They both fell to the deck.
It felt like her body had turned to iron. She couldn’t move, breaths bursting past her lips at a ragged tempo.
A scuffing noise behind her broke through her daze. She turned her head.
Mace strode toward her. Blood splattered one side of his face, and his blue uniform was covered in weapons and body armor. The first two defenders she encountered lay dead behind him.
She gasped a breath, relief blending with her fear and panic. He passed her by, knelt beside the dead defenders, and pulled the knives from their bodies before wiping the blades on their uniforms. Red smeared against silver.
He tucked the two knives away into his belt with asnick, then stood and extended his hand.
Chapter twenty-nine
Maceshook,hiseyesroving over Nia. He noted a laser burn on her arm, but otherwise she seemed unscathed. He strove to get his emotions under control.
She’d slumped on the deck where she’d fallen, her face pale with shock, eyes glazed, and stared at his hand like she didn’t know what to do with it. Her gaze slid to the dead defenders behind him.
“Nia.” He kept his voice gentle, but her body jerked anyway, eyes widening, as if seeing him for the first time. “We’ve got to go.” And they had to hurry. Any living Tellusians were leaving the station in the last of the evacuation transports right this minute.
It was tempting to stay and fight, to try and regain control instead of evacuating. Even with their communications impeded, he knew Cache would have thought the same thing. To have her order a full evacuation meant the battle was lost before it had begun. The CORE had timed it so there were no Destroyers nearby. There was at least one traitor onOrionwho’d facilitated it all.
“Nia.” This time his voice held more force, and she reached out. Mace pulled her trembling body against him for a quick squeeze. Taking her hand, he retraced his steps past the two defenders whose throats he’d slit. Nia inhaled sharply. Their helmets had disengaged, the man and woman staring unseeingly at the overhead with their blood puddling on the deck.
So he’d cut a little deeper than necessary. They’d sealed their fates when they’d aimed their weapons at Nia. She’d almost died.
Mace gripped her hand tight as they hurried down the corridor, Mace focusing on the dangers ahead, but aware of the woman beside him.
When the defenders had swarmed the atrium, he and the tyros almost hadn’t made it out of there. Both tyros and warriors had been injured, but they hadn’t lost anyone in their escape. It wasn’t until they’d gotten to the evacuation zone Mace had a moment to contact Elec again.
And he hadn’t received a response.
Terror clenching his chest, he’d followed Nia’s tag to deck twenty-four. When he’d seen those defenders aiming at her…he must have aged a decade.
“What happened to Elec?” he asked quietly, tugging her along, but keeping his senses open. When Nia didn’t answer, he cast her a quick glance. She shook her head, all color leached from her face.
Fuck.He didn’t have time to grieve for the young warrior, because a flash on his vambrace indicated movement ahead. The place was crawling with defenders. He pressed his back to the bulkhead, Nia doing the same beside him. They waited. He couldn’t take on a large group of defenders and keep her safe at the same time.
He looked down at her bent head. She gripped his hand tight, knuckles white. When the corridor cleared, he pulled her along, then stopped again at the next one over. There were at least two defenders blocking their way, protecting a key junction. Mace ushered Nia to the side, thinking.
Shit.He was going to have to leave her alone for a minute or else they were fucked.
He bent to her level. “Stay here,” he said, then because he couldn’t resist, he pressed his lips to hers. Life returned to her eyes when he pulled away, a flush gathering in her cheeks. Mace nodded.Better.
He didn’t bother with his gun. He hadn’t been able to crack the autonomous shielding frequency of the defenders’ uniforms yet. A quick peek revealed their attention in the other direction. His jamming signal was still working.
He darted out. The one turned, saw him coming, and aimed. Mace threw his knife, the blade sinking into the sweet spot at his throat between his helmet and the top of his uniform. The other defender got a shot off, grazing his shoulder, but Mace kept running. He barreled into the woman and sliced her throat on the way down.
Mace stood and caught his breath. A strangled sound came from Nia at the end of the corridor. He didn’t have time to do this gently, to shield her from battle. He knew she’d seen thousands of wounds, but it didn’t mean she had much experience on the front lines, seeing war as it happened. He turned to calm her and froze.
A defender had her in front of him, a knife to her throat. It had already pricked her skin, a drop of blood running down her neck.
“This yours?” the defender asked, his helmet disguising his face and voice.Coward.
“Drop your weapons,” the defender ordered, keeping Nia in front of him.
Mace nearly laughed out loud. It would take ten minutes to remove them all.
“Drop the knife!” the defender shouted.
