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brAX

Brax saw what was happening at once. An older woman—who looked vaguely familiar for some reason—was threatening the sweet little Yonnite Mistress who had set him free, while a robot butler stood to one side uselessly.

Brax frowned. Though he still didn’t remember the little Mistress , he didn’t like seeing her threatened.

Both women were standing close to an opening that led out to a balcony and the older one was holding a blaster on the younger one.

Was she planning to shoot? Or even worse, was she trying to force the little Mistress to jump?

A fall from that height would splatter anyone who landed on the pavement below into jelly.

And just the thought of the little Mistress dying that way affected Brax deeply, though he didn’t know why.

“Leave her alone!” He came into the living area, glaring at the older woman. “ Put down the blaster and get away from her now!”

“No!” The older woman lifted her chin defiantly. “ I’ll kill you both! I’ll say that you pushed your Mistress off the balcony and then I had to shoot you in self defense. It’s perfect!” She shoved the blaster into the younger woman’s face. “ Now go on—jump!”

Brax felt his body filling with Rage —though he didn’t know the girl the Goddess had sent him to protect, the protective, possessive fury dropped a red curtain over his gaze.

But he couldn’t let himself lose control—this was a delicate situation.

The woman he was supposed to protect had a blaster in her face and she was inches away from being thrown over the balcony. How could he save her?

Goddess, he prayed. You sent me back here to protect her—help me now! Show me what to do!

Suddenly, a gust of wind from the outside rushed in. It whipped around the older woman’s tall blue tower of hair, tearing it out of place and plastering it across her face and eyes in a sticky, clinging mass.

“Gah!” she gasped and began clawing at her face with her free hand. The hand holding the blaster sagged and Brax saw his chance.

Rushing forward, he wrenched the blaster out of the older woman’s hand and threw it across the room.

Then he grabbed her by the shoulders, holding her tight.

Any other male might have just tossed her over the balcony and indeed, Brax would have loved to do that.

But the Kindred half of him rebelled—he didn’t want to kill a woman, not even an evil, nasty, greedy one who deserved to be killed.

“Don’t kill her!” the younger Mistress exclaimed. She must have a soft heart since the other woman had certainly been intent on killing her , Brax thought.

“I won’t,” he growled. “ But something’s got to be done with her—she tried to kill you, little Mistress !”

“We’ll call the authorities.” Her voice was shaking.

Meanwhile, the older woman was struggling in Brax’s grip.

“Let go—let me go!” she shrieked. Her hair was still plastered across her face in limp blue strands but her eyes could be seen and they looked crazy. “ Call the authorities if you want—they’ll never believe you!”

“Excuse me—we got an urgent request to come at once?” a new voice said.

Brax turned his head and saw several tall, muscular women dressed in riot gear with official-looking uniforms on. Seeing what was going on, they pointed their blasters at him.

“Let go of her!” one shouted. And the other was speaking rapidly into her com-link, talking about a rogue male.

Brax’s stomach went tight. It seemed that someone had already called the Yonnite authorities and things were about to get ugly.