Page 132 of Decadence

Careful.

Perhaps all wasn’t as it appeared.

He cast a quick, appraising eye over the human captives. They wore only their intimate undergarments, and their wrists and ankles were bound. Some were curled up, heads tucked in, arms wrapped around their bodies. Several were screaming, trying futilely to stand. Some just stared, their eyes blank with shock, unable to comprehend what was unfolding.

He counted twenty-five in total; all relatively young.

All frightened out of their wits.

Except for one.

One of them—dark-haired, dark-eyed, and a little crazy looking—glared back.

“Shit,” Gryke muttered. “They’re hysterical. Of course they are. We just exploded heads in front of them. Now we’re supposed to come in and tell them we’re their noble saviors? Tch. Humans don’t adjust that quickly.”

“Take them down to the ground level, now,” Ikriss barked. An idea was forming in his mind, but to make it work, he would have to act fast.

His men obeyed without question, forming a tight circle around the humans.

“Get up,” Lukin ordered in Universal, lowering his weapon. “Listen carefully, humans, because I am not going to repeat myself. We are not going to harm you, and we are not going to enslave you. Right now, your survival depends on your absolute co-operation. You do exactly as I say. When I tell you to move, you move.”

The females might be afraid, but they weren’t stupid. They rose shakily to their feet, shuffling awkwardly in their ankle restraints.

“We’ll remove those,” Ruk growled, drawing his longsword. “Let’s get you all off this roof.”

Ikriss surveyed the group one last time, his attention snapping toward the dark-haired woman in the center of the group. She was staring at him openly, without even a lick of fear in her eyes.

She doesn’t have a very good sense of danger. Sienna’s words danced through his mind.

“You are Eva Patel,” he said, walking swiftly through the group of women to reach her side. They parted before him like a school of silver fish in the cold arctic sea.

The dark-haired woman glared. “And who the hell are you?” She spoke in English. Luckily for Ikriss, he could understand her perfectly well.

Ikriss laughed. “Sienna was right about you.”

“Sienna? What the hell does she have to do this fucking nightmare?”

“She sent me.” Ikriss gave her a tiny mock-bow. “I am her humble servant.”

“Sent you? Okay, now I’m confused,” Eva hissed. “Is this the same Sienna we’re talking about? Nice Sienna? She doesn’t associate with creatures like you.”

There was hatred in her voice.

Why?

No time for that now.

The roar of the approaching ship grew louder.

His horn-buds were throbbing like crazy. The pain was getting worse. In frustration, he commanded his helm to retract, revealing his face. “She is mine,” he growled.

Fear flickered across Eva’s face. She flinched. “Y-you’re crazy.”

Suddenly, the roar of the ship was right in his ears.

It was too close. It shouldn’t have been able to move that fast.

“Incoming!” he shouted in Kordolian. “Get them down to safety, now.” He drew his sword. Eva and the other women screamed.

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