Even her unpleasant surroundings couldn’t dull her euphoria. She’d done it! She’d faced her fear and made the choice to protect the ones she cared about. Havoc would not have to face this stinky asshole alien alone.
With a grim smile and shaking hands, she put down the wand and let herself slump forward in relief.
Now, all she had to do was wait for her lover to return. She hoped he wouldn’t take too long. The logarianreallystank.
CHAPTER 11
Takingdown the humans had not been difficult. They were both young and trusted too much in their armor and weapons. The logarian was another matter. He’d crossed paths with them before, but never on his own. He hadn’t wanted to kill the last human so close to Maddison’s hiding place, but the idiot had made it farther than he expected in the time it took to kill the first one. Now, it was likely that the last remaining mercenary would come to check on his dead teammate. He didn’t like it, but using the corpse as bait was the best chance he had to end this fight quickly.
He had already checked the weapons he’d taken from the dead mercenaries. Neither one would power up for him. There had to be a lock of some kind, something that ensured they would only work for their assigned operator. Since they were useless to him, he stashed them under a fallen log for later retrieval.
Havoc smelled the approaching mercenary before he heard him. The slow but dangerous alien had chosen a different path than his teammate. That was a problem because Havoc’s plan required the behemoth to either walk beneath the tree he’d climbed or turn his back to ensure Havoc kept the advantage of surprise.
He waited, confident that an opportunity would come. He could only watch and wait with growing frustration as his target walked away from him, straight toward Maddison’s hiding place.
If he attacked now, the mercenary would see him coming, but that was a small price to pay for keeping the alien away from his mate.
He shifted his weight, preparing to leap, but paused when the logarian turned around. The logarian faced in his direction, a sneer on his ugly face as he called out his challenge. He knew Havoc was close by.
Fuck. So much for his ambush idea.
He readied himself to attack, anyway. But before he could, something entirely unexpected happened. Maddison made a surprise attack of her own.
Despite hearing the electric crackle, he didn’t immediately understand what his mate had done. It wasn’t until the logarian crashed to the ground, still twitching, that the pieces fell into place.
Maddison must have a stun weapon in her possession. It didn’t bother him that she hadn’t told him about it. It made sense. The one she’d most likely need toprotect herself from was him. He was more shocked that she’d found the courage to use it at all.
Pride filled him as he dropped to the ground and ran to the fallen enemy. His mate was clever and brave.
He slit the alien’s throat to end the threat, but only a little green blood trickled from the wound. The mercenary’s heart had already stopped. His little star had killed one of the most dangerous beings in the galaxy. He also knew it was likely that hadn’t been her intent.
“Maddison,” he called as he straightened up and sheathed his blades.
“Havoc?” her voice was slightly muffled due to her current location and the large body that blocked the opening.
“I’m here.”
She cried out in relief and then loosed a torrent of words without taking a breath. “Thank the stars. I did it! I knocked him out, but you have to finish him before he wakes up. I know you said to hide, but he was right there, and I knew this would make it easier for you to kill him.”
“You did well, little star. I’m proud of you.” And he was. That feeling was far stronger than the small pinch to his pride that she had been the one to take the enemy down.
“Can you please move the body away so I can get out of here? I don’t want to be stuck in here anymore. I need to feel the sun on my skin.”
“Give me a minute.”
It took all his strength to drag the dead body far enough away for her to have room to crawl out. He made sure she had enough space to get past the corpse without touching it.
She emerged from the hole shaken but unhurt. Damp soil clung to her hands and face. Her clothes were covered in dirt too, but her hands barely shook as he helped her to her feet.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, but he didn’t wait for an answer. He folded her into his arms.
“I’m okay. I just…” She clung to him, her face pressed against his chest despite the fact he was still covered in gore. “I’m glad I did it, but I don’t ever want to do something like that again.”
“I’ll make sure you don’t have to.” He would do better next time.
“Show me what you used to take him down.” Havoc chose his words carefully.
She held out a cylinder about thirty centimeters long with a set of prongs sticking out of one end. She offered it to him handle first. “I used this. Loris insisted that I should have some way to protect myself. This seemed like the best choice. I can’t shoot a firearm, and Loris always said that there was no point carrying a weapon I didn’t know how to use. It would just get taken away and used against me.”
