Dangerously Mine Read Free Page A

lost, the swelling and discoloration of it alone enough to make him cringe. Shame, he thought.
    As the crowd roared around him, he stood in awe. Using the muscles in her short legs, she caught one of her captors between them, squeezing her knees around his neck, taking him down. She flipped this way and that, taking full advantage of an arm that was obviously dislocated and useless to unbalance her other captor. With one down, she charged at the other, flipping him over her shoulder. Then she ran.
    Taio looked on in puzzlement as the young female ran back toward the slave cage. No one escaped their captors only to run back to captivity. But before she got a chance to reach her destination, the Tresdonian took out a stun gun and shot the fleeing female in her back. She went down with a thud. The crowd went silent.
    The Tresdonian advanced. He had to stop this. “Hold your position!”
    The Tresdonian had no problem seeing from whom the order had come. Although he stood behind them, Taio towered over everyone in the crowd.
    Looking to him, the Tresdonian dismissed his order and continued forward. Taio clenched his fists. He had no problem persuading the slave trader to follow his orders. The crowd parted, making way for him and his crew. Partly in hopes that their entertainment would continue with a new fight, since their prior entertainment was now lying unconscious face down in the dirt.
    Taio blocked the Tresdonian’s path. “I’m going to assume the thickness of your skull has prevented you from fully understanding my order. I said stand down.” Taio spoke the last two words slowly. He placed his hand on the blaster hooked on the side of his belt.
    “You have no authority here,” the Tresdonian said.
    “Actually, as a member of the Galactic Council serving the Galactic Board and as a member of the Royal House of both Drazlan and Sonis, I have the authority to enforce the laws set forth to protect the galaxy.” Taio widened his stance, his hand flexing over his blaster . Shooting this slave trader would make him extremely happy.
    The Tresdonian looked to the sky, as if lost in deep thought. Because of the Tresdonians’ thick bone structure, their skulls did not allow for proper brain growth. The Tresdonian was clearly having a hard time comprehending what Taio had said. His uni-brow scrunched in confusion and a scowl draped across his face. As humorous as the sight would have been on any other occasion, Taio was in no laughing mood.
    “Since I don’t want you to hurt yourself thinking, I’ll give you the breakdown. While slave trading is legal on Xenaris, you broke the law by harming a slave who was not trying to escape.”
    The Tresdonian widened his eyes. “She was running.”
    “She was clearly running back to the gate. Not away from it.”
    The Tresdonian looked down at the unconscious female and then toward the gate. It was apparent he was trying to figure out a way to explain his reasoning for breaking the law. Just because the law was in place didn’t mean it was always upheld. Hell, these creatures probably broke the law every day. This Tresdonian just happened to have the misfortune of breaking the law in front of a Galactic Council Member.
    As if feeling the stares of the Tresdonian and Taio upon her, the slave in question began to stir slightly. A painful groan crossed her lips. Taio looked down as a delicate, bloodied and filthy hand reached out and wrapped around his ankle. Even in her current state, the female did not give up her fight. The hand gave a weak tug on his ankle, as if she thought she could pull hard enough to make him fall.
    She was a small heap of dirt and blood, with black hair fanning out in a matted mess around her. He could not make out any facial features beneath the swelling and grime. The dirty rags she wore were pieced together. But he had to give it to the female—she was a fighter at heart.
    “You take her.” The Tresdonian smirked, revealing a mouth full of missing