Page 10 of The Alien Warrior's Mate

The blue warrior spun in a quick snap of his feet. He opened his mouth and roared, sending a horrified tremble through her. Another spine dagger shot out of his back. It sharpened and glinted in the light. Sara almost fainted.

The blue warrior snapped a small ring from his pocket and flung it at the lion guard’s sword. The ring slipped right onto the tip of the weapon. Perfect aim. A small explosion shattered the sword-gun to bits. The moment the bullets stopped the blue warrior rammed the lion guard with his shoulder.

The platform began to shake as the sound of marching feet thundered through the air. New lion guards poured from both sides of the stage, each armed with a glowing, neon sword, metallic manes and thick scowls.

Sara did some quick mental calculations.

There was only one blue warrior.

And a ton ofthem.

Panic filled her. She didn’t know if this blue alien was the good guy or the bad guy. It really didn’t matter right now. What mattered was staying alive. She needed to find Emma, find a way off this forsaken planet and get back home.

Pushing herself up, Sara limped to the edge of the stage. She had no idea where she was going, and she didn’t get far enough to figure it out either. A muscular blue arm shot out of nowhere and clamped around her waist.

The warrior hauled her into his chest, preventing her escape. With a grunt, he tossed a small, disc-like metal object. It clanked against the ceiling. Smoke billowed around it and, a second later, it exploded.

The entire building rocked, and all the lights got shut off. In the distance, she heard a mechanic whirr and the sound of popping. A war cry emerged from backstage where she and Emma had been in holding.

The shouts grew louder and louder, like a thunderstorm clapping in the sky. Prisoners poured out of the curtains, an unending sea of colors and shapes united in freedom as they stampeded for the exits.

How did they get out?

Had the blue warrior’s device unlocked their prisons?

A smile tilted her lips.

Yes!

Bellows of confusion and anger erupted from the crowd. The lion guards glanced back and forth, bumping into each other in a desperate attempt to bring an end to the chaos. Shots fired pell-mell, catching lion guards and escapees alike.

A largecrackechoed above their heads. Pressure lines formed in the roof like thin ice about to shatter. At that moment, fragments of the roof caved in, slamming the guards like ants.

Sara screamed, noticing that the slab above her head was about to fall apart too. The blue warrior swept her into his arms and whipped her away just as the ceiling plummeted.

Sara bounced against his chest, her nose brushing his sweaty pecs. He smelled like musk and starlight. Like something foreign and familiar. Her fingers clung to his muscular arms. Her nails dug into his blue skin as they burst outside, and she saw the alien landscape.

Barren land. Blue shrubs. It reminded her of the desert, only everything waspurple. Yellow, tree-like stubs shot out of the earth. Everything looked similar and yet completely different from the world she knew.

Her chin tipped up and she took in the sky. There was a huge orange planet looming in the distance. To the right, there weretwomoons. The blue warrior jolted her body, dragging her gaze back to him. He set her on her feet, grabbed her hand and dragged her to what looked like a massive metal dinosaur.

The creature moved and stared urgently at them like some sort ofJurassic Parkextra. She jumped back, screaming her head off. What the hell was that thing? Was it going to… eat her?

The blue warrior plucked her up like she weighed as much as a feather and chucked her on top of his living, breathing robot dinosaur. Behind them, the door blasted open and lion guards chased them down.

Sara tried to twist her body and glance back, but she couldn’t see past the warrior’s massive, tattooed shoulders. The dinosaur thrusted its hind legs and they sailed into the air just as lion guards started shooting again.

A neon bullet pinged against the metal beast’s underbelly. Sara shrieked and wrapped her arms more tightly around the blue alien. His gaze lingered on the horizon and his hair slapped against his intelligent purple eyes. He brought his shoulders down, using himself as her shield.

She wondered how he was taking all those hits without screaming in pain. Sara could tell that they hurt. His lips tightened and his blue fingers squeezed on the handlebars embedded within the dinosaur’s metallic neck.

As they rose higher in the air, the lion guards became little dots on the ground. Relief swept through Sara, but it was short-lived. She glanced at her alien rescuer, at the muscular arms and the scowl on his lips.

He'd just stolen her from that terrible place, but was that any comfort? He’d been in attendance for a reason and she doubted it was just to rescue her from a fate worse than death.

A shudder ripped down her spine. What if she’d just traded one monster for another?

Five

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