Page 18 of Treasured By the Hunter

Not wishing to give the impression that I cared too much, because who was I to her but a temporary partner, I put on a neutral face and said, “My friend is painted on the roof.”

She furrowed her brow a second, then grinned. “Is he now?”

“Yes. His name is Nov’k. They captured his good side.”

That had her laughing. “You know, for a moment there, I almost forgot you weren’t human. Then I realize you’re speaking another language, and your belt is translating.”

“I am also purple.” That earned more laughter. It was hard not to pick up human sayings; they were so “catchy.”

“I actually have an idea,” she said, tapping the battery with her boot. “Do you think you can get this, and the next battery I liberate, to Sanctuary? You don’t have to get close if they are hostile. I can wheel them the rest of the way to the gatehouse. I want to offer Clark these batteries as an incentive to let me and Riley join the community. We are on good terms with them, but I know they’ve been wary after what happened.”

“I can do that.”

She clapped her hands together and smiled so beatifically that I would promise her the moon to see it again. “Thank you!”

“It might cost you another kiss.”

She laughed. Then, with a sly smile, she launched herself at me. I stood there, unmoving and in momentary shock, as she pressed those soft, pink lips to mine. Then I was kissing her back. She tasted mildly of the vitamin water I’d offered her on my shuttle.

Every sip of her was like fire in my veins, dissolving every ounce of reason I possessed. She’d cast a spell on me, and I was more than willing to give her everything.

Could she be it? The one I’d been looking for? My mate?

Then the kiss was over, and her attention was back on the battery. I keened at the loss, but the little smile our kiss had left on her face was worth it.

I plotted out our course and sent it over to Turr’k. He sent me a reply suggesting that he took everything west of Sanctuary, and I took everything east of it, and I agreed.

After one last look around, I carried the battery back to my shuttle, with Zoey behind me with a bin of food. Just in time,too, because the roving bands of flyers were starting their daily routine of terrorizing the skies.

One of them called out, and we both froze. It wasn’t us it had spotted but something else nearby.

“I think Corey’s just found himself some new buggy friends,” Zoey said. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

Chapter 8: Zoey

We never made it to the last safe house.

“Krux! It’s on the ship.” Harb’k swore as I held on for dear life at the foot of the pilot’s seat.

When the flyer started attacking, I quickly realized there wasn’t anywhere safe for me in the shuttle. I was being thrown around like a rag doll. The pilot’s chair was the only place I could really hold onto. So I sat my ass down by Harb’k’s feet and clung on for dear life as he played roller coaster with the shuttle, even though it meant that I was directly next to Harb’k’s massively muscular thighs.

“Shuttle, show exterior display,” he demanded.

The walls of the shuttle disappeared, and I found myself face-to-face with the belly end of a flyer. I shrieked before I managed to stifle it. The creature clung to the shuttle, and with the walls seemingly transparent, it looked to be just a few inches from me.

Harb’k had explained that the shuttle had thousands of tiny camera-like sensors on the hull that picked up light and color, that it then replayed on the internal panels, which were all technically screens. The ship’s AI filled in any blind spots. With how lifelike the flyer was, I’d say the ship did an awesome job. Too good.

For some reason, I’d always imagined that the warriors were basically invincible when inside their shuttles. I was wrong because I could totally see the flyers piling on this shuttle and crashing us.

“Hold on, Zoey. I’m going to try to knock him off.”

Knock him off? On what? We were flying over a whole lot of nothing. But then, as the shuttle charged toward another flyer, I realized what he meant.

As bile rose in my throat, I squeezed my eyes shut and ordered my stomach not to spew.

There was a sudden jolt, which I took to be the flyers hitting each other, and I ventured to open my eyes. The two creatures were tangled together now and tumbling to the dried grass below. It worked!

“You did it!” I squeezed Harb’k’s leg excitedly.

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