Page 60 of Bound

Turns out there are only the two and they’re both out cold. So much for reinforcements. I shrug as I get into the lifter, the door closing as I order an ascent to ground level. When the doors open again, I step out into a large clear atrium, through which I can see the tattered amphitheater walls. This place is also littered with bodies.

I’m confused for a nova-second or two. I haven’t been in this atrium…I’m sure…so this has to be something which is not of my doing. I stare at it for a short time, trying to work out what has happened and if I’ve done something I didn’t remember when there’s movement which has me raising my stolen pulsar.

“Rych!” The movement resolves into a running Chrissie, her hair flowing behind her as the vision leaps into my arms and I drop my weapon.

“Eregri?” I’m wondering if a hallucination can feel real, smell real, be as real as this one. “How are you here?”

“We’ve been tracking you since you were taken from the dome.” She laughs, pressing a long kiss to my lips and proving she is very, very real. “We saw some Drahon and…Maxym and Klynn did the rest,” she adds shyly.

“They’re here?” I growl, not wanting to lift my head from her hair which holds so much of her delicious scent.

“Like we’d let you have all the fun, vrexer,” Klynn says stepping out from behind some potted vegetation, which he cuts down in a single blade sweep.

“You do realize you’re naked, don’t you?” Maxym adds, looming out from behind a pile of storage cases.

“Yes,” I respond. “The Drahon did it in order to marvel at my magnificent form.”

“More like they wanted to experiment on you.” Klynn grins mirthlessly. “After all, you did let them catch you.”

“Like you’ve never been caught in the dome,” I snarl. “These vrexers knew what they were up against. They had help from the procurator and others.” I bristle my wings at him.

“I have a virus.” Chrissie looks up at me, her eyes moist. “We found Fenek. He’s not a Drahon but a species called a Kijg. The Drahon have been after him, they got to him back at his dwelling, nearly killing him but he’s alive, just, with the help of a medi-bot.” I shake my feathers at her words, mirrored by the other two Gryn. “The Drahon and the Kijg have been at war for as long as his ancestors can remember. He says the virus in me is designed to affect tech, which is why I’m so sick. It doesn’t agree with me.”

I brush at her hair. “That’s not all, my sweet mate. The Drahon told me if the virus is not removed from you…” I don’t want to say any of the words out loud. I don’t want to make the possibility real.

“What is it?” she asks me.

I give my fellow Gryn a helpless look.

“Felia told me the virus would kill you.”

“I know,” Chrissie says, cupping my cheek. “Fenek said it too, but all they have to do is take it out.”

My heart beats out of my chest, wanting to give her my life, my blood, my health.

“It might already be too late, myeregri,” I breathe. “Once it has bonded to your DNA, the Drahon say it cannot be removed.”

“But I feel fine,” Chrissie says, staring up at me, her beautiful eyes shining. “I feel better than I ever have.”

“It’s the virus. I have to find Felia and get her to remove it.”

“Felia?” she queries.

“The chief scientist of the Drahon. Vrexer slipped out of my grip while I was fighting off the others.” I scan the fallen, but she’s not among them. “She has to be somewhere in Tatatunga. She still wants you, and she still wants a Gryn.”

“She can’t have us,” Maxym growls. “Or your mate, unless she is making her well.”

Both Gryn rattle their primaries. Klynn bares his teeth.

And then there is the most almighty explosion. It slams Chrissie into me and nearly pushes us off our feet.

“What the vrex?”

“I think the procurator has found us,” Maxym rumbles. “We were out of the dome without a pass after all.”

He watches as multiple black clad Zarvu enter through the hole they’ve blown in the side of the atrium. There’s more than enough to pose a significant problem if any of us want to get away. The Xnosson captain, all horns and bluster, pushes through the throng.

“Gladiators, you are to come with me,” he bellows. “Return to the dome without incident and the procurator guarantees no punishment will be meted out.”

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