That succeeded in putting fear in the harita’s eyes.
Unsettled, she stepped back and turned toward her friends. She handed the prod to the smaller of the two. “If he gets out, open fire and call for backup.”
Oh yeah, ’cause that always worked. Especially against an Andarion.
Dancer fanged them again. “Hey!” he called to the two who eyed him like the vicious predator he was. “There was a woman with me. Where is she?”
Pheara cleared her throat. “We took her weapons and left her where she fell. Why? Is she yours?”
“My niece, and if any harm comes to her, I swear by every god who protects Andaria that I will rain down a hell on you so severe you will beg me for the mercy of death.” He kicked the door again.
They backed up.
“I’m going for more guards.” Pheara took off running, leaving the other woman to watch them with a bug-eyed stare that would be hysterical if Bastien wasn’t so enraged.
Dancer turned toward the men behind him. They shrank away from him as if terrified he really would eat one of them. Dancer grimaced at the typical human reaction to his kind.
Bastien shook his head at their unwarranted fear. “Don’t worry. We fed him earlier. He’s not hungry. Right, Hauk?”
He glared sullenly at them all. “Feeling a bit peckish, suddenly.”
That only frightened them more.
Bastien sighed at his irascible companion. Must be an Andarion thing. Fain was the same way, and Jullien set the universe’s record for the shortest fuse—as most likely to agitate any situation, anywhere, anytime.
Returning to the door, Dancer eyed the woman with menace. When he went to kick it again, Bastien stopped him. “Why don’t we try something a little less violent and more productive, my large Andarion friend?”
Dancer scoffed. “Blood. Mayhem. Violence. That’s my go-to happy place.”
His too, but right now that seemed like a profoundly bad and highly unproductive idea that might get one or both of them tranqued again. And given how badly Bastien’s head hurt, he wasn’t keen on taking another hit of their sleeping juice. “How ’bout we try to find a new one?”
“Such as?”
He plucked a wire out of his cuff that he kept for just such rare occasions. “Picking the lock.”
“I’d rather kick it open.”
“You would.” Bastien snorted. “How ’bout we save it for beating on our captors?”
Ignoring him, Hauk kicked the door again.
Bastien jumped back as he saw the dart come flying toward them. It struck Dancer in his arm.
And was quickly followed by three more.
To his credit, Dancer glared at the women who joined the first one. He fought against the drug’s effects with everything he had, but in the end, he blacked out.
Bastien tsked at him. “And that’s why I said don’t do it. Don’t envy you the headache you’ll be having when you wake up … dumbass.”
*
Dancer came to again, cursing life and everyone in it. Most of all, he cursed the irritated smirk on Bastien’s face as he eyed him from where he lay on the ground beside him.
“Told you not to kick that door, didn’t I?”
Dancer ignored his sarcastic taunt. But the expression on his face said he wanted to make Bastien eat his own teeth.
He tried to move, only to discover that he, like Bastien, was in the middle of their camp, on his belly and hogtied. All courtesy of the little fit the Andarion had thrown. They’d also chained their hands to their feet behind their backs.
If I get out of this alive, Hauk, I’m so going to kick your ass.
With a lot of help.
Growling, Dancer tried to break free.
Bastien rolled his eyes. Like that was going to work … and like he hadn’t already had his own hissy fit and learned it was a bad idea. Hence their current undignified situation. “Calm down, Hauk. All you’re going to do is hurt yourself.”
He glared at Bastien. “If you want to see exactly how angry someone can get, tell them to calm down when they’re already pissed off!” Bellowing, he tried his best to break free.
Bastien arched a brow at his insistence on being stupid. “Is that helping? I just gotta know.”
“When I get loose, Cabarro, your ass is the first one I’m kicking.”
“Oh good. Hope you get out soon. Been a while since I had a good ass-kicking.” Bastien made a kissy face at him.
“Says the man who’s so bruised, he looks like a two-year-old banana.”
“Now that’s just mean and hurtful.”
“Telise! He’s awake again.”
She moved forward and kicked Dancer in the face.
Bastien cringed at that particular brand of imbecile. “I wouldn’t do that,” he warned. “Don’t motivate the Andarion for murder. It ain’t going to work out well for any of us. ’Specially me, since mine’s the first ass he’s planning to come after. Let’s all calm down, people.”
Dancer licked at the blood on his lips as he grimaced at the harita through his braids.
“Learned anything yet?” she asked him.