Page 13 of The Alien Warrior's Mate

“Clavas must live.”

“Still…”

“The Healer must live.”

“Yes. But it feels… wrong.”

“I know.” Korben’s jaw hardened. He didn’t like this any more than Lans did, but what choice did he have? “And what of your female?”

“She lives, though it remains to be seen whether I will survive the journey back to the hideout.”

“What do you mean?”

“She’s tried to stab me with my own spine dagger twice.” Lans shifted his interface and pointed it at something straddling his zapten, Yetra. Yetra’s build was inspired by a massive creature from Plutonian lore and the human female seemed oddly small and helpless strapped against it. “I had to tie her up.”

Korben’s female shrieked with glee and dove forward. She grabbed at the image and her hands slipped through air. Turning to him, the female pointed at the holo representation of her comrade. “Eeema.”

He tilted the projection closer to her. “Eema?”

She nodded and bounced on the balls of her feet. The sight of her bright and smiling made his heras tighten.Will you really go through with a trade, Korben?

He shifted back a step, wishing he was not so conflicted. Of course, he would trade her. He had a mission. A duty. A brother in captivity. A species to save. But there was something different about this female. Something that called to his heras. What was it about her that…?

A loud crack snapped through the air. He glanced up and saw brown clouds gathering in the sky.

The female wrinkled her brow innocently. “Waat eez dat?”

“Korben…” Lan’s voice was a low warning. “A storm is coming.”

“Keep the female safe until we meet at the hideout. I will make contact soon.” He shut off his interface and grabbed the human by the hand.

Enthara bent low on the ground, allowing for an easier mount. The female protested being jostled and prodded, but he didn’t bother with gentleness. They had no time. Lans was right. A stormwascoming, and they had to get out.Now.

Six

Sara

She had always beenthe type to celebrate the little things. Like that time when her sister brought her a smushed macaron instead of a birthday cake. Or the day they both snuck into a concert and got to stand in the nosebleeds all the way at the back.

Today, on this alien planet, she celebrated the fact that Emma was still alive. Sara had no idea who this alien was working for or what his game plan was but, so far, he hadn’t hurt her. He’d freed the other aliens from that brothel and swept her away on his metal dinosaur—which was the coolest machine she’d ever seen.

The metal hulk stood about nine feet tall and had a gleaming silver body with space between his steel frame that allowed her to peer inside to the incredibly thin, advanced and powerful gears and wires that made him thick.

The dinosaur reminded her of aTransformerfrom the cartoons. The spark of intelligence in the robot’s eyes made her think that it was sentient too. Sara wasn’t sure whether to be amazed or terrified.

That went for the metal dinosaur’s owner as well. She didn’t need to speak alien to interpret her captor’s harsh tone. He was annoyed by her and maybe a little exasperated too, evidenced by the way he’d snapped at her on the dinosaur’s back.

She thought of her failed attempt at escaping. Even when he kept chasing her, he never held her tightly enough to hurt or stared at her with white-hot fury.

She wanted to trust him.

Or maybe she needed to.

Plus, the other blue alien had Emma. She needed to play along if she wanted to be reunited with her.

But Sara didn’t plan to let her guard down too much. Being naive could get her killed. She’d keep her eyes open and observe everything Blue did to gauge his intentions and make sure he was worthy of her trust.

He was off to a hell of a start though. She escaped that brothel because of him and now they were running from scary looking clouds that promised nothing but danger and chaos. Sara shrieked when green lightning singed the air. Angry fumes rose from the planet in response.

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