In Enemy Territory - Shannon West Page 0,82
three-hour head start. If you can elude the tigers for two full days—mind you, I don’t expect that to happen—but one never knows. If you do manage it, I’ll take you back to the mainland. As for the plan I’ve made, it’s really simple and elegant. I turn you loose in a few hours and they hunt you down. Do you have any questions for me?” He looked back and forth between them. “No? Very well then. I’ll see you soon.” He turned and left the room without another word, leaving them staring after him.
Ryan sighed and then turned toward Rasc and held out his hand. “I’m Prince Mikos’s mate, Ryan. And you are?”
“Rasc Centarlo. From New Chicago. Most recently, Laltana.”
“Good Lord, it is you, isn’t it? I haven’t seen you since the trials. I thought you looked familiar, but you had a beard then, right? How did you come to be here?”
Rasc leaned back against a wall in the tiny room and sighed. “Back on Laltana, Prince Larz and Kylon approached me and my friend, Setin, and asked us to help them find the missing Tygerian boys. There had been word they were on Gatifrey, and the prince found out I used to live here. Setin too.”
Ryan nodded. “But why are Larz and Kylon here then? If they recruited you, why not let you handle it?”
“Kylon was supposed to help with the extraction all along if we found the missing boys. Prince Larz talked about political reasons why it would be difficult to just go in after them in a raid. Anyway, that was the plan as I understood it. I thought we had found them, and Kylon came to arrange a way for us to get to the island where they were supposedly being held. I didn’t know about Larz coming. He just showed up later on, posing as an ambassador.”
“It was all a lie about the missing boys. You know that, right? The general put out that rumor to lure Larz here, and I guess that part worked. Unfortunately, it got Kylon and you and your friend here too.”
“That son-of-a-bitch gave Larz and Kylon false hope. They really wanted to find them here and bring them home.” He glanced up to find Ryan staring at him oddly and he shrugged. “I guess you think that’s something coming from me. Considering my part in it. But I never planned any of the kidnapping, and I didn’t know what was happening until I was already in it up to my neck. Then too, I didn’t know how to refuse Prince Tibiel. He didn’t have time or sympathy for anyone who didn’t do as they were told. And considering how much I knew, he would have just killed me if I hadn’t done what he asked.”
Ryan was silent for a few minutes. Then he nodded. “Everything about this so far has been a clusterfuck.”
Rasc turned to smile ruefully at Ryan. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been with other humans. And Americans at that. I haven’t heard that phrase, for example, in years. But it pretty much does describe my life for the last decade.” Rasc slid down the wall to plop on the floor. “I’m so fucking tired. I hope they give us a little time to rest. Is he really going to try to make Kylon and the others hunt us?”
“I’m afraid so. This general is certifiable, and that also makes him all the more unpredictable. We have to be ready for anything.”
“They’ll tear us to pieces. I always heard that when a Tygerian transforms he becomes just an animal—unable to think like a man.”
“I think that’s mostly true. But I have seen evidence, with my own eyes, that some of them are aware of their nobyos. They ‘know’ them, in a way, and won’t hurt them.”
Rasc smiled bitterly. “That’s good news for you, but not for me. I’m not a nobyo.”
“Are you sure? Kylon seemed very concerned about you.”
“We’ve…been together a few times, but he doesn’t love me. Not really.”
“Still, Tygerians are hard to read sometimes.” Ryan crossed over to sit down beside Rasc, and squeezed his arm. “Don’t lose hope. You have to try to get away from them when they come for us.”
“But you don’t. You said your mate will recognize you.”
“That’s the theory; I don’t want to bet my life on it. Besides, I’m not Kylon’s or Larz’s mate. If Mikos doesn’t kill me, one of the others could.”
“Fuck,” Rasc said again, dropping