Page 29 of Tamed By the Alien Warlord
“This is not happening,” I whisper, slamming my palm against the detonator. “Come on, stupid piece of Reaper junk—work!”
It doesn’t.
The little light blinks red. No spark. No bang.
Just a low mechanicalwhine, like it’s winding up for failure.
Lanz takes one look at my expression, snatches the device from my hand, and shoves me back toward Jasmine.
“I’ll do it the Reaper way,” he growls.
“What the hell does that mean?!”
He turns, limping toward the last corridor full of guards.
That’s when I understand.
“No.No!LANZ?—”
Too late.
He’s already gone.
He charges down the hallway like a berserker, dragging the bomb behind him, trailing blood. The guards see him too late. A scream, a few wild shots—and then the corridor explodes in a wall of fire and smoke and bone-shattering noise.
I scream his name.
The impact throws me off my feet. My ears ring. Smoke clogs the air. Shrapnel whines through the hallway like angry bees. Everything’s burning.
Everything.
And then—there he is.
Collapsed just outside the fire zone.
His armor’s gone. His body is scorched, torn open like some grim anatomy lesson. There’s too much blood. Too much silence.
And one arm is missing.
“LANZ!” I drop to my knees beside him. “No, no, no. Youdumb bastard!You absolute idiot of a?—”
The Reaper crew finally arrives, howling like demons, dragging the wounded and slinging gear as they swarm through the carnage. A few of them look at Lanz in shock.
One whispers something in Reapertongue. Another murmurs, “Captain’s gonna die.”
I round on them like a tornado.
“Don’t youdaresay that. You! Fetch the medkit! You, help me lift him—GENTLY. He’s still breathing, and I swear if you jostle him too hard, I will stab you in your freaky alien eyes!”
They obey. No one argues. Not when I’ve got blood on my teeth and murder in my heart.
I clutch what’s left of Lanz against me all the way back to the ship. My tears blind me, but my voice never stops. Orders. Warnings. Pleas. His blood soaks into my clothes, smearing my face, my hands, my chest.
The medbay’s chaos.
Jasmine lies sedated on one cot. Reaper medics shout across the room. I shove them all aside.
“I’ve got him,” I snarl. “You patch him, yousavehim, or so help me?—”
