Chapter 9
He was a killer—a cold-blooded murderer who extinguished life without a second thought.
Cass picked her way over the branches as fast as she could, no longer fearing the possible plummet to her death more than she feared the killer snake man. For some reason, she hadn’t really expected that he would kill those poor people, but he hadn’t hesitated. He’d murdered them brutally and without warning.
As soon as he’d freed her, she’d run, darting out of the ship while killing his last victim preoccupied him. Then she’d sprinted along the wide tree branches, praying she didn’t slip, but at that point, too frightened to slow down. She had to get away from him. She couldn’t pretend he wasn’t a monster. She could have ignored his appearance over time, but she couldn’t ignore the killing.
The branches grew close enough that she could jump from one to the next, but her bare feet weren’t suitable for gripping bark, so after one frantic leap, she lost her footing, pinwheeling her arms and shrieking with terror as she felt gravity drawing her to her death.
One flailing arm caught on the branch below the one she’d fallen from. Cass quickly tightened her grip to hold on to the tree limb, then swung her other hand up to catch the branch. From there, she dangled, her muscles trembling as she caught her breath in preparation for swinging her feet up to try to catch the tree limb.
Though it had the potential to dislodge her already precarious hold, she took a deep breath— prepared to try it—when Nahash’s face appeared above her, looking over the edge of the branch she’d fallen from. The way the light spilled through the leaves cast his expression in shadow, but she got the distinct impression of rage coming off of him.
With frightening speed, he dropped over the edge of the branch, looking like his upper body fell towards her, but his tail still gripped the branch above as he reached for her.
“Please, stay away from me!” She couldn’t bear the thought of him touching her with hands covered in the blood of his murder victims.
“You would rather die than have me touch you?”
Her shaking arms told her that she very well might die if she didn’t accept his help. “You’re a murderer.”
He snorted in irritation. “The empire has been trying to root those smugglers out of our territory. You think they’re innocents? Then perhaps I should show you what they have in their secret hold.” Instead of grabbing her, like she expected him to do, he held out one hand to her—offering it. “Come with me, Casss. I would never hurt you.”
Tears pricked her eyelids. She dangled from a tree branch over a drop that would definitely kill her, and an alien, killer snake man offered her only lifeline.
“I just want to go home.”
“If that’s what you wish, I swear I’ll take you home. Just don’t throw your life away on this Spinner-forsaken planet.”
She sniffled, staring up into his face, trying to read his expression. “Y-you’d take me back to Earth?”
He thrust his hand closer to her. “Yes. Take my hand, Casss.”
She didn’t want to die. Not like this. She couldn’t condone what he’d just done. Surely criminals should have a trial before being summarily executed without any mercy. Yet, if she didn’t accept his help, she condemned herself to die. On the other hand, if he really would take her back to Earth, she could be home and safe again. She could pretend this had all been a nightmare.
She tried to pull herself upwards, towards his hand.
“Okay,” she said, gasping for breath as she worked strained muscles. Despite years of training in a gym, her arms ached at her efforts. “I’ll take… your hand.”
Before she could free one hand to lift towards his, he lowered his body and grabbed her up with both arms, securing her against his chest as his tail retracted, pulling them both back up to the higher branch.
She didn’t struggle against a hold that was almost suffocating, because she feared he might just decide she caused too much trouble and let her go as they dangled above the ground.
When he held her upright on a solid branch again, he released her, but not for long. Without warning, he lunged forward and grabbed her around her waist. Then he tossed her over his shoulder as she cried out in surprise.
She shouted in outrage when he slapped her ass, hard enough to sting.
“This is the second time you’ve almost killed yourself, woman. I won’t tolerate it again.”
“You said you’d take me back to Earth,” she said, pounding on his back until her fists hurt from impact with the rock-hard armor he wore.
“I will return you to this ‘Earth.’ It’s as good a place to hole up as any other.”
She suddenly realized that by “returning her,” he didn’t mean he would just drop her off and wave goodbye. He’d imprinted on her, hooked by her scent. He literally couldn’t leave her, even if he wanted to. There was no way they could make any kind of life on Earth with him looking the way he did.
“Wait! You can’t go there! You won’t fit in on Earth.”
“I won’t fit in anywhere.” His tone gave nothing away about how he might feel with that knowledge.
She had no response for that, so she fell silent, deciding that holding still—despite the undignified way he carried her—was her safest option.
She watched his tail move as he carried her back to the shuttle. The sinuous motion of it hypnotized her. The glossy scales gleamed in the muted light that managed to spear through the thick canopy above them. As Nahash moved, she noted a faint iridescence to his scales that she hadn’t spotted before.
It didn’t take long for him to return them to the shuttle. Cass closed her eyes to avoid seeing any sign of the carnage he’d left behind.
Once inside, he set her on her feet in front of him and then placed a firm hand on her shoulder to turn her and guide her down a narrow corridor.
“We don’t have much time. My people could arrive at any moment, but you will see this.”
When they reached a large storage room filled with metallic crates, he slithered to one paneled wall and slammed his fist against the panel. It opened to reveal what looked like a biometric reader.
The reader flashed, then turned green without any apparent action on Nahash’s part. A much larger panel slid open beneath the first panel, revealing a space the size of a deep freezer, and just as cold as one.
Body parts filled the freezer.
Cass screamed and reeled backwards from the horrific sight of dismembered pieces of people and creatures. She saw hands, feet, wings, what looked like octopus tentacles, and even eyeballs in cylindrical containers, all crammed into the freezer. The smugglers had stuffed it to the very top with disembodied limbs.
“There’s a lucrative black market for body parts. Many of these came from slaves who’d outlived their usefulness. When I sensed the energy coming from the freezer in this shuttle, I knew what kind of smuggler piloted the ship.”
She shook her head as she turned away, pressing a hand to her mouth, swallowing her rising gorge. “Why would anyone…?”
He dropped a hand on her shoulder, using slight pressure to guide her away from the sickening collection. “I must get this shuttle off the planet. Let me show you to the cabin.”