Page 57 of Dark Company

“Oh.” Her voice is barely a whisper, the soft tones rippling with dread, but I can still hear it. “He was cast out of the commune. He wouldn’t stop when Karis asked him to. About a week before you found us.”

My brain zips back, and one face appears from the murky depths of my memories. A beta in the desert. The venom that poured from his lips when I asked him about Karis. He knew her. He pointed the way. It’s that same sniveling bastard that has her now.

Not needing to speak with Alexi any further, I race out of the tent and grab a horse. Maybe if I’m lucky, they won’t be too far. Leon is right beside me, never speaking, never needing to. We communicate in a way that doesn’t require words. He knows I need assistance, and, in true soldier fashion, he’s willing to give it.

With the never-ending desert in front of us, it feels like such a daunting task to find two people, and it’s nice to know that I have Leon as a support. We ride off, and I pull ahead, racing along the water. From what little I gathered from Karis’s mind, I saw that she wanted to be near it to help guide her.

Honestly, it’s the one smart thing she’s done since leaving. It doesn’t make up for anything, but it’s at least a point in her favor. The water is crusted with sand, flowing in a stagnant swirl that mimics my emotions. I feel so helpless, so unsure of things.

It’s a state of mind that I detest.

If she followed the stream, then her hiding place should be nearby. It takes several minutes to find the large rock, but when we do, a burgeoning sense of pride blossoms through my chest. My Karis made it much farther than I imagined. For one so small and seemingly helpless, she moved like a snake through the sand.

The dirt in front of the rock is disturbed, as if she was pulled out. This is where that bastard found her. He preyed on her in a helpless state, and I was unable to do anything to stop it. Hopping off the horse, I ball my hand up into a fist and slam it into the rock, wishing it was his face I was smashing.

The pain that radiates into my knuckles and travels up my arm is barely noticeable. It’s merely a sensation that my body has to process on top of the anger flowing through me. I’ll probably feel it tomorrow, but hopefully, by then, I’ll have Karis in my arms. I can deal with any other pain if I know she’s safe.

Leon walks over to me and places his hand on my shoulder, never flinching when I whirl around to confront him. “I understand your anger, friend. I would feel it too if it were my mate. But you must control yourself. Your scent of rage is polluting the other scents here, and we need that to find them.”

Taking a deep breath, I stand there for a moment, concentrating on the simple movements of in and out. Though it takes a good several minutes, I find myself able to calm down enough to drag the other male’s scent into my nostrils. It’s that same asshole that found us while we were first looking for Karis.

Deep down, I hoped it wouldn’t be, but I can’t deny it. The only bright spot is her delicate scent of fear and rage. She didn’t want to be with him. This wasn’t a rejoining of lovers. Besides, I’d hope that any infidelity on her part would be something I could feel through our bond.

No. He took her by force.

My hands clench into fists as I picture his face. The audacity of taking something that wasn’t his. And that’s not even the worst part. The venom he spewed about her in the beginning is now going to the tally. If the gods show him mercy, his death will be quick. But it will only be by the gods’ hands because I will show him none.

Climbing back onto my horse, I look at Leon and jerk my head in the direction of the scent. We can’t go as fast as I would like, since extra speed means a chance of missing a turn or losing the trail completely. Luckily for us, his pungent odor is powerful, infused with both anger and the lack of bathing.

My lips curl into a snarl as I picture Karis having to endure something that smells so vile. I reach out to the bond again, but there’s still nothing. It drives anxiety deep into my gut. Logically, I know she’s there. The bond still has the hum of life at least, but even if her body is alive, she’s not responding. There’s nothing on the other end.

At least when she was angry at me, I could feel it. What I would give to feel it once more. It doesn’t matter that it hurt or nearly took my breath away. It was life, vibrant and forceful. With her being unconscious like she is, I can’t even tell if he’s hurting her.

Just him laying one finger on her is considered harm in my book, and he’s already done that and more. My blood burns as flashes of the pain she already endured from him lights up my brain. When he curled his fingers into the mark, her cry was guttural, agonizing. It ripped through my heart as if he reached in and tugged at the bond, attempting to wrench it free.

But it held firm. My heart glows with pride as that thought whispers across my mind like a cooling salve to my overheated emotions. Whatever he tried to do with his actions, it didn’t separate us. She’s still mine, and she still has my mark. Gritting my teeth, I duck my head and urge the horse just a little bit faster. With Leon by my side, we should be able to scent things better. What I miss, he should catch, same as me.

As we move, the scent gets stronger, the undertone of anger rising even that much more. I’m terrified for my omega. Granted, he’s not able to re-mark her or even give her a double bond, but he’s capable of violence. I smell it in the air like an oily film. It’s the same scent those in the rebellion wore, only they were fighting on the side of good. This asshole is only thinking about himself.

The horizon stretches out in front of us, an endless sea of sand and rocks. Again, the worry that we will lose him chips away at my resolve. Next time, I’m procuring a transport ship. I will never take on another mission without one. We could have tripled our speed. That, and Karis would never have gotten away. Even in the storm, I could have still pursued her.

But now, I’m stuck on these damned horses, searching for a putrid needle in a haystack. My eyes drift about, attempting to get our bearings. I don’t even know how far away from the base camp we are, and I don’t want to waste time and energy calculating it with my uniform.

Tipping my nose back into the air, Leon and I look at each other, mirrored expressions of shock lighting up our face. His scent isn’t the only one. Now, there are a myriad of smells of all genders and races. Pulling back on the reins, we slow to a stop and dismount, choosing to walk until we figure out what’s going on.

As we reach the crest of the large dune in front of us, what looks like a small city comes into view. It’s not nearly as sophisticated as ours, but it bustles with people from all walks of life. It must be an unreported trading port. Many of them crop up from time to time, but never ones this big.

Pulling my sleeve up, I dial in the coordinates, making a note in case we ever need to either use this port or defend against it. To my knowledge, the only other major ports were near Laxa and Gundhar, but this one makes sense. If my calculations are correct, it’s pretty close to the center of all of us.

I nod to Leon, and we mount back up, wishing to be at an advantage over those just milling about. Gripping the reins in my hand, I turn my horse to the side, easing him down in a diagonal motion. His head flies back at my command, but I know he’ll be more willing to obey this than to just fly down face first.

It takes a few moments, but soon, we’re both back on a makeshift path that leads to the heart of the port. The stench of unwashed bodies slams into us as we get even closer. Whatever this port is, it’s not for the high-born people. Groups of beta males conduct deals on the sidewalks as a mixture of beta and omega women stand outside of door frames, offering their bodies.

Glancing over at Leon, I watch as he pushes his respirators in before they have a chance at calling to him. As a mated Alpha, the scent of another will no longer cause a reaction in me. Not until the bond itself is severed, granting me a freedom I don’t wish to have.

The roads are small and filled to the brim with people. There’s no way we can continue to navigate on horseback. Glancing over at Leon, I tap my side where my blaster is hidden and wait for him to confirm back to me that he’s also armed. We both dismount and hand our horses over to a young beta male whose face is so covered in dirt and grime that I can only make out the color of his eyes.

They’re bright blue, like the ponds at the fisheries on the Water Sector. Just seeing them makes my heart lurch. I never thought I’d be the homesick type, but here I am wishing for just one more hot meal with Karis, one more chance to be together. No one dares swim in those ponds, but there are other blue bodies of water I can fuck her in.