She was going to drag him along as well. Her chest tightened. She wanted the grumpy, anti-social cyborg.
And that both excited her and scared her.
Tangling with Lenny the controlling dick had left her cautious of relationships. He’d been nice at first, reeling her in. They’d partied hard, gone for long rides on his Harley. Then he’d started dictating what she did, where she went, what she wore. She’d been a grieving teenager, all alone, and she’d wanted to please him. It had taken her a while to work out he was a scumbag.
Maxon was not Lenny, but he had a strong, bossy personality.
Suddenly, she heard a man’s loud shouts, followed seconds later by screams.
Around her, the cyborgs tensed as one. She glanced down the sidewalk and saw a giant, out-of-control alien man barreling down the sidewalk. His skin looked like rock, and he was swinging his arms. People on the sidewalk scattered.
He slammed his fist into the window of the building and it shattered into a thousand pieces.
“Jax, get Dark Nebula Security,” Magnus ordered.
With a nod, Jax sprinted back inside the casino.
The alien man picked up a woman and she screamed loudly. Magnus and Mace pushed forward to intervene.
“Maxon, stay with Bellamy,” the imperator called back.
Maxon pressed close to her side, never taking his gaze off the rampaging man.
“Never a dull moment in Kor Magna,” Bellamy said.
He glanced down at her. “Nothing rattles you for long, does it?”
She shrugged a shoulder. “Shit happens, we deal. That’s life.” She was still having nightmares about the Edull and the battle arena. That made her more determined to destroy the arena once and for all.
“I don’t like the feel of this,” he growled.
“The feel?” she prompted.
“My species has a well-developed intuition. I can sense when things are going right or wrong.”
“Handy.” She watched him scan around them, his big body tense and alert.
A woman appeared beside them—tall, elegant, her long, lipstick-red hair falling around her shoulders in gorgeous waves. She wore a stunning, liquid green dress that clung to her toned body. If Bellamy had to guess, she’d say the woman had been whiling her hours away in the casino.
“What’s happening?” the woman asked.
“No idea,” Bellamy replied.
“Hmm, well, he’s proving an excellent distraction.”
The woman’s pleased tone made Maxon stiffen and Bellamy turn. The woman’s voice made the hairs on the back of Bellamy’s neck rise.
The redhead lifted an elegant hand with over-long fingers. She was clutching a small circular device.
Maxon made an enraged noise. Bellamy looked at him and saw he was straining, his muscles tense, and the veins in his neck bulging.
“Maxon? What’s wrong?”
“My little toy here is holding him in place.” The woman’s smile was as sharp as a blade. “It’s using the metal attached to his bones and a magnetic field to freeze him in place.” Her dark eyes locked on Bellamy. She lifted some sort of small, slim weapon, and aimed it at Bellamy’s chest. “You’re coming with me.”
Another fucking assassin. Anger flooded through Bellamy. “Screw you.”
The woman swiveled and aimed the gun at Maxon. “Come quietly, or I’ll kill him.”
Fucking hell.
“No.” Maxon managed to get the word out between gritted teeth.
“The ammunition in this weapon is designed to liquefy metal.” A pleased smile. “It’ll do extensive damage to a cyborg.”
Bellamy ground her teeth together and glanced over her shoulder. Magnus and Mace were still locked in the fight with the out-of-control alien. Bellamy bit her lip. She wouldn’t risk Maxon’s life.
She stepped toward the woman.
In a fast, practiced move, the woman slapped some slim cuffs on Bellamy’s wrists.
“Good choice.” The assassin set the freezing device down at Maxon’s feet, keeping him in place. Then she grabbed Bellamy’s shoulder. “Let’s go.”
The woman’s fingers dug into Bellamy’s skin, and she shoved Bellamy forward.
Bellamy looked back at Maxon.
He was still locked in place, his eyes aflame, his mouth a hard line. Then the crowd swallowed her and the assassin, and she couldn’t see him anymore.
As the woman forced her along the sidewalk, Bellamy’s heart pumped hard. Damn. Damn. Damn. She needed to find a chance to get away from this assassin, or take the bitch down.
“Where are you taking me?”
The woman gave her another shove. “No talking.”
They stopped beside a sleek, silver transport. The doors winged open—two on the sides and one at the back—and Bellamy found herself shoved in a small storage compartment at the rear of the transport.
“You’re making enemies out of the House of Rone,” Bellamy warned. “The Edull aren’t worth it.”
“Be quiet.” The woman’s pale skin rippled,