Aurora Burning (The Aurora Cycle #2)(49)

Tyler wins.

The beast leaps up, roaring. The doors slam closed. The edges catch the drakkan across its ribs as it rises, and the Unbroken are on their feet, a few of them even shouting in dismay as the pen doors crush the drakkan’s ribs, blood spilling from its mouth as it flops and thrashes.

Tyler takes a few steps forward, gasping, bloodied. Watching the beast flail in agony, clawing at the metal that’s crushing it. The drakkan is beaten, but it’s not dead, and its screams make me sick to my stomach as it tries to tear itself loose, the stink of black blood filling my nostrils.

A sizzling flash scorches the air, a Kill shot from a disruptor rifle ripping into the drakkan’s eye. The beast thrashes once more and then collapses. The whole arena is still, the legions of Unbroken shocked and dismayed. I look up and see Saedii, standing now with a disruptor rifle on her hip. She’s looking down at my brother, her face a perfect, unreadable mask.

My heart’s thumping, my belly full of butterflies. Warbreed respect prowess in battle above anything else, but I honestly don’t know how this is going to play out. Ty just killed this crazy bitch’s pet, after all.

Saedii aims her rifle at Tyler’s head. He looks up at her, bloodied and defiant. One squeeze of that trigger is all it’ll take.

“Perhaps,” she finally says, “you will be of some amusement after all.”

I sigh with relief, shoulders sagging, my whole body deflating. Saedii turns to her lieutenant, nods toward us.

“Take them to the detention level. Lock them down hard.”

“Your will, my hands, Templar,” he replies. “What of their Alpha?”

Saedii looks at Tyler with narrowed eyes. “See him fed and his wounds dressed.” She purses her lips, tosses her braids back off her shoulders. “Then send him to my chambers. I wish to interrogate him personally.”

The lieutenant bows and the Unbroken hurry to do their mistress’s bidding. I look to Tyler down in the pit, can’t help but grin and shake my head as he looks up at me and winks, pawing at the blood on his mouth. Then a handful of beautiful Unbroken goons are grabbing me, prodding me back up the stairs.

Finian is being pushed along close behind me, looking just as bewildered as I am. We’re still in Unbroken custody, sure. Still cut off from Auri and Kal and now Ty, still wanted galactic terrorists, still being dragged back to who knows where in the keeping of Kal’s psycho sibling. We’re still in it, right up to our necklines.

But somehow, we’re still alive.

We’re marched down a series of dark corridors, illuminated with strips of blood-red light. Syldrathi glyfs decorate the walls, the interior design a strange collision of beautiful curves and lines with a morbid gothic vibe. The thrum of the engines is the only sound.

We arrive at an area marked DETENTION, and without ceremony we’re pushed into a small holding cell. The walls are black, unadorned. There’s a bench along one wall for sleeping, strips of red light in the floor.

The door slides shut without a sound. I sink onto the bench, arms wrapped around my stomach. My whole body is shaking.

“Scar?” Fin says.

“Yeah?” I whisper.

“Do you think Tyler is accepting marriage proposals anytime soon?”

I laugh, and the laugh turns into a strangled sob, and I tighten my grip around myself to hold it all in. For a minute, it’s all I can do to stop myself flying apart. The thought of almost losing Ty, of losing the only blood I have left, it’s nearly too much.

Fin sits beside me, the smooth whine of his exosuit familiar and comforting. He puts one awkward arm around my shoulders.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he murmurs. “Ty’s okay.”

I nod, and I sniff hard, push back the tears. I know he’s right. I know I have to keep it together, have to get us back together. We’re scattered all over this ship now: Kal in the med bay, Auri locked down somewhere heavy, Ty in Saedii’s clutches, and …

I blink and look around the cell, and there’s an awful twisting in my gut as I realize someone else is missing.

Oh shit …

I can’t remember seeing her at the arena. I can’t believe I missed that she was gone, even as quiet as she is, even with all the chaos of the fight. But thinking back, my brow creased in concentration, I realize the last time I remember seeing her was aboard the Zero as we were about to disembark.

I speak into the gloom, my voice a whisper.

“Where the hells is Zila?”





12

ZILA

The air vents aboard Saedii’s ship are summoning unpleasant memories as I crawl through them. My heart rate is elevated and my breathing quickened. Both factors are reducing my efficiency considerably.

I pause to marshal my thoughts, closing my eyes and focusing on the sensation of my lungs slowly expanding, then contracting. I remind myself that there is no connection between what happened when I was six and what is happening now. The similarities are limited to the fact that I am hiding in a ventilation system and that hostile individuals are, or soon will be, searching for me.

And that others are relying on me to save their lives.

Those others are not my parents this time, but my squadmates. Nevertheless, my squad is … important to me. And of course our mission is important.

This time I will not fail, no matter what is required of me.