Page 113 of Bride of the Enemy Alien

I smile and I’m sure it doesn’t have a hint of humor to it.

“We take the one they don’t want us to break.” I point without lifting my hand above the shelf. “Renn, outer passage. Keep that guard from bringing friends. Syin, the one at the console. Don’t touch the glass basin.”

“And you?” Syin asks.

“I’m going to ruin their machine.”

His expression says he has a bevy of complaints, but he saves them for later. That is becoming one of my favorite things about him.

We hide, silent, waiting for the guard nearest the passage to look toward Rhazek, then I nod, fast and sharp. I stand up.

Every head in the chamber turns toward me.

The small pale guy in gray armor beside the console smiles. I recognize the kind of smile even though I’ve never seen his species before. Confident. Sure. The look of someone who is certain that they know the outcome of what’s about to happen.

“Ah, there she is,” he says.

“Here I am.”

He glances at Syin and Renn as they rise behind me, but he doesn’t look worried. That scares me.

“Come closer,” he says. “Your Voraxxian has been difficult.”

“Sounds like him,” I say, shrugging. “Total pain in the ass. Not sure why you’d want him back.”

Rhazek lifts his head.

Our eyes meet across the chamber and everything but him tries to disappear, fading into the background. All I see is his blood, the restraints, and the hook buried under his throat plates. Every part of me wants to cross the room and rip him free of the things binding him.

Then the receiver brightens. Rhazek sees it too. He clenches his jaw and gives the smallest shake of his head.

No.

He’s right no matter how much I hate it. I tear my eyes away from him and walk toward the console. The lead alien’s smile falters, tinged with uncertainty. That’s better.

Green light crawls across the floor between us following my steps, brightening every time I angle toward Rhazek and fading when I turn toward the receiver. It doesn’t take a genius to see that it’s measuring me. The rod pulses.

Once.

Pause.

Again.

Then the almost-version of my count answers and the pull between us jerks hard enough to make me stumble. Rhazek’s hook flashes green and he grunts through his teeth. The strands above the console tighten around the epis glow.

“Confirmation increasing,” the gray bastard says, his certainty returning to his voice at least.

And now I see it.

They’re not waiting for me to free him. They want us to react to each other loudly enough for the receiver to package whatever it learned and send it somewhere else.

I move toward the console.

“You came a long way to ignore him,” Gray taunts.

“Yeah, you know how it is. He’s infuriating, right? So yeah, I’m mad at him.”

“You are.”