Now they were hovering in space, above Ilyria’s atmosphere.
“Stand here in front of the vid-screen,” Madok snapped at her. His eyes gleamed with a mad, triumphant light.
She looked at the screen and saw Treffon’s face, flushed with rage, glaring at Madok.
“She was your true mate all along,” Madok gloated to Treffon. “I sensed it when she walked into Starcrossed with her friend, months ago. It was too perfect. There she was, the instrument of my revenge against you for betraying our pack. But of course, I needed her to meet you so you could start to bond – so you could experience what it feels like to lose your own mate. I all but begged her to sign up along with Allison, but she insisted she needed to finish school first.”
“You were the one who kept trying to kill me on Earth.” Violet shook her head in confusion. “But that makes no sense. You just said you couldn’t kill me until after I met Treffon.”
He shot her a scornful glance. “If I had wanted to kill you on Earth, I would have done so. I only wanted to scare you so you’d be forced to flee the planet. That was why I kept sending you those invitations to Starcrossed.”
“Mangy, flea-bitten pile of trash!” Dorcas spat at him.
“Madok, you have gone insane. I will kill you and everyone who helped you.” Treffon’s eyes blazed with rage and the bones under his skin rippled and shifted as his beast struggled to be free.
“You’ll never get the chance. Once you’ve witnessed what I am going to do to your mate, it will drive you insane. You’re already so close,” Madok sneered.
“No he isn’t!” Zura shoved her way in next to Treffon. “Violet’s presence has pulled him back from the brink! He is stronger than he ever was!”
A flicker of uncertainty flashed over Madok’s face, but then the ugly look of contempt took over again.
“You betrayed our people,” he raged. “You made my true mate’s death meaningless when you made truce with the Wor-Lans! You let our people mate with those filth! I will kill your woman, and you will go mad, and then I will be the Reginar!”
“You manipulated Reznik to help you,” Zura said furiously. “Your own son. And then you stood there and let him take the blame for you.”
“My son was weak and unfit. The only reason I didn’t kill him as a cub was because your mother begged me not to,” Madok sneered. “And he was a willing accomplice. I ordered him to poison Violet so she would die in front of Treffon, and he failed. Now let us begin. I am going to take a very, very long time with Violet.” He grinned. “Oh, and I have been notified that your security forces are trying to transport onto the ship. There will be no rescue. I have disabled the transporter on my end.”
“Get away from my great-niece, you monster!” Dorcas shouted. She tried to attack him with her cane, but one of his men shot the cane with his photon gun, disabling it.
Madok lunged for Violet – and cried out in pain as a wooden shaft landed in his arm.
The Eeplings were waving their wooden contraptions around – and apparently they weren’t arts and crafts after all. They were weapons.
Wooden darts shot through the air. Several of Treffon’s men fell to the ground, screaming in agony. Apparently, when the Eeplings had chewed on their wooden crafts, they’d been coating their darts with their toxic saliva. That must be why they’d never let Violet handle them.
Madok’s face turned a sickly greenish-white. “Poison!” he howled. One of his men rushed over to support him. “Sick bay…sick bay…” Madok whined, and the man helped Madok make it as far as the door. Then more poison darts from the Eeplings felled the man, and Madok left him behind, staggering down the passageway. The rest of his men lay slumped on the floor, gasping and dying.
“Violet, stay strong,” Treffon shouted through the vid-screen. “Go sit in the command chair, quickly. I’m going to talk you through repairing the transporter.”
Several tense minutes went by as he directed her to push various buttons and punch in certain codes.
Then two of Madok’s men raced through the door, wearing plated body armor. The Eeplings shot at them with their arrows, but the arrows bounced off the armor. Dorcas tried to block them with her body, shrieking curses.
They easily shoved her out of the way, grabbed Violet by the arms, and dragged her through the door.
