“What role did Kira play in the camp when you were there?”
“At the time, she was the leader,” Nadia said.
My comrades all around me had stilled. Since I had called them here in a rush, they were learning this information as this meeting took place. The fact that there was a human segment surviving on their own outside our control was dangerous information.
It was illegal for us to keep it to ourselves, but I was asking everyone in the room for their silence.
“Why do you want to know about Kira?” Nadia asked me.
“She’s in our custody now. I’m trying to understand her,” I replied, my bluntness and willingness to answer her question surprising her.
“She’ll never stop fighting you,” she replied.
I leaned closer.
“Why is that?”
Indecision coated her features.
“Go ahead, Nadia,” Raythe coaxed her. I saw her throat bob as she swallowed heavily, clearly uneasy with the information she was about to divulge.
“Her sisters. She has three back on Earth. She’d die to protect them,” Nadia said, looking down and playing with her fingernails.
I was quiet for a long time.
“Zaavyr, sir?” she asked softly.
“Yes, Nadia?” I answered quietly.
“Don’t hurt them. Don’t hurt Kira. They just wanted to keep their freedom. I ran away from them because I got tired of running and hiding. I couldn’t live a life of looking over my shoulder at every moment. When I was captured, they auctioned me off and Raythe purchased me and ever since then, I’ve been very happy, even if he is a firm master,” she said.
“Kira is safe with us, Nadia. She’s our human. My men and I don’t plan on revealing any information about where she came from or the group of humans she left behind. We just want to understand her and keep her safe, and to do that, we need all the information we can find,” I replied, and she smiled softly.
“Thank you for allowing us to talk to your human, Raythe,” Coltan said.
Jax and Aedan grinned and agreed.
“Kira is a strong human. She’s feisty and extremely intelligent, but she’s ours. She just hasn’t come to terms with that yet,” Jax offered and Nadia smiled knowingly.
“Nadia had a similar experience, so she can relate,” Raythe chuckled. His smirk grew as she squirmed in his grasp. “Should we tell them how often I still need to punish you?”
“No!” she exclaimed before she blushed. “I mean, no, thank you, Master.”
All the tension in the room then melted away and all of us laughed softly.
“Thank you so much, Raythe. We should return to Kira’s training now, but we must get together soon and have a drink. Maybe, if you’re interested, when I think Kira’s ready, you’d help me test her training? It’s going to take some time, but I’m confident between myself and my comrades, we’ll figure out what makes our human tick,” I ventured.
“Of course! You can count on it. Good luck with your human by the way. I’ve found most of them to be very different, including Nadia here. You’ll find what it takes to master her, I’m sure of it,” he grinned.
We exchanged goodbyes then, and my three men and I returned to our own apartment in silence. None of us said anything until the door was safely shut behind us.
“An entire segment of human rebels living off the grid is serious, Zaavyr,” Jax ventured first.
“You know what’ll ha
ppen if Strohass were to find out we knew something. He’d have us disbanded and exiled. Killed potentially,” Aedan warned, but we all knew the risks.
“It makes sense though, the reason why Kira is so stubborn and strong,” Jax ventured and we all turned to face him. “Regardless of the risks, it’s important that we use this information wisely. We can’t threaten her or let on we know her secret. It would only make her more resistant.”