A horribly familiar sight.
“No!” Garnet yelled, fear shooting straight through her as she brought her shopping bag up and around, aiming for his head.
He easily deflected the pathetic blow, ripping the bag straight from her hand and tossing it away. And now that she was no longer willingly going with him, his grip turned bruising as he grabbed for her with the other hand. Trying to cover her mouth before she could-
“Tan-!”
He succeeded, cutting off her shout for help and yanking her into his chest. His expression was cold and blank. He didn’t even seem bothered by her struggles as she dropped the cotton candy in favor of striking against him.
Nothing. It was like hitting a brick wall. Kicking did nothing but make her toe throb. She didn’t let his hand over her mouth stop her from yelling at him. Her muffled voice was completely unintelligible, but the vitriol pouring out of her didn’t need to be heard to be understood.
He whipped her around, hiding her from the view of the street. He kept her tight to his chest, using that one hand on her mouth to force her to stay there as he released her arm to reach for something on his belt. She didn’t know what it was, and she didn’t intend to find out.
With her other arm now free, she could grab her pretty new purple stun stick. She ripped it off her belt and, like Tanin had been teaching her, used her thigh to twist it on. She felt it beginning to warm in her hand as she stabbed it backwards.
This guy was clearly unprepared for her to be armed because he grunted, and his grip loosened. Just enough for her to yank her head free. She wasn’t fast enough to escape entirely, his fingers immediately clenching down, grabbing her by the hair.
But she was free enough to shout-
“TANIN!”
The guy yanked back on her hair, pulling her towards him. She turned so her back wasn’t facing him, her head bent forward thanks to the punishing grip he had on the strands.
He had something in his hand. A silver cannister that she didn’t consciously recognize, but made her belly seize in terror.
She didn’t know that thing, but some part of her recognized it. A part that hadn’t been capable of recording new memories after being hit with whatever was inside. A part that could put the familiar five eyed, black skinned male together with a situation she only remembered in flashes and sent a warning to the most primal part of her brain to be aware.
To be afraid.
To get away.
Garnet wasn’t feeling pain anymore. She was trying to strike him with her stun stick, but he was blocking it, using his forearm to catch her hand so that he wasn’t hit with the electrified part. She was only hurting herself, but so long as she was blocking him, he couldn’t spray that cloyingly sweet smelling thing in her face.
Because she knew it sprayed in her face. She knew what it did. She knew how it smelled. Even though she didn’t recognize it mentally, sheknew.
When she tried to bring the stick down again, he struck back. So, it wasn’t just the force of her own blow but his as well. He crushed her fingers against the bat, and she swore she heard them crunch. The weapon slipped from her hands, hitting the ground with a thud.
Leaving her open to that thing.
“Tanin!” She screamed again, yanking against the hold he had on her hair. Pulling agonizingly at her scalp, but she didn’t really register the pain.
Get away. She had to get away! Whatever it cost!
“Tan-ugh!”
A particularly hard yank sent her sprawling against the shinuk male’s chest. And there, right there, was the silver canister. Pointed at her nose. Her breath caught as her stomach turned like she was about to be sick.
No. Please, no. Please-!
A flash of red, bright and bold and beautiful, filled her vision. A silken ribbon caught around his wrist, the trailing end weighted just enough that it could swing around the male’s arm and catch him. The same color as Tanin’s eyes.
Tanin had come for her.
She looked over just as Tanin pulled, yanking the unknown male’s hand – and his cannister – away from her face.
She’s never seen anything more beautiful, or more dangerous, in that moment. The dim shadows of the alley covered them, but the bright lights of the street struck Tanin from behind, casting his features in shadow, leaving only the red gleam of his sharp eyes. His quills were up, their harsh points a crown piercing the air from his head. He held the end of the ribbon tightly in one hand, the other tightened into a fist, his knuckle claws jutting forward.
The easy calm from the ship was gone. The stern alertness from the streets was gone. The easygoing stoic male was gone.
