Page 21 of There's an Elf in My Cockpit

“You are surrounded, there’s no way out,” Elpherian added, a gleeful note to his polished voice. He was just respectable enough in most circles that my father had briefly been very pleased when I’d come home with him. That had turned sour soon when it was obvious that my ex couldn’t manage a veneer of respect and politeness for long.

I started to rise to my feet and was stopped by hands on my wrists from either side. Belal and Wreck clinging to me, their strength far greater than my own, especially combined. “No, we do not give you up!” Belal growled, and for the first time, he sounded anything but meek and gentle. A frisson of instinctive fear shot up my spine in response. Suddenly, I was very aware that I was in the presence of a highly specialized predator, one who was extremely at home in this kind of environment.

Oliver rose to his feet, making himself one big target, and I wanted to shout at him to get back down. “Who the fuck are you talking about?” he demanded, “You just started shooting us out of the sky for no good reason! I don’t know any Vixen.” Oh no, I admired his bravery but I was certain that my ex was going to punish Oliver for that kind of defiance.

The hatch on the side of the ship started to open, gracefully spiraling apart like an iris, a ramp rolling out of the ship in a graceful and completely silent arch. The booted feet that thudded down it were anything but quiet, at least two dozen men, fanning out around the side of the ship with laser rifles raised to their shoulders, the barrels pointed at all my new friends.

More figures were appearing from around the edges of the crater, rappelling down, or just showing their presence by the glint of the light coming from their weapons. We were outnumbered at least four times over and outgunned even more. There was no way to win this fight, even if Oliver and his friends were highly trained warriors. I had to give myself up so I could save them.

I started to rise again and Wreck and Belal both kept hold of me, it’s when I realized that neither was scared. I had mistaken their trembling for fear but they were excited, they were battle-ready. It just made me even more determined to give myself up to Elpherian so I could prevent a fight. No kid, no teenager should be in a position to do that, even if they seemed disturbingly eager for it.

Chapter 15

Oliver

I knew what Vi was thinking even before she started to try and extricate herself from Belal and Wreck right behind me. This was exactly why I’d made her go to the teens, they would rouse her protective instincts, but they liked her so it was working both ways. A small Elroherian woman was never going to be a match to a set of teenagers of their species, not even a Hoxiam as small as Belal.

Bracing myself with my feet, I watched with my arms crossed as the Elrohrian male descended from the ramp. He was a freaking coward, hiding behind dozens of armed males and surrounding our small group with even more armed guards. This was a bully who used overwhelming force to get what he wanted. I hated bullies. Out of principle alone I was going to stand up to him, but this was far more important than just principles. This was my woman, my elf that I was going to protect. I was starting to think like my gladiator brothers, finding myself calling her my mate in my heart. It just seemed right.

The male Elrohirian was big for his kind, almost as wide in the shoulder as Thorin; evidence that he did work out. A scar on his chin made it clear that he probably enjoyed getting his hands dirty when it suited him, or maybe it indicated a past in which he’d used his fists to climb the ranks. He certainly didn’t look like he wanted to get dirty this time, kitted out in a sleek white snowsuit that was tailored to fit him to a tee. There was even a female dangling from his arm as if he wasn’t stepping out onto a snow moon but into a nightclub instead.

Jakar was not far to my left, standing out like a sore thumb with his red skin in the white snow. We shared a quick look and I knew that he had my back, no matter what choice I made. There was only one choice, and it had been made days ago, before I even knew how soft-hearted and hurt my elf was, how much she needed a protector. Well, she had me now, and she wasn’t going to get rid of me, not ever. I’d play dirty if I had to.

“You’re a filthy liar, human,” the male drawled from behind his protective guard. “I know she’s here.” He pointed a hand in my direction, but I knew he was pointing at Vi in the snow behind me. Shifting my weight, I made sure that I was still in front of her, where the bastard couldn’t actually see her.

“Oh yeah? And how would you know? Have you seen her?” I demanded. Vi was supposed to be safe down on the resort planet, where her kind’s version of witness protection had put her. It rankled that he’d found her there and that Vi had suddenly felt uncomfortable with that message she’d gotten from her agent? I knew what that meant, she suspected that she was the leak.

Not that it really mattered if we knew or not, it was looking pretty grim right now, and if we did get out of here, it wouldn’t be something we needed to worry about. What I did know, was that Elpherian was seriously underestimating us, even with this extreme show of force.

His men had circled us, their rifles aimed, but they were barely paying attention to the teens, discarding them as a threat. On top of that, they were making the grave mistake of not trying to restrain any of us, while they kept on tightening their net. Once they got too close, it was going to level the playing field because my gladiator friends excelled at close-quarter combat against overwhelming forces.

They weren’t run-of-the-mill gladiators either, they were all primes, fighters that won more than eighty percent of their fights on the sands. But Elpherian didn’t seem to realize that, maybe he and his guards were even underestimating them because of the bulky snow clothing that hid their impressive physiques.

“Merila was so kind to help me, weren’t you, love?” the bastard grinned as he said, tilting his head down to gaze for a short moment at the woman on his arm. An Elrohirian just like him and Vi, she was dressed in a suit that had to be barely warm enough for this weather, slicking around her generous form to display all her curves. Gems glittered around her neck and on her Caratan chain, they even encrusted the tips of her pointed ears.

With a laugh, she said, “Oh yeah, Vi. Turns out it pays much better to work with your ex than against him. You silly girl, why did you ever give up on this?” Her hand fluttered to her throat and touched her ear as she said the last words. My mind flashed to an image of Vi, encrusted in gems in the same manner but I just couldn’t see it. That wouldn’t ever be what she’d like, and somehow, I suspected that Elpherian had known that too, or he wouldn’t have been able to capture her attention.

From the pained sound that Vi made behind me, I knew that hearing Merila speak like that hurt her feelings. Which made me want to focus some of my anger on that woman, a woman who’d sworn to protect my girl and then turned her back on her. It was yet another blow to her already fragile heart and I wasn’t going to let it stand.

But I couldn’t do that as long as there was a wall of guards between them and me. I needed to draw them in a little closer, so I did what I was good at; putting people at ease and hopefully off their guard. It was a bit of a struggle to lose the angry edge that wanted to creep into my voice, but to keep Vi safe, I could do anything.

“Oh, I see, how much does it pay? To give up this Vixen? Maybe we can talk about it?” I said while I curled my fingers in a come hither motion. “No need for all these damn guns, I feel like I’m about to get arrested. You’re not cops, are you?” I knew they weren’t but I’d say anything to throw them off, to get them confused, and acting like I was on their level always worked. I just hoped that Vi understood that I was just acting. I mean, I hadn’t gotten shot our ship shot from the sky and then fought an ice beast for her just to give her up.

The guards were moving with Elpherian as he stepped into the snow and started to approach me, but the woman, Merila, stayed on the ramp. He didn’t reach me but now most of his guards were right in the circle of me and my brothers since we’d been scattered all around the two shuttles. I couldn’t even see where Kitan and Chloe were. Good, the odds were starting to level out. If I could set off a flare or something to blind the senses, we’d be golden.

“There you are,” Elpherian said, nodding his head over my shoulder to Vi, still crouched in the snow with Wreck and Belal holding her arms. To the bastard, it might actually appear as if we were holding her hostage. “Not cops,” he added, his glowing eyes were a soft purple, turning the white of his clothing a soft lavender around his throat.

“Sure sounded like she was,” I said and I jerked my head at Merila on the ramp, she was definitely freezing her tits off in her far too skimpy bodysuit. Good, that was the least she deserved for making my woman hurt.

“Just hand the female over and you and your friends walk away from this with your lives,” Elpherian threatened and now that he was closer he seemed to feel a surge of confidence. He stepped out of the horde of guards to face me directly, his own hand holding a laser pistol just like I was holding mine down at my thigh. Proving that he was a little less cowardly than he’d first appeared, he stepped up real close to me, right in my face.

“Did you sample her? What a fiery little creature, am I right? Too bad she decided my business was her business.” The smirk and the words made me lose any semblance of control. This wasn’t how I’d planned to start the fight but as soon as he planted the thought of this bastard in bed with my Vi, all bets were off.

With a shout I tackled the male into the snow, my fist slamming into his far too perfect set of teeth with such force that the skin on my knuckles split. We wrestled for control of his laser pistol, I’d already lost mine in my rage. It was probably only due to the quick response of my friends, sowing their own chaos that I didn’t end up with a dozen holes in my back from this prick’s cowardly guards.

*

Vi

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