He was seeing red and he wasn’t sure if it was his heat or the rage surging within him.
Keh-reh-nah was in danger…and he hadn’t been lying. All he wanted to do right now was kill—the urge burned within him now even more than before.
He’d told her to run, but he was sure that’s not what she’d done.
She’d made that high-pitched sound of fear that humans did, right before she’d gone silent.
She had been taken.
“V’Alen.” He spoke through his comms, but there was no answer.
Another growl ripped through him, this one louder than the last.
He was running but he didn’t even know where he was running to, and that made fear play a ballad on his spine.
They must have made a mistake.
Somehow, the Hedgeruds must have survived.
They had hidden in the forest, hidden their biosignature from scans of the planet’s surface, and had ambushed Keh-reh-nah.
This was his fault.
He shouldn’t have allowed her to be alone.
Qef. He shouldn’t have brought her on the mission in the first place. That was painfully clear now, but hindsight was a jekin.
What’s worse, he had no idea which direction they’d taken her.
He’d exited the ship as quickly as his body had allowed him to, the heat surging through his muscles making him faster, more deadly…yet, there had been no trace of her.
It was like she hadn’t been there.
“—jos.”
Ajos stopped dead in his tracks, his gaze scanning the forest.
“Keh-reh-nah?” Hope flared within him.
She was alive but that didn’t lessen the fear now surging or the rage riding the lifeblood in his veins.
If there were Hedgeruds around her, there was a reason they were keeping her alive and he was sure it had something to do with him.
“It is not safe.” He lowered his voice. “How many of them are there with you?”
For a few moments, there was no sound, only the crackling of the comms, and Ajos resumed running, albeit slower, his eyes peeled as he scanned the bushes around him for any sign of life.
“—lone but the roots are —” She cut off. “—a hole I think. I’m not—”
Ajos growled. This wasn’t going to work.
He could hardly understand what she was saying.
She was risking her life trying to communicate with him and he couldn’t qeffing hear her.
It sounded as if she said she was alone but that didn’t make sense.
Unless…
Unless the fighters had taken her and locked her up somewhere.
That might make things easier. He could—he would—take them out before they returned to where they’d hid her.
He glanced down at the orb he was carrying once more and growled again.
Was it the reason the comms were giving trouble?
He stared at the thing for a few seconds and it glowed as if it was aware it was being watched.
It took two seconds to make a decision.
He couldn’t allow another female to die under his watch.
He was responsible for keeping Keh-reh-nah safe, and she was more important than the stupid orb.
He’d just have to leave the device and the Restitution would simply have to send another team to retrieve it.
As he slipped his arms from under the strap of the satchel, his communication device crackled.
“Commander.”
V’Alen.
“Commander,” V’Alen repeated. “I have repaired the comms. I had to fix a component that caused a magnetic disturbance that affected all instruments. The comms are operational now.”
“There is no time.” Ajos didn’t bother with a greeting. “Keh-reh-nah was taken. I have to get to her before the Hedgeruds…”
He couldn’t say it.
“The human…she was taken?” V’Alen asked. “There was no sign of life on the scans.”
“I know, yet, here we are,” Ajos growled. “I will find her.” It was an oath. “Make sure the ship is repaired in short order. We might need a quick escape.”
“Understood.”
Ajos let out a breath as he resettled the satchel over his shoulder and began running again.
His eyes scanned everything as he moved.
He would find her.
He had to.
“Keh-reh-nah, do you read?”
There was no response.
A chill ran down Ajos’ nefre, hardly cooling the heat emanating through him.
“Keh-reh-nah—”
“Ajos—” Keh-reh-nah gasped and Ajos swallowed hard, his life organ felt like it suddenly started beating again.
Never before had he felt so relieved hearing a female’s voice.
“Speak quickly but quietly.” He kept his voice low. “Try not to let them hear you if they are close.” He was still looking around him as he ran, his eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary. “How many of them are there with you?”
“Like,” Keh-reh-nah paused, “a lot.”
Qeffing qrak.
He’d been expecting two Hedgerud fighters at most.
“More than I originally thought,” she whispered, and he heard a shuffle as if she moved. “They’re not moving anymore though, so that’s good.”
Ajos almost stumbled. “What do you mean they are not moving?”
“They stopped. As soon as they brought me here.” Another shuffle. “They all stopped then I was released. Only—” she paused and made a sound as if she was struggling.
“Keh-reh-nah?!” Ajos hissed.
“It’s just,” she grunted, “one of them is wrapped around my leg and I can’t seem to get it off.”
She wasn’t making any sense.
“Keh-reh-nah…” He had to press through the strain against his own mind. Not only was this a bad time for his heat to be fighting his sanity, but someone’s life depended on him and he was having such a hard time focusing, dread filled him that he wouldn’t be able enough to save her at all. “Tell me how many fighters are around you. Can you see anything that would give away your location?”
He glanced around as he spoke, blinking to clear his blurred vision.
He wouldn’t say he was the greatest tracker, but it bothered him that there was no trace of her.
No trampled grass, no broken branches, no ripped garments caught in the vegetation…nothing.
Also, the Hedgeruds weren’t the type to play hide and seek. They were a race that thought of themselves as highly competent fighters. It was unlike them to hide.
“Fighters?” He could hear the fear in her voice. “There are no fighters here. I am alone.”
Now, she really wasn’t making any sense.
“Where are the Hedgeruds that took
