Page 3 of Savage Union (Brutal Universe #2)

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TURK

CAPTAIN OF THE ILLYRIAN, SMUGGLING SHIP FOR CLAN SAVAGE

“ W hat do you mean Jessina’s gone?” I stared blankly at the holo of my best friend. Slade is in a different Family from mine—he’s Clan Cruel and I’m Clan Savage—but that’s never affected our friendship. We met at a gathering of the Four Families when we were kids and we’ve been tight ever since.

“Just what I said—she’s gone.” He ran a hand over his golden horns distractedly.

You can generally tell the rank of any Brute affiliated with the Four Families by the color their horns are painted. Slade is Head Enforcer for his Clan which is the reason his horns are gold. I’m the Captain of a smuggling ship for Clan Savage so my horns are painted bronze.

The bronze indicates my rank but it also shows the trust my Chieftain has in me. I take a multi-billion credit star ship out into the farthest reaches of deep space and bring back rare and precious cargo no one else can get.

Oh, and illegal—my cargos are almost always something banned by the Imperium, which has a stick up its ass about things like certain mind-altering recreational drugs and medical instruments used in operations like illegal cloning procedures. In fact, I was headed to the Triplex Cluster in a day or so, as soon as I found a new navigator, to pick up a special shipment.

But it wasn’t my next mission I was thinking of at the moment, it was my best friend and his missing little sister, Jessina.

“Her room was a mess—my Sire said it looked like there had been a struggle,” Slade was telling me.

“Did someone kidnap her?” I asked. “Who the fuck would dare to do that? Kidnap the daughter of a Clan Chieftain?”

Slade shook his head, distractedly.

“I have no fucking idea—I don’t even know if she was actually taken or not. Aurora thinks she ran off on her own. Apparently she wasn’t happy with the male my stepmother picked for her to Bind herself to. I thought she looked upset at the ceremony but I never got around to talking to her.”

I could tell he was feeling guilty about it. He and his little sister have always been close.

“Hey, don’t beat yourself up about it,” I told him. “It was your Binding Day—you had a lot going on.”

“I know. I just…fuck! I just wish I knew where she was and if she was safe. She’s not answering any of my calls.” He sighed in obvious frustration and ran a hand over his horns again.

I tried to remember if I had seen my friend’s little sister at the Binding Ceremony, which had been held at the Temple of She of the Four Faces—the Goddess all Brutes worship. But try as I might, the only mental image I could bring up was of Jessina when she was much younger.

Back when Slade was still living at home in his family mansion, he’d invited me and the rest of our Cross-Clan Crew, as Slade calls us, to come stay pretty often. We did what all adolescent males did—spent most of the time gaming and partying. Jessina always wanted to hang around with us and mostly we let her. She and Slade were always close, even back then.

She was a cute little thing with big, serious amber eyes and long black hair that fell to her waist. I still remembered the time when she had followed us to a club and gotten into trouble…

Jessina was underage at the time but she hid in the trunk of Slade’s hover-coach. None of us knew she was there. Until I happened to go to the bar for another drink and saw her.

She was sitting there with a male who was way too old for her and sipping something I really hoped wasn’t alcoholic. But alcoholic or not, the drink was going to fuck her up. The minute she looked away, I saw the bastard sitting beside her slip something into it—a bright pink rape pod.

The pod dissolved instantly and the next thing I knew, Jessina was putting the glass to her lips and taking a sip.

I was around the other side of the bar—which was a big one—but I got to her as fast as I could. Even so, by the time I reached them, she was already drooping and the bastard who had drugged her had an arm around her waist and was about to drag her outside.

“Hey fuck-face—get your hands off my little sister!” I growled at him. Of course we’re not related but Slade is like my brother. So it follows that his little sister is my little sister—that’s the way it works with close friendships in the Four Families.

The guy looked up at me and turned pale. My horns weren’t bronze at that point—they were platinum, the sign of a high-ranking soldier. But that was enough to let him know I was a member of one of the Clans and nobody to be messed with. My moving neon tats and my fangs, which I bared at him, marked me as Clan Savage and nobody he wanted to be fucking with.

“She…she’s sick. I was taking her to the restroom,” he babbled.

“Don’t bother lying—I saw you put a rape pod in her drink!” I stepped closer. “Give her to me and then hold out your arm.”

“Wh-what? Why?” he stuttered. He was already handing Jessina over, and I could see he was going to try and bolt.

I looped an arm around her limp form and then grabbed his wrist with my free hand. Bringing it to my mouth, I concentrated the venom in my fangs and sank them deep into his flesh.

My Clan—Clan Savage—has Serpentine genes in our DNA. My fangs give me the ability to either poison or heal whenever I want. One guess which I was doing to this fucking asshole.

The would-be rapist howled, sinking to his knees right there in the middle of the club. I kept injecting until my venom sacs were dry—only then did I release his arm.

“Wh-what did you do to me?” he gasped, cradling his arm to his chest. It was already swelling and his light gray skin was turning an ominous reddish-purple. Dark lines of poison were creeping from his wrist, where I’d bitten him, up towards his elbow.

“I gave you what you deserved,” I growled at him. “If I were you, I’d go seek medical attention right fucking now.” I nodded at the lines on his arm. “You might get there in time—or not. If my venom reaches your heart, you’re dead. Even if it doesn’t, your cock is never going to work right again. Good fucking luck.”

Then I swung Jessina up into my arms and started to carry her back to our table where I figured Slade could take care of her. But she was still half-conscious and she looked up at me with pleading in her big amber eyes.

“Please, Turk,” she begged softly. “Don’…don’t tell Slade. He’ll be so…so angry with me.”

I felt my heart melting as I looked down at her—so young and innocent and so afraid to disappoint her big brother. She reminded me of a bird with a broken wing.

“All right, little bird,” I murmured. “I’ll make an excuse and take you home.”

I carried her out of the club, cradled against my chest, and managed to flag down a hover-cab. Once I got her safely stowed inside, I got in myself and gave the auto-drive the address of her family mansion. Then I called Slade and told him I had met someone—which wasn’t entirely untrue—and I would see him and the others back at the mansion later.

I could hear the rest of our crew laughing and telling me what a dog I was, but they bought it. They thought I had picked up some girl and was taking her someplace quiet. Well, they weren’t completely wrong, though of course it wasn’t what they thought. I would never, ever do anything like that with my best friend’s little sister—not even if she was completely sober. Which she wasn’t, thanks to the rape pod that bastard had slipped her.

When we got back to the mansion, I had to sneak Jessina in through the back way, and since I was carrying her in my arms, that wasn’t exactly easy. Still, I managed to avoid all the servants and her Mother and Sire too. Before I knew it, I was tucking her into bed and pulling the covers up to her chin.

I was about to go, but Jessina’s eyes fluttered open and she reached out to grab me by the wrist. I thought she was going to thank me or maybe ask me not to tell Slade again. But instead she murmured something I could barely hear.

“What was that, little bird?” I asked, leaning down to put my ear near her mouth.

“Fated…Mate,” she whispered. And then her eyes closed and she was out.

I looked down at her for a long time, taking in the way her long black lashes curled against her cheeks. She didn’t look like a Brute, except for her eyes. Her skin was a warm, creamy brown and for a moment I saw her as she would be when she got older. She was going to be a heartbreaker, I thought—not merely pretty or cute but fucking gorgeous. She had a regal quality about her. I hoped Slade was ready to defend her because there were going to be a lot of males after her.

Reaching down, I stroked her cheek with the backs of my fingers. So soft and warm…so innocent. She stirred and a soft moan escaped her lips but she didn’t wake again. I wondered if she was dreaming of her Fated Mate—she must be, since those were the words she’d spoken. Whoever he was, I hoped he would treat her right.

I left her asleep in her bed and never told a soul about what had happened at the club. But it made me feel protective of Jessina. Later on, I gave her a talking to about not sneaking into clubs while she was underage and about how she should never fucking ever take a drink offered by someone she didn’t know.

“Order a drink in a bottle or a squeeze-bulb if you’re thirsty and be sure to keep it in your hand at all times so nobody can tamper with it,” I lectured her the next day. “Never trust any of the guys you meet at those places—half of them are fucking rapists! You could have died last night if I hadn’t seen you!”

She listened with wide eyes and nodded when I was finished.

“I’m sorry, Turk. I just wanted to be with you. I mean, with you guys—with the Crew, you know?” she added hastily.

“Yeah, well we don’t always go places that are safe for a woman on her own,” I told her. “This time you got lucky—I might not see you next time. So please promise me you won’t try that again.”

Jessina nodded.

“I promise. And thank you for saving me.”

“I’m just glad I saw you in time.” There was a tight feeling in my chest when I thought of what might have happened if I hadn’t decided I was thirsty just at the right moment to see her at the bar.

“I’m glad too. Thank you, Turk.” Jessina threw her arms around me, giving me a big hug…as big as she could manage, anyway. She was such a tiny little thing. But then, anyone looks tiny to a Brute Enforcer—not a single one of us is under seven feet. It’s the Clan genes—they don’t quit.

I hugged her back and stroked her long, silky hair. She felt so fragile in my arms—I wished I could protect her forever.

“You’re welcome, little bird,” I murmured. “I just want you to be safe. Always.”

That little incident made me feel especially close to Jessina and I couldn’t help remembering it when Slade called me and told me she was missing. I was as worried as he was—but I didn’t know if I could help, especially if she’d run off on her own, like he seemed to think.

“I’ll look for her here at the spaceport,” I offered. “But the Illyrian is about to ship out to the Triplex Cluster. We’re doing a deal with the Salashions and they’re fucking crazy about their schedule.”

“I understand.” Slade nodded. “Just call me if you hear anything. She might even call you—you’re like her second big brother, you know?”

“Yeah, I know.” I nodded.

Slade would never know about that night at the club or the secret his sister and I shared. I would never betray Jessina’s confidence. But it was true that it had made her look up to me, even more than the rest of our Cross-Clan Crew.

Slade signed off and I sat at my desk for a minute, wondering where the fuck Jessina had gotten herself off to. She might be anywhere in the Imperium Galaxy by now. I prayed to She of the Four Faces my little bird was safe.

I had no idea at the time how close she really was.