In last week's episode, Max convinced Addy to squeeze through the cage bars and escape without him, as he couldn't fit. Reluctantly, she did, and the Hyboreans followed her into the forest. Will they find and capture her again? Since chapters 47 and 48 are short, I've included both in today's episode
An abducted cop and a gladiator prisoner must learn to trust each other with their lives…and their hearts…to escape their alien captors.
Catch
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CAPTIVE
Chapter Forty-Seven
If it weren’t for Ferly Mor’s sudden blast of excitement, Regan would have ignored the hologram video. Taking a break from pushups, he jumped to his feet to see what they were watching.
The video showed a Human Gaming Commission officer chasing a poacher into thick forest vegetation. Another HGC officer cuffed a second poacher lying on his stomach. The officer removed a tranquilizer dart from the poacher’s back.
Regan paid them little attention. His focus was on the corner of the hologram where a human had run into the woods. He knew that body. He’d recognize those curves anywhere.
Ferly Mor rewound the hologram and then played it again. Sure enough, his little pet had run into the forest clutching a baby. Ferly Mor fell back into his chair, and Regan sensed the Hyborean’s relief.
His broodmare and the whelp had survived. They appeared to be at Great Pele Falls. The HGC would capture them, and in a matter of hours, he would be back home in Xanthrag’s good graces once again.
Then he’d teach his little breeding bitch a lesson or two she’d never forget. He would dominate her. He would break her. When her kid was old enough to hold a stick, he’d beat the crap out of him, too. He’d—
Duncan’s sniffles interrupted his fantasies. The old man wiped his nose and cheeks. A sad little smile crossed his face as he watched the hologram replay once more.
“You sly bastard. You sired her.”
Duncan neither confirmed nor denied his suspicions. He didn’t have to. The truth rang clear in his pitiful, teary eyes.
Love enslaved men. He would enjoy manipulating Duncan’s love to torment the whole family. “You must feel like shit knowing two of your spawn would rather die in the wilderness than be with you.”
* * *
Addy hid behind a large redwood-type tree, looking and listening both with ears and with feelings, trying to sense the Hyboreans. She saw nothing. Heard nothing. Felt nothing.
Curled against the base of the trunk, veiled by the surrounding brush and thickets, Addy laid Noah on her lap and tore the sleeves from her shirt. She wouldn’t get far running barefoot. It was too painful. She wrapped the sleeves around her scraped feet, all the while images of hinges appeared in her mind.
Not hinges. Clasps.
Clasps like those on lunch boxes or briefcases. Like those she was sure she saw beneath the Hyborean’s cage-vehicle when she had climbed out.
If she could unhook them, she could free Max.
He’d be mad as hell if she returned, but he’d get over it…unless she got caught.
She had to risk it. She had to save him. Captivity would break him again. She couldn’t bear the thought.
Satisfied with her makeshift footwear, she repositioned Noah and made their stealthy way back to the vehicle. She stopped behind bushes to scope out the area. One poacher sat in an HGC hovercraft, arms bound and hanging from a chain in the ceiling. Where did the agent who captured him go? More importantly, how soon until he returned?
She crossed the clearing to the cage and then ducked down to examine the clasps.
“What the hell are you doing?” Max whispered.
“There are clasps under here. They appear to lock the cage to the truck bed. I think I can release them. You two,” she addressed Cyrus and Red Beard, who had moved near Max to better observe her, “go to the sides and keep a lookout.”
“Addy, you’ve got to leave. The Hyboreans will be back any second. One ran after you.”
Nothing he could say would make her leave now. Not when she could free him. “Then I’d better hurry. Here.” She handed him Noah. “Hold him.”
Addy pulled on a clasp. “It’s stuck.” She scrambled to a rock that fit nicely in her hand and used it to bang open the clasp. “I did it.”
“Well, don’t just stand there, girlie, do the next one.”
Addy ignored Red Beard’s comment and quickly worked on the other clasps. After the sixth and final one popped, Max passed her the baby. “Hide in the woods while we push off the cage.”
She’d hide, but she wouldn’t go far. She ran behind the thicket again and watched the three men straining as they pushed the heavy cage off the truck bed. It crashed against the rocky ground. Her heart leapt...from relief, from joy, and from nerves.
“Go quickly. They’re sure to have heard that,” Cyrus said, but Max was already racing toward her. She took off into the woods. He’d catch up soon enough.
When he did, he scooped the baby from her, and they raced downstream. “Where’s Cyrus?”
“Stayed behind.”
“And Red Beard?”
“Don’t know. Don’t care.”
She followed him, trying hard to ignore the sharp pains from rocks, sticks, and other spiky forest debris penetrating the thin material wrapped around her feet. Apparently, the jagged terrain didn’t concern Max, for he pressed forward without a downward glance or hop of pain. They hurdled fallen logs and climbed down rock. Countless times she stumbled and caught herself. Thorns grabbed her clothes, her hair, her skin. She yanked them free and kept going, hoping she didn’t leave too obvious a trail for the Hyborean agents to track.
They’d been on the move for hours, running when they could, but mostly walking now. They had stopped once to make shoes by tying pieces of bark to their feet. As they trekked through the woods, the sun trekked across the sky.
After descending a steep and rocky slope, they discovered at its base a small nook they could fit inside together if they sat with their legs curled up.
“Stay here,” Max said. “I’ll scrounge up some food.”
“What about the agents?”
He looked skyward, surveying the sun through the tree canopy. “We’ve been gone for over three hours. I’m sure they gave up the search. I doubt they’d care about capturing some humans as much as arresting criminals.”
Whether or not that was true was anyone’s guess, but the thought helped quell her fears until he disappeared into the woods. “Be safe,” she whispered.
By the time Noah had been fed, burped, and fallen asleep on Addy’s chest, Max returned carrying his shirt tied up like a hobo’s bindle. Water dripped from the canteen slung over his bare chest. With every step, his muscular thighs contracted beneath taut black pants that had been ripped off at calf height. He’d used the material to tie the bark shoes to his feet. Not only a magnificent-looking man, he was a clever one, too.
He sidled up to Addy, unbundled the shirt, and offered her the green berries he had picked. “It’s not a freezer full of blackberries, but they should hold us a while.”
She shoved a handful into her mouth in order to hide her grin. The tart flavor of unripe fruit puckered her tongue. “They’re perfect,” she said with a full mouth.
“As soon as we cross the river, we’ll make camp. I’ll find us some real food we can actually cook.”
“That would be great. I can’t remember the last hot meal I had.” She popped in another handful and leaned against his shoulder. The heat radiating off his solid form brought her comfort and contentment. Not to mention it stirred her desire.
A life without blackberries wouldn’t be bad as long as she could live it with Max.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Ferly Mor sublimated the hovercraft door, and Regan sprinted in the direction he had seen Addy run in the hologram. He was the lone hunter. Ferly Mor and Duncan didn’t know crap about tracking, and the HGC agents were on their way back to their headquarters.
They had encountered the vehicle two hours ago. Apparently, the HGC agents were required to cease their search for the humans after a poacher became violent with an officer. Law mandated that he be brought to trial immediately. The powers that be never tolerated violence of one Hyborean against another. Euthanasia was certain punishment. If he had sired any offspring, they would also stand trial to determine if they inherited their father’s aggression.
If so, one Hyborean’s crime could mean the extermination of his entire family.
What a load of crap. Violence was power and anyone who thought otherwise was a fucking asshole.
When Regan discovered the broken branches and footprints, his focus clicked into warrior mode. Adrenaline pumped through him.
It wouldn’t be long before he captured her.
When he did, he wouldn’t break her. He’d shatter her.
#
Can Addy outrun the Hyborean, or will she be caught and returned to captivity at the Human Breeding and Research Center? Stay tuned next week for Chapter 49 or read the full story now at your favorite retailers.
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