Page 26 of Darken
It took a great deal of willpower not to launch himself at her tormentor and kill him with his bare hands. Although he’d never met Phoebe, he knew what she meant to Blaze. That was reason enough to kill Stone, but he knew Blaze was nanoseconds away from launching his own attack.
“Are you ready to watch your slut die?” Stone asked, flipping a switch on the pain wand to maximum power.
Darken didn’t have to feign horror as Stone drew back his hand to push the lethally armed pain wand against Phoebe’s spine.
Stone’s malicious grin fell as glass broke behind him. His head exploded with a shot from Blaze’s blaster. The headless body fell to the floor, and the pain stick rolled away from his lifeless hand.
Blaze leaped into the room and came to Phoebe. Darken, Phoebe and the rogue cyborg who was pointing a blaster at Darken had all been splattered with Stone’s brain matter and gore.
The rogue turned his blaster toward Blaze, who was working to free Phoebe.
“Do you really want to do that?” Blaze demanded.
The rogue frowned, lowering his weapon. “No point,” he said and shoved the gun back into his holster. “Take your female and get out of here. This was his grudge, not mine. He had it coming. He would have killed her just like the others. We can run this place fine without him, and the women will live to entertain other clients.”
Chapter Seventeen
Darken left the room while Blaze took care of Phoebe. The other rogue cyborg had holstered his weapon and posed no threat.
“We really didn’t want to fight you guys,” said the rogue. “Nearly all of us owe our lives to the cyborg marine rangers. They made sure we weren’t left behind.”
“Too bad the upper echelon didn’t always return the favor,” Darken muttered, thinking of the days he lay abandoned on a hostile planet. But that life was over.
The unnamed cyborg nodded, Darken thought sympathetically. “Thanks for ridding us of Stone. He was killing our best females, taking his games too far. We have strict rules for our BDSM clients. Use of the safe word ends the session.”
“Yeah, we don’t need Stone to keep this place going. We will do just fine.”
Moments later, Blaze was ready to take Phoebe out of there. He carried her in his arms, wrapped in an emergency plastic blanket. “We’re done here.”
Darken followed him down the stairs watching his back, though no one was trying to stop them.
He quickly picked up his weapons where he had left them, sheathing his knives and holstering his blasters. Stalker handed him his ion rifle, which he shouldered, and they all followed Blaze as he left the mansion.
The whole team walked back through the woods with Blaze carrying Phoebe. As they left, Darken stopped by his sky cycle and used the com in his armor to contact Gina.
“Darken, I am so glad to hear your voice. Is everything okay?”
“We’re all fine, baby. Blaze just left with Phoebe. He’s taking her to medical in Birch Hollow as a precaution. That piece of human refuse tortured her with a pain wand. Blaze blew his head off.”
“Good. Are you on your way back?”
“Speaking of a waste of human life, I am only about a hundred miles south of Devlin’s compound. I’m going to do a fly-by before I come home.”
Gina made a plaintive moaning sound.
“I know, my mate, but I need to see if that missing transport is there.”
“Oh God, Darken! What if they come after you like last time? This sky cycle is nowhere near as fast as the one they shot down.”
“Don’t worry, Gina. I’m not going to land. It’s just a flyover.”
“Hey, Darken,” said Stalker. “Want some company? We don’t have anything pressing. I wouldn’t mind killing a few more goons.”
“Hear that, baby? I got back up.”
Gina sighed. “Okay, that makes me feel better, but if you get yourself killed, I will never forgive you.”
Darken laughed. “Don’t worry, love. I’m not that easy to kill. Many have tried, and I am still here.”
