Page 59

The curse turned into a scream when they hit the earth and started cartwheeling. She nearly bit off her tongue as she was thrown about in her seat like a rag doll. Anything that wasn’t bolted down flew around the cabin, but she barely noticed when the debris struck her knee. This must’ve been what the Miran Sona crash was like. Why couldn’t she be asleep during this one?!

Just as she thought she couldn’t take any more, everything came to an abrupt halt. She blinked, trying to take in the damage, but her head was still spinning. Except there was no time to get her bearings. The two reptiles would soon come to their senses.

Light filtered in through the cracked door. The split in the mangled hatch looked just wide enough. Furiously she tugged at the harness with shaking hands and scrambled out of the seat.

“Ow.” Her legs buckled as shooting pain radiated from her knee.

Elena gritted her teeth, forcing it to bear her weight, and headed for the exit.

“Feck!” one reptile hissed as she made it to the door.

She glanced back to find the spiny asshole who’d threatened her shrugging out of his seat.

Come on, come on!She squeezed through the crack, wincing as a ragged piece of metal scraped across her chest.

Once free, she leapt the few feet down to solid ground. Her knee gave out, but she caught herself before her face struck the unforgiving rocky ground.

Oh God!

She bit back the pain as she quickly examined her knee through the ripped sweats. It was banged up and bloody but nothing was broken.

It’s a scratch. Get moving!She’d find something in her bag to bandage it once she got away from the crash.

She pulled herself up and dusted off her abraded palms. She hadn’t stumbled more than a few steps when the ground beside her exploded, sending a spray of sand everywhere.

“Don’t move!” one of the reptiles bellowed.

She spun and stared down the barrel of the alien gun pointed directly at her.

Payim quo Desero

Optical sensor,he noted, examining the access panel of the Jurou Biljana cruiser.

Payim pulled his blade as he dropped to a knee beside the reptile’s body. Elena was all that coursed through his mind as he carved off the bastard’s eyelid. He then gripped the scaly corpse by the neck and yanked it off the ground, holding its head to the sensor on the side of the hull.

“Torment!” he cursed when it didn’t read the eye.

He’s been dead too long.He growled in anger at how long everything was taking.

This better work.He recalled a morbid trick he’d used a few times in war. It wasn’t guaranteed to work, but it was his only option to get into the cruiser.

Payim fetched the disrupter and lowered the setting. He placed the muzzle against the reptile’s spine and fired as the system attempted to scan again. He grunted when the control panel pinged. Thankfully the little spark to the reptile’s nervous system did the job, because ripping into the cruiser with his bare hands would’ve taken time he didn’t have.

He dropped the scaly body into the mud and reprogrammed the vessel to recognize him. There was one perk to the Cadi’s past with the vile flesh merchants– he was more than familiar with the reptiles’ tech. Half the cruisers on Cadi were bought off the Jurou Biljana.

The instant the door was open, he leapt into the cruiser, tossed down his hastily packed bag and strapped into the pilot seat. He didn’t waste any time getting the vessel off the ground, but kept it low as he headed toward the Jurou Biljana base.

“Find it!” he groused as he scanned for the other cruiser.

Either the subpar Jurou Biljana technology or the environment was to blame, probably both, still this was maddening. He should be able to pick up something, a flicker of the other vessel. Faster he flew toward the reptile outpost, his fear for Elena eclipsing any sense of self preservation.

Elena

Her breath came out in shallow pants as she stared at the gun.

Fuck!

As she waited for the shot to come, she prayed Payim had better luck. This was not the way things were supposed to go. They were supposed to be rescued this afternoon. She was supposed to live happily ever after with Payim. Her eyes burned as her heart shattered.