Page 4 of Decadence

Was it really possible?

But she couldn’t keep hold of that thought, because her world was drifting away, merging with the Shadow that held her in his arms…

Fading into perfect black.

Chapter Two

Ikriss Peturic, former High Commander of the Kordolian Imperial militaries, captain of the Kordolian alpha-class stealth cruiser Warsong, ex-Second Division warrior, former Military Intelligence special operative, and current mercenary in charge of this specific retrieval operation, leaned back into the outfitting pod, allowing the machine to withdraw the exo-armor from around his body.

As expected, the mission had gone smoothly. They’d boarded the Ephrenian junk-ship and retrieved all captives without a single loss of life—well, on the human side anyway.

The Ephrenians hadn’t been so fortunate.

Ikriss and his men showed no mercy to any being that was foolish enough to try and take what was theirs.

But they’d come very close to losing one. The golden-haired female he’d held in his arms had sustained a terrible beating, and her consciousness was dulled by powerful sedatives. By the time he’d delivered her to Zharek in the medical bay, her breathing was slow and shallow, her body cold and limp, her lips an unhealthy shade of pale blue.

She’d been so near to death.

For some reason, the slavers had treated her much worse than the other captives.

For some reason, her predicament had sparked a powerful feeling of protectiveness within him.

He’d taken her to Silence’s medical bay as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Nanosurgery, now!” he’d barked at Zharek, still armed to the teeth and decked out in full exo-armor. He didn’t care how he looked. He hadn’t gone to all the effort of retrieving this wounded, defenseless female just to see her die in his fucking arms.

“I’m onto it,” Zharek had said quietly after taking one look at Ikriss. The nobleborn medic could be irritatingly stubborn at times, but he had enough sense to know when to obey orders.

Ikriss had left the female in the capable hands of the medic and his assistants. Although he was ninety-nine percent certain they would restore her to full health, a sliver of doubt lingered in his mind.

She was so soft and vulnerable. He could have accidentally snapped her in two in his arms.

They’d beaten her so badly.

As the armor detached from his body and the helm lifted from his face, Ikriss let out a deep, shuddering sigh.

He dragged a weary hand over his eyes.

How the fuck had they allowed that Ephrenian transport to slip through? Their monitoring systems were the best in the Universe, but somehow, the Ephrenian ship had been able to enter Earth’s orbit to abduct a dozen young female humans.

It made him furious.

The anger was still there, coursing through his body, seeking release in the form of violence. It had taken all of his self-restraint not execute the remainder of the crew and the ship’s infernal captain on the spot. Instead, in one of the very rare moments when he’d lost his temper, he’d punched the asshole square in the face, cracking his helmet and knocking him out cold.

Ikriss had ordered his men to keep the Ephrenian captain and the navigator and a couple of the crew alive. After all, they were needed as decoys… as bait.

The Ephrenians might have captured the humans, but there was a buyer on the receiving end of their shipment.

Someone had sought to own these females for his own infernal pleasure.

Someone had ordered the punishment and torture of the human females, especially the delicate and broken one he’d held in his arms.

They were going to capture that asshole.

The Ephrenian ship would be allowed to continue on its journey, with a few… modifications.

At that very moment, the tech team were creating perfect holo-dupes of the human females from their biological data. With the original Ephrenian crew onboard and the hyper-realistic holos of the females, the Kordolian buyer wouldn’t know anything was amiss until he stepped onboard and found death waiting for him… in the form of a First Division warrior called Jeral.

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