“Where’s he going?” Jacob asks, panic tightening his voice. As expected, he has still failed to open my travel pod.
“That’s above your pay grade, techie. Just do your fuckin’ job and get it open. You,” he points to the male designated to extract my life blood, “get your head out of your ass and fill those tubes.”
“Every time we manage to wear him down and hold him still long enough to try to draw blood, whatever that black material he has on him breaks the needles,” he responds, then removes his gloves and sits back in a chair. “I don’t know what else to do.”
The soldier points to the discarded gloves and snarls, “Pick those back up and figure it out.”
“There’s nothing to figure out. We can’t get past the suit. Mr. Wind is just going to have to accept that it’s not going to happen.”
The scents of anger and fear permeate the room. “What did you just say?” the soldier asks.
Jacob cringes. “We’ll figure it out. Just tell him to give us more time.”
“You have ten minutes. Find a solution out or he won’t be the only one getting shipped off somewhere when the transport crew arrives.”
As soon as he leaves, Jacob scrubs his hands down his face. “Pack up all your needles and stuff, Riz. We’re getting out of here.”
The male called Riz jumps to his feet. “Are you insane? Lower your voice! We aren’t getting out of anything. Daxx Corp has people all over this beach. If you run, you’re going to get an Elgin-sized rocket launcher shoved down your throat.”
“What other option do we have? His ship won’t open, he won’t speak, and you aren’t getting samples any time soon. They’re going to take us somewhere and shoot us in the head, or lock us up where we’ll never see the light of day. I should have known better.” With trembling hands, Jacob throws his things in a small bag near his worktable and glares at me. “Why can’t you just cooperate? Don’t you get it? You’re going to get us killed.”
No, your mouth is what is going to get you killed.
Trying to relieve the throb of the chain cutting into my chest, I shift. The movement of the manacle wrapped around my wrist activates my communicator, and a loud message blares in Revari. “Wake up, assholes. Hostile planet. Malfunctioning pod. Saxon’s been taken. Full mission take down necessary. Use force. Watch your dicks on the way up, it’s miserable down there.”
Ha! Pavil did it! The joy I feel at knowing my brethren will arrive soon is snuffed out by the excitement flashing in Jacob’s eyes. “Call the hired gun back in here. I’ve got an idea.”
“What? No way, man. He gives me the evil eye every time he comes in. What do you want him for anyway?”
Pulling out a large barb and a set of cables from his bag, the wiry male swallows hard. “Tell him to bring as many guys as he can. We’re going to need to unchain one arm and hold him down.”
Fuck. This is going to hurt.
Leigh
My muscles burn with the pace that Pavil’s set, but I push myself to keep up with him. Choosing to travel through the trees rather than meet Elgin’s soldiers head on like he wanted to do, we stop half a mile away to survey what’s happening.
The hollow ache that’s been slowly chipping away at my heart has worsened the closer we get to the shipping container, and the armor lining my upper half throbs. They’ve hurt him. Not constantly, but every so often. When they do, I can feel the surge of electricity they send through his body all the way to my toes.
Hold on, babe. I’m coming...
“Do you think you can get us in there?” I ask Pavil as he climbs up a tree monkey-style to get a better look.
“Without question. You will have to allow me to carry you though. It is the only way we can travel fast enough to avoid detection.” Pavil looks down at me with a grin. “Do not worry, I—"
The hint of mischief in his smile disappears, and his skin pales.
“Pavil? What’s wrong?”
For a moment he says nothing, only stands frozen in place balancing on a limb. His eyes cloud over, and his back contorts. Just as his body shudders, a loud roar in the distance sends my heart plummeting. And then the pain starts. Unforgiving hot lances of pain consume me, raking across my chest and into my back.
Saxon!
Pavil crashes to the ground and starts to seize, grasping at his wrist. A cold sweat breaks out on my neck as I race toward him. No matter how many times I say his name or shake him, he remains unseeing—his face contorted like someone’s raking him across hot coals.
My vision blurs with tears as I fight through the pain, and after trying to shake Pavil into consciousness I realize what’s wrong. He feels Saxon’s pain the same strength as my mate does.
What I’m feeling is only a small slice of his suffering. Hit with another sharp pain, a wild ferocity burns somewhere deep inside me. Erupting like a volcano, liquid hot desperation and a will to live bubbles inside my veins, and then I’m moving.
Pumping my arms so fast they burn, I run through the trees toward Saxon. His growls rip through the relative calm of the waves, and as I come to the edge of the beach, I see the soldiers outside pushing all the non-critical personnel further down away from his container.
With the gun in my hand, I run as fast as I can, kicking the sand up behind me.
Two soldiers fly from the doors—tumbling onto the sand, and two more barrel through to get into the action. It’s not until I have my gun pointed at everyone inside the makeshift holding cell that I realize what I’ve done. Panting in short, clipped breaths, I hold back the tears welling in my eyes.
“Get off of him.” The words come out strangled and meek, their true strength masked by fear and my need to protect my mate. He’s strung up by his left wrist with another chain holding him in place. Six guys in black fatigues are fighting to hold his free arm down while some asshole tries to cut the communicator from his wrist.
“I said stop!” I yell, finally catching their attention and giving Saxon a chance to buck them off of him. His arm falls limply to his side, almost as if they’ve dislocated or broken it. Green blood oozes down his wrist, and burn marks cover his skin.
I can hardly see past his injuries. It’s shocking what humans are really capable of doing. No. It’s disgusting and unbelievably cruel.
“Get away from him and against the wall.”
Saxon roars and pulls at his chains the second he sees me. There’s something primal in his eyes, a violence to their depths I’ve never seen before. “Mu Xitall…”
If not for the group of armed mercenaries in front of me, I might melt into a puddle of goo. I’ve missed him so much.
“Whoa there little lady, don’t do anything stupid now,” one of the guys says, lifting his hands in the air. He still hasn’t gotten up against the wall. None of them have. “Put that down, and we’ll talk.”
“Do not speak to her,” Saxon growls, and every head in the room turns.
“Ha! Told you motherfuckers he could speak English. Jamie, you owe me fifty bucks.”
One of the other men—Jamie, I’m guessing— moves his hand, and I swing the gun to my right, aiming straight at him. “Seriously? Stop moving or I’ll shoot your dick off.”
“Big words for such a small girl,” he mutters. “Why don’t you do like Rekker said, sweetheart, put that gun down, and bring that creamy white ass of yours over here?”
Sweetheart? This motherfucker…
Ignoring him, I meet Saxon’s gaze. “I’m getting you out of here. Just hold on. If any of these pricks move, I’ll shoot them, I swear. I won’t let them do this to you anymore. Wait, why are you hanging your head down like that?” I kick the nearest soldier’s boot. “What did you do?” Saxon shakes his head and lifts it again.
Jamie laughs. “We might have injected him with some meds. Okay, we injected him with a shitload.”
My pulse kicks up, and my vision narrows. He thinks this is funny? That shooting my man up with a bunch of chemicals not even knowing what they’ll d
o to him is a joke? The gun goes off before I even realize I’ve squeezed the trigger, and surprisingly, it hits Jamie right in the shoulder.
“You bitch!” he yells as he crumples to the side with the force of the impact, and all the other guys in the room go for their weapons.
“Put your hands where I can see them or I’ll shoot you, too.” I kick Rekker’s gun away from where he laid it on the ground. “Give me the keys.”
“Or what? You going to shoot me, too?” Rekker asks with so much condescension I might do it just for fun.
“Do you really want to find out? Now, get me the keys to his chains. I want him out. Now.”
Rekker shakes his head and shrugs. “No can do. We unchain him, we die.”
“Yeah?” I ask, waving the rifle in my hands. “And what do you think will happen to you if you don’t do what I say?”
He lunges faster than I can react and grabs the barrel of the gun, jerking it out of my hands. “Nothing. I knew the second you fired off that shot you had no clue what you were doing. Now,” he slaps me on my exposed butt cheek and jerks his chin toward the wall. “You get over there, and we’ll see just how tough this freak is after I shove a gun down your throat.”
“You dare touch her,” Saxon grinds out between gritted teeth.
The tension in the room shifts and Saxon changes—pushed so far past the limits of his tightly bound control, he lets go of whatever’s been holding him back and gives in. To what, I don’t know. But the shift looks to be at the cellular level.
Black droplets ooze down his face and swirl together to create some kind of war paint, and the veins of his neck swell. His claws lengthen, and the torn flesh still holding the communicator in place tightens, then repairs itself.
A cold chill runs down my spine when his gaze connects with mine and he whispers, “Run.”
So, I do.
The snap of chains is the last thing I hear as I take off, heading for the trees. The wind is so strong it takes my breath away, but even it can’t hide their screams. I stop after only a few minutes and turn around, desperate to see what’s happening.
Blood. There’s so much blood. Even from a short distance, it runs like a river out of the shipping container. The sand is littered with various body parts. Saxon emerges, covered in a blanket of red so thick it’s all I can see and starts toward me.
He might look like the devil himself, but holy shit, if there aren’t a million and one nasty things I want to do to him.
There’s time for that later, Leigh. You know, when you’re not on the verge of dying.
“Don’t look. He wouldn’t want you to see him like that. He swore once never to invoke the Risha’ri. They must have really pissed him off.” Pavil stumbles a little, his skin noticeably paler. “Wait until he has regained control.”
“Are you insane? I’m never letting him out of my sight again. And wait, why do you look so terrible?”
His lips press into a thin line, and for once he actually looks affected. “Twin bond. I feel his pain and, in extreme situations, he can take from me, and I from him. I bet you can guess which way it went this time.”
“So, that’s how he broke the chains?”
He nods, then sways again. After steadying Pavil, I swivel my head to find Saxon. Two groups of black-clad men are headed straight for us, but Saxon’s only focused on me.
More soldiers. More of Elgin’s people. They must have heard the gunshot. The only people still on this part of the beach were inside that room with us and none of them still have their heads attached.
Rishawaki—or whatever the hell it’s called—be damned. I’m going to warn my alien whether Pavil wants me to or not.
“You’re more exhausting than he is,” Pavil calls out as I slip away and run toward Saxon. Not bothering to stop, I launch myself into his arms and hug him like my life depends on it.
His lips are warm against mine, their taste inspiring the most embarrassing waves of emotion. “I was so worried,” I manage in between demanding kisses.
“I am here,” he says, attacking my lips once again. His breath is hot against my hair as he buries his nose and breathes me in. “By the stars, I have missed you.”
“I thought I lost you,” I whisper, “I was so scared and I had no clue how to work that stupid gun. And they had you chained up, and you looked so bad, and oh, fuck. I’m mumbling. There are more of them coming. We need to move now.”
“You were wild and fierce and your distraction saved my life. We can only call on the Risha’ri when pushed to the extremes. The pathway to borrow doesn’t open until instincts demand it. Until my body does. Your presence,” he kisses me and tightens our embrace, “as always, inspires the extreme. Now tell me. Why are you exposed?”
Warmth blooms on my cheeks. “Ah, the whole ass out thing? I tore my pants digging under the tent they held me in.”
“I thought someone had…tried to hurt you.”
“Oh, hell no. Nothing like that.”
He lets out an exhausted chuckle then tucks my head under his chin. “And as for your warning. Yes, I know there are more of them on the way. This battle will not be pleasant,” he warns, then looks to Pavil. “The others?”
Pavil taps the communicator on his wrist a few times. “They are securing their pods and will be here shortly. What is it you have planned, brother?”
“An Injic’an formation would counteract their weapons and allow me to activate my pod while keeping her safe.”
“Hell yes!” Pavil lifts up on his toes and jerks his thumb toward the trees. “Just keep Cyfer and Ajax away from there. They’re both thickheaded during battle. The humans put down several metal traps with teeth under the brush.”
“What the hell? We were in those trees and you never said anything. If I’d have run through there to get here, I would have stepped on one!”
Saxon growls at Pavil as he shrugs his shoulders. “I was planning to carry you. I just didn’t get that far.”
“Now, I see why Saxon wants to smack you all the time.”
Crossing his arms like a pouting child, Pavil kicks the sand. “Great, now there are two of you.”
“So, what about after that?” I ask, anxious to get away from here and somewhere safe. “We just hold them off until we can all get in our pods? There have to be like fifty of them coming this way.”
Pavil smiles. His skin already holds more color and the black marks on Saxon’s face are gone. “Do not fear, Leigh. Your humans had a slight advantage before. But lucky for us both, my brother’s determination to conserve life expired the moment those soldiers touched you. Alone, those of Revaris are strong, but together? There is nothing we cannot do.”
Almost like it’s a movie, the clouds roll in above us and thunder claps. The rain starts to fall, washing the remnants of death from Saxon, revealing the male I’ve come to love.
Saxon and Pavil grasp each other’s arms and, as they do, the black of their armor ignites into neon green. The longer they remain connected, the stronger the light grows, and by the time Elgin’s men are close enough to hear, I have to shield my eyes from its intensity.
Releasing each other’s forearms, they slide their hands down to meet—the neon light crackling between them—then pull apart, leaving a web of glowing energy flowing between them. They slam their untethered fists together, igniting those too, and a shield-like projection spiderwebs in front of them.
Elgin’s men start calling out orders, and despite knowing what Saxon and Pavil can do, fear floods me. Saxon pushes me behind him, right in the middle of the web of energy, and I squeak in shock. My hair stands on end, my skin tingles, and once I’m inside, the sound softens almost like I’m in a cocoon. “Lift your feet and let it seal. Nothing will penetrate it, save for the air you require to breathe. It will not break unless my brother and I both fall. Hold on, this is going to get messy.” Bullets start peppering the sand less than a foot away and Saxon calls out, “Pavil, right!”
I don’t have time to th
ink. I tuck my feet to my chest without question and watch in both horror and amazement as Saxon and Pavil project the energy from their hands and drop everyone close enough to reach. We’re flanked on all sides, and as they close in, bullet after bullet freeze outside the protective shield and fall to the ground.
Whatever this is, it’s amazing. Pliable enough for them to fight, yet even when they move farther apart and engage the soldiers in hand to hand combat, they remain tethered, and I’m unaffected.
Fighting back to back, with me between them, Saxon and Pavil continue to mow down entire groups of Elgin’s men until all of a sudden, those not directly engaging us back off and start running in the opposite direction.
“What’s happening?” I yell. Saxon throws one final energy burst at the soldier charging him, burning a hole right through the guy’s chest, and whirls around. I turn, squinting to see what he’s looking at but, whatever it is must be too far off for me to see.
“Insiastic!” he calls to Pavil, who runs back toward him. They clasp hands, pressing in on me and the energy shell a second before the sand around us explodes. Smoke clouds my vision and it burns the back of my throat. It’s everywhere. I can’t see—or breathe.
Why is it so strong?
Reaching out, all I can feel is the energy shield around me—its rubbery electric shell tingling against my fingertips—when a morose realization hits me. Saxon said nothing but air could get in. Does that mean I can’t get out!
My pulse skyrockets, and my lungs burn as I suck in deep gulps of air, but it’s not enough. I’m going to suffocate if I can’t get out of here. Banging my elbows against the shell hard enough to send them rocketing back at me does nothing. “Saxon! Pavil! Let me out. Let me out!” I scream.
Another big boom vibrates the inside of the shield, and then another and there’s more smoke. Pain flashes across my chest where Saxon’s armor is, and something animalistic kicks in. I have to get out, but I can’t see anything.
No. No. No. This can’t be happening. I can’t die like this.
Saxon (Shared Survival Book 1) Page 16