“We had a deal!” The Novark shouts. He’s a pale, humanoid alien with spiked skin so fine that it prickles like a thousand tiny splinters anytime a human comes in contact with one.
“I can’t fucking do this right now, Cleytuk!” Cazir shouts as he tries to fire at me again. I knock his gun away with a foot, take another step, and shove him back with a boot to his chest. He stumbles and falls.
The Novark lifts his rifle at me, then seems to think otherwise and points it at Cazir. “We had a deal. You get into the vault, we provide secure transport. But someone stepped in between us, didn’t they?”
Cazir lifts a hand as he gets to his feet. “I got into the vault. My sister wasn’t here in the camp. She was somewhere else. I had to pick her up and return!”
“You betrayed us!” Cleytuk shouts. “Now the Isonians think we are killing the children! The Nebs found us both, and it’s turned into a fucking war!”
Cazir looks up at the sky that shimmers with fragmenting ships and weapons fire.
“You didn’t tell me it was a refugee planet!” Cleytuk is pissed.
“It’s not,” her brother insists as he gets up. “She transports goods to and from here.”
“Children.” I lift the tip of a sword to his throat, eager to slit it, fury burning me inside. But I know I must listen, try to get out of the rat everything I can before I end him.
His eyes widen as my sword pierces his shield, tearing a pulsating slit near his neck.
“I see you have your father’s apathy for all life but your own,” I add.
“What do you know of my father?” he challenges with a snotty scowl.
“Zariah just put this very blade through his heart.” I twist it just enough that he can see the blood in a glint of sunlight.
“I’ll tell you whatever you want to know,” he says.
Cleytuk points his rifle at me. “Let him go, he belongs to us.”
I sigh through my nose and look down at him. “The feds have the treasure in custody. They surrounded the planet before we left. He’s only here because of his portal trick. Doyouwant to deal with the feds?” I ask.
Cleytuk sucks on a tooth. Then he turns and walks away. “He’s your problem now.”
Zariah’s brother swats my blade aside and tries to reach for me, thinking I’m distracted. But I’ve been listening to his pulse, the way it ratcheted up as Cleytuk left. I slip my other blade between us and guide him back. “Any last words?”
He lifts his hands as if he’s innocent. But he just killed my pregnant mate. I am more than happy to gut him like an omenotau. When I have my revenge, then my core will cool, and I will meet my end with him.
Behind me, a ship sets down in the field, bearing Sol Federation logos.
“They are here to take custody of Zariah’s brother,” MONA says through my wristband.
“You do not deserve to live,” I say quietly. “You killed my mate and our two children.”
His face contorts with disgust. “Why did she pick you?”
A feminine grunt from the bushes makes me look up. Leaves dance, and Zariah—covered in ash and burns—stumbles out of the brush. “Elix is far more of a man than you, fuckstick. Youwouldn’tunderstand.”
Hope fills me. “Zariah?”
Her brother slaps my blade away again and lifts a gun. But he is not fast enough.
My core pulses with energy, and the buzzing and burning meadow around us slows. I block his shot without looking away from her beautiful face. Dirt slings into the air behind me.
Her eyes shine with worry as she steps toward me. But I am not afraid anymore. I have her. And I have the strength to silence her brother.
I grab him by his dishonorable cloak, pull him toward me, and head-butt him hard. His nose crunches, and blood coats his mouth. He collapses, hands over his face, and writhes in agony, groaning.
Zariah hurries toward me. When she sees her brother, she chuckles in shock.
