Protector:A Scifi Alien Romance(30)

She smiled up at him. “I know. Now, let’s get the hell out of here.”


***

Once again wearing their party clothes, Madeline and Lore hurried back to the safety of the House of Galen.

Adrenaline was still pumping through Madeline’s veins, and she was so glad to be out of those stinking sewers.

Galen and the others met them just inside the door.

Thorin’s nose wrinkled. “You reek.”

“Impromptu trip to the sewers,” Lore told him.

“We saw Blaine.” Madeline looked at Harper. “He’s alive.”

Galen stepped forward, frowning. “You weren’t to snoop around, only gather information from Vashto. If you’d gotten caught—”

“We were caught.” Lore smiled. “Some of Vashto’s guards caught us, but we were dressed as servers, and Madeline was magnificent. She got us out of there.”

Galen raised a brow, eyeing Lore’s broad shoulders. “They bought you as a server?”

“There’s something else,” Madeline said, her voice hardening. “We saw three other human women locked in a cell.”

She saw Lore scowl. A hard look she’d never seen on his face before. “They have a dag’tar. They’re planning to toss the women and Blaine in the ring with the creature.”

Galen hissed out a breath. The imperator turned and slammed his fist into the wall. “Drakking scum.”

“What’s a dag’tar?” Harper asked.

“The worst of the worst of creatures to fight,” Raiden said.

“Dag’tar males have a very high sex drive,” Thorin said. “Fighting gets them worked up.”

Harper grimaced, then looked at Madeline. “Who were the women? Were they from Fortuna Station? Anyone from Security?”

Madeline shook her head. “I didn’t recognize them. I knew everyone aboard Fortuna, and none of these women were familiar. Of course, it was dark and they were filthy, so it was hard to know for sure.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Lore said. “No one deserves this fate. We’ll get them all out.”

Saff stepped forward. “So, what’s next?”

“A covert operation to the sewers.” Galen’s dark gaze took them all in. “But first, we’ll need maps so we can plan the mission. We can’t enter through the Glass House, so we need an alternative entrance point.”

“That’ll take some time,” Raiden said.

Madeline ground her teeth together. “They don’t have time. The Srinar and Vashto could schedule this fight at any time—”

“And I won’t send my gladiators in unprepared and get them all killed or caught.”

Galen’s sharp voice made her snap her mouth closed. Frustration ate at her with hungry teeth, but she nodded.

Galen ran a hand over his head and looked at her. “You go and get cleaned up, Madeline. Good work tonight.”

She knew when she was dismissed. With a nod at the others, and then one last glance at Lore, Madeline hurried to her room. She stripped off the dress. She touched the soft fabric, sorry the gown was ruined. She couldn’t imagine that anyone could get the stench out of it.

Naked, she stepped into her adjoining bathroom and into the shower. She let the water pummel her, and she soaped herself up numerous times until her skin and hair smelled like citrus, not sewer.

Once she’d dried off, she pulled on her sleep shirt. It had been a long night, and she needed some rest. She glanced at her big, comfy bed, and thought of those women on the hard-packed floor.

The smell was gone, but the images weren’t leaving. That terrible place, the cells, the guards. Blaine and those poor women exposed to who knew what.

Madeline was too wound up. When she’d felt like this on the space station, she’d jumped on the treadmill, or she’d worked. She needed something to do. Something to organize or fix or rearrange.

She pulled on some soft shorts, and headed out to her new office. When she stepped into the room just near Galen’s, she felt something inside her ease a little. Just the sight of the desk and bookcases made her feel better.

She flicked on a small lamp on the corner of her desk and it cast a warm, orange glow around the room. The desk wasn’t large, but it gleamed. She stared at the stack of files she’d left sitting on it. The pages contained numbers on some new medical equipment Galen was considering for Medical.

That’s what she could do—she’d go over them now. Anything to keep her mind off those poor captives.

At her desk, she lifted the files, opening the first one.

“You should be sleeping.”

She looked up and saw Lore leaning in the doorway. He’d showered, his hair damp, and his chest bare. He wore soft trousers that draped his hard body and left little to the imagination.