Page 54 of Bound

This one did not.

I let out a stream of curses aimed at every creature here as the female, Felia, stands over me. She puts her foot on my shoulder, and with a push, she turns me onto my back. I snarl at her.

“My mother always said the Gryn had their uses. But her research was mired in the past. The Drahon empire requires more finesse this time.” She gazes down at me with an unnatural interest. “As this Gryn no longer belongs to you,” she says to the procurator, “you won’t mind me borrowing him, will you?”

“Not at all.” The procurator grins down at me, and I can already see him calculating how many credits he will save by not having to pay me what he owes. “You’re very welcome to him. If, at any point, you decide he is no longer of use, and he’s physically intact, I’d be interested in buying him back.”

Felia’s expression changes briefly into something which could be a smile but which could also be wind.

“I’ll consider it,” she responds as crouches down next to me and I thrash my body as best I can. “I’d suggest you save yourenergy, Gryn. I have so many beautiful plans for you.” She traces a cool hand down the side of my face as I attempt to bite. “So vicious, so much potential,” she croons before standing up swiftly and barking at the others. “Put him out and take him to the facility.”

My blood chills. A vision of steel spears through my head. Metal, cold, pain. I strain harder at my bonds. If I let them take me, I cannot protect my sweet mate, and I won’t leave her to the mercy of whatever Fenek has planned—if indeed he has anything to do with this, but given he’s the same species, a Drahon, as this female, I can’t be sure he isn’t involved.

“Don’t bother, Gryn.” A male Drahon is next to me. “This is Loxzian tritanium. It’s impossible to break.”

“Then you won’t want to be around when you set me free,” I snarl.

“You’ll not want to be free in a few nova-seconds.” He lifts his lips to reveal his sharp, small teeth. “You’ll be very, very happy.”

He presses a hypo-syringe into my neck and, with a hiss, empties the contents into me. I don’t stop struggling as the drug heats the area around the entry. I don’t want to stop. I don’t want to let them take me away from Chrissie. I fight. I will always fight.

I have to fight.

I have to fight for her.

“And there he goes. The happiest you’ll ever see him.” The male chuckles nastily. “Enjoy it, Gryn. You’ll never be this happy again.

CHRISSIE

I’m hustled out of the library, through the entrance passage, and out into the courtyard. In the passage outside, there is a blacked out transport waiting. I struggle uselessly against the iron grip of the reptile who has me and find he only digs his claws into my flesh instead.

I’m shoved into the transport and onto the floor as three of the reptiles climb in behind me.

I despair. The last thing I want is to lose Rych or for him to lose me. And these creatures obviously don’t care about anything given they’re burning the library for no reason at all.

The transport lifts from the ground, judders, and then slams back down. My captors look at each other. One shouts instructions at the transport which shivers like it’s attempting to comply. A screeching, wrenching sound pierces the hull. There is the stench of panic in the cabin. One of the reptiles points a pulsar up at the ceiling while the leader grabs his hand, pulling the weapon free as the third frantically tries to open the door, but the hull must be buckled as while the motor grinds, it doesn’t open.

A set of scimitar claws pierces the roof, and my heart leaps into my mouth as the metal is peeled back like a banana skin. A pulsar appears and the bolts take out all three reptiles.

“Little female?” A handsome face peers in through the hole he’s made. “Are these Drahon bothering you?”

I burst out with a laugh.

“They were a bit, Maxym,” I call up, unable to stop smiling. “They’re also trying to burn down the library.”

“I’ve sent Klynn in,” he says, a statement which doesn’t exactly fill me with hope for the state of the place. “Take my hand.”

He reaches in, and with ease, he pulls me free of the wreckage of the transport.

“Where’s Rych?” I ask, scanning the sky.

“There’s a problem,” Maxym says, helping me onto the ground, and my stomach descends into my boots. “The Drahon have taken him too.”

“What do you mean?”

“He went after the Loxzian, but where we thought the Drahon, that’s these”—Maxym points at the bodies of the reptiles—“things, were working for him, it seems it was the other way around.”

“So, maybe my boss…?”

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