“Let me check, I’ll be quick.” She tugged her hand away, running the length of the hold to peer into the cages.
She almost missed the figure huddled in the corner of one of the last cages, but a muffled sob drew her attention.
“Gark! There’s someone here!”
The woman looked up. Tear-filled brown eyes in a round face met hers.
“We’re here to help,” Aletta said, forcing herself to remain calm despite the urgency to escape.
“Five minutes.”
“It’s no use.” The woman stood, gesturing at herself. “I won’t fit. The space is too small for me.” She laughed bitterly.
Everyone else had fit through the space, but the woman was right. She was curvy in a way that none of the others were. Aletta pulled at the bars of the cage, but they didn’t budge.
Arik nudged Aletta to one side. “Go, I’ll get her out.”
The woman’s eyes widened as she caught sight of Arik. He wasted no time, gripping the bars and straining to pull them apart. His arms bulged, tendons straining at his neck as he used all his strength. The bar didn’t budge.
Gark grabbed Aletta’s hand, tugging her away.
“Wait! What about?—“
“Arik will get her out. There’s nothing you can do here.”
Gark tossed her over his shoulder, then turned and ran after Klath and Jarden, who were leading the women back to The Lady. She braced herself on his back just like she had all those weeks before when he was saving her from the Xakul.
She wanted to wail and shout. Leaving even one woman behind felt like a waste of epic proportions. Maybe that woman had family and friends who missed her like Aletta had missed Dylan. Maybe she didn’t. Either way, one life wasn’t just one life. A life was precious, and Aletta couldn’t live with herself if she were someone who thought otherwise.
But there was no time. None. And they’d die if they didn’t make it back to The Lady. And if The Lady didn’t leave, then it would all have been in vain because everyone would die anyway, tethered to the transport; it would have been for nothing.
“Four minutes.”
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she buried her face into Gark’s back, gripping his vest in her fists.
If this was how Gark felt being responsible for so many people, she couldn’t imagine how he could stand it.
Arik’s voice came over the comm. “Go! Don’t wait for us, we’ll—” Then static cut the comm. “—escape pod—safe?—"
Gark threw himself through the airlock and onto the safety of The Lady, twisting in the air and pulling Aletta to his front. They hit the deck with a thump, both groaning as Gark slid across the deck on his back, body curled protectively around Aletta. Klath was waiting by the airlock, slamming it shut with a bang and disconnecting the boarding tunnel.
“Get us out of here, Vox!” Gark shouted into the comm.
The pilot didn’t reply, but the sudden thrust that brought surprised shouts from the women who slid across the floor was signal enough that he’d complied.
“Fuck!” Gark swore, arms tightening around Aletta. “Lady’s tits!”
Gark growled, curling around her more tightly. His skin was hot like he was feverish, and Aletta pulled back, bracing her hands on his chest to push up and look into his face. Gark’s nostrils flared, and he buried his nose into the crook of her neck, breathing deeply.
“Gark, you have to let me go.”
He growled, the sound rumbling in his chest. His eyes were dark purple, almost black, and a sheen of sweat covered his brow. The markings on the side of his face and neck had darkened to a deep bronze, and his breath came in pants.
“Gark, look at me.”
His eyes flew to hers, the pupils pulsing with his heartbeat. His nostrils flared with every breath.
What was wrong with him?
