Page 96 of Made For The Alien Warrior

Her jaw dropped.

He marched ahead and she could hear his quiet laughter in the wind. Heat flared through her body and her heart threatened to burst out of her chest.

“Tiegan!” She grunted and opened her mouth to scold him when, suddenly, Tiegan went still. His tail grew rigid and his spine dagger shot out of his body.

Without hesitation, he broke off the spine dagger and shot it into the trees.

A body flailed to the ground and landed with a hard thump.

Adhi gasped. “The hell?”

Tiegan whirled around and caught her eye. Her neural connector snapped, picking up his alarm.

Symphony jumped into action. “Get down!” She screamed at Adhi. Grabbing the other woman’s shoulders, she hurled them into the dirt.

Tiegan grew another spine dagger and started running. He wielded it with perfect aim and it collided with another dagger that had been aiming right for her head.

Adhi screamed.

Symphony winced.

The broken dagger shattered right next to her nose, promising that—had it achieved its goal—she would have been dead.

“Are you okay?” Symphony asked.

“I’m…” Before she could finish, someone hurled Adhi by her feet and dragged her through the grass.

“Adhi!” she screamed.

Adhi dug her nails into the dirt, fighting desperately to stay.

Symphony saw that a glowing rope was wrapped around Adhi’s ankle. She lurched forward, trying to reach her. Their hands fell just short as Adhi got yanked into the tree line.

“Adhi!”

There was no response.

Tiegan rushed toward her and scooped her up. Setting her behind his strong back, he roared and turned in a slow circle. “Show yourself!”

Trees rustled.

Footsteps crunched the grass.

One by one, a crew of Plutonian rebels with the black bands stepped out of the trees. Fear seeped through her chest, making her body tremble. Sweat beaded on her forehead and dropped to the ground, filling her nose with the scent of dirt and panic.

One rebel stepped forward. He had a dagger at Adhi’s throat. Symphony locked gazes with Adhi. Panic filled her friend’s eyes. She was trembling so hard that the dagger nicked her every time she breathed.

“Adhi,” Symphony mumbled.

“You are surrounded,” the leader of the gang spoke in a guttural voice.

“Let the female go or suffer the consequences,” Tiegan warned, snapping off another spine dagger.

“We do not wish to hurt you, Plutonian. We only wish to bring retribution for our comrade.”

“You are rebelling against our ways. Females are to be protected at all costs,” Tiegan snapped.

The leader pressed the dagger closer to Adhi’s neck. “These females will bring nothing but calamity upon us.”