CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Rykal ran down to the docking levels, ignoring the pain in his side. The red-stripe had pierced his abdomen with its vicious claws, and this time there was no plasma-protein injection to feed his nanites.
It had taken a solid, excruciating effort, but he’d finally killed it, allowing an injured Kail to limp off and tend to his wounds in silence. If Rykal hadn’t shown up at that moment, Kail would have been in a bad place.
Rykal’s body was healing at an impossibly rapid rate, but repairing such a severe wound took energy, so he’d stripped his armor down to its most basic state, leaving his arms and most of his torso bare.
Unlike humans, who seemed to place a great deal of importance on modesty and covering up, Rykal was indifferent about showing a little skin. Or at least he used to be, until he found out that Arin found his naked form attractive.
At some point, he’d resolved to get naked with her at the first opportunity.
But first, he had to find her.
He passed frightened humans who were streaming out of one of the large docking bays. Some of them shot him terrifiedglances, but Rykal was used to that, so he ignored them. The civilians were being herded by several armored peacekeepers. The first two studiously ignored him. The third peacekeeper he passed pointed a gun at him. “Where are you going, Kordolian?”
“Where is Arin Varga?” Rykal stepped close to the human, looming over him. The human wore the standard-issue dull grey armor of the peacekeepers. His brown eyes were wide beneath the clear visor of his helmet, and a faint sheen of sweat coated his skin. Rykal could hear his rapid heartbeat. “Did she make it off the freighter?”
“I-I don’t know, man. I think she’s still here. I mean, I saw her not too long ago. She was talking to one of you guys.”
“One of us?” Rykal’s voice was dangerously low. A sense of dark urgency swept through him, a terrible disquiet that wasn’t going to be tamed until he had her in his arms.
“Yeah. She left, and he went into the airlock. Something’s going down in there.”
Rykal’s sensitive ears picked up the sound of muffled fighting, followed by a distinctive screech. That sound could provoke terrible fear in the uninitiated. It was the sound of pure primal hatred.
There was a Xargek in the airlock.
Rykal activated his comm. “Who’s in the airlock?” he demanded in Kordolian, his voice harsh.
“Me.” It was Jeral. “What do you want?” His words came in between the unmistakable crack of a Callidum blade breaking through a thick Xargek carapace.
“Have you seen my human?”
“Ran off somewhere. I overheard something about her going to find some humans that were unaccounted for. Stop bothering me now. I’m busy.”
That was Jeral. As surly as ever.
Rykal cut the comm as the airlock opened with a great hiss, revealing a damaged transport ship. Jeral stood atop thetransport. In a single, swift motion, he jerked his twin swords out of the Xargek’s head and delivered a savage kick to its carcass, sending it crashing to the floor below. The doors of the transport opened, and humans started flooding out, gasping for air.
“Oh, shit,” the human peacekeeper gasped. “I, uh, need to go and help them.” It was clear he didn’t know where Arin was, so Rykal left him in search of another.
Rykal glowered as he stalked away from the human, a torrent of black emotion seething through him. If he didn’t find Arin… if something had happened to her, if someone haddonesomething to her…
The next peacekeeper he stopped shrieked when Rykal’s hand dropped onto his shoulder. He whirled, bringing his bolt gun up to Rykal’s face.
“Where is Arin Varga?” Rykal demanded, slapping the gun out of the way before the human had time to react. It clattered across the floor. That terrible sense of urgency was growing inside Rykal, turning into something dark and malevolent. The sensitive stumps of the severed horns at his temples had started to throb some time ago. He knewwhat that meant.He had to find her.
“Fuc… I mean, I don’t know. She was here not too long ago. Ran off somewhere. Please let me go, man. I haven’t done anything.”
“Communicate with her.”
“Huh?”
“You have some form of communication system, don’t you?”
The human hesitated, looking around with frantic eyes, as if he were searching for help. “I don’t really…”
“Yes, you do.” Rykal’s hand snaked out, wrapping around the human’s neck. The man sputtered and choked, naked fear twisting his features into an ugly mask. “If you wish to live, activate your comm and find out where she is.”
