“Elle Rollins,” Ice said. “But not for transport. I will not take her to Sintaz only to imprison her in a dome she cannot easily leave, not after what she did for me. That is not a life I would condemn her to.”
“Forget that last command. I need transport for four and a health report on Elle Rollins, gunshot wound?—”
“In her side,” Ice inserted.
“—in her side,” Gary ordered through the handheld. The response he received was not in any language Ice understood. Gary handed the handheld back to Frost. “They are coming. You should be on alert.”
“Why?” Snow looked around. “What did the ship say?”
“Mm, nothing,” Gary mumbled, not looking directly at them. He pointed up an incline. “We should keep moving. No reason to dally.”
“What is dally?” Frost whispered as he leaned closer to Ice.
“I think it is when they count items,” Ice answered.
“Why would we count…?” Frost again looked around.
“That is tally,” Snow interrupted his brothers. “I think dally is when a human goes to a private room and?—”
“This way, this way,” Gary insisted. For a smaller alien, he moved fast when he wanted to.
“I hear something,” Frost said. “This sound is not like the others.”
Ice had been thinking of Elle more than paying attention to what was going on around them. He tilted his head and nodded as he detected footsteps.
“Someone comes,” Snow said.
All three brothers turned to look at Gary. He made a weak noise and said, “I told you not to dally.”
“Is this a trap?” Ice demanded. He grabbed Gary by the arms and lifted him off the ground. “What did you do?”
“We adjusted the ground sensors after you were taken last time.” Gary’s legs kicked in the air. “I didn’t want you to think we were incompetent after we missed there being a threat last time.”
Air pressed down on them from above and Ice looked up as a ship passed. The running lights were off, and it was hard to see the craft except for how it blocked the moonlight and cast a shadow over the ground. Ice set Gary down and the alien ran after the ship.
“Go,” Ice ordered his brothers. They ran after Gary. A soft glow of light indicated a ship door was opening to let them in.
A plank extended from the spaceship. It wasn’t a large vessel, and not meant for long-range travel, but the main ship would be nearby.
“This way,” a man bellowed.
Ice paused, letting his brothers go up the plank as he turned away from the ship to watch for trouble.
“You’re not sacrificing yourself to save us this time,” Snow said, reappearing next to him.
“Don’t think we’ve forgotten that act of stupidity,” Frost added. “You can bet we’ll be having a discussion about that later.”
His brothers grabbed his arms and pulled him up the plank. They entered the ship.
“Ah.”
The feminine sound was faint, but enough to make Ice inhale sharply in recognition.
The plank began to retract.
“I’m sorry, brothers, but I can’t go back with you. I can’t leave her.” Ice grabbed hold of the entryway and launched his body forward, over the plank, so that he landed on the ground. He bent his knees, listening for Elle. The ship’s door closed and clicked into place behind him.
Figures appeared in the moonlight, dark, shadowy men. He heard banging behind him as his brothers tried to get off the ship. He willed Galaxy Brides to take off. Now that he knew his brothers were safe and on their way home, he could concentrate on Elle.
