some time later by a shushing sound and discovered another bottle had been delivered. Grateful to the bastards, she took the bottle and, since she saw the baby had woken, fed him again.

It was the closest thing to a routine that she’d had since she’d been taken and she began trying to calculate the passing time by the feedings.

It was the second day when she felt ‘a presence’.

It sent a shiver down her spine when she’d searched the place and not seen any sign of anyone.

Trying to dismiss it as a hidden camera, she focused on the baby again.

He was staring at her—hard.

She stared back into his eyes and realized they weren’t actually focused on her even though he was staring straight at her.

Then she felt ‘it’ again, almost like something was inside her head.

‘Wid Nye?’

A voice just seemed to form in her mind so that she felt that she had actually heard the sounds even though she knew she hadn’t.

And almost instantly she had a blinding headache.

But she also realized it was Gaelen, somehow knew it was him.

Frowning, she carefully focused on the baby’s face. “Here. Yes.”

She felt a sense of relief—someone else’s.‘Good. Ready. We come.’

* * * *

You think she understood any of that?”

Gaelen glanced at Kadin with a touch of surprise and a lot of irritation. “Yes.”

Kadin looked like he wanted to punch him. Considering what had happened the time before, however, he restrained himself. “You did not … hurt her?” he growled. “Because I will kill you if you have harmed her.”

Gaelen struggled with his own temper. “I did her no harm.”

You are certain?” Hauk demanded.

Gaelen released a long suffering sigh. “We have formed a connection.”

Hauk stared at him for a handful of seconds and then punched him right in the face.

Kadin caught the Hirachi, steadying him. “Not that I was not tempted to punch him myself, but it would not be wise to start a riot before we are ready to launch the operation.”

Hauk glared at him. “As if you have so much patience,” he growled.

Kadin shook that off as being unworthy of discussion. “You are certain that she is with Nye?”

Resentment flickered through Gaelen. He was no fool and, if anything, he had more of a stake than either of the others. Nye was High King of the Hirachi and Hauk was Satren and Kadin a mixed breed with no home world. Or, he supposed, split between three since he was both Satren and Hirachi and his mother had been an Earth woman, but he had no ties other than his bloodlines. “Nye is with mama.Hetold me and Emma confirmed.”

Kadin nodded. “We are as ready as we are likely to get, then,” he said grimly. “We will not have a better chance of taking the ship and protecting Emma and the King.”

* * * *

Emma frowned as she turned over the ‘message’ Gaelen had planted in her mind, wondering if she had understood. The ‘good’ coupled with the relief she had sensed seemed evident that it was just his response to the discovery that Nye had been returned to her and was safe—or as safe as he could be under the circumstances.

She was less certain of what he’d meant when he’d said ‘ready’ and ‘we come’.

It sounded like he was saying she should be prepared for an attempt to escape, but she couldn’t imagine what they had in mind or what they could possibly do—especially now.

Not that the situation wasn’t pretty much hopeless as far as she could seebeforethe bastards had put the collars on them, but it certainly looked to her as if that was the final blow.

What else might he have meant, though?

And how would they find her?

It occurred to her after a little thought that she’d been unconscious, but that didn’t mean they hadn’t seen what had happened and maybe seen where she was taken. The doors opened off of the exercise yard, after all.

Well to all the cells she knew of.

Her heart began to thump a little faster with a combination of fear and excitement and hope.

Ready.

He’s said she should be prepared to move.

Well, she didn’t have anything to her name except baby Nye and she wasn’t about to let go of him, not even to go to the bathroom!

She wished she’d known before she’d given him the last bottle. She thought worriedly that she should have saved maybe half for him for later.

Damn it!

If only she’d gotten the heads up a little sooner!

She felt her nerves wind a little tighter and resolutely pushed everything from her mind that she could do nothing about. She had the baby. She could rest and then get up to stretch so she wasn’t too stiff to run if she had to, if she got the chance.

Chapter Thirteen

Emma braced herself. Minutes passed. An hour. The tension built until it reached critical mass and Emma got up to pace off some of her nervousness. Doubt surfaced. Questions crowded her mind.

She couldn’t hear anything. Absolutely nothing.

But then her heart was beating so hard it sounded like a drum in her ears.

She held her breath, straining, and thought she heard something, but she couldn’t identify what the sounds were.

Were they fighting? Still waiting for something to happen before they started?

Had Gaelen meant right away?

Tomorrow?

She got so winded from pacing and trying to hold her breath to listen that she settled again, focusing on calming herself.

Another hour passed.

Slowly, so slowly she didn’t even notice it, the tension leached from her until she began to grow drowsy.

She couldn’t decide whether it felt like natural sleepiness or not.

She got up and paced again, struggling to resurrect her readiness.

She fell asleep when she settled again.

She wasn’t certain what awakened her or how long she’d been out, but she woke to utter pitch blackness. Startled, uncertain what it meant—if anything—she shoved to her feet, bracing herself against the wall to keep her balance since the darkness and sudden awakening had left her disoriented.

She’d no sooner stood that an abrupt, very loud

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