Tanin was tall compared to her, but he was shorter than everyone down there. And he still somehow managed to not only stand his ground but completely own it.
Someone came at him with a rather large knife – like a machete made for a ten-foot man. Her breath caught in her throat as it came down, right where Tanin’s neck met his shoulder-
-only to stop dead in the air as Tanin caught it.
With a ribbon?
Strung between his hands was definitely a ribbon – shiny like silk and gleaming red like his eyes. It wrapped partially around his wrist, the trailing end held in his other hand. It looked pretty, like the kind of ribbon Goldie would use to tie back her hair.
And it caught that massive machete like it was a steel cable. More than that, Tanin wasn’t even jarred in catching it. Like that downswing had no power behind it. He blocked the blow, then dropped his arms, making the guy stumble forward. Tanin’s hands twisted and suddenly the ribbon was caught around the guy’s wrist. Tanin yanked like he was on a leash – turning and flipping him over his back and onto the floor.
The male hit hard metal with a loud, grunting thud, the giant machete clattering to the ground. Tanin twisted the ribbon around his wrist, then jerked the two ends, hard, in opposite direction. Garnet didn’t hear the snap over the scream, but the way his hand suddenly flopped told her that Tanin had to have just shattered his wrist.
With a ribbon. He was kicking ass with a ribbon.
Why was that sexy?
Garnet covered her mouth. Not because she was shocked, but because she was trying to keep herself from smiling dreamily. She’d always had a weakness for a guy who wasn’t afraid of actually getting into a fight, but this level of violence didn’t have any right doing things for her.
But even as she was chastising herself about that, he had to go and make it worse.
His downed opponent had three more arms. He tried to strike out at Tanin with his claws, to force him off. Tanin wasn’t even bothered. He moved quickly, tying two more hands up into the ribbon. He then grabbed the fourth and final wrist. Garnet’s jaw dropped as he jerked the guy up, then dropped him right back down, slamming him against the hard metal floor. Then, he turned, throwing his limp body at some other guy that was trying to rush forward and help his buddy. Both of them went down with a painful clatter.
Tanin stood straight, one end of the ribbon still around his wrist, the rest of it trailing down, like a beautiful whip.
How did he do that? How was he so damn strong? He didn’t even look like he’d put effort into throwing that other, bigger, guy around like a ragdoll. Even now, he didn’t take a second to catch his breath; he just made for the door where others were still coming in.
The rattling of the metal walkway tore her focus away from him. She had to look both ways because there were small, metal stairs – steep enough to almost be called ladders – on either side. The walkway was thinner on the wings, with a wider space in the middle that could be used as overflow storage stretching back to the second-floor doorway. She was standing dead center, right on the rails, so she could go any direction if needed.
She spotted the guy ascending the ladder when she looked in the second direction, the one furthest from the door that had been forcefully locked on to the pirate ship. She wasn’t sure how this pirate got to the other side of the room without being caught, but he had taken that opportunity to chase after her – the obviously weaker pray.
He snarled, muzzle pulling back, as he hit the landing.
Garnet raised her shock stick, and he stopped, blinking at it. He threw back his head, laughing, as her cheeks burned. Okay, so it wasn’t anything like a gun – in fact, none of them were using guns, which she found weird – but it was still a weapon. She didn’t see anything in his four hands.
Okay, yes, each of his fingers was tipped with a sharp, black claw, but that wasn’tinhis hands.
“Can’t believe these fools brought a female here, much less a human one,” he laughed darkly. “You’ll fetch a pretty price. Even if we all get a taste of you first.”
“Big words from a guy who’s about to be a few teeth short of a full smile,” she countered, proud of how steady her hand was on her shock stick.
He laughed at her again. “You’re going to squeal so pretty.”
“I was just thinking the same thing.”
He charged. Grinning wide, fangs on full display. Four arms reached for her, like a trap coming to wrap around from all sides.
Garnet turned, bringing up the nozzle of the cleaning spray gun. She pulled the trigger, sending a fragrant blast of cleaning chemicals straight into his eyes, his nose, his open mouth. She’d gotten some into her mouth by accident while cleaning. It might have a delicate fragrance, but the effect on the moist skin of the mouth and nose was more akin to pepper spray or bleach. It wasn’t quite that painful, but it was similar, and the guy rushing for her let out a roar of agony as he stumbled back, wiping desperately at his face.
Garnet took that moment to swing the club down and back, then up in a low arc.
The stun stick cracked right into his balls, totally unprotected since he was only focused on his face. The resulting scream was super high pitched considering his size. He fell to his knees, thighs clenched together, glaring at her through now unnaturally bright red, irritated eyes.
“You…vekting…” He snarled, drooling through his agony. “I’m going to rape you until your cunt is ripped and bleeding.”
Garnet snarled, disgusted, as she brought the bat back again. “You just said the magic words. I believe I promised to take a few of your teeth.”
Dropping the spray nozzle, she grabbed the shock stick with both hands. She pulled it back over her shoulder like she was in the batting cages, trying for a home run. She picked up a foot and put her whole body into the second swing.
