by Alyx X
I hadn’t considered him quite a friend, but as Dad’s best customer, he was the closest thing I had. I hadn’t expected his business proposition would come with a big side serving of betrayal.
He grinned as he approached me, and it looked like a jagged slash across his blood-colored face. “Lyx.” He purred my name, and I nearly puked at his feet. “Lyx, Lyx, Lyx.”
I hated the sound of it on his tongue.
He shook his head, but his disappointment was as fake as his polite manner. “I’ve been waiting for this moment—the one where I get to put all my cards on the table.” He held up a head like I’d been about to speak, but I pressed my lips tighter together.
No way did I have shit to say to this guy.
“And don’t think I’m going to let you tell me your side of the story like the crying momma’s boy you are.” He leaned closer and hissed the next words, his entire face changing. Rage gathered in his crazy gaze. “I’m not interested in hearing anything you think you have to say.” Then he drew back and nodded before folding his hands into the oversized sleeves that hid his arms from view.
They were probably too grotesque to look at, anyway.
He composed himself and started speaking again. “I was surprised, you know.” He glanced at me for a reaction, but I stared straight ahead. “Surprised that such an old and trusted business contact would double-cross me in such a despicable way. We made our deal and then you decided to back out. Return the product, probably take off with my money too.” He laughed, the sound off-kilter and bordering on hysterical. “Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised. Maybe that’s all your kind is good for.”
A flash of the inside of my ship, as if from the floor. What was that? Refusing to lose focus, I didn’t bother to hold my words in anymore. “I wasn’t surprised at all,” I said. “Deals in bars can only be made with backstabbing bastards.” Satyan was indeed a backstabbing bastard. I should have been more prepared. I should have paid attention when he showed me what kind of man he was after he first mentioned training.
I could have saved Piper so much heartache. But then I would have never found her.
He chuckled, and it sounded like something drowning as he gurgled between gasps of air. “Deals in bars.” He shook his head like he’d realized something.
He was clearly another one who liked the sound of his own voice.
“I know deals in bars result in being backstabbed. It’s why I sent the raiders after you in the first place. I saw that black skinned beauty—” He broke off and actually shivered in delight, his flesh wobbling again with the movement. “Well, I just couldn’t risk it. I needed her. I couldn’t take the chance you’d steal her. Seems I was right to do so, seeing as my men caught you fucking my property when they captured you.” Then his voice became more rapid, happy even, and he looked at me with a glint in his eyes. “Still, now she’s dead, so not a problem between us anymore.” He shrugged.
An image of the inside of my ship as if viewed from my own eyes wavered in my mind. Not my eyes. Piper’s. When had that happened?
I gasped in a breath, then another, but my lungs still fought for air. My heart thundered and I took breath after rapid breath until my head spun.
“What have you done?” I yelled between inhales, and I struggled against my chains. My tail beat uselessly against the wall, and the metal cuffs of my restraints chafed at my wrists. “What have you done to her, you bastard?”
He just laughed again, that high-pitched sound of insanity. “What did I do?” He wheezed another laugh. “I have no need for damaged property. Second-hand goods.” He paused and narrowed his eyes at me. “Sloppy seconds. A bitch, even one as beautiful and exotic as her, is no use to me if she’s been soiled by your breed’s sour cum.” He scoffed and waved a dismissive hand. “She’s better off dead. Now the only remaining loose end is you.”
I howled with the pain of his words and fought harder against my restraints. I had to get down. I had to find Piper. I had to see her… I had to see. A sob welled in my chest, and I bellowed my anger at Satyan.
His eyes widened. He spoke, but I only saw his mouth move. His voice wasn’t loud enough to carry over mine. Watching me the whole time, he waited for me to tire, and as my thrashing slowed, he laughed again.
My heart ached, and I searched frantically for my connection to Piper as panic threatened to consume me. I couldn’t find it. Although… Creeping down the corridors of my ship, looking for raiders to eliminate. Am I somehow… seeing what Piper is seeing, or is this a memory?
“You stupid bastard,” he murmured. “You stupid fucking animal bastard. You did, didn’t you?” He nodded and his jowls trembled. “You’ve bonded yourself to her.” His gaze lit with malice. “If I’d known, I would have killed her in front of you. Maybe I was wrong just now. Maybe she’s not better off dead.” He spun and gestured to a raider where they were all watching him. “I think I’ll have my men pick up her corpse. There’s probably enough life left in her for one last fuck, show her what a real cock is like. And if there isn’t…” He shrugged. “I don’t mind my women a little… cold.”
Each one of his words hit me like a knife to my heart and I struggled with renewed energy. “You fucking bastard! Come closer. I’ll rip off your cock and balls!” My throat dried. Piper, my Piper had used that same threat with me.
I stopped talking. I didn’t trust myself to use words, but I continued to bellow, filling the room with as much noise as I could, wanting these evil fucks to cower before me. Men screaming as they died in a hallway far from here...
Satyan reached out and took the leather whip from the Urdruck raider who’d been snapping it through the air before.
I didn’t even flinch when he walked toward me. Maybe I deserved this punishment. As he raised the whip above his head, his expression morphed into one of fury, and his eyes bulged as his lips curled into a vicious snarl.
He brought the whip down and it cut across my chest and my cock, with the end flicking over my tail, and I screamed as molten agony poured through me. I fought to remain conscious as he whipped me again. I felt the pain, but I barely heard the snap of warning.
Satyan laughed, pleasure oozing from his every pore, and thoughts of Piper filled my head. She was never meant for this sadistic bastard.
Satyan brought the whip down again and again until blood flowed from the wounds in my chest, and my tail felt like someone had put it through a grinder.
“Want to know what your blood is paying for?” He asked, a taunting lilt to his voice.
I didn’t even look up as my head rolled from side to side while I watched blood splatter to the metal floor beneath me.
“I’ll tell you anyway,” he said. “One, you stole my bitch.” He whipped me. “Two, you took my money.” Crack. “Three, you killed my men.” Crack. “You should have known better.” He lifted his arm one last time like he was about to bring down the mother of all blows. “You should have known better than to double cross me, and you will pay for it with your last breath. But until then, I’m going to make sure every breath you take is the worst it can possibly be.”
Each lash against my body stripped away more skin until it became almost too painful to breathe, and I fought against each inhale. My chest protested each time my lungs expanded, and I could only whimper. I didn’t even have the energy to scream or yell, and I let the chains take my full weight, hanging off them, because I no longer knew how to support myself. Not that I cared anymore. My reason for living had gone. Taken by Satyan. He could kill me, too. I didn’t want to live in a world without Piper.
Piper… was making her way here, if I was right about our bond. Flashes of what she saw as she creeped around, looking for invaders, whipped through my brain. It was difficult to focus on what was happening in front of me, but I couldn’t worry about Piper’s safety. Not now when I needed to work on staying alive for her to rescue.
Eventually, Satyan’s rage cooled, and he stood before me, his angry skin disguising the colo
r of my blood as it ran down the whip and dripped from his fingers.
He leaned toward me and bared his teeth.
“The last thing you will ever see,” he hissed “is your ship blowing up. The explosion will be quite spectacular.”
I focused on not splitting my skin open farther by taking increasingly small breaths. I needed to black out. Then I could sleep, and nothing would hurt. Soon. Piper would be here soon.
He stepped back and laughed, which caught my attention. It was the chuckle of a man with a secret he was about to share, and cold horror trickled through me that something could be worse than the situation I was already in. Instinctively, I knew it was worse.
“You’re the last one, you know? The last of your kind. With your untimely death, the last of the dirty Tryon scavengers will truly be gone, and your filth will no longer pollute space. There was a reason I built up the relationship with your father. I was never really his friend, not even really a good customer, but I knew that with enough time I’d be able to finish what my ancestors started.”
His broad grin radiated with madness, and my heart lurched in the face of my one true enemy. The realization galvanized me, and I yelled with renewed energy as I yanked against my chains. I fought my bindings, struggling to reach Satyan.
I had to kill him.
19
Piper
It was cold and dark, and I shifted against a hard floor. Thoughts came and went in my mind, echoes of conversation and snatches of images.
Lyx’s voice echoed through my head, but his words didn’t make any sense. “I wasn’t surprised at all,” he said. “Deals in bars can only be made with backstabbing bastards.”
It was like being in a dream. Everything moved slowly, and I couldn’t quite catch my thoughts. What was he talking about? Why was I remembering that phrase? I was pretty sure he’s never said it to me, and I couldn’t place the importance of it.
Pain flashed across me as I shifted in place, grateful I could move again, even if everything hurt while I did it. I lay still again, waiting for the pain to fade away, because it would. It was already lessening.
“It’s why I sent the raiders after you in the first place. I saw that black skinned beauty—”
That voice didn’t belong to Lyx, and I shuddered at the soft malice in the tone. I opened my eyes to find out who was talking, but I was alone. I closed my eyes again, feeling for Lyx, feeling along a fragile connection that shimmered in and out of existence as it vibrated with pain. I couldn’t find him.
Suddenly, I jerked back, pressing the back of my skull against the floor as a red face loomed large in my mind. It looked like the male had been skinned, and his flesh all left on display. My stomach roiled with nausea, and I rolled over to spill the contents away from myself.
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and glanced around Lyx’s basically furnished room again. That burned guy definitely wasn’t with me, so why had I seen him? And was he the one that sounded like he was speaking to me through a mouthful of water?
I’d never seen the kind of evil his gaze held.
“What have you done?” Lyx’s voice, full of pain and anger crashed around my head, and I flinched at the weight of it.
The red guy loomed in my imagination again, and he laughed like he no longer had any control of his mind.
I tried to pull away from him because he sent a spiral of fear through me, but something drew me closer, like I couldn’t ignore him. He was too important to ignore, and I didn’t know why.
I forced my mind to focus. I had to be awake. I couldn’t lie here and doze. The idea that Lyx needed me forced its way to the front of my mind, and I jerked my body to a sitting position, then waited a moment for the room to stop spinning.
“Lyx?” I called his name quietly, unsure who might still be standing out in the hallway waiting for me to announce my survival. I had no doubt they hadn’t intended to leave me alive. No one moved, and I couldn’t hear anything, but the air in the room was muffling my ears. “Lyx?” I called his name louder and waited again, but there was no response.
I was still getting flashes of the red guy’s face and another room somewhere, and every so often the sound of maniacal laughter rang through my head. I shook it, trying to chase the voice and the images away. Suddenly, the knowledge that it was what Lyx was seeing filled me.
Somehow, I had a direct line to what he could hear and see. What the hell? Is this… the bond?
I sat up, but my hands were slick with blood and slipped across the floor. I glanced down to see my chest covered with burns and welts that oozed more blood. The room spun at the sight, but I forced myself to look closer, examining my wounds. I needed to know what kind of shape I was in before I mounted any kind of rescue mission. Because I was going to get my man.
I probed at one of the wounds and watched it recede, the blister shrinking and the split skin starting to knit back together. Strange… The blood flow started to slow, and I stood, then took a shaky step to Lyx’s dresser. A shirt. It was time to wear clothes and go hunt for Lyx.
I pulled the shirt on without even wincing, and my movements became easy—not painful, not stiff. I missed my leathers from home. They were tough and easy to move in, plus tight so there was no danger of catching loose fabric on a claw or piece of old building.
I stopped as I flexed my arms again, modifying the shirt to something easier to move in and keep out of the way. My pain had lessened even further. I’d healed fast in the last fight, after the raider threw me across the room, but nothing like this. My wounds had almost healed before my eyes, and I felt stronger than ever.
Maybe Lyx had been right about me gaining my strength from him. Perhaps his cum was magical alien cum, after all. We’d certainly had a lot of sex lately, and it stood to reason I might be some sort of super-human now.
Definitely super enough to save him, anyway. Even without the connection that felt like a living, breathing thing inside me, I probably owed him a rescue as a thank you for making me so strong.
I exhaled, and the room shook a little less with each breath out. It stopped spinning and my gaze focused, sharpening with every second that passed.
Then I closed my eyes, focusing in a way I’d never focused before as I tried to locate Lyx and find that same room I’d seen the red-faced guy in. I wanted to hear them speak again, to take any clue I could grasp that might lead me to them, but all I heard was the cackle of laughter, distorted like something was wrong with my connection.
I stepped forward, then winced as the last echo of pain from a healing wound lanced through me. But I didn’t make a sound. This was hunting, just another hunting trip, and I was good at those. If the chidders hadn’t feared me, they should have, because I’d been on a mission to get them all. Just like I was on a mission to get that guy with the disgusting red face and take my mate back.
I walked silently to the door. I’d hunted monsters before, and I understood them. They could pounce from nowhere, just like those Urdruck raiders who’d let themselves onto the ship again.
Well, I’d let my guard down and Lyx and I were paying the price, but it wouldn’t happen again. That I could promise.
I crept through the quiet of the ship before slipping into the hold where I’d first been held. I wanted my bow and arrow, but I didn’t know where Lyx had stored them. He hadn’t mentioned it, but I don’t see how I could’ve been brought onboard without it, being strapped to my body and all. I turned around, looking around the confined space. It smelled just as bad as I remembered, and I shivered. My bow and arrow wasn’t here, and I hadn’t found an armory on my explorations of the ship these last few days. I hadn’t looked in too many rooms before I found Lyx on the bridge and became…distracted.
There was nothing in any of the rooms until I reached the kitchen, where I found a knife from the previous night’s dinner. It wasn’t much, but it would have to do. I gripped it tightly in my hand as I crept down the corridor, alert for anything that looked out of place or
didn’t sound familiar.
Pain suddenly sliced through my chest, and I doubled over, hitching a quick breath. I couldn’t see what the problem was, I thought I was healed. My wounds weren’t as bad on my chest, and my skin didn’t feel as tight now. Regardless, it would have to wait.
I stuck to the walls, sliding along and peering around corners as I walked to where I thought they might have breached Lyx’s ship. After I’d walked down a couple of corridors, the sound of voices echoed off the metal walls toward me, and I waited.
Harsh, coarse laughter grated over my ears. “What a piece of crap,” one voice said.
“Yeah, it’s a total junker. Not even fucking scrap value in this.”
“Just as well we didn’t come for the ship.”
More laughter, and then the voices started to move away. I held my breath and waited a moment before following them. If there were still raiders aboard Lyx’s ship maybe they could also lead me to him.
They stopped for another chat, and anxiety tightened my chest. I didn’t have enough time for them to keep wasting it. I peered around the corner then shrank back a little at how close they still were. They stood in front of an external door I’d never seen open before—obviously where the two ships were connected—and one of them laughed again before slapping the other on the back. They turned and continued deeper into Lyx’s ship rather than leaving.
I couldn’t just leave them wandering about Lyx’s ship, taking things or damaging it, so I sped up behind them, my feet silent from years of practice. I gripped the knife in my fist, channeling my rage into it. Creeping quietly, I took out the first one with brute strength, smashing the blade through his armor, which crumpled under the force of my blow and into the back of his head. I barely felt any resistance, and it was quick. I again felt the urge to celebrate my newfound abilities, but now wasn’t the time.
The second guy barely had time to turn around before I plunged the knife through his eyeball, ignoring the surprise in his expression as I ended his life with a quick flick of my wrist. He collapsed to the floor on top of his friend and I looked down at them, hardly winded and adrenaline surging through my coiled muscles. I dragged their bodies into a side room and closed the door. It wouldn’t help either Lyx or me if someone discovered them and raised some sort of alarm.