Karma tried to remember anything that would help, but she’d been kept in the dark. “I really don’t. Sometimes I hear about shipments, but that’s all. Before you ask, I have no idea where kidnapped females are being taken or held.” That was also the truth. Terre had made sure she had no information just in case the Seven tortured her.
Benny slid an arm over the back of her chair, and his protective warmth surrounded her. “It’s okay, Karma. Do you know why they’re trying to kidnap enhanced human females?”
“I am not privy to the plans of the soldiers, but I do understand that some are to become mates.” Karma cleared her throat. “I don’t really know what’s to become of the rest.”
“There’s one plausible explanation that we haven’t talked about.” Garrett looked up, his gaze tortured. “What if somebody wants to replicate the ceremony Ulric performed so long ago? They might attempt to create another impenetrable Cyst general.” He looked at Karma. “Who’s in charge of finding enhanced women, and who’s in charge of the Cysts right now?”
Numbly, Karma tried to think through the issue. Such cruelty wasn’t possible, was it? “General Jaydon is in command of the Cyst soldiers, and he’s also the one in charge of finding enhanced females.”
Benjamin cocked his head and studied her. “What else? I can tell there’s more.”
Karma squirmed on her chair but gave him the truth. “Jaydon is quite proud that he’s one of Ulric’s direct descendants and shares the same genetics.”
The dark swear word Benny said made her jump. She set down her fork. So much for dinner.
Chapter Twelve
Benny paced a track on the back deck of his quaint cabin, trying to let the sound of rushing water soothe him. Nope. Not even close. The woman slept quietly in the one bedroom, having gone to bed hours before. She was so close to him right now that his body felt electrified.
At dinner, when she’d all but curled into his side, his body had started a slow burn that was just getting hotter. He wanted her with a ferocity he could never appease, and that was a pisser. Oh, she was a home-and-hearth kind of lady—no way was she into carnal pleasure and a sweet goodbye. All he had to give right now was sex, and she deserved more.
His phone buzzed, and he yanked it from his pocket to check the screen before answering. “Logan? What the hell? It’s past midnight.”
“I need to see you. Main computer room. Now.” Logan disengaged the call.
Benny lowered his head and stared at the now-blank screen. Was Logan fucking kidding? The kid didn’t give him orders, whether or not he thought he was all grown-up with a crazy-assed fairy mate to protect. Benny had centuries on him. “Somebody’s going to get a butt kicking tonight,” he muttered, setting the cabin alarms and then jogging down the one street of the subdivision toward the lodge. Mercy had better not get in his way. He’d never hurt a female, but Logan was in for some pain. Right now.
He reached the lodge and shoved open the door before tapping the right area of the wooden wall to the left. It slid open and revealed stairs leading down. “You’d better be down here and ready,” he threatened, taking the steps four at a time. He landed at the bottom and turned to find Logan, Garrett, and Mercy at the computer console.
Mercy was pale and wouldn’t meet his gaze.
He stopped. Dread dropped into his gut. “What?”
Logan typed into the keyboard, gesturing toward the widest screen on the wall. “I was alerted at dinner that there was a computer glitch, but I ignored it because we’ve been having problems that occur right after helicopters land near the bunker. I just took a moment to look, and boy, we have a new problem.”
An alert came up, and then a holographic view of the entrance to the lodge. It showed the time, hours ago, when Benny had escorted Karma in to dinner. The screen started to blink, a red warning crossed, and then a buzzer rang.
Logan typed more, and the screen narrowed to Karma’s face and then went deeper, showing something red and glowing inside her head.
Benny whistled. “What is that?”
Logan typed and the device circled out of her head and across the screen. “As far as I can tell, it’s a visual and audio device that transmits everything Karma sees and hears. It’s connected to her right eye and ear canal. It’s also a homing device, just so you know.”
Benny shook his head. Well, this was why they had secondary precautions, wasn’t it? And third. “No. The queen scanned her from head to toe. The Realm’s technology is the best in the world. The universe, actually.” His gut clenched, and his hands heated. This couldn’t be true. The sweet and innocent girl from centuries ago couldn’t be spying on them. Bile burned his stomach lining.
Logan shrugged. “The Realm is good, but the Kurjans have been catching up technologically for the last fifty years.”
Mercy leaned closer to the screen. “It’s possible the device was dormant and then somehow activated a specific time after she was rescued. Maybe they figured she’d be scanned upon arrival.”
“Or,” Garrett said thoughtfully, “maybe somehow they have it programmed to activate after a scanning. That’s what I’d do.” He grinned. “This is why we’re paranoid, man. It’s a good thing.”
Yeah, Benny had thought the precautions were stupid, but he’d been outvoted. Thank God. He was going to puke. “I’ve been so gentle with her—she seems so breakable.”
“Maybe she had no choice,” Mercy interjected.
Benny just stared at her. “Even if she didn’t have a choice, she’s good at lying. I honestly had no idea she was holding anything back. She even asked questions at dinner.”
Garrett winced. “We have to go back through everything we’ve said to her and note everything she’s seen since you rescued her. All of that information is in the hands of the Kurjans right now.”
“Including our location,” Benny said grimly. “It’s a good thing we came here first.” This was on him. He’d been obsessed with finding her since the marking had appeared on his hand, and now he’d put his entire family in danger. “It figures fate would mess with me like this.” Only he would carry the mating mark for the enemy. Yeah, that fit. “It appears sweet Karma and I need to have a talk.”
“Wait,” Mercy said. “They’ll come for her, right?”
Logan crossed his arms. “Yeah, but as long as it seems she can still get information from us, they’ll wait. We’re safe for the time being.” He scratched his neck. “In fact…”
Benny crossed his arms. “We can feed them any information we want.” The chains of decency that had been holding him back snapped clean away. “Oh, yeah. It’s time for payback.”