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“We were wrong. Your head creator was removed from his position, as were his whole team. It was an improper calculation on their part to clone a daughter for you, only to use her as a way to bargain for your compliance.”
A growl rumbles in my chest. “My creators were going to break my daughter’s tiny hands in front of me. They were willing to torture a baby.”
“Again, we apologize. It will never happen again. You can return to the lab with us, with the assurance that your daughter will remain with you and never be harmed. All the staff who tried to harm your daughter are no longer employed at the lab. We are here to bring you back. We only arrived on Salo, looking for your brother to ask him if he knew where you were, so we could send you a message of our formal apology and offer you new terms for your continued work on the behalf of Hurlia.”
“Uh huh.” Lies. Of course, they were going to kill my brother. “I can never return.”
“Why? You can come back to the lab and live there comfortably with ten-oh-six.”
“Her name is Lyla Firestone.”
The male tries to hide his distaste for our real names. “You can return with Lyla,” he says evenly. “We will train her as we trained you. Her room can be nearby yours so you can see her daily.”
“I will not allow my daughter to be turned into another killing machine.”
“She will receive the same training you did. Live exactly as you did.”
“I will never allow her to live as I did. No one should have to ever live as I did.”
And now the male is angry. “We treated you well.”
“You kidnapped me from my parents and let them think I was dead. You then grafted wings onto me, without my consent. You changed me without my consent.”
“You don’t want your wings? You don’t want your extra strength or the mental capabilities? We did so much for you. You need to put it to good use. It’s not right for you to waste all of the training we’ve given you.”
“I would rather have had my family. I would’ve liked choice.”
“You are coming back with us,” he announces, with all the arrogance of a Hurlian male.
“No, I am not. My mate is pregnant, and I will not leave her.”
“You have a mate? Already?” the female creator squeaks. She was one of the females that came to my room, naked, trying to entice me to pleasure mate. A female I’d refused often and guided back out of my room.
“Yes, and she is human.”
And then the office door bursts open and my brother stomps inside. “I will not wait outside any longer. Isak is my brother. We are family. I demand to be here with him during these negotiations.”
The Hurlians both look angry at this intrusion, but Cabal ignores them, and he pulls up another chair and sits down next to me. I glance at my brother and smile.
Then I look back at these two creators and give them my warning. “I am going to destroy everything. I will make sure that there’s no way for you to make more of me. You will never again torture more Hyrrokin and turn them into something…else, strictly for military purposes and to create for-hire mercenaries.” I stand, spread my wings, and elongate my fangs. “I will kill you both now.”
The two Hurlians shriek and cower in their seats.
“No,” Cabal thunders. He stands between me and my targets. “You will not kill them. If you do that, you’re no better than they are.”
My brother, the High Priest.
He looks down at the two Hurlians and explains, “we’ve livestreamed this entire attack of a universal heritage site to the four sectors. The repercussions from the Gravians and other species will arrive shortly. You need to leave now, before this gets worse for you.”
“Retreat now or I will begin bombing and torching your tanks,” I snarl.
The two Hurlians race out of the room, and I wait until I can hear the distant sound of the front door closing behind them. I can hear the chatter on their coms again—the convoy is indeed in the midst of a full-out retreat.
Cabal and I move to the roof. He stands on the battlement and looks through his long-range viewer and announces, “They’re retreating. I can’t believe it.”
And then I see that my female is again not in the basement but is standing next to me. “Do you know how excited the humans on New Earth will be to hear of this?” she claps. “Anytime Hurlians are defeated and forced to allow a being they’ve captured to live free; we’re thrilled. Hatred of Hurlians is sort of our thing.”
I grin and nod and pull her into my arms and kiss her long and hard. Then I turn and take Lyla back from Lorelei and inhale the sweet scent of my daughter.
