The female smiled, and the sight was one of the worst things I’d ever seen in my life. That smile was pure death, plain and simple. Brutality she didn’t even try to hide. These aliens were seriously messed up. Cunning. Ruthless. “No problem, Doctor. I shall take care of that right now.”
His title sounded more like a taunt than a show of respect, but my head was still reeling. What the hell was going on? I stopped fighting the bonds and watched.
Helion turned to Bahre, who still held Cerberus off the ground by his neck. “Put him down, Bahre. Jillela will take it from here.”
“He must die.” Bahre’s deep voice filled the room like thunder.
“Agreed.” Jillela’s single word was like a vow. “Give him to me, Warlord. He’s mine.”
Bahre didn’t move for long seconds and I wondered how hard it was for him to follow Doctor Helion’s order.
I watched the lines of Bahre’s neck tense, his shoulders shake with rage. Cerberus squeaked in pain, as if Bahre had tightened his grip. He was fighting his beast and I had a feeling the beast was winning. “He didn’t touch me, Bahre. You killed Lukabo. It’s okay. Let her have him. I’m safe but I don’t like this. Put him down and get me out of here.”
Helion looked pointedly at the Cerberus female. Okay, so Cerberus was the name of the guy Bahre held, but also the name of the legion. He was in charge so he’d taken on that name. Like Styx had with the Styx Legion. And now this crazy lady with fangs wanted to kill Cerberus so she could be the new Cerberus.
Aliens were devious and insane. That was all I had. I wanted Bahre to crush the guy’s skull, too, on behalf of all women in the universe. But then, it appeared the female Jillela wanted to kill him to. Which was fine with me.
“Let her have him. She hates him, too.” Jillela looked from Cerberus to me. When our gazes locked, I knew I was right. She was big and scary, but she was a woman who had been mistreated and was ready to take back her power. “She really hates him.”
Jillela smiled at me and this time I smiled back. “Yes, I do.”
“And Jillela,” Dr. Helion continued. “You will owe me a favor. Do not forget.”
She scoffed. “I am not Coalition. We follow the code.”
“Witnessed and respected,” Styx and Blade said at the same time as they came out of nowhere. Jillela nodded at the leader of one of the other legions. It must have been a Rogue 5 thing. God, so confusing!
“I should have known you would be here,” she said to them, slowly shaking her head.
Styx gave her a casual shrug, as if they were friends instead of what seemed like enemies. “Perhaps with this scum gone, Styx Legion can once again conduct business with Cerberus.”
“Of course.” Jillela looked at Bahre. “Well, Warlord? I give you my word I will kill him myself.”
Bahre growled, clearly fighting himself. I didn’t know Helion, but his plan all along had been to get Cerberus and see him dead. He wouldn’t go through all this and let him go free. There was a reason Jillela was going to do the killing. I just didn’t know why.
It was over though. Cerberus was caught. He would no longer go after women. He’d be dead. Bahre had done his job. I was safe.
“Bahre, it’s okay,” I said. “Let Jillela have this one. Just get me out of here.” My voice sounded small and soft and very female after all the growling and posturing and grumbling that had been going on. The dead bodies on the floor were still bleeding, pools of blood forming and congealing around the edges, the smell not what I was expecting. There was blood, and then there was alien blood. The room reeked of it, but it didn’t have a metallic tang. It was too sweet and almost herbal. Like ginger or basil flavored blood. It was making me sick.
“Bahre.” He must have heard the distress in my voice. He turned, took one look at me, and threw Cerberus across the room. The alien’s back hit the wall at shoulder level before he slumped to the ground.
“Gods be damned, Bahre,” Helion protested.
Bahre shrugged. “I put him down.”
Jillela laughed. The other fanged Hyperion—the one who hadn’t been sliced dead with a sharp blade—stepped into my view for the first time as he leaned over Cerberus and checked him. He looked to Jillela. “He’s alive.”
“Not for long,” she vowed. She walked over to the fallen leader of her legion, then looked at her friend. Ally? Whatever he was. He pulled out a comm device and held it up. Jillela looked into the comm and spoke clearly and slowly. “Cerberus is dead by my hand. I am now Cerberus. Anyone who wishes to challenge me as legion leader is welcome to die.”
She pointed her weapon at Cerberus—the blue one barely conscious on the floor—and killed him with a head shot between the eyes. I gasped at the action. She looked back up into the camera. “I am Cerberus.”
She nodded at her friend, and he lowered the comm.
Holy shit. Brutal didn’t even come close. And she’d recorded it?
“Bahre.” I was so done with these people. I was going to have nightmares forever. “Bahre. Get me out of here. Please. Get me out of here now.”
Jillela had killed Cerberus to take his place. So now she was Cerberus. She stepped over the corpse, looked at the other two dead on the floor, and glanced up at Helion. “You’ll take care of the
