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Placed on an examination bed, Therak was being further immobilized by Garfis with magnetic cuffs around the ankles and metal straps across his torso and legs. After Solais finished tying Miya up to a railing along one wall, he went to personally wrap a piece of cloth over Therak’s eyes to prevent him from using his telekinesis.
Worst of all, Therak had not moved since he’d been shot. His chest was barely rising and falling, to the point where Miya wasn’t sure she could trust her eyes. But it had been the same with his previous wounds, she had to believe he would recover now as well. Until then, it was up to her to find a way out of their predicament.
“There is a huge predatory animal here,” she told the soldiers, “possibly more than one. It killed the colonists and nearly tore Therak in half. What chance do you think you two stand? You can’t stay here for days in wait for whoever you have called to reach Xera. Whereas I can fly us out of here in an hour or so. Just untie me and let me tend to Therak’s wound–”
Solais abruptly stepped into her personal space, caging her between his broad body and the wall. He looked quite amused. “Nice try, sugar. But I already know you’re a lying piece of hot ass.” His grin turned feral before he added, “You managed to get the assassin out once, but you’re not fooling us a second time. We’re finishing this mission in honor of our fallen comrades, and the only uncertain thing here is whether you’ll be alive to see'Therak' in prison or not.”
She responded with a feral smile of her own. “The only uncertain thing is whether Therak or the local fauna will get their claws in you first.”
Yeah, she was not one to play nice with assholes who were willing to kill civilians on a whim. And if the Cordalian tried to lay a finger or tail on her in an attempt to force himself on her, he was getting his three balls kneed and his slit eyes poked out.
Her words earned her a slap in the face strong enough to send her sprawling on the metal floor.
Ha! As if that would shut her up.
“Hey, Sol, there’s no need to beat the hells out of her,” the Aldebian suggested tentatively. He was standing to the side, blaster trained on Therak but eyes on Solais and Miya.
“Shut it, Garfis. Her machinations are the reason we’re here. Why our team is dead! Why my Zizu might be dead too!”
“Now wait a minute!” Miya pushed herself up as quickly as her tied hands would allow. She didn’t know about Zizu, whose escape pod might have been destroyed by the mercs’ ship or could have landed on the other side of Xera. But Miya knew she was not to blame for what had happened aboard the ship. “It wasyouwho abandoned your post while your Commander and teammates were still alive and fighting! It wasyouwho planted a bomb to blow everyone up!”
Solais sent her on another meeting with the floor, her face burning, and loomed over her as he shouted. “You delayed our trip on purpose! You made sure those killers reached us so you could get the assassin out while we were busy fighting for our lives!”
Miya got up and tried to knee him in the crotch, but got stopped by his powerful tail wrapping itself around her throat.
“Thechinonyour lover? You doing all this for a hardfruck?”
She looked over Solais’ shoulder at Therak. He was still out but… had his hand moved?
The tail around her throat tightened. “Garfis, if the prisoner so much as twitches, put another hole in him. As for you, sugar, what will it be? Will you beg me to spare you, or you want some more rough play? You seem to enjoy the pain.”
She gave him a fuck-you smile despite her split lip. “Garfis, I’m sure you have more brains than the Cordalian. You must have not been to the dining hall to see all the blood and damage. But look around you: if the colonists simply left this place, would they leave all the equipment and medicine behind? Even after an emergency evacuation, there is a team that comes back once it is safe to pick the expensive stuff up. I’m telling you–”
Solais had another idea. Like a choke-the-life-out-of-her idea.
Miya could no longer speak. She could barely breathe.
“Sol, wait! What if she’s not lying?”
“We can deal with some stupid local animal, Garfis.”
Miya tried to scratch at the tail around her neck, but her bound wrists limited her movements. Her kicks got easily blocked by the trained soldier. All the while he kept choking her, his face twisted in sick pleasure.
“But my leg hurts so badly already, what if she can truly take us off of here in hours rather than days?”
“Garfis, no ship can fly in the coming sandstorm!”
Miya’s vision darkened. She could no longer feel her own body.
“But, Sol, what if–”
“Fruck, Garfis, just shut up and let me enjoy the moment!”
Miya felt her consciousness slipping away. This was it. She had known she would die on this horrible planet.
Her last thought was of Therak. Would he manage to escape from the soldiers and Xera? And if he did, would he remember the Earthling whose heart he captured?
A blaster shot sounded somewhere far, far away.
