Page 49 of Tempting Jupiter (Arena Dogs #2)

Seneca tucked into a crouch and launched himself over the stage.

Where he landed, guests huddled together on the floor in front of him.

He chose a target, a sturdy looking man next to one of the short pillars.

One step. Two. Then he bounded off the man’s back onto the top of the table and flew.

His muscles stretched and his body twisted.

His shoulder hit the corner of the roof of the cage.

He rolled across and dropped to the floor between the human and the door.

He landed in a crouch and barred his teeth in a warning growl.

The man put his hands up, palms out. “Whoa. Whoa. Friendly, here.”

Seneca quickly took in the rest of the room.

Security guards arced around a central cluster.

A guard flew from the center, crashing into the guests.

The sound of screams and bones snapping reverberated beneath the shouts of the guards.

Security officers were also taking cover in various areas across the room with their blasters.

One was currently climbing a service ladder built into a wall to get a shot at the Arena Dogs below.

“I was just trying to help your friends get out of the cage.” Pleading strained the man’s voice. “We could use them out here.”

“Sen.” Jupiter’s voice was calm and close. “What’s wrong?”

“The cage lock is rigged to explode.” Seneca spotted a guard aiming at them. He barked an alert to Jupiter and Creek and dove toward the hacker, taking him to the floor. A blast struck the floor where they’d been standing.

The man tangled up with him stared at the ceiling. “The things I do for a stubborn, half-pint—”

Seneca shook the man until he shut up. He pulled the code-key from his waistband and shoved it into the man’s hand. “Use this.”

The man nodded furiously. “Yes, yes. Use this.”

Seneca pushed him aside and ran for the guard on the ladder.

Instead of climbing, he ran up the wall, flipped, and kicked the weapon from the man’s hand.

Mid-air, he twisted and reached out for a rung.

He ignored the jerk that stressed his shoulder joint and his collision with the wall as he locked his grip on the guard’s leg.

He yanked hard and threw the man to the ground.

The human survived the fall but didn’t get up fast enough to escape when Sen dropped down into a crouch beside him.

One punch ended his foe’s ability to breathe.

He shot a look to where he’d left Fee. She’d pulled herself into a ball on her side and so far, she’d escaped notice. He looked for Bug, but the small flying machine had disappeared. She must be using it to try a remote hack into the security system.

A scream brought his attention back to the center of the auction room and the large green aliens.

They were free and using the strength of their bulky bodies to shove the guests into the now empty cage.

Jupiter and Creek had run up behind the cluster of guards that surrounded what sounded like two of his pack brothers, Mercury and Carnage.

Looking strong and powerful despite his time being held prisoner, Jup easily pulled a guard out of the fight and ended him.

Creek did the same. One by one they were improving the odds for Mercury and Carn.

Sen heard Diablo, his third pack brother, bark then he appeared from the far side of the cluster.

He leapt into the air and, looking weightless, bounded across the heads and shoulders of the crowd of guards.

Jupiter was ready when Lo landed in the platform he’d made of his hands.

Jup, biceps bulging, threw him up into the air and Lo landed atop the cage. He stood tall and fearless and healthy.

Seneca didn’t know how his pack was here, but their presence filled a hole in his heart.

Lo’s gaze met his and he saw relief and joy flash into those red-black eyes.

He hadn’t seen anything close to joy from Lo for more than a year.

With a few quick barks they’d sorted out their targets among the scattered guards Seneca had spotted earlier.

Lo leapt from the roof, then ended the nearest one with a slash of claws across the guard’s neck. Blood spurted onto the floor.

Seneca ran for his next targets. His muscles sang and the primitive part of his brain roared with the pleasure of doing what he’d trained for, what he’d done along with his pack brothers over and over.

Ever-victorious in the arena until that last fight when they’d been forced to battle each other.

The more civilized parts of his brain worried for his brothers and his mates.

He flipped through the air to avoid the guard’s blaster pulses.

When he’d eliminated that threat, he scanned the area and spotted his next target, a guard working with a remote.

Sen followed the man’s line of vision and saw several of the green aliens fall to the floor.

He went for the guard, with one eye on Fee.

She hadn’t moved in a long time. The sounds of battle and death were thinning.

When he’d taken down the next guard, he barked an alert to tell his brothers he was out of the conflict and headed for Feeona.

He crouched over her, listening to her breathing—shallow and fast. “Fee?”

“Busy.” Her voice was barely audible and the word came through a locked jaw.

He put a hand on her back to offer his support.

A bark alerted him to Diablo’s approach.

He looked up to see his brother striding in their direction.

Splashes of blood dotted his arms and chest. Behind him Sen could see Mercury, Carn, and Creek aiding the green aliens to their feet.

Jupiter was jogging across the room toward them. The battle was over for the moment.

Lo tilted his head and held his ears alert as he watched Fee. “Is the human broken?”

Sen shook his head, but his eyes were on Jupiter. He yipped reassurance to let Jup know their mate was safe.

Jupiter fell to his knees beside her. He brushed her forehead with the back of his hand. His fingers smeared blood across her caramel skin. “Talk to me, Fee.”

She turned her head into the caress, but her eyes stayed shut tight. Her jaw flexed, then she spoke through gritted teeth. “Using the security system to lock down the crew and keep out reinforcements.”

Mercury and the others came to stand with them. Merc’s gravelly voice rumbled in his throat. “Let them come.”

Her eyes snapped open and she took in the group. “Oh, my.” Her eyes shut tight again. She stretched out a hand and Sen took it. “Explain it to them.”

***

Jupiter worried over the strain in Feeona’s face.

He’d seen how using Bug and her neural implant could fatigue her before, but there was something else.

She was stretching beyond her usual abilities and she’d lost weight since Petro-5.

Earlier he’d been too distracted by the glory of seeing her and Sen again to notice her condition.

Seneca wove his fingers with Fee’s momentarily and they both seemed to draw strength from it.

As he released her and stood, there was no sign of the submissive role Sen had played before as he addressed their Alpha.

“I assume you eliminated the security team in the landing bay, but there are at least another dozen guards that were assigned to other areas of the ship. The ship also has a crew of fifty. And we don’t know how many of them will defend the ship.

This ship carries plenty of arms and any person can pick one up and do damage. ”

Lo yipped. Mercury nodded and Lo took off toward the landing bay. “My mate and Hera are still in the shuttle with the pilots. Lo will make sure they are safe.”

Mercury had a mate and Hera was with them. Jupiter soaked in the wonder of it. Their pack was together and free. They would not be defeated this day.

“Fee will make sure Lo can get back to them,” Sen assured them without consulting her. Making it clear they had planned and prepared for their rescue mission together. Their bond had grown strong.

“What is she doing?” Carn rumbled the question.

Jupiter answered from where he still knelt at Fee’s side. “She has a neural implant that allows her to interface with computers. She’s using it to control the ship’s security systems.”

“Icy!” It was the human hacker that spoke. “So, she was the one controlling that drone earlier. Wha—”

Mercury silenced the man with a look. “Even if the humans fight, a dozen trained men and fifty untrained humans are no match for six Arena Dogs.”

There was a swell of noise from the green aliens. Creek waved a hand at them to quiet them down. “And eight Dreats.”

Mercury looked at him with raised eyebrows.

“Just telling you what they said. They want to help.”

Sen barked respectfully to regain their attention. “There’s also a small team of mercenaries, sent by Roma, planting enough explosives around the ship to destroy it. We must have less than thirty minutes now.”

Mercury growled in disgust and concern. “Then we warn the ship’s occupants and leave now.”

The Dreat grunted and muttered. Creek spoke over them. “There are more Dreat in the slave hold.” He rolled his shoulders. “And some humans.” He shifted his weight looking eager to move. “I can take the Dreat and we can retrieve the slaves.”

Mercury frowned. “Is there time?”

“Yes,” said Seneca.

Mercury nodded toward Fee. “The female can give them a clear passage to this slave hold?”

Sen answered with another, “yes.”

“Good,” said Mercury. He hesitated a moment with a look they’d all seen before. Strategy was whirring in his head. “Can we stop the explosions?”

Seneca nodded. “Yes. With Fee’s help.”

Mercury chuffed a pleased noise in the back of his throat. “The ship will be a good asset in the fight to free our people.”

Jupiter’s heart skipped. That meant it would also be a good asset for Fee to save her children. He and Seneca helped Fee to a sitting position as she peeled her eyes open. “I need to get to the security station. I can control things much better from there.”

“I can help,” the hacker chipped in.

Feeona blinked her eyes several times. “Great. With two of us we should be able to use the ship’s sensors and intercoms to help our strikers as we go.

” She managed a smile with those words. Jupiter swelled with pride at his mate’s spirit.

“Sen,” she said. “You’ll have to go after Andre’s men and the explosives. You know where—”

“Mercury is faster.”

Mercury nodded. “I’ll go. What else must be done?” He showed no hesitation in relying on Seneca and a human. He led from a place of caring for his pack not from a need to control or reign supreme over them.

“I’m interfering with the bridge crew’s actions,” said Fee. “As well as I can, but we need someone up there to stop the pilots from engaging the skipdrive.”

Sen met Mercury’s gaze. “I’m familiar with piloting controls.”

“Excellent,” said Mercury. “You and Carn go to the pilot station then.”

Jupiter could see that Mercury was about to assign him a task. “I’ll stay with my mate and the human to make sure they are safe while they work. You can see this work leaves her vulnerable.”

Mercury nodded and turned his attention to Creek. “Freeing the slaves is no longer a priority. We can do so after the ship is secure.”

The Dreat chattered wildly.

Creek calmly met Mercury’s waiting eyes. “The slaves could still be a help in securing the ship.”

Their pack leader addressed the aliens. “You seem to understand us well enough.”

They chattered with nodding heads.

“Good. And Creek seems to understand you,” said Mercury. “Free the slaves and restrain the crew. We don’t want them dead unless they resist. Some may be useful in running the ship after we take it. Can you handle that?”

Again, the aliens nodded in unison.

“Understood,” said Creek.

Jupiter scooped Feeona up in his arms.

Mercury clamped a hand on Seneca’s shoulder. “Can you lead the way to the security station?”

“Yes,” Sen answered.

Creek yipped and the Dreat focused all their eye stalks in his direction. “Slave hold is in the opposite direction.”

“Wait here then until she clears a path for you. Make sure someone stays here to keep an eye on our new prisoners and the fallen guards. Not all are dead.”

“Got it,” said Creek.

“Okay,” said Mercury. “Let’s move.”

Feeona snuggled her face into Jupiter’s neck as he began to walk. “Feels like old times.” Her words whispered against his skin. She felt right in his arms.

“Humph.” Jupiter’s chest shook softly with a suppressed chuckle. “It is a good thing I never got around to killing you.”