As if she sensed the tension, a moan rose from her. It was the first noise she’d made, and one that proved she lived, that she was still in pain.
“Give the girl to me,” Solo repeated. “I would never hurt her.”
“Please . . . please,” Matas said.
Teeth bared with masculine aggression, Jecis said, “Oh, I’ll give her to you all right. She thinks she wants you, and a little alone time with you should change her mind, teach her better, and make her appreciate what she has.”
Without hesitation, Solo placed both hands in the air, palms out. Matas collapsed into a groaning heap, cradling his arms to his chest and attempting to slither away.
“Vika,” Solo said. “Give her to me. Now.”
“No,” Matas managed to shout past his sobs. “She’s mine! You said—”
“Silence!” Jecis boomed. “I have made my decision, and it will stand. Twice she has chosen the animal over you, and so I will give her what she thinks she wants. And you,” he said to Solo. “I’m placing my very heart in your hands. You will guard it.”
Vika was not the male’s heart. A man guarded the treasures of his heart, fawned over them, placed their welfare above his own. Jecis had done none of those things.
“He’s a beast,” Matas cried. “He’ll maul her. Look at what he did to me!”
Ignoring him, Jecis said to Solo, “If she dies, you die. If you injure her in any way, I will injure you a thousand times worse. You are only to scare her. To make her hate you.”
He was done talking. He wanted the girl. “Give! Now!”
“Open the cage, Matas,” Jecis demanded. “You’ve still got one working arm, yes? After that, change the lock. I don’t want Vika able to set herself free during the solar flare.”
Murmuring, still crying, Matas lumbered to his feet.
Every muscle Solo possessed tensed, his body readying to jolt into action the moment the lock disengaged. He would grab Vika, and he would run. He would get her to safety, and he would return. He would save the otherworlders, just as she wanted, and he would destroy her family, just as she didn’t. Or hadn’t. Maybe she’d changed her mind.
Only, the now glaring man pushed the button that caused the cuffs to pump him with sedatives, and strength abandoned him in an instant. His arms and legs became too heavy to move, and black dots winked through his eyes.
“Touch her,” Matas snarled, even as he whimpered in pain, “and I’ll slice you into pieces.”
“Enough,” Jecis said, closing the distance and peering into Solo’s eyes. “When the solar flare hits, you’ll discover there are monsters worse than you out there. They’ll come for you, and they’ll try to eat you. Keep Vika in the center of the cage, and they won’t be able to reach her. You, on the other hand . . . you’re so big, I bet they’ll be able to get you no matter where you’re lying. You’ll have to fight them.” He grinned, but there was no amusement to the expression. “That should be just the thing to scare her and keep her from ever wanting anything to do with you.”
Solo cared nothing for the warning. He collapsed, saying, “Will . . . kill . . . you both . . .”
• • •
Eyelids splitting apart, Solo sat up with a jolt. Residual sparks of fury blazed in his chest, each one serving as a reminder. Vika. Beaten. Carried into the cage. His to save. He twisted—and found her lying on her back on the opposite side, still, too still.
Despite the aches and pains in his body—new aches and pains that proved he had not imagined Jecis setting Vika down and giving Solo a beating of his own—he scrambled over to her.
There were two cuts in her bottom lip. One was from before, and it had opened up, and the other was new. But that was it, the only damage that he could see. For her to sleep this deeply, to have moaned so thickly, there had to be more. He gently ran his fingers over her scalp, and felt two egg-size bumps. Between one heartbeat and the next, he’d partially morphed.
As gently as possible, Solo checked her vitals and the intense trembling of his hands surprised him. At least her heartbeat was strong, granting him a measure of relief. As X had said, she would survive.