Donovan slammed facefirst onto the ground. He kicked at the creature, trying to get free.
The huge metal vat descended faster.
Then firm fingers closed on Donovan’s hand. He looked up to see Airen right in front of him. She pulled, sliding him across the floor. The creature lost its grip on his ankle.
Freed, Donovan shoved up and rolled, knocking into Airen. They landed on the ground, him on top of her.
Only a meter away from them, the vat crashed down—right on top of the creature.
Chapter Eight
Airen’s heart raced. Donovan had been so close to being crushed by the vat. His helmet clicked against hers.
“I really want to kiss you right now,” he said.
Her heart gave another hard squeeze. “I really want you to kiss me, too.”
He groaned.
“You have a crack in your helmet.”
“It’s holding. Just no more wrestling with strange monsters that want to eat me.” He pushed himself up and took her hand, pulling her to her feet.
“So, what the hell was that thing?” He glanced back at the overturned vat.
“I’m not sure. I’m just hoping there aren’t any more of them. Let’s keep searching for our pirate.”
“Airen, he might be dead.”
“Well, we keep looking until we know for sure.”
“And keep an eye out for other monsters lurking around.”
She scanned their surroundings. “I’m not detecting anything.” Her scanner beeped and she frowned. “There are low levels of radiation.”
“Dangerous?”
“No.”
They moved along the conveyor. Ore was still stacked on the belt, glimmering under their lights.
“This is the unidentified ore. It’s showing higher levels of radiation, the same as the creature.” Horror moved through her. “Donovan, I think they had some sort of accident with this ore.”
“And some of them were exposed to it, irradiated?”
She nodded.
“Hell.” He pressed his hands to his hips, looking around with a grim face.
“It appears to be safe now, but let’s not disturb the ore.”
“There had to be hundreds of miners working here.” He met her gaze. “That’s a lot of monsters.”
They continued on, moving through a doorway.
“Living quarters,” she said.
They moved inside, heading toward a set of stairs that led up to an open, second level. She swung her light through the dark space and the beam bounced off many doors. The central area must have been an eating and relaxing space. It was a mess—with furniture overturned, and litter on the ground.
A sound echoed above them and they both tensed.
She spotted a flash of movement as someone darted up the stairs.
Donovan broke into a sprint.
Cren. She ran after him.
They pounded up the stairs and she wondered if it was another monster.
They reached the top and Donovan dived, tackling a lean figure.
“Let me go!”
Donovan pinned the man and Airen stood over him, shining the light down.
“Eon,” the man spat.
Definitely their pirate. He was older, with scraggly, gray hair and a lined face. It was clear he’d lived a hard, rough life. He wasn’t wearing a helmet and appeared to be working harder to breathe.
“We aren’t here to hurt you, Arnaf,” she said.
“Well, you two made enough noise that the space-cursed monsters will be here to eat us all any minute now.” He drew in some harsh breaths. “Already hard enough for me to breath in here, especially if I have to run.”
“How many of them?” Donovan asked.
“I don’t know,” the pirate grumbled. “Enough. Ten, maybe.”
“You’ve been hiding from them?” she asked.
“Ever since my cowardly, backstabbing men dumped me here. When I get my hands on Cyris—”
“He’s dead.” Donovan levered himself off the pirate.
The old man paused. “No great loss.”
“They’re all dead. Bar one in the brig aboard an Eon warship. He told us where to find you.”
“Idiots took the Kantos job.” The pirate cursed, and for a second, looked sad. His face firmed and he glanced at Airen. “I told them attacking an Eon outpost was a stupid idea.”
“Well, wherever they are now, I’m sure they’re regretting the decision,” she said.
“You’re the female warrior the bugs wanted. Kann-Felis.”
“That’s why we are here. We need to know what you know. Why do they want me?”
“You gonna get me off this rock?”
Donovan crossed his arms. “If the info is good.”
“They want your helian.” The pirate’s gaze dropped to her wristband.
“You can’t remove a bonded helian without killing both the host and the helian,” she said.
The pirate sucked on one of his teeth. “Bugs think they can. At least, with a female Eon.”
Airen felt a wave of something horrible wash over her. “What?”
The pirate shrugged. “Something about being female, your biology, makes ’em think they can do it.”
Donovan cursed.
Breathing deeply, she pushed her concern and anger down. “We need to go.” She needed to warn the other female Eon warriors, just in case the Kantos came after them. This couldn’t be true. She didn’t want it to be true.
“Come on.” Donovan pushed the pirate ahead of them. They headed down the stairs.
They moved out into the dark processing area, and guttural moans echoed through the space. A lot of moans.
Airen’s blood fired.
“Fuck,” Donovan bit out. “We have a lot of company incoming.”
“Run,” Airen said.
They sprinted across the space. Ahead, a crowd of monsters—misshapen beings, all different shapes and sizes—appeared out of the gloom, stumbling toward them.
Donovan whipped his laser pistol up and fired.
Airen spotted the door ahead, but it was still too far away. They wouldn’t make it before the monsters cut them off.
The pirate let out a wild yell and yanked a clunky, homemade explosive off his belt. “Go!”
“I promised to get you out of here,” Airen said.
“I’m old, and I got nowhere to go.” He lifted the explosive. “My clan’s all dead. I might as well go out with a bang and take as many of these monsters with me as I can.”
The pirate spun, and ran toward the irradiated creatures.
“Come on.” Donovan grabbed her hand.
Together, they sprinted into the lobby area.
Boom.
She heard the explosion behind them, felt the subsequent shockwave.
She sucked in a breath. Thank you, Arnaf.
They ran out of the building and sprinted down the walkway to the ship. They dived inside the shuttle, and Donovan closed the door behind them.
“Get us out of here, Second Commander.”
Through the viewscreen, she saw the monsters coming. She fired up the engines. “My pleasure.”
* * *
Donovan glanced at Airen in the pilot seat. She was silent, tension humming around her.
“We’re locked on course to the Rengard and at star speed.” Her tone was wooden.
“You okay?”
She blew out a breath. “That pirate sacrificed himself for us.”
“Well, I got the impression he usually did things for his own good. He knew he had nowhere to go, and that his pirate clan was all gone.”
She was silent for a moment. “The Kantos might have a way to extract my helian.” She shuddered.
Donovan reached over and grabbed her hand. He rubbed his thumb over her wrist, brushing her helian band. “That’s not going to happen.”
“We need to warn all the female warriors.”
“Once we’re back, we will.”
&nbs
p; “I keep thinking of those poor miners.”
“Yeah.” He squeezed her hand. “Poor bastards.”
“I’ll have Malax inform the appropriate authorities.” She stood and started pacing the small craft. “Right now, I want to destroy the Kantos. They want to extract my helian, destroy the Eon, annihilate Earth—”
Her cheeks were flushed, and Donovan decided he much preferred her angry to sad and upset. Apparently, Airen had a hidden temper.
“That’s my warrior,” he said.
She turned to look at him. “You like it when I’m ruthless and tough.”
He leaned back in his seat. “It’s sexy as hell, Airen.”
“Ander felt threatened.”
Donovan smiled, not wanting to think about that asshole. “Do I look threatened?”
She stepped closer. “No.”
There was a flare of green threads in her eyes, glowing turquoise.
Fire and passion lived within Airen Kann-Felis. She hid it well under her skill and discipline, but it was there.
“Back on the asteroid, when the vat fell, I thought I was about to lose you,” she said.
His blood heated. “I’m fine.”
She stalked closer. “I really want to kiss you right now.”
His cock went hard in an instant. “That’s my line.”
Then the gorgeous Eon warrior shocked him by straddling him, right there in the cockpit seat.
He put his hands on her hips. “Airen—”
“I want to stop thinking, Donovan. I want to bend those rules you often ignore.”
She sank onto him. At the contact of their bodies, desire was a rushing flood inside him. He slid one hand into her hair. “What else do you want? Tell me, and I’ll give it to you.”
“Maybe I want you to take it,” she whispered.
With a growl, he pulled her head down. He opened her lips and plunged his tongue inside her sweet mouth. She moaned, shimmying against him.
The world—or rather, the universe—ceased to exist. There was just Airen—sweet, hot, sexy Airen.
The kiss was wild and held an edge. He bit her lip and she moaned, grinding her slim, toned body on his cock.
Shit. He struggled not to come there and then.
“Open it,” he growled.
“What?” she breathed.
“My suit.”
She licked her lips and touched the fastening at the neck of his spacesuit. It parted, baring his chest and she made a hungry sound.
“Touch me,” he ordered.
She didn’t hesitate. She splayed her hands against his pecs, her fingers digging into his dark skin. “I love your body. Your muscles, your skin.”
He groaned. He knew that Airen spent all day giving orders, but right now, in his arms, she didn’t hesitate to do as he asked. “Take your armor off.”
She hesitated for a second, and he kissed her—hard, deep, drawing the taste of her inside him.
The black scales started to melt away, sliding down her torso. It uncovered a black tank underneath.
He reached up and tugged it down, until her breasts popped free. She arched into him, and he leaned forward and licked one pink nipple.
“Donovan.”
“So damn sexy, Airen.”
Her lips parted, her eyes bright. “No one’s ever said that before.”
Dann-Eon was an idiot. “Then every man you know is a fool.”
He pulled her closer and sucked her nipple into his mouth.
“Oh…” She moaned. She undulated against him again, grinding on his cock.
Damn. He fought to hold onto his slipping control. “You drive me wild.”
“Same. Donovan, it’s…”
He licked and sucked, her pretty nipples now hard points. “What? Tell me?”
She moaned his name. “I’m hot, out of control.”
“You’re gorgeous.”
He slid his hand down and cupped her ass. She pushed against his palm.
“Feel how hard I am? That’s all for you. All your fault.”
He took her mouth again and she moved faster, breathing quickening.
“Donovan—”
“I want you to come, sexy girl. Keep rubbing against me, take what you need.”
“I couldn’t, not like this.”
“Wanna bet?”
He cupped her ass and urged her on, grinding her down, hard. Her face flushed, her turquoise-and-black gaze on his face.
“Get there, Airen.”
She was rocking hard against him now. His cock was like steel, but he wanted to see her pleasure.
Then she stiffened. “Donovan—”
He kissed her. As her orgasm hit her, he kept kissing her, feeling her pleasure, tasting it.
When her body stopped shuddering, she pressed her face to his neck. He stroked her back.
“That was…inappropriate,” she said.
“Totally. Can we do it again?”
She lifted her head and smiled.
Damn, he could get used to that smile. He felt a skitter of warning through his head, but ignored it. He reached out and rubbed his thumb across her lips.
“Perhaps it was inappropriate,” she said. “But not wrong.”
“No, it felt pretty darn right.”
Her hand slid down his body. “And now I want—”
Alarms started blaring and Airen jolted. “Cren.”
As she leaped up, her armor started reforming. Donovan frowned, refastening his suit. He swiped at the console.
Swirls of color appeared on the viewscreen. It was right in front of their ship. What the hell was that?
“What is it?” he barked.
She swiped the console and sucked in a sharp breath. “It’s some sort of anomaly.”
“Are we under attack? Is it the Kantos?”
Her gaze crashed into his. “It’s a wormhole. We’re being sucked into a wormhole.”
Chapter Nine
The ship shuddered and jerked, accelerating fast. Dizziness washed over Airen.
Colors streamed past the viewscreen like a waterfall.
“Controls aren’t responding,” Donovan yelled.
The wormhole spat them out and disappeared as quickly as it came. Their shuttle spun sideways, fully unchecked. Airen fought to gain some control.
She cursed. “We’re losing an engine.”
“Fuck.”
Muffled explosions came from the back of the ship, and the shuttle shuddered again.
Airen felt her harness dig into her shoulders. She pressed her palm to the console. A line snaked out of her armor and, through her helian, she plugged straight into the ship’s systems.
She straightened, the helian working through the data at lightning speed.
“I’m working to contain an engine fire.”
Something else flared in her consciousness, her helian pulsing urgently. Airen gasped. Oh, no.
“What is it?” Donovan asked.
“We have company.”
He tried his console again, then thumped his fist against it. “Work, damn you.”
Airen ordered her helian to repair the console and it flared to life.
She glanced at it briefly, knowing that it would show a cloud of Kantos swarm ships arrowing toward them.
“Goddammit.” Donovan tapped and swiped, his fingers moving fast. “I need weapons.”
“I can—”
“You need to focus on flying the ship and keeping us operational.” His smile was blinding white. “I’ll shoot those insect fuckers down.”
Airen found that she liked Donovan’s fierceness. What you saw was what you got with Donovan Lennox.
She continued to work on repairs and keep the ship moving. The swarm ships dominated their viewscreen, closing in.
The Kantos’ ships were all insect-like, with an organic look, and lots of protuberances.
Donovan fired and lasers arced through the sky. The swarm ships evaded—dipping and spinning like a cloud of insects.
&nbs
p; Several of the ships exploded and her heart thumped against her chest. She pulled the shuttle up hard. Several swarm ships pulled in behind them, giving chase.
Cren. One of her engines was laboring, affecting their speed and maneuverability.
The shuttle jerked, throwing them forward against their harnesses. Her helian pulsed, and the console lit up with alarms.
“We’ve lost an engine,” she cried.
Donovan leaned over his console, focused on fighting off the swarm ships. “There are too many of them.” He smacked his palm against the console. “And the shuttle doesn’t have enough firepower.”
She gritted her teeth, fighting to keep the ship flying. Pain spiked down her spine. She knew she was overdoing it, but if she stopped, they were dead.
There was another volley from the swarm ships and she threw them into evasive maneuvers. In the distance, she saw a larger Kantos battlecruiser appear.
“They aren’t shooting us down.” Donovan met her gaze. “They’re just disabling us.”
A bad taste filled her mouth. “They want me alive.”
“Well they can fuck off.” He swiped his console again, his jaw tight.
“Donovan—”
“No. I will not let them take you, Airen. Over my dead body.”
She jolted. The thought of Donovan dead…
No. Not happening.
“I’ve got a planet on scanners,” he said.
“What? Where?” Ahead was just empty space.
He barked out the coordinates and her belly tightened. It wasn’t far, but it wasn’t very close, either.
In a damaged shuttle, they might make it, but with Kantos swarm ships chasing them, it was highly unlikely.
“Donovan—”
He reached out and grabbed her hand. “We can make it.”
His golden gaze was unwavering, filling her with hope. She nodded.
She turned their ship. She pulled as much speed as she could from the faltering final engine. Pain flared through her body as she strained her connection to the ship, but she wasn’t giving up.
Donovan kept firing, trying to keep the swarm ships back. Another volley of Kantos fire hit them, tossing them both in the seats. Smoke filled the cockpit.
Ahead, the planet came into view. It was a large, dark-blue orb.
“I’ve got no idea where we are,” he said. “Star charts don’t match anything close to where we were.”
Claim of Eon: Eon Warriors #6 Page 7