Page 25 of The Alien Warrior's Vow

“You can.” He bounced on the balls of his feet. “Again.”

Emma paused for a minute.

Her eyes shuttered closed and she sucked in a deep breath.

It was so weird to have control of a beast this big and damaging. It almost felt undeserved.

It is undeserved. You were supposed to be dead.

But here she was.

I can do this.

She snatched Lans by the shoulders. He blocked the exoskeleton’s arms and twisted away from her clutch. Exhaling, Emma instructed the zapten to appear in front of Lans.

One moment, she was behind him.

The next, she was in front of him.

Emma saw Lans’s eyes widening as if in slow motion. She swept his legs out from under him, grabbed him by the neck and slammed him on the dirt. The ground cracked from the force of the collision and his head bounced against the soft grass.

He looked stunned. “What… just happened?”

“I don’t know.” She climbed off him, the zapten’s gears buzzing with her movements. “I thought about moving faster than you could see and I did.” Her breathing deepened as she asked, “Did you know I could do that in the suit?”

“Neh.”

“Wow.” She blinked rapidly. “That was intense.”

“That ability makes you more dangerous than we could ever be.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I’m on your side then.”

“Try it again.”

“Fine. I—” The world spun around her. Before she could finish, Eema stumbled.

The exoskeleton hit the ground with a crash.

“Eema!” Lans rushed her. He unlocked the armor and hauled her out of it, cradling her to his chest.

Her head pounded.

Her stomach roiled.

Still, she struggled to sit up. If Lans saw her injured, he would definitely try to ban her from the rescue mission.

“I’m fine. I’m fine. Just… winded.”

“Increasing the speed of the zapten took too much energy from you.” His fingers tightened on her. “You must not use the skill again until we can train you to handle it.”

“I’ll agree on one condition,” she whispered.

Lans’s brow quirked.

“You admit that I’m ready for tomorrow.”

He studied her face intently. Slowly, Lans brushed her hair away from her forehead. “Eema… you are ready.”