42. Chapter 42
Chapter forty-two
~Kitari~
W hat have you done to him?” The angry human, the one who must be Bryce’s leader, was deeply unlikable. He had said something to Bryce before he came to me, something that upset and distressed Bryce greatly. I wished to remove his limbs from his body, one at a time. I would rip apart this cowardly human if I was not restrained.
He was also very interested in the soul bond, so I resolved not to give him any information at all.
“Don’t pretend you can’t understand me.”
The human stared at me, and I stared back at him. I could hold his eye for as long as he wanted. I would give him nothing.
Suddenly, I felt the bond pull. With a lurch, I realized Bryce was moving away from me, at some speed. I sat up straight and turned in the direction of the pull as he kept getting farther and farther away from me. Where were they taking him? I pulled against my restraints.
A wave of reassurance came through the bond, and I stopped. He wanted me to know that all was well. That this was…good. Which must mean he had escaped somehow. Relief flooded through me.
So that also meant that this horrible human had no idea what was happening. I settled back down and composed my face into a blank mask. If he was not aware that my Bryce was getting away right at this moment, I must not give it away.
“I’m starting to get tired of your stubbornness,” the man said.
I eyed him. I needed to keep him distracted while Bryce made his escape. He must be creeping through the camp at this moment. There was a noise outside, and the human’s attention went to the doorway.
“ Frernk lye ,” I snarled, bringing his attention back to me.
He raised an eyebrow.
I held my breath, waiting to see if Bryce would make it out of the camp unharmed. Finally, he was far enough for me to stop feeling him, and I sagged slightly, partly in relief that he had made it, partly in fear. Now he was out there, possibly alone, still weak. I would buy him as much time as possible.
The human narrowed his eyes at me.
“I don’t know if you know this, or if you even really understand me, but the company has strict regulations about prisoners of war.” He pointed at me. “We’re prohibited from torturing detainees, as stated in the G.U.C., the Galactic Union Convention.”
He hunched down in front of me, squatting on his haunches.
“But the funny thing is, this planet isn’t in the G.U., so technically that rule doesn’t apply to you. As it stands, you people aren’t even recognized by the Union as an intelligent species.”
I did not respond. He could do as he wished to me, I still would not give him what he wanted. He tapped his fingers against his chin, thinking.
“Now Gunner, sure he’s covered. I can’t do anything to him, not legally. But my guess is that I don’t have to. I’m well within my rights to do whatever I want to you, and if I had to guess, whatever I do to you, I do to him too. Right?”
I looked up at him sharply, and he smiled. It wasn’t warm, and just underneath it hovered a biting anger.
“So you do understand me,” he said.
“Why do you want to know?” I said.
“And you speak the language, how fortunate.”
I snarled at him. “I will save you the trouble. As Bryce has already told you, Clay is happy here. You have no reason to be here. You must leave before my father wipes you and your humans out.”
“I have plenty of reason to be here. But we’re getting off-topic. I’m going to give you one more chance. I want to know what you did to Gunner, I want to know how you did it. How it works. And what you can make him do.”
I frowned. Why did he want to know these things if he was here to rescue Clay? Whatever reasons he had, they were not good, I could tell that just by looking at him. And I could tell that trying to reason with him would be useless. I shut my mouth, tight.
He took that as my answer and nodded. “Let’s get to it, then.”
He pulled a knife from his belt. It had a black grip, and the blade was serrated down one side. My eyes locked on it as it glinted in the light, and tracked it as he moved to crouch in front of me again.
“Let’s see what happens, shall we?”