Page 10 of Captured

“Do we have a deal?”

Dark eyes flashed between his and the bar as a black tongue slipped out to wet thin lips. It was a moment longer before the child gave a short nod, scurrying forward a few steps before stopping outside Gra’ar’s reach and extending a dirty hand.

Gra’ar tossed the ration bar, the kid snatching it from midair. He was chewing on the end of it before his next breath and Gra’ar had to bite back a huff.

“The girl, which way did she go?”

The kid looked back up at him. It didn’t stop chewing as it raised a hand to point to the west.

“Did she stay on the roofs? Is she still nearby?”

The kid’s brows lowered, taking on a surly expression as it backed away from him. It was a struggle to hold back his irritation, but if Flea was still nearby he needed to stay on the ground where he could follow her scent easier.

Pulling another bar from his pocket, he waved it in the kid’s direction. It lunged forward, apparently forgetting its fear of him in its desire for the other bar, but Gra’ar stood and held it too high for the kid to reach.

“Is she still nearby? Have you seen her again?”

Face drawing closed, the kid looked off to the side but shook its head in the negative again. Pointing to the west, it made a throwing motion, as if to say she’d gone far.

“She kept going? You haven’t seen her nearby?”

A short downward jerk of the chin was all he got, but it was enough. Tossing the bar at the kid’s feet, Gra’ar turned away and launched himself into the air. He had an omega to find.

Chapter Seven

Flea

By the time she found one of her old contacts Flea’s stomach had begun to gnaw on itself. She’d walked around the area of the city she considered hers for hours. She’d actually given up and was on her way to the water recycler just to have something to fill her belly with when she ran into the old crone.

Flea had no idea how old Herelia was. Or even what she was. Stooped so low she was shorter even than Flea, the blind female had been a part of Sixth-Level since Flea was a child. Covered in what looked like layers of blankets with a hole ripped in the middle for her head, and scarves wrapped around her face, the only part of her lumpy body that could be seen were thin, long-fingered hands.

“Flea! I’d heard you were taken.”

The thin voice that came from the old woman was misleading. Flea knew she was stronger than she seemed, having been prisoner to her bar-like grip on more than one occasion. For some reason, when the woman caught Flea trying to steal from her as a child, she’d decided to teach her instead of punish.

“You know no one can hold me for long, Herelia. Especially when they have to be concerned with following the rules, and I don’t.”

Herelia cackled, bony hand patting Flea’s arm as they moved into an alley beside the building they’d met in front of. Flea had always suspected there were more than two feet beneath the obscuring blankets, or possibly something else all together since she’d never been able to hear a sound from the woman when she moved.

“It’s still a surprise to find you here. You don’t usually linger on Sixth anymore.”

Flea shrugged out of habit despite knowing Herelia couldn’t see it. For someone who claimed to be blind and always had her eyes covered, she was able to read a person just as well as Flea.

“Had to pick up supplies before moving deeper. There’s talk of a raid soon, so I won’t stay long.”

Herelia nodded, humming to herself at Flea’s news. A roundup on the upper levels simply meant soldiers catching any over-age omega trying to escape the system, but a raid on the lower levels meant anyone was fair game. Those in charge didn’t like having people beneath their feet who didn’t follow their rules or feed into the system putting credits in their pockets. Anyone caught would be conscripted to one of the factories or sent off world to places worse than Decloui.

“Good to know. I’ll pass it on.”

Flea nodded. For the most part, people outside the gangs kept to themselves, but there would be select others they wouldn’t want to see taken.

“There was no one to trade with today, has the location been moved?”

Both spots she’d checked had been empty and she hoped it was only because people had found a new place to go, but the way Herelia froze warned Flea it was worse news than that.

“Deacon’s group came through a few weeks ago. Violated the warehouse. His boys took everyone and everything they could get their hands on.”

Flea’s fists balled at her sides, her teeth squeaking as she ground them together. Deacon led one of the larger gangs that operated on multiple levels, and he was the reason she’d been caught and taken to the Collection Center to begin with. Running from him had put her right in the path of soldiers, but they’d seemed the safer choice than the alpha she’d stolen from.

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