Page 26 of Seized by the Alien Space Warrior (Alien Romance #8)

Chapter Twenty-Six

A ekon spun on the balls of his feet and lashed out at the closest Ixod, moving like a blur. Ava’s hand slipped from where it was clutched in Aekon’s coat as he kicked a blaster out of an Ixod guard’s fingers with the other. The blaster clattered to the ground somewhere. Ava didn’t see. Her entire attention was riveted on Aekon as he swung his fist beneath the jaw of the guard, whiplash fast. His head snapped back. Aekon was raining his fists into another guard before the first guard had dropped. An Ixod guard slammed into the wall after Aekon drove his foot into the flat of his chest and slid to the floor unconscious.

Brenur and Ser launched their own attacks. Orange blaster fire streaked throughout the room. Ava dropped to the ground.

Two guards turned on Aekon. He lashed out at one of them, and the other guard slammed the butt of his blaster into the side of Aekon’s head. Aekon staggered backwards. He punched the guard, but his movement was sluggish. Ser and Brenur were engaged in hand-to-hand combat. They hadn’t seen Aekon, or if they did, had their own fights to contend with.

A guard levelled his blaster at Aekon, while the other threw another punch. He moved too slow and his fist glanced off Aekon’s shoulder. Aekon shook his head, as though trying to clear it.

Ava’s heart leapt to her throat, racing out of control. Blood pounded in her ears, her breathing sounding like a jet engine. She pulled her blaster from the holster, jumped to her feet, aimed, and fired. Once. Twice.

The Ixod guards collapsed to the floor, blackened burning holes in the centre of their chests. Before she could react, she was bundled in powerful arms and crushed against a familiar chest. She breathed in deeply, closing her eyes. Aekon’s scent filled her lungs while the centre of her chest was punched with searing panic. His hands flittered over her arms, her back, her stomach. He held her at arm’s length, his wide eyes trailing over her body.

“I’m okay. I’m not hurt, Aekon,” she said.

The sounds of battle had stopped. The blaster fire ceased. Ixod guard bodies littered the floor.

Aekon guided her head back to his chest. “Don’t look. It’s over. Are you sure you’re not hurt?”

From her crushed position, his deep voice vibrated against her ear.

“I’m not. Are you?”

His fingers tensed in her hair and his hand flattened between her shoulder blades. Her chest throbbed with thankfulness and awe. He pressed his lips to the top of her head. She had no idea what had brought on his change of mind. She waited for him to tense up and pull away, but he didn’t.

“You saved me.” His voice was no more than a whisper.

“I told you I would protect you,” she whispered back.

She wrapped her arms about his waist, her fingers tangling in his shirt material.

His breath huffed out in a rush, puffing her hair, and something eased within her. “Yes. You did.”

“I, for one, am glad you did, female. Although I’m not sure of your species.”

Ava pulled back from Aekon to see an older Ixod wearing a white coat struggle from beneath the bench that ran the length of one wall. He wheezed, rubbing his fingers over his furred brow.

“Not as young as I once was,” he said. “Sorry about the extra security. Baxklet’s last-minute orders.”

Brenur slapped his hand on the older Ixod’s shoulder. “She is a human female and the reason the Dhasu is here. It is good to see you after all this time, Krono.”

“It is good to see you too, Brenur. I see you’re looking more and more like your father as the years pass.” Krono lifted a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles from a top pocket on the outside of his coat and slipped them on. He blinked, his round eyes appearing larger as he peered at her. “Strange looking little thing, aren’t you?”

“Not on my world, I’m not,” Ava said, grinning.

It seemed the awkward scientific types were the same across different species.

“That is true. How I wish you weren’t caught up in all this so I could sit and talk to you about your species, but time is of the essence. It was good you came when you did, Brenur. I fear my cover has been blown,” Krono said.

“We still have a chance if we can get the signal out,” Brenur said.

“I’ll guard the door.” Ser closed the door until all that remained was a slit that he peered through. Crimson blood dripped down his cheek from a long gash beneath his eye.

Ava swallowed, peering at the Ixod on the floor. All of the guards were down, unconscious or dead, but one of their own hadn’t made it. Ava’s heart lurched, resolve tightening her jaw. These beings were risking death for freedom and she would do whatever was necessary to make it happen. Her own freedom hinged on it as well.

“There’s no time to waste,” Krono said, making his way to one of the silver, boxy machines that were set in regular intervals on the top of the bench.

Above each unit, screens were inset into the wall, displaying views of different angles of buildings, roadways, and various craft on a live feed. On screen, armed Ixod guards stormed the alleys between various buildings. They looked alert, ready, and appeared to know what they were doing.

Krono tapped some of the dials and buttons on the machine, then stepped back and gestured to Aekon. “All you need to do is to send your message to the right coordinates. I’ve enabled a double-backed code to be able to break through the Securi-net. We only have basic equipment here, but this will be strong enough to break through the barrier just this once. It is now up to you, Dhasu.”

Aekon worked quickly, tapping in his message in a seemingly random series of twirls and presses of the multitude of buttons on the machine. Ava had no idea what he was doing, but going by the concentration on his face, he must have understood how to work the machine.

“Female!” Ser yelled from his position by the door.

Aekon leapt to action, tackling Ava and taking them both to the ground. He twisted and she landed on his chest. Her breath whooshed out in a rush.

A growl from one of the guards on the ground was cut short by a round of orange blaster fire, and the sound of flesh thrown against a hard surface was like a thunderclap in her ears. Ava peered from beneath her tousled hair to see an unmoving guard slumped on his side. The smell of burnt plastic stung her nostrils. The machine Aekon had just used was now a half-melted lump of metal and plastic. Toxic black smoke filled the room, searing the back of her throat. She began to cough as her lungs constricted.

“Are you all right, Ava?” Aekon said.

She nodded, sitting up and off his prone body. “The machine…did you send the message?”

Aekon’s lips pressed together. “I do not know if it went through.”

“It’s destroyed. There’s no other way to get a comm out if it didn’t get through,” Krono said, placing a corner of his coat to his mouth. He frowned as he leaned closer to one of the screens. On screen, an Ixod wearing a white lab coat similar to Krono walked towards a large, muscular Ixod with his back to the camera. There was something so very familiar about that being. Dread scratched behind her sternum. “What is Andly doing out there?”

Ava scrambled to her feet, as did Aekon to see what Krono saw on the screen. Every muscle inside him locked tight, coiled and brimming with burning tension as he gazed at the two Ixod on the screen.

“Zavis!” Aekon spat the name like a curse.

“No…” Dread turned the ice in Ava’s veins to sludge. “It…can’t be him.”

Her mind flashed with Zavis looming over her, the promise of degradation and pain etched on his face as he’d leered down at her on that stage. Remembered fear strummed through her body as her mind connected everything. Zavis had bought her. The same Zavis that Aekon had wanted to kill when he’d rescued her. The same Zavis who had murdered Onda.

Aekon burned with rage. Understanding shot through her with clarity. This was a being that took pleasure in the misery of others. He was despicable. It was no wonder Aekon was scarred. No wonder he’d wanted revenge so badly. Ava’s limbs began to shake.

Aekon pulled her against him and she went willingly, grabbing onto his shirt and tucking her face against his chest, taking comfort in his powerful arms about her shoulders and the warmth radiating from his body.

Emotions poured through her. Aekon’s. Emotions so strong her knees buckled and a strangled sound came from somewhere at the back of her throat. Aekon tightened his hold on her and pressed his lips to her forehead, the outrage tempering down until it was no more than hot coals, glittering and smouldering.

“You know that being with my lab tech?’ Krono asked.

“Intimately,” Aekon said.

Ava took a steeling breath and made herself look at the screen. Several Ixod had gathered in a tight group about Zavis and the lab tech Andly who clutched a small box in his hands, their blasters poised ready to use.

“ Prest . That little drumas has the antimatter component!“ Krono wheeled to Brenur. “They must have brought their plans forward and didn’t tell me. That device must not be taken off planet.”

The group strode off screen, moving fast and with purpose. There was a ping and Krono took a device from his top pocket.

“They’re moving to the port and want me to open the Securi-net for them. They don’t know the controls are destroyed. I’ll delay them, but I can only do so much before they find out,” Krono said.

“Let’s move,” Aekon said, checking his blasters.

He tossed one of them aside and picked up one from the dead guards on the floor. The side lit up, showing a full charge.

Ava checker her blaster, finding that her blasters were still all nearly full. Doing something methodical helped focus her mind away from the stifling panic that fluttered about the edge of her consciousness, threatening to break through.

“I’m ready,” she said.

Aekon paused, his glowing eyes focussed on her. He wanted revenge against that heap of crap Ixod. Well, so did she. There was a little matter of Zavis buying her to be a sex slave to be settled. Aekon nodded, his lips in a clenched line and it took a moment for Ava to realise he’d just agreed. She nodded back at him as agreement flared between them.

“Let’s go,” Aekon said.

They left Krono in the room, taking care to slip the door shut behind them. Brenur indicated the direction and they jogged down the lifeless corridor towards a junction. They turned right and came upon a door, similar to the one they had come through when they’d entered the building.

One by one they stepped out into the frigid night. They made a beeline for an alley between buildings, Brenur in the lead. Ava gripped the handle of the blaster, eyes darting into every shadow for movement of any kind.

Her feet crunched on the gravel as they dashed through the alleyway. The darkness was almost solid here, and she couldn’t see where her feet went. She let the rough wall of the building and the sliver of night sky overhead guide her. Aekon’s presence steeled her nerves and she concentrated on his potent aura behind her.

Brenur flattened his back along the wall as they came to the edge. He peered about the side and held up four fingers. Four guards. Ava gritted her teeth and before she could overthink, Brenur charged around the corner of the building.

Ava gulped in a deep breath and followed Brenur, Aekon close behind her. Brenur bolted across an open lot heading towards several flying craft that were stationery, lined up side by side. She recognised the Ixod from the screen, moving directly towards one of the craft.

Ava ran as fast as she could, nerves prickling, face hot, blood pumping. Brenur fired off several shots while he ran. Bright orange lit their surroundings. A guard crumpled to the ground, but the rest turned. They came down on one knee and began to fire at them.

Light streamed around her. The ground erupted in a smouldering blast near her feet, gravel coursing up like a geyser. Ava swallowed down a yelp and scrambled back. Regaining her balance, she snatched her blaster and fired, determined to stop Zavis from leaving the planet. If a being like him got away with an antimatter device, the universe would pay dearly.

Aekon slammed into her, his arms surrounding her as they crashed to the ground. The world spun as they rolled. As soon as they stopped, Ava saw a crater where she’d just been. Aekon’s breath heaved in and out of his large chest, his arms still locked about her.

She kissed him hard. “I’ll thank you for that later.”

Those luscious lips curved into a smirk. “I’ll look forward to it.”

Despite the adrenaline and fear coursing through her system, as intense arousal crashed through her, taking her off guard. Aekon’s gaze slid behind her. Before she understood what he was doing, he fired his blaster. She looked over her shoulder to see a guard flat on his back.

She scrambled off Aekon. This was too dangerous to be thinking about anything but staying alive. Beyond the line of guards, Zavis sprinted to a craft.

“Let’s get him,” she said.

Aekon’s answer was a low growl that sent a cascade of goosebumps across her skin. More guards streamed towards them, dashing from the alleys between the surrounding buildings. He let go a stream of fire as they darted around the guards. Ava fired with him, both sets of blaster fire proving too much for the guards. Those that were on their feet jumped for cover behind several large crates.

Brenur dashed after Zavis. A flash of orange struck Brenur, and he tumbled to the ground. Ava opened up a volley of fire at the guards who had fired on Brenur. Ser and several of the other Ixod resistance widened their attack, dodging the guards’ attack. Double blaster fire streaked towards the group of guards.

One by one the guards fell. Ava spotted Andly’s still form on the ground. His coat was stained with crimson blood, so stark again the white material. Ava fought a wave of nausea down as they sprinted after Zavis. Aekon fired, but his blaster must have lost charge, because a thin stream fell well short. Ava aimed when orange seared in front of her, blinding her with its intensity and spewing gravel over her head.

She cried out as the hot stones rained down on her. She crouched, closing her eyes and protecting her head with her arms. Stones fell down on her, burning through her clothing and scorched her skin. Aekon covered her with his body, taking the brunt of the downfall of rock.

She peered over his shoulder as Zavis entered the craft. “No!”

She went to stand, but another round of fire threw more rocks and debris over them. Stones pelted them from all directions, keeping her down. She clung to Aekon as rocks rained over them. He grunted in pain as they slammed onto his back and all she could do was to curl into a ball and ride it out while the craft that Zavis entered lifted off the ground and into the sky in a swirl of dust and stench of fuel.

Then the blasts stopped and she looked up as at least twenty Ixod guards stalked towards them from all sides, their blasters aimed right at them. Ser and two of the Ixod were on their knees, while Ixod guards aimed blasters at the back of their heads. Their heads were bent forward, eyes to the ground, shoulders rounded and hunched. Defeated.

Invisible bands tightened around Ava’s chest until she couldn’t breathe. Her limbs shook uncontrollably, her eyes blurring with unshed tears. They were completely surrounded. There was no escape.

They’d failed.