Page 16

Jaz

I gritted my teeth as I climbed the ladder, trying very hard not to look at the battle behind me.

“Hurry!” the auburn-haired Drake urged as I took aim with the laser. Every muscle in his lean body quivered with tension. “I am needed.”

“That’s stating the obvious,” I muttered at him through clenched teeth. Considering there were four Taziers and only two of his brothers… My pulse pounded at the crashing and grunts behind me, and I pushed the laser hard, trying to ignore the heavy breathing near my right breast.

“Almost there…” Yani said. The cutter worked furiously as the links turned molten, and then, they parted.

That arm dropped, and the fingertips sprouted vicious talons. Yani leaned over to add her efforts to my own. The links bent?—

With a savage jerk, Rhodes snapped them. The effort swung him straight into me, and I toppled off the ladder.

I never hit the ground. A strong arm caught me up and swept me to the side, placing me on my feet even while he surged out the cage door .

Something grabbed my arm through the bars—I twisted to see Senaik. At least, I thought it was him—because he was partially transformed. His face was a horror of long jaws and sharp teeth, with dark scales chasing over the skin.

He sprouted talons from his fingertips, and sank them into me. I gasped in pain, but wrenched my other arm around, and aimed the cutter straight at his face.

He howled as the laser opened a red line along one cheek. And then he snarled as something slammed into him from behind.

Zyair. He sank his talons into the wing membranes of the Tazier as they hauled him away from me.

Yani pulled me to the back of the cage and ripped the sleeve off her coveralls to bind my wounds. I ignored the red soaking through my shirt. My eyes never left the Drakes.

In such confined space, the Taziers couldn’t embrace their full beast. They had, however, achieved partial transformations—their jaws lengthened, armed with sharp teeth, and their arms and legs rippled with enlarged muscles as well as scaled skin.

Even though the three Raptor Drakes had expanded their canines, their faces remained human. With the manacles and wing restraints, the best transformations they could achieve were a few scales on forearms and their talons.

Despite those limitations, it seemed the Taziers had been right to fear their captives. The Raptor Clan members were lethal, even in their humanoid form.

Xandros slung one Drake around by the ankle, muscles bulging as he slammed the half-shifted Tazier into the walls of the storage bay with enough force that it bent the panels.

It did slightly more damage to the Tazier. Xandros dropped the limp body and moved in on the two that were attacking Rhodes.

Or rather, trying to attack him. Rhodes moved like lightning, zipping in to strike with his talons, and then vanishing before either of his opponents could lay a single one on him.

He was more finesse than brute force, and his expression never varied as he spun to trade blows, and disappeared again.

Zyair was dancing with Senaik. And dancing was the right description—they both moved so fluidly, with the Tazier using his wings to lift into the air as much as moving on the ground. They were well matched and used their talons like ten knives.

It seemed Senaik was hiding secrets—two new Taziers arrived. Where had they come from? They both raised phaser rifles, trying to get a bead on the fighters.

Xandros whirled away from the one he’d been mauling and lunged into the new arrivals with a roar. Phaser beams shot into the infrastructure, leaving smoking, half-melted metal in their wake.

“They know we’re on a space ship, right?” Yani hissed in dismay, just as they abandoned the phasers for teeth and talons.

I eyed the weapons lying on the floor, but they were well out of reach and at the feet of the slashing fighters. It was five to three, and although the Raptors were skilled, they’d been hung up for an extended time before this battle…

With my back against the bars, I felt useless. Yani and I would last seconds out there, but I desperately wished to help.

Then my eyes fell on another phaser rifle lying near the wall that was well away from the fighters. If I could just get to it…

Yani grabbed my arm as I moved away. I met her panicked gaze.

“I have to help,” I said.

She followed my gaze to the rifle. “It won’t penetrate their scales.”

“It might. They aren’t in full beast form,” I pointed out.

Her mouth twisted, but she let me go.

I waited until Rhodes closed with the two who were trying to take him down. He slammed talons deep through the scales of one, carrying it back into the wall before the muscles of his shoulders strained. When he pulled his talons out, the body dropped.

Four against three, now.

I saw my chance and darted free of the cage, to where the lone rifle sat .

The Drake weapon was heavy to lift, especially as my injured arm wasn’t fully functional. Humans were never permitted to wield such things, but my father had taught me how to handle the lighter weapons.

It had been a few years, but the principles were the same. It was the payload that was different. I stood with my back against the wall, and leveled it. Tried to track the frantic swirling movement of the Drakes. Too close, they were too close together. I couldn’t risk it.

Then Rhodes spun away from the Tazier he battled, leaving the Drake exposed for just a moment?—

I took the shot. It hit the Tazier in the shoulder, scorching through the scales to the skin beneath, and knocking him off his feet.

Rhodes was on him in an instant. I winced and looked away. Knives had nothing on talons. A split second later, the odds were even.

When I glanced back, he shot me a look, and for just a millisecond, his lips twitched into a smile.

Wow. It transformed his face, but it was there and gone so fast I wasn’t sure I’d seen it at all. He was jumped by another Tazier, and they vanished in a twirling vortex of slashing talons.

My arms shook with the strain of lifting the laser, and my injured one wasn’t up to the burden. Then, suddenly, Yani was there. She stood in front of me, so I could rest the heavy weapon on her shoulder.

“Be careful how you aim that thing,” she growled at me. “Punch a hole in the outer wall and we’re all going on a spacewalk.”

Right. I swallowed as I tracked the action, trying to find another opportunity to score without taking us to outer space. But the fighters were moving so fast, I couldn’t get a clear shot.

Then Xandros lifted his hissing opponent above his head and threw him. The Tazier crashed into the wall hard enough to crush metal.

Yani swore. “Good thing they build these ships for Drake wrestling matches. ”

They didn’t, of course, but so far, the Stardrifter was holding up. A head shot would be the best bet, but her words reminded me that if I missed… as the Tazier began to climb to his feet, and Xandros charged at him, I aimed for the center of his chest and fired.

It hit him in the stomach, and he curled around himself—Xandros struck him, hard, and—the Raptors had the advantage now.

When the big guy moved to help Rhodes, I swung the rifle toward Zyair’s battle.

He and Senaik had fought themselves to exhaustion. Their breath whistled through clenched teeth.

“Get us closer,” I told Yani.

She muttered something I was sure was scathingly rude in Drolgokian, but she sidled around the cage. I moved with her, keeping the rifle on her shoulder as she brought us to within ten feet of the combatants. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get a clear shot at Senaik.

Then a big hand closed around the rifle, and lifted it away from me. I clung at first, then looked up to Rhodes.

“It is—good, little Draka,” he said in a dead calm tone. “You have done well, but I need you to stand back, now.”

I stiffened. “I’m not a Draka.”

One side of his mouth twitched up. “You are as fierce as one. Give me the weapon. You can barely lift it.”

I glared at him, but he had a valid point. And he’d called me fierce, which sent a flush of heat straight through me. I surrendered the weapon to him, and a millisecond later, Xandros came up from the other side, leveling another at the combatants.

“That is enough, Senaik,” Rhodes rumbled in a surprisingly deep voice. “It is over.”

Senaik wrenched away from Zyair. His torn wings arched over him as he snarled at Rhodes. Considering he’d been sheathed in scales the entire fight, Zyair had still managed to slice and dice him well.

For a moment, I thought Senaik would attack Rhodes. But then Xandros took a step closer, leveling his rifle to hover at head height, and the Tazier froze.

“Lose the beast,” Xandros ordered.

After a moment, Senaik decided to live. The scales dropped off his body, and the talons followed, hitting the metal floor with harsh clanks as he regained his humanoid form.

Zyair buried his fist in the Tazier’s hair, and yanked his head back. While Rhodes moved to place the rifle muzzle inches from Senaik’s face, his brother demanded, “Where were you taking us?”

Senaik merely snarled at him.

“Givnia,” I offered. “They were taking you to Givnia.”

A complete and utter stillness swept over all three brothers. “ Givnia? ” spat Xandros.

“It is not a where,” Rhodes stated calmly.

I looked at him in confusion, as Zyair finished the thought.

“It is a who ,” he snarled.

I looked from Rhodes to Zyair, seeking to understand. “But the Nirzks are your enemies, aren’t they?”

Zyair released Senaik as though he couldn’t stand to touch him for one more second. “Yes. And there is one who resides on Givnia who would do anything for the opportunity to kill us, slowly.”

“Brentoq.” Rhodes snapped the name. His gaze narrowed as he glared at Senaik. “No Drake would make a deal with a Nirzk.”

“No honorable Drake,” Xandros interjected.