Get up, Madeline mentally urged the woman. Hold on until we come for you.
The woman stood, her two friends moving in close to her.
“My God, there’s Blaine,” Harper whispered.
She saw him now, covered in chains, guards prodding him as they urged him toward a cell. He was covered in blood and gore. Madeline pressed a hand to her chest. She guessed that he had been brought back from some sort of training fight.
Then she heard another noise—a thumping sound of flesh on metal, and the roar of an angry beast.
More guards came into view, dragging a giant metal box behind them. The metal box had several small holes in the side of it.
“Careful,” a guard yelled, his voice echoing upward. “Don’t get too close to the box.”
“He’s just a drakking beast,” another guard answered.
Madeline frowned. Surely the box was too small for a dag’tar?
“He’s not just a beast. He was a man once, but he’s been locked up and made to fight for years. There’s nothing left but a mass of rage, but he’s far smarter than any animal.”
“I don’t think so.” A squat, stocky guard stepped forward and banged his stun baton against the box. Then laughing, he shoved the baton through one of the holes in the box.
An enraged roar echoed from the box, raising goosebumps on Madeline’s arms. Beside her, Lore muttered a curse.
Suddenly, there was a large thump. The box vibrated, rocking to one side. The three guards froze.
“I told you to be careful,” the first guard snapped.
The box jerked again, the side denting outward under the force of a blow.
“Drak!” the stocky guard yelled.
More hits hammered the box, and the guards backed up.
Suddenly, the box burst open, the metal splitting like paper.
A man…creature…alien burst out. He stood for a second, chest heaving. He had a large, powerful body, with dark-blue skin covered in swirls of dark tattoos. Long, dark, tangled hair covered most of his face, but even from a distance, it was easy to tell he was staring at the guards.
The three men took a few halting steps backward.
The beast-man attacked. Screams echoed upward, and with three brutal blows, he took the guards down.
He let out another roar, lifting his head. The sound reverberated deafeningly off the rocks.
What the hell was he? And what had been done to him?
And that’s when Madeline realized something else had caught his attention, his huge body going still.
He was looking at the women.
The human women were huddled together, watching in horror. Their two guards stood, shaking, beside them.
The blue alien moved fast. He rushed across the space in a charge worthy of a linebacker. He picked up one guard, spun him, and tossed the man through the air. He slammed into a rock wall, before tumbling to the ground. The other guard simply dropped his weapon and ran.
The tall brunette stepped forward and pushed her friends behind her. She lifted her fists, never taking her gaze off the blue beast.
“We have to help them,” Madeline said frantically.
“We can’t get down there from here,” Galen bit out. “We’re too far away.”
Suddenly, Blaine flew into view, dragging his chains behind him. He crashed into the blue alien, knocking the beast-man to the ground.
Soon, both fighters were back on their feet. Blaine swung one of his chains above his head. The alien rose slowly, his black tattoos appearing darker on his blue skin. The beast-man let out a roar.
Blaine let out his own yell and slammed the chain toward the alien. “Get back!”
Madeline realized he was shouting at the women. Protecting them.
Suddenly, there were more shouts. A huge group of guards burst out of a tunnel, heading toward Blaine and the beast.
Blaine dropped his chain and stepped backward, closer to the women.
The blue alien turned, lifting his giant fists. One of the guards tossed a net device.
It exploded, tangling over the beast. Then it lit up, and blue electricity ran over the alien’s skin. The beast roared in pain, his body jerking. Madeline pressed a fist to her mouth, feeling a streak of sympathy for the creature. Whoever he was, he’d never deserved this.
He went down on one knee, and managed to get a fist free, clobbering a nearby guard, knocking him to the ground.
Three guards leaped forward, jamming stun weapons into the alien’s body. He fell facefirst onto the ground.
Madeline forced herself to watch. They didn’t give Blaine a chance to surrender, and they stunned him as well. As he fell, the women screamed.
It only took moments, but soon the guards were dragging the bodies of Blaine and the blue alien into nearby cells. The women were shoved roughly into another.
Galen watched, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “We’ve seen enough. Let’s go.”