“All right—I’m on my way.”
“Oh but Sir, we’ll find her! You don’t have to come all this way,” the pilot began.
“Yes I fucking do!” Bard roared, his frustration and fear overcoming him. “Makenna is lost and she needs to be found so I’m fucking coming and you’d better be ready to meet me!”
The young pilot’s face went pale.
“Yes, Sir,” he murmured. “I’m sorry, Sir. I didn’t mean to—”
Bard hit the disconnect button and cut him off in mid-apology. He didn’t have time to sit around listening to some idiot say he was sorry! Makenna was in trouble—he could feel it in his bones—and he needed to get to her.
He got off the couch and was surprised when Tiny jumped off too.
“Not going for a walk, boy,” Bard told him distractedly. “I’ve got to go find Makenna. She might be in trouble.”
At the sound of her name, Tiny gave a sharp bark. He followed Bard to the door of the suite and when Bard opened it, he actually tried to get out.
“Hey, no!” Bard frowned and shook his head at his normally well-behaved pet. “I don’t have time for this right now, Tiny. I have to get going.”
Tiny gave another short, sharp bark and, when Bard opened the door again, he once again started to go through it.
Bard raised his eyebrows.
“You think you’re coming with me? I don’t think so, boy. I have to go all the way to Rageron and I don’t—”
“Warrior, let the Ya’greer go with you.”
The strong, feminine voice in his ears was accompanied by a sudden change in atmosphere. The air seemed almost too thick to breathe and there was a feeling of an all-encompassing presence filling the room—a female presence.
“Goddess?” Bard gasped, looking around. There was nothing to see, but the Kindred deity could certainly be felt. Tiny felt her too—his shaggy ears had pricked up and his head was tilted to one side, as though he was listening intently.
“You will need the Ya’greer. Allow him to come with you,” the Goddess told him. “And hurry—your female is in danger!”
“Will she be all right? Will I get to her in time?” Bard demanded, looking around the suite.
But the presence was suddenly gone and he could breathe again. Tiny looked up at him and whined uneasily in his throat.
“Yeah, you’re right, boy—we need to get going,” Bard growled. “Come on, looks like you’re coming with me to Rageron after all.”
They left the suite running, with Bard praying all the way that he wouldn’t be too late…
32
Slowly, cautiously, Makenna made her way to the edge of the field where the sweet grass bushes grew. A cloyingly sweet odor rose from the pale pink flowers, which were about the size of her palm.
On the other side of the line of bushes, a deep blue jungle loomed, with towering trees and masses of vines and creepers. The vegetation was a deep, indigo blue and leant itself to mysterious shadows, even though the sun was high in the sky. If she looked hard enough, there seemed to be shapes moving in it—big shapes.
Makenna didn’t like the look of it one bit, but it didn’t matter because she wasn’t going into it, she told herself. She was going to stay right here in the field and just keep moving around if they came looking for her again. It should be perfectly safe, now that she’d found a way to mask her scent.
Crouched low in the grass, Makenna picked several of the flowers and rubbed them over all of her exposed skin. There—that should take care of her scent, she thought. They would never find her now. She could relax and wait until they stopped trying.
But what if Bard comes to find you? What will you do then? whispered a worried little voice in her head.
Reluctantly, Makenna decided she would have to run in that case. She had to stay one step ahead of the big warrior. If he caught her, he’d just put her back on the shuttle to that First World place where there were mostly women and almost no men. She wasn’t about to go for that—she wanted to live.
She picked one more blossom and was rubbing it over her face—the one spot she’d almost forgotten about—when a deep, gravelly voice like someone gargling with stones in their throat spoke beside her.
“You think that stinking flower is going to hide you from Biter, little female?” it growled. “Don’t matter what you smell like—Biter can find still find you.”
A huge shape stepped out from the shadows of the jungle and Makenna was horrified to see it was a Trollox—but not just a Trollox, the Trollox—the one who had bought and paid for her and wanted her to carry his heir.
Biter—it’s Biter! He’s come for me!
She looked over her shoulder, meaning to call for help from the pilot’s brother, but he had wandered to the far edge of the field and had his back turned, sniffing the air. Makenna opened her mouth to scream anyway, but suddenly a big, dirty hand that smelled like unwashed Trollox clamped over the bottom half of her face. Biter was fast.