Chapter 47
Vytln
It hurt. Vytln’s body was screaming in agony.
He could only use one leg to get back to his feet.
He didn’t even try using both. And when he put his injured leg down, he was glad for it because the sharp, stabbing pain through his knee told him it was a fool’s thought to think that leg could do more than barely help support the other. It certainly wouldn’t help him stand.
But he was up, and while his arms were still locked together, they were bound in front of him. And very helpfully now had a length of heavy chain that would make a neat little weapon.
And Vytln smiled, because beaten, bound, chained, and injured, his brother still took a step back from him. Fear in his eyes. He’d gotten to his position from trickery. Both of them knew, in a fight, Vytln had always had the upper hand.
A moment later, Kldyn’s pride stepped back in and reminded him that he was, in fact, the best and he could, in fact, do this. He gritted his teeth, tightening his hand on his hammer.
“I won’t let you take this from me,” Kldyn promised. “I rule this family! I run this business! You’re nothing but a fallen grunt who never knew their place.”
Vytln’s mouth turned up in a smirk. Did Kyldn really think he wanted this? That Kldyn could have anything he wanted?
Actually…
Vytln’s gaze moved past him to the envirosuit he’d left in a heap on the floor. There was actually one thing he had that Vytln wanted.
Above their heads, he heard the hissing of Haven’s metal cutter, slicing through the roof of the dome. Slicing her way back into the walls, like the adorable little pest she was. She’d left her helmet on the ground, so he knew she’d be back, but she was giving him room.
Good. He would finish this quickly,
Kdlyn rushed at him, hammer raised. Obviously broadcasting his attack. As he always did. He was a showy kind of fighter. Preferring to showcase everything he did. It made avoiding his wide, swinging blows easy, even with his bum leg.
Though, easy was probably a bit of a stretch.
It was easy to predict and avoid him, but each time he moved his body, the aches and pains worsened.
One particularly hard step back on his injured leg sent a stunning electric shock of pain burning up through his nerves, searing into his brain.
It made him grit his teeth as his entire body locked down, resisting the urge to fall.
He barely dodged back in time to avoid the next blow Kldyn threw his way. It came entirely too close, the air it disturbed rushing past his chest.
But it also put him in the perfect position for Vytln to strike.
He jerked the chain up and wrapped a loop of it around his wrist. He grasped the end with his bound hands and pulled, stepping to the side and yanking down at the same moment.
Doing so upset Kldyn’s balance completely, forcing him to bend backward and then collapse as his center of gravity was forced forward.
He hit the ground on his side, the arm Vytln had caught coming out from behind his back.
Though it sparked like lightning in his joint, Vytln dropped onto his knees, on top of his brother, pinning him down.
Giving him the space he needed to wrap the chain around Kdlyn’s neck.
His brother struggled and thrashed, but the odd way he fell, the way his arm was jerked behind him, the weight of Vytln on his back, were too much for him to do more than wiggle.
“Stop! I command you to stop!” Kldyn demanded, his free hand trying and failing to grab for the hammer he dropped just out of his own reach.
Vytln was calm, methodical, as he twisted the chain around his neck.
Kldyn’s thrashing became wilder, more desperate.
His commands for Vytln to let him go becoming more deranged and hysterical.
But he never once humbled himself. He never admitted his defeat.
He still acted as though he were in charge, in control, even as Vytln grabbed the chain firmly in both hands.
He put his good knee on Kldyn’s back, right under his neck, giving him the distance and angle he needed. He tested the chains once, twice, making sure he had a good grip.
“Stop! Stop! I order you-”
Vytln jerked back.
Kldyn’s head was yanked.
His neck snapped.
His body went limp.
A quick, meaningless death. Fitting for a male that earned nothing on his own merit but still had an inflated sense of ego.
Vytln dropped the chains and he flopped to the ground. The glow of his eyes already cooling, starting to dim. A fate well deserved, but it was no victory to Vytln. Not because he didn’t feel like he won, but because it didn’t even feel like a fight.
Vytln grunted and groaned as he moved to stand, the pains and aches flaring up worse than ever now that he wasn’t fighting for his life.
But he found the remote for his cuffs in one of his brother’s pockets, and with a simple button push, the cuffs disengaged and fell off his wrists.
He straightened slowly, grimacing at the pain of the movement.
As he hobbled back, he looked over the body of his little brother, really expecting to feel something. Anything at all. Maybe sadness for the loss of his closest blood relation. Or maybe victory and justice for wrongs finally paid back.
But he really did feel… nothing. This game of chase and catch, this anger and resentment, it had all been one sided.
Vytln would have lived the rest of his life, completely unconcerned about Kldyn and his family if he had just let it be.
And now that he was dead, Vytln felt only concern for his crew, grief for his ship, and the desire to hold his mate in his arms once again.
Turning from Kldyn’s dimming body, he moved to the envirosuit he had discarded and began the slow, painful process of pulling it on.