Page 101 of The Alien Warrior's Vow

Electricity snapped.

She felt the exoskeleton shudder and saw the Plutonians breaking the husk apart with their weapons.

Helix!

That couldn’t be good for the machine.

“No!” Emma spun, but a warrior jumped on her back and wrapped its arm around her throat. Another dragged her exoskeleton by the wrist. A rope wrapped around its neck and yanked.

She slammed against the husk.

Pain exploded in her head.

The exoskeleton went vertical as the hands and feet were restrained.

Emma heard a loud thud.

Kia’s exoskeleton had crashed on the ground as the Plutonians used the same technique on her.

More metallic creaking exploded around her.

A warrior jumped on her chest and brought his blade up. The light glinted against the sharp edge.

Emma screamed as the warrior brought the dagger down.

The exoskeleton jolted.

Sparks erupted from the center of its chest, streaking from where the dagger had collided.

One by one, the Plutonians forcibly peeled the exoskeleton back. She crawled away, but she was trapped inside and could only wait with tortured breaths as they drew closer and closer to her.

Lans!

His terror was all that echoed back to her.

He wasn’t coming.

“No!” Sara’s scream tore through the air. “Let me go!”

Dark blue hands filled the husk of Emma’s exoskeleton and grabbed her hands and legs. The warriors yanked her to her feet. She glanced around and saw Simone and Kia had been captured too.

Emma struggled to break free. “So much for ‘protect all females’, huh!”

The warrior who held her flinched but didn’t let her go.

“Didn’t your fathers teach you to honor and protect? Are you turning your back on that because of your grief?”

“It’s either you or us,” the Plutonian said, dragging her close. Conflict filled his purple eyes, but there was determination too. “If we are wiped out, our fathers died for nothing. We have nothing but our legacy.Nothing.”

She gulped, seeing in his expression that he believed he was doing the right thing.

And that… that scared her most of all.

Twenty-Nine

Lans

“I don’t wantto kill you, Tanek,” Lans growled, spattered in the blood of his comrades.