“Probably, but I can’t make any guarantees. I can’t sway a Senate Committee. I’m just a soldier.”
“You’re much more than that,” he murmured under his breath, speaking in Kordolian. Arin narrowed her glacial eyes as lust coiled its glorious tendrils around Rykal’s heart, stoking the fires of his arousal.
As if sensing his intent, she stepped away, hefting the rocket launcher over her shoulder in one swift, powerful motion.
“It’s nice to know my EI missilehurts like a bitch,as you say,” she said darkly, “even if it won’t kill you. If you dare say what I think you’re thinking, I’ll burn you.”
Rykal cringed. He’d just been caught out by his favorite human, and it didn’t seem like she was about to reciprocate his feelings anytime soon. At this rate, he was going to develop fucking Mating Fever for real.
He stepped aside with an ironic bow, gesturing towards the exit. “After you, Sergeant.”
Her icy glare warmed his wretched black heart.
As she bent and retrieved the pack that lay at her feet, Rykal’s comm went off.
“Hey, Ry.” It was Arkan, one of the First Division warriors who’d been patrolling the lower decks. “Need your sword arm down here. We’ve got Xargek incoming, right at the bottom. Nice little hull breach, too. Oxygen’s being sucked out into the never-never.”
Rykal swore. “How many?”
“You know how it is. Could be ten, could be a hundred. Could be a thousand. Depends whether one decides to spill its larvae.”
“I hear you, brother.” Rykal squeezed through the doors and started to run. He flashed past Arin, who was walkingacross the floor, briefly touching both of his hands against her curved waist.
Just because he could.
She spun in alarm. “Where are you going?”
“Lower decks,” he yelled over his shoulder. “We’ve officially got an infestation. Whatever you do, don’t follow me, and keep your people out of the way. And tell your fucking leaders to hurry up and give us smooth passage to Earth.”
The time for attempting diplomatic niceties was over. For whatever reason, the humans were delaying to give them an answer. If the humans didn’t understand the game now, they never would, and the appearance of Xargek on the freighter had just changed the game entirely.
Where the hell had they come from?
He’d thought the freighter was clear, but when it came to Xargek, one could never be too sure. All it took was a few stray larvae with blood in their bellies. They could latch on and build their cocoons anywhere, and once they metamorphosed into mature Xargek, they would wreak havoc. If they were on the freighter, they had to get rid of them as quickly as possible.
Against mature Xargek, the humans didn’t stand a chance.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Arin ran up to the main cargo hold on the central decks, where the majority of the Fortuna Tau survivors had made themselves comfortable. Most of the escapees from the asteroid mining station were ordinary people: miners, maintenance workers, engineers, and service people. They weren’t equipped with the skills or knowledge to fight aliens, especially when said aliens were indestructible monsters who could withstand close-range fire from a small Explosive-Incendiary missile.
Freaks. The lot of them.
Are. You. Fucking. Serious?That had been her first thought when Rykal had told her the story. Arin shook her head as she ran, balancing the launcher on her shoulder. It had a small notch across its barrel that fit nicely over her shoulder, keeping it stable.
It was a familiar, comfortable weapon, one that required strength and stamina to wield but no real skill.
Anyone could blow shit up. All you had to do was pull the trigger.
Arin reached a service elevator and slapped her handagainst the activation panel. Baraka and the kid had retreated back into theArawen, but not before Arin had ordered the people in the navigation room to keep Docking Bay Three closed. TheArawenwould not depart the freighter, even though that went against their orders.
Screw the Federation, especially since they were doing nothing but sitting on their hands, paralyzed by public opinion and caught up in their stupid committees. A vessel capable of atmospheric re-entry was a handy thing to have, especially when one was being overrun by monsters.
Monsters. Both the Xargek and the Kordolians.
Especially Rykal.
Her body burned with the lingering memory of his touch. It had been ever-so-brief and whisper light, but he’d definitely caressed her waist as he’d swept past. He’d run out of the docking bay like a dark whirlwind, yelling something about Xargek invading the lower decks.
