Weapons Master Galactic Gladia - Anna Hackett Page 0,13

barely touching them, and got the job done. But it had been a long time since he’d done that.

Until now.

He stepped into Magnus’s office. All the elite cyborgs were already there, and so was Bellamy. She was talking animatedly with the handsome, young Zaden. The powerful telekinetic cyborg had been abandoned to the House of Rone because his powerful natural abilities needed to be leashed by his cyborg enhancements.

Bellamy looked…fine. Like her nightmare had never happened.

She glanced over and their gazes met. His desire roared to life in his gut, which made him angry. He looked away.

He didn’t want this. He didn’t want all this disruption in his life.

The door opened again, and Galen and Raiden entered.

Galen looked his usual rugged self with his black eyepatch over one eye and his black cloak framing his battle-ready body. His champion gladiator, Raiden Tiago, was hard and muscled, showing why he dominated the arena. His cloak was red. Both men were from the same planet, and had intriguing tattoos across their torsos and arms.

“All right, we’re all here.” Magnus leaned against his desk. “Bellamy asked to join us. She has a vested interest in seeing the Edull and the battle arena go down.”

“And the House of Galen wants to help,” Galen said. “The Edull’s arena is an abomination.”

“We need to ensure total destruction of the battle arena,” Magnus said.

Bellamy nodded. “I have a few ideas, but the place is huge. We need to get the captives out. They deserve to be free.”

“They will be set free,” Raiden said.

Bellamy glanced his way and smiled. “I’m Bellamy Walsh.”

“Raiden Tiago. And this is Galen.”

Did she have to smile at the gladiator like that? Maxon crossed his arms over his chest, feeling irritated.

“Galen and I, along with all our allies, are trying to find out every scrap of information on the battle arena,” Magnus continued. “We can’t just blow it up. We need to free the slaves first. And it needs to be destroyed in a way that will cripple the Edull and their business.”

Galen nodded. “The Edull have their share of enemies.”

“But they also have allies,” Maxon said. “All the sandsuckers willing to spend money to attend the races. People who buy their scavenged metal.”

“True,” Magnus agreed. “I’ll speak with Rillian. We’ll see if there is a way to cripple them by making their flow of customers dry up as well.”

Bellamy straightened. “I can share other things I know about the battle arena. There are parts of it I’ve never seen, but I was in the power generation area once. I didn’t understand the tech they use, but maybe there’s a way to overload it?”

Magnus nodded. “We’ll see what we can come up with. In order for this to be a success, we need all the intel we can get, and a plan for how to destroy the arena. Without that, we can’t launch a full-scale attack.”

There were nods all around.

“I want to be on that mission,” Bellamy said.

“No,” Maxon growled.

All heads turned to face him. He focused on Bellamy as she swiveled in her chair, her chin jutting forward.

“Excuse me?” she said.

“You can’t go.”

Her green eyes narrowed. “I may not be a cyborg gladiator, but I know the arena better than anyone here.”

“You were kept captive. Almost killed. If they see you, they’ll try to kill you again. And all of that is messing with your head.” Maxon turned to Magnus. “She’s not in the right headspace to go back there.”

He heard her suck in a sharp breath.

“You don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do—”

“For the last two nights, she hasn’t slept well. She’s wandered all over the house, upset and angry.”

Bellamy made a sound and he met her gaze. He almost flinched at the betrayal he saw in her eyes, but he shoved the emotion away.

He had to keep her safe. He’d just gotten her out of there, and he wasn’t going to let her run back in.

The other cyborgs all had to cope with the other Earth women going on missions and putting themselves in danger. He wasn’t going to make the same mistake.

“He does not speak for me.” Bellamy’s words were clipped. She shot to her feet.

“There is no mission yet,” Magnus said carefully. “When we decide to go in, we’ll discuss it again at that time. Bellamy, all of us here want to help you, remember that.”

She nodded and turned. She strode straight up to Maxon and he tensed.

Then she rammed her fist into his gut.

It