Dex

 

 

 

MY ESCAPE CUT short, I hastened toward X’s desk, propelled by the urgency in the Commander’s voice.

Magnar, Khalon, and Zane stood at tense attention, and X gently placed Fallon into a soft-sided basket next to his chair.

He made an impatient motion with his fingers, and the Commander’s likeness appeared in front of us.

“Tell me,” X ordered.

“The black market. It’s in the city of Zertan,” the 3D image of the Commander spoke.

“That’s impossible.” Magnar frowned heavily. “We’ve scoured the city.”

“I’ve learned they change the location daily.”

“Who they?” Zane’s sharp voice demanded answers.

“Nameless insurgents.”

“How can that be?” X stood, slamming a mighty fist to his desk.

“Does it matter now?” the Commander asked. “I’ll send you the coordinates. You should hurry.”

We stormed from the office, spilling into the corridor. X rushed ahead as we followed. Within the royal chambers, he handed Fallon to Prairie, who looked startled by the ferocious expression on her mate’s face.

Jedrek’s stare bored into me.

“We think we know where the slave market is. We have to shut it down now.” X’s words were terse and tight. “And Gods help any male I find bartering human lives.”

The king’s irises flipped vertically, the color changing to fierce molten gold.

Jedrek shifted a dagger in its sheath. “I’m coming.”

“No! You stay with the women.”

“Kerta can—” Jedrek began to object, but X raised bleak eyes to him.

“You will stay.”

There was no one I trusted more to have my back in a battle, but the king had spoken. Jedrek had no choice.

I drew him to me with a hand on his shoulder. “The women and the babies are the most important thing.”

He nodded, but he looked less than pleased when he reached up to cup my cheek. My throat bobbed with unnamed emotion, and I released him to join the other males.

With Astrid, Prairie, and the babies all in one place, Jedrek would have no trouble looking after them.

Only Laurel wasn’t present.

****

The nusoon rains held off as we ventured to the nearby city of Zertan, but the skies blackened as if in potent warning. The air felt heavier. The winds steadily rose.

Zipping through the city on the fastest vehicles in the royal fleet, X, Zane, Magnar, Khalon, and I followed the Commander’s directions. At the mouth of Zertan’s industrial district, we dismounted the conveyances at a wordless order from X.

Giant glass-sided warehouses rose up toward the desolate dark sky, and we slipped between the huge structures on silent feet. The closer we ranged toward the coordinates of the slave market, the more my hackles rose.

Before we even turned the final corner, I heard the pitiful sound of women weeping. And louder, the harsh guttural snipe of a male auctioning:

“This bitch is a perfect specimen. Made to be kept in captivity. Perhaps even used for bloodsport.”

With a tremendous roar, X spun around the corner. He looked like a dark avenger with his sharp-bladed sword hoisted high.

“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?”

We rushed right after him, weapons drawn, but what I encountered—the black market—stole my breath for a moment.

I’d been at war, I was used to scenes of terror. But I’d never witnessed anything like this repugnant display. Cages lined the outer wall of the warehouse, stacked four high, one upon the other. And each pen contained five or more women, all crushed inside. Hands reached out from between the bars, fingers grasping only to be struck by the slavers with heavy metal batons.

The stench of filth and decay stung my nose.

The unkempt male, who’d been selling off the woman standing with her ankles hobbled, thrust his chin at X. “Who do you think you are?”

Anger swelled from X, making him even bigger. Anger that seemed to ripple outward, and the other slavers must’ve felt it, because they began to cower back, away from the cages.

Scurrying, like vermin to be crushed underfoot.

“Who do I think I am? WHO DO YOU FUCKING THINK YOU ARE? You have the audacity to conduct illegal trade of human flesh out in the open!” X boomed. “You have the audacity to sell human beings at all on MY planet?”

He pounded forward. “I’m the king of Zenithia!”

With one swift move, he ran his sword straight through the slaver’s midsection, blood spewing when X withdrew the blade. Spinning around on his next pass, he sliced the male’s head clean off so it bounced to the ground.

After that, mayhem ensued.

“It’s the king!”

“It’s a raid!”

“THIS WILL NOT STAND!” X pivoted to the next target, clenching the male by the scruff of his neck.

The skies opened almost like the king’s uncontained wrath brought on the full force of nusoon season.

The skies opened . . . and so did many throats, slit from ear to ear as the rest of us went on the attack. The cowards tried to put up a little fight, but they were no match for the brute force and agile skill of seasoned Valkrane warriors.

We dispatched the slavers to their deaths, vengeance pouring off us like the rain pouring over us. Blood ran with the falling water, soaking the ground in red.

But X wasn’t done as he gave his final order. “All heads are to be spiked on the gates of Zertan as a warning. Any offense against any human will be met with immediate execution!”

Bright flashes jagged down as lightning joined the fury of the storm, rain slashing in blinding sheets. And we turned our attention to the cages full of women. Crying women. Thankful women. Hurt and hungry women.

Freeing them reminded me of the first time I’d encountered Laurel on the planet Skeer. Skinny to the point of starvation, she’d hurled herself into my and Jedrek’s arms.

She was no longer that browbeaten girl, but a full-grown woman.

A hover transport arrived, and we helped the females on board, into safety and warmth.

X ducked his head inside, sheathing his mighty sword in its scabbard. “You’ll be taken to the palace. The healer will look after you.” Emotion rumbled through his voice.

“Thank you, King Xyib*eepthxnin.” One of the women clasped his big hand, bringing his knuckles to her lips. “Thank you.”

He nodded, cheeks sucked in, before allowing the doors of the transport to close.

“This isn’t going to end well,” Khalon muttered.

I glanced at him, and his face had paled beneath bloody streaks. I wasn’t certain what he meant, but I had only one thought now. To get back to Jedrek and Laurel.