by L. A. MARIE
“They’re already here,” she breathed.
“What’s going on?” Naira asked, looking at the window where one of the military crafts was already visible.
I couldn’t answer her, I couldn’t explain before they unleashed all hell on us.
Bullets started flying through the windows, shattering the glass. The girls screamed. I ran for them, jumping on them, tackling them to the ground so that they would be safe.
There were more crafts than I could count, the rumbling was too loud to make out if there were six or seven or eight. Or more. And they all opened fire at the same time. So that it wouldn’t matter which room we were in, we were going to get taken out.
I had to get them out of here. If I could just make a break for the ship on the front lawn, maybe we could still escape. Although, with so many ships all around the house, I had no idea how I was going to do that.
But I had to get out of here. Fuck! I needed to save the girls. I needed to save myself.
We ran from one room to the next, cowering, ducking behind furniture that was big enough to stop a spray of blaster canon bullets. I guided us to the front door, although it felt like I would just be leading us into a trap. But where else would we go? Leaving through the back of the house would work only until we were outside, and then we wouldn’t only be exposed, we would be on foot, too.
Our best bet was toward the front door, which was closest to the ship I had left running.
If they hadn’t already shot it down, I thought, but pushed the thought away. I was just going to panic if I thought about all the reasons why we wouldn’t make it. And that would rub off on Emori and make her panic, too.
It was difficult to get out of the house without getting shot. All around us, bullets flew tore up furniture, ripping apart the world that we thought was safe. I ushered the girls to the front door to get out that way, but guards surrounded the entire house and they all had weapons. Our path was blocked.
It was chaos.
“We’re trapped!” Emori shouted above the roaring engines and the sounds of bullets.
“We can get out of here,” I shouted back. “We just need to think. At some point, they’ll run out of ammo.”
“What if they brought more?” Naira asked. Her face was riddled with fear and she pressed herself against Emori, like child clinging to her mother’s leg.
“It’s a chance we have to take,” I said.
Almost at the same time, the shooting slowed down. And after a short while, it stopped altogether.
“Now what?” Emori asked. “Do we make a run for it?”
I nodded. “We can make it if we hurry.”
Emori nodded, her face determined. I loved how fiery she was, how serious about saving us all. Naira looked terrified, shaking her head, eyes rolling around in their sockets.
“We can’t go out there, they’ll kill us.”
“If we stay here, we’ll be caught, and we’ll never get away.”
“Can’t we figure something out?” Naira asked.
Emori turned to her sister. Aside from the ship engines still rumbling outside, everything else had stopped. Emori didn’t have to shout to be heard. She put her hands on her sister’s shoulders.
“We’re going to make it, sister. You and me, remember? Look at how far we’ve come. We can do it again.”
Tears rolled over Naira’s cheeks. “I want to go home.”
Emori pulled her sister into a fierce hug. “Me too. But you and me, this is home. They took the rest of it away, but as long as we have each other, they can’t take it away from us.”
Naira buried her face in Emori’s shoulder and trembled for a moment before she lifted her head. Despite her tear stained cheeks, she looked determined, her face mirroring the same emotions as her sister. They were truly strong, the two of them.
While they’d been talking, I’d looked out of the windows, watching. The soldiers had disembarked, and they stood on the ground around the house.
“We’ll have to fight,” I said. “The moment we open that door, and until we’re in the ship.”
Emori nodded. We looked at each other and without saying a thing, both of us knew that we were in this together, fighting to get through, making it work no matter what.
We lined up, with me on one side and Emori on the other. Naira was between us so we could keep her safe. I yanked the door open and we ran out.
Immediately, Emori and I started fighting. We kept Naira between us because she couldn’t take care of herself. She had regained her strength, but she wasn’t a fighter and there were far too many of them.
Emori fought with everything she had. She took out one or two of them, but she was a human woman and these were trained Malaki men.
I gave it my best shot, too. I did a lot of damage. Not only was my training top notch, but I was angry as hell and set on protecting my people.
For a moment, it looked like it was working. We were going to get through this! The ship was so close now, I could almost taste our freedom.
But we were outnumbered, and we had no weapons.
The soldiers all had weapons, although I was sure they had used up all their ammo. They wouldn’t have engaged in hand-to-hand combat if they’d still had guns to manipulate us with.
“One more step!” I shouted.
“We’re almost there!” Emori responded.
I held my breath. We were almost there. As soon as we reached the bullet proof ship, we had more of a chance.
When a shot fired, I froze. I whipped around to see Naira on the ground. Her eyes were lifeless, staring up at me. Blood trickled from a perfectly round hole between her eyes. I stared at her body on the ground, not willing to believe what I was seeing. Emori looked just as shocked. She glanced up at me, as if she wanted me to tell her that it wasn’t real. But it was. Naira lay on the ground, a bullet between her eyes.
Emori fell to her knees next to her sister and her face was a mask of shock and horror. She looked like she was scared to touch her, her hands flapping over her sister’s body like birds, never landing.
“No!” she cried out. “Not now, not just after we saved you!”
But it was too late. Naira was dead.
The guards took the opportunity while we were both frozen in horror and grabbed me. There were so many of them on me, I couldn’t fight back. I tried to fight, tried to break free, but I felt how shattered Emori was and it crippled me. She was broken, coming undone at the seams, and I felt her anguish. It hurt so badly; I couldn’t breathe.
They cuffed my hands behind my back and hit me over the head so that I was disoriented, on the verge of passing out. They dragged me away, but I fought it. I needed to save Emori. I couldn’t leave without her. I had come back for her. She was my soulmate. We were bound together. They weren’t going to take her away from me.
It was as if I had gained a new strength. The type of power the Noether had given me. But I didn’t have one on me. This was all me, the rage born from the pain of my loved one hurting driving me, pumping power into my veins.
I managed to put three guards on the floor. Two of them were already dead. The third was bleeding out. I had turned into a savage beast, spilling as much blood as I could so that I could get to her.
“Thane!” Emori shouted and it yanked at my insides so hard, I cried out. I fought harder to get to her, but more soldiers had teamed up to fight me. They had jumped on me and they were hanging on me now as I fought and strained myself to get to her.
Another shot rang out, and I couldn’t feel her anymore. I froze, with the weight of the soldiers still on me. My hands were still cuffed but that hadn’t stopped me until now. Now, the weight of the men hanging on me was too much to bear and I fell to my knees. I couldn’t feel her. I couldn’t see her. Where the fuck was she? Where was my woman!?
“Emori!” I shouted, every fiber in my being fighting against the constraints. I was hit over the head again. I fought the darkness that threatened to swallow me. I couldn’t pass
out, not now. She needed me. She needed me to stay awake, to get up and fight for her.
“Emori!” I cried out again, but my voice cracked and broke as I broke down, sinking to the ground on my knees. A pain shot in my chest, so severe I struggled to breathe. I lifted my cuffed hands and rubbed my fingers along my sternum, wincing the pain was so strong. But nothing physical had happened to me. This was the pain of loss. Emori.
My father suddenly appeared in front of me, gun in his hand. Where had he come from? And the gun… He had a smirk on his face, his eyes filled with satisfaction.
“You’re not all that, Thane,” he said simply. “You think you can beat me. One day, you will learn that you can’t.”
“This was never about you!” I shouted. “You son of a bitch!”
It had been all about Emori. About what she was to me. About what I felt for her.
My father only shook his head, chuckling.
I knew that this was a punishment. This was how he was getting back at me. My father had just shot the only thing I had ever cared about.
My whole life, he had tried to break me. I had fought him every step of the way. But this time, it was possible that he had succeeded. This time, my father had managed to rip me apart.
End of book 1
Acknowledgments
First off, this book would not be published without the constant encouragement of my Mother and my sister Hanna. You both supported, encouraged and have been my own personal cheerleaders while I wrote this novel. Without either of you, I wouldn't have had the courage to follow my dream of becoming an author.
Thank you to my amazing cover designer Dayna. You brought my vision to life and I am so grateful to have you as part of my writing family. Can't wait to see what you design next!
To my graphic designer Roxanne Medina. The awesome women behind Fallen_Angel.Edits. Thank you for putting up with my constant messages and my crazy indecisiveness. You are an angel.
Thank you to my book bestie Shaz. We met five years ago in Edinburgh at a Romance and Reader Event and became instant friends. You took this quiet, shy young woman under your wing and showed me the wonders of the author/reader world. Thank you.
Thank you to the following authors:
Belle Brooks
Sloan Murphy
RE Bond
JJ McAvoy
Darynda Jones
Amanda Bouchet
Thank you for answering any questions I had and for giving me some amazing advice about being an author.
Massive thank you to my Street team and Arc team. You all took a chance on an unknown author and I thank you for your continued support and advice.
But most of all, thank you. The reader. Thank you for taking the time to read the start of Emori and Thane’s story. I hope you love them as much as I do.
Keep a look out for book 2 coming 2021
Love L.A. Marie
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