I clutched my sisters close, feeling them trembling. Kaya's fingers dug into my arm while Brielle had gone completely rigid.
This was my fault. I'd insisted on coming. I’d refused to stay safely on the warbird where Wrexxon had wanted me. I was the number one target on their execution list, and I'd walked straight into their waiting arms like a stubborn little idiot.
Then the mangled leader said, "We're here for you."
But he wasn't looking at me. He was looking at Wrexxon.
Then an entirely new cascade of emotions slammed into me. They wanted the Raas. It made total sense now. Of course, they wanted Raas Wrexxon, The Scourge, The Qeth’rex. What was a rebel human compared to the Vandar who was the single biggest thorn in their side?
I could only imagine what the Empire wanted to do to the Vandar Raas who'd been burning their ships, scattering their fleets, and slowing their attempts to rebuild their Empire across the galaxy. The Qeth’rex had become a symbol of resistance, and a rallying point for every rebel who dared to fight back. He was who they wanted.
But I also knew that they wouldn’t kill him quickly or mercifully. Not the Zagrath. First would come torture. Then there would be a public execution designed to break the spirits of everyone who'd looked to the Qeth’rex as hope.
The thought made my stomach twist, and my chest constricted until I could barely breathe. I'd once wished harm on him myself. I’d despised him with every fiber of my being. But now? Now I felt entirely different.
Now I knew who he was beneath the fearsome reputation. I knew his touch, his kiss, and what it meant to be claimed by him. The thought of losing a future with him sent “devastating waves of rage though me.
“No fucking way," I muttered, stepping forward before I could think better of it.
My sisters tried to pull me back, their hands grabbing at my fur. Wrexxon's head snapped toward me, his golden eyes wide and burdened with fear.
But I jutted my chin out, meeting the commander's gaze directly. "I'm who you want. I’m the top target on your list. The rebel leader who's been sabotaging your operations for years."
“You think we care about a colonist more than a Raas of the Vandar?” the mangled Zagrath said, waving to the damaged side of his face. “The Vandar did this to me the first time theyattempted to destroy us. I might not be able to punish the Raas who blew up my battleship, but the Qeth’rex will do.” He gave me a terrifying, crooked smile. “I’m happy to take both of you, but we aren't leaving without our prize."
His gaze flicked to Wrexxon. The Raas was the prize. I was just a bonus.
I looked at Wrexxon, hismajakand the other raider. Three Vandar warriors against three Imperial soldiers were even odds. I knew what Vandar could do in combat, but the soldiers carried blasters that could kill from a distance.
“I am only sorry you did not perish with yourtvekkingbattleship and all your soldiers,” Wrexxon ground out. “That would have saved me the effort of killing you now.”
The Zagrath leader’s mangled smile faltered. “You are outnumbered, Qeth’rex.”
The Raas actually laughed, the sound a velvet purr. “You have counted too soon, Zagrath.”
The enemy commander’s brow pinched for a beat before he drew his wiry frame up to its full height. “You brutes are always so confident, but you’re wrong if you think you’re going to stop us. Your hordes are few and far between now. Don’t think we don’t know that all the old warlords who plagued us are gone.”
“I think you’ll find that the new ones will be just as much of a plague.” Wrexxon didn’t turn to me, but he dropped his voice so it was for my ears only. "You run with your sisters onto the ship while mymajakand I kill these men." Then he flashed a malicious grin at the Zagrath. “Enough talking.”
I didn't have a chance to argue or point out the massive flaws in this plan because Wrexxon was already moving, his spine-chilling roar rending the air as he drew his weapon.
His battle axe swung in a deadly arc as he rushed forward, closing the distance between him and the soldiers with terrifying speed. Venik and the other raider were a step behind him, their own weapons raised, both of them roaring war cries that made the air vibrate.
Then the air wasn’t vibrating only because of the war cries, it was trembling as more raider ships than I’d ever seen dropped through the gray sky, hitting the ground behind Wrexxon’s ship with bone-jarring thuds. The Zagrath commander’s self-satisfied smirk morphed into something dark and wrathful, and he drew his own blaster.
The Imperial soldiers who weren’t scattering in panic started firing, but the blasts ricocheted off the battle axes, deflected by the Vandar, who knew exactly how to use their weapons as shields while they closed the distance.
Behind us, more raiding ships were descending to surround the village, each rumble of the ground like another drumbeat of victory. The raiders from the ships were a deluge that poured from all sides, prompting screams from imperial soldiers as the clanging of battle axes drowned out the sound of blaster fire.
Despite the turning tides, weapons were still being fired, which meant we were still in danger.
"Move!" I shouted at my sisters, ducking low as a stray blast scorched the air above my head.
Kaya screamed. Brielle was frozen in terror. I grabbed them both, pulling them toward the ship's ramp, keeping my headdown as the sounds of battle erupted around us. More Vandar warriors were rushing from all sides, boots pounding on frozen ground and metal clashing against metal.
I twisted to see Imperial soldiers appear from around the village being chased down by axe-wielding Vandar. What had started out as a Zagrath trap, had quickly become an ambush on the Imperial forces, with us at the center of it.
My heart pounded as I dodged between combatants, pulling my sisters along, focused entirely on reaching the safety of the ship. I pushed Kaya ahead of me, then Brielle. "Go! Get inside!"
