Page 2 of Guardian's Soul

Their words only served to reiterate the reason of why I was here. I had been sold as a sex slave.

What for?

Played on repeat in my mind.

What for? What for? What for?

Throwing myself off the upper-level passageway would only serve to break an arm or a leg. It wasn't steep enough to kill me. Besides, I wasn't ready to die yet.

What for?

It didn't matter what for. I didn't want to die.

The Cryon pushed me into a room and took the bindings from my wrists that kept my arms tied behind my back since the bastards had taken me prisoner.

Pain seared through me as my arms fell down to my sides. Tears filled my eyes as I tried to move my numb limbs to get life back into them, and for the longest moment, I couldn't. The Cryon left the room without a sound, and I tried to process the situation while working on moving my arms and fingers again.

The room was empty besides a large bed with four bedposts. Ropes dangled from the posts to tie someone down on the bed. Others dangled higher up on the bedposts. I swallowed back more tears that threatened to fall. I didn't want to think about what that meant, what they were for. I turned to the door, but there was no knob, and even if there had been, I still couldn't lift a finger.

A strange sensation spread through my stomach, heating me from the inside, and multiplied through my cells. It wasn't fear, not even panic—it was something sharper, hotter, somethingraw and alive. The warmth surged upward, tightening my chest, then ignited like wildfire in my veins. This wasn't fair, wasn't right, and for the first time in my life, I wasn't going to just smile through it. A roar of defiance built in my throat, surprising even me. I was angry—no, I was furious. And it felt oddly… empowering.

All right, Hannah, I cheered myself on.Priorities. Get your arms moving first.

Since it was impossible to use my hand on the opposite arm to massage life back into the other, I used the wall. Like a bear scratching his back, I rubbed my arms, hoping to get feeling back into them. I needed the full use of my body to defend myself.

I might have no reason left to live, but I'd be damned if I went down alone. I was going to take at least one of these fuckers with me. I clung to that thought with all that I had left, if for nothing else but to give me a purpose. Anger surged through me, hot and unforgiving, and for the first time, I didn't try to suppress it—I let it burn. This was what I'd trained other women for: how to fight back when the odds were stacked against them, when they were terrified, when they had nothing left but their fury and their will to survive. The countless hours I'd spent teaching those moves, shouting encouragement, promising them they could reclaim their power—it was my turn to prove that those hadn't been just words. I made a silent vow: one way or another, I was going to show them that I was not a woman to be taken lightly, underestimated, or broken. I might not have been able to use my hands, but I still had my wits.

THARAAX

I glowered into my glass,swirling the amber liquid inside. I was well on my way to getting drunk, and I didn't give a shit. Possedion and his new mission could go freeze to death on Kellam—an ice planet. Since when had Space Guardians become rescuers? We were assassins and bounty hunters, not some glorified nanny.

Frygg.

I had just delivered my first—and I swore last—batch of humans to Astrionis. Never in my life had I known a more quarrelsome, needy species than them. I had to teach them how to use the frygging food dispenser and the cleansing chamber! Then they had whined about needing clothes.

Taking a long swig, I closed my eyes. When I asked Possedion how much longer I would have to catch and release humans, he didn't have an answer for me other than that Emperor Daryus of the Pandraxian Empire was paying handsomely. I grunted. As if that mattered to me. I never saw as much as one credit of the billions I brought in for the Ohrurs. Not that I needed it. They provided me with plenty. Still, it was the principle of it that bugged me. Had been bugging me since… Ishook my head, unable to recall, while a brewing headache spread through my brain. I emptied the glass and waved it into the air to catch the waitress's attention.

She had barely refilled it when a Cryon entered, prodding forward one of the querulous species that had just been on my mind. She was a looker, that much was clear, and from the silence going over the crowd in the pleasure house, I wasn't the only one who noticed.

She held herself with a fragile grace that touched my heart. For the split of a tick, our eyes met. I read her desperation in them and downed the barely refilled glass in one swallow. No, no way.

I had enough of humans.

I ground my jaw, unable to look away from her scantily clad form. Her long, bare legs, her ass as it alluringly swayed with every step she took. The tiny waist in stark contrast to her wide hips and large breasts. Breasts that spilled out of the covering beguilingly light and rosy. Dark brown hair cascaded down to her shoulder blades, framing a heart-shaped face with a stunningly strong chin jutting forward in a desperate attempt to appear strong.

When a Pronex slapped her ass, a sudden urge to slam his ugly mug into the table seared through me so hard I nearly stood up.

Can you dim the lights? They're way too bright.

Can you make the ship warmer? It's freezing.

I need to call my mom. She's going to freak if she doesn't hear from me.

Can we turn on some music?

How do you know which button to press? They all look the same to me.

Do you have any coffee? I need coffee.

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