Chapter 10 #2
Kendra opened the first door she came to and slipped inside. She found herself in a hydroponics lab, its interior shrouded in darkness. Dark, because the cargo bay’s automatic lighting was still in night mode.
She dove between rows of dense berry bushes that were barely visible in the faint illumination created by dim auxiliary lighting. Kendra took a moment to steady herself, listening for any sign that she had been followed.
Hiss. She heard the door slide open.
Her heart leapt, thumping against her ribs.
Hiss. Hearing the door close Kendra realized her mistake—a possible fatal mistake. There was only one way in and out of the lab.
She was trapped.
With a ruthless Ramachii hunter.
Her only advantage—as slight as it was, lay in her familiarity with the cargo bay’s layout. A familiarity he didn’t possess. Fuck. She recalled the tour she had given him and his interest in her precious hobby. She was a blind fool.
“Come out Kendra. You can’t hide from me.” His voice echoed, clear and powerful.
Despite the dim light, her gaze fell on a cart full of garden tools.
She crawled to it as silently as she could manage and wrapped her fingers around the shaft of a metal shovel.
It was a meager weapon at best, but better than no weapon at all.
Leaning back against the wall for support, she took a deep breath trying to still her thumping heart.
Reyne’s presence on Armathea was no coincidence.
Kendra realized she was a flaw in Mordrick’s grand scheme.
A loose end to be burned. Buried.
Well, she refused to make it as easy for Reyne to eliminate her like his Ramachii brethren did to her defenseless family. Murdered at a peaceful wedding, of all places. Only a power-hungry tyrant like Mordrick would order his merciless assassins to commit such a heinous act.
Steady footfalls sounded as Reyne navigated the lab, then nothing.
The only noise to break the tense silence was the soft hum of the hydroponics filtration systems and the wild thumping of her heart.
It seemed he had vanished, but that was impossible. Reyne was no doubt biding his time, waiting for her to give away her position.
The unnerving silence continued for what seemed like a lifetime.
Clutching the shovel to her chest, she prayed for intervention. Anything that would allow her to reach the door before he could trap her.
She would only get one chance to escape.
After several more minutes, she dug for courage and peered between the rows. Not seeing any sign of him in the shadows, relief flooded her. With a deep, calming breath, she crouched, preparing to bolt when a slight noise startled her.
Turning, she noticed Reyne’s looming presence in the deep shadows.
Even the darkness couldn’t hide the ruthless gleam in his icy eyes.
Her stomach churned.
“Don’t make me chase you,” Reyne warned with a deep growl. He approached her with the grace of a feline stalking unsuspecting prey. “You can’t win Kendra. I promise.”
Rising from her crouched position, she took a protective step backward and gripped the shaft and handle, preparing to strike.
“Put the shovel down,” he commanded softly. “And surrender.”
Surrender? She almost let loose a crazed laugh. He was deranged. The shovel blade inched higher, behind her shoulder. She would fight him until her dying breath,
“I have no desire to hurt you.” He took a cautious step towards her. “But I will if you force me. Do you understand?”
“Go. To. Hell,” she spat in defiance.
His nostrils flared as he lunged.
The shovel flew towards his face, but Reyne easily grabbed her weapon mid-swing, yanking on it so hard Kendra yelped in pain, releasing her grip or risk dislocating her shoulder.
She bolted for the door.
A beat later, her neck snapped backward when he captured her braid as she fled. She struggled, but he only tugged harder until her scalp burned. She screamed out in pain.
His release on her braid was so sudden, momentum pitched her forward. The floor rushed up so fast she didn’t have a chance to break her fall. A grunt escaped her as her hip slammed into the ground and her cheek collided with the solid surface.
Her breath left her lungs with a woosh. Her vision swirled with black and white circles.
Before she could scramble to her feet, she felt the bite of his heavy boot in the middle of her back.
Devoid of any gentleness, a heavy knee replaced his heel, causing a dull pain to spread in the middle of her back as he pinned her to the floor.
Kendra lay there, panting as the reality of having been captured sank in. Unshed tears burned the back of her eyes.
“Foolish,” she heard him mutter as strong fingers circled one of her wrists. She heard the distinct sound of leather sliding against fabric and then felt a cool strap as Reyne bound her.
Her other wrist was next. A second later, both wrists were secured behind her back. She bucked, but her efforts to free herself were useless. She was truly trapped beneath him.
“I need to borrow this length of leather,” he said in an unapologetically cold voice, his breath caressing her earlobe as he leaned down to her. She felt a series of rough tugs as he removed the long leather strap that held her thick braid from coming loose.
Reyne reached for her left calf.
She kicked out, but he subdued her and tethered her ankle to her bound wrists. She wrestled with the new binding.
Humiliation flamed her cheeks.
Not only was she now completely helpless, unable to stand or run, but she was trussed up like prey being prepared for the spit. Taking a shallow breath, she closed her eyes and rested her sore face on the floor, the cool surface offering relief for her throbbing cheek.
She lay there, unmoving. Hate for him burning through her veins.
“I tried to warn you,” Reyne reminded her with an irritable grunt as he moved from her, allowing her lungs to draw air.
Strong fingers gripped the flesh of her upper arms. A second later she was hauled to her knees.
Although she was still unable to escape due to the tether around her ankle, Kendra appreciated the slightly more dignified position.
Her fiery gaze lifted to his.
“A temporary restraint.” He tugged on the tether in explanation and pinched her cheek. “I need you to behave for a minute so I can concentrate on my next task.” He moved away from her.
Behave? Did he just treat her like an unruly child? The gall. She tugged on her bindings, managing to accomplish nothing other than loosening her mass of hair from its braided constraint.
Click. The lights snapped to life as night-mode came to its automatic end.
Once her vision adapted to the brightness, she couldn’t miss the unfolding scene.
A stiff leather boot leaned on the edge of the hydroponics system.
A frown marred his brow as he removed several items from a small hidden compartment in the heel.
A small vial, followed by a long needle and a plunger was carefully placed on the ledge.
Unable to look away, she watched in mute horror as he screwed the sharp point onto the plunger, creating a syringe.
He inserted the tip through the stopper. With slow deliberation, he extracted the fluid, filling the syringe.
“W-What is that?” Kendra stuttered, panting.
With his jaw set in determination and cold eyes the color of darkened metal, Reyne crouched in front of her and held up the needle filled with translucent purplish fluid before her face so there was no doubt she could miss it. “Vetravine. It’s a deadly toxin.”
The words ‘deadly’ reverberated in her mind, causing a ripple of fear to snake down her spine.
Reyne tapped the syringe with the nail of his pointer finger. A drop of toxin appeared on the tip.
Her entire body jerked.
She squeezed her eyes shut and began to ramble to herself. “This is just a nightmare. Just a terrible nightmare. This really isn’t happening. Any minute now, I’m going to wake in my bed.”
Reyne expelled a sigh, and she felt fingers in her thick mass. “You have beautiful hair,” he whispered, the deep tenor in his voice a husky rasp. Fingers continued to unravel her tresses until her mane spilled over her shoulders and down her lower back.
“I’m not sure why anyone would consider it cursed, Princess.” He gave her hair a light tug.
The way the word princess rolled off his tongue, with his thick masculine Taleari accent, sent a shiver down her spine. “You. Are. Vile,” she spat, each word laced with unleashed venom. “And I am no princess. You and your master have that wrong.”
“Is that so?” Reyne chuckled with a hint of arrogance.
He released her ankle from its tether and tugged her—wrists still bound, to her feet.
With a solid arm around her waist, he pushed her through the rows of vegetation and shoved her into the corridor.
“You are surprisingly very brave, Princess,” said Reyne with what almost sounded like admiration. “I’ll give you that.”
Kendra fought his hold, bucking and digging her boots into the floor as he pushed her towards the main cargo bay. “Why don’t you just kill me now and be done? Or do you enjoy terrorizing your victims before you assassinate them with poison?”
“Only the ones who slap me and knee me in the groin,” Reyne muttered. He lifted her so that the tips of her boots barely reached the floor and nudged her forward. “But for the record, Mordrick wants you alive, and in relatively good health.”
“Why?” Her mind envisioned all types of heinous torture. She tried to squelch the sudden bile rising in her throat. “So, he can take pleasure in killing me himself?”
“I’m not privy to his plans.”
“Not privy? So, you just blindly follow orders, is that it? Just like any mindless henchman?”
Reyne spun her, slamming her into the hardened corridor wall, his lean fingers and thumb splayed over her throat. His stormy gaze locked on hers. His jaw clenched and he growled. “Call me a henchman again and I promise, you will regret it.”