Ignis

by Lula Monk

  Chief Officer Slep.

  It took all Clea had to keep from launching herself at the insectoid. But the fearsome look of the large, sharp spikes on its shoulders and the pointy stinger of its tail kept her in check.

  “Take a seat,” the insectoid commanded, gesturing to one of the two seats before its long metal desk.

  The other seat was already occupied. By Samantha.

  Clea’s guts twisted. Had this all be a sham? Was this bitch really an alien after ll? Had she somehow tricked Clea into participating in the plan to free the human females, making her commit some crime in this insectoid’s eyes?

  Her heart clinched.

  Was there even a real plan for escape?

  “What are you doing here?” she hissed at the pregnant woman.

  It had been almost two weeks since she’d seen Samantha, and the pregnant woman’s belly had grown. A lot. The light shining from her stomach pulsated wildly when Clea spoke.

  “Shh,” Samantha said, cutting her eyes at Clea. “It’s best if you be quiet.”

  What the fuck?

  “Best for who?” Clea whispered back.

  Samantha gave her another warning look. But Clea ignored it.

  She stood from the chair, leaning across the desk and glaring up at the insectoid.

  “Where is Ignis?” she demanded.

  “The Commander has unfortunately been lax in retaining the lesson I attempted to teach him,” Slep said serenely, steepling its claws beneath its point chin.

  Clea’s heart froze in her chest. “What happened?”

  Slep’s’ many-faceted eyes glittered. “The Ardan went to spar while you were at the Rim. To let his flames free, while his timid Earth woman was not present.”

  Guild raked its jagged nails across Clea’s insides, already knowing what he insectoid was about to say.

  “And Cyndar was there?”

  “Ah!” Slep exclaimed. “So you know about the Smold prince?”

  “Bastard heir,” Clea said hotly, echoing the words she’d heard ignis use so many times before when discussing his archenemy.

  “That is a nasty term we do not use in the prince’s presence,” said Slep sharply.

  “Well, if I’m ever around the son of a bitch, I’ll be sure to guard by tongue,” she said sarcastically.

  “Clea,” Samantha warned, her glowing eyes wide.

  A dark, throaty voice chuckled behind them.

  Clea whirled, finding herself face-to-face with a creature as large and formidable as Ignis. She surveyed him from head to foot. On Earth, he would have been labeled a hipster, with his full beard and half-buzzed hairdo, the other side perfectly coifed. Not a hair out of place. If not for the coal glittering in his right eye socket and the scorched and smoking skin stretching across his face, Clea would not have pegged the creature before her as an alien.

  Cyndar narrowed his eyes at her. “So you’re the whore who replaced Gylenda, huh?”

  Clea’s fist shot out, landing against the good side of the bastard prince’s face.

  Cyndar’s head jerked, sending a stream of molten lava leaking from the open and smoking hole on the malformed side of his face.

  The side his genetics hadn’t been able to mask.

  His true side.

  The smug son of a bitch righted himself, wiping liquid fire from his lip and giving Clea a sinful smile.

  Samantha gasped.

  Slep trilled behind Clea, its chair scraping against the floor as it raised to its full ten-foot height. She heard its mandibles clanging together, but she paid the insectoid no thought. Her full attention was on the Smold before her.

  “What the fuck did you do?” she asked, pressing her nose into Cyndar’s, so close to the prince she could feel the heat radiating out from the alien half of his face.

  He took a step back, holding his hands before him innocently. “I did nothing to the Ardan,” he said, his eyes glittering with mischief. “He attacked me, wholly unprovoked.”

  “Liar!” Clea screamed, preparing to throw herself at the Smold again.

  Just she was about to swing at Cyndar once more, something sharp and hard clamped down on both of her arms. Clea looked down, watching the blood slip past Slep’s thick claws.

  “Let me go,” she demanded, struggling against the insectoid’s weapons as hands. But she didn’t struggle long. Every time she tried to move, the insectoid squeezed harder, sending its claws biting more deeply into her flesh.

  It chittered above her. “Contain yourself, Earth woman.”

  Clea glared up at Cyndar, hating him down to the very core of her being.

  And the smug fucker smiled at her again.

  “No wonder Ignis is so attracted to you,” he said, crossing his arms across his chest, his lips pulled up in a smirk. “You’re an idiot. Just like him.”

  A primal sound escaped from Clea’s lips, and despite the claws that still bit into her flesh, she lashed out at the lava alien, swinging her leg out low and wide.

  The smug smirk slipped from Cyndar’s face as he fell back onto his ass, sending another fount of molten fire spilling from his Smold cheek.

  Slep shook Clea back and forth like a rag doll, but all she could do was laugh.

  Her body felt cold, like ice. Like death.

  I’m losing too much blood, she thought in the small, rational corner remaining in her mind. The rest of her brain was too preoccupied with primal things, like revenge. And retribution.

  And justice.

  Cyndar rose to his feet nimbly, the coal of his left eye flaring to life with sparks of fire. His previously perfect hair was a mess, and he swiped his hand over it, struggling to smooth it back into place.

  “You will regret that, Earth bitch.”

  Clea laughed. “Like you can do shit.”

  “Enough!” Slep bellowed. “From both of you!”

  “Oh, eat me!” Clea shouted up at the insectoid, her body thrashing.

  Its segmented body arched, its head lowering until its mandibles clanged loudly next to Clea’s ear. “A tempting offer.”

  A chill ran through her. For all her bravado and rage, she definitely didn’t want to entice the insectoid who held her in a death grip to end her life by making her its dinner.

  The thought made Clea struggle even more fiercely, the warmth of her blood oozing down her arms and coating her torso as Slep clamped down even harder on her arms.

  “Stop, or I will be forced to place you in the cells with the Ardan,” Slep warned.

  The insectoid had most likely thought the threat would strike terror in Clea’s heart, but the words were like a balm to her soul. Ignis is alive!

  Tears pricked at her eyes. “Okay,” she said softly.

  If Ignis was alive, she’d do whatever she had to in order to get him back. Even if it meant enduring this smirking, smug dick of an alien in front of her.

  “That’s right,” said Cyndar, addressing Slep but still staring at Clea, his lips curling wickedly. “Keep your whores in line.”

  Clea sneered at him, hocking and spitting a wad of blood-laced spit into his face. A bitch move, but it was the only one she had.

  She smiled triumphantly as the spit made contact with Cyndar’s flesh, a great cloud of steam erupting as his lava reacted with her saliva. He cried out, doubling over to clutch at his face.

  “Baca,” Clea growled, having learned the word from Ignis on the sparing mat below the Hub. There was no equivalent for it on Earth, but it was basically a weakling. A coward. The worst thing you could call a warrior alien.

  Cyndar’s glared up at her through his splayed fingers. “I’ll be seeing you again,” he promised as he retreated from Slep’s office.

  Little punk.

  “She needs medical attention,” said Samantha.

  “I don’t need shit from you, you fucking liar,” Clea said, her head lolling in Samantha’s direction. She could barely see; her vison was going black, darkening at the edges and receding. She could scarcely see the con
cerned look in Samantha’s red eyes.

  I guess I’ve lost more blood than I thought.

  Clea’s eyes drooped shut.

  “Please,” she heard Samantha beg. “Dredge has already offered to purchase her as my companion. As an additional breeder on his account. Let me take her to the medical bay so his financial interests are secure.”

  Slep begrudgingly released Clea, and she fell into the pregnant woman’s arms. Samantha could not hold her up, though, and Clea went crashing to the floor.

  It was so nice to lay down, to have the chance to sleep. Her body was so tired, and her stomach was burning as if she’d swallowed a mountain of red-hot coals, the heat stirring in her guts and making her want to vomit.

  Cyndar’s one coal eye flashed into her mind, and she struggled to stay awake.

  “Everything is going to be okay,” Samantha whispered softly against her ear. “Dredge knows. And he is going to help.”

  Clea barely heard the words, and they gave her little solace. There would be no freedom for her without Ignis by her side. No peace.

  Clea was only vaguely aware when Slep called for guards to come and gather her up from the floor. Even less aware when they carried her from the insectoid’s office.

  But as they passed Cyndar in the corridor, his face still emitting great clouds of steam from her spit, Clea summoned the strength to raise her arm and flip that smug son of a bitch the bird.

  Then all was darkness.

  Chapter 22

  Ignis

  The chains that bound Ignis in place chaffed his skin. But they were the minor worry. His primary concern was the spigot above his head.

  The loud creaking sound came again, and Ignis braced himself as more water began to fall from the spigot.

  The water misted across his skin, causing his flesh to sizzle with every droplet.

  “Ahhhh!”

  The pain was immense. Almost unbearable.

  His body did not find this moisture tolerably like it had the Earth woman’s juices. The millions of nerve endings spread throughout his current form cried out in protest, in agony, as the small drops of water continued to fall.

  He forced. himself to count in this mind.

  One…

  Two…

  Three…

  The spray of water stopped as quickly as it had started, and Ignis sagged against his restraints in relief. The pain lancing across the surface of his skin quickly subsided. The duration of the water’s fall was never long, and it was spaced out at erratic intervals that he was unable to predict.

  This was intended as torture, pure and simple.

  Not the execution he had feared when the Cephs had managed to drag him across the corridor from the sparring room to the cells.

  Slimy bastards.

  It was almost too tempting to succumb to his rage, to let his flames burst forth from his spine and heal his body. But he’d tried it once already, as soon as the guards had placed the fetters around his wrists and the chains at his throat. The result was an onslaught of mist from above, which his flames quickly turned to vapor. Which was worse. Much worse.

  Vapor was pervasive and easily inhaled, setting his lungs to burning with each breath.

  The clanking sound came again, and Ignis made his body as small as he could, reducing the surface area the water could strike.

  When it was over, he strained against his bonds. Blood roared in his ears, and his wrists felt as if they were being flayed.

  But then, the fetters slid.

  He smiled.

  It was only a fraction of space, but it had happened. And many fractions together would become progress.

  Would become freedom.

  If he could free himself from these bonds, he would burn every creature who tried to get between him and the surface of the Hub.

  Between him and his Earth woman.

  The clanking sounded again, high above him, but Ignis welcomed the pending pain. The more water that fell, the more lubrication he would have to slip from his shackles.

  The water began to mist down around him. He groaned as the droplets struck his skin, each one like a fine blade lancing through him.

  One…

  Two…

  Three…

  Four…

  As suddenly as it had begun, the water stopped falling. This bout of mist fell for longer than the others, but that didn’t matter. Because the fetters moved another fraction.

  He was closer to being free.

  He breathed in and out deeply, pulling with all his might against his restraints. In the moments when he paused her pursuit of freedom to allow his body to rest, he occupied his mind with thoughts of Clea. Sitting alone in this cell, tortured for gods knew how long, Ignis had made up his mind. He was now free from inhibitions. Free from guilt and the pain of Gylenda’s memory.

  Clea was his mate, and he would die trying to get to the surface to be by her side once more.

  The creaking sounded overhead again.

  Ignis braced himself.

  “I’m coming for you, Clea. My love.”

  And the water began to fall.

  Tonx, Book Three in the Galactic Seduction Series

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