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ADONE
She didn’t hate me. I knew so few beings. Most of my life had been spent with my brothers who I would die to protect. I’d been experimented on in Lord Vunne’s chamber, and I’d thought the things he did to me made me so hideous to look upon, no one would ever love me.
But she touched my face in a kind way. She wasn’t repulsed by my appearance. My wings flared out, and her eyes widened, but I didn’t see scorn on her face. When she took in the scales mounted all over my chest, she tentatively reached out to stroke one.
And that’s when my second heart started beating. This female had been mine from the day she was born, just as I had been destined for her.
She spoke, but I didn’t understand her words, other than her name that sounded like Soo-mare. No . . . Summer.
“Pair up and get inside a craft,” the announcer shouted. “Or we will force you to board.”
After tucking my wings against my back, I rose, feeling huge compared to this lovely, delicate female. Her long hair, the color of a pale sunset, drifted around her face. I ached to touch it, but she was precious and pure.
Far too good for a scarred being like me.
I wanted to tip my head back and roar out my dismay. She would be expected to compete with me in the Game? No, she was fragile, defenseless with her blunted claws and smooth teeth. Her skin looked like it would tear under very little pressure, and when she stared up at me as if I could save the world, I worried her soft heart would make her vulnerable. The Universal Council would use this against her.
Against me.
“I am Adone,” I said. At her frown, I pointed to my chest. “Adone.”
Her head tilted. “Ee doon kow woots haipinneng, butt ee tink yous air teeling me you-air naeme. Aim Summer.” A smile quivered on her lips, and her eyes shimmered with unshed tears.
The subtle tremor of her body told me she was frightened. I’d destroy the world to keep her from pain.
“We have to leave,” I said, holding out my hand. She took it, making my heart thud louder. When would she reject me? I knew it was coming. But for now, I would enjoy the soft light in her eyes and the way her hand felt within mine.
I urged her over to one of the ships, unsure what would come next. How could I prepare her for the Galaxy Games? No, how could I assure her I would do everything for her, that all she had to do was remain safely behind me?
Perhaps she would do this instinctively. I was much bigger and stronger than her. She must see this.
I helped her up the steps and inside the craft, and I had to crawl as the ceiling was so low.
She peered around, fear shadowing her eyes, before sitting with her back against the far wall.
The inside of the craft was barely big enough for me to sit beside her with my legs outstretched. As soon as I dropped next to her, the hatch closed, and the craft lifted off the ground.
I’d turned to Summer to see if I could communicate with her further when steel bars dropped down, forming a cage around me.
Summer shrieked and scooted away from me, looking up at the ceiling.
Mechanical arms plunged down and grappled with her, pinning her to the floor. She cried and struggled, but the arms were relentless, holding her in place.
I bellowed and grabbed the bars, straining and yanking, trying to rip my way through. How could I protect her when I was pinned in place?
While Summer’s screams ripped my hearts to shreds, three thin mechanical arms descended toward her. Two braced her head while the other dove toward the back of her skull.
Her long, heart-wrenching scream essentially killed me. I’d just found her. I didn’t have the chance to know her. And the Universal Council had decided to torture her already.
My mind flashed to my past and my many visits to Lord Vunne’s chamber.
In one memory, I was pinned face down on a metal table while he worked on my spine. As he cut and fused and ripped through my flesh, he mumbled about needing to take care or I’d be unable to walk again. Breathe again.
This was when he “gifted” me with wings that didn’t function.
Another time, while I lay on the table screaming, he carefully attached one scale after another to my chest, feeding each to a sack buried beneath my skin that generated poison. If everything worked as he planned, my scales could shoot this poison.
They didn’t work.
