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“Ludwig, are you not?” Taelen asked.

For a split second, the man seemed determined to keep his head bowed, even after my mate stopped next to him. Realizing the futility of that behavior, he finally looked up at Taelen. Despite his best efforts, he failed to hide the fear behind his false outrage.

“What is the meaning of this? Why have you used your powers to drag us out and bind us like criminals?” the man demanded.

“Because you are criminals,” Taelen replied matter-of-factly. “That you did not deny my question leads me to believe that you are indeed Ludwig.”

“What do you want with me?” he snarled.

“I want nothing to do with you. But you chose to send three men to poison us,” Taelen said, pointing at the two initial captives who were still kneeling, facing the employees. “Your actions forced us to deal with you.”

“I did no such thing! These men are unknown to me!” Ludwig exclaimed. “I run a respectable establishment and follow the laws of Mazeria.”

“Do you?” Taelen retorted, his voice dripping with incredulity and disdain. “Then why have they named you specifically?”

“How would I know? Ask them! And release me at once!” the doctor demanded.

Taelen tilted his head to the side as he studied Bran Ludwig’s face.

“If you truly are innocent, we will release you. Pray to your gods that we do not find inside the proof of your crimes,” my man said in a sickly sweet voice.

The doctor paled, and horror flashed over his face before he quickly tried to school his features. But in that brief instant, he resembled Professor Peter Ludgwig enough to make their family bond undeniable. That the same terrified expression fleeted over the faces of many employees twisted my innards.

They also believed we would find something damning inside.

“You have no right! This is private property!” Ludwig shouted.

“This is Mazeria. We have every right. You are but an unwelcomed guest,” Taelen snapped.

He glanced at me over his shoulder before extending his hand. I immediately hastened to him, having expected that he wouldn’t want me further involved. Then again, our modern buildings were foreign to him. Having me, someone he trusted, being able to explain what he was seeing made sense. He took my hand and led me towards the entrance. At least two dozen Syllens followed us.

“Taelen!” Maeve called out, taking a few steps in our direction, only to be stopped by the same Syllen who had held her back during their enthralling song.

“She can help us bypass their security systems and get valuable data,” I said softly. “For sure, they will have biometric locks to access any sensitive rooms.”

He stared at me with great intensity before reluctantly giving Maeve a stiff nod. It took me a moment to understand why he seemed to have a problem with letting her come with us. Taelen genuinely liked Maeve and trusted her. However, our earlier conversation during the flight shook him. He was starting to realize that off-worlders would always be on the lookout for resources they might leverage to increase their wealth or power.

This was such a foreign concept for his people that he was putting back up the guard he had gradually lowered over the past few days. I genuinely appreciated the UPO and the Enforcers’ efforts at always being transparent with the Syllens. But in this instance, I believed that level of honesty might have been premature.

Tedrik should have waited until this situation was resolved to the Syllens’ satisfaction before bringing this up. Telling them that they, too, would want to get their hands on the very resource that prompted people to want to exterminate their entire species felt like a major faux pas.

Maeve’s relief was nearly palpable as she approached. Tedrik and a couple of other Enforcers tagged along.

“You can’t do this!” Ludwig shouted.

“We have a warrant,” Tedrik said dismissively without stopping.

The broken glass crunched under our shoes as we entered the building. I cast a worried glance at Taelen’s bare feet. Their soles were thicker, with a soft inner padding that shielded them from pain when they walked on small rocks and brambles in the forest. But the glass didn’t seem to bother them at all. His tail casually swiped to the side some larger shards that anyone in their right mind would tiptoe around, even with construction boots on.

Every door stood open. A few tablets lay on the floor where they’d been dropped by their owner once the entrancing song called them. A bottle of water had rolled to a stop by a shattered cup of coffee. The eerie silence, other than the discreet hum of the ventilation system, almost made me feel like I’d stepped into a building abandoned during a zombie apocalypse.

“The ground floor contains the administrative offices, the boardrooms, staff room, and shipping department with a storage facility,” Maeve said as we walked past the security guard desk.

She called up a 3D hologram of the building, which floated over her bracer and ran a scan.

“There’s someone in the ship hangar,” Maeve said with a frown.

“I’ll handle it,” Tedrik said before hurrying towards the elevators.