Chapter 33

Sandy

“Seriously, what are you getting paid?”

Sandy couldn’t hear the lies falling so confidently from Rane’s lips anymore. The way he was disparaging himself struck her heart like physical blows. He was using the past Elffa forced him to live as a reason that she had come to hate him and was making him suffer. He deserved this. Sandy was blameless; he was worthless.

Her teeth were going to break if she clenched them any harder, so she did the only thing she could to try to drown out the sounds of the press conference playing off Blue’s combot – she actually talked to the reptilian male.

And, predictably, she got no response.

Orza and Kirs could speak. She knew they could. In the beginning, they’d spoken to her to get her to follow them. However, most of the time, they said nothing and just forced her or Rane to do what they wanted by physically yanking them around.

Orza didn’t show any signs of hearing her, or even caring, as he continued watching the press release without a single change in his stiff, scaley expression.

“Is it money, or just the love of the game?” She continued. “I imagine there’s not many job offerings where you get to literally torture people for money. You and Green must have been really excited to find one that did.”

Nothing.

He was using her own technique against her. Unluckily for him, she didn’t really need a conversation partner. She used to spend a lot of time cursing at her yarn – she was fully capable of needling something or someone without help.

“What’s the end goal here? You have to know that you can’t get away with this forever. She’s going to lose eventually. Unless she plans on just murdering us when we’re no longer useful to her.”

Oh. Was that a twitch in his eye?

“I suppose she could,” Sandy continued, latching onto the subject. “Though, let’s be real here: She would just tell you two to do it. You cool with that? Being literal murderers?”

Definitely a twitch. He was clenching his jaw. It wasn’t super obvious. His scales didn’t move as easily as her skin, preventing subtle movements from being readily visible. But he was definitely clenching his jaw.

“Okay. Well, I think we can both agree that I would prefer the option that doesn’t lead to my death. So, what do we have to give you to make you switch sides? I’m definitely not above paying for your loyalty, and we both know it’s Rane’s money she’s using anyway.”

Nothing again.

“Unless it’s not about money,” Sandy said softly.

Ah ha! His hand tightened into a fist. She found her target.

“What is she giving you that makes this worth it?” Sandy asked ponderously, staring at him. “If it’s not money, it has to be something equally valuable. Food? Drugs? Females?”

She cocked her head curiously, options spinning around in her head. It was kind of hard, because those two had never shown any indication that they wanted anything . They just kind of robotically followed Elffa’s orders.

Like Rane was doing now.

Then, maybe it wasn’t about what she was giving them, but what she had taken away.

“Does she have something of yours?”

His eyes! They darted towards her. For a second, just a second, but it happened!

“What is it? A person? Like me and Rane?” She rested her head on her hand, looking at him as she tried to figure it out. Did they have mates of their own? Though, how would Elffa have managed to take down a couple of ratchi females and keep them back all this time? Weren’t they just as strong and vicious as the males? Or maybe she had their kids or something?

“Our brother.”

“Huh?”

She had been so engrossed in her thoughts, trying to figure out what it could be, she almost didn’t hear the softly hissed response.

“Your brother?” She repeated slowly. “She has him trapped? Like me?”

“No. Not like you. If it was like you, he could get out.” Orza’s voice was low. Like he was wary of being overheard, though Elffa was with Kirs, keeping a hard eye on Rane. “He’s in stasis. We’re… Let’s say we do some things slightly outside of the law. He went into stasis to travel under the radar. But she found him and realized what she had. She has him hidden, and she has set the pod so that she has to restart it every day or it will turn off without waking him. If something happens to her, we might not find him in time to get him free before he dies.”

“That’s… terrible,” she mumbled. She had always looked at those two like enemies and, really, she probably always would. But that didn’t mean they weren’t sympathetic.

Better than that, if they were here for something like that, they weren’t loyal to Elffa. And all the cruelty they had directed at her and Rane, they might be willing to turn against her instead. Orza certainly didn’t look conflicted or guilty about anything they had done. He might be sympathetic, but she didn’t think they had been good people to start with.

“What will it take for me to get you to switch sides?” She asked, going right for it.

“Our brother,” he said immediately. Looking at her. “You give me our brother back, and I’ll give you every bit of evidence we have on her.”

Sandy’s eyes popped in surprise. “You collected evidence?”

“You think we were doing nothing this entire time?”

“Kind of thought you were getting off on hurting us.”

“We can do both.”

He was so completely dead pan when he said it, she wasn’t entirely convinced that he meant it as a joke. But she decided to ignore that for now. She didn’t particularly care if he was a sadistic monster, so long as he was on their side.

“Have you checked the manor?”

The look he gave her very clearly asked if she thought he was stupid. She lifted her hands, figuring she had to at least ask.

“Do they have any other properties?”

“Yes. We’ve searched them all. She doesn’t have any storage places we haven’t tracked down, and Drevor knows nothing. We already… asked him.”

Sandy wasn’t sure she liked that brief pause, or what it might mean, but she chose to ignore that for now too. “What about the stadium?”

He hesitated. The stadium was the home base for the Eliviers, and Elffa was their manager. She essentially had unrestricted access to any part of the stadium she wished. It was huge, almost just as big underground as it was above, and it even already had medical facilities. If any place would be capable of running a stasis machine/pod/thing, it would be there.

“We have not,” he finally admitted. “It’s a large stadium.”

“But Rane spends most of his time there, and we could have everyone searching for-”

“No,” he cut her off harshly, tail sliding against the ground. “No authorities.”

She hummed thoughtfully. “Rane’s team?”

He thought to himself before grunting. “They could help.”

“Then, how about a deal?” She faced him fully. “Drevor is already on our side. Rane and his team know that stadium. You know that Elffa will never give him back if she has her way. She will hold him forever if for no other reason than she knows what will happen if you get him back or he dies. I don’t imagine you will just tip your hat, tell her it was nice knowing her, and leave even if she gives your brother back tomorrow.”

Orza hissed as he snarled, revealing his full muzzle of sharp teeth. It was all the answer she really needed.

“Help Rane and me instead,” she pressed. “Help us get out from under her, and I swear we won’t sleep until we find your brother and give him back to you.”

Orza gave her a long look down his scaley muzzle. He was so much bigger than her, it was like staring into the eyes of a huge monster. But she met his gaze evenly, letting him see the unmasked, determined sincerity in her gaze.

“And what will you do if you fail?” He asked, voice rumbling without threat or fear. “Are you willing to pay the price if we throw our lot in with you and our brother ends up dead?”

She thought about it for only a moment. Measuring the weight of what she was seeing still playing out on screen, knowing how terrible their future would be if she didn’t do something , and the risk that, if she guessed wrong, she would be responsible for a male’s life. She didn’t know if she’d call him an innocent male – not considering Orza and Kirs – but he certainly had never done anything against her or Rane.

She nodded once, firmly. “I will. I mess up, and you can claim your pound of flesh.” Firmly, she held out a hand.

He blinked at it before looking back up at her.

“You shake it,” she said. “It’s how humans seal deals. Do we have a deal?”

He considered her for a moment before grabbing her hand. He didn’t quite do it right, encasing her entire hand, thumb and all, in his fist before shaking. But she considered it to be just as binding as a properly formed handshake. She nodded, grinning.

“Do you have a plan then, little female?” He asked, releasing her hand. Giving her that same emotionless look he usually gave Elffa.

Sandy grinned, determination rising. “Send Kirs a message. Tell him to let Rane know that I’m safe and he’s off his leash.”

Orza didn’t respond verbally, but he opened a new screen on his holodisplay and quickly tapped out a message to his brother.

Sandy had her gaze fixed on the screen. Rane was currently explaining that, while Sandy was definitely safe and unharmed, she was also an upstanding citizen on Earth. He even went so far as to describe how she took care of her grandmother as she grew ill and died. Painting her in almost saintlike brushstrokes and then comparing her to him and telling them how ashamed and disgusted she was with him. It was all his fault. He was an immature, irresponsible male that didn’t deserve such a wonderful female as her anyway. Hearing the self-flagellation made her grit her teeth, hands tightening into fists as she wanted to scream that it wasn’t true. That none of it was his fault.

In the background, she barely saw Kirs. But she could still spot him surreptitiously checking the message Orza had just sent him.

He stilled. Only for a moment. Then, he moved.

Elffa looked confused, but she didn’t try to stop him, as he approached Rane. The reporters went quiet as he stepped behind him. He leaned down, raising his arm and blocking his mouth from being seen, as he whispered something to Rane.

Sandy watched as her mate blinked. His eyes widened in surprise. He whipped his head around, looking at him. Kirs stood up, giving him a single look, before stepping back. Deliberately putting himself between Rane and Elffa.

Rane hesitated for only a second more. Whatever message Kirs had relayed settled in as the reporters went quiet – no doubt soaking up his reaction. Waiting to see what he would say when he had that surprised look on his face.

Rane jumped to his feet, slamming his hands on the table, he yelled out desperately-

“ My mother has taken my mate hostage! She’s keeping her locked up in the manor and refuses to let me see her! She has been controlling me by- ”

Elffa was up, running towards him. But Kirs swiftly cut her off. He couldn’t stop her from yelling, trying to be heard over Rane. Insisting already that he was lying, that he was trying to get attention, that he was trying to get her in trouble.

But Rane was still calling out over her. Begging someone to help. Begging the domini embassy to go get Sandy before she was hurt.

The reporters were up. Shouting questions. Security was running forward. Elffa was yelling. It was absolute bedlam.

Sandy could only smile.

Turning, she looked at Orza. “Thank you.”

He cast her a quick glance but said nothing. Clearly, he was done talking with her and was lapsing back into stoic silence. But that was fine. She didn’t need him to talk to her.

“Contact Drevor,” she ordered, gesturing to his combot. “I’m going to need him.”

Orza obeyed without question.

Several things then happened very quickly, one after another.

Drevor, like he had been waiting for someone to call, answered Orza’s comm immediately and told her that he was already on the way to the manor. To wait for him. He’d be there soon. Sandy told him about their plan to search the stadium and that she needed him to find a stasis pod somewhere there, but she wouldn’t take any questions about why.

Drevor was remarkably well trained by Elffa. He didn’t ask any and told her that he would have the stadium staff start searching – the ones he trusted to be bribed to do so without blabbing to anyone about what they were doing.

As soon as she finished talking to him, Orza cocked his head curiously, hearing something.

“I’m leaving now,” he said, giving her a look. “They’ve come for you. I won’t be caught up in it. I’m going to the stadium. Your combot is in the utility closet at the end of the hall.”

“Thanks,” Sandy said formally. She definitely did not consider him a friend, but she could still give him that basic appreciation.

Orza gave her one last look before stepping from the room. The door shut behind him and Sandy went to go lay down, flopping really, on the mattress she had in the corner. She didn’t have to fake how pathetic and tired she looked – that was fully natural.

So, when the authorities broke into her room – that Orza had very helpfully locked on his way out, like he knew how to stage the scene – they got the full impression of her being small and messy and helpless in the locked, dark, empty room. She grimaced, sitting up, covering her face from the bright lights on their weapons as they called out to her.

They promised she was safe.

They told her they were from the embassy, and they were there to help.

Sandy didn’t even have to fake the relief as they helped her off the bed.

She eagerly followed them out of the room. A shudder of delight went through her to finally be out of there after weeks .

And maybe she didn’t have to play the part of the poor, rescued damsel, because that was exactly how she felt as they marched her out of the house and to their vehicles.

She didn’t know what was coming, but she knew it was better than what she’d just left behind.