Page 5 of Devil’s Night (Vinduthi Captured Mates #7)

NICOLE

I led Sargon down another winding corridor, the walls rippling and shifting around us in unsettling patterns. Despite the bizarre surroundings, my eyes kept drifting back to study the striking alien figure beside me.

Sargon moved with a predatory grace, his lean muscular frame taut with wariness. Those intense red eyes constantly scanned our path, missing nothing. I found myself transfixed by the stark lines of his face, the delicate swirling patterns adorning his skin. Even those small horns at his temples held a strange allure.

And to be honest, his grim determination, the way he’d kept searching, kept fighting was just as attractive.

I gave myself a mental shake. Now was not the time to be ogling the bounty hunter, no matter how striking his looks.

We needed to focus on finding an escape route. And then, well, I’d deal with my inappropriate attraction later. If there was a later.

“How are we even communicating right now?” I blurted out, desperate to distract myself from inappropriate thoughts. “Back in the lab, you were clearly reading an alien script on those displays. But here you are, speaking perfect English with me.”

Sargon’s eyes narrowed slightly. “I don’t understand your meaning.”

“Well, I obviously don’t speak whatever language you were using before,” I persisted. “So unless you’ve got a universal translation implant or something, you must have learned English at some point. Which means “ My voice trailed off as realization struck. “You’ve dealt with humans before, haven’t you?”

An uncomfortable silence stretched out as we continued picking our way forward. Sargon’s jaw tightened almost imperceptibly before he finally spoke. “I have encountered your kind during my travels, yes. But humans do not possess much status or power within the Federation’s worlds.”

His tone held the barest hint of disdain, setting my hackles rising instinctively. I began to protest, but Sargon raised a hand, forestalling me.

“I do not mean insult. It is simply a fact. Your species is still viewed as relatively inconsequential by many.” He shrugged those broad shoulders. “Why bother learning the language of such a minor race?”

I snorted, unable to keep the sarcasm from my voice. “Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence in humanity’s worth.”

To my surprise, Sargon actually chuckled - a low, rumbling sound that made my heart skip. “Your species may lack power and standing, but you possess a certain…” He paused, those red eyes raking over me in an unconsciously sensual appraisal. “ tenacity that I’ve found intriguing.”

Was it my imagination, or did his gaze linger a little too long on my curves? I swallowed hard, my mouth suddenly dry as a desert.

Forcing a casual tone, I prodded, “So if humans are so unimpressive to your mighty Federation, why’d you bother learning our language?”

Sargon’s lips quirked in a half-smile that somehow managed to be both sardonic and darkly amused. “Vinduthi have an innate gift for absorbing new languages quickly. And after being stuck on this world for so long, I’ve had ample time to study yours.”

He leaned closer, those sharp teeth glinting as he continued in a lower tone. “Besides, not long before I took the contract to hunt down Doar, I heard rumors that an old comrade had become intrigued by a human female he’d taken as a mate. So I decided to investigate what could possess a fellow Vinduthi to bind himself to one of your kind.”

My breath caught in my throat as Sargon moved to stand over me, his towering figure looming over me, the faint, musky scent of him, the swirls of his markings drawing my eye.

“I must admit,” he murmured in that deep, gruff timbre, “After spending time in your fascinating company, I’m starting to understand the appeal.”

Oh.

The heated undercurrent of his words was unmistakable. Part of me wanted to back away, put some safer distance between us. But another part - a reckless, hungry part - longed to reach out and trace the whorling patterns etched into that alien skin.

I could feel the rapid staccato of my pulse thundering in my ears as Sargon held my gaze. Those eyes blazed even brighter, filled with a heat that bordered on smoldering.

Then the moment shattered as a tremor ripped through the corridor around us. The walls blurred and distorted sickeningly, knocking me off-balance. Sargon’s arm whipped out with blurring speed, his iron grip catching me against that powerful chest before I could fall.

“We need to keep moving,” he growled, steadying me. “This reality grows more unstable by the moment.”

Swallowing hard, I nodded mutely and let him propel me forward once more. My skin still tingled from the lingering heat of his touch, my body hyper-aware of his looming presence at my back.

The word “mate” echoed through my thoughts, its implications dancing like static electricity.

I’d seen sensationalized tabloid stories about alien abductions and bizarre interspecies affairs. But those were pure fantasy, nothing like the compelling reality of the massive alien now guiding me through these shifting corridors.

I snuck a sidelong glance at Sargon. His stark alien features – the sharp cheekbones, the swirling tattoos – had taken on a strange allure.

Imagining this otherworldly creature as a “husband” conjured visions of his nimble fingers tracing patterns across my skin, exploring every curve with a thrilling, terrifying possessiveness. I could almost feel the ghostly warmth of his breath on my neck?—

“Nicole.” Sargon’s voice shattered my reverie, making me jump. “You seem distracted. Is something wrong?”

Heat flooded my cheeks as I struggled to regain composure. “No, nothing’s wrong. Just thinking.”

Sargon’s eyes narrowed slightly with concern or curiosity. “Thinking about what?”

“Just what you said before. About your friend and his human …partner.” I admitted in a whisper. “It’s a lot to take in.”

Understanding dawned in his eyes and he nodded. “Ah yes, I can see how that might be jarring for you.”

“Jarring,” I repeated with a humorless laugh. “That’s one way to put it.”

We walked in silence, the shifting walls humming around us.

“Would you like to know more?” he asked carefully. “About what it means for a Vinduthi to take a mate?”

I took a half-step towards him. This felt right. He felt right.

But then reality crashed back. We were trapped, our lives hanging by a thread as we navigated this surreal labyrinth.

“Maybe later,” I said, tucking my hair behind my ear as I refocused. “But right now, we should keep moving, don’t you think?”

Sargon’s expression subtly shifted, as if suppressing a smirk. “Of course. Your safety is my primary concern.”

Sure it was.

I was about to press Sargon further when I noticed a strange flickering in the corridor walls around us. Little shimmers of light, like heat distortions, rippled and danced across the surfaces.

“Do you see that?” I asked, pointing toward the nearest flicker.

Sargon’s eyes narrowed as he examined it. “Yes, almost like spatial disturbances. But localized, contained.”

He stalked closer, reaching out one long-fingered hand to hover just shy of the flickering patch. I could have sworn I saw his talons extend slightly as he tensed.

With a suddenness that made me jump, Sargon thrust his arm forward - and it disappeared into the wall up to the elbow.

“What the--?!” My eyes went wide.

Sargon grunted, but when he pulled his arm back, it looked no worse for wear.

“It appears to be some kind of rift or portal,” he murmured, studying that section intently. “But highly unstable. Almost like an unfinished transition between quantum states.”

I blinked at the technobabble. “You lost me, but go on “

Shaking his head, Sargon refocused on me. “It may be our way out of this labyrinth. If I can stabilize and widen one of these rifts, we could pass through to another area.”

“Another area?” My heart leapt at the possibility of escape. “You mean like back into the real house?”

“Perhaps.” Sargon flexed his hand, claws extending fully as some unseen force shimmered around his fingertips. “Only one way to find out.”

With a sudden forceful thrust, he plunged that clawed hand straight into the rift. This time his entire arm disappeared up to the shoulder as fractal patterns of scintillating energy sparked outward.

I held my breath, watching in awe and trepidation as Sargon’s features contorted in intense concentration. Muscles ridged and straining, he looked like a sculptural study of focused power.

With a final heave, Sargon wrenched his arm sideways - and the rift split wide in a dazzling kaleidoscope of light and color. A massive rent had been torn in the very fabric of the shifting corridor, revealing

“A bedroom?” I squinted through the haze.

It was indeed a child’s bedroom, complete with gabled windows, floral wallpaper, and a canopy bed with tasseled curtains. Plush stuffed animals littered the floor, along with scattered toys and picture books.

“I’ll be damned,” Sargon growled, already pushing through the rift. “We’re back in the house - one floor down from the attic where we started.”

I hurried after him, ducking beneath the low, slanted ceiling as I emerged into the dimly lit chamber. The heavy curtains were drawn, lending everything a gloomy, dusty pall.

“How is this possible?” I swept my gaze around the decidedly mundane setting, so at odds with the shifting labyrinth we’d been walking through moments before. “We didn’t go down any stairs…”

Sargon’s eyes glinted as he nodded toward the canopy bed. “The rifts must allow passage between spaces, circumventing normal physical laws. Doors within doors, if you will.”

“Freaky,” I murmured, unable to look away from the slightly sinister air of the shadowy bedroom. Beneath the dust and neglect, I could envision a child happily at play amid the stuffed toys and books.

I shuddered, feeling the weight of the decades pressing down. What had happened here, in this once-loved space? What had turned this warm sanctuary into a haunting tomb of lost innocence?

“Over here,” Sargon called, already rifling through the room’s scattered detritus. “We should search for any sign of that missing release card.”

Nodding mutely, I set to work, sifting through the debris and detritus with a cautious hand. My fingers brushed over smooth leather binding, and I pulled free an ancient photo album from beneath a pile of moldering toys.

The cover creaked in protest as I carefully opened it, the ancient adhesive cracking. I drew in a sharp breath at the images contained within.

Faded, sepia-tinted photographs showed a smiling family - father, mother, and three young children, two boys and a girl. Their faces beamed with simple joy, caught in warm domestic scenes around a cheerfully decorated Christmas tree, or gathered at a birthday celebration with a lavish cake.

“So they were happy, once,” a gruff voice rumbled near my shoulder, making me start.

I hadn’t even heard Sargon approach, but there he loomed over me, scanning the tender family portraits with an inscrutable expression.

Clearing my throat, I carefully turned another page, revealing more images. The children clearly growing older with each successive snapshot, their smiles becoming more rare, their expressions more somber and withdrawn.

“I wonder what happened,” I murmured. “To take them from that bright, loving home to well, whatever nightmare transpired here in the end.”

Sargon uttered a soft grunt, but said nothing more as I gently closed the album’s covers once more. I couldn’t bear to look at the remnants of that lost family any longer, to see the inevitable deterioration into misery and darkness.

“Nothing here that can help us,” the bounty hunter pronounced after one final sweep of the room. “We need to locate another of those rifts and keep searching.”

Giving the album one last mournful look, I rose and rejoined Sargon. He was right - wallowing in past tragedies would get us nowhere. Our own survival took priority right now.

My gaze landed on the bedroom’s antique armoire, its once-gleaming wood now dull and scarred. A strange, flickering luminescence seeped from the seams around the closed doors, like heat distortions shimmering in a desert mirage.

“I think I found our next door,” I said, pointing toward the wavering glow.

Sargon’s gaze sharpened as he studied the phenomenon, then gave a curt nod. Crossing the room in three long strides, he grasped the armoire’s handles and wrenched the doors open.

A blast of searing light and sound exploded outward, forcing me to throw up an arm to shield my eyes. When the roar and brilliance faded, I found myself once more confronted by the reality-defying geometries of that maddening, kaleidoscopic maze.

With a quick glance at Sargon’s impassive features, I steeled myself and stepped through the rent, the Vinduthi falling into stride beside me.

Our quest to find that elusive release card and unravel this cosmic trap continued. But at least this time, I felt the first faint stirrings of hope flickering to life.

If we could make it through this ever-shifting labyrinth, maybe - just maybe - I could find my way back to the normal life I’d once known.

But was I going to be anywhere close to normal anymore?