Page 88 of Chained

And he opens his great wings as I hop into his arms, beating down in a way which seems too slow for take-off but in fact lifts us easily into the air. At his back, Nate gives a whoop ofenjoyment, and we’re carried upwards by my huge Gryn warrior who has promised to never let me go.

MAXYM

Nate slithers ahead, filled with excitement, as we reach the admin block once again. He said something about tech the dome has to block comms in order to stop illegal betting rings (because the dome wants to keep all the profits from betting for itself). It seems he thinks we can use this somehow.

“Did you say something about there being another human in the dome?” Cleo asks as we follow him.

“There were two signatures which corresponded with human DNA, yes.”

“How did you know which one was mine?”

I contemplate for a nova-second. “I just knew,” I say.

She curls her fingers around mine, her warm hand endlessly comforting.

“Over here, Maxym.” Nate waves at us from behind a console. “You’re going to want to see this.”

With my mate in hand, we make our way over to him. There are a number of screens, each filled with a different image.

“What is that?” Cleo points to something on one of them, a fireball it appears.

“Something is destroying the Bogarok ships,” Nate says excitedly.

“Can you do something about their comms. They’ll have others in orbit and they’ll call in reinforcements.”

Nate works his way over the console rapidly as I peer closer at the vid-screens, attempting to work out what’s happening out there.

It’s not looking so good for the Bogarok, but it doesn’t mean the danger has passed.

We need to find Retah and get out of here, my sweet Cleo sends me down the bond.We have to get the info cubes to a secure location.

I completely agree with her. The sooner we can get away from the dome, the better.

“It’s done,” Nate says triumphantly. “At least it extends from the dome and covers most of the main Bogarok craft.”

“We have to hope they weren’t able to get any comms to the other ships,” I say.

It looks like the creatures have been taken by surprise, given most of their craft are in flames and listing badly. I wish I could tell who was attacking them.

“Cleo? Maxym?” Retah calls across to us.

My mate is running and running until she throws her arms around the big Remek, who gives me a careful look before embracing her with a wince.

“You’re okay?” She stands back and takes him in.

One arm is in a sling and his color is terrible, but otherwise he’s upright and that’s entirely what I was expecting from such an old fighter like him.

“I got all fixed up by the Cirmos, as Maxym suggested,” Retah says, tipping his horns at me. “And I seem to have found a couple of new friends.”

He looks over his shoulder as Dirk steps into the room.

“What about Klynn?” Cleo asks.

“The other Gryn?” Retah queries. “He took off after he found us. Strangest thing.”

Dirk mutters something which could begood riddance.

“Something is destroying the Bogarok ships,” I say. “Any ideas?”

---