The men whined and screamed as they tried to avoid touching the metal. Bastien came awake with a foul curse.
Hauk didn’t flinch as he curled his lip at her and defied her to keep doing it.
“See.” She balanced the pole on her shoulder and swept her gaze over the other two women. “And we have a problem. Andarions eat humans. Raw. Leave him in that cage and he’ll devour the others.”
The men behind him began begging for release while Bastien laughed.
Hauk ignored them. “Let me go and I’ll leave here without any drama.”
The blond tsked at him. “It doesn’t work that way, cutie. You have too big a bounty on your head. Eat the others if you must. You’re worth a lot more than they are.”
Great. They were slavers as well as assassins. Just what he needed.
Hauk glared at the women. “I will get out of here, and when I do —”
“Don’t make me kill you, Andarion. While you have one hell of a bounty on your head, I’m thinking there are a lot of people who’d pay a fortune to have an Andarion slave.” She raked his body with a hungry smirk. “Now be a really good boy and I might send you off with a smile on your face.”
He exposed his fangs to her. “You’re really going to let me eat your heart?”
She scoffed.
Hauk grabbed the bars over his head and used his entire body weight to kick at the door again.
The other two women took three more steps back.
Eyes wide, Pheara gulped. “I don’t think that’s going to hold him, Telise.”
“If he kicks it open, blast the shit out of him. Price-wise, given the scars and wounds already on him, it won’t matter if he’s banged up a bit more.”
Roaring in frustration, Hauk pressed his face between the bars to glare at Telise. “When I get out of here, I’m going to feast on your organs.”
She pressed the prod to his stomach and blasted him.
Hauk growled as a violent shock went through his entire body. But he refused to give her the satisfaction of seeing his pain. He stayed on his feet, glaring at her.
That succeeded in putting fear in the bitch’s eyes.
Unsettled, she stepped back and turned toward her friends. She handed the prod to the smaller of the two. “If he gets out, open fire and call for backup.”
Hauk fanged them again as he cursed himself for allowing the women to get the drop on them. “Hey!” he called to the two who eyed him like the vicious predator he was. “There was a woman with me. Where is she?”
Pheara cleared her throat. “We took her weapons and left her where she fell. Why? Is she yours?”
“My niece, and if any harm comes to her, I swear by every god who protects Andaria that I will rain down a hell on you so severe you will beg me for the mercy of death.” He kicked the door again.
They backed up.
“I’m going for more guards.” Pheara took off running, leaving the other woman to watch him with a bug-eyed stare that would be hysterical if he wasn’t so enraged.
Wanting blood, he turned toward the men behind him. They were even more afraid of him than the women. He rolled his eyes at the typical human reaction to his kind.
Bastien shook his head at their fear. “Don’t worry. We fed him earlier. He’s not hungry. Right, Hauk?”
He glared sullenly at them all. “Feeling a bit peckish, suddenly.”
That only frightened them more.
No wonder Fain couldn’t stand living among humans for long. His brother constantly risked his life to live on Andarion outposts and colonies so that he wouldn’t have to deal with humans wetting their pants in fear every time he cleared his throat.
Stupid bastards.
Returning to the door, Hauk eyed the woman with menace. When he went to kick it again, Bastien stopped him.
“Why don’t we try something a little less violent and more productive?”
Hauk eyed him irritably. “Blood. Mayhem. Violence. That’s my go-to happy place.”
“How ’bout we try to find a new one?”
“Such as?”
He plucked a wire out of his cuff. “Picking the lock.”
“I’d rather kick it open.”
“You would.” Bastien snorted. “How ’bout we save it for beating on our captors?”
Ignoring him, Hauk kicked the door again. Suddenly, something sharp stabbed him. With a hiss, he looked down to see another dart in his arm.
Crap. Three more hit him.
Hauk glared at the women who joined the first one as his anger mounted. He fought against the drug with everything he had, but in the end, he blacked out.
Hauk came to, cursing life and everyone in it. Most of all, he cursed the irritated smirk on Bastien’s face as he eyed him from where he lay on the ground beside him.
“Told you not to kick that door, didn’t I?”
Hauk ignored his taunt. Pain pounded through his body with such ferocity that he knew they must have beaten him while he’d been unconscious. More than that, the drugs played havoc with his system.
His stomach lurched. He tried to move, only to discover he was in the middle of their camp, on his belly and hogtied. Like Bastien. Someone had chained his hands to his feet behind his back.
Yeah, that didn’t help his temper in the least. Growling, he tried to break free.
Bastien rolled his eyes. “Calm down, Hauk. All you’re going to do is hurt yourself.”
He glared at Bastien. “If you want to see exactly how angry someone can get, tell them to calm down when they’re already pissed off!” Bellowing, he tried his best to break free.
“Is that helping? I just gotta know.”
“When I get loose, Cabarro, your ass is the first one I’m kicking.”
“Oh good. Hope you get out soon. Been awhile since I had a good ass-kicking.” Bastien made a kissy face at him.
“Says the man who’s so bruised, he looks like a two-year-old banana.”
“Now that’s just mean and hurtful.”
“Telise! He’s awake again.”
She moved forward and kicked Hauk in the face.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Bastien warned. “Don’t motivate the Andarion for murder. It ain’t going to work out well for any of us. ’Specially me, since mine’s the first ass he’s planning to come after.”
Hauk licked at the blood on his lips as he grimaced at the harita through his braids.
“Learned anything yet?” she asked him.
He spat the blood out of his mouth. “Other than those pants make your ass look fat?”
She kicked him hard in the ribs.
A blast of color shot within an inch of Telise’s face. “Touch him again and the next one goes right between your eyes.”
In spite of the pain, a slow smile spread across Hauk’s face at the sound of the most beautiful voice in the universe.
Sumi.
Telise reached for her blaster.
Sumi let fly a shot straight into her shoulder. “Hands up or lose your head.”
Telise glared at her. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”
“Neither do you.” Sumi held her hand up to show the brand on her wrist. “Unless you’ve got another League assassin in your camp, I suggest you free them or I will bathe in the blood of every whore here.”
Hauk saw one of the others coming up behind Sumi. He opened his mouth to warn her, but before a single sound could come out, she spun and shot the woman, then caught another one he hadn’t seen at all.
And her blaster wasn’t set to stun.
Sumi now had both weapons drawn as she surveyed the women. “Anyone else want to die today?” she called out to them. “Please! I’m so in the mood for it.” She turned back to Telise. “What about you, bitch?”
Glaring at her, Telise reached into her pocket. Instead of keys, she drew a dagger and moved for Hauk.
She was dead before she took more than a step.