Chapter Eight
Lindsey, Interstellar Brides Processing Center, Miami, Two Hours Earlier
The transport pad was still humming when I stumbled off the smooth black surface and into Warden Egara’s arms.
“Slow down. Give yourself a minute. You just traveled through space.” Her normally stern voice was calm and soothing. Too calm.
“Let me go.” I shook off the arm she’d wrapped around my waist and headed out the doors to the employee area where the people I worked for had taken me before. Without the warden’s knowledge, of course. There was a locker room in the back where the cafeteria and cleaning staff kept their personal belongings and my things should still be there. My clothes. My cell phone. All in hiding awaiting my return.
I needed to call my mom, warn her to bundle Wyatt up and meet me somewhere other than home. Somewhere safe. Anywhere else but the run down old apartment building we’d lived in the last couple years.
“Lindsey, look at me.” Warden Egara barked at me but I waved her away, patting down the uniform and pants I still wore. They were green. Rachel dressed me up like a medical officer and shoved the ReGen wand in my pocket before I left the Colony. The Colony. God, I was in a familiar place, home on Earth, and yet I felt nauseated, literally sick knowing that Kiel was so far away. My mark no longer felt warm. It was dead now. Nothing more than colored skin. I missed the heat, the warm, pulsing connection to my mate. To the man I loved.
No, my mark wouldn’t let me forget Kiel. He was seared into my brain, part of me now, just as the mark was part of my hand.
But I was home and close to Wyatt. So close. All I had to do was get to him before Senator Brooks and his crazy conspiracy crowd.
The pants and tunic were comfortable enough, and I sighed in relief when I felt the bulge of the ReGen wand in the pants pocket. If this wand healed Wyatt as it should, the trip had been worth it. The heartache that would follow me the rest of my life would be worth it. I sucked in a deep breath and clenched my fist hoping to ease the ache of knowing the connection between was dead. “I have to go.”
Jogging to the locker rooms, the warden ran behind. I ignored her. I didn’t care about her. I only cared about one person, one thing.
Wyatt.
A minute later I stood in front of an open locker and tore the alien clothing from my body. Shimmying into my comfy jeans and cotton t-shirt, I yanked my mommy-sized purse from the hook and shoved the ReGen wand inside. When I sat down to slide my feet into my sandals, the warden grabbed my bag and I froze. The healing wand was in that bag. I needed that wand for Wyatt.
I pounced, tugged at the strap of the bag. “What are you doing?”
“Do I have your attention?”
“Absolutely.” She released the bag, let me take it. Sitting back down on the bench, I tucked it beside me—at my side and away from her.
I slipped my feet into the sandals and tensed, ready to fight for the bag again if necessary. No one was stealing the wand from me now. I was on Earth, with the healing wand and Wyatt was so close. Healing him was so close. The warden might look tough, but I was desperate. I’d claw her eyes out if I had to. Anything for Wyatt. Anything, including leaving Kiel behind.
“You are to take the wand, heal your son, and return it to me immediately. Do you understand? I’m breaking about a hundred rules letting you take it out of this building, rules that could cost me my job.”
Okay. Yeah. She had a point. She’d risked a lot to help me. So had Rachel, including the wrath of her two mates. Right now, she was probably taking a lot of heat for me.
“I’m sorry. I understand, and I promise I’ll bring it back as soon as I heal Wyatt’s leg. I give you my word.”
“And no one else can see it, or know it exists. This technology is forbidden on Earth. It doesn’t exist here.”
“I promise. I swear, I’ll do exactly what you said. I just need to heal Wyatt’s leg.” I reached for the handle of the purse. It was hard and round, like a curved piece of bamboo in my grip. But the warden didn’t grab for it again.
Dressed and ready to go, I dug through the contents until I found my phone. I turned it on, waiting impatiently for the operating system to reboot. The battery was still fully charged. I’d only been gone a couple of days, but God, it felt like a lifetime.
I wasn’t the same person I’d been when I left. I was stronger now. Loving Kiel had made me stronger somehow. Braver. I would heal Wyatt and dupe the assholes who sent me to the Colony. Hopefully, the warden had enough time to take care of the second half of Rachel’s plan.
“Did Rachel send you the files?” I asked.
Warden Egara nodded, her smile a bit wider this time. “Yes.”
“And? Did you have enough time?”
“I had to call in some help, but yes. We have all the files fully edited and up online. We also sent copies to the major news agencies, so they should be broadcasting any time now.”
The broken little part of me that had been withering and dying at the thought of betraying the warriors of the Colony warmed and healed. Rezzer and Marz, the governor and the others, the humans I’d talked to, would have their story told. The truth. Not some bullshit spin-doctored version of things used to stir up trouble for the warriors on the Colony.
I was done being a pawn.