Page 83 of Taming Chaos

He squeezed his hand around the pirate’s neck, not caring that his fingers were blackened and disfigured. Torin could no longer tell where his exo-armor ended and his charred flesh began. “Where is she?” he demanded, his voice escaping as a low hiss. He couldn’t summon anything more. His throat was burned out. “Where is my human?”

“She go to stars,” the Bartharran whispered in crude Universal, a smile curving his wide lips before his black-and-red eyes rolled back into his head. The big alien fell back, going limp, crashing to the floor.

Dead.

The pirate’s dying words sent a spear of ice right through Torin’s heart. What did he mean? He fell to his knees, and if he still had tear ducts right now, he would have cried tears of pure frustration.

He didn’t know where his mate was being kept!

The Bartharrans were about to do something terrible to her; he could feel it in his bones.

Run! Keep moving!

Torin had tried to keep her safe the only way he knew how—with blade and gun and claw. Never in his wildest nightmares had he imagined the situation would spiral so far out of his control.

He was all alone here, without communication, without tech support, and without backup.

He was weak, slow, his body damaged beyond anything he’d ever experienced before. He glanced down at the dead Bartharrans. As the coppery stench of their blood filled his nostrils, he knew what he had to do.

It was a custom that had its roots on the flat, icy battlefields of the Vaal. They said that the Lost Tribes consumed the hearts of their vanquished foes in the hope that they would imbibe their fierce fighting spirit.

Torin knew for a fact that it was also the fastest way to ingest high quality protein, the kind that his nanites thrived on.

Disgust coursed through him. Most of his brothers wouldn’t have had any qualms about it, but the intellectual in Torin had always shied away from these base, visceral things.

Ah, perhaps he was a snob, or an idiot, or just a little bit confused.

It didn’t matter now, because he needed to regain his strength as quickly as possible. For Seph, he would do the most vile, unspeakable things if he had to.

Torin grabbed the nearest dead Bartharran by the shoulder and flipped the alien over. With his claws drawn and sharp and already bloodied, he took a deep breath, reached down, and tore into the poor bastard’s chest.

It was like flicking a switch. The rest came easily, because his true instincts kicked in, and the last shreds of his civilized facade melted away.

Because like all Kordolians, he was really just a savage at heart.

Chapter Twenty-Six

“What are you doing?” Seph demanded as the Bartharrans surrounded her. The boss—the only one amongst them who seemed to speak decent Universal—bent down to lift her out of the chair.

“It is time, Blessed One.”

Arms as thick as small tree trunks slid behind her back and under her legs. Gripped with panic, Seph tried to kick him in the chest, but it was like kicking against a solid brick wall. Her booted feet smashed into hard, immovable armor-plated muscle.

“I know this is difficult, oh divine Salu, but you must release the stars and remember the place from where you came. You have been in the worldly dimension for too long.”

Release the stars? What the hell is he talking about?

The time for playing along was finished. It was clear that these Bartharrans weren’t going to listen to her, even if they believed she was this so-called Salu.

“Do not fight me.”

“Get your hands off me,” she snarled as he lifted her out of the chair. She squirmed and kicked and tried to punch him, but it was no use.

Suddenly, the Bartharran placed her on her feet, holding her arms down by her sides. “Shh, shh, shh,” he whispered. “We must hurry now, Salu.” He turned to his crew and said something in harsh Bartharran.

Suddenly, Seph was dwarfed by big Bartharran males. They started to chant, their voices low and guttural as they lifted her up. Seph couldn’t even fight back, because they clamped down on her arms and legs, completely restraining her.

There was nothing she could do against such raw power. Deciding that resistance was futile, she relaxed. Even if she broke free for a split-second, these tough, leather-skinned aliens would just grab her again. There were just too many of them.

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