Chapter 10 #3
She hit a nerve. Good. Kendra gritted her teeth, not backing down or breaking eye contact. “Henchman.”
Reyne’s grip on her throat tightened, almost cutting off her air supply. The desperate need to claw his fingers overwhelmed her, but with her hands bound all she could do was glare at him and try not to panic.
His icy gaze bore into hers, “I’m. Getting. Paid. Now stop provoking me.” Reyne warned.
I’m. Getting. Paid. I collect things.
Kendra gasped in horror, swallowing as best she could under the steady pressure of his strong, agile fingers. “You are a bounty hunter, too? Is there a price on my head?”
“Yes, and not yet, but there soon will be.” Reyne released her from the wall to reestablish his rib-crushing hold. With another hard shove, they resumed heading to the main cargo bay door. “One so large even your convict friends would be tempted to turn you in.”
‘They wouldn’t.”
“Are you sure?” He mocked her.
“Was your ship even disabled?”
“Of course,” He informed her with a cold, even tone. “I disabled her myself.”
“You vile fucking wretch.”
He tsked behind her. “Such foul language from a Princess is unbecoming.”
“Fuck you, Reyne. How’s that for unbecoming? Odin will never allow you to leave Armathea.” Kendra spat when the cargo bay door slid open. “You know that, right? Odin is probably waiting for you. And this time, I hope he kills you. In fact, I will relish it when the time comes.”
“That’s what this is for.” Reyne waved the syringe before her face seconds before she felt a cold prick in her neck. “And for your sake, let’s hope Odin values your life.”
Just as Kendra’s false bravado began to slip away, a piercing alarm rang throughout the corridor.
Reyne let out an explicit curse.
Feeling hope, Kendra renewed her struggles and attempted to buy time by thrashing wildly as they entered the cargo bay, where Reyne's ship awaited like a looming death sentence.
“Cease.” Reyne spat angrily into her ear. “You will only make things worse for yourself.”
“Go to hell, Reyne. You are insane if you think I’ll go meekly to my death.” Her desperate struggles intensified as they inched closer to his ship, the lowered landing plank only a couple of paces away. She bucked in his hold and tried to kick him with the heel of her boot.
He grunted when she struck his shin.
“That’s it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he gritted in a tone laced with fury. “You leave me no choice.”
Warmth flooded her neck. “You sadistic brute. I hate you.”
“If you stop fighting me, I promise you will be fine.”
“Liar!”
The door hissed open. Reyne spun them around. Odin, Quinn and Garrett stormed into the cargo bay. Odin leveled a pistol at Reyne, but Kendra became his convenient shield.
“Let. Her. Go.” Odin insisted with a clear, calm voice that contradicted the blaze of murder in his steel eyes.
Reyne shook his head from side to side. “I can’t do that.”
“Just shoot the bastard already.” Garrett demanded.
“Wait. What is that?” Quinn inquired with a fierce frown, pointing to the syringe. “Kendra, are you alright?”
Kendra lifted her heavy-lidded gaze to Quinn, seeing two of him.
She struggled to focus. “I don’t know…I’m…I’m…so dizzy. And I'm seeing double.” She rested her head against Reyne’s chest, beneath his chin, his unique musky scent assaulting her senses.
“Vetravine,” Reyne explained, tightening his grip on her waist to prevent her from collapsing to the floor.
“Fuck.” Garrett and his double cursed, appearing ready to attack. Odin and his double stopped them with an outstretched arm. Both Garretts relented. “It’s an old bounty hunter weapon. It’s rarely used anymore. It’s a quick-acting sedative, but if the dose is off, it's deadly.”
“He’s telling the truth,” Reyne informed them. “And the dose is deadly. So, if my hand slips…well…you get the idea.”
“Take me instead,” Both Odin’s offered, crouching to place their pistols on the floor. They stood, raising their hands in surrender. “I must be worth something?”
“You would be executed the minute you stepped foot on Talear,” Reyne pointed out.
“No…Odin.” Kendra slurred, her vision spiraling, causing her stomach to lurch. “You…are…needed…here.”
“Better me than her,” both Odin’s pleaded. “Reyne, if you have any compassion at all, I beg you, don’t do this. Not to her. Please. I know what Mordrick did. We all do. He is a sadistic tyrant, and Kendra doesn’t deserve whatever fate he has planned for her.”
“I don’t like doing this, Odin,” Reyne admitted with what sounded like regret. “But she is worth twenty thousand barrels of water, and you of all people, should know what that means to our people.”
“Our people? Don’t you dare pretend you have taken up the cause, Reyne,” Both Odin’s snapped, incredulous. Their faces flushed with crimson. “After what you did? I will never believe a word from your lying mouth. Never!”
“Then consider this. Mordrick plans to post a bounty for her in three days if I haven’t delivered her by then.
There are plenty of unscrupulous bounty hunters whose tactics are much more ruthless and crueler than mine.
Most would have no qualms about dumping her at Mordrick’s feet, barely alive, to collect their due. ”
Heavy eyelids forced her eyes to close, but she could still hear everyone’s muddled voices, something about water being his reward for her capture. As the bickering continued, she no longer understood—or cared about what was being discussed.
Sleep, she just needed sleep, or maybe it was death she desperately sought as every attempt to stay conscious slipped away.
Her head fell forward, and she drifted into inky oblivion.