Luuciyn dispatched the remaining soldiers with lethal grace. “Come on,” he ordered, running into the hallway. The three of us hurried after him.
Getting across the massive warehouse wasn’t as hard as I thought because most of the soldiers were down, injured or dead. The ones who’d taken cover behind crates and shelving systems kept the vorpyr away with relentless fire in their direction. With them distracted, we ran, making it halfway before they noticed us. Instead of shooting at us they left two to continue laying down fire and the rest raced toward us. The gun had barely recharged itself and maybe had one shot in it. Great.
Luuciyn sped at them and took down two. The rest swarmed toward us and Jaron and I raised our guns. I got two shots off before it powered down. I gripped it like a bat, my heart in my throat as they got closer. A soldier darted around the crates that blocked us and when his gun clicked out of charge, he tackled Tatiana and started choking her.
I didn’t have a chance to swing my weapon. Zyroth was on him instantly, tearing him off her and throwing him halfway across the cavernous room. How he’d gotten across the space to us I didn’t know, but I was grateful as he and Luuciyn dispatched the rest.
We ran out from hiding and joined the rest of the team. Blood dripped down Arrazyl’s leg, creating a sheen on his pants, and Zyroth lifted a badly injured vorpyr over his shoulder.
“Let’s go.” Arrazyl barked. Everyone fell into a rhythm as we ran back the way we’d come.
It took us longer to get out as the hallways swarmed with more soldiers, but they were confined in the hallway and the vorpyr were frighteningly fast, so no one else was shot, and we burst out into the night.
Luuciyn grabbed me and we were in the air in an instant.
Someone had made a call to the other warriors, and now they were all gathered back at the ships and had the soft lights along the ships’ hulls lit for us.
I looked for Arrazyl as soon as we landed. He was striding toward me, hiding any limp from the laser wound in his leg.
“You’re injured.” I reached for him.
“It will heal, dhysari.” He crushed me to him, mouth on mine, our breath mingling. I melted against him, relieved he was ok.
When I stepped back, Zyroth was gazing at us, red eyes glittering with interest. I lifted my chin. I wasn’t embarrassed. We deserved that after nearly dying today.
A warrior came over and tended to Arrazyl’s injury with swift, practiced movements.
“I will be taking all of my warriors straight home.” Zyroth said when he came over.
“This was a good joint effort.” Arrazyl gripped his shoulder. “May your ancestors in the other realm bless you.”
“And you.”
“Goodbye, thank you for your help.” I said.
“Allikara,” he inclined his head, “there is clearly more to human females than I thought.”
“Allikara?” I murmured to Arrazyl when he’d gone.
Arrazyl ran his fingers through my hair. “It is the female equivalent of the Vorazyr. His mate. His queen.”
My lips parted in surprise, but I didn’t have time to dwell on it because it was time to load up.
No one spoke until the craft was through the atmosphere and cruising through space.
I turned to Jaron. “Who were those people? Why were you here instead of on Earth?”
“I don’t think they’re Consortium. At least, they’re not obviously Consortium. They had uniforms I don’t recognize, burgundy and grey,” he said.
“And we were there for a ‘debriefing.’” Tatiana lifted her fingers in air quotes and rolled her eyes at the word.
“As much as I love a good, bad habit one can’t shake, can we please stop almost dying?” Jaron griped.
“It would be nice to have a month or two of calm.” I said dryly. Then worry took over. “You’re not hurt, are you?”
“No. Thankfully. Hey, who was that ultra hot vorpyr? He’s not here.” Tatiana looked around.
“Don’t you already have someone who’s madly in love with you?” I grinned.
