Good. We would both burn.
Stefani
* * *
What was that thing? It was twice Velik’s size, but its arms hung down its sides like an orangutang’s. It wasn’t just an arm. There were claws on the ends of them that looked like they were longer than my arms. Instead of fur, they were covered in heavy scales that looked like a cross between an alligator and a sea turtle. The mouth and teeth? T-Rex. The top of its head was disgusting. Too many eyes, on more than one side. They were creepy, set in groups, like a spider’s.
One of them had stabbed Velik and looked like it was about to eat him.
“Helion! Do something!” I was frantic. Velik moved, thank god. He’d dodged the first two—I’d thought I was having a heart attack—but there were three of those things. Three.
“Working on it.” I chanced taking my eyes off my mate to see Helion and another one of the Prillon warriors who accompanied us, each settled on one knee, a tripod looking thing in front of each of them. On top of the tripods? Two really big space guns. Thank god.
“Shoot it.”
“We will.”
“Now!”
Another Prillon warrior, who stood on my opposite side, placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. “My lady, they must not miss.”
No shit.
“There are three of them. They’re going to kill him.”
“Have faith. Your mate placed explosive devices on the first two. This battle is not yet lost.”
Explosives? I examined the creature on the far right, the one Velik had charged first. I didn’t see anything except a black disk attached to the creature’s side. The disk was about the size of my hand. Was that what the Prillon was talking about? It looked like a gnat compared to that monster. I searched the second monster’s body, looking for the same thing. Couldn’t find one, but maybe it was on the other side, facing away from me. That first disk was so small, if the Prillon hadn’t told me it was there, I never would have noticed.
Then again, a little thing the size of a coin had transported me halfway across the galaxy—or all the way. I still had no idea where the hell I was in relation to Earth. Didn’t care. When it came to alien stuff, small didn’t mean it wasn’t powerful.
I hoped it was a million times stronger than C-4.
Velik. I whimpered. I couldn’t stop the sound. One of the creatures had stabbed all the way through him with one claw, the tip visible, protruding from Velik’s back. His legs were swinging in the air, not because he was trying to get away, but because he wasn’t fighting. He was limp.
I wrapped my arms around my stomach, the pain visceral. He had to be hurting. So much. So, so much. Tears ran unchecked down my face.
How was he still alive?
A loud booming sound made me jump. The first monster exploded like a paint ball, guts and gore splattered everywhere. It even rose high in the air and came back down to splatter everything in the immediate area. Including Velik.
I gagged. God. Velik. This was a nightmare. No, worse than that. This was true horror. If this was what the warlords in the Coalition Fleet had to deal with, they deserved more than an Interstellar Bride. More than a few castles, or lands, or tons of cash.
Nothing would ever be enough. There was nothing that could make up for this.
The second explosion wasn’t as much of a shock. The placement on the monster must have been different, because this one’s parts didn’t spread quite as far as the first. Half of its body was still in one piece, or mostly one piece, on the ground.
The third explosion made me jump even though I was expecting it this time. It didn’t destroy the last monster. It blew up what was obviously a door of some kind. The rocks and dirt from the ridge above it collapsed, tumbling down the side of the hill like rolling thunder, an avalanche of debris. The rubble blocked the entrance, but left the last creature unscathed.
The force of the blast did knock over the one holding my mate on its claw like a shish-kabob.
The monster caught itself, using one of those long claws like a hand to brace its weight against the ground. The thing regained its balance. Lifted its free claw. Swung it toward Velik.
“No!” My scream was instinctive. I had to get to my mate.
The Prillon next to me, the one whose hand I’d forgotten remained on my shoulder, pulled me back when I bolted forward, uncaring of the danger. I had to get to Velik.
“Let me go!”
