“What the scudding fek, Atakis?” I demand, his humor feeding my anger.
He fires more shots, and they hit my metal shield ineffectively.
“Why are you doing this?” I ask, but as soon as the question has left my mouth I decide I do not scudding care. I ram forward before he can answer, raising the base of my shield until it is horizontal, and I slam it into him.
The narrow edge of the shield’s base hits his exoskeleton, and the impact jerks me back. I press into my heels, trying to keep my stance strong, and push harder. I can feel the metal threatening to bend, the makeshift shield fighting against Atakis’s protective covering.
He swears, dropping his gun in favor of pushing against the shield. His two real eyes narrow. But it is his four fake eyes, which do not change, that almost convince me to stop my attack. It is like looking at another cutout of a person, but then he snapshis jaw again, and I remember that this is the man who has put my family at risk. Who has threatened Lydia.
I shove harder, pushing with the last of my strength. The shield bends at the center, collapsing in on itself, but not before the far edge cuts through Atakis’s exoskeleton. He gives a grunt, a last strangled breath, and then he slowly slides down the wall, his neck devoid of strength and his head lolling lifelessly forward.
I stagger backward.
“Killan?” Briar’s voice is distant. “Killan, what’s happening?”
I grasp the shield and yank it from Atakis’s body. It comes away with a sickening sound, and I toss it aside, trying not to look too closely at the blood splattered over the floor.
“Killan!” Briar’s cry is demanding, her temper reminding me of Lydia. Lydia, who is still in the caves with three males, all trying to do her harm.
I grab Atakis by the shoulders and use my third hand to direct his head towards the smooth panel beside the door. It takes multiple attempts and much swearing, by both me and Briar, before the door slides open.
Her mouth drops open at the sight of me, and I quickly toss Atakis’s body away, not wanting any of us to have to see more than necessary.
“God, Killan,” Briar gasps. “You look like hell.”
“Harlee?” I demand. “My brothers?”
“Over here,” Harlee says, and Briar steps to the side, revealing the room behind her.
It is indeed sleeping quarters, with four hammock beds bolted to the walls and locked cabinets marked with individual names. Harlee is kneeling on the ground beside an unconscious Roan and Sorin. They look as if they are sleeping, their arms and legs arranged neatly, lovingly, by their Mates. Blankets stripped off the hammocks are folded under their heads.
“They’re alive,” Harlee says.
I am probably doing a terrible job of disguising my fear.
“Good.” I want to check on them for myself, but—“Lydia needs me. Can you?—”
“We can manage here,” Briar confirms before I am able to finish asking the question. She yanks another blanket from a hammock, rolls it into a ball and shoves it inside the doorframe so that, if the door was to automatically try to close, it would not succeed.
There are dark circles under Briar’s eyes and a bruise on her cheek, as if she fought against captivity and was struck across the face, but her shoulders are straight, and she meets my gaze with a reassuring nod. “Go!”
I rush from the Freighter and burst into my kitchen a moment later to find Lydia entering through the door from the forest cavern.
“Lydia.” I pull her into my arms, but she shoves against me, her face colorless and her breathing coming much too fast.
“W-we need—” She stutters erratically. “I th-think?—”
“Briar and Harlee are well,” I tell her, hoping good news will help dissipate her rising panic. “Sorin and Roan, too.”
“I think one of the aliens drowned,” she says, the words falling quickly from her mouth. “They got all tangled in the net like we planned. The water isn’t even that deep, but the three of them were struggling so much that I think one drowned. I couldn’t see clearly.”
“And the other two?”
“They—” She licks dry lips, her sweat beading along her forehead. “They found their footing. They’re still tangled, but they’re standing up. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t get in the water to help?—”
“No!” The thought is horrifying. “Briar has a bruise on her face where one of them struck her. And my brothers are unconscious.”
“Fuck.” Lydia releases a long exhale.
