Lucy turned, but her face was wrong.All wrong.She wasn’t smiling.Instead, she looked terrified, utterly terrified.Then she burst into tears.
Emily faltered, her steps slowing.“Lucy?What’s wrong?Is it the timeline?Are we late?”
“I’m sorry.”Lucy’s voice cracked.She wrapped her arms around her stomach, rocking slightly.“I’m so so sorry, Emily.I didn’t have a choice.”
The hairs on the back of her neck stood up.The cold in the bay felt biting now.Malicious.
“What do you mean?”She stopped ten feet away.“Lucy, what’s going on?”
Shadows detached themselves from the darkness behind the shuttle, and she whirled around, her eyes widening.
There were four warriors.All massive, all heavily armed, and she knew at a glance that they weren’t Imperial.They wore armor rather than the leather she was used to, and their faces were covered by full helmets that reflected nothing but the harsh overhead lights.Moving with predatory grace, they surrounded her.
She took a step back.
“Lucy?”
“They have my sister,” Lucy whispered, tears streaming down her face.“They said if I didn’t bring you...They said they’d kill her.”
Emily gasped.This wasn’t a rescue.It was a kidnapping.
“How touching,” a smooth voice drawled from the shuttle ramp.
A Latharian male stepped out.He was tall and lean, with hair as black as an oil slick and eyes the color of burning oranges.He wasn’t wearing armor, but a long coat that swirled around his ankles over a dark shirt and pants.He looked at Emily the way a butcher looks at a prime cut of meat… assessing, cold, and devoid of empathy.
“The bond of human friendship,” he said, descending the ramp.“So easily leveraged.So predictable.”
Run.She had to run.
“Who are you?”she demanded.
“I am Korrait.”He stopped a few feet from Lucy, ignoring the sobbing woman entirely.His gaze was fixed on Emily.“And you, my dear, are the key to our salvation.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”She took another step back, her eyes darting to the blast doors.Fifty feet away.Shit, too far.“The Emperor will hunt you down.My guard will?—”
“Let them hunt.By the time they realize what has happened, it will be too late.”Korrait shrugged and smiled.It was a terrifying expression, sharp and humorless.“The Emperor’s breeding stock really shouldn’t be wandering the corridors alone.It’s dangerous.”
Breeding stock.What the fuck?
He took a step toward her, and the soldiers moved with him, tightening the semicircle.
“The Empire is sick,” he continued, his voice dropping to a purr.“Diluted by these alliances.By mating with lesser species.We intend to cure it.And you,” He gestured at her.“Are going to be the delivery system.”
Not happening.
Between one heartbeat and the next, she made her decision and bolted.She dodged between two of the armoured goons and raced for the door.
“Secure her,” Korrait said.He sounded bored.
Fifteen meters.Ten.
If she could get out, she could hide in the maze of the lower decks.Raaevik would see the note.He would come.He would find her.
The heavy thud of boots sounded behind her.She gasped.Shit, they were fast.Too fast.
Then something slammed into her back, and the air left her lungs in a rush.She hit the deck hard, her chin cracking against the metal, and stars exploded behind her eyes.
Before she could draw a breath, hard hands were on her.They were rough but efficient.One grabbed her hair, yanking her head back as another pinned her arms.
