Frozen in place, I pictured my body as a marble statue, willed Slomak to ignore me as he grabbed one container afteranother, opened it, rummaged through its contents, and tossed it aside. I moved slowly, hoped he wouldn’t notice, and inspected the items that spilled on the floor.
As I’d suspected, they were filled with common goods. Clothing. Food. Boots. Armor. I knew not all worlds had S-Gen technology. Ivy and Zenos had explained to me that several of Astra’s trade routes involved delivering goods to non-Coalition worlds, planets without Coalition technology. Planets like Earth. We were protected by the Coalition, but not a full member. We were kind of on probation, at least that’s the way I’d understood things to be.
Slomak’s hyena laugh snapped me to attention and I turned to see him lifting a large ion cannon from the open container in front of him. “Oh, yes. This will do. This will do nicely.”
Shit.
I must have made a sound because Slomak’s crazed eyes focused on me. “Move, little slave, and the only thing Mikos will find is your burned corpse.” He tapped the tip of the titan stick on the ground to prove his point. Sparks shot off the floor as the activated tip made contact. “I wonder what human brain smells like when it’s burning?”
I gagged. He laughed and began stacking the containers into a defensible position, away from the door.
Someone pounded on the closed door.
Mikos. He was here. He found me.Thank god.
Slomak froze for a moment, then marched over, grabbed me by the arm, and half-dragged, half-carried me with him until we were both behind his new fort. He dropped me on the floor and kicked me in the gut to make sure I’d stay down. Or for fun.
Asshole.
“Make a sound, and I’ll rip your tongue from your mouth. Understand me?”
I nodded and tried my best to allow the terror clogging my throat to shine from my eyes. Slomak would never know, never understand, the terror wasn’t for me. It was for Mikos.
Slomak positioned himself behind the stack of containers, the ion cannon on his shoulder, aimed and ready to fire. At my mate.
Mikos was strong, but not that strong.
I scooted away to get a better angle. Let Slomak believe I was terrified of him, that being next to him caused such a panic in my body that I would literally crawl away.
The pounding resumed. Intensified.
I heard Astra’s voice, not clearly, not the words, just the tone of calm. Of command.
Seconds later I heard the door slide open.
“Breanna!” Mikos shouted into the open space.
Slomak tensed, his complete attention on aiming his weapon, on killing my mate.
I kicked with every ounce of strength I possessed, my foot connecting with the side of Slomak’s knee just as he pulled the trigger.
The ion cannon fired, the blast angled at the ceiling instead of the door, as Slomak’s leg gave out and his body tumbled to one side. He caught himself. Lifted the ion cannon for a second shot.
Mikos roared, his body flying over the top of the containers to slam into Slomak.
I rolled away from the fight, put as much distance between me and Slomak as possible.
My back hit the wall. I watched the male I loved tear out the side of Slomak’s neck with his fangs. Watched him wrench Slomak’s arm from its socket, pull the arm free from the body as Slomak screamed.
Enough. I closed my eyes and waited for Mikos’s rage to play out. I should have been disgusted, sickened. Maybe something was wrong with me because the only thing I felt in that moment was relief that Mikos had found me.
Joy when the screaming stopped and Mikos lifted me into his arms.
Love when I opened my eyes to see his big, beautiful face hovering over mine.
“Mate, are you well?”
“I am now.” I leaned in and kissed his cheek. I would have kissed his lips, but Slomak’s blood coated most of my mate’s face, and I had no desire to taste that dead fucker. When I kissed Mikos, I only wanted his flavor on my lips. His scent in my head. “I knew you would come for me.”
