Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 130081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
“What enclave is he from?” Simon asked. “You know Oliver and I were fighting with the Eastern North American faction when Sylvania and Bairdida swooped in and rescued us.”
“ENA all the way!” Oliver clenched a fist in solidarity.
“I don’t actually know what enclave he was from,” Lan’ara said hesitantly. She was uncertain about telling so many people about Nate—so far she had only confided in Commander Sylvania.
“Can you describe him? Do you know his name?” Commander Bairdida asked. She switched places with her mate so she could walk closer to Lan’ara. “Anything you know might help.”
“Well…he’s really tall and muscular,” Lan’ara said. “He’s got long brown hair that he wears in a club at the back of his neck, and he has blue eyes. Also, he used to work with aquatic animals before the Scourge came.”
“Aquatic animals?” Oliver frowned. “Was he a Zoologist?”
“Or maybe a Marine Biologist?” Simon suggested.
“He was a seal—or he worked with seals. Navy seals,” Lan’ara said. “I’m sorry—the dreams I share with him are so chaotic—it’s hard to say. I don’t know what it means.”
“Holy shit!” Oliver’s eyes grew wide. “Are you talking about Nathanial Jakes?”
“Yes!” Lan’ara stopped dead in the middle of the winding metal corridor, so surprised she felt frozen to the spot. “Yes—that is his full name! I heard it spoken once in one of the dreams we shared. How did you know?”
“Because we knew Nate,” Simon said quietly, answering for his twin. “He led the ENA Enclave for a while.”
“The guy is an ex-Navy Seal—a total badass,” Oliver added. “He was fearless and he knew all the tactics—he got our squad out of some really tight spots.”
“So where is he now?” Simon asked. “We got separated from him in a firefight right before Sylvania and Bairdida came for us.”
Lan’ara shook her head sadly.
“I don’t know. I saw him being captured by the AllFather and…” She trailed off, unable to tell about the way the evil creature who headed the Scourge had fed on Nate’s pain.
“And?” Simon prodded gently. He and Oliver were staring at Lan’ara anxiously, waiting to hear their friend’s fate.
“And last night I saw him being taken off Earth—on a Saurian slave ship, I think,” Lan’ara said. She would keep the knowledge of her fated mate’s agony to herself, she decided. It was better that way.
“He might be headed for anywhere, then,” Bairdida remarked. “Fucking Saurians sell slaves to every corner of the galaxy.”
“Which is why I’m so anxious to find him before the trail goes cold,” Lan’ara said earnestly. “I can feel his pain and it’s agonizing.”
“We’ll find him.” Commander Bairdida squeezed her shoulder firmly and her golden eyes sparked with determination. “Count on it, Lan’ara.”
“Thank you, Commander. But first we must go meet this new Kindred from another universe,” Lan’ara said firmly. She knew that Commander Sylvania needed her there to shake the male’s hands and determine his true motivations.
“Let’s make this quick then, so you can start searching,” Commander Sylvania said. “Come on—the Docking Bay is just ahead.”
They moved off again and Lan’ara felt a bit better. She wanted to ask Oliver and Simon more about Nate, but she decided that could wait.
First they had to interrogate the new Kindred and see what he wanted.
FOUR
DAVRIK
There was a whole delegation to meet him when Davrik landed in the Docking Bay. It was surreal, really, he thought. It felt like he had done nothing more than fly his long-range shuttle away from the Mother Ship and then turned around to fly right back again.
But he had gone through the fold in space—a fold that was a green, vertical slash in the blackness rather than the usual red horizontal gash. And before flying through he had gripped the Far Box tightly in his palm and said,
“I wish to go to the universe where my mate, Sonya is still alive.”
There had been a strange feeling as he passed through the vertical fold in space—an indefinable buzzing sensation that he had never felt before, though he had folded space many, many times. And then Davrik had found himself hovering just outside the Mother Ship—the Mother Ship which was owned by the Kindred of this alternate universe.
As he stepped out of his shuttle, he saw there were five people coming to meet him—two human males and three Kindred females. The tall female with the pale blond hair drawn back in a plait down her back must be Commander Sylvan’s counterpart, he thought. And the human male beside her with a possessive arm around her waist must be the counterpart of Sophia, who was mated to Commander Sylvan in his own universe.
The other two he guessed must be the female counterpart of Commander Baird and the male counterpart of his wife, Olivia. But the third female Kindred surprised him. She had pale lavender skin and large purple eyes. Also, she was shorter than the other female Kindred, though still taller than a human woman. She had long, straight black hair and pale pink, swirling ridges at her temples.