Page 12 of The Alien Warrior's Heart

The female.

She ushered him to his feet and, together, they sped through the dungeon. The Heronas gave chase and the female started slowing down, unable to keep up with his stride.

Zar glanced back and realized he was several paces ahead. The female met his eyes. Fear tightened her mouth and she slanted a resigned look at the Heronas. He knew as well as she. If he waited for her, they would be taken again.

‘Are you going to leave me?’her eyes seemed to say.

Zar’s heras ached for some reason. The female did not seem at all surprised by the thought. Only resigned to it.

Had someone left her behind before?

Whatever her reasons, he had no intentions of abandoning her. Sweeping the human up into his arms, he ran as fast as he could. She clasped her fingers around his neck, holding on tightly.

With every stride, a vow pounded in his heras.

He would never leave her.

Never.

Zar cared not what had happened in her past, who had left her before, or why she had ended up on a planet far from her home. As long as he was living, as long as he had breath and strength, not a hair would be harmed on this female’s head.

He cradled her close and swerved right, heading deeper into the Heronas’s layer. The female tapped his back and pointed left, indicating the stairs.

Zar shook his head. “We will never escape on foot. It is too dangerous.”

Her puzzled look would have made him smile were they not in such dire circumstances. Tugging on his hair, she pointed the other way again.

Stubborn female.

He set her down gently. When she was on her feet, Zar stepped away and faced the barricaded storeroom in front of him. With a grunt, he rushed the door and stomped it down.

Relief swept through him when he saw his zapten waiting amidst the Heronas’s spoils. The female gasped loudly when she saw the machine.

Zar did not give her a moment to hesitate. Scooping her up again, he threw her roughly on his zapten and took flight.

Five

Simone

Everything was happening too fast.Her head spun as she tried to focus on escape, but it was impossible to process the craziness around her.

That included her rescuer and his brutish strength.

Simone shuddered as she recalled the way the blue alien’s spine had rippled up and out of his body like a flagpole. He’d snapped it like a chicken bone and stabbed that lion alien straight in the neck. His tail had swished with enough power to crush one of the guards against a wall. A mighty roar had flown from his lips.

He was both fierce and magnificent.

She should have been scared of him.Thathad been trapped in a prison with her?Thatbeast could have taken advantage of her? Could have gotten on the cot and…

Simone should have been terrified.

But she wasn’t.

In that moment, her heart had leapt, and she’d felt an infusion of courage burst through her.

She had an alien like him on her side.

Instead of running away, she wanted to help. She’d wanted to be brave too.

---