preservation within her. No sooner had she parted her lips to beg Garik if they could leave, men flowed forward from the exits on both sides of them. Armed men wearing a very distinct and familiar uniform.
What made chills ice down Saedra’s spine was the tall, gold skin man with the piercing eyes who entered last on the left. Every step his massive boots made reverberated against the metal floor of the station. Stars, stars, stars. He shouldn’t be here. Her heart thrummed a determined beat and perspiration immediately broke out on her forehead. How did he find them so quickly?
“Well, this is a nice welcome, Lord Maurin,” Xyman taunted, not looking the least intimidated as he shifted his stance. “You shouldn’t have.”
Her father shot a glare in his direction before turning a hard stare toward Garik. Saedra’s breath caught in her throat when his gaze finally landed on her. His brows lowered and an intense rumble started low in his chest and rolled forth.
“You don’t stand a chance in holding us here, Maurin.” Garik’s statement caused her father’s dangerous growl to break off.
He faced Garik. “How did you get out, assazi?”
Saedra was afraid he’d reveal her part in it but she shouldn’t have. The growing smile on Garik’s face was full of arrogance. “Did you think my reputation was exaggerated?”
There was only a beat of quickening silence. Maurin was visibly enraged. His gaze swung toward Saedra. The truth clicked in his eyes and lit with a golden fire. “You!”
He signaled the guards with an angry swipe of his fingers in the air. The low whine of lasers came to life. With a roar of rage Maurin took a step forward, the intent to attack evident. Saedra stumbled backward but Garik caught her at the waist. She didn’t reply to his harsh accusation. Too afraid to anyway.
“You insist on being trouble for me. First, your mother and now you,” he snapped.
“Leave her alone.” Garik assumed a protective stance, blocking Maurin’s view of Saedra. “If you let us go now, I won’t kill you now.”
Maurin sneered. “Us? You plan to take the girl with you?”
“Yes.”
Her father laughed. “This is rich. She belongs to me and you’re not taking her anywhere, Denikon.”
Garik pulled Saedra under the shelter of his arm, tucking her in close to his side. “She doesn’t belong to you. She’s my bond mate.”
The stare he cast their way was incredulous until he burst into laughter and exchanged a look with the small number of guards with him. They joined in with awkward laughs. “This is rich. You bonded with her? With Saedra?”
This was the moment. Saedra tightened her fingers on Garik’s shirt. Her father was going to see to it that he got her back. The truth stared back at her as well as his malicious pleasure and what he was about to say.
“Don’t.” The plea escaped in a whisper.
It went unanswered. It was evident he took great relish in saying, “You are more fool than I thought, Denikon. My daughter has played her part well.”
Garik’s body stilled against her. He didn’t say anything in response to the taunting reveal but Saedra felt the change in him. She bit down hard on her inner cheek to keep from crying out. Her father was doing what he did best and ruining her plans before her eyes. Stopping her from leaving because it was a certainty that Garik would leave her behind with the reveal out in the open.
“So, what were you saying again? Still leaving with my little Saedra and our cleverly devised plan?”
“You lie.” Saedra trembled and released her clenched hand from Garik’s shirt. She couldn’t let him get away with what he was saying. “You are a rotten liar and no father to me. Never have been.”
Maurin laughed again and propped his hands on his hips. He rocked back on his booted heels and his smirk taunted her. She wanted to wipe it from his face. She wanted to destroy him as he sought to destroy her.
“Tell you what. I’ll let Denikon here go, if he leaves now.” He arched a brow. “Without you of course.”
Saedra gritted her teeth and boiled with anger. Tears pricked her eyes but she didn’t shed them.
“You are the epitome of cruel, Maurin,” Xyman said in a somber tone. “I took the contract on you to retrieve the item you stole from the Queen of Zephil but if Garik wishes, I will take you out now despite the request for execution being under