“You don’t seem to understand—this girl has a deformity.” The doctor spoke clearly and distinctly, as though to a slow child he was trying to explain things to. “I am taking her back to my office to fix her. To help her.”
“Yeah, well it doesn’t look to me like she wants your help.” Raak stepped forward. “Come on—give her up.”
Angrily, Dr. ThrobGood dropped Kara’s arm and shoved her away from him. She would have fallen flat on her face if Raak—moving with amazing speed—hadn’t caught her and swung her into his arms.
“This is an outrage!” The doctor’s fruity voice trembled with anger. “You cannot get away with this! You’ll be expelled from this grotto at once!”
“Oh yeah? You go ahead and try,” Raak growled.
“I’ll do more than that. I am one of the guardians of this grotto and I have the means to defend it!” Dr. ThrobGood declared, his voice echoing with righteous rage.
Cradled against the side of Raak’s chest, Kara could still see the doctor standing beside Grennly, who was still crouched on the floor. Dr. ThrobGood was fumbling inside his furry orange tharp-kilt as though looking for something in an inner pocket. When he got it out, she saw a long, tubular piece of silver with a mouthpiece at one end.
What is that? she thought fuzzily. Some kind of dog whistle?
She got her answer shortly. Putting the silver tube to his lips, Dr. ThrobGood blew a long, loud, shrill blast which echoed all up and down the Central Corridor.
“Help!” he shouted. “Rouse out! Come to the Central Corridor—there is an intruder who must be expelled! The safety of the grotto is imperiled. Rouse out!”
Raak stiffened.
“Oh shit,” Kara heard the big warrior rumble. Then he pulled her closer to his chest. “Hang on, baby girl—I think we better get out of here or we’re in for a world of hurt.”
Kara couldn’t say anything, couldn’t do anything since the paralysis of the drug was now complete. As the citizens of the grotto started tumbling out of their domiciles, all armed and looking for trouble, she thought she had never felt more helpless. All she could do was hope that Raak could save them both as the big Unbondable turned and ran with her in his arms.
Eleven
“We’re in the shit now,” Raak remarked as he ran down the access tunnel, Kara still clutched in his arms. He didn’t know if he was talking more to her or himself. Whatever they had given her—and he was certain the so-called doctor had definitely given her something—had made her nearly inert. She wasn’t a small female but luckily Raak was strong and he had no trouble keeping ahead of the angry mob that was now chasing them, even carrying her in his arms.
Still, there was going to be trouble when they got out into the sub-zero temperatures of the Tranq Prime night. Being half Y’lyn, he had self-heating blood which would keep him from freezing to death but he knew Kara didn’t. Plus, she was only wearing a skimpy blue garment which barely covered her body, leaving her extremities bare. She was in no shape to go out in the bitter cold.
Yet he was afraid he didn’t have a choice. The mob behind him was getting closer and by their yells and shouts, they were out for blood. He had to make a decision—either risk Kara’s life outside on the trip between the grotto and his ship or let her be taken by the mob.
Raak knew what he was going to do—he couldn’t give her back to those bastards who had been dragging her like dead weight down the hallway of the grotto. He had to take a risk—he was pretty sure it was what Kara would want him to do. He had seen the fear in her eyes when he asked if she was there of her own free will and he had heard the desperation in her voice when she called out.
They would just have to risk it.
“Hold on, baby girl,” he told her as he came to the grotto’s exit—the same door they had entered by just a few hours before. “It’s going to be fucking cold out there but I’ll get you to my ship as soon as possible. Okay?”
Of course she couldn’t answer but the shouts of the mob were getting closer. Taking a deep breath, Raak shouldered open the heavy door and plunged out into the freezing night.
Cold…she was so cold. The wind howled around them, pounding them with stinging pieces of ice, making Kara’s hair whip around her face crazily. The bitter freezing chill knifed at her lungs every time she drew breath and made her face—the only part of her that wasn’t completely numb already—sting and throb. It was easily the worst weather she’d ever been out in—like some kind of a super chilled category 5 hurricane.
Raak’s own long black hair was whipping around his head like a flag but he didn’t hesitate a moment. The second they were out the door, he clutched Kara tighter and began to run, his feet crunching in the icy snow that covered the ground.
Though she was still feeling stunned from the drug, Kara couldn’t help marveling at the big warrior’s sheer speed and power. He was sprinting over the frozen ground as easily as another man might run on a level, even track on a sunshiny day. And her own weight—considerable though it was since she was both tall and curvy—didn’t seem to slow him down a bit.
It was as though he was running a race—but a race against who? It appeared that the angry mob had been left behind in the grotto. Which made sense—who wanted to come out in weather like
