Page 50 of Monstrous Rampage
:Oh my. Yes. Alrighty.:Another strident honk.:I’ll do everything I can to help you understand her mating rituals. Have you kissed her? Held her hand? There’s also human slang about moving along the baseball diamond, which is a sport?—:
I tuned him out again and focused on Rekt.:Thanks a lot. Now I have baseball metaphors stuck in my head, and I don’t even know what that means.:
:Ask one of the Comms specialists to tune in to Earth’s media, though there’s rudimentary explanation of baseball in my databanks.:
:I don’t give a fuck about baseball!:I roared. Everywhere. All channels.:If you’re not on your way to me, then proceed to Holly’s location marked accordingly. Protect her at all cost until I’m free.:
:Have you told her about your plan?:Rekt asked.:Or is she going to be freaked out when a dozen dyni show up?:
:That’s the general idea. I need her to sell it to keep Snyder’s resources focused on her until I’m free.:A wave of indignation flooded me from the medic, so I quickly amended, :I’ll give her a brief heads up, but I don’t dare pull her fully onto our grid until Snyder’s handled.:
:May I ask how you’re handling him?:
:No.:I focused a tiny thread toward Holly. A wisp of thought. Barely there. Just in case anyone was still watching or listening for interference.:Run. Act afraid.:
Even with such a delicate connection, she flooded my senses. Her addictive scent. Soft and lush, a tender and juicy morsel I’d barely had a chance to taste. Now a new chemical danced in my skull, lighting my blood on fire.
She was ripe. Ready.
For me.
Desperate to hold on to my sanity, I dissolved the thread before she could respond. Hopefully she heard and recognized its source.
Darkness spun inside me, spiraling deeper, tighter, heavier, gnawing against my spine as it slowly collapsed on itself. Growing bigger, stronger, and heavier, the immense gravity of a supermassive black hole spread through me. Demanding my attention. Shifting my will, my entire being, to a new gravitational anchor.
Holly. She needed me. Now.
23
HOLLY
As the black emptiness of transport faded, I staggered, struggling to stay on my feet. The ground tilted and wobbled, and I almost face planted.
No, a root tripped me. Green grass tickled my bare feet. The spiked ceiba trunk loomed just a couple of feet away. That would have been extremely unpleasant to crash into before I caught my bearings.
Snyder had dumped me back in the training chamber made to resemble a Guatemalan jungle. Helpless rage crawled through my veins. Minutes ago, I’d evidently been on death’s door. Now he’d dropped me back in here to meet a UGRR. From his file, that designation was Ultra Green Raptor Rex. Sounded cool. Sort of? But I hadn’t agreed to consider another dynos so quickly.
I’d rather have the two dyni I already knew, thank you very much.
Luteinizing hormone detected.What did that mean? As pleased as Synder was, it had to be bad. If it had to do with hormones…
I was probably ovulating.
Panic screeched through me.:Mrions, can you hear me? Whatever happens, I do not want to get pregnant right now. Do you understand?:
:We hear you, Holly. Understood. We can destroy the ovum before it has the chance to be fertilized, or if it is fertilized, we can prevent implantation.:
Relieved I had options, I felt a little steadier.:Let’s see what happens. We may not need either option.:
I started to sit down on the same humped root I’d used as a bench before, but something whiffed against my neck. A faint puff of air. I might have imagined it, except I caught the hint of the same terrifying smell of predator in the cell.:Syko?:
:Run.:He purred deep, so low it was barely audible.:Act afraid.:
Oh god. Run? From what?:Are you free?:
No answer. Frustrated, I sat down on the stump despite his warning. Orders. Whatever. I didn’t see a reason to run. At least not yet. I slipped my fingers beneath the bracelet, testing to see if I could get it over my thumb, but no luck. “Snyder, I want this thing off me.”
No response. Which only ratcheted my irritation another notch. “I know you can hear me. You agreed to remove the bracelet after I met Rekt. Now you’re dumping me in here with another dynos. What’s his name? Why a raptor? What’s going on? I’m going to keep asking annoying questions and refuse to participate in your sick experiments if you don’t answer me.”
