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He stepped back, but not before a deep slash appeared on his chest, blood freely flowing. He kicked up high, then dropped low and kicked again.Thump. Crunch.She couldn’t see the damage, but she heard it well enough. He was doing everything he could to keep the Dronians away from her.
He stumbled back, a deep cut now glistening on his brow. She narrowed her eyes, trying to see if Gray was hurt anywhere else, but her residual Strazanian vision was already fading. She knew he healed fast though; he’d survive as long as she intervened.
“How many are there?” she asked, her voice shrill. If it was bad enough her vision was becoming as crap as any humans, she hated even more that she couldn’t see her enemy. At least Gray was visible. That he was like some avenging angel didn’t escape her. He was...impressive, to say the least.
Gray unfurled his wing with asnap,the prong on the end narrowing like a dagger before he thrust it hard and fast.Splat.He’d clearly made another kill, thanks to a fatal stab wound in one of the few places a Dronian wasn’t protected by its natural armor. He withdrew his wing and gave it a flap before focusing on an area in front of him. “There are at least another twenty of them.”
Bongo advanced another step, growling menacingly. Then he ran forward and leapt into the air, biting into the invisible flesh of a Dronian and shaking his head with a fierce growl. When he was thrown clear with a yelp, Sienna sucked in an infuriated breath before she closed her eyes, sensing her advancing enemy.
Pushing her fingertips into her brow, she uncapped the surge of dark energy inside her. It built to almost unbearable proportions, before she opened her mouth and screamed, releasing the pressure out of her and into the Dronians.
She couldn’t see them, but she heard the icky pop of one of them exploding, and then another. When a whole lot of explosions happened simultaneously, Gray pivoted to openly stare at her.
“Youdid that?” he asked, his voice caught somewhere between disbelief and awe.
She nodded. “I did.”
“Are you okay?”
She inhaled slowly, steadily. Using herrarepower had sucked all the energy back out of her, but it wasn’t something she cared to explain. “I’ll live.”
She looked over at Bongo, and in mutual accord, she and Gray went to the dog to check he was okay. The pressure in her chest eased the smallest bit when Bongo pushed onto his paws somewhat unsteadily, then whined and licked their faces and hands.
This once she didn’t mind the germs, she was simply thankful he was alive and unhurt. “Good boy!”
That Gray had put his own body on the line went without saying. He might have died trying to protect her if it hadn’t been for herrareability. She couldn’t put into words how much that meant to her.
Instead she said, “I need the river.”
He nodded slowly as he straightened and scanned the splattered remains of the Dronian bodies. “Of course.”
She was so relieved she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. All she knew for sure was that she was going to sink deep into the river and absorb every nutrient she could possibly obtain.
Bongo whined and shook his whole body, as though trying to rid himself of the Dronians gross smell. She could only imagine how rank the decaying scent must be to a dog.
“On one condition,” Gray added as he began walking beside her, Bongo trotting behind them. She swallowed hard, her every muscle tensing. But he didn’t wait for her to question him or skewer him alive with hate-filled eyes, instead he smiled and said, “You have to stay in your human form.”
“I don’t recall you being in charge.”
He tucked his wings behind his back, then clasped her forearm as he helped her down the riverbank. “You’re still my prisoner, Sienna.”
Her shoulders tensed harder still. “If it wasn’t for me you’d be dead.”
He nodded. “And if you hadn’t escaped my house earlier we’d both be safe right now and probably sleeping in our beds.”
She gritted her teeth. “We’ve already gone over this! You’re holding me prisoner against my will! I didn’t travel all the way to Earth just for you take my freedom away from me.”
He sighed heavily as he escorted her down the slippery bank, her feet then splashing into the shallow edge of the river. He drew her to a stop and said, “I promised you’d have your freedom back as soon as you tell me any information about the Dronians. I don’t break my promises.”
She didn’t reply. She was too busy shuddering with relief as nutrients absorbed through her pores and into her skin under her feet. Though in her human form the process wasn’t anywhere near as effective as her scales and gills, which all but sucked in any goodness, she was still capable of reenergizing much of what she’d depleted.
It wasn’t until Bongo whined and yipped nervously, that Gray decided she’d had enough therapeutic recovery and guided her back out of the river and up its bank. He bent and picked up the T-shirt she’d stolen from out of his closet.
“You might want to put this back on,” he said in a constricted voice.
She blinked at him. She’d been so busy wanting to replete her body she hadn’t noticed his interest. But now awareness fairly throbbed in the air between them.
She drew the T-shirt over her body, waiting until it settled over her before she sucked some air between her clenched teeth. She needed to deflect their sexual tension before it grew even further. “You shouldn’t have forced me leave the river so soon. I didn’t get a chance to properly replete my body.”
