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Chapter One
“They told us to stay in the shuttle!” Iris yelled at her teacher over the roar of the wind. The sandstorm was coming up on them quickly. The two-hundred-foot walls of the stronghold loomed ahead of them, but it was over a kilometre away, and they weren’t going to make it before the sand tore them apart.
“We can make it.” Madame Wellington huffed.
Iris looked behind her, grabbed Ally around the back, and hauled her toward the gate with her cloak flapping wildly. Ally looked behind them and screamed, locking up.
Iris cursed and yelled, “Keep going, you idiot! I have a plan.”
A few of the faster girls had already reached the gate and jumped through a small hole in the tremendous wall.
Iris listened to the wind getting louder, and when the sand started to sting them, she pulled Ally down and yelled, “Cup your hands over your face to filter the sand. I am going to be on top of you. Don’t let the sand get into your nose and mouth. Use your tunic if you have to.”
Ally whimpered. Iris tucked her cloak around them and held onto Ally as the wind roared and screamed around them. Based on projections, they were in for twenty minutes of hell. She pulled her tunic up and over her head and focused on breathing. Breathing was everything.
* * * *
Yavor looked at the Namu, the head of the city guard. “What do you mean they left their shuttle?”
“We have most of them inside, but the stragglers are out and facing the storm.”
“Why did I offer to host these idiots?”
“They are all female and compatible with us Vor.” Namu smiled.
“But, they are stupid if they are facing the storms.”
“Yeah, but from the ones I have seen come in through the hatch, they are a very attractive species.”
Yavor nodded and flexed his wings, looking back at his flight warriors. They got onto their storm riders, and he powered upward. Time to find the new citizens of Avor.
* * * *
Iris sang to Ally to keep her spirits up as well as keep her breathing going. There was a thud that was nearly lost in the roaring and then more, and the wind stopped pushing.
A hand pulled her upright, and she kept her grip on Ally so they both came out of the sand in one move.
She heard the alien speech and swallowed when someone pulled her in close and said, “My, my. I have never found this in the sand before.”
“Thank you for your assistance, sir. Ally is not fast.”
“Oh, you have sand in your eyes. Let go of your little friend.”
Ally shrieked and shook her head. “No. I don’t want her to.” Ally had shouted in English.
Iris dropped her and lightly brushed the sand away before something super-soft and silky took over the job.
What felt like wide, soft fingers were stroking her features. Soft breath blew over her cheekbones and eyelids, and when the male voice whispered, “There you are. All clear.”
Iris blinked, slowly opened her eyes, and found herself way too close to a Hmrain. He was still holding her like a kitten at the scruff of her neck.
Dark blue skin, black mask, and markings on his face were accented by the woven marks that denoted his name in ancient Hmrain script. His torso was covered in leather strapping andtwo huge black angel-type wings, one of which was caressing her cheek with the feathers of one edge.
“Lord Yavor, we apologize for the effort you had to engage in to retrieve us.”
“Oh, you are a quick thing.”
Iris growled at being called a thing.
