Chapter 51 #2
“Who?” Rinnicks’ face pinched, then brightened almost immediately in understanding. “Oh! The little wild haired human female that kept trying to defend you? That ugly little thing?”
“I find her quite pretty,” Trove smiled affectionately.
Rinnicks’ lips curled in disgust. “You would. That stupid bond makes fools of even the most levelheaded people.”
“Funny enough, you and I agree on that.” Trove chuckled. “I’m very much changed since I met her. Though I have always found her pretty.”
Rinnicks looked like she was going to be sick. But she shook her head, banishing the feeling, and focused once more on him.
“I don’t really care,” she finally said. Her hands continued up, covering the fists he had curled his into. “I don’t need your cock. That’s not what the ladies whisper about.”
Of course, not. They never experienced that part of him. It would never work for them, just as it would never work for Rinnicks.
But, like the prostitutes, like his mother, like his aunt, Rinnicks didn’t actually care about his pleasure in this act. She only cared about what she could get from him.
And now, she looked at his new claws with distaste.
“You regrew them,” she remarked angrily.
“A treatment long overdue,” he assured her easily. “I think they look rather nice, don’t you? Makes my fingers look long and fancy, don’t they?”
“You really are a fool,” she gave him a cold look. “You’ve removed the only use I have for you. And wasted your credz in the process. I always get what I want. And I will get it if I have to rip those claws out again myself.”
With that, she tossed her leg over him. She swung them both over the side of the bed and stood, moving to a small stand he hadn’t seen because it was tucked out of sight behind one of the many drapes dangling from the ceiling.
On it was a short glass filled with an amber liquid he recognized as a liquor, a pair of simple pliers, bright and shiny new, and-
-the magcuff control.
There it was.
Trove was satisfied that he had located that and now just needed to figure out how to get it so he could release himself.
But even as he was having that thought, Rinnicks was picking up the pliers. They fit neatly in her hand as she turned to him with the hard look of a female used to destroying people to get her way. Be it physically, financially, or emotionally.
Or just through torture.
And he was relieved.
Unless she had ripped out someone’s claws before – and that was doubtful – she wouldn’t know how to do it.
And unlike her, he had experience with someone ripping out his claws.
He knew exactly how long it took, especially when the one doing it had to figure out exactly how it was done.
And unlike before, he wasn’t a weak youngling, barely able to fight back.
Rinnicks was also alone, she didn’t have someone there to hold him down while she grasped and pulled. It was going to take even longer.
This was going to take a while. And unless she liked blood all over and inside of her – possible – she would want him healed before demanding he use them on her.
And even if she did, he could demand the healing, claiming that he couldn’t use his fingers to their full potential so long as they were hurt in that way.
He had time. He could figure out a way out of this.
He just had to deal with a little torture first.
“Ready?” Rinnicks asked, holding up the pliers with an evil, deranged smile.
Trove met it with a happy one of his own. “Are you?”
His casual attitude brought her up short. He was, once again, acting completely opposite of what she expected. And this time, it made her angry.
“You think I’m joking?” She snarled, grabbing his fist.
“I’m sure you’re completely serious.”
“You mock me!” She growled, pulling at his fingers. Of course, he did not open them for her. He kept them tightly closed, resisting her. “You will give me your claws, or I will break your fingers first, but either way, you will lose them”
“I might,” he agreed easily, “but I will fight until I lose my fingers entirely first.”
She glared at him hatefully. And he just smiled.
“And then I really will be useless to you,” he laughed, amused by the idea. He’d spent so long dreading being purposeless, it seemed almost ironic that he was basically asking for it now.
But it was just pain. He could tolerate pain. He’d fight to feel more of it if it meant not being forced to touch this creature.
Rinnicks glared at him. He smiled back at her. A clash of wills that he didn’t actually care about winning. He was ready to lose. Accepted it already.
But Rinnicks wouldn’t win either. And she couldn’t handle that. It would only make her angrier, more determined.
Whatever it took. So long as it took as long as possible. He only needed to drag this out.
With a roar, she drove the point of the pliers into his arm. The metal cut easily through flesh. Dug deep into the muscle. He groaned through clenched teeth, letting out a low growl of pain. His fists tightened as she twisted them, his dark blood trickling down his arm, the pliers, her hand.
“You will obey me, or you will suffer,” she said, grabbing his hair and pulling, jerking his head back. “Now, open your hand.”
He chuckled painfully. “You think you’re the worst I can suffer?”
She yanked the pliers free with a squelch of blood and flesh. The cold air on the open wound made him hiss in pain, but it was quickly quenched by the heat of his blood dripping down his body.
“Give me your hand,” she demanded, raising the pliers again. This time, over his clenched fingers. She would bring them down over the digits, and she could very well break bone, might get close to amputating them.
His fingers clenched tighter. Ready to stand against the onslaught. Still smiling, because in refusing her this, in making her render him useless, he was winning.
She brought the pliers up.
He braced himself, ready for the agony.
The air was shattered by a loud, distant bang that shook the entire room, rattling the walls.
“What?” Rinnicks looked back towards the door, angered and confused.
Trove choked, nearly laughing.
A second explosion, bigger than the first, made the entire bed rock. Definitely not how Rinnicks would have imagined that happening tonight.
“So dramatic,” he said affectionately.
Rinnicks leapt from his lap, rushing to another drape along the wall. She thrust it back revealing the control panel beside the door. She tapped it impatiently.
“What’s going on?!” She yelled.
The console crackled and hissed. Then, a familiar voice replied happily-
“Please be calm, Rinnicks,” Alred said evenly. “We’ll be with you soon.”