Chasing Dare (2 page)

*****

Balduen had stared in curiosity and awe as the beautiful woman stood to battle and faced the five enemies in the alley. He couldn’t have been happier and more proud of her for inadvertently letting him know how many they were up against. He hated that she was facing them alone right now, but he felt it best that they keep the element of surprise. For the moment.

He stared with open curiosity, as her grey eyes seemed to swirl like clouds in a thunderstorm before he heard the crashing sounds in the alley and knew she must have used her telekinetic ability to take out one or two of them. At least, he’d hoped she could take them out.

Following her lead, he pulled out his own hidden daggers and waited for the sign that the Relian’s were close enough to engage. Instead, he stared in surprise as he felt the force of the wind that was blowing her auburn hair back away from her face exposing her high cheekbones, full lips and the dimples in her cheeks as she grinned into the alley. The woman was obviously a little mad if she thought facing five Relian’s was fun; he thought with a grin of his own.

The force of the wind was blowing her leather coat away from her lush curves, plastering her loose white button up shirt against her full breasts and flat stomach. Her pert bottom was encased in black jeans that looked like they’d been painted on her body, the bottoms tucked into her calf length boots. She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen in his life and in spite of the danger surrounding them; he could feel his body reacting to her with an intensity he’d never felt before.

As suddenly as it had begun the wind stopped and drew his attention back to the situation in time to see her throw herself down the alley and disappear. Cursing he rounded the corner of the alley and strode angrily towards the Relian beast cursing at the beautiful hybrid. Quickly surveying the scene, he could see that the dangerous little thing had taken out all but the mouthy bastard who she’d obviously run into before, if the conversation, he’d heard earlier was any indication.

The smile died on his lips as he watched two more men come running through the alley behind the woman firing small projectiles that embedded into her shoulder. He roared with rage as he moved more quickly to try to reach her, and then felt multiple stings in his back.

His vision began to blur quickly, his body feeling heavy and clumsy. He stumbled slightly before righting himself again and reached behind him and pulled out three of the little projectiles like the one the woman was holding in her hand. As his brain started to cloud, and his vision dimmed more he realized he’d failed her.

“I’m sorry.” Was all he could manage through his thick tongue before his legs refused to hold him anymore, and the blackness took him.

Chapter Two

Balduen stared at the sleeping woman lying next to him in amazement. Even in the dim light he could see her flawless skin, her long, dark lashes fanning across her cheeks as she tried to sleep off the drug they’d been shot with in the alley.

He’d only been awake for around a half hour; the first ten minutes spent trying to shake off the nasty taste in his mouth and the fog in his mind from the drug. When he’d finally come to his senses, he’d tried to inspect their surroundings without being noticed. It didn’t take long to realize that there would be no immediate escape for either of them.

They were in what appeared to be a room that was enclosed with the heavy glass like plastic that he’d seen in the large aquariums on the planet. The room was completely bare except for the mattress in the center of it. There was only one door that he could see, with the walls going up around eight feet and the ceiling made of the same clear material with what looked like several small ventilation holes.

On the outside of their prison, he could see a room enclosed in concrete, like a basement of some kind. There was a desk, and chair placed in front of a door that looked to be the only way in or out.

Looking at her one last time, he pulled himself out of the bed and stood up; stretching his muscles as he did. The twenty or so cameras that he’d counted had told him there was no longer any use trying to pretend that he wasn’t still asleep. They probably knew the second he’d opened his eyes.

He was happy to note that they hadn’t been restrained in any way, but they had been stripped and changed into what appeared to be long white dresses that tied off center in the front.

Walking to the nearest wall, he pushed his hand against it, testing its strength and wasn’t surprised that it was really thick and sturdy. There was going to be no way to break through it without a weapon of some kind. Moving around the room, he tested the corners, the door and other areas where he thought there might be weaknesses before giving up.

The bed was nothing more than a large mattress on the floor with only one blanket to keep out the chill, and he sat down heavily on the corner. Still weak from the drug he tried to regain his strength and waited for the woman Brak had called Dare to wake up.
What kind of name was Dare anyway;
he wondered before slumping down on the mattress and slipping back into the darkness. 

*****

Dare laid quietly as she tried to get her vision to focus and calm the panic rising in her. She could feel someone not far from her; she could see the blurry outline of the large body but didn’t know who or what it was or even where she was. Closing her eyes tightly she took several deep breaths and tried to calm her mind.

She’d been captured. The memories of the alley playing back in her mind, the darts, they’d used to take her and the blonde man down. That must be the nasty taste in her mouth and the reason for the general fuzziness she felt in her mind. She had to pull herself together if she ever hoped to get out of this alive. Maybe if she was lucky, she ended up where they were keeping Jess. She didn’t trust in luck though, she trusted herself.

Finally feeling a little more normal and calmer, she slowly opened her eyes and was grateful when they focused. The closely cropped blonde-haired head lying a foot from her really didn’t surprise her.  She’d half expected the body to be his since he’d been shot when she was, and with a lot more darts. It was still a small shock to feel his large body so close to hers.

She immediately remembered hearing Brak call him a Valendran. Somehow she managed to run into an outpost survivor; one of her father’s people. She only met two of them in all her years since they agreed to separate hundreds of years ago for the sake of their survival. The Relian’s had hunted them relentlessly since they had discovered that they had survived the crash. As tall and muscular as the men were it was very hard to hide among the shorter, smaller human men making it easy for the Relian’s to hear about a large group of them.

Her father had told her and her siblings the stories of their people since they were very small. However, it still surprised her to see a real Valendran, not a hybrid male like her brother. Shaking off her curiosity, she slowly sat up, testing the drug’s hold on her movements.

When she knew the slight shakiness wouldn’t stop her from moving around she slid off the side of the mattress, trying not to disrupt the large man.

Glancing down, she grimaced at the very large hospital gown she was wearing and immediately missed her panties and underwear, growing angry at the thought of Brak removing her clothes or seeing her naked. Stalking around the heavy Plexiglas room she pressed against the edges of the door, ignoring the multitude of cameras that she’d seen all over the damn place.

“It’s no use. I tried earlier.” Dare whipped around at the deep rumble of the voice coming from behind her.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” Dare watched him grin sheepishly as he swayed into a standing position, obviously still affected by the drugs. For some reason, it made her feel better about still feeling the effects as well.

“There are no cracks that I could find and this…” he said reaching up to push on the ventilation grill above his head, “this is secured far too well, and it’s too small.”

Dare just stared at the huge man who now seemed to take up most of the already small room; his height easily allowing him to reach the top of the ceiling.

“I’m Balduen Skardard. I’m part of the Tact Team from the ship Adaria, commanded by Scaden Torenson.” Dare stared mutely at the massive hand he held out to her as if to shake.
What the hell did he just say?

Balduen looked confused before it dawned on him that she must not know what she is, or of their people. Perhaps she’d been abandoned or separated from her parents at a young age.

“Again, I must apologize. I seem to be doing this all wrong. Do you know who you are?” He asked as kindly as he could, wondering where the confident woman who killed four Relian’s had gone, and if she were in shock.

Dare stared at him a moment, trying to process what he was saying. Her father never said anything about a ship called Adaria; or on the other hand, a Scaden Torenson for that matter.

“Who the fuck are you and where did you come from?” Dare demanded angrily as she put herself in a defensive position in the corner of the room making sure the mattress was between them.

Balduen realized that he’d better slow this down really fast since he didn’t want a physical confrontation with her, and he certainly didn’t want her afraid of him. He backed slowly to the opposite side of the room, keeping his hands up the whole time to try to alleviate her worry.

“Our ship Adaria was patrolling this quadrant when we received an ancient distress signal that we followed to this planet. We found one of our crew members that we had thought dead, from an outpost we’d had on the nearby planet called Mars.” He paused for a moment to make sure he had her attention. When he knew that he did, he continued.

“The rest should probably be said in a more private setting. However, I’m sure you realize that we have not only found one of our own, we’ve found one of the children. We are trying to find and help as many as we can, which is why I followed you. I thought you were either a hybrid or a gifted.” He explained, glancing at the cameras around the room and wondering where their hosts were and why they hadn’t come in yet.

Dare followed his gaze to the various cameras placed outside of their cell and knew why he was hesitant to say more. Nodding her head at his suggestion of keeping things to only what the enemy most likely already knew, she walked over to him holding out her hand, hoping she wasn’t making a major mistake.

“I’m Dare, daughter of Banatar Demetrios.” His large hand engulfed her small one as he gently shook her hand before reluctantly letting go of her.

“I remember the name from the list. He was a science officer wasn’t he?” Balduen asked her casually, trying to keep her at ease.

“Yes, he was. How long… never mind. Don’t answer that. The less we say, the safer everyone else stays.” Dare said after walking closer to him and whispering to him with her head bowed so that the cameras couldn’t catch her lips moving.

Realizing what she was saying, Balduen readily agreed and nodded his head slightly.

“But we can talk about the things that the assholes do know. Like how they’re going to die painfully when I get out of here.” Dare said angrily, spinning around to glare at the cameras by the door.

“It will do no good to antagonize them.” Balduen gently placed a hand on her shoulder to get her attention. When she stared blankly at it, he let it slide off, enjoying the feel of the soft skin of her neck.

“It would do a lot of good if that piece of shit Brak was in my hands right now. Don’t!” Dare held up her hand to stop him when he started to speak.

“I know! Just give me a minute.” She added trying to calm her anger. This was the worst thing that could ever happen to any of them. This was what they feared, what their nightmares were about; being captive by their enemy.

“Our people will find us Dare.”

“If my father doesn’t find us first, I will destroy this place myself and walk out of here. Mark my words Broke; you’ll be one of the first to go.” Dare glared at the camera behind the desk and chair, near the door. For some reason, she felt that was the camera she could look directly into, and she flashed her fiercest challenging face at it almost growling in fury at her captors.

Balduen wasn’t sure if it was part of her abilities or not, but he watched her body literally vibrate in anger in front of him. It wasn’t too much, not enough to be caught by the technology of the camera’s around them, but he could not only see it; he could feel it as well.

As calmly as he could, he walked up behind her and drew her away from the door. Turning her around in his arms, he held her tightly as she put up a false show of fighting him before allowing him to help her calm down. Not daring to break the spell by speaking he kept his mouth shut and just held her until her tremors stopped, and she pulled away.

Unable to hide the blush she knew was spreading across her face, Dare kept her face down as she spoke. “Thanks… yeah just thanks.”

Balduen watched in admiration as the strong woman walked proudly back to the wall and began searching for a weakness. She was afraid; he knew it. After seeing what the Relian’s had done to Cari and what she said had happened to the girl Jess that they were hoping to save, he could well understand her fear. He was afraid for her as well. They treated these poor, fragile women no differently than they did their warriors who had been captured. Except for the women, it was worse, because of the rapes.