The drones had converged on the location, firing at them both.
“They’re shielded,” he yelled.
Freya was aiming from around the wall. “Of course they are.”
Kian dodged through the blasts to reach her side, continuing the volley of shots, hoping the shielding would wear down.
Not likely.
He reached the wall, and Freya stayed low, sort of scrunched down, about level with his hips, and she put her hand on his thigh to steady herself.
Her fingers grazed him.
In a very intimate place.
The Craving surged to life under his skin.
He became steel-hard.
“What—wha—” She yanked her hand off him, as though it had been burned. “I’m sorry,” she said as she pulled away and looked at anything but him. “What now?”
“We-need-to-go,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Where to?”
The hum of the drones got louder. They were closing in on their position.
She raised up so she was on her feet behind him.
He gestured outside toward a small, unassuming building on the other side of the complex. “We need to get there.”
“That external maintenance shed?”
“Trust me.”
She put her hand on his arm. “I trust you.”
12
The drones did not care how accurate their shots were. They just fired.
At everything.
Panels and stations and even the chairs that Kian had gotten her erupted from the blasts.
Freya spotted her red overdress nearby. Should she grab the expensive robes in case she needed them later? Just as she had the thought, the drones fired on that area. The robe tumbled off the console, the red pooling like blood on the floor before bursting into flames.
What a strange thing to think about.
A robe.
While the world was exploding around her.
Was she in shock? While she’d experienced blaster fire before, she’d never been the target of it. Maybe she—
Kian tugged her close, and it jerked her back into the moment. “Ambassador, we have to move.”
She nodded. “To the shed outside?” Though she couldn’t imagine what a shed would do, as far as defenses. There must be something there. More weapons? Extra protective shielding?
