Page 10

TEN

The call ended, and the hologram of Samantha’s face—so beautiful, yet so filled with terror—vanished. Arcanthus slammed his fists atop his desk, denting the metal, and shoved himself to his feet. His pounding heart pumped fire through his veins. He clenched his teeth hard enough to risk shattering them.

A wordless, furious cry rose from his chest, beginning as a growl and ending as a roar. Even if there were words to encompass what he felt at that moment, his rage was too great to find them. He’d known what she was to him—his mate —and had suppressed most of the instincts she’d awoken in him so far.

There’d be no stopping them now.

He wanted to destroy anything and everything in his path. Wanted to tear Arthos apart and make the city bleed until he had Samantha safe in his arms.

Bloodlust had always lurked in his subconscious; it was the part of him that had thrilled in the combat he’d seen in his brief days as a soldier, the part of him that had loved the bloody arena fights he’d been forced into as a slave, the part he’d always thought of as his inner tretin . As years had passed, he’d done his best to silence it.

But he would embrace it to save Samantha. He would unleash it upon the universe to protect her.

He stalked out of his workshop and down the corridors to the armory, sparing the walls and light fixtures along the way from his wrath only because they wouldn’t bleed. As he moved, he sent a message to Kiloq and Koroq, informing them of the new situation.

Arcanthus threw open the doors to the storage locker and tugged out his combat armor breastplate. He pulled it on over his head and quickly hit the fasteners to activate the maglock seals along the seams; the armor covered his torso and pelvis, front and back.

“What the fuck are you doing, Arcanthus?”

Arc glanced over his shoulder to see Drakkal filling the doorway, his powerful arms crossed over his chest.

He’s not my enemy. Not my enemy.

Arcanthus moved to the next locker and drew an auto-blaster from the rack. “Going to help her.”

“Who? The damned terran?”

“Shouldn’t that be obvious by now?” Grasping the weapon in both hands, Arc turned it to the side and checked the power charge; full. He slung the auto-blaster over his shoulder and pulled down a second.

“What happened?”

“Groalthuun from the mall showed up at her apartment. Was asking about me.”

Drakkal growled. “I said you were being stupid, Arc. You think I was just messing with you? If you have people after you—”

“It could be anyone.” Arcanthus took the second auto-blaster’s grip in his left hand and settled his right hand on its foregrip. “ Anyone . And it doesn’t matter, because she is in trouble. You can suit up and come, or I’ll go on my own.”

Drakkal strode forward, throwing his arms out to the sides. He bared his fangs, and his claws protruded from his fingers. “All for that terran ji’tas ? For a meek girl who’ll be eaten alive by this city the moment you lose interest in her? Maybe try making decisions with your head instead of your cock, you selfish bastard. She’s a piece of meat! You’ll fuck her and move on just like you have all the rest. You’re putting yourself at risk, this operation at risk, all of us at risk for a taste of terran slit.”

The torrent of emotions whirling deep within Arcanthus—emotions he was trying to ignore so he could do what was necessary—surged to the surface. He lunged at Drakkal and clamped a hand over the azhera’s throat, slamming him against the wall. Drakkal grunted, but before he could recover, Arc shifted forward, pressing his chest to the azhera’s and tipping his horns against the azhera’s forehead.

“She’s my mate, you fucking zhe’gaash !” Arcanthus snarled through clenched teeth. “She’s my mate, and she’s in trouble, so I am going to go help her. You can come along or stay, but either way you’re going to shut your fucking mouth about her.”

“ Kraasz ka’val , you really are stupid,” Drakkal growled, grabbing hold of Arc’s wrist with one hand and his horn with the other. The azhera’s muscles strained against Arcanthus’s hold.

Arcanthus released a growl of his own, tightening his hold on the azhera’s throat as he poured strength into counteracting Drakkal’s resistance.

“You should’ve told me sooner,” Drakkal said, “and I would’ve called you stupid one or two times less. You’re supposed to trust me with this stuff, Arc.”

There was hurt in Drakkal’s voice, nestled beneath his anger; it was just strong enough to make Arcanthus realize what was happening, what he was doing. He released his hold on Drakkal’s throat and stepped back.

Drakkal shoved away from Arcanthus and moved to the storage locker, quickly donning his combat armor. He lifted his arm and activated his holocom, creating an open communication channel with the entire security team. “Need everyone who isn’t posted geared up and in the garage five minutes ago. Move it!”

“I was ready to hit you, you furry bastard,” Arcanthus said.

“Good thing you didn’t. I would have had to carry you to the car to save your terran after I showed you your place.” Drakkal pulled an auto-blaster from the weapon rack and turned to face Arcanthus.

“So choking you is totally acceptable?”

“Did it sound like I was choking, sedhi?”

Arcanthus shook his head, willing away the faint tremors coursing through his body. He rarely lost control like he just had. “Grab an extra set of armor for her. One of the smaller ones.”

Drakkal nodded, tugged another suit of armor out of the storage locker, and fell into place beside Arc. They hurried out of the armory and through the halls. Four members of the security team were in the garage when Arcanthus and Drakkal arrived, all clad in armor and carrying auto-blasters—the large, blue-eyed cren, Razi, the two vorgals who usually guarded the entry to the workshop, Thargen and Urgand, and Sekk’thi, a female ilthurii with emerald scales.

“Should we wait for more?” Drakkal asked.

“No time,” Arc replied. “I’ve already informed Kiloq and Koroq. They’re on site but haven’t seen anything.”

He plucked the commlink earpiece from the shoulder of his armor and slipped it into his ear; the others followed his example. “I have no idea who we’re up against, no idea how many there are, no idea what position they’ll be in. Our only goal is to get a terran named Samantha to safety. She is a very dear friend of mine.”

“So we’re going blind,” said Thargen.

“Basically, yes.”

“Into a potentially deadly situation.”

“Mhmm.”

Thargen whooped. “About time we get a little action.”

Arcanthus pointed to Thargen and grinned. “That’s the kind of attitude we need here. Let’s move.”

His grin faded when he climbed into the hovercar’s front passenger seat. The vehicle shook as the others piled inside. Settling the auto-blaster over his lap, Arcanthus lifted his arm and grasped the handle at the top of the door frame, squeezing. In moments like this, he missed his own flesh more than ever—he missed the feel of his muscles tightening, the pressure in his joints, the ache of exertion. He missed the slight pain that came with landing a solid blow on an enemy.

Please be okay, little terran.

Once Drakkal had situated himself in the driver’s seat, he guided the hovercar out of the garage and through the express tunnels at immense speed, reducing the surrounding lights and vehicles to blurs. Arcanthus’s racing heart seemed eager to match the vehicle’s velocity.

He couldn’t deny that Drakkal was right; Arc had been stupid. Incredibly stupid. He’d let his arrogance and desire cloud his judgment, had let his feelings tear down his guard and instill him with an uncharacteristic carelessness.

I should have brought her to the compound days ago. We would’ve avoided all this…

But would she have come? Even now, would she trust him enough to leave with him, or would she be frightened away by the dangerous people looking for him ?

Getting into your own head again, Arc, you fool. What was the first thing she said when she called?

I need you.

Perhaps that was only because she’d had no one else to turn to, perhaps—

No .

He wouldn’t allow himself to pursue those thoughts. Not now.

They emerged from the express tunnel leading into Samantha’s sector. Hundreds of apartment complexes lay before them, but Arc picked hers out with ease, even from this height.

“What’s the plan?” Drakkal asked.

“Funny thing about that,” Arcanthus replied, “I don’t actually have one.”

“You really did expect to charge in blindly and deal with it as it comes?”

“Fuck yeah,” Thargen barked. “My life philosophy.”

“Don’t encourage him, damn it,” Drakkal grumbled.

Arcanthus snickered. “Look, I’m a fighter-turned-lover, not a strategist.”

Drakkal snorted and shook his head. “We need a tactician for this, not a strategist.”

“See? Yet another reason I’m not qualified. You just had to correct me on a technicality.” Arc swept his gaze over Samantha’s building as they neared it. The windows lining each floor were dark, tinted for the privacy of the residents, allowing not even a glimpse into any of the rooms. Arcanthus’s lips curled upward in a smile.

He leaned forward and activated the display on the center of the car’s console, fingers flying as he accessed the plexus and quickly located the Consortium-approved plans for the building. Within a few moments, he had the blueprints on the windshield display, overlaid atop the complex ahead in perfect scale. He entered her room number.

The windshield display highlighted one of the windows, showing the floorplan for the room beyond it.

“That one is hers,” Arcanthus said.

“Okay. Where do you want me to park?” Drakkal asked.

“Keep up, Drak. Next to the window.”

Drakkal turned his head toward Arcanthus, brows low. “You’re serious?”

Arcanthus nodded. “Trying to use my head for once in all this, just like you want me to. That’s the quickest way in and out.”

“All right.” Facing forward, Drakkal swung the hovercar around so it was alongside the building, guiding it up to the marked window.

Arcanthus brought up his holocom screen and sent a message to Samantha.

Stay away from the window.

Her reply came a few seconds later.

What? Why?

The hovercar came to a stop beside the window. Arcanthus swung his second auto-blaster over his other shoulder, pushed the door open, grasped the edges of the doorframe, and pulled himself partially out of it. A two-meter gap separated him from the window.

“Get me closer.”

“Don’t want to ruin the door,” Drakkal said.

“Drak, I will—”

The hovercar lurched toward the building. Arcanthus growled a curse and wrapped his tail around the seat behind him, anchoring himself in place as he swayed forward. The car door scraped against the side of the building, producing a shower of sparks and the groan of metal-on-metal .

They were only twenty stories up; nothing to worry about, right?

“We’re having a long conversation when we get home, azhera,” he said as he straightened. The wind whipped his long hair around his face. He bent his leg and thrust it forward, kicking the window.

A circular, fist-sized crack formed in the glass. He kicked it again, and the damage spread; even against his enhanced strength and metal feet, the material they used for windows on these buildings was incredibly durable.

There were several hissing sounds from behind and beneath Arcanthus in rapid succession.

“Shit,” Urgand growled from inside the cab. “We’re taking fire from the street.”

As Arcanthus bent his leg for another kick, a bolt of plasma zipped through the space between him and the building, passing close enough for him to feel its heat on his face.

“Kiloq, Koroq, see if you can get an angle on them,” Drakkal growled as the hovercar drifted away from the building.

“Swing me back over,” Arcanthus shouted.

“It’s too dangerous, Arc.”

More plasma bolts darted through the air. Arcanthus risked a glance down to see three people on the street below, firing their auto-blasters upward. The hovercar was armored, but that armor wouldn’t hold out indefinitely.

He shifted his third eye toward the window, which had two circular points of damage with cracks radiating outward from them. It probably needed two or three more hits to break; he didn’t have time for that. “Just get me some momentum, damn it!”

Drakkal uttered a curse. The hovercar moved farther away from the building before swinging back like a pendulum. Arcanthus adjusted his grip on the doorframe and bent his legs, releasing his tail’s hold on the seat.

What if it doesn’t break?

It has to break. I’m not giving it a choice.

Arcanthus launched himself forward, lifting his arms, elbows in front, to shield his face as his body crossed the gap.

The window didn’t shatter—it buckled and cracked, breaking out of its frame to fall into the apartment with Arcanthus atop it. Arc landed hard, his elbows smacking the floor while his abdomen caught on the window frame. He felt the impact even through his armor.

Gritting his teeth, he dragged himself fully inside and stood, swinging one of the auto-blasters into his hands. He scanned the room, heart lodging in his throat when he didn’t catch sight of his mate.

“Samantha?”

“Alkorin?” Her head popped up from between the bed and the wall.

Relief washed over Arcanthus like a wave of cool water. For an instant, his knees felt impossibly weak, and he feared he’d collapse onto them.

When her frightened eyes met his, Sam leapt to her feet and raced toward him. She didn’t hesitate; she slammed into him, wrapping her arms around his waist. “You’re here! You’re here,” she said against his chest. “What’s happening?”

He released the blaster’s foregrip to wrap an arm around her, holding her trembling body close. “We’re going to get you out of here, little terran.”

“ Here’s the spare armor ,” Sekk’thi said over the commlink.

Arcanthus glanced back to see the ilthurii in the open door of the hovercar. Plasma bolts from below struck the underside of the vehicle and filled the air between it and the building. She tossed the spare set of combat armor in through the broken window.

Drakkal’s voice came over the comms. “ We have to break off. We’ll land and try to clear an exit for you .”

Sekk’thi pulled the door closed, and the hovercar banked away and darted out of sight.

“All right.” Arcanthus allowed himself a moment to press his lips to Sam’s hair and take in her tantalizing scent. “Are you hurt, Samantha?”

“No.” She pulled back and looked up at him. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know calling you would—”

He pressed a finger to her lips, silencing her. She’d said she gave her visitors a false name and hadn’t told them anything about him. He believed her. She’d protected him despite her terror, despite knowing she was in terrible danger, despite barely knowing Arcanthus. She’d kept quiet. She’d refused to betray him.

That meant more to Arcanthus than he could ever express.

“You did the right thing.” Though it pained him, he released her and stepped back, crouching to lift the spare armor. “We need to get this on and leave, all right?”

She looked at the armor with a concerned crease between her brows and nodded. “Okay.”

“I will answer what I can once you’re safe, Samantha,” he said as he helped her into the armor; it was a bit large for her, but it would do. Once the armor was in place, Arc held up one of the auto-blasters. “Do you know how to use this?”

Her frightened yet met his. “No.”

“Do you favor your left hand or your right?”

“My right.”

Arcanthus stepped behind her, positioning the auto-blaster in front of her. He slipped the shoulder strap over her arm, guided her right hand to the grip and her left to the foregrip. “ Nestle this against your shoulder. Good. Don’t point at anything you’re not prepared to shoot and keep your finger off the trigger until you’re going to fire. Point the barrel at what you want to hit and squeeze the trigger. It’ll put out enough plasma to do the rest.”

Despite her trembling, she nodded firmly and said, “Okay.”

“I want you to walk behind me, little terran. Right on my heels.”

When she stepped behind him, he slipped his tail around her waist, coiling it tight. “This is going to be frightening, but I’m here. You’ll be safe.”

Shouting from the hallway called his attention to the door. He positioned himself directly between Samantha and the entryway and moved forward, crouching behind the couch. Samantha followed, easing down behind him. Arcanthus aimed his blaster at the door.

An explosion consumed the doorway, its flash temporarily blinding Arcanthus. Something slammed onto the floor with a heavy clang . Samantha flinched and cried out.

Arcanthus squeezed the trigger of his blaster. The weapon made a series of high, thumping whines as it sprayed plasma bolts into the opening. Someone released a choked cry, the sound followed by the thump of a collapsing body.

Arc’s vision cleared to reveal a warped, open doorframe where the door had stood a moment before. The smoke from the explosion slowly dissipated, leaving a haze in the room that wasn’t quite thick enough to obscure the body lying across the threshold. The mangled door lay a meter inside the apartment.

“You’re not getting out of here alive, sedhi,” someone shouted from the hallway.

Narrowing his eyes, Arc shifted his blaster to the right, aiming at the wall beside the doorway. He fired another burst.

The frantic curse from the hallway told him his shots had been close, but not close enough. Keeping his weapon raised, he hurried forward. Samantha lagged for a moment; a tug from his tail got her moving.

“Surrender and we won’t hurt your terran,” the male in the hall said.

Arcanthus replied with another volley of plasma bolts, these aimed slightly more to the right. He rushed into the hallway an instant later—keeping Samantha inside the apartment behind him—to see a volturian ducking away from the orange-glowing holes in the wall. The volturian had time enough to meet Arcanthus’s gaze before the sedhi fired a prolonged burst into him. The alien’s body shuddered and jerked before dropping.

Arcanthus swung his blaster to the left, checking the opposite direction along the wall. No one else was present. He guided Samantha into the corridor. “So, where do I need to go, Drak?”

“ Down ,” Drakkal replied through the commlink.

“Remind me, which direction is that?”

“ We’re working on it, Arc. Got at least four here at the front entrance .”

“ Three more out back ,” Kiloq added.

Blaster fire sounded briefly in the open feeds.

Frowning, Arcanthus kicked the volturian just to make sure he was dead. The still-smoking corpse bore no gang insignia, no discernable uniform, no distinct affiliated colors. Who were these attackers? Why were they after Arcanthus?

No time to speculate now .

He led Samantha toward the elevators.

A soft tone sounded from somewhere ahead of them. Arcanthus stilled.

Three aliens touting auto-blasters emerged from the elevator bank; they were already facing Arcanthus and Samantha.

Releasing his blaster’s foregrip, Arcanthus raised his right arm and activated his hardlight shield projector. He splayed his fingers and snapped them shut, bending his wrist inward. The circular shield expanded and changed into a rectangle nearly as tall as Arcanthus just before the first bolts from the elevator crew struck.

The shield flashed with each impact. Plasma bolts burst against the barrier, their normally blue-white light turned to a pale green through the translucent hardlight. Arcanthus bent his arm to angle the shield vertically, covering as much of the hallway as possible while the elevator crew advanced.

“Stairs?” he asked, glancing at Samantha over his shoulder.

Her face was paler than normal, her eyes as big as twin moons, and she clutched her weapon in two white-knuckled hands.

“Back this way.” She gestured toward the hall behind them with the barrel of her auto-blaster.

“Good. Lead the way.”

Samantha held his gaze for an instant before nodding. She moved in a brisk, shuffling sort of sidestep that allowed Arc to keep the shield protecting them without removing his tail from around her waist.

Unfortunately, the ever-friendly elevator crew sped their advance, continuing their steady stream of fire.

“ Vrek’osh !” Drakkal spat through the commlink. “ I don’t know who you pissed off, but more just showed up out here .”

“ They are covering each other ,” said Sekk’thi. “ Attempting to get more of them into the building .”

“Well tell them there’s no room!” Arcanthus turned his body perpendicular to his attackers as he and Samantha reached the door to the stairs. Plasma bolts zipped around the edge of the shield, burning holes in the wall.

An excited, guttural voice crackled over the comms—Thargen, hurling insults at his enemies in an amalgamation of Universal Speech and Vorgalese.

Samantha opened the door. Arc wedged the shield against the wall at an angle to keep her protected and leaned through the doorway with his blaster at the ready. Once he’d confirmed the stairwell was clear, he swung his tail, forcing his terran inside. Stepping backward, he swept his arm down. The shield’s lower edge embedded itself in the floor just in front of the doorway, effectively blocking off all but the uppermost half-meter of the entryway. He opened his fist, releasing the invisible field that kept the shield tethered to his forearm.

He returned his right hand to his auto-blaster’s foregrip and led Samantha to the steps. The shield would hold out either until it had expended too much energy to sustain its form, or it was beyond the control unit’s range.

At the very least, it would grant them some time to make their escape.

“ At this rate, the Eternal Guard will get here before you’re out ,” Drakkal said.

“As I recall, someone is meant to be clearing a path.” Arcanthus hurried down the stairs with Samantha close behind. Her breaths were quick and ragged.

“Who…who are you talking to?” she asked.

“Drakkal and the others. They’re outside.”

When they reached the next landing, he glanced back at her.

Frantic pink splotches stood out on her cheeks, contrasting the heightened paleness of her skin. He had little notion of terran endurance and limitations; all he could do was hope she could push onward .

“Almost out, Samantha. This will be over soon,” he said as gently as he could.

She nodded. “If we stop…I’m afraid I won’t be able to keep going.”

Arcanthus continued down, tightening his tail around her middle a little more. She wouldn’t feel it through her armor, and he wanted to ensure he could keep her upright if she tripped or stumbled.

After what felt like both an eternity and a fleeting handful of moments, they finally reached the ground floor.

Arcanthus guided Samantha under the stairs; it was the only spot that provided cover from above and a little protection from the door leading into the main corridor. He looked down at the indicator on the inside of his right wrist. The shield wouldn’t last longer than a few more seconds.

“Tell me one of the exits is clear,” he said. “I don’t have time to pull up city plans and puzzle out an alternate route.”

“ Still hot out here ,” Drakkal replied.

“ They were reinforced ,” growled Koroq. “ Back is no good .”

“I suppose they really want me dead,” Arcanthus said.

Drakkal snorted. “ Don’t they know there’s a waiting list ?”

The shield’s power indicator flickered off. Shouts sounded from high above. Arcanthus’s heart raced almost as quickly as his mind; they needed a way out, and they needed one fast . His own skin being on the line should’ve been enough to push him to a solution, but his concern was solely for Samantha. For his mate. If he couldn’t get her out of here, if he failed, the best she could hope for was a quick death.

Unacceptable.

Arcanthus turned his head toward her, and she met his gaze. He moved his right hand to her face and cupped her cheek. “We need to fight our way out, Samantha. Same as before—stay right behind me.”

She closed her eyes, pressed her cheek into his palm, and nodded. The determination and resolve that hardened her features at that moment pierced Arcanthus to his core; he was nearly overcome with pride, and the fires of arousal sparked deep inside him. He craved her. He’d been patient, but this little terran was testing his restraint, and his bestial side was rampaging in the back of his mind with want for her.

He desired Samantha more than ever before.

Thrusting those thoughts aside, he forced himself back to the situation at hand. Heavy footsteps sounded from partway up the stairwell; at least two of the three members of the elevator crew were descending. According to Drakkal, more enemies were attempting to enter the building. Were they still outside, or had they succeeded? He had to assume his foes were in communication with each other, that they knew where he was.

Overthinking this again .

Arcanthus clenched his jaw, returned his hand to the foregrip of his auto-blaster, and strode toward the door. He turned the blaster upward as they passed into the open space, but the elevator crew chose not to peek down. He used his tail to guide Sam against the wall beside the door before pressing the button to open it.

The door slid open silently. Arc leaned through the opening slightly, checking the corridor to the left of the doorway before swinging to check the other direction.

A huge, orange fist sped toward his face.

Arcanthus instinctively tipped his chin down. The fist struck his horns with a dull, meaty thwap . The immense force behind the blow blasted through his neck and along his spine, clacking his teeth together, but he planted his feet and stood firm; tretin blood granted Arc’s people naturally tough bones, but he’d reinforced his skeletal and muscular systems with cybernetics years ago to account for the strain caused by the enhanced strength of his prosthetic limbs.

He looked up to see a hulking, orange-skinned onigox standing before him.

Arcanthus swung his auto-blaster around. The onigox caught the weapon with the hands of his lower arms before Arc could take aim. Growling, Arcanthus poured more strength into the struggle. Despite his size and prowess, the onigox couldn’t overpower the sedhi; the barrel of the blaster, trembling with the combatants’ exertion, crept toward the orange brute.

At least until the onigox swung his upper arms simultaneously, catching Arc’s head between his massive fists.

The sound of the blows was thunderous in Arcanthus’s ears, and white flashed across his vision. He staggered backward. The onigox capitalized upon Arcanthus’s brief disorientation by tearing the auto-blaster away and tossing it to the floor.

“Alk!”

Samantha’s voice broke through the ringing in Arcanthus’s ears. He shook his head sharply and glanced at her; plasma bolts rained from the stairs above, hitting the floor around her feet. She screamed.

Growling, Arcanthus spun, pulling Samantha out of the stairwell with his tail and sidestepping to draw her fully into the hallway. She stumbled from the sudden movement. Before Arc could right her, the onigox attacked again. Arcanthus released Samantha and raised his arms to defend himself from the onigox’s rapid, powerful blows, deflecting and dodging as many as he could. Those that connected did so on his arms, which could absorb such punishment indefinitely.

“My boss told me to take you apart one piece at a time,” the onigox said as he advanced. “Then I’ll let Straek take your terran ji’tas . Maybe we’ll sample her before we sell her.”

A crimson haze fell over Arcanthus’s vision, fueled by a furious, intensifying heat within him. He leaned backward sharply and braced himself on his tail to dodge one of the onigox’s punches. The onigox overextended his arm; for an instant, his middle was exposed.

Arcanthus kicked the onigox in the gut, pushing forward with both his tail and his other leg. The onigox grunted and doubled over, forced back by Arcanthus’s momentum.

Planting his leading foot on the floor, Arcanthus swung his right fist in a quick cross before the onigox could recover. His metal knuckles crunched bone and knocked the onigox’s head to the side when they connected with the orange alien’s cheek. Arc followed through with the punch, twisting his torso and hips. His tail whipped forward and coiled around his opponent’s ankle.

Movement flickered in the edge of his vision—movement inside the stairwell.

“Alk, watch out!” Samantha called.

He dove aside as two members of the illustrious elevator crew opened fire on him from the stairwell; his tail tugged the onigox’s leg forward, destroying the orange alien’s balance and sending the brute to the floor. The sound of the elevator crew’s blasters was amplified by the stairwell’s acoustics, making the high, piercing shots almost deafening.

Arcanthus rolled onto his side, flicking his gaze toward Samantha. She’d fallen, but now sat with her back against the hallway wall across from the stairwell entry.

Pushing himself up on an elbow, Arcanthus reached back for his spare auto-blaster.

Samantha, still clutching her weapon with white knuckles, turned the barrel toward the stairwell. The fear never left her wide eyes as she pulled the trigger and screamed. Her voice was broken, pained, angry, fierce , conveying all her fears and frustrations without a single word.

Blue-white plasma bolts sprayed from her blaster in a wide cone, their spread increased by the trembling in her arms. There was no counting how many shots she fired; she just held down the trigger.

Arcanthus spun on his back, planted his feet on the wall, and shoved himself over to her. The two members of the elevator crew who’d descended were smoking corpses on the floor of the stairwell. Sam didn’t seem to notice.

Sitting up beside Samantha, Arc placed his hands over hers to steady the weapon and ease her finger off the trigger. Her wide-eyed stare remained on the open door for a time before she turned her head toward him. Countless emotions swirled in her warm brown eyes, punctuated but made no more identifiable by her sharp, panting breaths.

A few meters down the hall, the onigox climbed to his feet and growled. “Stand up and face me, sedhi. I’m going to pummel you into a paste.”

Perhaps in his younger, more rash days, Arcanthus would’ve welcomed the challenge of facing such an opponent in hand-to-hand combat, would’ve thrilled at the opportunity to prove his martial prowess. He knew he’d made some foolish decisions as of late, knew that he’d taken irresponsible risks, but if there was one thing Arcanthus had learned over the years, it was that he had nothing to prove.

He pivoted Samantha’s auto-blaster, slipping his finger through the open trigger guard, and fired.

A burst of plasma bolts darted through the onigox and sizzled into the wall behind him. The orange alien glanced down at the holes in his chest, from which small tendrils of smoke curled, and grunted before crashing to the floor .

Arcanthus guided Samantha’s hand away from the auto-blaster’s grip and met her gaze. “Are you all right?”

Her lips parted, but no sound came out. She looked at the dead onigox, then swung her gaze to the dead aliens in the stairwell, before finally returning her eyes to Arcanthus. “I’m… I just… I’m…”

“Numb?”

She nodded.

“Let’s get you up.” Arcanthus took hold of her forearms as he rose, helping her to her feet. Her auto-blaster fell to hang from her shoulder by its strap. He slipped his tail around her waist again and kept hold of her arms; she seemed unsteady, and he feared she would fall if he let go. “Can you walk?”

Her tongue slipped out and wet her lips before she pressed them into a tight line. A little crease formed between her brows as they lowered. She nodded again, this time with more confidence.

Tentatively, Arcanthus released her arms. She wobbled for a moment before taking hold of her auto-blaster in both hands. The weapon seemed to help her reclaim her balance. Satisfied that she wouldn’t topple over, Arcanthus swung his remaining auto-blaster to his front and glanced up and down the hallway; there was no one else in sight.

He led Samantha toward the rear exit, which was the closer of the two. “We’re going to the rear doors. Kiloq, Koroq, how are you two holding up?”

“ Stalemate ,” Kiloq replied over the comms. “ We’re outnumbered, and we’ll be exposed if we move .”

“Drakkal, what’s your situation?”

“ We can make an opening to get into the car if we need to. That’s as good as it’s going to get ,” said Drakkal.

Arcanthus nodded to himself. He’d hoped for a smoother rescue, but having come into this without a plan, he’d not expected an easy operation. All he wanted was for Samantha to be safe. Was that really too much to ask? Was the universe really that intent upon screwing with him?

You give me my mate and at the same time throw in a bonus mystery organization that wants to kill me. If I had known, I would’ve declined the two-for-one and just taken the female.

“Be ready to make that opening, Drak. I’m going to free up Kil and Kor, and you can swing around back and pick us up.” He glanced back at Samantha. “Almost there. Almost done.”

From down the hallway, there came a soft, high, familiar tone.

“ Kraasz ka’val ,” Arcanthus muttered, borrowing Drakkal’s favorite Azheran oath as he looked past Sam.

The third member of the elevator crew stepped into the corridor near its far end. Arcanthus whipped around to face the lone alien, swinging Samantha behind him again. He raised his blaster and fired.

Plasma bolts darted down the hallway, hitting the walls, ceiling, and floor. Before any of the shots struck their intended target, the elevator crew’s sole survivor shouldered a large weapon. The weapon flashed and roared, and a rocket—trailing smoke and fire—leapt out of its end.

Several of the bolts struck the alien a moment after his weapon fired; the falling body was obscured by the oncoming rocket’s trail.

Arcanthus flicked his gaze to either side; there were doors nearby, but they would all be locked, coded to the ID chips of their residents, and he couldn’t outrun a rocket. He did all he could; he wrapped his left arm around Samantha, tucking her against his body, let the auto-blaster fall away, and activated his already depleted hardlight shield.

He crouched over his terran and turned his face away.

The impact of the rocket against the shield blasted up his arm and into his entire body, rattling his bones. A deafening explosion filled the corridor. Arcanthus clutched Samantha, and she clung to him as a wave of heat swept over them, followed by a dust cloud and raining debris.

Chunks of concrete, metal, and other substances clattered onto Arc, much of it striking with as much force as the onigox’s punches. He gritted his teeth and held on. Samantha grunted and stiffened for an instant before her arms fell away, and she went limp.

In the ensuing silence, Arcanthus’s heartbeat rose in a rapid, panicked rhythm. He blinked away the dust and shifted Samantha in his arm. Her head lolled back. The dust made her face look even paler than before and lightened the color of her hair, heightening its contrast to the dark trail of blood dripping down from her hairline.

“Samantha,” he rasped, shaking her gently.

She groaned and almost lifted her head. Her fingers grasped his tail weakly, but she didn’t open her eyes.

A blow to the head. How fragile are terrans when it comes to this sort of injury?

Shouts came from down the hallway, their origin shrouded by the slowly dissipating haze. He knew only that they weren’t any of his people.

The hardlight projector on Arcanthus’s right forearm sparked and powered down. Fortunately, his arm’s functions were undamaged. He slipped the arm beneath Samantha’s legs and lifted her off the floor, holding her against his chest as he stood.

A few moments before, there’d been a wall and an apartment door on the left side of the hall. Now there was only a gaping, jagged hole. The shouting in the corridor drew nearer.

“Almost there,” he whispered, stepping through the breach. “Almost safe. ”

The apartment was small, set up just like Samantha’s, with sparse furnishings spread around a single room—a room blanketed in dust and debris. The window looked out onto the alleyway between this complex and the next one over.

“Drak, new plan. Bring the car around to the alley. I’ll meet you there. We’ll get the cren brothers after.”

The commlink crackled to life, and Drakkal said, “ On the way, Arc .”

Arcanthus stopped a few meters away from the window and lowered Samantha’s legs to take hold of the auto-blaster dangling from his shoulder. He fired several bolts through the window. Rather than cracking the glass, they left glowing, oozing holes. But all he wanted was the glass weakened.

Releasing the weapon, he scooped Samantha up and strode forward.

The window gave after two kicks.

Once the buckled glass panel fell away, Arcanthus leapt up onto the windowsill, thrusting his tail out behind him for extra stability. The voices in the hallway were closer than ever.

“Bastard is around here somewhere with that ji’tas ,” someone said from just beyond the gaping hole in the wall.

Arcanthus leapt out the window.

It was a three-meter drop to the ground; his cybernetic legs absorbed the impact, allowing him to remain upright and reducing the jolt to Samantha. He turned his head to see the black hovercar speeding toward him.

The vehicle’s rear swung slightly sideways as it came to a sudden halt in front of Arc. The back door swung open, and Sekk’thi waved Arcanthus inside. He passed Samantha in; the two vorgals took her and laid her carefully on the back seat.

“There!” came the shout from behind. Plasma bolts struck the back of Arc’s armor and the vehicle around him .

Arcanthus dove into the hovercar. Sekk’thi slammed the door shut behind him as the vehicle accelerated.

Urgand was already kneeling beside Samantha, his medical kit open. Despite the size of his hand, his fingers were gentle as he parted her hair to check the wound on her head. In this crowded cab, around these aliens, she looked so small and frail.

Arcanthus fell to his knees next to the vorgal. His chest was tight, his body numb, and a dull ringing still undercut the thumping of his own heart in his ears. He took Samantha’s hand in his own and squeezed it. She didn’t respond to his touch.

“Swing around back so we can pick up the cren.” Arcanthus’s voice sounded distant and echoey, like a fading memory. “How bad is it, Urgand?”

The vorgal frowned. “Hard to say. Never treated a terran before. But the medpod back home should have her species’ specs loaded. It’ll tell us more.”

Arcanthus settled his gaze on her face and curled his free hand into a fist.

“Any idea who those cowardly fuckers were?” Thargen asked.

“No, but we’re going to find out who the fuck they are,” Arcanthus said through clenched teeth, “and make sure they regret this decision for the brief remainder of their lives.”