Page 69 of Chained

There’s a strange hum running underfoot as I make my way through from the disused service corridor and into the main access way. The scent of armpits is replaced with a smell I wish I didn’t remember, but I do.

Bogarok. Hundreds of them. They stink like rotting meat and metal to the point my stomach rolls over. This is the last place I want to bring my mate, but if we have to get to the vault and take what will protect all of us, then it is something I’m going to have to do.

Scuttling noises up ahead have me pushing my way into a hopefully empty chamber. I wait until the noises have passed before making my way down until I’m at street level, searchingfor the door which I can use to let my sweet mate in and have her back in my arms.

I finally locate the door, and with some difficulty, I manage to get it to open. Across the street is a blank wall.

Sticking my head out, I see the pleasure house and baths several buildings away. By chance, Retah appears, and I flick a wing to attract his attention.

Fortunately, the old Remek warrior is no fool and he sees the flash of white. Ducking back into the doorway, he appears with Cleo, and the pair of them run like the wind up to me.

Above them, several Bogarok appear on the rooftops. For half a nova-second, I think they might have not seen my mate and Retah, but with a rush, as one, they turn and descend down the side of the buildings. I will the pair of them to run faster because I don’t want to use my pulsar. It’ll only attract attention.

The last thing we need is more of the foul creatures.

Panting, they reach me, and I shove them through the door.

“Not this time.” I grin as the things barrel towards me and I slip through the door, closing it tight.

There are a number of thumps before there is silence.

“I really thought they were going to get us.” Cleo is doubled up, her hands on her knees as she tries to catch her breath.

“We need to go. I’m not sure if the door will hold them,” I say.

Cleo straightens, but she’s a pale color I dislike.

“Let me carry you, little mate?” I ask quietly. “We need to move quickly.”

“I’m not here to be a burden, Maxym,” she responds, pulling her hair back from her face and tying it behind her in a long tail. “If I thought I would be, I wouldn’t have come.”

There’s still fight in my little scrap.

“This way.” I usher her forward and through the service passages of the dome until we reach the hatch I need.

“Down there?” Retah queries.

“It’s the only way. Believe me, if I thought there was any other that wasn’t being guarded, I’d use it.” I grimace at the tight fit as I drop through.

Retah assists Cleo as I make my way down the short tube and onto the sharp metal rungs which will take us all the way to the undercroft.

The number of times I’ve dropped into it without even a thought, my feet and hands hardly touching the ladder in my desire to rage and howl. Or, long before, to chase Blayn and Klynn in order to get them ready for the games.

Some times in the dome were better than others. I have a pang of guilt about my fellow gladiator, given all I did was drop him into a hole and leave.

But then Klynn can take care of himself, and provided he got away from the Bogarok and their mindbending ways, he should be okay. I’ve seen him survive worse. We all have.

Looking up, I see the delicious globes of my mate’s ass, shifting as she climbs down above me. Whether I will get to follow my fellow gladiators who have all found their mates and left the dome for a new life, I’m not sure.

But what I do know is I will move all the celestial bodies in the galaxy to make it happen for myeregriand me.

I reach the solid floor of the undercroft and pluck Cleo from the ladder once she’s close enough. She squeaks beautifully as I pull her into my arms.

“You’re all hard,” she grumbles, hand on my breastplate.

“And you’re all soft.” I shove my head into her fragrant hair, wishing it was loose like normal.

“And you really need to put her down and get on with the job at hand,” Retah says as he reaches the ground.

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