Free Ferus : Book 6 of the Heku Series by T.M. Nielsen Page B

wouldn’t have had to protect yourselves
if you had let me go.”
    “That wasn’t an option
either. We felt that the Encala would be the best place for you… at
the time…”
    “Until you almost killed
me, and then you figured you’d drop me off in the middle of nowhere
in the mud?”
    Aaron frowned, “That’s another thing… we
want to know who took you from the Encala palace.”
    Emily smiled, “You have no idea who returned
me to the Equites?”
    “No, and we need to know, for security
reasons.”
    “Why would I tell you that? The heku saved
me.”
    “It’s important that we know.”
    “I’m not going to tell
you, and I’m not recovered enough to forgive you for the constant
feedings,” she told him.
    “At least think about it and let us know,”
Aaron asked.
    “Oh, one other thing,” Emily said. Everyone
turned to her and then spun toward Frederick when he dropped to his
knees, gasping for breath as he tore the shirt from his burning
chest.
    When the Encala’s Chief Enforcer fell to the
ground, Emily released him, “That’s for the kiss.”
    “You kissed her?” Chevalier growled.
    Frederick growled, and
then blurred toward Emily, but found himself quickly pinned to the
dirt floor of the council chambers by Kyle and Dustin. He fought
against them, and glared with feral eyes toward Emily.
    “Calm down or we’ll put you in our prison,”
Dustin yelled at him.
    The Equites finally let
him up once he calmed down, and he turned and stormed out of the
council chambers, followed the other Encala.
    Emily sighed and got up to leave.
    “You neglected to mention the kiss during
our briefing,” Zohn said, turning to her.
    She paused at the door,
and then left without saying anything.
    Zohn frowned, “Strange,
Aaron obviously fed from her, yet she chose to burn the
kisser.”
    Quinn grinned slightly, “You’d think after
this many years, you would figure her out.”
    “Meaning?”
    “In her eyes, a kiss is worse.”
    “How can that be?”
    “Personal violations,”
Dustin answered. “She takes them more seriously than physical
assaults.”
    Zohn turned and frowned at Dustin, “How the
hell do you know that?”
    “I pay attention.”
    “Has she mentioned who freed her?” Quinn
asked Chevalier, changing the subject.
    “No, she hasn’t, and I
haven’t asked. I’m guessing she wouldn’t tell us.”
    “Why not?” Zohn asked, frowning.
    “He freed her. She won’t
turn him in.”
     
     
     

Chapter 5 - Custody
Dispute

    “Sir, there’s a problem in the radio tower,”
Derrick said, looking at Kyle.
    “What kind of problem?”
    “The Valle are asking to land.”
    Kyle frowned, “Why the hell would we let
them land?”
    “It’s… well… they say they are bringing a
gift for Lady Emily.”
    Kyle shook his head and
headed up to the roof of the palace to find out what exactly was
going on. He took the radio from the heku, and glanced up at the
waiting helicopter. The Bell 429 was painted white with a thick
strip of maroon crossing from the nose and fanning out into maroon
feathers at the tail.
    “Base here,” Kyle said.
“What exactly do you have for Emily?”
    “Delivering the helicopter
to the Lady,” the pilot said, still hovering 50 feet above the
Equites’ helipad.
    “You are bringing Emily a helicopter?” Kyle
wasn’t sure he heard correctly.
    “Yes, Sir.”
    Kyle glanced at the heku
in the radio tower, and then turned to Derrick, “Get 20 guards up
here.”
    “Right away,” Derrick
said, and turned to the stairs. Within seconds, guards flooded onto
the roof.
    “Land it,” Kyle said.
“Then stay in the cockpit.”
    “Coming down,” the pilot
said, and gently set the helicopter down between Equites 1 and
Equites 2.
    Kyle and Derrick walked
around the helicopter, looking for anything out of the ordinary.
Derrick pointed when he saw the name of the helicopter, ‘Winchester
1’ was written in white flames inside of the maroon
stripe.
    One of the guards opened
the