Page 81 of Aria's Ascension

When they got close enough, the wall lowered until there was a massive opening, revealing open skies and a hell of a drop to the ground below.

“Oh, this is going to be fun,” she breathed.

Aria didn’t pause after Rellik’s runner flew over the ledge. Letting out a loud whoop, she gunned it, sailing over the edge and dropping into a nosedive. Fifty feet from the ground, she slid her hands back to pull up and level out, pressing harder at the same time to increase her speed.

Laughing in delight, she shot past Rellik and was the first to arrive back at the crash sight.

She’d already landed, disembarked, and found a door to the spaceship by the time the rest of her men arrived.

Tirox, Kix, and Rellik all gave her matching glowers of censure but, surprisingly, Thrasin sent her a small, admiring smile. She returned it… before she realized she’d made a stupid mistake. Her smile faded as her eyes flicked to the spot next to the ship they’d emerged from, then back to her dragon.

Sonofabitch.

She’d been so focused on having enough room to transport the survivors back when she should’ve realized that, if they were all at the crash site, Thrasin would be the only one capable of getting Skaa and the others out. She was either going to have to ask him to transform or send someone back.

He made the decision for her.

Closing his eyes, he began the change.

It was over faster that time and, to her immense relief, didn’t seem anywhere near as painful. In less than five minutes, a massive, iridescent, purplish-black scaled dragon was standing where Thrasin had been just moments ago.

He gave a hard shake then opened his eyes to stare down at her. If she wasn’t mistaken, he looked rather pleased with himself.

As he passed her, headed for the gap they’d used earlier, he gave her a gentle bump with his snout and blew out a warm breath that sent her hair flying, surprising a gasp out of her.

A deep, amused rumble vibrated his chest when she grumbled and reached up to claw the tangled locks off her face. Craning her head around, she eyed him curiously as he disappeared into the gap.

Something had changed in him in the short time since she’d found him in that cave to now. He was still quiet and carried himself like someone was going to attack him at any given moment, but he’d lost a lot of the feral edginess from before.

She had an idea of who might’ve prompted that change.

Glancing at Kix, she caught his eye and sent him a wave of gratitude and pride. He returned it with a warm smile and a wink.

Focusing back on the spaceship, she put her hands on her hips. “Alright, who knows how to open this thing?”

Kix, unsurprisingly, was the one to figure it out, earning himself a kiss and a gentle smack on his spray-paint covered ass.

Motioning everyone to the side when the huge, cargo doors began sliding open, she drew her gun and waited.

Like someone had suddenly turned on the sound the moment the doors parted, inarticulate screams, animal roars, wails, and shouting in too many languages to count flooded outward.

Rellik started to run inside, but she stopped him, shaking her head and pushing him back behind her.

She understood the knee-jerk reaction to rush forward, wanting to help whomever was making those horrible, gut-wrenching screams, but that was a good way to get yourself killed, if someone was waiting in there, ready to kill them the moment they showed themselves.

There was only one reason she could think of that that many people would be yelling for help and, yet, not a single one had come out stumbling through the doors: they were locked up.

It’s either a slave ship or some kind of prisoner transport. Should’ve expected that. Why the fuck else would it be on this godforsaken planet?

Sliding her back along the exterior until she was next to the opening, she crouched down then quickly peeked inside, scanning what she could see of the space in the span of a heartbeat.

She didn’t see anyone lying in wait, but what she did see had her gritting her teeth and swallowing hard.

Even having an idea of what she would find inside didn’t prepare her. There were so many…

Assess, accept, act. Make sure there are no threats, then worry about the hundreds of people locked in cages.

Glancing at her men, she motioned for Tirox to go left, Kix and Rellik to go right, and signaled that she would take the center.

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