He shook his head. In and out. That’s what this mission was about. Get in, get the goods, get out, and get paid. He wasn’t here to save anyone—even people who were about to be eaten alive by his worst nightmare.
But that scent told him she wasn’t just anyone, and leaving her behind wasn’t an option.
Gark lifted his weapon and, taking a step forward to put himself between the bug and the human woman, he fired into the still soft underbelly of the juvenile Xakul.
Because she was his mate.
CHAPTER 3
ALETTA
She could have been running for a few minutes or a few hours; she had no idea. The adrenaline that flooded her body had kept her barely ahead of the giant bug that wanted her for its next snack.
You’re going to have nightmares about this for the rest of your life.
That was if she could live for longer than the next few seconds.
Her feet ached from running in her old sneakers. Sneakers that had seen better days since she’d bought them second-hand, but she was alive for now. Her feet pounded against the concrete, skidding on something gloopy. She didn’t look down.
Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it.
The problem with telling yourself not to think about something is that you always end up thinking about it. If she stopped, she was dead.
So don’t stop.
The creature screamed again, and Aletta turned to look behind her. She had to get away from it. Far away. She couldn’t see the bug, but her relief turned to shock as she ran flat out into a wall.
“Oof!” She bounced off and landed on her butt on the hard ground, her tailbone smarting at the contact. She looked up, and up, and up…into purple eyes.
Purple? Nobody has purple eyes.
Not a wall. A giant. One of the same ones that had taken Dylan.
The bug screamed again, this time closer, and her heart pounded with terror.
“Help me!”
At this point, he could have been the Devil himself, and Aletta wouldn’t have cared. She was not going to die today.
He had a gun, and he looked scary. He looked past her to the bug alien thing, his expression darkening as he scowled. He stepped around her and fired. The two others with him just stood there, gaping, so she leaped to her feet and yanked the weapon from the hands of the nearest one.
“Don’t just stand there!” she shouted, turning and firing at the giant cockroach that was advancing on them, albeit with a new limp.
The big one she’d landed at the feet of was taking out its legs one by one with precise, controlled shots of blue light.
Fuck that.
Aletta pulled the trigger, releasing a blast of energy that sent the bug screeching and turning toward her.
The weapon was jerked from her hands by the third of the giants, who smirked as he passed it back to the one she’d stolen it from. He said something, but it wasn’t in English, before turning to the bug and firing at it in a way that could only be described as lazy.
The trio formed a wall in front of Aletta, blocking the bug from her sight. The smell of ozone—like after a lightning storm—filled the air as they blasted the monster in what felt like a never ending barrage.
And then it was all over. With a final loud bang, the thing exploded, releasing its guts in a spray that covered her from head to toe. She gagged, swiping at the gelatinous mass that stunk like rotten shellfish had a mutant baby with hot garbage. She gasped for breath, coughing as she gagged on the smell of bug guts and death. Oh, lovely, and with an undercurrent of feces and rotten eggs.
Aletta dropped to her hands and knees as a wave of exhaustion and nausea hit her. “I’m ok. I’m ok.”
She could feel herself slipping away from reality as the shock of seeing a giant alien that looked like an ant crossed with a cockroach, but eight feet tall—she shuddered—exploding in front of her after trying to eat her.
