Her patience snapped when a thud sounded against the outside of the ship and a man dropped like a ragdoll in front of the opening, dead. She grabbed hold of Tatiana and tugged. “Shut up and come with me or take your chances with those monsters.” She jumped through the opening.
We ran after her.
“Stay low.” Jaron hissed at me as we followed the lieutenant. Fear made my legs tremble, but I forced myself forward, trying to keep up with the long strides of Jaron and the lieutenant. Tatiana was all but clinging to the woman’s side. I wanted to tell her again that I was so sorry. For all of it.
A plas grenade landed too close for comfort, and dirt and foliage were blown all over me. I wiped dirt from my eyes and glanced to the side, toward the fighting, just in time to see a big man racing away from the fight, barreling towards us, slapping his rifle. He kept looking back. Pyravor was chasing him, pain and rage written across his face, and he wasn’t using his wings to propel him. All of this only took a second to process, but alarm coursed through me. The man was on a collision course with Jaron and he wasn’t paying attention to where he was running.
Reacting on instinct, I changed course, running to intercept the man. I had meant to push him so he didn’t crash into Jaron, but he jerked the rifle up and I shied away. My foot hit something and my ankle gave out. He bowled into me and we both crashed into a tree. My head bounced off the trunk and my vision blurred.
I blinked, trying to orient myself. Everyone was fighting. Why was I here in the middle of all this madness?
Agony shot through my side, but I was too out of breath to scream. I tumbled into an uncoordinated roll, trying to get away from the danger, from the pain. I smashed into another tree and my breath whooshed out of me. Forcing air into my lungs, I struggled to stand.
“Jacqueline, wake up!” The shout over the horrible sounds of battle and dying, flesh tearing and the shrill sound of the laser weapons, had me looking around in confusion.
There, about seven yards away, a woman was looking straight at me, gesturing wildly for me to come to her. She seemed familiar.
Jaron. She was the one who was taking us to the ship. Jaron and Tatiana were nowhere in sight. I crawled in her direction, too dizzy to stand. I wanted out. Away from here. To forget this nightmare. I wanted to hide. Every sense of self-preservation had my nerves alight, looking for an escape. And she would give me one.
Nearly halfway to her I used a tree trunk to help me get to my feet. Oddly, I couldn’t feel the pain that I had noticed earlier in my side. I kept my gaze fixed on the woman. She’d get me to safety. A man joined her, saying something and pointing. I needed to get to them.
Someone swooped down from above and a spray of blood colored everything around the woman. She gaped in horror as the man next to her was killed, and fled. I gasped and stumbled back, pitching to the ground as my muscles gave out. Nothing was working, why was nothing working?
The killer turned, emerald eyes blazing. They locked with mine and he came toward me. No, no, no.
With the last bit of strength in my body, I pushed myself backwards, away from him. He stopped and ever so slowly lowered into a crouch so I wasn’t craning my neck to see him.
His lips parted, and he said something. What did he say? I struggled to comprehend the words. He held my gaze, but his eyes flickered ever so slightly. That, along with the hair standing on the back of my neck, told me I had to get out of there. Now.
Someone came in behind me and I wasn’t fast enough to roll away. A prick in my neck was the last thing I felt.
Chapter 33
I held Jacqueline’s still form tightly as we flew home, our ship too damaged to fly us back. We flew silently.
I coldly went through our next steps over and over. We would have to get a ship and go back for Pyravor and Sorkyl right away. Kyvar had patched them up as best he could, but they needed a physician as soon as possible. Jacqueline’s face, pale and drawn with horror as she stared up at me, pushed its way back into my thoughts. I brutally shoved it away, as I had been doing since we left the clearing, only to have it pop back up. Monster. That’s what her expression had screamed. No, I had to focus. Next step. I needed to reach out to my fellow Vorazyr. This ambush could not go unanswered and unpunished. And they still had one of our females. Divine spirits only knew what they were doing to her and her babe.
Jacqueline stirred. I tilted my face down to press a kiss against the crown of her head.Don’t wake up just yet, dhysari.I didn’t know what to do when she woke up, but having Thyra and Junyv there might be more soothing than… if I were. A growl built in my chest and I bared my fangs at the thought. I didn’t want to see her like that again, so scared and hurt. Looking at me like I was some terrible beast that would tear out her throat. I wanted to say that I would never hurt her, but I already had.
It was nearly nightfall when we got back and both Vuldrex and my new captain were at my side the instant I landed. We were very late, and they wore concerned expressions.
“Alert the physician,” I barked as the stewards descended on us. I turned to my captain. “Prepare another planetside ship and take it to the coordinates of the meet. Pyravor and Sorkyl are there, injured.”
“Vorazyr.” He inclined his head and left with a hard pump of his wings.
“What happened?” Thyra flew to me as I headed to the infirmary. The physician came quickly, already alerted, wings rippling as he took in Jacqueline’s still form.
“We were ambushed.”
She sucked in a breath. “But we planned… we took measures so that you wouldn’t be surprised by anything. That’s the only reason they were allowed onto the planet, because we’d have more control in our environment.”
“While it was only humans fighting us, I do not believe they worked alone.” I followed the physician, unwilling to hand Jacqueline to him.
In one of the healing rooms I lay Jacqueline on the bed, cradling her head as I carefully settled her. The physician got to work, and I reluctantly stepped aside.
Thyra joined me. “This will have catastrophic consequences.” she said softly as she gazed at Jacqueline.
“Undoubtedly.” As loathe as I was to leave, I had urgent duties that couldn’t wait. “Please stay with her. And if you leave, have Junyv stay. I want her to wake up with someone she knows and is comfortable with at her side.”
