by Becca Colton
Chloe chuckled. “Neither was I, although it looked a lot worse earlier. These guys have some wicked tech that heals almost anything. From what they’ve said even the scar should be gone soon.”
“Yeah. I’m familiar with their medical technology,” Leah said.
Corsar noticed that Leah winced and tightened her shoulders as she spoke. He also noticed that Andar moved closer to her, as if to protect her.
She must have had her own injuries to deal with, he thought.
Leah looked over and noticed the lizard person in the nearby medical pod. “Hi,” she said, nodding. “I’m glad to see you’re okay.” She glanced around, as if looking for someone. “Where’s your friend?”
“My ssssissster and I were sssseparated,” the lizard woman said. “I do not know where sssshe isss.”
“Some of the other escapees have been located,” Corsar said. “They had made it to areas that were closer to other cities so were taken to them for quicker access to medical care.” He glanced at the lizard woman. “We can find out if your sister is at one of the other cities.”
Andar nodded in agreement. Before he could say anything, though, the doctor gasped. “How odd.”
Andar quickly moved toward the screen the doctor was looking at. Corsar followed, not liking the concerned tone in the doctor’s voice.
“What’s odd?” Andar asked.
Dr. Rokan pointed at two blinking lights on the screen that showed diagrams of two human bodies. A light blinked in each one. “Tracking beacons. I didn’t detect them during initial scans because they were inactive.”
Andar and Corsar exchanged a glance, then alarms began sounding throughout the city as orange alert lights began flashing.
Andar reached for the comm on his belt as he moved closer to Leah. Before he could contact the command platform, the city rocked hard to the right, explosions echoing outside. He pulled his comm and activated it. “Report.”
“A Struun ship just appeared in our atmosphere and locked on to us immediately. Now they’re hovering several yards away, Commander. They must’ve been cloaked but our scanners still should’ve picked them up.”
Another explosion rocked the city. “Raise defensive shields and arm weapons,” Andar barked into his comm. “As soon as cannons are charged, open fire on the enemy vessel.”
“Aye, Commander.”
Andar looked over at Corsar. “Two tracking beacons activated right before the attack? That’s not a coincidence.”
Corsar looked at Leah, then at Chloe. His gaze returned to Andar and he nodded.
Leah squeaked as Andar scooped her into his arms and ran for the med-bay door. Chloe, on the other hand, remained silent as he grabbed her from the medical pod and held her close. That silence didn’t last long when she realized he was also headed out of the med-bay . . . and straight toward the open window along the far wall of the corridor outside the door.
“How high up are we?” she asked.
Instead of answering, Corsar jumped out the window, his wings snapping open.
“Fucking hell,” Chloe gasped. Her grip tightened around Corsar’s shoulders, and for a moment he forgot about the danger and wondered what it would be like to have her sharp nails dig into his flesh for a reason other than fear. And then a flash of light zipped over his head, snapping him back into the moment at hand.
Pulling his Razr blaster from its holster, Corsar curved his wings and rolled through the air, swooping closer to the attacking ship. “Kee-eeeee-arr!” As the Kriathian battle cry echoed through the air, he fired his blaster. The bolts flared harmlessly across the enemy ship’s shields.
One of these days I need to upgrade to a more powerful blaster, something along the lines of Andar’s TalonRazr.
But Corsar was still a long way from helpless. Now was the perfect time to field test something new he had been working on. He pulled a small circular device—a little something he had named shatterbeak shieldbreaker—from a pouch on his belt, pressed the button in the center, and watched as the smooth circle opened to reveal three separate wings joined at the central hub. The light in the center glowed green. He pressed the button again and the light turned red.
Flying between two crisscrossing laser beams, so close the heat singed his feathers, Corsar threw the shatterbeak at the ship. The small device exploded, sending a wave of white light over the shielding of the ship, making the shield temporarily visible. Small cracks, which quickly became big cracks, formed in the energy shield, and then it collapsed completely. He grinned as he watched Andar fly toward the ship, already firing his massive TalonRazr laser rifle. Each shot blew a hole in the ship.
Corsar knew his friend and commander would be able to cause some serious damage to the enemy ship since it no longer had any shields so he dove to the jungle below the floating city of Stratos for cover, his focus shifting to keeping Chloe safe from the slavers.
Laser fire cooked the air around Corsar as he rolled and turned, narrowly avoiding the deadly beams of light.
Guess the Struun aren’t happy about me knocking their shields out.
Corsar snapped his wings out to stop in midair as a red energy beam flashed in front of his face, forcing a fear-filled scream to escape from the redhead in his arms. He rolled sideways and continued his dive, his gaze locked on to a gap in the dense foliage below. They’d be safe in just a few more seconds.
“Kee-eeeee-arr!” The scream tore itself out of Corsar’s throat as a lance of red light blasted through his right wing. Chloe screamed as they began tumbling through the air. He managed to turn as they fell, his back toward the rapidly approaching trees, Chloe held close against his chest. He cried out as he smashed through branches both thick and thin and grunted as the air was knocked out of him when he slammed into the ground.
He groaned, gritting his teeth against the pain. He had to get up. Had to keep Chloe safe. But the world was fuzzy and quickly growing dim. The last thing he heard before everything went dark was Chloe’s sweet voice calling his name.
Chapter Six
And I thought life couldn’t get any more exciting after being kidnapped by aliens.
Chloe looked up through the hole in the branches above her, a huge Corsar-sized hole that led to the sky that was way, way, way up there. She knew there were things that needed to be done, but she was experiencing a strange disconnect between her mind and body. She had experienced something similar before when, one second she was sitting in a jeep traveling across the desert sands, and then the next second she was facedown in those sands, the jeep a smoldering wreck a few yards away.
For a few seconds, she just concentrated on breathing deeply, slowing her heart rate down. She had been soaring on pure adrenaline ever since Corsar had jumped out that window with her in his arms. She had felt like a little kid enjoying the ultimate carnival ride as Corsar rose and dove, twisted and soared, as he attacked the enemy ship, but her blood had turned to ice when that blast from the ship punched a hole the size of her head in his wing.
The world had spun crazily as they fell through the air and crashed through the trees, and her breath had been knocked out of her when they hit the ground. Slowly, she became aware of the fact that Corsar wasn’t moving.
She slid off of him, noticing he was imbedded at least two inches deep in the ground. “Corsar?”
NO!
Her heart crashed to her feet. This man—this warrior—had done everything to keep her alive. Had he sacrificed himself for her too? She placed her head on his chest—He’s an alien. Is his heart even in the same place as a human’s?—and breathed a sigh of relief when she heard a strong, steady heartbeat. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his wing.
Oh god! His wing.
She had seen the blast that had damaged his wing, knew the damage was bad, but she hadn’t realized how bad. The gaping hole was big, at least a foot in diameter, and a golden fluid poured steadily from the wound.
That’s his blood.
He was a warrior. Did he carry
some type of field kit with him to take care of injuries? She remembered him mentioning that spray and started looking through the pouches on his belt, trying not to focus on the thick thighs protruding from his leather kilt. She knew he needed medical treatment. But damn! His legs were thick and muscular, and right there. She shook her head, forcing herself to concentrate on her task.
After searching through several pouches, Chloe finally found something that looked vaguely like a spray bottle. It was a thin silver tube, maybe four inches long. She pulled the cap off the tube and saw a familiar-looking spray nozzle. Not knowing how much to use, she decided it was better to use too much rather than not enough so she sprayed the wound until the feathers were dripping. Finally, the spray stopped coming. She gave the canister a shake—empty—and dropped it to the ground. She chewed on her bottom lip nervously and watched the golden fluid continue to pour from the hole in his wing. After a few seconds, which seemed like years, the flow of the blood finally slowed, and then stopped.
Chloe rocked back on her heels and breathed a sigh of relief. The sound of a stick breaking drew her attention to the dense foliage to her left. She stared through the gaps in the branches and leaves, holding her breath. Another sound. The rustling of leaves, perhaps. Footsteps. After spending a few years in deserts and jungles around the world, Chloe was certain of it. The green aliens—the Struun Corsar had called them—were still after her.
Grabbing Corsar’s wrist, Chloe tried to drag him into the surrounding foliage. He didn’t even move. It would’ve probably been easier to move the ship they crashed in.
Okay. Plan B.
Chloe grabbed Corsar’s blaster from its holster. The controls were more complicated than those on the Struun’s laser pistols so she just had to hope the weapon was on a lethal setting.
Gripping the pistol firmly, her finger hovering over the trigger, Chloe pushed through some low-hanging branches as quietly as possible, hoping to work her way around the Struun. Watching for debris on the ground that could give her away, Chloe made her way toward the intrusive sounds the slavers were making. Either they didn’t care about being quiet or were unable to. She didn’t care which it was; she was just thankful for the noise. Tracking the green aliens was astonishingly simple.
“Wait,” a high-pitched, whiny-sounding voice said from several feet in front of Chloe. “The female is moving.”
Chloe held back a gasp. She could understand them now. She had assumed the translator only worked with Corsar’s people but she could understand the Struun too.
She burst out into a narrow trail and glanced at the aliens who were hunting her, one of them looking at a tablet-like device. She turned and started running.
“It’s her,” one of the Struun cried.
“Get her,” the other one yelled.
Chloe grinned. Her plan was working. She could lead them away from Corsar, lose them, and then double back. But what would keep them from returning back to this area? She couldn’t risk that happening.
Stumbling and falling to the ground, Chloe swore, careful to keep the weapon out of sight. The Struun chuckled as they drew closer. They sounded like hyenas when they laughed.
“Stupid slave,” one of them muttered.
Chloe rolled over onto her back, aimed Corsar’s blaster, and pulled the trigger. After quickly re-aiming, she pulled the trigger again. One alien fell to the ground missing its stomach; the other fell missing its head.
“Who’s stupid now, fucker?” Chloe said, climbing to her feet. She kicked one of the bodies as she walked by it. “This is a lot more fun with a weapon and a skull that’s not cracked open.”
Chloe’s good mood vanished when she returned to Corsar. He was still unconscious. She kneeled down and felt his forehead to see if he was running a fever and then laughed at herself. She didn’t know what temperature was considered normal for the people on this world. Shaking her head, she rocked back on her heels, looking at the blaster in her hand. She had heard Corsar and the other one—Andar?—talking about tracking devices, and then they had both looked at her and Leah. The conversation between the Struun that she’d heard, combined with the device one of them had been holding, confirmed it. The fucking green men wanted to make sure their little souvenirs from Earth didn’t get away.
If I were a tracking device, where would I be?
Chloe remembered the back of her neck itching when she’d first woken up in the cage. She had noticed some of the others scratching the back of their necks for a day or two after they’d been abducted. Reaching back and feeling along the back of her neck, Chloe could feel a small scar, not even a quarter-inch long.
Bastards.
Chloe sighed and looked over at Corsar. “This would be a lot easier if you were awake, big guy.”
Looking at the blaster, Chloe sighed again. This wasn’t going to be fun, but she couldn’t risk having the Struun find her or Corsar. She knew the blaster’s current setting wouldn’t work, not after what it did to the Struun who had been chasing her. She slid her finger down a touchscreen on the side of the weapon, watching the light on the screen move down with her finger. When it reached the middle, she shot at a tree. The blast knocked the bark off of it.
Nope!
Touching the screen again, Chloe dragged the light all the way to the bottom, aimed at another tree, and pulled the trigger. The blast hit the tree but nothing happened to it.
Nodding to herself, Chloe wrestled with the blaster for a few seconds until the muzzle was right over the incision on the back of her neck.
“This is probably gonna suck so bad,” she muttered.
Closing her eyes, Chloe pulled the trigger. A flash of white light exploded in her brain. It quickly gave way to a world of darkness.
Chapter Seven
The first thing Corsar became aware of was pain. His back was sore, and his right wing felt like it was on fire. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Chloe kneeling a few feet away. He blinked. It looked like she was holding his Razr to the back of her head, but that would be insane. He blinked again, refusing to accept what his eyes were seeing. He opened his mouth to say something. She pulled the trigger, then fell facedown on the ground.
“Father Sky and Mother Moon,” Corsar swore, rising quickly to his feet, his own pain forgotten. He rushed to Chloe, scooping her up in his arms. She was unconscious but breathing. He saw a faint burn mark on the back of her neck and realized she’d risked her life to destroy the tracking chip.
Corsar shook his head. “My fiery angel, why do you insist on hurting yourself?” he said softly. And then the answer came to him. Movement in the trees, high-pitched voices. The Struun were coming. Chloe had tried to stop the slavers from tracking her. He glared into the trees. He would make them wish she had succeeded.
Grabbing his blaster from Chloe’s hand, he slid the weapon into its holster as he rose to his feet. He held Chloe close in his right arm and ignored the pain as his damaged wing folding over her protectively. With his left hand, he pulled an eighteen-inch wooden handle from the sheath on his belt. He twirled the shaft and grinned as four Struun burst into the small clearing.
One of the green aliens sneered at him. “The mighty warrior is armed with a stick.” He laughed.
Corsar’s grin widened. “This ‘stick’ is a LazerMace . . . and it will be the last thing you see.” He pressed a button on the handle and a beam of blue light flashed out of the end, forming an eighteen-inch-long chain with a ball covered in spikes at the end of it.
The green alien who had laughed stared at the weapon, unsure what to make of it. Corsar swung the chain in a circle once and then smashed the mace into the side of the slaver’s head. As the alien fell to the ground, Corsar spun around, swinging the weapon with all his strength. He heard a satisfying crunch as another slaver fell.
One of the slavers pulled his laser pistol. Corsar’s mace swung through the air again, turning the pistol, and the bones in the slaver’s hand, to dust. He jerked back savagely and the spiked ball sma
shed into the Struun’s face. The other slaver tried to aim his pistol but Corsar lashed out with his leg, kicking it from the slaver’s hand. The Struun looked at him, shock on his face. Until the large spiked ball landed between his eyes.
Corsar deactivated the LazerMace and slid it back into its sheath as the last Struun fell to the ground. He looked at the four fallen bodies. A few lucky creatures of the forest would eat well later.
Glancing at Chloe, Corsar made a decision. Without the ability to fly, and in his weakened condition, they wouldn’t get back to Stratos before nightfall. They needed shelter. And he could only think of one place close enough. A forbidden place.
Years ago, the Kriathians had been tricked into a civil war. The result was their women slowly becoming less fertile every year because of a toxin that had been released by an unknown enemy. They had infiltrated the planet secretly, building underground bunkers to wage their secret war against the people of Kriath. That enemy had vacated the planet when they realized the Avus and the Corvus—the two dominant races of Kriath—had discovered they were being manipulated. But the bunkers remained. Because they were filled with weapons and technology beyond even Kriathian science, it was forbidden to enter them.
However, Corsar believed ignoring that advanced technology was a mistake. He was both a warrior and an inventor, and he believed the secret to defeating this enemy, as well as discovering their identity, was within those bunkers. He had made frequent visits to one in particular. It would provide shelter through the night.
The journey through the forest was uneventful. Corsar wasn’t thrilled that Chloe had shot herself but her plan had worked. The Struun were no longer able to track her. When they arrived at the bunker, he entered the code to open the heavy door. It had taken several months to break the code, even with his code-breaking equipment, but the effort had been worth it. He had already started using some of the alien tech in his own weapon designs, and the metal the bunker was made of was a strong alloy that could be used to create armor that was virtually indestructible. And now this place would protect the woman he felt an undeniable connection with. A connection he was unable to ignore.
