Shadow's Chosen (Dark World Mates Book 3) Read online

  The drogin sat at a terminal in a room not much different from their own. He bowed his head, and Sia did the same.

  "This is Councilman Qorey," Sia said. "He has been helping us and working with their chief of enforcement to stifle the crime of the undercity."

  The councilman began to speak in his foreign tongue, and the QS translator built into the call system kicked in.

  "Pleased to meet you all." He looked to Adrien and said, "We completely understand your apprehension. We have been working to establish a connection with humans since the first team arrived. The drogin pride themselves on integration and melding of cultures from all across our known universe. There are many who have come from all over, and they have made a place in our great city. We had hoped the same could be said for those of Earth. We also have a common enemy, one whose power and influence we let spread too far. It was our own fault for we didn't take such a threat seriously until it was too late. But now we are ready to fight them and stop these criminals once and for all. We want to help our human friends. Teams of professionals such as yourselves will be at your side as you make your way into the undercity, and, with our elite tech, we are confident we can make the vermin scatter to all corners, bringing those responsible into our hands. And brought to justice."

  Elise pursed her lips and stifled a laugh. Adrien gave her a warning glare, and she subtly placed a hand over her mouth. Whether by the translator's doing or just how the drogin talked, his words came out dramatic and over the top, as if the speech were rehearsed for a large crowd, not a handful of soldiers. The drogin even smacked his fist in the palm of his other hand, a clearly human gesture he was trying to use for their benefit. The effort wasn't lost on them, but it still looked extremely forced. A few cleared their throats, and Sia raised her brows at them. The drogin didn't seem to notice.

  "If you come," the drogin continued, "we will equip you with our most advanced weaponry and armor along with all necessary supplies. You will not be alone in this fight."

  "Thank you, Councilman Qorey," Sia replied when she was certain he was done speaking. "We will continue to stay in contact through this process."

  "My pleasure." The councilman bowed his head again, and Sia returned the gesture before his image disappeared.

  "That was...very convincing," Amy said, and a few burst out in a fit of quiet giggles.

  Sia's mouth curved ever so slightly as she looked at each of them. "It's a dangerous mission I ask of you, but I don't ask it lightly. Grayhart cannot afford to see another team vanish and come back with so few or, worse, none at all."

  Elise and the others turned quiet again.

  "You mean like Grayhart 12?" Adrien said suddenly. They had heard about that team. Gone too far out of human territory only never to be heard from again.

  "A strange coincidence...or perhaps a sign from a higher power one might say," Sia said in a sad tone. "Only a few days before team 16 vanished, we got a message from a crewmember that had been aboard Grayhart 12. Only three somehow made it back. They are returning here to give us a full report and will likely return to Earth or a civilian world after. Who knows what horrors they faced." Sia leaned against the table to look down at the city. "I would not see it happen again. For that, I am desperate. If you agree to go, to find this team and bring them back to us safely, I will pay you triple the usual price."

  This got their full attention. No one said a word and waited instead on Adrien's order.

  "We need a minute to discuss," he said after a moment.

  Sia nodded. "Of course." She straightened and made for the door. "Take the time you need. I will be right outside."

  As soon as the door closed, the whispers flew.

  "Fuck me, that's forty million to the lot of us," Bruce said in a loud hiss.

  "Yeah, except this feels a hell of a lot like a suicide mission," Amy said in turn.

  "You heard the drogin, though. He said they would give us some of their weapons. I'd be down for a trade," Jerico added.

  Elise looked to Adrien, who met her gaze. "That's a lot of money. Probably could live nicely on it if you don't go ham at the bar every week," she said honestly.

  Adrien thought it over then raised his voice over the others. "We'll vote on it." Everyone quieted up and nodded in agreement to a vote. "All those in, raise your hand."

  Bruce's and Jerico's went up immediately, followed by Reese, Helen, and Tom. Adrien raised his and looked to Elise. "One more mission," he said.

  Elise knew she was going to raise her hand no matter what. But deep inside, she was hesitant. Amy—who hadn't raised her hand—wasn't completely wrong. It would be a difficult mission. But not impossible. If they made it back...

  You saved us...our hero...thank you...

  The memory of the little voice still rang true in her head, even when her heart jolted at the thought. It took effort not to think of the past—of the little voice laced with fear and the dark jungle where it had come from—as she raised her hand.

  "Looks like a clear winner...send her back in," Adrien ordered Tom.

  As Tom opened the door and Sia entered the room, Adrien stood and nodded his head. "We're in."

  Two

  Nezka sat silently at his pilot seat in the dark cabin, watching the lights of the city pass by. A soft blue light blinked at him, but he ignored it, his eyes narrowing in on a map of the city displayed before him on the console.

  Eight turns of the planet. Eight days since he had spoken to Vesra in the callroom. Eight days since he had prepared his team to gather the humans. And as soon as they were geared up to go, what should happen but for the humans to go missing somewhere in the lower levels of the city. Five days now passed since their disappearance, and there hadn't been a single sign. What should have been a simple extraction now was the very opposite.

  Nezka's hand, which had been resting calmly on the arm of his seat, slowly tightened into a fist.

  Fuck.

  The blinking blue light continued to flash and, without looking down, Nezka tapped his finger on the pad to take the call.

  "Ruumas is back," came a low voice, "with one of them."

  Nezka ended the call and lurched out of his seat, making his way out of the cabin and straight down the hall to the end of the ship. The sounds of moans, muffled by the door, grew clearer as Nezka entered into the holding dock where a small pod-ship sat amongst crates of supplies. Ahead, a group dressed in silvery black armor suits similar to his own stood around a creature with its back turned, crouched on the floor with its head bowed. Its clothes were ripped, droplets of blood staining the collar. As Nezka approached, the group stepped back save for one who barely flinched as Nezka stepped close to meet him.

  The skra, an amphibious looking male with dark green skin, blinked at him. "He's stable. Just a little roughed up."

  Nezka didn't look away. "Did anyone see you?"

  The skra lifted his webbed hand and shook it once. "No."

  Nezka turned and looked down at the creature before him, one of the cityfolk—a drogin. He crouched down, and the drogin lifted his head enough to see him, letting out a pitiful hissing cry. He spoke in a stuttering, unrecognizable speech, shaking.

  Nezka gestured to his team, and one of his men came around and took hold of the drogin's head, placing a voicer across the drogin's mouth—a simple mask with a vent at the front. It took a few moments until the drogin's speech became clear, translated through the voicer.

  "Please...please..." came a grated, wheezing voice. A small earpiece was shoved into the drogin's ear, and Nezka waited a short moment longer before speaking.

  "What do you know about the humans?"

  The drogin looked at him, confused. His eyes shot all around, and Nezka took hold of his chin to bring him back to focus on him. "Where are the humans?"

  "Hu...Humans...?"

  "That's right. They came here not too long ago. The team that was new to the city."

  The drogin looked away then back. "I don't know...where they are
."

  Nezka's hand tightened on the drogin's jaw. "I think you might. You're a watchman at one of the gates. You saw them go into the undercity." His head tilted as he examined the shaking creature before him. "What do you know?"

  The creature whimpered and said nothing until Nezka shook him slightly, and he yelped. "They...they went in to gather information about those living below. They didn't come back." The drogin tried to shake his head away, but Nezka held him tight. "The undercity is filled with a foul breed. They were warned not to go."

  "Who took them?" Nezka asked calmly.

  "I don't know for sure... I don't, I swear!" The drogin panicked as a knife came into his periphery. "But it was likely them! The Red Blades! They control...the undercity. They know everything!"

  "The Red Blades...?"

  "The criminal underlords. Their leader...no one has seen. No one knows...where they hide."

  The knife lowered, and the drogin's breathless pants quieted only slightly.

  "What else?" Nezka said patiently.

  "Wh—what else? I...don't know."

  "Are they looking for them? Your people?"

  The drogin seemed to think on this for a moment, and then his eyes brightened. "Yes. Yes, the city officials have been looking. And there is talk of a bounty."

  "Bounty?"

  "They are looking to put a huge sum on the heads of the leaders and criminals responsible. And on the heads of the Red Blades. You...can see for yourself with my Ulink."

  Nezka rifled through the drogin’s clothes until he found what he assumed the drogin was talking about. A thin, oval-shaped device with a simple interface. "This is tied to your network?" he asked.

  The drogin nodded, and Nezka pressed against the device, lighting up its screen. "Ruumas, take this and download all information then link to their network." The skra took it as ordered and disappeared. Nezka grabbed hold of the drogin. He picked him up, forcing him to his feet.

  "Please...please...don't kill me," he begged.

  "I can dispose of him," said Silfres, the lygin watching nearby, a large feline with a scar across his nose and a dark mane.

  It would be easier. But Nezka was just starting to get back into a good mood with this new set of information, and for that, he felt the drogin deserved to live. He let go of the creature, who stumbled back. "Wipe his brain. We will drop him somewhere."

  Without question, the lygin took hold of the drogin and dragged him away. Nezka looked to the others who waited his command: Wruk, a grex with a wide lizard face and yellow eyes, Vijnn, a corax with a shark-mouthed grin, his back fins trembling in anticipation, and Jazlin, a nillium female with pale gold skin and crown-like points on either side of her head, adorned in a set of leathers. Some of Vesra's finest men and women at his beck and call.

  "Make for the central callroom," he ordered. "I will meet you there."

  The grex and the corax went as told. The nillium female didn't move. Nezka tilted his head at her, and she smiled.

  "Leadership looks good on you, Nezka," Jazlin said as she leaned against an equipment box. "Surprising for one who only ever works alone. Always in Vesra's shadow."

  Nezka stared her down then moved in, coming up close against her. "I know something else that looks good on me," he said low and watched as the nillium female tensed, her breath catching. She only faltered for a moment, her skin darkening slightly along her cheeks, but her composure returned quickly, and she lifted her leg up, encircling it around Nezka's lower waist.

  "Oh, I remember," she said softly, almost purring. "And I wouldn't mind making you look good again."

  Nezka was sorely tempted. And he certainly wasn't ashamed to do it here and now, whether anyone saw them or not.

  A memory of a nillium’s threat whispered in his mind, and he almost laughed.

  That pompous ass of a prince really thought he had everything under control. The nillium men believed all their women were housed in their care, like pampered prisoners on their sacred planet. But many didn't care for that life, and more than a few slipped out any way they could. Even if it meant being in the care of a crime lord like Vesra.

  Yes, the nillium prince really thought he had his women safe from others’ prying, curious hands. He had threatened Nezka not long before his death to stay far away. Funny, since Nezka had already had a taste.

  And it was good. Jazlin was lovely, there was no doubt. But as his hand touched against her thigh, trailing slowly upward, he had a vision of someone else in her stead.

  No, not really someone else. Something else. Something new...something different...softer. But less tame.

  The first time he laid eyes on a human woman, he had been curious to say the least. And he hadn't felt that level of curiosity in many years. The ones imprisoned on the nillium's home world were as strange as they were alluring, in the way one would feel discovering something fresh and unique and not entirely unpleasing to the eye. Though they had a build similar to a nillium woman, they looked less proud, less rigid, their skin not golden, nor scaled or rubbery, but soft. He'd only glimpsed the humans from a distance, save for one girl who he had a brief encounter with. He had been surprised and pleased to find a fiery spirit in her, small but promising. Had he wanted to take her to a room and see what that spirit could do? Yes. But only because she was new and intriguing. The feelings were no deeper than the many other times he had wanted (and had) a woman of a different kind.

  He might have considered persuading her to a bed (but never to force—he hated the idea of a struggling, unpleased woman) because he could tell she was curious of him as well, though she hid it behind her fear and anger.

  As soon as he smelled the nillium male on her like a bond mark and sensed that she was with child, he dissolved such a temptation. He didn't like playing with others’ mates.

  Still, the want was there. The human girl had tried to stop him from hunting for others of her kind, but, even if he wasn't under orders from his master, Vesra, or under a loose contract with the nillium prince, Korzien, he would have gone looking for them. For curiosity's sake. And by some strange pull he had yet to understand. A larger promise somewhere far away.

  He gripped at Jazlin's upper thigh, bringing her closer, hearing her sharp intake of breath in his ear, and sighed. “Another day. As much as I'd like to, I worry we have little time. And we both know how impatient a man Vesra is." He drew himself away from her, gently pulling her leg from his waist and setting it down on the ground. "But you won't be far, and there will always be time enough after." He gave her one of his wicked smiles. Curved fangs grazed his lower lip as he touched the side of her face like a lover.

  Her gaze turned on him in disappointment, but she did not press for him to stay, and he did not linger.

  The temptation to draw her against him, to feel her smooth touch, was there still as he turned and went out of the room, but he pressed onward, ignoring his instinctual wants for more important matters. He walked down the passage, making a sharp left at a set of doors which slid open at his approach. Inside the small circular room, his team stood or sat around a large round slab in the center currently displaying a holographic image of the planet that slowly turned below them. Irosa.

  Nezka approached the display and tapped on the planet so that it focused on a specific area of the city. The door behind him opened again, and Jazlin settled herself against one wall. Ruumas, who had been sitting at a console on the far side of the room, turned in his chair.

  "The data is transferred, and we have access to their network," he stated. "I've looked into their outer transmissions and found several messages. One includes the bounty the drogin mentioned. They are seeking those even outside their system. Perhaps their own are inferior."

  "Or they don't wish to risk their people's lives," hissed Vijnn. "Better to seek others to take the bait and see if any come out alive."

  Nezka stood silently thinking as he stared down at the map before him. He tapped on it again, and the city focused in closer. "This is the
gate through which the humans entered." He pointed to a city pass into the lower levels. "If there is any trail, it will start there."

  "We could sneak in and use the pulse tracker to search around," said Wruk, eyeing the map as well. "Wouldn't be too hard to catch a trace."

  "Except, according to the information in this Ulink, the gates between the upper and lower levels are being heavily watched and guarded," Ruumas replied. "They'll find us eventually and wonder what a bunch of outsiders are doing roaming the borders trying to get into the undercity."

  Nezka stayed quiet again, thinking. His eyes narrowed as he studied the endless passageways and maze of roads through the undercity and the gates between them along with tunnels and bridges leading to different sectors. They couldn't fly over without being seen, and the city's security was likely advanced enough that they could override the ship's systems, forcing them to land. If they were to have any leeway into the lower sectors, they would have to put up a front.