Lore opened his mouth to speak, but another voice interrupted.
“I’m afraid your Athion medic has no say in the matter.”
Ice flooded my veins. I knew that voice. It had haunted my nightmares for too long.
A shadow fell over me, and then Marick’s weasel face was looking down on me. “Welcome to the land of the living, Rogue.”
19
XAVIER
“We should have run when we had the chance.” I glare at Tide. “This is your fucking fault. If you hadn’t sent that signal.”
“I did what I thought was right at the time,” Tide snaps back. “Arguing about that isn’t going to help us now.”
He paces the kitchen. There are guards with guns stationed outside the room. Trad soldiers trained to kill without hesitation.
Marick wants Rogue alive, but we’re dispensable. So, why hasn’t he killed us?
“It makes no sense,” Vex says. “He could have gunned us down once he knew Lore was the medic. Why keep us alive?”
“We have to get out of here,” Tide says.
“And go where?” Vex points out. “They’re guarding their shuttle. There’s no way off this rock …” He shoots me a look. “How were you planning on getting us off this planet without Athion help?”
Tide blinks slowly and then glares at me, arms crossed.
“You think I’d sabotage a ship without a fucking plan. There’s a shuttle in hangar B.”
Tide’s frown is almost comical. “I didn’t see a hangar B.”
“That’s because it’s underground, accessed via the regular shuttle chamber. There’s a hatch and a tunnel and an underground hangar with a fully functional shuttle for emergencies.”
“And how the fuck do you know this?”
“I did my research, that’s how. Every satellite station has a hangar B.”
Tide gnaws on his bottom lip. “So, we overpower the guards, get to the med lab, and take out this Marick.”
“You make it sound so easy,” Vex drawls. “They have guns.”
Tide nods slowly. “But we have Xavier’s bata.”
“What?” Vex looks confused.
I’m lost for a moment, and then Tide catches my eyes and grins, and his idea blooms in my mind.
Bata with a side of sedative.
Now, this could be a plan.
20
A guard nudged Lore with a gun. He stumbled back, and I saw his hands for the first time. Cuffed.
My chest tightened with dread and despondency. This couldn’t be happening.
Eyes burning in my head, I stared at Marick. “I won’t go back.”
Marick’s smile was razor-sharp. “Oh, you’re not going back to Vesper V. You’re going back to Tradacyh. You see, they’re not done with you yet, and neither am I.”
“What? What more do you fucking want from me?”
“Me?” His eyes brightened with the madness I’d seen before as the monster peeked out from behind the curtain, and then his hands were around my throat. “I want to see you scream.” He tightened his grip, and I bit back a yelp.
“Let her go! Get your hands off—” Thud. Lore went silent.
“What did you do to him?” My voice was a strangled gasp, my vision blurry with tears of pain as he squeezed.
Marick ignored my question. “I want to see you broken.”
I blinked back the tears. “I’ll die before I’ll scream for you. Crazy son of a bitch.”
“Oh, you’ll wish you could die. The things they’ll do to you will have you begging for death, and before I hand you over, we’re going to have some fun of our own.” He released my throat, dropped his hand to my breast, and squeezed hard.
The ache was sudden and sharp, and despite my resolution, a cry of protest slipped from my lips. Rage surged through me, pooling in my fists, but the next time he squeezed, I didn’t make a sound. I kept my gaze on his face, stoic and unresponsive.
He released me with a disgusted curl of his lips. “We’ll have plenty of time to play on the trip to Tradacyh.”
Where were the others? I wanted to ask, but that would be playing into his hands. Looking for Lore would be giving Marick what he wanted. He wanted me to freak out. He wanted me off balance.
“Did you have fun with the Athions and the Trad?” he sneered. “Did they fuck you? Did you enjoy it?”
“Yes, actually. You should ask them for some tips on how to pleasure a woman.”
His hand whipped out, and then my head rocked to the side with the force of the blow. The world went white then dark then white again. I blinked against the burning sting spreading across my face.
“Get her up,” Marick said. “It’s time to finish this.”
A guard approached and whispered something in his ear.
“What? What do you mean they escaped? Find them. Find them and bring them to the quad and reinforce the security on this room.” The guard strode off.
“Now,” Marick said. “What else shall we talk about now that we’re all alone?”
He loomed over me, his breath rancid, his face twisted in pained desire. He wanted me. Still wanted me, but he hated me too. Wanted to hurt me. He was fucked up, and I was at his mercy.
His hand crawled up my side, sliding up to cup my breast while the other tugged at my shirt, pulling it up.
Don’t beg, don’t plead. He wants you to break.
And then his eyes rolled back in his head, and he slid off me, hitting the ground with a thump.
Lore stood, cuffs dangling from one wrist, hair mussed, clutching a syringe. A bruise decorated his forehead where the guard had hit him.
A sob broke from my throat.
His expression hardened. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
* * *
The ties on my hands were loose, and Lore was back in his chair faking that he had the cuffs on.
“Hey!” he called out. “Hey, your boss is down.”
Two guards came running into the room, and both headed straight to Marick’s prone body on the ground. It was only a split second of knee-jerk reaction on their part, but enough to give Lore and me an advantage. I kicked out, catching the crouching guard in the head, and Lore attacked the other one, wrapping an arm around his throat. I leapt off the gurney and punched the recovering guard in the face hard enough to cause a crunching sound. He went down and didn’t get back up.
The guard in Lore’s grasp clawed at Lore’s arm, but then his eyes rolled back in his head as he passed out.
I stood by the gurney, chest heaving. “What now?”
Lore headed to the door. “Coast is clear. We find the others, and we get off this planet.”
“How?”
“We steal the shuttle.” He gathered a couple more capped syringes and shoved them in his pocket. “At least Marick arriving scared off the creatures. They even killed a couple with their guns, or so he claimed. They got the generator going again. He has a mechanic with him.”
“But he caught the guys?”
“Rounded them up and shoved them under guard in the kitchens but brought me here. His medic didn’t have a clue what to do with you.”
I grabbed a scalpel. “Thank God you were here.”
Lore slipped his hand into mine. “I won’t let him hurt you, Rogue. I’ll kill him if I have to.”
He could have killed him. Injected him with a lethal dose of something, but he was a medic. Do no harm was the human motto; Athion was probably something similar. He’d incapacitated the guard rather than kill him too.
“You won’t need to kill him. I will.” I hovered over Marick with the scalpel. This was my chance. I could end him. But killing someone who was helpless wasn’t the same as self-defense.
I wasn’t a murderer.
“Fuck this. Let’s just go.”
The corridor was deserted, but then the sound of gunfire echoed up the staircase to the left.
“The guys!” I broke into a sprint.
I clambered down the stairs to the first f
loor and then backed up as bullets whizzed past my head.
“Rogue, stay back!” Xavier called.
“Come out, and you won’t be harmed,” another voice said.
“Fuck you!” Vex called out.
It was a standoff. The Trads had guns, and we had nothing but cover.
“How long before Marick comes around?”
“I’m not sure. I didn’t measure out the dose. Could be another half hour, could be minutes.”
Shit. My heart sank. We were literally outgunned. One of the guys must have made a move because gunfire went off again. The guys were going to get killed, and it was because of me.
There was only one thing to do.
I braced to the wall, ready to swing out. “Marick wants me. Don’t fire. I’m coming out.”
“Rogue, no.” Lore grabbed my arm, but I shook him off.
“Do not fire.” I stepped around the corner, eyes scanning the scene. Just a corridor, an empty corridor, except for three armed guards in the center of it. The guys had to be ducked in one of the rooms. “Do not shoot, please.”
“Tell the Athions and the Trad to come out with their hands up,” one of the guards said.
“You let them go, and you can take me back to Marick. I’m sure he’ll give you a pat on the back.”
The guard sneered. “We can take you, regardless.”
I brought the scalpel up so they could see it glinting in the light and then held it to my throat. “But will you get me alive?”
He frowned. “You’re threatening to kill yourself.”
“From where I’m standing, I have two choices. Go with you alive to be experimented on and abused or end it now and be free. I know which one I’m leaning toward, so. You let them go, and I’ll come with you willingly. Alive.”
“Like fuck!” Xavier called out. “They’re not letting us go, Rogue. It doesn’t matter what you say.”
“He’s right,” Marick said from behind me.
I turned to see him holding a gun to Lore’s temple. The Athion looked pissed, hands clenching and unclenching at his sides.
“Drop the scalpel, Rogue. You’re coming with me.” His expression was as cold as my heart.
It was over.
* * *
Light from the shuttles spilled out onto the ground and onto the guys. Each one on his knees, each one with a gun pointed to the back of his head. My body was frozen, my heart in a vise as I watched.
Marick gripped the back of my neck, shaking me like a rag doll. “Time to say goodbye, Rogue.”
Goodbye? How could I say goodbye to the men who had stolen my heart? How could I say goodbye to the men who had just begun to touch it? I’d vowed not to break for Marick, but their lives were worth more than my pride.
“Please, don’t do this.” The words were a whisper.
“Excuse me? What did you say?”
I cleared my throat. “I said, please, don’t do this. Let them go, and I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll let you do whatever you want to me.”
His grip on my neck tightened. “Is that what you think I want? You to be compliant. To give yourself to me?” He let out a bark of laughter. “I want you to scream and fight. I want you to break.”
“Then I’ll break.” Tears blurred my vision. “Fucksake, I’ll break, just let them go. You want me, not them.”
“Oh, you’ll break all right. You’ll break right now when you watch me kill them. And then, I’ll break you again and again.”
I clenched my teeth against his words. “I swear to you, Marick, if you hurt them now, you won’t see a tear from me. I’ll shut down, and you won’t get your fun. I swear to you, you—”
The blow was sudden, and my ears rang with it.
“Shut the fuck up.” He hissed the words. “Open your eyes and watch them die.”
The sound of safeties being disengaged filled the air, and my heart leapt into my mouth.
The guys raised their heads, eyes on me, and I locked gazes with them one by one. Xavier, Vex, Tide, and Lore. My guys. Mine.
Something inside me snapped, heat flooded my body, and a roar surged up my throat and echoed around the quad. Marick’s grip loosened, and I spun and throat punched him.
A gunshot went off, and my heart stuttered, and then a gust of air flung me back as the whirr of an engine filled my head. A shuttle, huge and blue and above us.
Marick picked himself up off the ground. “Athions!”
21
XAVIER
The Athion ship is here for us. It must have caught the signal before we shut it off, just like the bastard Marick had. The Trad guards open fire on the ship.
“Rogue!” Vex sprints toward her.
I focus on Tide. This is the moment he makes his choice. He looks to the ship, then to Rogue, and then determination slides across his features.
“Let’s get to the shuttle in Bay B,” he shouts over the commotion, and the knot in my stomach melts away.
Vex and Rogue zigzag through the fray, which is now focused on the ship descending toward us. Lasers burn the ground.
Lore takes Rogue’s other hand, and we run for the shuttle bay, we run for freedom.
22
Tide’s body was tense as he piloted the shuttle, and Xavier was practically thrumming with nervous energy as he typed code into the ship’s computer.
We’d exited the planet on the dark side of the star, and the main Athion and Trad ships were too busy engaging to spot us. But there was no breathing a sigh of relief until Tide said so. He kept sliding looks Xavier’s way.
“Stop it,” Xavier said. “I can’t concentrate when you hover.”
“Work faster.”
“I am,” he bit out.
We sat in silence while Xavier fiddled with the controls. “Signals jammed,” he said finally. “We’re ghosts.”
Tide exhaled, and his shoulders sagged in relief.
Xavier sat back, hands in the air, a huge grin on his mischievous face. “I told you we had this.”
“No, you didn’t tell us anything,” Tide pointed out. “That was the whole problem.”
“You want to change your mind?” Xavier challenged.
Tide exhaled through his nose. “Shut up.”
Lore cleared his throat. “What now?”
“We need to get a ship,” Xavier said. “We dump this shuttle at the space port and use our credits to buy a ship.”
“And our government will be able to trace the payment,” Lore pointed out.
“We’ll be long gone by then,” Vex reminded him.
Tide nodded. “It’s a solid plan.”
“It’s the only plan we have,” Xavier said.
“And where do we go then?” Vex asked.
“We’ll figure that out when the time comes,” Tide said. He glanced back at me. “It’ll be fine. We’ve got this, Rogue.” His jaw ticked. “You saved us more than once, now it’s our turn to return the favor.”
My heart swelled, and my eyes grew hot. “Thank you.”
Vex slipped his hand into mine, and Lore took my other hand.
The vastness of space called to us as we left the Athion and Trad ships behind. But there was no doubt in my mind that they’d come for us. They’d search for us. The Athion government wouldn’t just forget about its elite team of snitches, or the one-percenter they had with them, but if they found us, if they tried to separate us, they’d have a hell of a fight on their hands.
To be continued…
Continue the adventure in Survivor
Grab your copy HERE
Other books by Debbie Cassidy
The Gatekeeper Chronicles
Coauthored with Jasmine Walt
Marked by Sin
Hunted by Sin
Claimed by Sin
The Witch Blood Chronicles
(Spin-off to the Gatekeeper Chronicles)
Binding Magick
Defying Magick
Embracing Magick
Unleashing Magick
&nbs
p; The Fearless Destiny Series
Beyond Everlight
Into Evernight
Under Twilight
The Chronicles of Midnight
Protector of Midnight
Champion of Midnight
Secrets of Midnight
Shades of Midnight
Savior of Midnight
Chronicles of Arcana
City of Demons
City of the Lost
City of the Everdark
City of War
For the Blood
For the Blood
For the Power
For the Reign
For the Hunt - Novella
Heart of Darkness
Captive of Darkness
Bane of Winter
The Oblivion Heart
Deadworld
Deadworld
Dead City
Dead Sea
Dead End
Planet Athion
Rogue
Rebel
Survivor
Novellas
Blood Blade
Grotesque – A Vampire Diary Kindle World book
About the Author
Debbie Cassidy lives in England, Bedfordshire, with her three kids and very supportive husband. Coffee and chocolate biscuits are her writing fuels of choice, and she is still working on getting that perfect tower of solitude built in her back garden. Obsessed with building new worlds and reading about them, she spends her spare time daydreaming and conversing with the characters in her head – in a totally non psychotic way of course. She writes High Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Space Fantasy, and Reverse Harem. Connect with Debbie via her website at debbiecassidyauthor.com or twitter @authordcassidy. Or sign up to her Newsletter to stay in the know.
Rebel: Survivors Heart book 2: Planet Athion Page 8
