Page 9 of The Alien Warrior's Vow

“Will not.” Lilliana pouted.

Emma just shook her head.

“You and Lans looked tense back there.” Lilliana leaned closer, her thick brown hair brushing against Emma’s arm.

“He gets on my nerves.”

“You get on his.” Lilliana shuddered. “He’s way too big and scary-looking for me. I would faint if I had to train with him.”

“You think Tiegan would go easy on you?” Emma asked, strapping her feet into the thick space shoes. They looked like refined astronaut boots.

“He’s definitely easy on the eyes.”

Emma stiffened. “What’s wrong with Lans?”

“Nothing.” Lilliana shrugged. “If big, burlyI’m going to kill you with my scowl alonealiens are your thing.” She paused and gasped. “Wait, is it?”

“Aliens aren’t my thingperiod. It’s weird enough that Sara, Kia and Simone aresleepingwith them—”

“Do you see those women complaining?” Lilliana slanted her a wicked grin that caused her eyes to squint. “Every time Sara comes out of that room with Korben, she looks—“

There was a knock on the door.

Both Lilliana and Emma jumped.

Heat blasted through her cheeks as Emma finished zipping up her suit. In a shaky voice, she called, “Come in.”

Sara walked in, her dark eyes cutting through the room before landing on Emma. Emma instinctively wanted to crouch back but stood her ground instead. Since Sara was the mate of the terros, she had begun to take on more and more leadership roles. Emma didn’t mind, butnobodycontrolled her. She went along with the order of things because she respected Sara. It went no further.

Sara shut the door and whirled around, causing her beautiful coils to shake with the movement. “Emma, I wanted to talk to you before we started.”

“About what?” She folded her arms over her chest.

Lilliana squirmed. “Um… I’m going to see myself out.”

Sara turned her head slightly, waiting for Lilliana to scurry out of the room.

Emma groaned. “If you’re here to scold me about the way I acted back there, I’m not going to apologize.”

“We had a plan, Emma.”

“And we succeeded.” She thrust an arm at her outfit. “See? We’re sneaking into the extremely dangerous Heronas camp to rescue the Healer. Point one for the girl’s team.”

“No, we succeededdespiteyour attempts. You let Lans get under your skin.”

“You know, when someone snatches you from a rowdy alien auction and throws you on top of a giant metal dinosaur without warning, it kind of leaves a bad impression.”

“It was afirstimpression.”

“And those are the ones that last, aren’t they?”

Sara said nothing, but her stare carried a thousand words.

Emma sighed heavily. “I’ll be nice.”

“Can you?”

She thought about it. “Probably not.”