Bastien bit back a grin. For them to not be siblings, the two acted as if they’d shared a room since birth. And he could see the love they had for one another beneath those barbs they traded. If anyone threatened Darice, Thia would be the first one to gut them.
“Thanks, Thia. You’ll take good care of the guys while I’m gone, right?” Sumi fastened her helmet before Dancer rechecked her harness and sling.
She sighed heavily, but said nothing about his paranoia.
“Absolutely. Be safe.” Thia kissed her cheek then moved to stand beside Dancer.
Sumi inclined her head to them and clapped Darice on the arm. “Ready, champ?”
“I’m your belay slave, mu tara. Acrena tu.”
“He said after you,” Thia translated.
“Thanks.” She led the way to the approach.
Dancer watched as Sumi and Darice began the climb.
Thia put her arm around his waist while he watched them. “It’ll be fine, Uncle Hauk. You’ll see.”
He smiled down at her.
Bastien distracted himself with checking and rebandaging his injuries. Damn, he missed his family. What he wouldn’t give to scandalize them one more time. To hear his sister’s strident voice as she called for his parents to “sanction” him for abusing her dignity. Or Quin to ride his ass for being an embarrassment to their gene pool.
“One day, Bas, you’re going to have kids. Are these really the stories you want floating around whenever you try to discipline them?”
“Well, Sa, I would behave, but at my age I hear you were neck-deep in a whorehouse, inciting riots.”
Grinding his teeth against the agony in his heart, Bastien turned his back on the others.
Once they were out of sight, Dancer finally returned to sit and watch them through the scope in Sumi’s rifle.
Bastien shook his head at the Andarion’s actions. But then, he’d be even worse with his woman and nephew.
While Dancer watched, Thia went to gather rocks for her little brothers who’d been left at home. Apparently, that was the memento they wanted from the trip.
“So who was the first mother hen? You or Fain?”
He dropped the scope to glare at Bastien. “Meaning?”
“You two are so much alike. It’s actually scary.”
Dancer didn’t comment. And as Sumi and Darice vanished completely from his sight, he cocked his head. “What was that?”
Bastien scratched at his chin, wishing he had a decent razor. “What?”
“That sound?”
“I don’t hear anything.”
Thia stood. “I do.… Someone’s coming.”
Dancer moved to draw his blaster, but before he could, three darts went into his chest.
Bastien went for his. Like Dancer, he was hit before he could reach his weapons. The paralytic was fast and vicious. Within a few heartbeats, everything went black.
CHAPTER 8
Bastien came awake with a foul curse to find himself inside a steel cage with Dancer and two other human men he’d never seen before.
And of course, Dancer appeared to be in the middle of a fight with a human female who stood outside the cage holding a long electrified pole. Two similarly dressed women were behind her.
“See.” She balanced the pole on her shoulder and swept her gaze over the other two women. “And we have a problem. Andarions eat humans. Raw. Leave him in that cage and he’ll devour the others.”
Bastien laughed at the thought as the two men behind him began to whimper and whine like babies.
Dancer ignored them. “Let me go and I’ll leave here without any drama.”
The blonde woman tsked at him. “It doesn’t work that way, cutie. You have too big a bounty on your head. Eat the others if you must. You’re worth a lot more than they are.”
Bastien arched a brow at her nonchalant offer. Fabulous. They were assassins as well as slavers. Just what they needed. Only good news was that they hadn’t realized Bastien was worth as much, if not more, than Dancer.
Dancer glared at the women. “I will get out of here, and when I do—”
“Don’t make me kill you, Andarion. While you have one hell of a bounty on your head, I’m thinking there are a lot of people who’d pay a fortune to have an Andarion slave.” She raked his body with a hungry smirk. “Now be a really good boy and I might send you off with a smile on your face.”
He exposed his fangs to her. “You’re really going to let me eat your heart?”
She scoffed. “Watch them, Pheara!”
Dancer grabbed the bars over his head and used his entire body weight to kick at the door again.
Bastien cringed and braced himself for impact as he realized what Dancer intended.
The other two women took three more steps back.
Eyes wide, the woman named Pheara gulped. “I don’t think that’s going to hold him, Telise.”
“If he kicks it open, blast the shit out of him. Price-wise, given the scars and wounds already on him, it won’t matter if he’s banged up a bit more.”
Dancer took that insult with a roar. He pressed his face between the bars to glare at Telise. “When I get out of here, I’m going to feast on your organs.”
She pressed the prod to his stomach and blasted him.
Dancer growled and somehow managed to stay on his feet, glaring at her.