AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Has something happened? Are they taking her away from me?
The last time I saw her was earlier in the afternoon, when the sun was beating down, the air steamy as I practiced for the fights. Now, the sun is gone, and this is the longest we've been separated since she became mine. If they're holding her back from me, they're going to regret it, I think with a dark scowl. I'll make them sorry if they try to keep her from me. I dress in a clean pair of trou, fumbling at the auto-fasteners thanks to my long, deadly claws. They've grown at an incredible rate, now so long and wicked that they're practically hooks, and just as deadly. I don't like them, but I also don't want to deprive myself of an advantage I might need, so they stay.
The guards that file in to escort me back to my cell look as they always do—a mixture of wariness and boredom. If they know of something that's happened to Mina, they're hiding it well. I detect nothing unusual in their scents, so I'm calm until I return to my cell.
I can smell Mina's fear before I get into the cell itself. The hot, acrid stink of terror is all over the cellblock, along with the old scent of vomit. I smell her tears, too. I'm growling with fury as I approach the cell, and I see Mina huddled in the corner of the room, her knees tucked tightly to her chest.
Something's happened to her. Someone's hurt her. My skin grows hot, my eyes flooding with red, and the anger-spikes push through my skin, sending waves of pain through me. I don't care. I just need to get to my female. My guards go on alert, the smell of ozone filling the hall as they ready their shock-sticks and take a step back from me. One speaks into his wrist-comm. "Lord Sir, we have a situation."
"Mina," I snarl.
"Go into your cell," the lead clone says. "Don't give us trouble."
My stun-cuffs are lit up, sending shockwaves up my arms, and my neck collar is, too. I'm barely aware of it. Pain can't keep me from her. If I've found out that someone has hurt my female, I'm going to tear this entire building down to find him. The door to the antechamber slides open and I step inside, pressing up against the mechanized doors on the other end that are the only things holding me back from my Mina.
She needs me.
"He's contained," the clone calls out. "Stand down."
Stand down. As if they could somehow stop me. The rage is building in my system, and I need answers. I step inside once the doors part and rush to Mina's side. There are food scents in the room, too. There's a tray full of cool, fruity-smelling things, things I've never eaten before, and I suspect those are Mina's doing. She insists on foods she thinks I'll enjoy. She always thinks of me. Supports me.
I can do the same for her.
I move to her side, and as I do, she backs away from me, her fear-scent spiking. "Your eyes," she whimpers, flinching backward.
I stop immediately. My eyes are red, my spikes out. I'm scaring her. I take a step back, trying to force myself to calm, to make those things recede. I can't, though. I can't calm down, not when she's so terrified. "What did they do to you, Mina? Tell me who hurt you, and I'll destroy them."
Her terror-scent only increases, and when she looks over at me with that frightened expression, I realize that I'm the one she's frightened of.
"It's nothing," she finally says, her voice small. She tries to smile and fails miserably. "You should eat."
I don't understand what's going on. "What did they say to you? Why are you afraid of me?"
"Like I said, it's nothing." The smile that forces its way onto her face looks like a parody.
I take a step toward her, and she flinches back again. "When I last saw you, you were happy. Now you are frightened. Tell me what has changed or I'm going to lose my mind, Mina." I'm close to snapping as it is.
She trembles, hard, and her fear-scent is so strong it turns my stomach. "I…saw some of your vids today. Your previous matches."
"And?"
Mina averts her gaze, as if she can't stand to look at me. "You lied to me. You're not who you say you are."
"I don't understand." How have I lied? What did she see? She licks her lips, and she looks so uncomfortable and miserable that it hurts me. I ignore the clone guards, still outside our cell, watching us. Mina is all that matters. Mina is my entire world. I take another step closer, blocking the sight of her from the others outside, and I hate that she tenses. "What did you see?"
