Larsson, the youngest of the cousins, spoke up angrily, though his body was beginning to resume its normal shape. “We just go in and get him, that’s all. And kill any tiger asshole that tries to stop us!”
“You know we can’t do that,” Lucas said, shaking his head. “We show up in Tygerian airspace, and they’ll shoot us out of the sky before we have a chance to even negotiate. We can’t sneak in either—their planetary detection radar is too good. ”
“Negotiate, hells!” Larsson yelled. “We take him by force. Surely the Alliance will back us on this!”
“Not for only one man,” Lucas replied. “They’ll include him in the list of prisoners they’ve been negotiating for, but that’s it. I’ve already talked to them, and I’m afraid we’re on our own in this thing. ”
“We’ve been there before,” Nikolai said. “How soon can we leave?”
“To do what, Nikolai? Get ourselves captured too, or killed? We have to be smart about this. I’ve given it a lot of thought, and there may be another way. ”
Konnor had been quietly brooding on the side of the room since his outburst. Kai glanced over at the wall behind him now, wondering what Lucas was going to do to get that dent out. Maybe they could hang a picture over it? Konnor’s shirt was hanging around his shoulders in tatters, but he was still the first to answer Lucas.
“Tell us what you have in mind, Lucas. We’ll do anything to get him back home. ”
Lucas nodded. “Our contact on Tygeria, the one who sent us the vid he took on his communicator, says the Tygerian’s name is Taz Bonnet. ”
“Taz Bonnet?” Blayde said in surprise. “You mean that’s not Tarr?”
“No, even worse. It’s his twin brother, and he’s an important person on Tygeria. Some kind of senator, and we can’t underestimate him. According to our source, he’s not much like Tarr, except physically. The man’s mate is expecting a child, so it’s more than likely he bought Kyle as his…” Lucas glanced up at Kai again, as if he gathered strength by looking at him. “Kyle is probably his love slave. ”
“Shit!” Konnor said softly. “You mean just like Nikolai?”
“No, not like Nikolai at all. Nikolai was just playing around with Jagger, and it wasn’t like Nikolai was being abused by his mate,” Lucas said. Kai had to smother an inappropriate smile at the idea of the huge, muscular Nikolai being abused by Jagger, who, though fierce and exotically handsome, was the smallest of any of the mates, barely coming up to his own shoulder.
“No,” Lucas continued. “Kyle is being physically abused as we can see on this vid. He’s probably being raped, beaten and forced to be this Tygerian’s slave. ”
“Why didn’t he shift? And why was he fighting in gladiator gear? This doesn’t look like an Exhibition. ” Nikolai had started the vid again, and everyone was watching it intently.
“No,” Lucas replied. “They must be giving him drugs to prevent the shift. And according to our source, they were sparring in the ring—practicing, I guess. Taz Bonnet participates in the Exhibition Games. ”
“So it’s not enough to drug him and abuse him at home,” Nikolai said bitterly. “He also has to take him to the arena and beat him up?”
“Get back to what you were saying, Lucas,” Konnor said, breaking in. “Tell us your plan. ”
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Lucas sighed. “This man who has Kyle is Tarr Bonnet’s brother. Tarr makes frequent trips off planet to trade in love slaves, along with the Rogers. I think we have to go back to Blayde’s original plan—we have to take Tarr into custody. Once we have him, we can use him as a bargaining tool. We can offer his brother a trade—Kyle for Tarr. ”
A short silence fell over the room and then Blayde cleared his throat. “I think that will work. They’re known to be very close. ” He glanced over at Nikolai. “Like most twins. ”
Nikolai and Kyle were twins, and though not identical, their connection was strong. Nikolai dropped his head in his hands, unable to watch the vid any longer. “The only problem is how to take him,” Blayde continued. “He hangs out a lot at his club on Leeria, so if we could find a way to stake it out—we could wait for him and then move in. ”
“We’ll attract too much attention to go in where we can be seen. The Leerian officials were furious with him when he took Kyle and now Leeria’s lost all their Alliance trade agreements. I think if we made them certain promises, they’d cooperate with us. They might even arrest him themselves. ”
“Only one problem,” Blayde said, laying a hand on Nikolai’s shoulder. “We’ll have to be patient for that to work. Tarr’s smart and he knows the Leerians aren’t happy with him. It may be a quarter cycle or more before he lands on Leeria again. ”
Lucas shook his head. “Too long. Kyle could be dead if we wait much longer. ”
Larsson made a growling sound. “Who knows what kind of abuse that bastard is subjecting him to?”
Silence fell over the room again, as each man became lost in dark, violent thoughts.
“Then we find him, wherever he might be in the galaxies. We’re not without resources of our own, and we have many friends and customers who trade with us. We’ll put out the word that we want Tarr Bonnet taken alive and offer a reward. ” Lucas looked around at each of the cousins in turn. “I, for one, won’t rest until we find him. ” Angry sounds of agreement and support echoed loudly in the room.
Kai sighed and turned around to make a pot of the hot Lycan tea Lucas liked so much. Poor Kyle—he was the sweetest of all the cousins and always seemed to have a smile on his face. Kai felt a pang like a real physical discomfort as he imagined the tortures Kyle must be going through, even as they sat here discussing him. He sent up a quick prayer to whatever gods might be listening to spare Kyle any further pain.
Chapter Six