Adrik (Titans #1)

Chapter 8

Arms crossed, smirk on his lips, Adrik tried to hide his amusement as Kaze updated him on what he’d gleaned from interviewing the females.

Using a cloth to dab again at his bleeding lip, Kaze glanced down at the neon green stain and hissed, “Mean as a Luveskian dragon!”

At that, Adrik huffed a humorous sound. Apparently, Ember wasn’t the only one among the females who wasn’t afraid to challenge the Titans.

“She struck me,” Kaze groused, frowning hard. “For no reason. Maybe she’s defective. Perhaps we should purge her in a life pod and wish her the best.”

Rolling his eyes, Adrik uncrossed his arms. “So that’s it? They were kidnapped and sold to what sounds like the Kitness species before being traded to the Ziefers?”

Kaze shrugged, his attention on the bloody cloth in his hand. “That’s what the Dragoness claims.”

Adrik smiled at Kaze’s nickname for the female who’d hit him.

“Obaida won’t permit me to put any of them in the integrity chamber. He’s still checking them over. The small one isn’t well. Obaida says she’s extremely malnourished and dehydrated. He’s not certain she’ll survive.”

That had Adrik scowling. “The others may have taken her food and drink because she’s the weakest. Many species treat runts this way.”

Fisting the bloody cloth, Kaze shook his head. “No, they tried to nourish her, but she refused. The Dragoness said Ember would even force the sick one, Kyan, to drink when she went too long without. They weren’t trying to kill her. It would seem she was trying to harm herself.”

That knowledge was startling. Why would women sent on a mission to infiltrate a Titan warship starve themselves to death? Perhaps if they were forced into the action, it’d make sense.

Eyes narrowing on Kaze, Adrik demanded, “What else did you learn?” He desperately wanted to hear more about Ember but knew that any questions about her specifically wouldn’t go unnoticed by Kaze.

“They aren’t soldiers.”

“And you believe that?” Adrik asked.

“Yeah,” Kaze admitted. “I do. The ill one and the youngest, Nova, put up zero resistance. Nova has been cowering in fear since being removed from her sisters. She is not a warrior. And The Dragoness didn’t throw her punch correctly. She injured herself when she attacked me. Soldiers would know basic hand-to-hand combat.”

Adrik’s lips tipped up in a mocking grin, “And yet she injured you as well.”

Frowning hard, Kaze ignored the jab. “Obaida is working on the sick one now. After he fixed the Dragoness’s hand, I threw her into one of the guest cabins.”

Brows wining up, Adrik asked, “Not back into one of the holding cells?”

One of the perks of being a dark Titan was that the hue currently staining Kaze’s face would never be detected on Adrik.

“Obaida said the cargo hold is too cold. These weak females cannot regulate their temperature like us. The guest quarters are warmer.”

Adrik agreed with Kaze’s reasoning but knew that wasn’t the only reason Kaze had put the female in a guest cabin. Titans were drawn to females who exhibited similar personalities, traits, and habits as them. Because Kaze was second-in-command, he’d endured more hand-to-hand battle training than the others. He’d be drawn immediately to a female who punched first and asked questions later.

“So, one’s sick and being examined by Obaida, yours is in guest quarters, Ember is still in the holding cell in the cargo bay, and where is the last one? Nova was it?”

Kaze nodded. “Yes, her name is Nova. And…”

When Kaze stalled there, Adrik grew suspicious. “And what?” he demanded, feeling trepidation creeping through him.

“And we were all busy, so I’ve got Pitch guarding her.”

Expression going dark, Adrik growled low, “He’ll kill her!”

“No,” Kaze quickly explained. “I put her in Pitch’s quarters, he’s outside guarding the door, so she doesn’t escape.”

That had Adrik’s face blanking before fury claimed him and had him thundering, “You put a human in Pitch’s personal quarters?”

As Kaze opened his mouth to respond, Adrik spun to face the viewscreen and boomed, “Tyrate, show me monitors, Level Dread.”

The Cressida was a warship made up of five levels. The top-level, Level Commander, housed Adrik’s quarters and the bridge. Level Second housed Kaze’s quarters as well as the ship’s holding cells, and interrogation and torture rooms. Level three was Level Med. It housed Obaida and the medical bay. The fourth level was Level Bay, which housed the ship’s equipment bay and guest chambers. The lowest level, Level Dread, housed Pitch’s quarters, the docking bay and cargo hold, and the Cressida’s power subsystems.

Instantly, the viewscreen shifted from system monitoring to show the live feeds from Level Dread, Pitch’s level of the ship. On the screen, Pitch was outside the door to his quarters. Arms braced on either side of the door as he leaned in, his ear pressed to the iron door.

“Tyrate, show me Pitch’s quarters.”

The live feed blinked and then switched to a view of Pitch’s chambers. As battle Titans, they were accustomed to a Spartan lifestyle. Only the barest of necessities filled the room. An eating area was set up against one wall, it consisted of a metal table with one metal chair, both bolted to the floor. There was a sitting area that housed a long couch with a table in front of it. This was for visitors, but none of the Titans had ever been invited into Pitch’s quarters. Two doors on one wall led respectively to Pitch’s resting place and his sanitization station. Resting places held only a bed, a closet, and any personal effects brought by Titans from their home world.

Scanning the screen, Adrik’s gaze went from the feed linked to each room. Eyes narrowed; he inched forward. “Where is she?”

Beside him, Kaze stepped forward too. “There!” He pointed at the screen, but Adrik saw nothing.

“Where?”

“Beneath Pitch’s bed.”

Adrik’s gaze sharpened, and he waited. It took only a moment before he saw a slight movement beneath Pitch’s bed. “What is she doing?”

“I think she’s hiding.”

“Hiding?From what?”

“Us,” Obaida answered as he stepped onto the bridge, joining Adrik and Kaze.

Both Adrik and Kaze turned to face the ship Medicus.

“They’re afraid of us,” Obaida explained.

Kaze snorted, “Well who wouldn’t be?”

“They don’t know that we aren’t enemies,” Obaida stated, giving Kaze a dark look.

“We don’t know that they aren’t enemies,” Adrik countered.

“You can’t be serious,” Kaze snorted, gesturing to the screen. “Look at her. She’s terrified.”

Turning, Adrik mocked “Was your Dragoness terrified?”

Obaida interrupted before Kaze could respond. “I think they’re like us.”

“How so?” Adrik asked.

“The mean one,” Obiada glanced at Kaze, “The Dragoness and the shadow female, Ember…”

Before he could finish the sentence, Adrik barked, “Stop calling her that! She’s not a shadow female. Refer to her as something else.”

Obaida shot Kaze a look and then continued. “The Dragoness and Ember protect the other two because they are younger and weaker. I believe Ember is their Commander, and the Dragoness is her second.”

Annoyed at himself for the outburst over how his men referred to Ember, Adrik still took advantage of her mention. “How did Ember react to her implant?”

Obaida and Kaze shot each other a look that had Adrik demanding, “What?”

“Ember is hyper vigilante now,” Kaze explained. “We were unable to remove her safely from the holding cell.”

Eyes narrowing to dangerous slits, Adrik growled, “What do you mean, safely ?”