Mated by Twilight (True Match)

Chapter 47

Sollit

Seeing Leah walking away prompted Sollit to walk after her. He wasn’t comfortable leaving his small, vulnerable mate alone in a big crowd, even one that adored her.

But then he saw that Skara had her and he stopped. Looking to Tillos, he saw his brother notice the same thing and then give him a little nod. They were in agreement. Leah was in good hands with Skara. No crowd would be able to overwhelm her with such a fierce female by her side.

Comfortable with that, they returned to greeting and chatting with their fans.

It was easy to lose time while doing that. Even when he did check for Leah, he couldn’t do more than glance around an area before another fan was there. Congratulating him on his mating, on the performance, asking for his handprint – a common thing for people to request from celebrities that they admired.

Even when he did later spot Skara in the crowd but not Leah, he still wasn’t concerned. Their mate was tiny, after all. Humans were, on average, shorter than every other species. Shorvi being almost the same height as her was an exception, not the norm.

Knowing that, it wasn’t unreasonable that he couldn’t spot her over the heads of the crowd.

That didn't mean he stopped looking though. Every time he got a break in speaking, he’d scan for some sign of her. He knew, by Tillos’ yearning in his chest, that his brother was doing the same.

It wasn’t until the room was over half empty and they could reasonably see everyone within it that they began to worry.

Tillos gave him a look that Sollit returned.

Where was Leah?

Skara was there, accepting her praise, but Leah wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Had their mate already returned to the back of the ship? She wouldn’t have gone without them though, right?

She was fine though. Of course, she was fine. Nothing would happen to her.

The box.

The dead animal.

The fear that struck him so suddenly at the memory made Tillos fall back a step. His brother gave him a look. All Sollit had to say was-

“Box.”

Tillos’ jaw tightened. At the same moment, they begged pardon from the fans currently speaking to them and turned, moving together back towards Skara. The ratchi female was flirting with her fans – she was unmated, and her public image was one of unabashed sexuality so it was normal for her to make eyes and playfully tease her fans – more the females than the males, though she wasn’t actually picky between the two.

As she saw them approach, however, the look on their faces must have indicated that something was wrong because her playful grin faded.

“What is it?” She asked, looking between them.

“Where’s Leah?” Sollit asked immediately.

“Leah?” Skara looked around but didn't spot her either. “Last I saw her was in that alcove there. Did she return to the back?”

“She wouldn’t have returned without us,” Tillos said as Sollit was crossing the room, heading for the alcove that Skara had pointed to.

It wasn’t a particularly large space. Near the front, it had a little circular bench built into it that elders often used to sit and rest before the doors opened. It was possible to sit in a particular spot on that bench and not be spotted in the room at all unless you were even with the alcove itself.

Surely, that’s where Leah was sitting. Resting.

No. His mate wasn’t there.

But her bouquet was.

Fallen to the floor, some of its golden brown leaves having scattered when it hit the ground. Abandoned like so much trash.

“Tillos!” He roared, turning to his brother.

He had already been walking his way, but Sollit’s sudden strike of terror made him finish the distance on a run. Until the moment he caught sight of the discarded bouquet. He came up short, his own fear rushing through him.

“Leah…” Sollit moaned softly.

Tillos’ jaw hardened. “Skara! Can you look around? Sollit and I will go check the cameras.”

Skara looked confused by their sudden concern, she didn't know about the package they’d received, but she didn't argue. Turning, she jogged out through the entrance, into the tunnel that connected them to the station. Though it was unlikely, it was possible that Leah had followed the crowd outside and she was within the tunnel or station.

But Sollit knew that wasn’t true. Their mate certainly wouldn’t have gone out there on her own. And even if she did, she wouldn’t have abandoned her bouquet like that.

No matter how much he wished otherwise, he knew that something was wrong.

They should have kept closer watch on her. They shouldn’t have just trusted, blindly, that she would be alright with Skara.

But there would be plenty of time to beat themselves up later.

For now, they focused on running to the security room. There were cameras all throughout the public areas of the Star, and a few of the private ones in the back. With all the fans gathered in the entrance hall, there was a lot more focus there. But unfortunately, there were also a lot more people to keep track of. It would be all too easy to lose track of one small human.

As security contacted Corvidair and the station authorities, Tillos and Sollit were watching the playback of the cameras.

The authorities would help, true, but they were her mates. It was their task to go after her, and they were here and able now.

And every law in the Coalition supported their right to chase her down and get her back by whatever means possible if she had been taken against her will.

Tillos operated the main holodisplay of the security room as Sollit stared carefully. Tillos sped through the moments of their arrival. Leah was so beautiful it hurt. He smiled a bit as he watched her again ride the steps down to their parents and accept the bouquet.

She met with the fans. The distance between them getting bigger.

And there, the moment Skara met up with her. The ratchi female took their mate to the alcove and they talked for a short while.

As Skara was leaving, alone, Tillos stopped speeding through the video, and they watched in real time as Leah stood there. Almost out of view of the cameras.

They were so focused on her, they almost missed the bright spark of pink that approached. If she hadn’t gotten so close, Sollit wouldn’t have noticed Biella there at all.

Leah certainly didn't miss her, however. She turned and fell back a step in surprise.

Biella’s back was to the camera, so they didn't see what she did. If they hadn’t been watching her carefully, they might not have noticed when Leah suddenly slumped against her, flowers dropping to the ground. Biella kicked them further into the alcove, out of sight, and swept her arm around Leah, then ran out holding onto her like she was a heavy sack squished against her chest.

The entire thing was over so quickly, no one even noticed. The crowd was focused on Skara who had grabbed their attention when she walked out of the alcove. Tillos and Sollit were on the other side of the room, talking to their own fans, and Biella blended into the people slowly trickling out. None of them even thought there was anything unusual going on.

Their mate had been taken away, just that quickly, right under their noses, and they hadn’t even noticed. No one saw it.

“She can’t have gone far,” Sollit said, mostly grasping for reassurance for himself.

Though, it was true. The station was on the large size, owing to the fact that it was a theme park. And though Biella was able to get out and into the tunnel without being spotted, she wouldn’t be able to get far with a human so obviously limp against her chest.

At least, he hoped not.

“Does Biella have her own ship?” Tillos asked.

“No. She uses public transport,” Sollit said. They’d asked her that very question on their date. She had to spend a fortune just following them from place to place. They had even joked about it being cheaper at some point to just buy her own ship, but Biella told them she didn't have a pilot’s license for interstellar travel.

Unless that had changed in that time – which was possible – she was still doing public transport. Which meant she really couldn’t get out of here with Leah in tow.

She had to be somewhere on the station.

“Do we search?” Sollit asked, looking at Tillos.

His brother frowned. “This place is huge.”

“Split up?”

“Even then…”

“If only we put a tracker on her,” Sollit growled. It wasn’t really unheard of for mates to track each other like that for safety. But it hadn’t seemed necessary since she was always with them.

“Wait,” Tillos jerked his head up. “Skara!”

“Skara?”

“She’s ratchi!”

“So?”

“Her scent!”

“Oh!” Sollit understood all at once. Ratchi were great hunters. Their sense of smell was among the more developed in the galaxy. She might be able to track Leah! “She’s already outside!”

“We should-”

“Tillos. Sollit.” Corvidair came bounding into the room, his normally jovial face drawn with concern. “There you are.”

“We don’t have time to talk,” Sollit said, “We’re going out to search.”

“We’re taking Skara with us,” Tillos added.

Corvidair grunted his agreement. “I just got off the comm with the station control team. They’re putting the station on lockdown. Nobody in or out. No ships are going to be able to disconnect. They’re going to make an announcement for her in a moment.”

Sollit started, surprised. “Really? All of that?” He’d heard of stations doing such things before, but it was usually for people of high importance. Completely shutting down a station was a lot of work – a lot of datawork and justification afterwards as well. There would be a whole inquiry from the Coalition government itself about why it had been done and to make sure that nothing untoward was behind the shutdown.

He adored Leah, and he was certainly grateful, but normally stations would say that one person being missing didn't warrant all of that.

Except-

“Leah is human,” Corvidair pointed out. “Taking a human is a high crime. That automatically qualifies her search to be high priority.”

Sollit had never been so happy that his mate was human. “Thank you, Corvidair. We’re going out to search. Keep in contact with us.”

“Go!” Corvidair ordered, moving out of their way.

Sollit and Tillos took off at a sprint.