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Even through the pain of the shock collar, Tagar caught it and checked the armband still attached to the wrist to make sure the Sarenian hadn’t managed to activate his com. Baldur picked the remote Kalal had dropped when I picked him up and deactivated the shock collars.
“Braxians are no one’s puppets,” I snarled in Kalal’s face.
His eyes were rolling to the back of his head from shock and pain. As much as I would have loved to play with him, I needed to get my men out of here and find my woman. With a savage growl I punched his chest with all my strength. The bones collapsed with a delightful mix of wet and crunching sounds, his spine bending in half under the impact. A violent spasm shook his body. He emitted a brief gurgling sound then went still. I wiped the gore and blue blood covering my hand on his skirt before tossing his remains like dirty rags.
“Jakar!” Orin called out, his voice filled with worry as he rushed to my side.
I placed a reassuring hand on the older man’s shoulder, pleased to see him reasonably well-recovered from his previous ordeal.
“I’m fine,” I said, my words slurred by blood rage. “We must go.”
My men closed in around me, the love and genuine happiness in their eyes as they gazed upon me warmed my heart, even through the fog of my altered state.
“His scanner shows two Sarenians a short distance from here, which seems to be the deck,” Tagar said, showing me the interface of Kalal’s bracer. “Everyone else, three Sarenians, two humans, two Guldans, and a whole bunch of hybrids are gathered at the other end of the ship on the lower level.”
“Jaek said to free the men and go straight to the exit,” I said, despite my urge to go and kill the Sarenians likely piloting this module.
“They could raise the alarm,” Baldur argued.
“And we could get detected trying to get there,” I countered, even if I agreed with his assessment.
“If just two of us use Kalal’s armband to detect any camera system or incoming crewmate, we could go take out those two Sarenians and catch up with the rest of you after,” Thanor offered.
“Fine. You and Baldur can go after them. The rest of us will stick to the plan,” I said in a tone that brooked no argument.
Relieved, my captain gave me a sharp nod. From the corner of my eyes, I noticed Nowik searching Kalal’s corpse for anything else that might be of use but came up empty. Even his shoes would be too small to fit either Baldur or me.
As one, we moved towards the reinforced doors of the cargo hold. To my dismay, the doors didn’t automatically open like they had when we came in. My heart sank upon seeing the red light on the biometric lock next to the door. Of course, they would make it easy to enter, but prevent the prisoners from leaving.
“Bring the body,” I ordered, silently thanking the Ancestors I hadn’t destroyed Kalal’s pretty face like I had initially intended.
Thanor grabbed the dead Sarenian’s ankle and dragged him to us. He crouched next to the corpse and opened his eyes. He then picked up the Sarenian by the nape and held his face in front of the scanner. For a split second, my men and I held our breaths. Then the light blessedly turned blue.
With the scanner on Kalal’s armband confirming both paths were clear, Baldur and Thanor headed for the pilots while the rest of us ran the long way across the ship to the exit.
Chapter 26
Dawn
Jaek and I walked around the meeting hall side-by-side, trying to look cheerful and relaxed as we mingled with the others. Our proximity and the frequency with which Jaek casually brushed my arm or shoulder, gently touched the small of my back to nudge me forward was drawing many speculating—and approving—stares. Some of them even found excuses to stroll near me to get a whiff. Although disappointed not to perceive Jaek’s scent on me, they certainly seemed pleased not to find Keran’s lingering smell.
We were playing a dangerous game. Although we weren’t flat out misleading them, we knew what conclusions they would draw from this. But we couldn’t afford them shunning or avoiding me right now. Even Vintor seemed somewhat mollified. Obviously, he didn’t like that I hadn’t chosen him, but it soothed his ego that my choice should have been another hybrid instead of a pureblood.
Another wave of hybrids poured into the building. For the first time, I wished they would have acted as usual and showed up late instead of early. I had no idea how far or close Keran and his men were. We needed to give them as much time as possible, but also to give us a chance to execute our own plan.
Trying to act nonchalant, Jaek and I walked towards Vintor, who was standing alone near the refreshment table, grabbing himself a drink. He looked surprised when I stopped next to him and picked up an empty glass. A sliver of embarrassment laced with guilt flitted over his brutish features.
“You want a drink?” he asked in the grumpy voice he always used to hide his embarrassment.
“Yeah, but finish serving yourself. I’ll take one after,” I said with a gentle smile.
He grunted in a way that meant ‘don’t be silly’ and took my glass from my hand to fill it from one of the three large drink dispensers. My throat tightened as I observed him. Vintor had always been swift-tempered and could prove fairly cruel during his tantrums. But deep down, he wasn’t a bad man. Just a little spoiled. I understood perfectly well that anger had fueled his nasty words to me, and now they shamed him. Although he would probably never say sorry, this was his way of starting to apologize and make amends. A part of me wanted to ruffle his hair and say it was okay.
But we had more important things to tackle.
As soon as he handed me the full glass, I took it and plastered an amiable smile on my face, which I knew didn’t reach my eyes as I intently stared at him.
“Do not show any shock or emotion in response to what I’m about to say,” I said in a low and conversational tone. “This is very serious, and we need you. Do you understand?”
