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Thyone and Qev looked stunned. Deimos’s anger hung in the air.
“Wait. You’re kidding. Yourmate,” Qev asked.
“Yes. My mate. She was brought here for the cows, but … do you know Gerri Wilder?”
Qev and Thyone rolled their eyes.
“Oh, yeah,” Thyone said. “She’s tenacious.”
“Very hard to say no to, especially when she’s offering to solve a problem that’s been the bane of your existence for so long,” Deimos said.
“I’ll make her an ambassador … Secretary of Date,” Qev said with a snort, amused at his own joke.
“Yeah, as far as finding a mate was concerned, she gave me a solution in search of a problem,” Deimos said. “She thought she’d kill two birds with one stone. ‘Hey, here’s some help with the cows. Also … do you want your life changed by having your mate come into your life at the same time? Especially one who plans to go back to Earth as soon as the job’s done. Especially since she doesn’t know she’s my mate.”
“Wait, what? She doesn’t know … How did you mark her then?” Qev asked, concerned.
“I haven’t,” Deimos said. They both just stared at him. “Yeah, the extent of what she knows is from theStrength of an Alpha,” Deimos said.
“Well, that’s an education ….” Qev said. “I’ve never known you to take it slow.”
“Taking it not at all is more like it. I really don’t want to start anything if she’s just going back to earth,” Deimos said.
“Well, hope springs eternal, they say,” Qev said, only realizing what he said after he said it. “Not funny. But a little funny.”
Thyone gave him a little punch, though as a military man, Thyone’s strength hurt him more than he expected. “Idiot.”
“Thanks. I needed that,” Qev said.
“Anyway, the jokes will have to wait,” Thyone said, eyeing Qev sternly. “The important question is how does this new information affect this operation. How do we get Hope … how do we get your mate … out of Tura’s lair, and how do we do it while avoiding a war?”
“We’ll have to be careful for a lot of reasons,” Deimos said. “He cannot know how important she is. However, it has to be me. I don’t trust anyone else … present company excluded, maybe … to save the life of my mate. No one but this circle here can even know she’s my mate. As of this moment, it’s a state secret.”
“We have to first figure out where she is.”
“It’s weird. I got this crazy feeling earlier today … this is going to sound insane. But it was like a headache, an aura, like someone opening my skull and putting a voice in it. I got this flash of ‘Deimos, I need you,’ and this vision of motion, like the vibration of a vehicle. I mean … can a psychic bond form between mates happen even before marking?”
“It’s hard to say, but it seems plausible … especially in situations where someone is really in danger,” Qev said. “Couple that with any chemical influence, spell, or proximity to the unconscious mind. We know what Tura is capable of.”
Deimos growled involuntarily at the idea of anyone placing Hope in an altered state. It would be like desecrating an altar. He didn’t think even Tura would be foolhardy enough to do worse. But all three of them knew never to underestimate arrogance.
“So, because of that, I feel like Tura must have taken her somewhere remote,” Deimos said.
“Sounds like his lair on the edge of town. It’s a subject of reconnaissance … I bet we can have intel from someone in the clutch fairly quickly to confirm,” Qev said.
“I know that Qev always has security in mind, so I’m not particularly worried about this … but priority number one is getting Hope back … getting your mate back … without giving Tura and his lackeys grounds for military action,” Thyone said.
“I have an idea that’s a little unorthodox, but I think it could work. It plays into Tura’s weaknesses,” Deimos said. “If it fails, we can turn to more conventional efforts, but I think it’s a low-friction way to gain entry across enemy lines.”
“What’s your thinking, Deimos?” Qev said. As head of civil security, he wanted to be able to enlist any of his people as quickly as possible.
“It’s a covert operation, in a way,” Deimos said. “We know that Tura usually spends late afternoons at the tavern, and he’ll be especially keyed up after succeeding in kidnapping Hope.”
Deimos wondered to himself if he already knew Hope was his mate or if it was just an expression of his sadism to use his guest as a pawn.
“So, his defenses will be down, and his ego will be high. I think I see where you’re going with this,” Thyone said.
“By all accounts, I’ll be shit-faced drunk. Falling on the floor. An easy target,” Deimos said.
