Page 11 of The Death Striker's Partner
“She will befine.I act to protect her, that is all.” He put his arm around my waist and hoisted me off the ground like I weighed nothing. I squealed and flung my hands down to grip his forearm for purchase. Holy crap, I feel like a rag doll in his hold. My legs are dangling off the ground and I seriously regret agreeing to come here!
“PUT ME DOWN!”
“Rerasha!” Alaric barks angrily and follows us as the orange Ambassador slithers away and carts me further away from my sister. I see her huddling in the corner of the hall, peering over her knees…as the big Cobra with massive fangs slowly winds over towards my vulnerable sister.
“BILLIE!?!?!”
Chapter 11
Rambo
Hannah
I am losing my ever-loving mind. I’m stood in the middle of the orange scaly tale of Ambassador Rerasha, who has trapped me but is more interested in grovelling to Alaric than dealing with me.
“Izule is a prince and he is, well,dangerousif crossed, as all royals are, so I was keeping her safe by bringing her back, love.” My jaw drops as I realise they are more than just work friends. I’m not shocked because they are both men, or different species, but because they are having a lovers tiffright now,when my sister is trapped behind a ‘dangerous royal’?!? We were told the Ucfeni were friendly. What’s this about dangerous royals? Of course they’re dangerous. They’re ten foot long fucking snake monsters. How could I be so stupid to swallow the company lie like that?
I want to scream and throw my white shoes at the oversized orange worm, but instead I jump over his tail and try to leg it back to my sister. I scream with frustration when he flicks his tail out to coil around my waist. He lifts me effortlessly off the ground. My arms and legs flail as I try to get free.
“ALARIC YOU FIX THIS SHIT SHOW RIGHT NOW!”
“Hannah, please remain calm so I may do just that, thank you.” Alaric strains to try and keep me calm, but I can see how pale he is and how the vein on his forehead is throbbing.“Rerasha, you don’t understand, Billie isvitalto our efforts to establish global communications and the programming ofournew satellites.” He thrust his hand back and forth between the pair of them. “If she refuses to help us because she’s been traumatised, we’re screwed.”
“Why would she be-”
“I’ve already told you that Billie Blac has a mental condition called Aspergers. She thinks and perceives the world differently, which means she struggles to interact with it. She’s alsobrilliant.The things she can get computers to do is borderline magical. Seriously. I headhunted her myself becauseno oneis as good as she is at coding.”
“I understand what you’re saying, and I agreed to have her housed in one of your facilities, but she was supposed to be escorted directly tometo arrange that. Instead she came straight into the pairing room.”
“We were basically threatened to hurry our asses up to get in here!” I seeth and try to pry myself free of his tail. “That stressed Billie out before we even set foot in here.”
“Then it wasn’t my people that upset her, it was yours.” Rerasha hissed, and Alaric and I both couldn’t believe he was trying to point score. Someone wasn’t getting laid later, I’d bet money on that.
“Oh, so Mr ‘Ambasaddor Rerasha says you and I have a lot in common, come here’ hadnothingto do with you then?” I banged my fists on his orange scales and glared at him with as much venom as I could. “It was your ‘friend’ who yanked Charlie off his feet and sent Billie reeling into me! She panicked and ran her ass over to the only part of the hall she thought was clear!”
“You did what?” Alaric seethed up at the orange Naga, who didn’t seem as confident in his coiled position anymore.
“I was trying to make a better match for that male human who said he was attracted to male Ucfeni, that’s all. I-I had no idea it would lead to-”
“You’re right you had no idea! My people aremyjurisdiction, not yours.”
I looked up at the ceiling and swore over and over. I tried clawing at his scales, banging my fists on them, and even tried to pull my mouth over to see if I could bite him, but he caught on and his tail tip moved around my throat to force me upright. “Let her go or I will file an official complaint with-”
“You’ll file a complaint?! She was about to bite me like a wild animal! Do you expect me to simply let her harm me?!”
I have never felt so vulnerable in my life. There is a muscular orange tail coiled around my waist and neck so tightly, I can barely breathe. One flick of it and I’m sure he can kill me.
I’m not angry anymore. I’m scared. I’m terrified I’ll be easily killed like this. I’m scared for Billie. I strain to look out the corner of my eyes to the right but all I can see is the massive King Corba looking monster glaring at me from across the hall. Watching, but unmoving.
I start to cry. Is this how I’m going to die? On an alien planet, having failed to do the one thing I promised my parents I would always do. Take care of Billie. I chew my lips and taste my tears there. I swallow and the movement of my constricted throat against the tail makes my necklace cut into me.
The necklace! I paw at my chest and manage to take hold of my communication gem. I press it in until it pings and shudder when I hear a voice answer my call.
“You have been connected to operator-”
“The monster is going to kill me! Please h-h-help me! My sister, s-save my sister, please!” I’m sobbing and screaming, shaking and unable to see through my tears.”
“Remain at your location mam, an emergency response team has been deployed to your location. Find somewhere to hide if you can until they arrive.” I sob, knowing I can’t do that.
