Free The Hard Way (Box Set) by Stephanie Burke

what happened, how you were ambushed. Then they told me of the ultimatum. Her for you! What else could I do? Without you, the resistance is at an end!”
    “But at what cost, Glimmer! What is the cost?”
    “I had to!” she cried desperately. “For our future , for our child .”
    That brought my eyes open. Glimmer was pregnant?
    “Oh, I see you are awake,” a voice said, and I knew that I had given away my opportunity to gather more information. “Did the happy reunion wake you? We must teach them to be silent.”
    I glared at the man in the tunic as he continued to examine me.
    “What kind of creature are you? You don’t look like the others. You look… strange.”
    Well, you ain’t no picnic yourself , I thought. But I only snorted and turned my head so that I could see the two people lost in each other.
    Glow wore a shocked expression on his face. He stared at Glimmer, who had tears running down her blue-tinted cheeks. So that was who Glimmer was in love with, and apparently the feelings were returned.
    A baby, I thought . Was there any justice in the world when a blue-haired idiot like Glimmer got to be reunited with her love and have a baby ? Probably not. Suddenly, the gods testing Luster was not such a farfetched idea after all.
    “Jealous?” the guard asked, and I had to turn again to look at his ugly face. “No matter, you will soon be reunited with that freak of yours. We have been waiting a long time for this.”
    “Sinopee,” Glow said, his voice raspy. “We will succeed.” He had Glimmer under one arm, placing her body behind his as he stared at me, helplessness in his eyes.
    “I had to!” Glimmer tried to explain, her body shaking with sobs that she tried to hold in. “I had to! We are going to have a baby! I just had to save him!”
    I understood, but I was still pissed. I looked at her and then at Glow, then made a gesture I was extremely proud of.
    I wiggled my wrists until I could get my right hand forward, and I shot her the bird. Immature, I know, but my head was aching, my arms were going numb, and I was trapped with no way of saving my man !
    All things considered, I was pretty eloquent.
    Glow snickered and Glimmer gasped, but then Glow turned and pulled her out of the clearing. Almost instantly, it seemed that they disappeared into the growing shadows.
    And the shadows were, indeed, growing. The sun had set while I was out and torches were now lighting the area. The day, and my time, were almost up.

Chapter Sixteen
     
    They carried me over bare ground and soft grass. It seemed like hours they carried me, but never complained about the distance or the journey. As they trudged along, I sat in a cage, my hands tied above me, as I swung in rhythm to their walking.
    It was a good time to think.
    Part one of my original plan was in effect. Now I had to quickly come up with part two.
    The sound of raised voices knocked me out of my reverie. I sat straighter, paying attention now, as I was taken to a huge building hidden in some trees.
    Camouflage! That was how the Titans survived, but it was also how the rebels had outsmarted them for years. As we drew closer, I saw several more men and women, all dressed in tunics and carrying, of all things, lab equipment.
    One woman held a radiation guide and another had a doctor’s kit. Several carried small weapons strapped to their belts, the source of the Titan lightning. They were using laser guns, the very same guns that had been outlawed several years ago.
    It seemed that I was not the first of my world to invade this paradise! Like the serpents, they despoiled paradise and it seemed they were determined to make a mark here.
    “Very interesting,” said a man in front of me, drawing my attention. “She is not like the others. The board will be intrigued.”
    The board? What the hell was going on?
    Before I could formulate a response, I was carried into a large building and my cage placed beside a large examining table. More people swarmed