’t noticed cleared her throat and stepped in front of Ty.
Olivia!
She wore the chancellor’s security insignia.

“Remember, the chancellor wishes this one to be in perfect health for the meeting. Which I’m here to take him to now.” She released his wrists from the cot and bound them together in front before pulling him up to his feet.

“Have a good time, Ty. It’s the last good time you’re ever going to have.”

Ty didn’t respond. Surely, Olivia was here to get him out, but how? He tested his psi to find the bands were the same as before. His psi useless.

Olivia winked at him before stepping aside and addressing Sou. “You’ll have him back soon enough.”

“That’s right.” Sou slapped the baton in the palm of his hand, repeatedly. “Can’t wait.” Sou stepped aside as Olivia took Ty’s arm and led him from the room.

She pressed a finger to her lips, indicating silence. They stepped into an elevator and the number thirty-two illuminated before the doors closed and they ascended. Releasing his arm, she took out a small silver device. Sliding a switch, all sound faded. “We can talk now.”

“What took you so long, beautiful?” Ty asked.

“Oh, you know. The usual. Running for my life. Planning escapes.” Her expression turned serious. “They had you so deep, we didn’t know where you were. Not until the request to see you came in. It’s the woman who took you down, Ty. The one you slept with.”

He ignored her disgust-ridden comment and remembered his dream. Running, the rain, and helping Ria. It made no sense. Hallucination? No. Somehow, they’d connected in that dream, or whatever it was. “What’s the plan?”

“Stay by the windows. Merek has only one shot to get you out.”

Ria flexed and fisted her hands as Lieutenant Sou escorted her to the interrogation room. He managed to touch her at every turn, which creeped her out and pissed her off in equal measure. Dani had wanted to come along, but since she hadn’t officially arrived at the spaceport, they had no way to explain her presence. In hindsight, they should have added the names of all the EPs to Rucon’s ship’s roster just in case. Rucon would pick her up as soon as she was done here. The hall was wide with offices and interrogation rooms on either side. A standard configuration for any police station. Benches dotted the walls. People sat waiting, either for their turn or for someone, somewhere to finish. A strong odor of antiseptic spoke of frequent cleanings.

Ria’s stomach twisted in a knot, and she felt surreal, as though she were in a dream. Their dream.

That’s appropriate.
She wondered for the millionth time what the frack she was doing here.

Sou stopped at a door near the end of the corridor.

“Wait.” She paused.

Ian’s voice echoed in her head.
What do you expect is going to happen, even if we can get you in to see him?
He’d asked the question no one else would. She hadn’t had an answer for him then, and she didn’t have one now.

“Everything all right?” the lieutenant asked. He dripped insincerity as he placed a clammy hand on her arm.

She looked at the door.
No, everything is not all right.
She resisted the urge to slap his hand away. “Everything’s fine. Open the door.”

Her breath caught at the sight of him. He stood in front of a floor-to-ceiling window with his back to her. Images flashed through her mind: wet forest, rain falling down the fissure in the mountainside. Their bodies entwined. She expected to be hit with his psi. The pleasure she remembered so well, but there was nothing.

“I’m gonna be right outside this door.” Sou said. “You have five minutes.”

Ty didn’t move.

Ria wiped damp palms on her jeans. The door clicked shut behind her.

Ty spoke before turning. “Have any interesting dreams lately, Red?”

His voice stunned her. She felt it deep within, confirming her worst fears.

He faced her then, his hands bound in front. Dark hair fell over those gray eyes.

“Don’t call me Red.” She stepped farther into the room and stopped a few feet away from him. Her next breath brought in his musky scent, which seemed to permeate every cell in her body.
Oh, Goddess, why this man?

He raised an eyebrow. “Why not call you Red? It suits you.”

“I don’t like it.” That wasn’t entirely true. She had liked it the first time. “I’m just here to find out why you killed an unarmed man. And to find out what these dreams mean.” She lied about that, too. She knew the second she had entered the room what the dreams meant. He was the one. Her psi-mate. A cold-blooded killer.

“Keep talking, Red.” He took a step closer. “I like the sound of your voice. I like the way it feels.”

Ria started to speak, but found she had nothing to say. His proximity fired up her psi, but she still couldn’t sense his at all. Then she noticed the bands on his wrists.

He shot a glance at the window. “I need to thank you for this visit.”

“Yeah? Why?”

With blinding speed, he closed the gap between them, threw his bound hands over her head, and crushed her to his chest. Her brain shorted out. He
smelled
so fucking good. She saw the window over his shoulder explode outward, and they were yanked through the gaping hole. They flew through the air in the grip of a powerful psi. She struggled wildly and looked back to see the door to the room opening and men rushing in, including Sou with a look of astonishment on his face.

Her mind was a jumbled mess. She couldn’t make sense of anything with Ty’s body pressed against hers. Sensation overload. Her military training kicked in, and she relaxed her muscles, twisted around, and used her hands to fling his arms over her head just as they crashed to the floor of a waiting cruiser. The door sealed shut, and they sped away.

She’d landed half on her side and half on her ass. She held her arms up in front of her, focusing her psi on keeping Ty pinned down. His psi may not be able to leave his body with those bands on, but she was fully enmeshed with it now.

He lurched forward.

“Oh no, you don’t.” She shoved him against the far side of the cruiser, smacking his head against the glass.

Her body shook. She had to keep him pinned but the very act of connecting with him made her burn with desire.

“Oy, what the frack is this?” A gruff voice bellowed before something smashed into the back of her head, and the lights went out.

* * * *

Ty slid to the floor as soon as Ria lost consciousness. His body and psi still rang with the effect of touching her.

“I thought this was a rescue mission for one,” Merek said.

Rolling to his side, Ty shimmied up to the seat next to Merek. “Good to see you, too. You mind?” He held out his bound wrists.

Merek used a laser-knife to sever the cords.

Ty’s psi burst out in all directions. Nasty things, psi-bands.

Merek recoiled. “What was that? You all right?”

Ty reached down and picked up the bands. “Mortog has a new toy. These things somehow constrict your psi to your body.”

“Isn’t that something? Warder Zar just showed these to us.”

“Olivia’s dad?”

Olivia’s father was the head of the Starfall Underground.

“Yep.” Merek took the band from Ty gently, as if it was poisonous, and inspected the severed ends. “Bella even tried some on. The Starfall Underground is deeply entrenched in Mortog’s government. It gives me hope.”

“Yeah.” Ty rubbed his chafed skin as he studied the woman at their feet. His action had been total instinct. No thought whatsoever.

Merek reached down and checked her pulse. “She’s breathing. I’ve never seen anyone take you down like that, let alone a waif like this.”

The overwhelming buzz she had caused him was fading, but her mere presence provided a continuous feed of some serious energy. He rubbed his back and stretched. “Let’s just say she had me at a disadvantage.”

“You know who she is, right?”

“Yeah, I know.” The anger caused by the thought felt good. Gave him some control over the effect she had on him. “We need to search her.”

Merek nodded, and they made short work of locating her com and throwing it out the vehicle.

“Why is she here?” Merek wasn’t happy.

Ty shook his head and glanced sideways at his foster father. “Wasn’t planned.” He looked back at the woman.

“Olivia isn’t going to like this.” Merek bent over and bound the woman’s hands. “This was supposed to be a jail break, not a kidnapping of an off-worlder.”

Merek wasn’t kidding about Olivia. If Ria really was his psi-mate…
Sandarian fracking military.

“Seriously, Ty, why’d you bring her?”

“I don’t know, okay? Just leave it alone.” Her presence here rattled him. His desire for her made him want to punch someone. “Sorry, Merek. They beat me up pretty bad. Had the healers working on me all night. Maybe it messed with my head.”
Maybe that’s it. It’s all in my head.

As though confirming his suspicion of a head injury, Ty only now thought about the others. “Where’s Trin? And Bella? They okay?”

“We’re all okay. We’ve had to go into hiding. The chancellor didn’t waste any time. He’s got another henchman. They tore our place apart, but we were already gone.” The pain in his voice was clear.

“I’m sorry, Merek.”

“That wasn’t your fault.” Merek eyed Ria’s still body.
“So now you’re a murderer and a kidnapper. Frack.”

Merek’s words stung. He’d killed the father of two innocent children. No one knew better than he what that meant. “Like I said, it wasn’t planned. I can’t believe I did this any more than you can.” Ty thought back to the Ball. To Jara. “I want you to know something.”

Merek looked at him with concern. “What is it, son?”

“I wasn’t going to go through with it. When I found him, he was talking about kids. His kids.” Ty closed his eyes at the memory. “I couldn’t do to them what he did to me. I was done. I turned to leave, but he’d seen me. Had my arm and said he knew who I was. He said he was going to take pleasure in killing you and Trin…” Ty swallowed hard at the memory. “He said he was going to keep Bella for himself.”