Page 101 of Made For The Alien Warrior

A lone Plutonian charged through the bushes, and Symphony was ready. She sprang up and grabbed him with her nano-tech arm when recognition washed over her.

“Tiegan?” She stared into his purple eyes. The moment their gazes collided, the nano-tech arm jolted. She glanced down and so did he. His eyes widened when he saw the brassy color of her arm.

“Sim-pony?” he whispered. He brushed his fingers over her wrist. At the touch of his hand, the gold disintegrated, revealing her usual dark brown skin. Like a wave, it receded all the way to her shoulder until her hand looked like normal.

“Tiegan.” She sighed and then slumped over. All the energy drained out of her, leaving her spent. A washed up rag left to dry.

Tiegan caught her in his strong arms. He smelled like blood and sweat. Beneath her head, his muscles flexed almost as much as his jaw did. She sensed his fury, even without the neural connector. His expression was rock hard.

She smiled and pressed her hand to his cheek. “You defeated the other two?”

“You summoned the light?”

“I asked you first,” she croaked, her hand falling limp.

“You should not have gone with them,” Tiegan hissed. “You should have let me protect you.”

“Next time,” she said breathily, unable to keep her eyes open. “You can save me next time.”

“Here’s your opportunity,” Adhi warned in a nervous voice.

The dazed rebels were rising unsteadily to their feet. It looked like they were regaining their sight after the blast.

Symphony tried to stand on her own, but she couldn’t. “Tiegan.”

“Stay with Adhi,” he said.

“I want to help.” She clutched his shoulder. “There are too many of them.”

He placed a gentle kiss on her temple. “You’ve already done so much. I cannot even begin to describe how proud I am of you.” His voice dropped a little lower. “But you’ve spent too much energy. You need to rest now.”

She wanted to argue, but she couldn’t even summon enough energy to do that. Tiegan glanced behind her and made eye contact with Adhi. Her friend took her shoulders, guiding her to lean on a nearby tree.

The rebels huddled together and stared Tiegan down, creating an intimidating formation.

“I know not what kind of sorcery your human dabbles in,” the leader growled. “But her reign of terror ends now.”

Tiegan snapped off his spine dagger. “You will have to get through me first.”

Symphony worried her bottom lip.

Suddenly, a shadow appeared overhead and a giant zapten slammed to the ground.

Korben and Sara slid down the mechanical dinosaur.

The terros stood beside Tiegan. “You will have to get through me as well.”

The zapten transformed before Symphony’s eyes, turning into an exoskeleton that Sara bravely stepped into. “And me.”

Pin and Kia appeared.

Then Zar and Simone.

And finally, Lans and Emma.

The women stepped into their exoskeleton suits and formed a line with their mates.

Tiegan lifted his chin. “To get to them, you must go through all of us.”