Zar’s fingers dug around the device for the hundredth time. He knew every groove and split intimately. The pads of his fingers brushed against the laser clasp. It emitted a pulse that sent an electric volt of pain through his body whenever he disobeyed.
Which was often.
Always.
As much as he could.
The disgusting Heronas would not break him.
He’d die first.
He’d die gladly.
But for some reason, the Heronas had not orchestrated his demise. For two sun rotations, they’d left him alive.
Zar had wondered why.
Until the door opened and a human female slid through.
A soft, mewling sound chased the bang of the door as it slid shut. Tilting his head to the side, Zar remained in the shadows for a moment and observed the cot.
Was this a trap? Some ploy by his enemies to finish him off? Some new way to torture him?
The worse they’d done so far was force him to eat. A guard would slide a plate of meat and a concoction of pills through the door. To avoid getting shocked, Zar ate everything on his plate.
As soon as the guards left, he vomited the chemicals out. For that reason, the smell in this room was not the best, but at least he wasn’t ingesting any of the Heronas’s poison.
Zar saw delicate limbs on the cot. A heaving chest billowing in the silence. Dark thighs jutting out of a tunic. Before him was an exotic female trapped with her legs spread while wearing no undergarments.
He saw it then.
The reason he was still alive.
It was for this.
For her.
The truth slammed into Zar with severe force.
And the anger swept through him again. It bent and snapped. It echoed in his brain. Made him want to fight something. Someone. To tear the doors down and burn this cage to the ground.
These beasts…
Zar would admit he was not the most devoted Plutonian. Fury tainted his heras and made him less dedicated to his traditions.
Korben, Tiegan, Pin, and Lans—his trusted tribas—they did not wrestle with the darkness as much as he. They were not plagued by the thirst for death.
Zar would admit that freely.
But he was also not so far down the path of self-destruction that he would break one of the cardinal rules of his clan:to honor and respect all females.
It was a principle handed down to his father’s father.
And then from his father to him.
Zar spit to the side in disgust.
The Heronas would pay for this.
