Page 100 of Dark Gambit Reliance

"Zhenihk." Sofia took his hand as she translated.

"Kongra." Isla smiled brightly. "Ohn krasavchik."

"She says that you are handsome."

He knew enough Russian to understand that. "Thank you."

Helmi entered the living room with a coat draped over her arm. "I'm going to look for Tomos." She gave Marcel a small wave. "I'll come back later."

He gave her the thumbs up.

Other people came in and took seats wherever they found them, but Jarmo didn't introduce any more of them.

"I know you are all under Igor's compulsion," Marcel said. "And you can't say anything bad about him or leave this place if you want to. This ends today. We brought a powerful compeller who will free you from Igor's compulsion. He has already freed Sofia, Jade, Kagra, and Pavel, and he's freeing more people as we speak. By morning, everyone in this compound will be able to speak freely and decide on the future they want to pursue."

"Where is Igor?" Jarmo asked.

"He's not here. But when he returns, we will be waiting for him, and he will be brought to justice. You might not be aware of it, but he committed heinous crimes against his people. He killed the males of Jade's tribe, enslaved the females, and he compelled them to keep silent about what happened to them. He did the same thing to other Kra-ell tribes."

Jarmo didn't look surprised. "I was born in this compound and saw those females when they were brought in. I knew something terrible had happened to them."

Marcel waited for Sofia to translate, and several of the older ones nodded when she was done.

Evidently, Jarmo wasn't the only one who had noticed.

"Who will lead in Igor's place?" Jarmo asked.

"As I said, it will need to be decided in a vote. Will Jade be an acceptable leader?"

Jarmo shrugged. "I don't know if she'll be better. She's good to the children but has no respect for adults."

When Sofia translated, Isla huffed a breath and said something too fast for him to follow.

"My aunt says that the Kra-ell are all the same and that one is not better than the others, but the people here don't have anyone on the outside, and they wouldn't know what to do and how to provide for themselves."

Her other aunt added to her sister's assessment, and he caught a few words here and there, but not enough to understand what she was saying.

Sofia turned to him. "Hannele says they can be happy here if we take the Kra-ell away. They can grow crops and tend to the animals. That's what they were doing anyway, and it's enough to put food on the table for the humans living here. They will need to find a way to pay for the other things they need like clothing and other necessities." She leaned closer and smiled. "I don't think my aunt realizes how much more goes into running a place like this."

"We will help you figure it out," Marcel said. "I'm not the boss of this operation, and I'm not making the decisions. I'm here to help you get organized so you are ready when our compeller comes to free you. As I said, we need everyone to be freed of Igor's compulsion by morning."

"What do we need to do?" Jarmo asked.

"Make sure that everyone is awake and ready in about two hours."

71

JADE

It was morning when Tom and Mia finished with the last of the humans, and William, their tech guy, had removed all the collars. Valstar had provided the key, so the process should have been easy, but Jade had still experienced a few anxious moments when the damn thing hadn't opened as smoothly as it was supposed to. She'd volunteered to go first, and after William had figured out how to maneuver the tricky locking mechanism, he'd had an easier time with the others.

Turned out that the collars contained location trackers, explosives, and a trigger mechanism that could be activated remotely, but as she'd suspected, they had no listening capabilities.

Jade was exhausted, but she'd promised Tom a story, and she never went back on her word, so she'd dragged herself to the human quarters and sat across from him.

Tom's mate lay on the couch with her head resting on his thigh, and a blanket spread over her child-sized body. She was so petite that she would still be small even after her legs grew back.

Jade was about to thank Tom for all the work he had done, but then the Head Guardian with the pale blue eyes and long hair walked in and plopped tiredly on one of the couches.

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