“Mine,” Brannock screams and steps between me and the other male.
The glee in the male’s face vanishes, and I see him swallow nervously. “Brannock?” he asks, but Brannock has lost all reason. He charges the male, swiping with his claws. The male doesn’t even get a chance to raise his hands to defend himself before his stomach is eviscerated. His innards become hisouters, and his screams are horrifying as Brannock slashes and claws him until there’s nothing left that is recognizable. He turns to me, his body covered in blood, and starts to stalk toward me.
“Damn it, Lila, do something,” Tirrian says. “Why didn’t that appease the berserker?”
“He’s moved onto the fuck portion of the schedule,” I say, not taking my eyes off him. “I’m going to try to distract him. I hope this works, otherwise we’re going to put on quite a show for the viewers.” I slide my eyes to the doors, and sure enough, I see other beings watching. Some look terrified, but others seem to cheer us on.
“Brannock, you need to calm down,” I tell him, holding out my hands. “Chloe needs you.” I hope her name will snap him from his rage. He stops, and I hold my breath.
“We need to find Chloe,” I repeat, and he shakes his head, and his whole body twitches. His berserker form melts away, leaving him blinking with confusion at his bloody state. Changing forms is disorienting when coming down from a berserker rage.
He looks down at the mess of flesh at his feet. “Relgrael,” he snarls and spits on the remains. “I guess I got my revenge.”
“And then some,” Tirrian mutters as he pushes off the wall. “Let’s go talk to the scientists and find out where the cells for the children are. I’m ready to burn this facility to the ground and be done with it.”
I go to hug Brannock but stop, not wanting to cover myself in gore. “And let’s find you a shower. We don’t want Chloe seeing you like this when you’re reunited.”
The three of us walk back the way we came, silent and lost in our own worlds. This is really unacceptable, and if the Galactic Council was to learn about this, I’m pretty sure they would go fullIndependence Dayon the Earth. We need to find a way to deal with this and get the outcome we need. I’ll have to ask theguys for advice. They are all diplomats, after all, so I may as well make use of their skills.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Lila
Ghosie is still sleeping with the fairies when we return to the first group of breeding cells. Zeydan, Saxon, and Xavier have been busy. They have unfrozen the two other humans and are trying to question them. The male is cupping the stump of his arm and sobbing, and the female is glaring at my guys.
“Everything okay?” Xavier smiles as we return, scanning Brannock and nodding. “Looks like you got your revenge,” he comments.
Brannock grunts. “Part of it. I need a shower.”
Xavier waves his hand and uses his magic to clean Brannock. Brannock nods his gratitude, turning his focus to the female. She shivers under his intense stare, but then she sees me over his shoulder.
“Oh my god, a female Aaz’axian. I thought they didn’t exist,” she mutters, eyeing me with greedy hunger.
I let the form drop away, then I conjure my armor, covering my naked body. She blinks, and that greedy hunger intensifies.“What are you?” she sounds awed, and I ignore her, satisfied with her going to her death without ever knowing what I am.
“Nothing you’re ever going to get your hands on.” Saxon bares his fangs at her and hisses.
“Where are the children? Have you brainwashed them?” Zeydan asks, and she clamps her lips shut, losing interest in me in the face of his god form.
“Bitch isn’t talking?” Tirrian asks, and Saxon shakes his head.
“The younger ones aren’t, but a few of the older ones have started being programmed,” the helpful guy responds. “I will take you to them, but you will have to be alert, because the older ones may attack, though I’m almost certain there is a trigger word.”
“Shut your fucking mouth!” the female scientist screams at him.
The guard just moans, and I come up with an idea. I make my way over to the chair he’s tied to and crouch down in front of him. “I can fix that for you if you want,” I tell him gently, and he cracks an eye open. A drop of sweat trickles down the side of his face. “I can probably even reattach the hand.” I cross my fingers that I’m not lying. “But you need to give me something. What’s the trigger word for the soldier kids?” I ask him, and he mutters something I can’t hear.
“Don’t you dare, Phil,” the female scientist shouts. “Shut your fucking trap. We will be rewarded with our loyalty. Smith promised us powers.”
Xavier snorts with amusement. “Smith is halfway across the galaxy. He left you to fend for yourselves. He can’t give you shit.”
“He’s going to bring water back from the planet Skarr. It was one of the things that woman promised him when they made a deal.” In her panic, the woman is blabbing Smith’s plan to us without any prompting.
“What could Smith have given Vivax that allowed him to bargain with her?” Zeydan murmurs quietly, but the female hears it and starts laughing hysterically before spewing more information. It’s then I realize Xavier has worked his magic and manipulated her emotions so she has no inhibitions and the secrets are pouring out. She’s kind of giddy, like she’s high.
“She wanted him to kill a couple of the aliens years ago, but Smith had other ideas. He decided he was going to capture them and experiment on them. They were the first of our breeding program. We’ve gathered a lot more since the originals. They were duds anyway. It was only recently that they managed a successful breeding. Smith tried all sorts of combinations, but the male was never able to get another female pregnant, and the females were never fertilized by other males.”
“Was everyone in this facility raped?” Tirrian growls, and the female blanches and shakes her head. “No, the control collars have a needle that injects a chemical compound into them,” she says.
