The second cyborg lifted his weapon and fired.
Doctor Pearson was there one moment. The next, he was smoke and vapor. Just gone. Incinerated.
I pulled my sidearm. Fired until my clip was empty. I was a fucking excellent shot. I didn’t miss.
They didn’t even flinch as the bullets ricocheted off some kind of armor to imbed in the walls.
The first cyborg shook his head, grinned at me but spoke to his men. “Take her alive. The boss will make her talk.”
The asshole next to him pointed another one of those fucking silver pistols at me.
This was it. The end. I was about to be mist and vapor, just like Pearson.
She hurled herself onto me just as a shrill whistle sliced the air and detonated across the exam table. Instinct took over—I grabbed her waist and twisted. Rolled, pinning her beneath me before the debris finished falling. The moment my chest met hers, everything inside me ignited. Every curve—her hips fitting to mine, the soft give of her breasts beneath my rib cage, the smooth heat of her thigh brushing the inside of mine—shot through me like a pulse I couldn’t shut off.
“Idiot! We take her alive.” The behemoth leader smashed his fist into his cohort’s face to prevent him from firing his weapon, then turned his attention back to us as the woman pressed a silver button into my chest.
The twist of the leader’s lips was cruel. I knew that look. I’d seen it on enough humans to know he was thinking about killingme and taking her. To torture. Hurt. His next words confirmed his plans for me. “Kill the human policeman. Take the body. We need a memory scan.”
When the alien obediently lifted his silver pistol, the big one slapped him on the side of his face. “Make it look like the humans did it. Fucking idiot. How many times do I have to tell you?”
A burst of heat and light shot over our heads like a cannon blast.
I didn’t know her. Didn’t know why she’d tried to shield me. But now her breath trembled against my throat, her fingers fisted in my shirt, and all I could think about was her body locked under mine. I was supposed to be focused on the threat—on keeping her alive—yet every heartbeat was a distraction.
The cyborgs bellowed in rage, one of them leaping toward the inferno. He got too close. His strange looking clothing glowed orange at the heat but didn’t catch fire. Bulletproof and fireproof?
“She destroyed the body.” The alien with the glowing armor slammed his fist onto the edge of the exam table and the metal crumpled under the force of the blow. “Boss is gonna punish us for that.”
Holy fucking shit. He’d bent a metal table with one punch. And punish them? Who? Who was terrifying enough to frighten these three alien thugs?
“It’s done. Get the female.” The big one ordered. “Take her alive.”
The third male finally moved. Raised his weapon. This time I recognized the gun, a 9mm pistol. A Glock, if I had to wager. It was pointed straight at us.
Fuck!
I rolled us to the side and spun us to place my body between her and the bullet I knew was coming. I barely registered thecrack of the pistol firing. Pain exploded in my right shoulder. I’d been shot before. I knew what it fucking felt like.
I’d live. If we could get out of here. Away from these alien assholes who, for some reason, wanted to capture and torture the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.
Soft curves cushioned me from head to toe. Her lips were inches from mine. Eyes staring up at me with a marked lack of panic. Hair like spun silk created a cloud on the hard floor under her head. This would be what her hair looked like spread all over my pillow.
“I’m sorry, Ethan. This is going to hurt.”
“Shhh—” I held onto my sidearm with my good hand and twisted around, lifting my head, trying to see over—or around—the exam table. Keep my eyes on the enemy I knew was coming for us.
She slammed her hand onto the silver button on my chest. I heard a slight beep as it activated. Every hair on my body stood up like I’d walked into an electric field. Agony, literal ice needles in my veins, stabbed my eyes. Gut. Heart. I tried to gasp in pain, but pulling air into my lungs felt like breathing shards of glass. No air. No light. No feeling. Everything was cold. Black. Empty.
Even she was gone. Her scent. Her warmth. Those fucking eyes. There was nothing. Was this what being vaporized felt like? Zapped into pink mist?
Dead. I had to be dead.
4
Lyra
The transport beacons activated perfectly,thank the gods. We landed on a cold tile floor, the type some humans preferred for their kitchens. Ethan was unconscious. Unmoving. I rolled him over gently and checked his pulse. He was alive. The dark red tile squares weren’t red enough to disguise the dark crimson stain of Ethan’s blood spreading out beneath him.
