Page 147 of Galaxy Circus Act One

“I had no idea cyborgs were quite so resilient,” I mutter and wave a hand, setting the body parts on fire. Cas yelps and flings the burning head toward the other body parts. Josa still continues to scream and curse us as his body melts, but he’s still alive.

“Try zapping him with lightning. I mean, they are part technology. Maybe we need to fry him,” Cas offers, staring with fascination at the burning creature.

“Good thinking.” I wave a hand and send three bolts of lightning to each body part. This seems to do the trick. The bits convulse, and Josa’s screams finally cut off, his eyes going blank as everything stops moving.

“Thank goodness. His screams were becoming annoying,” Cas says, rubbing his ears with his fingers. Just to be safe, I use the same spell I used on Elyan and turn him to dust, finally disposing of the cyborg once and for all.

“Shall we?” I gesture out of my pocket reality, and Cas slaps me on the back.

“Best present ever. Thank you, brother mate.”

We leave the space and move toward the elevator to return to the ship so we can teleport down to earth, both of us eager to see Lila again.

“I look forward to claiming my favor.” I wink at him as I unfreeze the elevator, and it starts to move.

“What did you learn from his head?” Cas asks, leaning against the wall, the cyborg’s silver blood covering his torso. It looks quite pretty shimmering in the light.

“Hmm. I mainly searched for the deal he had with Deianira, but I also wanted to know about that puddle of goo he turned into. Apparently not all cyborgs can do that. Link’s mother hasbeen experimenting, and it’s something she added to his source programming.”

“I didn’t know they could do that. I thought once they were born, their source program was locked away to stop such things from occurring.” Cas sounds as surprised as I was.

“Yes, that’s supposed to be the case. Apparently, she has a work-around, but Josa didn’t know what,” I inform him, though I really would like to know. Hopefully I get a chance to dig around in her head for the information. It’s definitely a breach in cyborg security and could be a disaster in the wrong people’s hands.

“What about their deal?” Cas asks as the elevator comes to a stop. We step out, and his eyes widen in surprise when he sees we are on the level with the Aquilian pool. “What are we doing here?”

“I thought you could clean up before we go Earthside.” I point to his chest, and he looks down and grimaces when he sees the blood.

“Good idea.”

“Deianira wanted Josa to find something on the ship. It’s why she made it so he could slip through small cracks. They were searching for something, but she hadn’t told Josa exactly what yet. She just wanted to know if the Adams were hiding anything or had some secret safes or storage areas. Josa searched a lot of the ship but hadn’t been able to get close to their quarters yet without arousing suspicion. Marrying Link was apparently a way to get them to trust him better and give him access to everything like the doctor has.”

“So they hadn’t found what they were looking for?” Cas asks, moving to the edge of the platform.

“No, it didn’t seem so, but I don’t see how any of that information helps us.”

“No, probably not,” Cas agrees. “I’ll just clean up. I won’t be long,” he tells me before sliding into the water.

I lean against the elevator doors and ponder what I know. There is no point in telling the Adams brothers what I discovered. They have enough things to worry about at the moment, and Josa was unsuccessful. If Deianira becomes a problem later, then I will share what I know, but for now, they will just be satisfied that he is dead and gone and that our mate is protected once more. We just have the Vilaxians and the twins left to deal with, but I’ll leave Saxon and the Adams brothers to decide on their punishments. I got my satisfaction, and I want to share the joy of revenge. No one can ever accuse Xavier Colest of being a selfish brother mate or grandson-in-law.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Echo

My heart races as I hurry toward the exit of our den. I can’t wait to catch a glimpse of the little Earth girl again. I have no idea what draws me to her, but her scent is intoxicating, like sunshine and warmth, which we don’t ever get on Iceen. I just want to rub my body all over her so I can carry it on my skin no matter where I go.

“Echo, wait!” Maxsim’s bark has me screeching to a halt just before the exit of our den and shivering with desire at the same time. I love my big, growly kitty, and he would never use his alpha bark on me detrimentally.

When he catches up, I get a whiff of his fear, and I suddenly feel guilty. I realize what I’ve done, and I’m lucky that I didn’t get farther away from him than I did. He wraps an arm around me, and I sink into his warmth, relieved to have him next to me now that I’m thinking more clearly. How did thoughts of the Earth girl distract me so badly that I forgot about my safety?

That vicious beta bitch has been trying to kill me for months now. Ever since she walked in on us knotted and she realizedI’m an omegaandshe doesn’t stand a chance with Maxsim, she’s been hell-bent on trying to kill me. Her single-minded focus is scary and borderline obsessive, and only Maxsim’s strength, as well as the other three acting as a buffer, has kept her in check. If we can find more damning evidence to get rid of her, well, I’m all for it.

We leave our den, and the temperature program of our quarters has turned frigid. There’s a raging storm, and the snow is practically sideways. I take a deep breath and sigh with pleasure. I just want to turn around, head back to our den, and snuggle down with my mate in my nest and finish what we started, but I know it’s important that we don’t.

Putting my head down to protect my face from the weather, I follow behind Maxsim as he leads the way. We go down a path that lets out at the far right of the quarters, next to the entrance of the cave we need. Maxsim lifts his nose into the air, checking the area for danger, aka Natalia, but when he smells nothing, he continues with his task. His hand is warm in mine, not as warm as we would be if we were shifted, and I keep close, grateful for the heat his body is giving off. I do love this kind of weather, but I prefer my animal form to this one as it’s much warmer like that.

We head down the corridor of the unused cave, finding no sign of anyone having dwelled in here, but smells don’t seem to linger on the frozen, ice-covered rock walls. Soon enough, we’re in the living area, where again, there is no lingering, recognizable scent. There is one that is new, but I’m assuming that’s the cyborg’s. I didn’t get close enough to him to get a good sense of how he smells, but it reeks of electronics and desperation, which is not pleasant at all.

Maxsim huffs his annoyance at the intruder’s scent. It’s faint, but it does linger on a couple of surfaces. He did a good job of containing it, and I would like to know how he was able to. Notmuch can outsmart a lightning cat in its own environment, and we are skilled trackers and hunters.