Page 12 of Protected By the Convicts
“That’s uncalled for,” Hannah said, surging forward into Ren’s space, pushing her way between the men, despite the iron rod Ren waved in the air.
Sersie shoved her behind him, as if he didn’t trust Ren any more than Ky’Li did.
The alarm sounded again. Ren turned and swung the iron, destroying the monitor along the wall.
“Feel better now?” Hannah said. “Go ahead, Ren, destroy the entire house. It won’t change that you’re stuck here with the rest of us.”
“That’s why you did it!” Ren said, surging forward with the rod in his hand. Hannah backed up. Her knees struck the sofa as Ky’Li ripped the makeshift weapon from Ren’s hand. Ren turned on him.
“Stay the fuck out of this, asshole. This is between me and her.”
“You threaten her again and you’ll be wearing this rod around your neck.
“I swear, Ren, I didn’t touch anything,” Hannah said as calmly as she could while trying to push Ky’Li back and keep him out of this.
“How’d you cut your hand, then?” Ren said, pointing to the jagged tear. “Pealing caani fruit? Admit it, Princess,” he spat out his nickname for her. “You didn’t want to break up this goddamn fucking unit. I’m too valuable here for my skills and the credits I bring in.”
Hannah grabbed the rod out of Ky’Li’s hands and slammed it flat against Ren’s stomach, not hard enough to hurt, just to force him to grab hold of it again.
“You want to hit me, Ren? Go ahead. Will that make you feel better? Will it bring back your precious ship? And you’re right. I never should have tried to make any of you get along. You’re solitaries through and through. You don’t care about each other and you don’t even care about yourselves.
“I’ve had it, Ren. I’ve done what I could, but I never touched your ship. I would never take a person’s choices away from him, especially you. I know what that’s like. Go ahead, hit me or do whatever you need to do, then I never want to see you again, is that clear?”
Ren stared at her. “Are you really going to stand there and deny that you did this? No one else fucking knew about my ship!”
She tried to hold back the damn tears, but she needed to get away. She raced out the door, and into the small garden.
“Hannah!” Ky’Li called from the house, racing after her. She didn’t stop for him. She needed to be alone. As she ran out the gate, she slammed into a hard body.
Vaughn.
“What’s the matter, you came back to scream at me some more?” she shouted at Vaugh. “You already had your turn. Find someone else who cares.”
Vaughn’s hand landed on her wrist like a steel vice. “You can’t go out there alone.”
“I don’t need your permission.”
“A kuvak’s been spotted mountainside. The alert’s already gone out, everyone has been ordered to stay indoors.” He angled his head toward the house and shouted, “Ren, get out here and fix this gate. There’s a kuvak in the area.”
She didn’t know what the hell a kuvak was, but she wanted to be anywhere but here. The second Vaughn loosened his grip on her wrist, Hannah headed on the path to behind the house.
“Inside, Hannah. Now. I’m not kidding. The kuvak probably can’t jump over this fence, but it’s not worth the risk.”
“Like you care,” she mumbled.
Vaughn grabbed her by her upper arm and marched her into the house. “We need to talk. All of us. . .”
