Chapter 9
Tera had awoken on the floor of a shuttle. She tried to sit up, but found her hands had been tied to the bottom bars of a nearby seat. The assholes hadn’t even laid her in one of the seats, but kept her on the dirty floor. She was careful not to give away that she was awake, remaining still and quiet so that she could listen to her captors. She needed to know who they were and what they wanted from her.
“We should have tortured our answers from the girl and then killed her and left her behind in the prime city,” the man on the left, who was piloting the shuttle, said.
That sent shivers of fear down her body. How could they talk so casually of killing someone who’d never done them any harm?
The man on the right responded, grunting his words. “It would have been far easier, I agree. However, Leader LazarUS sent orders for us to bring him the girl. If we had left the body in the Kiljorn city it would have given away the rebel activity in the city, and we can’t let KadEN and his people know what we’re doing before we are ready.”
“I hate this. We should just attack the prime city now. KadEN is vulnerable with his mate breeding their second young.”
“Soon, but not until LazarUS gives us the go-ahead. There are others that also depend on us coordinating our attacks properly.”
Tera reeled with the news that these men were part of the rebels she had heard about; those who didn’t want humans and Katierans or Kiljorns to mix. She had thought that the rebel situation had been handled, squashed out. Was this the mission CristOF was on? Was he even now trying to find out if the rebels were working against his people? It was horrible to have their people divided against one another, but the humans weren’t to blame.
She tried to undo the ties on her wrists, but they were too tight. Maybe she could continue to fake unconsciousness, and at the right moment…
“The girl is awake. Make sure her bindings are secure as I land the shuttle.”
Damn it! How did they know she was awake? She opened her eyes just as the man to the right stood up. He reached for her bindings, and she kicked out at him, hitting him in the stomach and making him fall backwards with a grunt. It wasn’t the smartest thing she had ever done but she was scared and couldn’t think clearly. She struggled, trying desperately to get her wrists loose but only making them bleed instead.
Infuriated, the man moved to lie on top of her and pressed her arms back behind her head. He took her wrists, untied the bindings from the bar and held her with one hand. She struggled under his weight and tried to thrust him off of her. That only seemed to excite him in a way that filled her with dread. He lowered his other hand to her breast and gave it a squeeze.
“I like my females feisty,” he growled out.
She spit at him and he let go of her breast to slap her face hard. The pain and the action stunned Tera. For five years she had lived among a people who valued women and children above all else. They had laws about harming women and children. This was the first time she had met a man here who was brutal and so filled with hatred for her that he would forgo all his people’s values.
.“Get off the female. We don’t have time for play. The leader wants to question her personally. I’m sure if there’s anything left of her, he will share her with the rest of us.”
Tera felt sick with terror at the thought of how their leader would ‘share’ her with them. Exactly how many ofthemwere there, anyway? She wished she could warn CristOF about the rebels somehow. Did they suspect that he was heading in their direction? Was he walking into a trap?
The man got off of her and yanked on her bindings to make her stand just as the shuttle settled on the ground. She lost her balance and fell into the man holding her, and he shoved an elbow into her stomach to make her move back. She glared at him, picturing them standing on the edge of a steep cliff and shoving his ass off of it. It shocked her that she could have such violent thoughts about another person, but this asshole and his partner deserved it. She would gladly shove both of them off that cliff.
The shuttle door opened and lowered to the ground, creating a ramp. The pilot exited first, and then the man holding her bindings shoved her to move forward ahead of him. She stumbled once before finding her balance. It was dark out. The moon, which the people around her referred to as the Luna, shone brightly before night clouds quickly covered it up. It gave the atmosphere a spooky feeling.
She heard water lapping the surface of a beach nearby and birds chirping as they flew overhead. Glancing around, she decided their location seemed to be an island, but she didn’t know how big it was or where it was. Was it on Kiljor, or had they managed to take her off the planet to another location?
Tera took in everything around her. The shuttle had landed on a beach where there were at least four or five more shuttles already parked. Big men stood guard watching the shoreline, and the look they gave her made her shiver. She could hear the birds, but couldn’t see them. It was too dark. As they walked on a sandy pathway toward the trees, she tripped over a large rock that she hadn’t been able to see. Of course, these guys had better eyesight than she did. All Katierans and Kiljorns had better senses than humans.
Soon the pathway opened up to a large clearing. There were wooden buildings scattered around, and more men marched past, wearing matching uniforms. It was like watching a small army training for battle. There was no way could CristOF take on so many on his own. She actually hoped he was nowhere nearby.
The further into the clearing she went, the more she realized that she would not walk out of this alive. No one knew she was missing, and they wouldn’t be looking for her at least another day or two. Prima Lindsey had told her to take a few days off while she and KadEN met with the construction crew to go over new security ideas. There was no way she would be able to escape on her own, even if she could get her hands on a shuttle. She didn’t know how to operate it, and she didn’t even know whether she was still on Kiljor.
Men walking past stopped to gawk at her. One of her captors gave a growl of frustration and put a sack over her head, keeping her from seeing anything at all. Her captors yanked her forward, pulling her between them. She hated that she couldn’t see where they were going. Maybe they were taking her to a cliff to push her off.
A few minutes later they stopped. She stood there impatiently, feeling scared and out of breath. Then the next moment the sack was ripped off her head and she blinked. There was better lighting from floating lanterns in the open area, and she found herself facing an angry-looking man.
The tall, bald-headed man stood in front of her, taking in her appearance with disgust. She pulled her shoulders back despite knowing she probably looked like hell. She was determined not to let him intimidate her.
“Who the hell are you, and why did you bring me here?” she demanded.
The man snorted. “You are in no position to demand answers. What do they call you?”
She held her head up and kept her mouth shut, staring him in the eyes. There was no way she would answer him willingly. She didn’t know anything, but maybe if they thought she did, they might keep her alive a little while longer. Then again, if they were going to kill her anyway, wouldn’t it be better to have it over with sooner than to be tortured a long time first?
“I can come up with a name for you, female. ‘Bitch’ is one of your words, isn’t it? You know the tracker CristOF. You were seen with him, kissing him. Did he tell you where he was going?”
She said nothing, just glared at him.
