Kai's Captive

  Copyright © 2019 by Skylar Rain/JL Madore

  Kai’s Captive is a work of fiction.

  Cover Design: Fiona Jayde Media

  Copy Edit: Jenn Wood, All About the Edits

  Note: The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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  Kai’s Captive/ Skylar Rain/JL Madore

  ISBN 978-1-989187-12-8

  CHAPTER ONE

  The air of Atlantis held a sweetness to it Josephine didn’t quite recognize but it felt familiar none-the-less. It had been there from the moment she’d stepped from the transport gate and took her first steps into the city. She’d been unable to stop herself from closing her eyes and inhaling, letting the unusual aroma bounce around inside her nose. Oddly, it tickled memories from her childhood; floral with a hint of metal. The scent was still present, a month after having come on board, teasing her even as she stood with her face hovering inches from a maintenance shaft. Honestly, it was the only thing keeping the contents of her stomach in place.

  Take it easy. This is no worse than tasks you did back on the Defiant. Suck it up. Prove they are no better than you.

  The rest of her shift crew snickered as she took another deep breath before shoving her head back inside the shaft. Yeah, she’d been on the receiving end of hazing before, mostly before she became one of the youngest lead engineers the Defiant had ever promoted.

  Except, these weren’t humans teasing her and welcoming her into the not-so-secret society of engineers who kept the Defiant operational. No, these were six-foot tall aliens, who’d taken her and her friends into their home miles below the ocean’s surface.

  Atlanteans. Like from fucking Atlantis.

  She still couldn’t quite accept that aliens from another planet had hidden beneath the surface of Earth’s ocean for centuries. But the reality of the situation was staring her in the face. They’d come to the Defiant and helped save their asses from the mercenary attack and the destruction of the rig.

  Offering them a new home was a bonus for most of their community—no need to worry about mercs coming to kill them and take their resources—even if most of them hadn’t figured how they’d fit into their new society.

  Really, what do I bring to these engineers? I’m a child in my experience and understanding of their systems compared to most of them.

  And that had been the real rub for Josie. One that she wasn’t going to let define her life. If that meant she had to scrub bio-matter buildup out of pipes while she learned how to take apart and put back together alien tech, then that’s what she’d damn well do.

  “Why haven’t you finished, Tiderider? Is cleaning too difficult for your human brain?”

  Josie scowled at Eos, the Atlantean assigned as her supervisor. While he teased as much as any of the others, there was always a bit less bite to his comments. “No, I’m just marveling at the fact that your people haven’t devised a better method of doing this.”

  “Who says we haven’t?” Eos crossed his arms, his dark blue skin stretched across taut muscles, a smirk fixed on his face. “But you humans aren’t exactly up to our standards for other jobs. If you want to be an engineer here, then you’ll start your training at the bottom and work your way up.”

  “Yes, boss.” Nope, she wasn’t going to let them get to her. She’d learned long ago that getting her hands dirty was the best way to learn. And while she might be at a slight disadvantage when it came to alien engineering, Josie was a fast learner. If she focused, she’d make her way onto an engineering team before the end of the year.

  Bracing her hands against the opening of the shaft, Josie shot Eos a smile before stepping inside. “I’ll see you in an hour.” Without another look, she jumped in and slid down several feet to the first landing.

  Josie had to give the Atlanteans credit; they knew how to build a structure. Bio-mechanical pads converted elements in the ocean into power and transported it throughout Atlantis. As the years went on and humanity continued to pollute the oceans, the bio-pads generated more and more waste and required regular maintenance to ensure they didn’t fail.

  One more thing humanity screwed up.

  The shaft interior was designed to accommodate the larger-framed aliens, so Josie was able to stand and move around with little difficulty. Her assignment today was to follow the path of this shaft, stopping at each landing and completing a diagnostic and cleaning cycle of the bio-pads before moving on to the next.

  It was repetitive and more than a little boring, but it gave her the chance to mentally review the schematics of this section of Atlantis. Learning the systems from the inside out was an opportunity she valued.

  Even if what she really wanted to do was explore her new home.

  The snapping of the panels coming off in her hands became a subtle rhythm that drove Josie, and it didn’t take her long to fall into a routine. Open the panel, flush the system, restart the computer, close the panel, jump back into the shaft, and slide to the next section. Her hands and back ached from the work, but she was used to the labor from working on the Defiant.

  It would help her sleep tonight, something that had been surprisingly difficult to do since her arrival.

  Despite the fact Atlantis was a huge city under the ocean with thousands of people living inside, it was surprisingly quiet. There was the constant hum of computers, the soft hiss of air circulating through scrubbers and back out to be consumed once more, even the soft patter of footsteps against the floor, but it wasn’t the same as living on the surface.

  Josie missed the crash of waves against the Defiant’s structure, the sound of the wind blowing against the metal, whistling through cracks in the joints that had slowly separated over time. Everything in her new home felt too clean, too perfect. She couldn’t help it, but it set her on edge.

  Maybe being in the maintenance shaft was right for her in several ways. If nothing else, she appreciated that there was some dirt beneath the pristine sheen of the city.

  “Josephine Reynolds, please acknowledge.”

  She let out a squeak and jumped back from the panel she’d been about to close. The sound of Eos’s voice had come from the computer to her left.

  Yeah, that would take some getting used to.

  Wiping her hands on her pants, she squinted at the panel for a moment before pressing the coms button. “This is Josie.” She cocked her head to the side and smiled. “What’s up, boss?”

  Eos sighed. “The other crews have completed their assignments. I wanted to ensure you weren’t lost in an air duct.”

  Of course he didn’t think she’d be able to keep up. Not bothering to answer, Josie finished slipping the panel back into place, jumped into the shaft, and landed in the hallway a few feet from where Eos stood.

  With a smile, she fixed her ponytail and sauntered over to where the Atlantean crew stood. “I would have be
en done on time if you hadn’t slowed me down with a call.”

  If Eos was impressed, he didn’t let on. “You were still five time-cycles slower than the others. A child would have finished sooner. In the future, I would appreciate it if you increase your efficiency.”

  She knew her performance was well within acceptable Atlantean requirements; she’d read up on what was expected of her last night when she couldn’t fall asleep. “Yeah, sure. I can do that.”

  Josie would do more than that—next time, she’d be done first.

  Eos turned his back to her, forcing Josie to fall into step behind him. “Come, Tiderider. More tasks await. Let’s go.”

  The others sighed, but Josie’s excitement grew. It didn’t matter what they threw at her, she’d keep learning, keep pushing on. She had nothing to lose.

  Kai stood against the far wall, hands by his side and his gaze strategically fixed on a spot that allowed him to see his boss clearly in his periphery. Atlas was conducting an interrogation, something he only did in the most delicate of situations. Taryn had asked Atlas to take this on as a personal favor to him, and one didn’t say no the Captain of Atlantis’s First armada, even the second son of a royal family.

  Atlas sat behind the desk, his fingers steepled, elbows resting on the metallic surface. He stared at the young man sitting defiantly across from him. “According to you, the manganese wasn’t there when you arrived at your station? Three containers of refined manganese that you yourself checked into the system, that no one else in the research lab had access to, disappeared without a trace?”

  “Sir.” The youth shifted in his seat, his gaze darting anywhere but to Atlas. “It was there three days ago when I did an inventory. I don’t know where it would have gone.”

  “Manganese is extremely valuable. Especially on the black market. Especially to a young man whose familial position and wealth doesn’t allow for much movement within Atlantis.” Atlas set his hands gently on his desk and narrowed his blue gaze. “So, I will ask you again. Who would have access to the containers other than yourself?”

  Kai knew that was his cue and pushed away from the wall, his hands cupped close to his weapon. The youth tensed as Kai drew closer. Atlas was far deadlier with his words than many people realized but having Kai there as a physical threat tended to move these little meetings along far faster. He had a reputation of resolving matters by any means necessary.

  Right on cue, the young man glanced over at Kai, his green eyes widening and his green skin noticeably pale. “Sir, I don’t know. I swear, I didn’t take them. I wouldn’t know where to sell something like that even if I had taken it.” He turned back to Atlas and grabbed the edge of his desk. “Please, sir. You have to believe me.”

  Kai cocked an eyebrow and gave a little shrug. While Atlas might not be looking directly at him, Kai knew he saw the gesture. They both had their doubts about the young man’s guilt going into this, but now he was certain. He was too soft to be a part of the smuggling ring that had risen in Atlantis.

  Someone this weak-willed wouldn’t last a day without turning up with a disruptor wound to his gut.

  Atlas leaned back in his seat. “Go. If you hear of anything, even if you feel it’s irrelevant, notify Kai immediately.”

  The young man was on his feet and scurrying past Kai in a flash. “Yes, sir. Thank you.”

  Kai waited until the door slid closed behind him before turning to Atlas, chuckling. “He’s no more a smuggler than you are. I thought he might faint when he first stepped in here.”

  Atlas nodded as he turned his attention to his computer. “We’re not any closer to finding out what these people are up to. I’ll notify Taryn of our progress.”

  “Or lack thereof.” Kai fell into the empty chair and put his foot on the edge of the desk. “We’ve been looking for months. Since before the Tideriders showed up. And with a hundred and ninety-six more bodies on Atlantis, it’s going to get more complicated.”

  “The humans won’t be a concern.” Atlas had kept his opinion on their new permanent residents to himself. “We do need to get this under control before someone begins to take advantage of the humans, though. Without a full understanding of our ways, I shudder to think what some of them might end up involved in.”

  It wouldn’t take much for an Atlantean to convince a human to break their rules. Ignorance was their biggest weakness. “What do you want me to tell the others?”

  While Kai had no official title, he and his men protected Atlantis from threats unseen and unknown by many. The Order of Poseidon—known in the shadows as simply The Order—followed Atlas and had been originally established to protect the royalty from Tagalt.

  In the centuries since their arrival on Earth, the Order existed only in rumors and in the memories of older Atlanteans. As far as the majority of their people were concerned, Kai was one of several royal guards who kept Atlas safe and saw to his private business.

  He was a nobody, one of many who could be replaced.

  To the few who knew of them, Kai was a killer, an assassin as deadly as any creature in the vast ocean. The right hand of the Order, leader of an elite force. Each of them would give their lives for Atlantis, and for Atlas himself.

  Kai loved him like a brother, despite him being as far from one as possible. He had no other family, no one who would care if he ceased to exist. Atlas and his brothers of the Order were all he needed.

  Even if sometimes, he felt like something was missing.

  Atlas pointedly looked at Kai’s feet, before he sat back in his seat. “We’ll need to take things to the next level. Our manganese stock is running dangerously low. The healers have taken to rationing supplies, healing only those who are seriously damaged. With the humans here, they anticipate additional injuries and increased need. We need to stop whoever is stealing it before things grow critical.”

  It didn’t make sense to Kai.

  They had everything they needed here in Atlantis. Why would anyone want to take supplies, let alone an element that was used by medics? The average Atlantean simply walked into the med-bay for help rather than healing on their own. The humans might have been suspect if they hadn’t arrived long after the thefts initially occurred.

  If Taryn came to Atlas to investigate this, then the ruling class wanted to keep things quiet. That meant they’d have to continue to work in the shadows until further notice.

  “I’ll send out the Order to talk to their contacts in the guilds. If these supplies are hitting the black market, we’ll hear about it soon enough. If they’re not, then that tells us something else.”

  “I’m more concerned with what that ‘something else’ might be. Not knowing how the manganese is being used leaves far too many questions.” Atlas nodded a dismissal and Kai left, mission in hand.

  The neon-lit corridors were dimmed for the evening, but Kai wasn’t the least bit tired. For weeks now, he’d had a restless spirit to him that drove him to keep going long past the time he should be ready to sleep.

  If he’d had the time, he would have ventured into medical to get checked out. He’d nearly gone once already, when a buzzing in the back of his head threatened to grow uncomfortable. Thankfully, that had stopped a few days ago, letting him finally think clearly again.

  If he could only get rid of the itching that prickled beneath his skin, it would be even better.

  A group of humans—three women and four men—approached, being led by their Atlantean guide. He’d done his best to avoid most of the new human residents since an unfortunate experience on the first day of their arrival.

  Even now, as he passed by with a nod of acknowledgment, all three of the women stared at him, their mouths open and their skin flushing.

  He still didn’t know what caused that reaction to him by the women, nor did he want to stay close to them long enough to find out. They wanted to mate with him, that had been made clear on that first day when, on four different occasions, women physically threw themselves on him.


  He wasn’t aware of this happening to any other Atlantean men. Then again, Kai’s physiology was different from most.

  He’d been bred to be a killer—to see, hear, and taste things others could not. Everything about him ran too hot, too close to the surface, especially his emotions.

  If it hadn’t been for Atlas all those years ago, stepping in and enlisting Kai into the Order, he had no doubt he would have been left in containment forever.

  The corridor opened into one of the grand parks that comprised several of Atlantis’ buildings. Despite working in the background, hiding whenever possible, Kai loved nature. The glorious smells, the ocean above them visible through the dome, and the creatures that swam past, all helped to soothe him. There was a path hidden from view by bushes off to the left, one that wasn’t known by many. Kai stepped in, swallowed by foliage, and traveled the winding path to a bench set in an isolated corner.

  This was his private refuge, his sanctuary where he surrounded himself with life without having to talk to anyone. He’d spend hours here, using the time to center himself, to meditate and get a grip on his emotions constantly in flux. Anger, desire, fear—sometimes all at once—would flow through him. It had taken him years to master the old meditation techniques, but now he could control himself.

  It was why when he turned the final corner to approach his sanctuary, Kai was shocked to see someone sitting there.

  Not a just any someone. A human.

  A flash of anger washed through him and a growl escaped his lips, alerting the woman to his presence. “What are you doing here?”

  She turned to look at him and screamed.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Josie had been deep into reading about the maintenance cycle of oxygen scrubbers when the bark of a low voice startled her.

  “What are you doing here?”

  She jumped to her feet and let out a startled cry, clutching the data-pad to her chest. “What the fuck! Who the hell are you?” Oh yeah, that’s smooth. Great job, asshole. “And I was reading. Manuals.” Even better. Shit, you’re a real charmer you are.