Love in the Land of Fire, Brochu, Rebecca [best free novels .txt] 📗

his body to move fast enough and smoothly enough to take down the guards he encounters. At the same time it worries him more because this time around he can see what those actions cost the injured male. He sees the grimace on his face, and the way that his lips are pursed in a white line as he presses a hand against his ribs and forces himself to stay upright and continue moving until he’s finally out of the range of the cameras.

Zweil’s not only beautiful and apparently intelligent, but he’s also a survivor, and that’s a trait that Josiah can deeply appreciate in another person.

Josiah’s silent for another moment before he remembers that Eagan is still on the channel and that Zweil is out in the city somewhere alone, unprotected, and injured.

Josiah needs to find him fast.

“Do we have a location on him, Eagan?” Josiah’s voice is sharp and this time he doesn’t try to tone it down at all.

“He’s caught your attention, hasn’t he? I figured you’d like him. From what little bit I saw of that video he seemed like he’d be your type.” Eagan sounds contemplative and it pisses Josiah off to a small degree because now is not the time to discuss his preferences in male submissives.

“Give me a location, Eagan.” He grits the words out between clenched teeth even as he refolds and docks his p.a.t.c.h before he completes the ignition sequence on his transport and prepares to head out in whatever direction Zweil was last seen.

“Alright, alright. No need to get uppity about it. Reports have him last seen going west towards the Ember Harbor district. If he makes it onto a cargo ship and out of Fire territory we’ll have no chance of getting our hands on him again so you have to get to him before he gets out. Apparently he did a lot of damage to Frisch and he’s demanding reparations. Zweil’s going to have a lot to answer for when you bring him in. After what he’s done today he’ll be lucky to end up in a pleasure house afterwards.”

Josiah scowls harshly in the safety of his transport as he orders it to head for the Ember Harbor district and to activate his enforcer’s status to allow for a quicker commute. He knows that Eagan is telling the truth. After attacking and injuring the one to whom he’d been promised, Zweil is in serious trouble, but Josiah’s far from happy with the situation. He knows in his gut that Zweil doesn’t deserve what’s in store for him.

“I’m heading in that direction now. Eagan, I want you to get a medical unit and a defender on the line and have them on standby. Try Marcel. She’s always been passionate about submissive rights and he’s going to need the best to get him out of this mess he’s in. And whatever you do don’t let Frisch out of our sight. Plant a few of the lower ranks on him if you have to but he goes nowhere.”

He can practically hear Eagan’s hesitation and confusion but it’s a testament to the other man’s level head and intelligence that he picks up on the implications behind what Josiah’s saying. Josiah can hear him curse soft and vicious under his breath as it all sinks in.

“What exactly are we looking at here, Marx? How bad is this? There was no mention of it in the reports and everyone but Frisch was taken down with hand to hand, but do you think that he’s armed? Do you want me to send another enforcer unit your way?”

Josiah hesitates for a moment, eyes staring blankly out the polarized glass of his front window as his mind traces back over what he’d seen in the video. Panic, fear, a flash of helplessness and a large dose of pain mixed in with all of it; none of the signs were good, but he doesn’t have solid proof and he doesn’t know just what had made the other man run like he had hounds on his heels. Still he’s confident that surrounding Zweil with unfamiliar faces would be the wrong thing to do at the moment.

“No, I’m confident that reinforcements will not be necessary. They might actually make the situation worse, but I’ll update you if the circumstances change. I’m not sure exactly but something tells me that it’s going to be bad, Eagan, and by that I mean he’s going to be in rough shape and more likely to be more dangerous to himself than to me. You need to watch the video feed again and pay careful attention to his face and the way his body moves. He’s in pain, desperate, and most of all scared, and I’ve seen how situations like this can play out if they’re not handled just right. If I don’t get to him soon he might do something stupid.”

“I’ll take care of things on this end. You just bring that one back in one piece and we’ll handle it from there.

Eagan out.”

Josiah hears the click of Eagan closing the channel between them but it barely even fazes him; he’s too caught up in thoughts of Zweil and planning the best way to make sure that they both make it out of this thing relatively unscathed.

Zweil’s bright, pain-filled eyes flash across his mind once again and Josiah’s afraid that he might already be too late.

1Chapter Three

After half an hour of travel Josiah finds himself staring down a crossroads in indecision. Something is telling him that he needs to hurry, that Zweil’s living on borrowed time and that he needs help, but for some reason Josiah can’t move forward. The control panel of his transport blinks a mocking red as it waits for him to either order it to resume the previously set course or to select