Page 24 of Barbarian Daddies

“Cynthia, remember the plan, yes?” Kai asks as we prepare to breach a service door just fifty yards ahead and twenty yards from the actual gate.

“Yes. Stick with Dahlen and these two strapping young gentlemen here,” I chuckle, nodding at my companions. It’s kind of funny since I’m the tiniest. Any one of these Hadana clan boys could simply pick me up and carry me around like a light sack of potatoes. “And meet you back at the southern gate at two. No delays. No exceptions.”

“Exactly,” Kai says, nodding.

We scuttle across a clean patch of black sand, ready for the service door to open, courtesy of the spy waiting inside. But as we advance, as the door remains closed, a knot starts tightening in my throat. Something feels off.

Suddenly, a sea of white lights comes on and drowns us.

We freeze on the spot.

“HALT!” a Sunnaite shouts, his voice booming across the beach.

“Shit,” I hear myself say as we’re trapped, surrounded by dozens of laser weapons.

The service door finally opens, only it’s not our spy who comes out but rather an entire garrison of Sky Tribe mercenaries clad in black leather and blue metal armor plates, ready to obliterate us with a single shot.

“Shit, shit, shit!” I hiss, realizing how screwed we truly are.

“Retreat!” Maur shouts.

We turn to run back, but we can’t. The mercenaries already have us surrounded. There were more waiting, hidden in the water to our left and behind the black stones and shrubs to our right. They knew we were coming, and there’s no time left to wonder how this came to happen.

“Motherf—” I stop myself and take a deep breath, my brain quick to work toward a solution.

Our men have drawn their swords and loaded arrows on their crossbows, but they don’t stand much of a chance against the Sky Tribe’s lasers. Kai and Maur immediately flank me, to protect me, while Dahlen is unable to move, eyes wide with horror as he looks around.

“You’re right on time,” a woman laughs as she walks through the service door.

Her voice is low and raspy, dripping with tension and the desire to seduce. She is beautiful, I’ll give her that. Almost seven feet tall, above the Sunnaite female’s average height, with long, muscular legs and full breasts. Very little of her hourglass-shaped body is covered—a play of leather strips wound tightly around, highlighting the best of her curves. Her black hair shimmers in the moonlight as it flows down her back, her lips painted in a glistening red and her eyes twinkling with sadistic delight. Unlike the other Sunnaites, however, I notice that she doesn’t have a tail.

I know who this is.

“I feared you might have gotten lost on the way,” she says.

“Selina,” I whisper.

“Ah, I see you’ve brought me a gift as well,” she says, looking at me. “You’ll do nicely to help repopulate our city.”

My insides squirm with disgust. All I can do is quietly touch Kai’s hip, desperate for some physical contact, for the slightest illusion of safety in front of such unexpected adversity.

Kai raises his twin swords and puts on a cold, murderous grin. “I invite you to try and take her,” he says. “See which limbs you lose first.”

“I suppose losing her tail wasn’t enough,” Maur scoffs, trying to rile her up.

But Selina just laughs and waves their threats away, her long claws painted the same red as her plump lips. “Don’t be ridiculous, Hadana scum. I’m not a grunt. I don’t have to take anything myself anymore. I have men who do it for me.”

“Cynthia, when I tell you to run, you run. You run back, as fast as you can, and you don’t stop until you pass the jutting rocks, okay?” Kai whispers to me.

“What about you?” I ask, my voice trembling.

“Don’t worry about us.”

“Dahlen, you go with her. We’ll cover you,” Maur hisses.

But Dahlen is still speechless and motionless, pale and wide-eyed and panicked into a catatonic state. Maur gives him a second glance.

“Dahlen!” he tries again, but the boy is unresponsive.

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