by Emma Vance
It was a good thing I was holding on to something. The ship whipped backwards with a lurch and I gripped the bar hard. A sharp, tearing, metal scraping against metal sound echoed through the air.
“Gods,” cursed Otun, and he pulled up the viewing screen to show the dock behind us. A metal clamp was attached to the back of the ship, preventing us from flying forward.
“Shit. Can we just give the ship extra juice and rip off the clamp?”
“Not if we don’t want to risk tearing off the entire back end of the ship and rendering our escape plan useless.” Then he ran to another control panel. The screen zoomed in on the clamp holding the Dragorian ship in place. “I think I can fix this,” he said, staring at the screen. “I think I can disable the clamp manually.”
“Thank God,” I said, exhaling heavily. There was still a chance.
“I have to go out there and do it,” Otun said grimly.
I peered at the dock, which was still suspiciously vacant. “There are no guards there.”
“There will be.”
I picked up Otun’s weapons belt and the two blasters from the ground. Something blue glinted from the belt, and I pulled it out of a small pocket. The cerulean colored orb given to me by that strange male named Trayel sat heavily in my hand. The bomb.
The azure ball winked at me, heavy despite its size. I handed Otun his weapons belt and he strapped it on. He took one of the blasters from my hand. “Cover me,” he said, nodding to the other blaster.
I followed him to the door, my blaster poised at the entrance as Otun ran to the clamp at the end of the ship. He flipped open some sort of control panel, and using the butt end of his blaster, smashed open the panel. Wires popped out from all directions, and he combed through them, his eyes intent, looking for something. I didn’t know how he could even figure anything out from the mess of wires, buttons, and busted metal, but he clearly saw something.
Shouts sounded from the entranceway, and I knew our luck had started to run out. A few guards appeared at the gate and I aimed my blaster and fired at the open doorway. I saw a few guards fall at my shots and I swallowed heavily. I tried not to focus on the lives I’d taken. I’d likely end up killing more before we got off this planet—if we ever did.
Blast fire was returned, with some shots aimed at Otun on the control panel. Damn it.
I aimed and fired again, catching a few guards before I hid behind the door of the ship. Otun had crouched down behind the control panel and was still fiddling with wires.
More and more shouts came, and I knew the gate was about to get flooded with guards.
“Otun!” I shouted. “Hurry up!”
He grunted and some sparks flew at his fingers, which resulted in the clamp opening slightly. We both stared at the thick piece of metal holding the ship.
Not enough. Not for us to escape.
Otun cursed and resumed his work, but the shouts and footfall had become a cacophony of sound filling the gate platform. The guards weren’t afraid of a girl with a single blaster anymore, there were too many of them. Guards poured through the entranceway, moving forward like a river, their blasters poised and ready.
It was too late. We were dead.
Otun let out a loud yelp and my head swiveled to him. I whooped as the metal clamp began lifting, releasing his hold on the ship.
“You did it!” Though the relief was short-lived. We were surrounded by guards, their weapons drawn. There was no way Otun would ever make it back to the ship alive.
His eyes found mine as I stared out at him from the ship. It was as if time stopped and I saw everything in his gaze in that moment.
“Go!” he shouted, breaking the spell. “Fly the ship and get out of here!” he waved me away and the soldiers advanced on him. A sob wracked through my body. I collapsed to the ground, not able to watch as the guards came for him. But my fingers caught against something smooth and heavy. Something the size of my palm.
The bomb.
I peered out of the ship. Otun had backed up behind the control panel and was fielding blaster shots from the onslaught of guards.
I screamed his name, my finger pressing down on the smooth round button in the centre of the blue orb. It clicked into place at the same time Otun looked up at me. His eyes widened on the orb in my hand.
I hurled the bomb into the crowd of guards and saw Otun flatten himself to the ground behind the metal control panel. I sheltered myself behind the ship’s door as the bomb went off, a massive explosion ripping through the dock. The ship jolted. My ears rang with a high-pitched sound that muted my hearing. I staggered up and looked for any sign of Otun in the thick cloud of smoke.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Nisha
I screamed his name, but I could barely hear my own voice. The air was filled with smoke, and the sounds of coughing and groaning from the deck below.
I smelled burning. Burning hair, burning skin, burning leather. I called out again, but it felt futile.
Then I heard it—staggered footfalls. Unsteady, but getting louder. My heart leapt in my chest, and I strained my eyes to see through the smoke, hoping, despite everything, that it was Otun. A figure appeared, growing darker and more solid. I held my breath and clutched the blaster in my hand, ready if it were another guard.
But it wasn’t.
Otun leapt up the steps of the dock, taking two at a time. My cry was strangled in my throat. He crushed me to him, wrapping his arms around me and holding me tight. He smelled of smoke, blood and him. I inhaled, drinking him in like he was the only water I needed.
“We don’t have much time.” His voice was rough. “We need to go.”
I nodded but didn’t want to let go. We waited a second, just locked together like that, standing in the doorway of the ship. Then we broke apart and headed back into the ship.
Otun ran back to the main control panel and the viewing screen popped on, revealing the clear blue sky before us. I put my hand over Otun’s and squeezed it.
He nodded at me and we took off.
We didn’t have to consult with each other about where we were headed. We were getting everyone, or we weren’t leaving this planet at all.
Otun flew the ship out of the docking station, and the Dragorian ship glided through the air with astounding speed. It felt like we were in the sports car of spaceships. The panels lit up in front of us like glowing jewels, and I couldn’t even keep track of the number of screens and buttons that Otun was controlling.
“Pray to the gods that Bardoa’s patrol ships aren’t alerted to us fast, I’m not sure I could fly this thing and control the ship’s blasters,” Otun muttered as he navigated us around a few spaceships and headed towards the gladiator arena.
“I could help—just like last time.” We smiled at each other, of the memory right before our ship had gone down. That wouldn’t happen this time. It couldn’t. We were getting out of here.
My heart thumped in my chest as we surged forward, the gladiator arena blending in with the endless stretches of sand, looking a bit like a natural formation of rock sitting on the horizon.
We got there quickly, hovering just above the arena before descending. I blinked twice at the viewing screen as it projected what was happening in the arena.
“Is that . . . a giant bunny?”
Otun looked at me sideways, his mouth grim. “That’s a wyndlax. One of the most dangerous beasts in the galaxy. Bardoa does not want your friends to live.”
I looked back at the wyndlax creature—which looked like a giant fluffy rabbit to me—and then searched for any signs that the humans were alive, hoping with all my heart we weren’t too late. Hoping that I didn’t lose another group of humans to the pits, and that they still had a chance at life, even though we had lost so much.
As we hovered, the smaller shapes clustered together in the middle of the pit got clearer.
Humans.
“They’re alive!” I shouted, jumping up and down in front of the viewing screen. I whipped
my head around to meet Otun’s clear green eyes. “We can save them!”
He nodded, a rare smile breaking across his face, making me feel nearly as good as knowing the other women were still alive. For a second I stared at him, struck by the love I saw radiating from his face that I knew must be reflected on mine. After all we had been through, all he had done to make my life worth living these past years, there was no doubt in my mind I wanted to spend the rest of whatever I had left with him. Whatever the future brought, I could face it as long as he was by my side.
Otun moved to a smaller control area, focusing the viewing screen on the giant bunny thing. The bunny moved towards us, and lifted a giant paw as if to swat us out of the sky. A paw that was covered in razor-sharp looking claws. Ah. Perhaps that was why they were one of the scariest creatures in the galaxy.
But fearsome or not, wyndlax beasts still weren’t any match for a Dragorian space blaster.
With just one shot of the ship’s blaster, the wyndlax rocked on its feet, then toppled forward and hit the blood-stained sand.
I whooped as it fell and then wrapped my arms around Otun.
“What are you waiting for?” he asked, laughing. He pulled back, his grin wide. “Go get those human females so we can get out of here.”
Chapter Thirty
Otun
After I opened the hatch and Nisha had gathered all the human and Dragorians, I handed the reins of the ship over to the Captain. He wasn’t convinced about me initially, scanning my Stryxx guard uniform with fury before Nisha intervened on my behalf and provided a passionate defense. The Dragorians moved past their distrust of me and my uniform and steered the ship off Stryxx and into the galaxy away from the clutches of Bardoa.
Once we were safely away, I settled my arms around Nisha, holding her close to me. I looked down at her dark head, a smile touching my lips. She tilted her head up at me.
“What?”
My smile grew. “I’m a lucky male, to have a female so fiercely defend me.”
She frowned. “They shouldn’t have doubted that you were here to help them—we flew their ship to them after all. You are the reason they are off this planet. They should be kissing your feet.” Her mouth set into a stubborn pout and I laughed at her expression.
“I think I’ll settle for free passage on their ship until I can find a planet to get lost on.”
Nisha’s brows knitted together. I could watch her face all day to see the emotions play out, switching from happy to angry to confused to pleasure. That last one was the one I could watch the most. Seeing Nisha experience pleasure was the greatest gift I had been given.
I’d become an expert at reading her face. Afterall, I’d watched it for years from a distance in the tents, and up close when we saw each other at the pleasure house. I could get drunk on seeing that smile right before I removed her dress. I knew her face so well, that I recognized that right now, Nisha was angry.
“Nisha? What is wrong?” I scanned the room, looking for the source of her displeasure. All around us, Dragorians and humans were celebrating, cheering and embracing that they had escaped Stryxx and the gladiator pit. A few of the females were crying tears of joy and concerned Dragorian males flocked to them in droves.
“Wrong? Nothing’s wrong. Why would you say that?” Her lips pursed and she pulled her arms from around me, folding them across her chest.
“Because you look as angry as the wyndlax beast and you aren’t speaking to me. Did I say something?”
I looked around the control room, searching for a quiet spot where we could speak, but I knew we would not find one here.
The captain and his human female had gone to their rooms, but not before exchanging a long kiss that caused an uproar of cheering that shook the control room. Then, the captain pulled the female from the room and they disappeared down the dark hallway.
I wished I could do the same, if only to be alone with Nisha once more. I didn’t know if we’d get another chance.
Now that we had escaped, I’d ask the Dragorians to drop me off on the nearest planet I could disappear in. I’d be hunted by Bardoa to the ends of the galaxy. I looked at the dark-haired human beside me. I couldn’t bring her with me to live a life like that. Not when she had a group of other humans she could stay with, other females she could build a life with.
I turned to one of the Dragorians celebrating and pulled him aside. He was like the rest of them, covered in gray and metallic looking golden scales, built as big as I was, seven feet tall with wide muscular shoulders, and meaty hands that could cleave a gladiator’s skull in two, if they ever fought in the ring. This one had larger, more twisted ears, and a scar cleaved across one side of his face, coupled with a grim countenance. I suppose I could have picked a more affable male to approach.
“Kenari,” said the Dragorian, nodding at me. “We all owe you a life debt that we could never possibly repay. I give you my thanks for what you did for us today, and the thanks of my people.” He clasped my hand in his. “My name is Salteyo, if you should ever need anything, do not hesitate to ask me.”
I cleared my throat. “In fact, I am in need. I’m actually asking for something a little more immediate.” I cast a glance at Nisha to my right, who had pulled herself away from me and was talking quietly with a stocky, black-haired female. “I’m sure you are now overpopulated on the ship but is there a chance you could spare a room for now so that I could speak with my, er, the female I came here with?”
He trailed his gaze to Nisha and then back to me, his face impassive. “I understand, Kenari. Even though we now have twice the lives aboard this ship, I know that any one of the crew would gladly give you their room. Including myself.” He handed me a small key card and pointed out the directions to his room.
“You don’t have to give me the keys to your own room.” I held my hands up. “Just a quiet place I can talk to Nisha.”
“Take it. I will share with Tsanel for the duration of the trip to Votarnis.” He glanced over to another Dragorian, a little shorter than he was who was talking to a dark-skinned human female. Salteyo’s brow darkened. “Unless a female already has a place there,” he muttered.
I clutched his key card in my hand and watched Nisha. She was deliberately not looking at me and was now talking to the red-haired female that she was often with on Stryxx.
I walked up to her and placed my hand on her arm. She stiffened, and then turned, her brow arched.
Gods, I would miss her when I left.
“The Dragorian Salteyo has given me his room so that we may have some time alone.”
Nisha swallowed, indecision flashing across her face. “Good. We need to talk,” she said with an air of finality.
I’d never seen this side of her. This cold, angry Nisha. Fierce and imperious. I somehow didn’t think she would be impressed if I told her my cock was stiffening at her mood.
I led her to Salteyo’s room. The door slid smoothly behind us, and the din of the celebration disappeared. I turned to face her, taking in her stiff posture, her fierce expression. Then, I waited.
“How dare you,” she seethed, and advanced on me with fury, a dark goddess.
I was instantly hard but tried to focus on her words. “You are just going to leave me?” she asked, poking her finger hard into my chest. “You are going to be dropped off on some planet and leave me? As if we hadn’t been through everything together? As if I mean nothing to you?” she walked forward, trying to intimidate me with her stance, advancing on me like an avenging queen. She was beautiful.
But her words gave me pause. “Nisha, you have your people. What kind of a life would you have with me? None at all. You can build something with the other humans, go to Votarnis and start fresh.”
“I can build something with you,” she said, her eyes shining. “Unless you don’t want that with me?”
I gripped her shoulders hard. “Of course I want that with you. You think I didn’t ache to be with you every day on Stryxx? That when you walked by
, I didn’t wish I could take you away from that life and give you the kind of choices you deserve?”
“Well now you have!” she shouted. The tears threatening to fall did, in great globs down her brown cheeks. “And I choose to stay with you! I don’t want to build a life with the other humans if it doesn’t have you in it. I’ll go to whatever terrible planet you want to take us to, as long as it means we can be together.”
I stroked her face, pressing my lips to her tears and licking them away. My heart felt as if it were tearing out of me. But she couldn’t mean what she said. She was still poisoned by the lansian root tea, the poison that dictated her sexual urges.
“I won’t do that to you. That’s no life—on the run from Bardoa, no home to find safety in, no future to plan for.” Then, because I didn’t want her to think I hadn’t remembered that she was still poisoned, and still dependent on her need, “You do not have to feel as if you cannot be with another male, if the poison grows too difficult to bear. The Dragorians have supremely advanced technology, they might be able to find a cure,” I added, trying not to think of her with another male before I ripped apart this entire room.
She was silent for a moment. “You want me to fuck another male? You think this is about the sex poison?” she asked, her voice incredulous, her face flushed. “I find safety in you, you asshat! And in case you hadn’t realized, we will all be on the run from Bardoa, so it isn’t as if I am escaping from that.” She leaned in closer to me and pressed her palms into my chest. “You are my home, Otun. You. Not some other male. This isn’t about the fact that I physically need you because of the poison. My heart needs you. My soul needs you.”
I released a heavy breath and unclenched my fists. I hadn’t realized how much fear I had that she wouldn’t want me any longer. I pulled her to me. “I didn’t realize you would be so passionate about attaching yourself to an escaped slave, with no family and no home.”
“Since that exactly describes me as well, I feel like you are in pretty good company,” she murmured into my chest, her hot breath fanning against my fur.