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Keeping my head down, I do my best to follow after her while keeping Shae tucked into my side and avoiding stray shots. We’re about halfway through the vestibule when I hear a voice that sends chills of terror shooting down my spine.
“That’s my human!”Kurrahstka bellows from somewhere behind us. “Stop them!”
Beside me, Shae whimpers, and I scoop her up into my arms so I can run faster. We need to find a place to hide. Or escape. With Shae being spotted, suddenly I feel the need to get her as far from Kurrahstka as I can. To hell with the plan; her safety is my priority.
My eyes scan the vestibule, but it’s all open space and warring bodies. Stray lasers are shooting in every direction.
Fuck, we need to get out of here. And where did Raela go?
A low growl starts in my chest. I should have taken Shae and left this place when I had the chance. I should have—
White-hot searing pain shoots through my leg, and my knee buckles. No, it fucking blasts apart, and I pitch forward, crashing to the ground.
Shae’s scream cuts through me. Just before we hit the floor, I twist, landing on my shoulder instead of on top of her. When I try to pick myself up, nothing is working. Pain unlike anything I’ve ever felt is shooting up my leg, and my vision flickers.
“Go!” I groan. Shae’s arms are wrapped tightly around me, and when I try to push her away, she just holds on tighter. “Get to Raela!”
“No!” she cries. “I’m not leaving you!”
Fucking stubborn female…
“I said GO!” I shout at her, using all my strength to force her away. But Shae ignores me, and instead she rolls up onto her knees and starts firing at the Pizats who are coming for us.
“Raela!” I shout when I realize that nothing I say or do will change Shae’s mind. With a furious roar, I roll to my back and start firing at the guards coming for us from the opposite direction, trying not to look down at my ruined knee.
Shae runs out of ammunition first.
“Fuck!” she swears, reaching behind her to where she has another cartridge tucked away. Before she can change them out, a large red hand grabs the back of her head, fisting her wild hair and yanking her backward.
“NO!” I scream, turning my blaster toward Kurrahstka. Before I can squeeze off a shot, something dark comes at me from the corner of my eye. Pain explodes through my temple, and everything goes black.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-THREE
Shae
* * *
My useless blaster is knocked from my hands as Kurrahstka hauls me to my feet by my hair. The whole time I’m screaming my head off. Punching. Kicking. Doing whatever I can to dislodge his hand from my hair so I can get back to Volethos. Instead, I’m forced to watch when one of the green orc aliens rams a staff into the side of his head, knocking him out.
Oh, God. I hope he’s only knocked out.
The way he’s lying on the ground is too still. Too limp. My heart leaps into my throat when I see the mangled mess of his knee, the plum-colored blood pooling beneath it, and the way his leg is lying in an unnatural way.
“Youmotherfucker!” I scream, twisting around and going at Kurrahstka with my clawed fingers.
I manage to get a few good rakes down the side of his face before he turns me and pins my back to his solid chest. One arm bands around me, and I’m trapped. My legs kick at air, and my head thumps harmlessly against his plated chest.
“I’ll fucking kill you!” I promise him as hot tears streak down my cheeks.
When he laughs, I struggle more, but it’s useless, and eventually I let myself go limp. He carries me further away from Volethos and into a glass elevator that shoots us up to the top of the station. For a moment, I hope it won’t stop and that we’ll crash through the clear ceiling, rocketing us into space where we’ll suffocate and freeze. I’m wondering which would happen first—suffocating from lack of oxygen or flash freezing, when the elevator slows, and the doors open into a rustic-looking lobby. There’s a tall desk at one end, but no one is behind it. In fact, no one is anywhere to be seen as Kurrahstka strides to the back wall. He punches something, and a hidden door opens.
My heart sinks even more.How is anyone going to find me back here?
Kurrahstka strides to the end of the narrow hallway, and a door slides open into some kind of office. He drops me to my feet, and before I can get my balance, he shoves me backward into the room. My feet stumble, and I fall on my ass, sliding until my back hits a desk.Ow!
It takes me a moment to get my bearings back, then I’m back up on my feet and glaring up at where Kurrahstka is towering over me. The door behind us silently slides closed, and my stomach knots.
“What the f—” I manage to get out before his fingers wrap around my throat again, cutting off my words. I don’t expect the punch he throws, hitting me in the stomach before throwing me back to the ground. The air is knocked from my lungs, and all I can do is writhe for a moment. It’s like trying to suck air through a stir stick while my feet scrabble to crawl further away from him.
