Whatever, asshole. Let’s go. I have somewhere to be. A mate to pleasure.
On cue, Astra stood and addressed Drakdak on my behalf. “I am Astra. Mikos is mine. I demand proof of your claim.”
“Of course.” Drakdak bowed slightly and lifted the provided headpiece from the seat behind him. He placed it over his head and sat. His bodyguards remained standing, watching. They were not going to partake of my memory. Smart, but it wouldn’t be enough to save them.
“Pardon, Lord Trach. I am Shade, of Siren Legion. I hunted, captured and now present Mikos of Astra Legion to you, as required, to collect the posted bounty. Before you proceed, I demand payment.”
Drakdak’s head lifted and he glared at Shade, clearly annoyed at the interruption. “Of course, of course.” Drakdak lifted one wrist. His obnoxiously large sleeve slipped to his elbow to reveal a small device. He ran one finger from his opposite hand over his wrist device and looked up at Shade. “Confirm payment has been received, Shade of Siren Legion.”
Shade, who’d stepped forward when he spoke, looked at a screen built into the sleeve of his armor. “Confirmed. Pleasure doing business with you, Lord Trach.”
Shade turned on his heel and moved into position facing me. With a dramatic flair I would congratulate him for later, he tore the Siren blue badge from my uniform and stuffed it in his pocket. I held his gaze and moved my arms just enough to make the restraints around my forearms rattle so he would knowhis program worked. I was free. “Enjoy your reward, bounty hunting scum.”
His cruel smile was genuine as Siren Legion’s members shouted insults at me and praised him. “Enjoy your death.”
Everyone would assume he referred to my impending execution rather than the lives I was about to end. Perfect.
He strode toward the exit without a backward glance, taking his money, and the blue badge, the only thing that could implicate him in my plot, with him. If he was smart, he’d destroy the badge, and the signal, immediately. I had no doubt, he was far too intelligent to be caught. If the Coalition had ever managed to recruit him into their Intelligence Core, he would have put Commander Helion himself to shame. Shade had friends and secret alliances everywhere. Siren had no idea what Shade did for her people, how hard he worked to protect them from her sadistic, cruel tendencies. Those of us who knew the truth never spoke of it. I’d asked Shade why he didn’t simply assassinate Siren and assume leadership. He hadn’t given me an answer I believed. Fuck him, his secrets and his Legion. I had my own problems, and a mate, to take care of.
“Bounty hunter!” Drakdak yelled after him. Shade stopped and turned to face him.
“Yes?”
“Are you not going to stay and enjoy the fruits of your labor?”
Shade’s gaze darted to mine and I gave him a nearly imperceptible nod. Our deal was done. Complete. He could not provide assistance with what came next without endangering his people. We both knew this, had known from the beginning.
Live or die, my future was in my hands, and mine alone.
“No, Lord Trach. I have urgent business elsewhere.” Shade turned and disappeared back the way we’d come. I had no doubt he would be in a ship, on his way to gods only knew where,faster than Drakdak could locate and activate my memory of his brother’s death.
“Very well.” Drakdak’s dramatics almost made me laugh. Almost. I had eight Silver Scion guards and one evil fuck to kill before I could give in to the urge. I had to choose my moment wisely. One wrong move and I might never return to my mate.
Breanna’s heart would break if I died this day. She loved me. I saw it in her eyes, felt it in her touch. She gave herself to me with total abandon, held nothing back. She was mine, and she would not suffer for it. I refused to fail.
“Officiant.” Drakdak activated the programmed intelligence in the machines behind him.
“I am the Officiant. How may I be of service?” The monotone voice sent a chill down my spine. Many, many people had heard that droning tone minutes before their own executions.
“I am Drakdak Trach, the accuser. I accuse Mikos of Astra Legion of murder.”
“Mikos of Astra Legion, activated.”
A strange tingling sensation flooded my head and I knew the machine was digging around inside my memories already, cataloging data, marking dates, getting its bearings. Grateful to be sitting down, I leaned my head back against the high-back chair and waited. I could start the battle now, but I wanted Drakdak Trach, and everyone else here, to know exactly what happened to Tarduk, what I would do to anyone who threatened me, my mate, or anyone from Astra Legion.
“Locate the memory of my brother, Tarduk Trach’s death, eight years, four months, three days ago at approximately zero plus twenty-two minutes.”
The tingling intensified to a cold, burning sensation as if I had a chunk of ice inside my brain and couldn’t escape the contact. I was aware enough to see most of the Legionnaires in attendance place a similar silver headpiece on their heads.Drakdak’s malicious grin made me want to drag out his killing, torture him for a few days before finishing him off.
He was going to enjoy this, enjoy watching his brother suffer and die. Enjoy experiencing the event as if he, himself, had done the killing.
Sick fuck.
It was common knowledge that he’d hated his brother. This trial and my execution were not about justice or love of family, it was about power. Control. I’d made the Trach family look weak. Vulnerable. Weakness among the Silver Scions was certain death.
“Memory located. Simulation activated.” As the Officiant spoke, the ice block changed to a knife blade in the center of my skull. Seconds later, I was no longer in the Sim Arena, no longer a worthy male with a mate to protect.
I stood in a dark alley behind a popular canteen in the neutral zone. It was late, the new day’s clock recently turned. Rage unlike anything I’d ever felt before burned through my blood at the evil I’d just witnessed. I was Mikos of Astra Legion, Enforcer, protector of my people, and the male standing before me, begging for his life, was going to die.
