In response, Slomak raised his ion blaster and shot Barek, point blank, in the chest.
Barek roared in pain but didn’t go down. He shoved me to the side and I lost my balance, stumbling over my own two feet until my shoulder slammed into the rock wall. The scent of stone, of dirt, filled my head, adding to my rising panic. We were in danger. Underground. Were they going to lock me down here?
Memories of being trapped flooded my mind. My body responded as if I were entombed in rock, right now. Buried alive under a mountain of stone and dirt. Hungry. Thirsty. Dying. Lost. Alone.
I couldn’t move. My body had completely disconnected from my brain.
Shit!I had to do something. Help Barek. I had to help Barek! I was a fucking soldier.
I practiced one of the breathing techniques I’d learned and fought to rein in my full-blown panic attack as Barek charged one of our attackers, knocking him to the ground.
Barek rolled through it and came to his feet, ready to face off with a second male.
Breathe, woman. Just fucking breathe.Move. Move. Move. I had to move.
Dark thoughts played like a ticker tape inside my head as the pragmatic, logical side of me assessed the situation.
They were going to kill Barek. It was four on one. Not that Barek wasn’t huge and scary, but so were the three metal heads and the guard. Maybe, after they murdered Barek, they would put me back in the cell with Mikos. Maybe Slomak would change his mind and let me go. Maybe I could figure out how to escape. Maybe I could figure out a way to kill him. He was wearing armor of some kind, and his skull was metal, which left me with his neck and his eyes as potential points of attack. Not great, but better than nothing.
I didn’t really care if I died. If it was my time, so be it. Whatever happened, I’d be okay as long as Mikos survived. So what if Mikos didn’t really want me? Maybe he never intended to claim me as his mate. So fucking what? I’d had my heart broken before. I’d survive. But damn it, I loved him. He needed to live. The universe needed his strength a lot more than it needed me, panicked, weak, scared, and paralyzed by memories I couldn’t seem to overcome no matter how many hypnotherapy sessions I listened to, or breathing techniques I learned. One whiff of danger and dirt and I was helpless.
I couldn’t risk this happening on ReCon. If I got out of here, I’d have to turn myself in to medical for a full psych evaluation. It was time to stop pretending I was okay.
I was so not okay, and my failing was going to get Barek killed. One of my ReCon teammates killed. I was the weak link.
I’m sorry, Barek.
The aliens fought with a ferocity I’d seen before, on ReCon missions when we had Everian Hunters, or a few Prillons along, and we stumbled into a fully operational Hive base. Didn’t happen often, but when the hand-to-hand fighting started, humans were screwed. Being humanandfemale?
Might as well be a guppie swimming with sharks.
I tried to make myself as small as possible against the wall, out of Barek’s way. His bellow of rage made my ears ring ashe grabbed one of Slomak’s minions and ripped his throat out. Not just the breathing tube in front, the trachea—if that’s what aliens called it—but most of his neck. The bad guy’s head wobbled side to side like a helium balloon tied to a string. Blood spurted through the air, completely coating Barek so it looked like he’d dipped his arm in a tub of the stuff.
Gross.
Blood had a distinct smell. Metallic. Rich. The Scion’s blood had a unique tinge I’d never encountered before. Reminded me of raw mushrooms. I hated mushrooms.
Double gross.
My stomach rolled, the delicious meal of meat and tart fruit that I’d shared with Astra Legion earlier threatened to spill all over my boots. That wasn’t going to help anyone.
I risked closing my eyes for two seconds and forced air into my lungs so I wouldn’t pass out. I opened my eyes to find the bad guys had maneuvered Barek so his back was against the opposite side of the corridor. He couldn’t move forward, couldn’t move at all, as they shot him, rapid fire. Hit after hit of blaster fire pinned his body in place.
Slomak pulled a smaller weapon from somewhere, the satisfied smirk on his face all I needed to know about what that little space gun might do to my new friend.
Move, Breanna Parks! Move it, soldier!
I stumbled, then ran toward Slomak, hoping to at least knock him off his feet, give Barek a break from the blasters, a chance to recover.
I didn’t make it in time. Like watching a slow-motion replay on TV, I watched a strange silver dart shoot across the space and imbed itself in the side of Barek’s neck.
He cursed before pulling it loose and dropping it on the ground.
I slid to a halt. What was that? Tranquilizer? Poison?
At least Barek wasn’t dead.
The guard, and Slomak’s remaining Scion buddy, kept blasting Barek in the center of his armored chest. He should have gone down by now. Instead, Barek’s armor seemed to absorb and redirect the energy somehow. I’d never seen anything like it.
