Ovation (Galaxy Circus #9)

Chapter 28

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Lila

X avier waves a hand and freezes the three we want to save as the rest of them open fire on us. My guys engage the enemy, and I know it’s only a matter of time before they are victorious, but I’m worried about stray bullets taking out the three frozen captives. I’m almost certain Xavier’s magic isn’t going to stop them from dying if a bullet hits them.

“Come on, we need to protect the ones that need to be questioned,” I call to Ghosie. We use telekinesis to move them together, and then I wrap a magical shield around them, hoping that will protect them

Suddenly, there is a blinding pain in my shoulder, and I scream, knowing I’ve been hit or stabbed. I reach for the wound, and my fingers come away bloody.

Ghosie roars and starts to vibrate, and then he begins to grow. I lose all interest in my wound as I watch in awe as he grows rapidly bigger, bursting out of his armor. His fur becomes longer, shaggier, and brighter, and it’s almost like he’s hulking out. His muscles bulge, his mouth fills with huge teeth, and his claws become monstrous. He swipes at the person who injured me, and I hear a wet squelch. When I whirl around, there is nothing left but a lump of mangled flesh at my feet. I gag and sway a little, the pain in my shoulder spreading through my body.

“Lila,” Ghosie roars, and I feel him pick me up. This must be how Ann felt when King Kong carried her to the top of the Empire State Building. I’m but a mere flea compared to his bulk.

“Oh my god.” The pain in my body starts to morph into pleasure, and I begin to squirm in his arms. Shit, his fur is doing its thing, and I am going to beg him to fuck me within moments. In this state, he would rip me in half. Hell, I didn’t even know he had this form. I don’t think anyone did. I turn to call for help from my other mates, and they are staring at Ghosie in awe.

“Easy, buddy, you did well, and she’s safe, but we need to check out her wound. Her having an orgasm right now isn’t optimal.” Tirrian tries to talk the bear down, his rolling growl running through my body where I’m pressed against his chest.

“There’s always time for orgasms,” I pant as all rational thought leaves my mind.

“You’re going to have to knock him out,” Zeydan shouts at Xavier. I want to warn Ghosie, but I feel Xavier take control of my mind.

Sorry, my sweet. I know what you were going to do, he apologizes inside my head, and I curse him creatively. He laughs as some of the sex fog clears now that he’s controlling my body.

I can’t see what’s happening clearly, but when I turn my head, it looks like Xavier passes a needle to Zeydan and one to Saxon. Huh, I guess he must have had more than one, which makes sense if Brannock was in berserker mode. One probably wouldn’t do the trick, or maybe he was prepared to sedate any of us.

“How about you put our girl down so we can take a look at that wound on her shoulder?” Brannock asks Ghosie, holding up his hands in a nonthreatening way.

“You told us how much you hate getting blood in your fur, and she’s bleeding all over you,” Tirrian chimes in.

Steady, Lila, Xavier croons in my mind as I start to squirm in Ghosie’s arms again. You are bleeding quite badly. We really need to get that wound looked at. I’m thinking maybe the knives are coated with whatever the bullet was made of, because you aren’t healing like you should be.”

“I was stabbed?” I shout, and Ghosie tightens his grip on me, holding me closer to his body.

“Now!” Saxon shouts, and Ghosie flinches before letting out an ear-splitting roar. Within moments, I feel his hold on me loosen and Brannock lunges and snatches me out of his arms as he falls to his knees and then flat on his face, out cold.

“Ghosie,” I mumble, reaching for him as Xavier frees my mind, but the drugging effect of his fur is wearing off, and the pain from my wound returns.

“Ow, fuck, that hurts,” I grumble as Brannock places me on the ground and peels down the top of my armor so he can take a good look at the wound.

I grit my teeth as he pokes around in it, but it’s like lightning striking me, and I can’t stop the scream that escapes.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see beings staring out of the small windows in the locked door. Thank goodness I have a sports bra on, otherwise everyone would be getting a good look at the girls.

My guys surround me, and they are all blocked from view.

“Yeah, just as I expected, it isn’t healing. Drag one of those live ones over here, will you?” Brannock says over his shoulder, and Saxon crouches down with us.

“I can feed her,” he offers, but Zeydan shakes his head.

“No, you only just recovered from your own injury. She can drain a human or two, and if that doesn’t work, she can drink from each of us.” He points to Xavier, Brannock, and himself. Tirrian’s out because he fed Saxon, and we don’t want to over tax him, and Ghosie’s out because his blood is now filled with sedative.

Saxon grumbles but concedes quickly, so he must still feel pretty crappy, even though he won’t admit it.

“There’s blood in the fridges,” a voice says from somewhere, and when I look around, Xavier has unfrozen the male scientist who hadn’t wanted to be there. “We have two Vilaxians in the breeding rooms, and there’s a child in the soldier program. We have to keep him well fed so he doesn’t attack the other soldiers.” He looks kind of green when he says this, and I gasp in horror.

“Get them,” Brannock demands, his eyes blazing.

Xavier releases the man, and he hurries over to some industrial-sized fridges and grabs an armful of blood bags before returning to me.

“These are all taken from the captives. We found that human blood was too weak to sustain the vampires.” He passes them to Xavier, not wanting to get too close to any of the others.

I don’t blame him. He’s being smart, and it may keep him alive. Xavier brings them over to me, and I pierce a hole in the top of the first bag, draining it. It’s tasty but not as tasty as one of my guys. I drain two more bags, and I feel my wound start to heal, but it’s still sluggish.

Brannock passes me the last bag of blood, and I stare at it in wonder. It looks like it has glitter flakes floating in it. I pierce my fang through it and slurp it down, and I just about burst out of my skin. Holy fuckety fuck.

Power zings through my body, and I jolt in surprise, looking at Zeydan. I haven’t drunk from him yet, but I bet this is what his blood feels like. It’s fucking powerful.

“Wow, look at that wound heal,” Tirrian mumbles behind me.

“I’ve never seen something heal so fast. That must be very powerful blood.”

Zeydan frowns and takes the empty bag out of my hand, peering at the label. “Subject twenty-three, female. Species unknown. Who did this blood come from?” He shakes the bag at the scientist, who shrinks back in fear.

“One of the females. No matter how much she was tortured, she never divulged anything, much to Agent Smith’s disgust,” he sneers, his own repugnance at Smith evident. “The weird thing is, anyone else probably would have died from the torture, but she just kept regenerating. They talked about decapitating her and shredding her heart, but they didn’t want to risk that she wouldn’t regenerate. She’s a favorite and has been forcibly bred. Smith desperately wanted an army of invincible soldiers.”

“She was raped?” Tirrian growls, and the man visibly shakes.

“Yes, but there was only one alien male who volunteered for the job. All the other male captives were repulsed by the suggestion, and some of the guards also had a go. She is very attractive and doesn’t seem to have any strange body parts. They said it was no hardship.”

“She didn’t fight back?” Saxon sounds ill, and the scientist shakes his head.

“She was restrained, and we have a chemical that blocks alien powers.”

“Who was this male?” I ask, wriggling in Brannock’s arms so he will let me stand. I feel fucking amazing—homicidal but amazing—and now I want to know who to aim my divine wrath at.

“He’s in the next breeding block, through that door. He looks just like him.” He points at Brannock. “But, well, with his anatomy, we couldn’t allow him to destroy the breeding stock. The only reason Smith let him was because the female healed the damage the male did when he found his release.”

“Oh my god.” I feel sick. That poor female. She would have been ripped to shreds. Hell, I’m ripped to shreds, but my body is made for it, and it feels good. It must have been pure torture.

Brannock roars, and his body switches from his normal form to his berserker form, and all the other guys back out of the way.

“Oh fuck, Lila, you have to do something, or he will kill everyone in sight,” Xavier shouts at me as Tirrian drags Ghosie out of the path of Brannock’s rage.

“But what? Only fucking worked last time. I can’t do that now,” I shout.

“Fucking or fighting,” Saxon shouts. “Quick, which way to the male who participated in the rape,” he demands of the scientist.

“Through the next door, there’s another room like this. He’s in breeding room twenty-six. He is on his own at the moment because he can’t be trusted with any of the other females.”

Brannock roars and starts heading for the two frozen captives.

“Lila, we need those two alive. Distract him.” Zeydan goes to step in front of Brannock, but he just bats him away like he’s an annoying fly. Zeydan, eyes wide with surprise, flies through the air and slams against one of the breeding room doors with a thud. He groans as he slides down it, looking dazed when he stops.

I wave a hand, and my armor disappears, leaving me naked. I let my Aaz’axian form wash over me and jump in front of my rampaging mate, drawing his attention.

“Whoa, what is she?” I hear the scientist ask, but everyone ignores him in our desperate need to deal with the rampaging alien.

“How do we open the cell?” Tirrian asks, running through the medical facility to open the far door.

“His handprint.” He points at the frozen guard. Saxon doesn’t fuck around, he draws his sword and slices off the man’s hand, catching it before it can hit the ground.

“Here.” He holds it out to me.

“Fuck no,” I shout.

“Toss it to me,” Tirrian calls, and Saxon yeets the hand across the room. It flies like a bullet, and Tirrian snatches it out of the air, the droplets of blood landing on the spotless white floors and pristine metal benches.

“Go, Lila, go! I’ll stay here and keep an eye on Ghosie until he comes around,” Xavier commands, and I back away from berserker Brannock, knowing it’s going to trigger his predatory instincts. Sure enough, he bellows loudly and comes at me.

I squeak and run, my surroundings a blur at my speed, but I reach the next breeding room and screech to a halt. Tirrian has already used the hand to open cell twenty-six. Another male Aaz’axian steps out. He’s in his natural form, and his color is duller than Brannock’s, but he has one of those control collars around his neck. I bet this is the asshole who gave up Brannock and Chloe. Karma really is a glorious bitch.

His eyes lock on me and widen before narrowing with undisguised greedy glee. “A female. They found me a female. Get over here, bitch, so I can ruin your cunt. I won’t have to wait for the little one to get older,” he demands. Is he talking about Chloe? Oh fuck, I’m tempted to attack the male myself, but an ear-splitting howl sounds out from behind me.

“Mine,” Brannock screams and steps between me and the other male.

The glee in the male’s face vanishes, and I see him swallow nervously. “Brannock?” he asks, but Brannock has lost all reason. He charges the male, swiping with his claws. The male doesn’t even get a chance to raise his hands to defend himself before his stomach is eviscerated. His innards become his outers, and his screams are horrifying as Brannock slashes and claws him until there’s nothing left that is recognizable. He turns to me, his body covered in blood, and starts to stalk toward me.

“Damn it, Lila, do something,” Tirrian says. “Why didn’t that appease the berserker?”

“He’s moved onto the fuck portion of the schedule,” I say, not taking my eyes off him. “I’m going to try to distract him. I hope this works, otherwise we’re going to put on quite a show for the viewers.” I slide my eyes to the doors, and sure enough, I see other beings watching. Some look terrified, but others seem to cheer us on.

“Brannock, you need to calm down,” I tell him, holding out my hands. “Chloe needs you.” I hope her name will snap him from his rage. He stops, and I hold my breath.

“We need to find Chloe,” I repeat, and he shakes his head, and his whole body twitches. His berserker form melts away, leaving him blinking with confusion at his bloody state. Changing forms is disorienting when coming down from a berserker rage.

He looks down at the mess of flesh at his feet. “Relgrael,” he snarls and spits on the remains. “I guess I got my revenge.”

“And then some,” Tirrian mutters as he pushes off the wall. “Let’s go talk to the scientists and find out where the cells for the children are. I’m ready to burn this facility to the ground and be done with it.”

I go to hug Brannock but stop, not wanting to cover myself in gore. “And let’s find you a shower. We don’t want Chloe seeing you like this when you’re reunited.”

The three of us walk back the way we came, silent and lost in our own worlds. This is really unacceptable, and if the Galactic Council was to learn about this, I’m pretty sure they would go full Independence Day on the Earth. We need to find a way to deal with this and get the outcome we need. I’ll have to ask the guys for advice. They are all diplomats, after all, so I may as well make use of their skills.