Page 84 of Tempting Jupiter
“He manipulated you and you were young. Men like him are experts at ensnaring the vulnerable.”
Sen nodded then seemed to shake off thoughts of Andre. “We can do this. Together. We’re a good team.”
“Yes.” She wove her fingers with his. The instant rush of their connection steadied her. Muted the anxiety of everything that could go wrong. She could only hope it was the same for him. She smiled through the hurt in her heart. They made a good team, but their time together was almost done. Letting go of the two men she loved was going to break her. “Let’s go. We need to check out the so-called invasion force.”
“You don’t think they’re real?”
Feeona shook her head. “There is someone there, but the ship they came in on is too small for an army.”
“Let’s find out.” Sen led her through the winding corridors and back to the auction room. They didn’t need to go any further than that. The invasion force had started a war with Morgan’s security team.
***
Seneca scented them before they walked through the entryway. Blood rushed through his heart in an adrenaline fueled rhythm. His body buzzed, ready for battle. Fee froze the moment they crossed into the room. He tightened his hand on hers. “It’s okay. It’s our pack.”
She didn’t answer. Her eyes were blank.
A plasma blast hit a wall near them. He grabbed her and carried her to the floor in a nook behind Morgan’s stage. “Fee?”
“Jupiter.” Her eyes remained blank, but her voice was strong.
Seneca’s gaze shot to the gilded cage where his other mate crouched. A lean human male with spiky white hair and dressed in gray trousers, a matching pullover and heavy worker boots stood by the cage door trying to hack the lock. Or rather he would have been, if he wasn’t dodging Bug. Fee was keeping him away from the lock that would explode if opened without the code-key tucked into Sen’s waistband. The man clearly wasn’t a guard or a guest, but he was about to kill himself and take Jupiter and Creek with him.
Seneca tucked into a crouch and launched himself over the stage. Where he landed, guests huddled together on the floor in front of him. He chose a target, a sturdy looking man next to one of the short pillars. One step. Two. Then he bounded off the man’s back onto the top of the table and flew. His muscles stretched and his body twisted. His shoulder hit the corner of the roof of the cage. He rolled across and dropped to the floor between the human and the door. He landed in a crouch and barred his teeth in a warning growl.
The man put his hands up, palms out. “Whoa. Whoa. Friendly, here.”
Seneca quickly took in the rest of the room. Security guards arced around a central cluster. A guard flew from the center, crashing into the guests. The sound of screams and bones snapping reverberated beneath the shouts of the guards. Security officers were also taking cover in various areas across the room with their blasters. One was currently climbing a service ladder built into a wall to get a shot at the Arena Dogs below.
“I was just trying to help your friends get out of the cage.” Pleading strained the man’s voice. “We could use them out here.”
“Sen.” Jupiter’s voice was calm and close. “What’s wrong?”
“The cage lock is rigged to explode.” Seneca spotted a guard aiming at them. He barked an alert to Jupiter and Creek and dove toward the hacker, taking him to the floor. A blast struck the floor where they’d been standing.
The man tangled up with him stared at the ceiling. “The things I do for a stubborn, half-pint—”
Seneca shook the man until he shut up. He pulled the code-key from his waistband and shoved it into the man’s hand. “Use this.”
The man nodded furiously. “Yes, yes. Use this.”
Seneca pushed him aside and ran for the guard on the ladder. Instead of climbing, he ran up the wall, flipped, and kicked the weapon from the man’s hand. Mid-air, he twisted and reached out for a rung. He ignored the jerk that stressed his shoulder joint and his collision with the wall as he locked his grip on the guard’s leg. He yanked hard and threw the man to the ground. The human survived the fall but didn’t get up fast enough to escape when Sen dropped down into a crouch beside him. One punch ended his foe’s ability to breathe.
He shot a look to where he’d left Fee. She’d pulled herself into a ball on her side and so far, she’d escaped notice. He looked for Bug, but the small flying machine had disappeared. She must be using it to try a remote hack into the security system.
A scream brought his attention back to the center of the auction room and the large green aliens. They were free and using the strength of their bulky bodies to shove the guests into the now empty cage. Jupiter and Creek had run up behind the cluster of guards that surrounded what sounded like two of his pack brothers, Mercury and Carnage. Looking strong and powerful despite his time being held prisoner, Jup easily pulled a guard out of the fight and ended him. Creek did the same. One by one they were improving the odds for Mercury and Carn.
Sen heard Diablo, his third pack brother, bark then he appeared from the far side of the cluster. He leapt into the air and, looking weightless, bounded across the heads and shoulders of the crowd of guards. Jupiter was ready when Lo landed in the platform he’d made of his hands. Jup, biceps bulging, threw him up into the air and Lo landed atop the cage. He stood tall and fearless and healthy.
Seneca didn’t know how his pack was here, but their presence filled a hole in his heart. Lo’s gaze met his and he saw relief and joy flash into those red-black eyes. He hadn’t seen anything close to joy from Lo for more than a year. With a few quick barks they’d sorted out their targets among the scattered guards Seneca had spotted earlier. Lo leapt from the roof, then ended the nearest one with a slash of claws across the guard’s neck. Blood spurted onto the floor.
Seneca ran for his next targets. His muscles sang and the primitive part of his brain roared with the pleasure of doing what he’d trained for, what he’d done along with his pack brothers over and over. Ever-victorious in the arena until that last fight when they’d been forced to battle each other. The more civilized parts of his brain worried for his brothers and his mates. He flipped through the air to avoid the guard’s blaster pulses. When he’d eliminated that threat, he scanned the area and spotted his next target, a guard working with a remote. Sen followed the man’s line of vision and saw several of the green aliens fall to the floor. He went for the guard, with one eye on Fee. She hadn’t moved in a long time. The sounds of battle and death were thinning. When he’d taken down the next guard, he barked an alert to tell his brothers he was out of the conflict and headed for Feeona. He crouched over her, listening to her breathing—shallow and fast. “Fee?”
“Busy.” Her voice was barely audible and the word came through a locked jaw.
He put a hand on her back to offer his support.
A bark alerted him to Diablo’s approach. He looked up to see his brother striding in their direction. Splashes of blood dotted his arms and chest. Behind him Sen could see Mercury, Carn, and Creek aiding the green aliens to their feet. Jupiter was jogging across the room toward them. The battle was over for the moment.
