Chapter 18

18

B reanna

I knew something terrible had happened the night Mikos killed Drakdak. He'd told me.

I didn't resist when Slomak placed one of the silver things on my head. "You should know the kind of male you allowed to fuck you." Slomak leaned in close and nudged my cheek with his nose. "When this is finished, we will leave for Occeron. I'll take you first, of course. Then I'll give you to my men for a job well done." He cackled and I swear he sounded like a hyena. "Their cocks aren't as big as your Forsian's, but there are twenty of them. I'm sure you'll be satisfied by the time they're finished with you."

"Fuck you."

"Yes, you will."

He'd had me bathed and oiled so I smelled like some exotic flower, then given me a nearly translucent, ankle length dress that reminded me of a V-neck, sleeveless nightgown… if that nightgown was made of plastic wrap. And anytime I protested? I'd learned the Silver Scions produced something called a titan stick. Turns out it's basically a cattle prod used to control their captives. Hurt like being hit with a small taser. Didn't make me pass out, but I'd learned quickly to choose my moments wisely.

God, I missed my armor and my weapons. Since it was either wear the ridiculous gown or be naked, I'd put it on.

The oil, I suspected, was some kind of aphrodisiac, because my pussy had been wet since the group of bathing attendants rubbed me down with it. That, and I literally could not stop thinking about Mikos. How it felt to have his cock inside me. The way my body lit up when he injected me with his essence. The heat of his skin on mine. The way he tasted. If I closed my eyes, I was there, with him, fucking him, feeling him inside me.

I couldn't make it stop. Until now.

I watched as Mikos's eyes went blank. His head fell back against the shiny black chair he sat in. I knew he was gone, his mind somewhere else. The huge restraints on him from elbow to wrists made me want to cry. This couldn't be happening. I couldn't lose him, not like this.

"Mikos!" I yelled his name, but his mind was not here, in this place. He was somewhere else and didn't hear me. Slomak slapped me across the face for the effort.

"Silence, slave. It's not time for him to see you. Not yet." His hyena cackle made me want to stomp his stupid metal head into a silver pancake.

He'd managed to cut my lip. Asshole. I tasted blood in my mouth but swallowed it down, refused to give him even that small victory. Somehow, I was going to get out of this. Somehow… "I'm going to kill you."

He leaned down and rubbed his thumb over my lower lip as if we were lovers. "I can't wait for you to try, little human." He seemed completely unaffected, even amused, by my threat, but he tugged on the restraints that circled my wrists before shoving me to the floor of the stage. I landed behind some kind of machine that looked like it was full of circuitry, but not made of metal. This one appeared to be made from crystals. Tiny flashes of light moved around in patterns I assumed meant it was doing some kind of computer, data crunching business.

"Stay here until I come for you." As if to emphasize the order, he jabbed my thigh with the titan stick and a blaze of pain shot through my leg up to my spine, made my back bow. I collapsed onto my side, struggled to force my diaphragm to move, to pull air into my body. I really was going to kill that asshole. He was arrogant. Cocky. He'd make a mistake, and then he'd be mine.

Took me a minute to recover. When I looked up again, he was gone. I assumed he'd moved to the front of the stage to be with his disgusting uncle.

Not to worry, he'd left two of the silver-headed goons behind, one of them holding the titan stick, to make sure I didn't go anywhere. On top of the cattle prod, they were both twice my size and armed.

If I could just get my hands on one of those blasters…

Before I could come up with a plan, agony slammed into my head as if someone had hit me from behind with a sledgehammer. What the hell? I didn't see anyone come close…

When the pain cleared, I understood. I wasn't looking though my eyes, wasn't on the stage on Rogue 5. I was somewhere else. A dark alley. Rage made my heart pound. Revulsion made my blood ice cold. Disgust made the back of my throat swell, as if I were about to gag.

Somehow, I was inside Mikos, living his memory. Feeling what he felt.

I saw him standing in front of me. The male had to be Tarduk Trach. His fists were covered in blood, and I knew that blood belonged to a child.

My poor Mikos, dealing with such evil.

I don't know what Slomak had hoped for, putting this stupid device on my head, forcing me to experience this moment with my mate. Whatever malicious intent he had, backfired. I was not suddenly afraid of Mikos. I admired him more than ever. Understood him. Knew being with him was the right choice.

The sense of vengeance he felt, of justice, when he ripped the asshole's head off his body made me want to jump up and shout in triumph. That was what I felt when I blasted a hole in an Integration Unit's head, that sense of right, of necessity, of ridding the universe of something vile, something that should not be allowed to exist.

If I could have stayed on Earth and eliminated every single member of the cartel who tortured and killed Robbie, I would have.

Unfortunately, avenging his death hadn't been an option. I wasn't a trained sniper. I didn't have the connections to get past all the cartel's protections, the politicians, federal agents, and mercenaries on their payroll. I couldn't live with what had happened, and I couldn't do anything about preventing it from happening again, to someone else.

So I left. I volunteered to serve in the Coalition Fleet, where the evil they fought was tangible, the war truly without any morally gray motivations or dark money streams. Fighting the Hive was pure survival, good vs. evil.

Just like Mikos vs. Tarduk. And Drakdak. And his slimy fucking nephew, Slomak. I very much wanted Mikos to kill them all.

When the memory faded, I returned to my body slowly, the headache borderline migraine. Surely these headsets weren't made or calibrated for humans. The aliens around me seemed to snap out of it without a problem. Voices erupted from the other side of the stage, angry voices I didn't recognize. My mind was so muddled from the memory thing, it was a minute or two before I could process the words. When my NPU finally connected again, when the circuits in my head resumed functioning, Drakdak was talking. I knew his foul voice, had dealt with him and Slomak for the last few hours, threatening me, trying to intimidate me, telling me—in great detail—all the ways they were going to use me to torture Mikos.

"As you have now witnessed for yourselves, Mikos of Astra Legion murdered my brother in cold blood. Tarduk begged for his life. He was unarmed. I demand justice. I demand the immediate execution of Mikos of Astra Legion."

I struggled onto my hands and knees, my legs little better than limp noodles that refused to support my weight. I had to get up, had to defend him. Had to help. Fight. Do anything but lay here like a princess waiting to be rescued. I was no fucking princess.

Come on, Soldier. Get up! Get the fuck up!

"Cerberus affirms. We vote to grant execution."

No! The Legions couldn't agree to execute him. They didn't know everything. Didn't know why. That memory was only about the moment Mikos killed Tarduk, not what the evil bastard had done to deserve it. They needed to see everything. If they knew what kind of sick asshole he'd been, maybe they would side with Mikos.

"Officiant," I whispered to the glowing crystal circuits so close I could lean forward and kiss them.

"I am the Officiant. How may I be of service?" The response sounded loud as cannon fire in the startled quiet.

"Who is speaking to the Officiant? You are not authorized!" Drakdak shouted, but he could not see me, did not know I'd engaged the machine. I spoke quickly, head down, afraid one of my guards would notice how close my face was to the crystals, see the movement of my lips. I turned my face away from them as if afraid and spoke quickly.

"I am Breanna Parks of Earth, mate to Mikos of Astra Legion, I speak in his defense." When the machine didn't respond, I forged ahead and prayed there was enough intelligence inside the crystal computer entity to hear me and respond. "Locate and play the memory of Tarduk Trach's death once more but begin ten minutes earlier, eight years, four months, three days ago at approximately zero plus twelve minutes."

Surely that would be long enough to show everyone what Mikos had seen that night.

"Memory located. Simulation activating."

Expecting the stabbing pain in my skull did not make it hurt less. I didn't care. Because I was no longer Breanna, I was my mate, Mikos, on a dark night in an abandoned alley, and I'd just heard a child scream.

Mikos

What the fuck was going on? I stood as Drakdak screamed at an unknown entity who had, somehow, managed to convince the Officiant they had authority to speak on either his behalf, or mine. I didn't know who it was, where they were located, or why they chose to interfere.

The Legions were about to finish their vote, and I knew exactly how it was going to go.

Astra and our ally, Styx Legion, would vote to spare me.

Siren Legion, more enemy than friend, would vote with Cerberus to execute me, whether they believed my death warranted or not. One less Forsian under Astra's command would weaken my Legion and strengthen theirs.

Kronos, the neutral Legion, would vote to support the absolute and binding nature of Rogue 5's contract with the Silver Scions. Which meant Kronos would vote to execute.

The only way to save myself was to kill Drakdak and… was that his nephew, Slomak, sitting in one of the thrones behind him?

The gods had blessed me. Slomak Trach was next on my list. I'd never dreamed I'd be able to lure both of them from hiding. The Trach family had many enemies among the Scions. None would mourn their deaths. Their assets and wealth would be fought over by the others, like a pack of starving wild animals fighting over meat scraps. Once Drakdak and Slomak were both gone, their empire would crumble, and I would be free to be with my mate. If they were both dead, we wouldn't even need to hide.

"Memory located. Simulation activating."

What. The. Fuck?

I fell into the hard chair, the back of my head striking the hard black slat as my mind once more traveled to another time and place, another night. The same night.

This time, I walked on patrol, the alley I monitored on the border of Astra territory.

A child screamed.