CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“We’re going,” Rykal snapped, grabbing Arin’s wrist and pulling her up out of her seat. There was no way he was letting her remain here while Kail went at it with a fucking red-stripe.
The red stripe running down the front of the Xargek’s head marked it as one of the oldest and most dangerous of its species. Kail was uninjured and itching for a fight, so Rykal left him to it, even though his blood sang with the need to kill something.
“Wait! I need to put out an announcement.” Arin bent over and pressed a button, although she didn’t try to release herself from Rykal’s grip. She blinked, furrowing her brow, an expression that Rykal found rather delicious. “Actually, forget about it. If I announce it now, it will just cause chaos down below. I’ll wait until the cavalry gets here.”
Rykal had no idea what she was talking about, and he didn’t care. “Come, Arin.” He pulled her out of the way just as one of the Xargek’s severed limbs crashed into the instrument panel, sending sparks flying.
Her friend had curled up into a ball, trying to shield herself from the debris.
“Come on, Riana.” Arin steadied herself and shoulderedher, dragging her friend along as Rykal positioned himself behind them, his long sword drawn.
Together, they exited the room, Rykal nodding at Kail as he backed away defensively.
That was two fucking favors he now owed the big guy.
The plasma-protein shot Kail had given him had reinvigorated his nanites to the point where he was able to maintain a full bodysuit of armor again, although he wasn’t a hundred percent healed, and he wasn’t sure he could take another Xargek claw through his sternum.
But if that was what it took to keep Arin safe, he would do it and deal with the consequences later.
The women started to run towards the elevator, but Rykal touched their shoulders, causing them to whirl. Arin frowned. The other one, Ria-something, just looked at him as if he were the most terrifying thing in all of the Nine Galaxies. Clearly, this one believed all the stories about his kind, which were mostly true, anyway.
“No elevators,” Rykal snapped. “They’re swarming with the things. Let’s find another way. After you, ladies.” He gestured with his hand as if he were some stuffy noble in the Kythian Court.
Arin looked back at him, and her blue eyes were calm. In the midst of all the chaos, she rewarded him with an expression of trust.
That look sent a jolt through Rykal, because no creature had ever looked at him like that before. Suddenly, he felt stupid for cutting her off in his moment of weakness, when he’d experienced that terrible flashback.
He felt stupid for being cold to her.
And he wanted to take her into his arms and cherish her. He wanted to tell this brave, fragile female, who had proven herself to be so much more noble than he could ever hope to be, that her world wasnotcollapsing, and that her green-and-blue oasis of a planet would be safe from the Xargek and the likes ofhim.
But of course, he couldn’t guarantee that.
In the big, bad Universe,nothingwas guaranteed.
“Let’s go, Rian,” Arin shouted, dragging her friend by the arm as they started to run in the opposite direction. “We’ll take the emergency stairs.”
“Let’s do that,” Rykal agreed, following them towards the stairwell. His booted feet crunched Xargek larvae as they ran, and several times he had to draw his plasma gun and pick them off, leaving bits of gunk and shattered carapace in his wake.
They reached a red emergency door with an odd human language script emblazoned across it, along with a strange triangle symbol. Arin slapped her palm against the panel and began to enter the dark cavity, but Rykal stopped her, shaking his finger. “No. I go first. The only place these things can come from is below.”
“Are you sure? I mean, you’ve just recovered from all that…”
Rykal flexed his left hand, making a fist then releasing it again. “Good as new,” he informed her.
Arin shook her head, a slight smile tugging at her lips. The sight warmed Rykal’s heart, even as the Xargek larvae swarmed around their feet and he heard the sounds of brutal combat echoing from the comm room.
Fucking red-stripe.
Kail could handle it, though. Like all of them, he relished the fight. The reclusive warrior was a grumpy bastard at the best of times, and when he’d come up to give Rykal his plasma-protein injection, he’d told Rykal he was a fucking idiot for consorting with humans.
Hey, they weren’t all as warm and fuzzy as Rykal was.
“Follow me,” he said, peering down the stairwell into the darkness below. There was a clear route down to the lowerlevels. He drew his sword and started down the metal ladder, which groaned and creaked under his weight.
This freighter really was an oversized piece of junk.
