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She was so caught in the moment, she didn’t hear the wide service door open nor see the soldiers come in until Kryxis let out a growl and pulled her around to his back.

They spread out and aimed their guns in his direction. “Step away,” Saul called, “or we will fire.”

Kryxis looked ready to fight again, but she was already one step ahead. Pulling out her stunner, she swept around Kryxis and put him behind her, aiming her weapon toward them.

“If you want him, you’ll have to get through me.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Dani

They sat on the remains of what had once been the hostile creature, wisps of smoke trailing up along the flesh. The lights were on overhead and there were still men surrounding them. Kryxis sat behind her as she settled between his legs, stunner on her lap.

“Come on, Dani, give it up,” Saul called. “He’s coming with us whether you like it or not.”

She didn’t say a word, and neither did Kryxis. They merely watched the soldiers, waiting. More showed up, standing by the door. It was obvious now they’d been told Kryxis had been found and were just waiting for orders. But she knew Saul wouldn’t make the call with her there. No matter how bad her relationship was now with her family, she was still a head official’s daughter, and Saul knew he’d be worse off if he iced her than not getting a hold of Kryxis.

And she would make them wait hours—days—if she had to. She was going nowhere without Kryxis.

Saul paced by the door, his face starting to turn red. More soldiers came but still they didn’t budge. Kryxis wrapped his tail around her protectively and she in turn gripped his thigh.

“You have to give him up, Dani,” Saul shouted. “You’re only making this harder for yourself. You already face termination, but I doubt your father will object if we take you into custody.”

“I’m not moving, so you can forget it,” she answered back.

“We could take you by force.”

She smiled as Kryxis’ head moved above hers, a low growl of warning rumbling in his chest. “I’d like to see you try.”

Saul cursed, then disappeared. A moment later, Nadine entered.

“Please, Dani, it doesn’t have to be this way,” she said, inching toward them.

“Yes, it does.”

Kryxis snarled, making Nadine jump back. “We are about to make port soon and we are certain back up will come. You will face too many to fight. It’s only a matter of time.”

The soldiers were creeping closer, getting bold despite the fact Kryxis could still take them all with ease.

“We’ll see about that, Nadine.”

Eventually she disappeared too. They were getting close, Dani could feel it. They were going to dock soon at whatever port they’d arrived at. They might be swarmed but she would fight. She’d climb on his back if she had to, to keep the ice off him, letting him slice his way through the hordes of soldiers. She didn’t care what it took.

“Let me pass, thumb-head,” someone shouted by the door, “Or I’ll burn the whole lot of you.”

The soldiers parted, and Phen slipped past, flamethrower in hand and a twinkle in her eye. Lex followed close behind. Then came Sheek who pushed a soldier aside with the hilt of her blade,hissing at them. Behind her came Myrell, Tom, and Morse, tools in hand which they now used as weapons.

“What are you doing here?” Dani asked.

They huddled around her and Kryxis. “What do you think?” Myrell said. “We’re all screwed anyway. They planned to demote us and take our pay while not compensating us for the incident on X110. So, we said fuck them. I sent the message out like you asked. Only with a little bit different wording.”

“I’m done with the bullshit here,” said Lex.

“And the lies,” Tom added.

“I grabbed the flamethrower from the ship,” said Phen, attempting to laugh evilly but doing a poor job of it.

They faced the soldiers who glanced at Saul, now looking more red than ever. “You’ll be arrested once we dock! You’re just prolonging the inevitable!”