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She started climbing, me following directly below her in case she slipped.
Tark would guard our rear.
After only a few feet, the rock wall closed in all around us, and a circle of light waited above.
Zo-Fee crested the lip above me, and I fought down a flash of irrational possessiveness when hands helped to pull her the last bit of the way.
I moved faster, swarming up the end of the ladder and out onto the smooth rock floor of the main area of the asteroid. The cylinder extended in both directions above me, the light tube turned down to a lower, nighttime glow. We stood on a street lined with buildings.
And as Kirel had said, we were in the open, far too exposed for comfort.
Tark climbed out to stand beside me, and Sul closed the circular trapdoor, which sank into the surface of the street until it was flush.
“Hey!” a voice yelled from behind us. “You’re not supposed to be here!”
My heart spiked.
Frek!
I grabbed both my blasters and spun, dodging right to put my body between my fated mate and danger.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Sofie
I gawked at the massive space around me, my head tipped backward. I’d known the inside of the asteroid would be big, butseeingit! Squinting past the light tube, I could just make out the buildings on the other side, looking like they’d fall and crush us. But they wouldn’t. The asteroid’s spin glued them to the far wall exactly as it stuck my feet to the floor.
The buildings were plain rectangular blocks made for function instead of decorative purposes. Everything looked very industrial.
A shout behind me! I spun. Even with the translator chip, my heart rabbitted in my chest, recognizing the guttural sounds of a lizard.
All hell broke loose as the Zaarn warriors sprang into motion. Raxnor leaped in front of me.
Multiple blasts of red light hit the Tula in his chest, and he dropped to the rock floor with a thunk.
“Did he send an alert?” Raxnor asked.
Kirel studied his comp. “No.”
“Let’s get out of the middle of the street,” Raxnor said. Then he gestured to Sul, and the two of them each picked up an arm and hauled the Tula up between them.
“The lab is this way.” Kirel pointed, and Vree took off down the sidewalk as close to the nearest building as possible, Lila pacing him, and probably Glitter too, even though she remained invisible.
“Hurry.” Raxnor’s voice was a harsh growl. “Every minute we spend in the open is another chance for us to get caught.”
I trotted after Kirel as he took off down the sidewalk, Tark beside me, while the other two marched behind with their burden.
The cavern was only as bright as a moonlit night, but the light came from directly overhead, casting no shadows to hide in, even with our matte-gray spacesuits. We all moved along quickly, with me almost running to keep up with their long-legged strides.
We hurried through an intersection, and the road we passed led to a wider, well-lit street only a block away. So we weren’t on the main thoroughfare.
The longer we walked, the faster they all moved, and I picked up some of their nervous tension. They were all seasoned fighters—if they were worried, then there was a damned good reason to worry.
Finally, Vree came to a halt in front of a dark-blue door with symbols painted on it, the same language I’d been unable to decipher back at the senator’s house.
Kirel worked his magic, the door clicked open, and he waved us all inside.
I hurried forward, anticipation quickening my steps as I entered the metallurgy lab. I’d finally be able to do some real work!
