Taken (Calliston Series - Book 1) by Erica Conroy Read Free Book Online

the Orka released her, though, she dropped to the deck, unable to support her own weight.
    Both males growled and attacked as one. The Orka never stood a chance.
    * * *
    Viktor crouched down beside S'rea. She had applied pressure above the injury to stem the blood loss from a nicked artery. He couldn't tell what color her blood was, but it wasn't dark like his.
    "Rip it," S'rea told him through clenched teeth. "My robe. Rip it."
    Viktor did as instructed, but paused when it came time to bandage her. "Will this kind of touching result in my death?" he asked.
    "If you do not, then it will result in mine," she told him. "I do not wish to die, U-man."
    "Nor do I," Viktor mumbled, but did what was needed.
    Tarn leaned over to check on his daughter.
    "She won't be able to climb," Viktor said, stating the obvious.
    "You'll have to carry her," said Tarn.
    "Me?" said Viktor.
    "Him?" said S'rea.
    Tarn opened the hatch and stuck his head through. He looked both up and down the shaft. "Hurry up," he called to them.
    Viktor and S'rea stared at each other.
    "How do you want to do this?" Viktor finally asked.
    "I can hold on to you," S'rea suggested. "That would mean you would have both hands free to climb."
    Viktor nodded.
    * * *
    Viktor slowly pulled them up the ladder, one rung at a time.
    "I do not know why I could not be on your back," S'rea complained.
    "You were strangling me," said Viktor.
    "I do not enjoy being this close to you," she said.
    "I'd rather you weren't this close either."
    "You need to use more of that shaving gel," she told him when his stubbled chin brushed against her forehead again.
    "I'm growing a beard."
    S'rea wiggled. "What is poking into me?"  
    "Nothing," he said quickly.
    "It does not feel like nothing."
    "It's the dagger," he said, and pulled them up another rung. "Almost there."
    "That is not a safe place to keep my dagger," S'rea told him. "It is sharp and you could lose your genitals."
    * * *
    Tarn took S'rea's hand and helped pull her through the hatch. He put his arm around her and took some of her weight.
    Viktor lifted himself through the hatch and joined them.
    "They've barricaded the doors," said Tarn.
    "Makes sense," said Viktor, "with the power out."
    "I was able to talk to them, but they won't open the door until they hear from you," Tarn explained. "They don't know what is going on and are taking precautions."
    Viktor nodded, glad that the Lyrissian hadn't taken offense. "Knock knock," he said as he banged on the door.
    "Who's there?" a muffled voice asked from inside.
    "Viktor Jacobs, the Lyrissian representative and his daughter," said Viktor.
    "Let them in," another voice ordered.
    It took a few minutes, but the bridge crew finally dragged a makeshift barricade away from the door and let the trio in. As soon as they were safely on the other side, the crew set about rebuilding the barricade.
    "Vik," said a disheveled-looking colonel. "Glad you're alive."
    "Roger," Viktor said, and gave the older man a brief hug. "What do you know?"
    "Nothing. We don't know what happened. Before the power went down, there was nothing on the sensors or visuals. We thought it might have been the Lyrissians," Roger said quietly.
    "It was," Tarn said, having heard Roger. He walked forward with his daughter limping beside him. "Some of my people that I thought loyal to me are working for someone else."
    "Would that someone else be these?" Roger asked, and led them to the bridge proper, where a fatally injured Orka lay.
    S'rea snarled.
    "I believe so," said Tarn, and he explained exactly who the Orka were. He nodded at the Orka laid out on the deck. "That is a female child."
    "Just a child?" said Roger.
    "It is unusual, even for the Orka," Tarn agreed.
    Viktor edged closer to the Orka for a better—yet cautious—look. "What's that around her neck?" he asked, indicating the metallic band that encircled her throat.
    Tarn opened his mouth to reply, but looked to his daughter, unsure of the words in Common.
    "A