Gweneth straightened from working the lock on Leeam and Sheera’s cell and tugged the door open.“Practice makes perfect.”
“I’ll take point,” Ellard said.“Niran, you stay behind me with Leeam and Sheera.Only act if necessary, since they aren’t aware of your presence yet.Stay invisible.Gweneth, you protect our rear.”He stooped to pick up the blaster from the nearest reiver while Gweneth stripped the other reiver of his weapons.‘Let’s go kick reiver arse.”
Chapter 14
Ellardcastouthisfeline senses as he led them down the corridor, possibly into danger.Not that he could do anything else.None of them wanted the outcome portrayed by the reivers or Malasses, the Kiraxes male.As he approached the intersection where the gray corridor split into two, he slowed.They’d gone right last time.A metallic thump reverberated throughout the ship, and an instant later, the vessel shuddered.Hope rose in him.He prayed the sound truly was the big grappling hooks that bound ships together in deep space.
Shouts sounded to their right, and after a brief hesitation, Ellard headed in that direction.The reivers would be busy repelling the attack and wouldn’t expect a sneaky rear strike.He padded cautiously along the gray corridor, blaster extended in his hand.The shouts increased, the captain barking out orders.
“Aye, hold her steady.Wait, wait…fire weapons!”
Boom.Boom.Boom.
The ship quaked, groaned.
“Bank,” the captain ordered.“Come ye around and be readyin’ weapons again.”
“You assured me your ship came equipped with enough firepower to withstand an attack,” Malasses snarled.
“Aye, one opponent in a fair dogfight, not two ships,” the captain snapped, not cowed by the Kiraxes male, despite his ferocious appearance.“These be experienced pilots.They be knowin’ our every move before we make the evasion.”
“Outsmart them.That’s what I’m paying you for,” Malasses said.
The Kiraxes male’s voice emerged quiet and even, and Ellard thought the captain should pay attention.This was a dangerous man.Unpredictable.
“I will go and check on my property.Make sure it is unharmed.”
Grata!
Gweneth glided up beside him, blaster at the ready.
Footsteps sounded, coming closer.Hard.Confident.
Malasses appeared in the doorway of the bridge.His eyes widened, and he charged, head down, horns in the perfect position to gore an opponent.
Ellard fired.
Gweneth fired.
And Malasses kept coming, his enraged bellow roaring through the corridor.At the last sec, Ellard dodged and pushed Gweneth out of the way.Malasses caught Ellard’s ribs on his right side and bellowed in triumph.
Something hit the ship, and Malasses lost his footing.He crashed to the floor and skidded into the wall, his horns and skull hitting the solid surface with a sickening thud.He groaned and shook his head.
Ellard struggled to get to his feet, scrabbling on the floor.Grata, his damn arm would be the death of him.He pushed up onto his knees, but Malasses kicked him in the gut before he got to his feet.He fell back with a curse.The bull man laughed and lowered his head, the light catching on his black curled horns.
A siren started to wail somewhere close, the piercing sound shredding Ellard’s thoughts.Get up.Get up!Before the gratason gores you.
Ellard scrambled along the deck of the ship.It tilted without warning, knocking them all off their feet.He slid against the wall, his arm stump slamming hard against the solid surface.Pain rippled to phantom fingertips, and he grunted but managed to retain his blaster.
Malasses gave a roar of triumph.
Had he grabbed one of the Incorporeals?
Got to stop.Keep safe.
One of the women screamed.Gweneth?Panic roared through Ellard, his feline pushing past his control so fast he couldn’t control the change.His tunic split with the force of the morph from humanoid to feline, and he wriggled free of the remnants.Experience had taught him, it would get in the way and hinder a fight.Tunic free, he struggled to right himself, a snarl of feline fury blasting free.
Gweneth had her weapon pointed at Malasses, but he advanced on her, his arrogant expression telling Ellard he thought he could best her.
