Page 57 of Protected By the Convicts
His current prey was deadly, but not smart. They spoke of their plans openly in the mines, where anyone could and did hear. Ky’Li had not spent his two months on Narkos merely complaining in the tunnels. He’d found and cultivated informants, like one would do on any world during battle. Get to know the enemy, understand them, and be ready to cut off his head when the time arrived.
The time had arrived.
His informant had found Vaughn in the deep recesses of Mine 33 as most men were clearing out to attend the assembly that all colonists had been ordered to attend. Today, Griggs’s unit would take Hannah. He didn’t know how exactly, only that it would be at the assembly.
Ky’Li used that time to hunt his prey before they reached the assembly. He could not chance them reaching her. He killed Falco, snapping his neck like one would a twig. Harrison proved more cunning and had made contact with his knife, leaving a long gash along Ky’Li’s upper arm. He had not yet found Winters. Or Griggs. That worried him. But he’d found their lair, not their usual place of habitation, but a new one they’d set up a week ago. Now Ky’Li hid in the shadows beyond the mouth of the cavern, waiting for the miners to return.
Voices in the distance put Ky’Li on high alert. It was Hannah’s muffled cries that sent him flying from where he lay in wait.
“My turn, Griggs. Hand her over,” Winters demanded.
Krike! He was too late!
“I’m not done with her,” Griggs said.
Ky’Li moved in closer as Griggs pushed Hannah to the ground. Ky’Li couldn’t see her face, but she was there, fighting, kicking.
Griggs caught her feet and withdrew a knife. “Kick me again and I’ll cut you so deep you’ll never walk again.”
Beside Griggs, Winters unbuckled his pants. Then Griggs shoved him aside. “I’ll tell you when I’m done.”
“You’ve had her long enough.”
He shoved Winters aside as he backhanded Hannah. She stopped moving. “Get the others. I’ll be done by the time you get back.”
Griggs tossed Hannah over his shoulder and headed toward the cave. Rage exploded inside Ky’Li as he caught a glimpse of her through the foliage. Hannah was stark naked and covered in bruises.
Ky’Li stalked Griggs to the cave and waited until the beast lowered Ky’Li’s precious Hannah to the ground. Like a kuvak, Ky’Li stalked Griggs from behind, intending to slit his throat from ear to ear. Griggs turned, wielding a knife of his own. He slashed at Ky’Li, showing no real skill or strategy, just brute force. Ky’Li easily dodged Griggs’s thrusts.
“She’s mine now,” Griggs shouted.
Fool. Let him talk, beg, even try to barter for is life. This battle would only end one way. With Griggs’s death.
Griggs raised his knife, intending to thrust it into Ky’Li. With one quick maneuver, Ky’Li blocked Griggs’s knife and shoved his own into the man’s belly. Even as Griggs struggled against him, Ky’Li sliced to the side and twisted the knife, ensuring maximum damage. Blood spurted out fast; he’d severed an artery. Griggs was dead before he hit the ground. The death was too quick. The animal deserved pain, a slow, torturous death, but Ky’Li’s would not waste another second on Griggs, not when Hannah needed him.
Gently, Ky’Li touched her soft cheeks, avoiding the bruises and scrapes that marred her otherwise flawless skin. A line cut across the back and sides of her neck, as if from a chain. Her necklace. Griggs had ripped it off her. Large, ugly bruises traveled down the length of Hannah’s body to her upper thighs, where fingerprints in the shape of bruises were all too obvious.
“Sha-vi?” Ky’Li said, trying to keep the raw emotion from his voice. He would be strong for her. There was no choice, despite how much he wanted to sink to the ground and cradle her in his arms.
“Open your eyes for me, Hannah. Please,” he tried again, but still, she did not respond.
Her skin was cold to the touch, and the jungle was not cool today, not at all. Ky’Li swallowed hard as he searched for something to keep her warm. He could not wallow in the guilt of how he’d failed to protect her. . . not until later.
He found a blanket among the men’s bedrolls in the cave but he would not place their foul scent anywhere near her. Despite the blood coating his shirt, Ky’Li stripped and eased it over Hannah’s head and upper torso, pulling her right arm through and avoiding her left arm that was bent at an odd angle.
He kissed her forehead softly and gently scooped her up. He needed to take her before Winters returned. He could kill Winters, hewouldkill him, but not before Ky’Li secured Hannah.
As he walked through the trees, with Hannah in his arms, Ky’Li ran through all the mental exercises he’d been taught as a first-year cadet. The calculations and passages he silently recited to himself were meant to focus a soldier, but this soldier had a tough time thinking about anything other than revenge. Then his sha’vi cried out. He set her down in a patch of grass in full sun where she’d be warm.
Her eyelids flew open. Dark green eyes—frantic, wild, and filled with terror—darted about and quickly settled on him. Her eyes widened, filling with panic, like an animal about to be slaughtered.
“I’m here, sha’vi. Ky’Li. You’re safe now.”
Recognition returned to her cold, empty eyes. She said nothing, only stared past him, no longer focusing on him.
“You will be fine again, sha’vi. I promise you,” he said as he picked her up, thanking the gods she allowed his touch.
Cautiously, her arms wrapped around his neck. Part of him felt relieved, the other part of him remained puzzled about how to protect her. Griggs’s unit was no longer a threat, but there were other units just as dangerous, other units that would emerge as the top dog now that Griggs was dead.
