Chapter Fourteen
Ines
I’ve seen Texon fight before. At the old processing station I saw him kill a Xylan in about forty seconds.
This is different.
This is a male defending his home.
He is absolutely silent. His face is set. His claws are out. He moves through the first wave of Green Horns with zero wasted motion, no drama, just one mercenary down, then another. Heavy is on the other side of the yard. Cannibal roars from somewhere past the gate. Scar keeps appearing behind Green Horns who don’t know he’s there until it’s too late.
But there are so many Green Horns, for every one that goes down, another pushes forward. They’re trained and they know what they’re doing in a way Kryzon’s old crew at the processing station didn’t.
“Inside,” Texon barks at me. “Now.”
Roxy grabs me the second I step through the door and pulls me into the main living area. Jana is there too. Both of themhave blasting rods. They hand me one. I still have no idea where they got blasting rods. I don’t ask.
“How many?” Roxy demands.
“A dozen at least. Green Horns. Mercenaries. Kryzon hired them off-planet.”
“That arrogant bastard.”
“He’s a dead arrogant idiot,” Jana growls. “The brothers will finish him tonight.” She has not moved from her post at the kitchen island. The knife roll is still laid out. She holds the blasting rod in one hand and a very large chef’s knife in the other like this is a Tuesday. She looks terrifying.
Which is when the back door crashes open.
I turn. Two Green Horn mercenaries are through. They got past the back perimeter, past whoever was watching it. They must have split off from the main force. They see me and must know exactly who I am. Of course they do. Kryzon told them.Kill the journalist. Stop the story.
Before I can scream or raise my rod, before Roxy can raise her own rod and before Jana can throw a knife —
Rook is there.
I don’t even see him come in. One second the mercenaries are in the doorway, the next Rook is between them and us, and the first Green Horn is going down with a clawed throat before he can finish lifting his weapon.
The second one tries to bring his blaster up.
Rook slams into him like a pile of rock. They hit the wall. Something breaks — the wall, the mercenary, probably both. Rook’s claws rake across the Green Horn’s face and he crumples.
Rook wipes blood off his claw and turns to me. He’s barely breathing hard. “Are you hurt?”
“No. Rook — that was — holy crap.”
His eyes are already at the window. Scanning. Calculating. Then they narrow. “There.”
“What?”
“Kryzon.” Rook points through the glass. “Northeast corner. Trying to slip around the side while his mercs keep everyone busy.”
Of course.Of course.Kryzon didn’t bring a dozen trained killers to fight the Fever Brothers. He brought them to create a distraction so he could slip in and finish what his crew started. Kill me. Destroy the evidence. Then run.
“I see him.” Rook touches his comm. “Northeast corner. Moving toward the compound. I’m intercepting.”
“Rook, wait?—”
He’s already out the door.
I should stay inside.
