AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Nothing up here will hold your weight but the top of the door,” I warned the others.
Then I hooked my hands on the lip and dove forward, my body flipping until I hung with my feet pointed toward the floor, my arms stretched up overhead, palms backward. I let go and dropped, bending my knees to absorb the force of the eight-foot fall and using my momentum to bound forward.
“I’m coming, Vivv!” I yelled, fear eating at me when I got no reply.
Goddess, do what you will with me, but please, please spare my soul’s breath.
The door at the end of the corridor opened on copper coils and the gray of Grug skin. The new soldier drones packed the room, a solid presence standing between me and my fated mate.
I plowed into the closest bodies, knocking several aside in a domino effect until one of them clanged against the copper coils, catching themselves and staying upright.
The Sjisji blaster fired again and again, and I kicked the stunned bodies out of my way.
A fist clubbed my right shoulder, sending the gun flying right as another Grug tackled my left side. Whoever was driving these things had woken up. They were actually fighting now.
But they were silent—too silent. Combined with the vacant look in their eyes, it made my skin crawl.
I punched and kicked, whirling to dodge their strikes. My forearm slashed upward to block a helmet-shattering blow, and I took the split second that gave me to pull my regular blaster. I spun in a tight whirl, shooting in a continuous stream of red light. It didn’t stun the Grug enough to drop them, but it did slow them down.
When I completed my turn, I faced the open panel on the far wall—the one Vivv had gone inside.
Mashing the trigger, I hit the soldier drone in front of me with shot after shot until they went down. Leaping over the unconscious body, I came down, my hands joined together to plow into another Grug’s head.
They fell away, and Vivv’s legs came into view between the ones of the drone in front of me.
Relief fueled my muscles with a burst of excited energy. I’d done it! I’d reached her!
My hand stretched forward, clamping onto the Grug’s shoulder to pull them away from my mate.
Then everything slowed down.
Their arms were stretched forward, their hands clamped to either side of her helmet.
Horror iced my limbs as those hands twisted, exposing my Vivv to the mind-melting telepathy field.
No!
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Vivian
I shot and shot until the blaster died in my hands with the sad whine of a depleted power source. A pile of Grug blocked the entrance to the alcove, but others were jerking them away far too quickly.
I still gripped the dagger, but I’d blunted the blade and ruined the tip when I’d destroyed the computers. After re-sheathing it, I pulled out my regular blaster.
“Wrin, anyone, can you hear me?” I hadn’t heard anything from them for the last few minutes, and they didn’t answer now.
Fear gripped me, but I swallowed it down. “It’s an equipment malfunction. It has to be.”
I refused to believe anything else.
The last of the stunned bodies slid from view, and another Grug loomed over me.
I shot and shot, and it finally went down, but the one behind it slapped the gun from my hand and yanked me to standing.
Loud noises came from across the room, the high whine of blaster bolts and the meaty thwacks of fighting.
They’re alive!Wrin’s alive!My heart skipped as hope filled me. It was him—I could feel it.
