Page 17 of Aria's Ascension

Watch out, bad guys. A gaggle of naked slaves are coming to get ya. Gonna strike fear into their hearts with my bouncy tits.

Chapter 10

Aria and her men moved cautiously, but quickly, down the hallway, counting doors until they reached the room where Kix said Skaa was being held. She’d more than half expected to find sentries posted outside the door or along the hall. She took their absence as further proof Zhrovni was entirely too complacent with the security in this place. He thought he was in total control of his slaves.

Aria was more than happy to show him just how wrong he was.

Quickly punching in the code, she squeezed through the door the second it slid open far enough and scanned the room in the span of a heartbeat.

There was an ant lab worker who immediately darted to huddle against the back wall, a stasis tube in which Skaa lay motionless taking up the center of the room, and two bi-pedal, crocodile-looking guards, both facing the door as if they’d been waiting for her. She instantly zeroed in on the weapons strapped to holsters on their chests. They weren’t made like any handguns on Earth, but she’d seen enough science fiction movies that they weren’t entirely unfamiliar either.

So the bad guys have guns. Good to know.

Aria didn’t pause but took a running leap at the guard closest to her before he could pull his gun, trusting her men to handle the other.

His cold, greenish-golden eyes locked on her, and his upper lip pulled back in something halfway between a snarl and a smile. He caught her effortlessly as she launched herself at him and used her momentum to throw her sideways. She hit the wall so hard it knocked the breath out of her, but she was grinning viciously even as she slid to the floor gasping for air.

Just as she’d wanted, he’d been distracted with her flying at him and missed the knife she was hiding against her forearm.

He was a scary looking bastard and looked like a man-sized version of Godzilla, but she’d clocked the soft, fleshy scales on his throat the second she saw him and planned to end him, fast and painless, by stabbing him there. His throwing her into the wall threw off her plan a little, but he wasn’t quick enough to avoid her blade entirely.

His eyes went wide as blood spurted from the new gash in his neck, but instead of showing alarm, he looked… excited?

What the fuck?

Aria managed to convince her diaphragm to relax so she could drag in oxygen and pushed to her feet. Darting a glance at her men, she found them struggling against the other guard, but quickly focused back on the one facing her when he lunged at her.

Dropping down to avoid his swing, she came up blade first but only managed to catch him on the tough scales covering his bare chest. He had to be close to seven feet tall, and there was only a foot or so between them. She’d need more room to gain momentum in order to reach those soft throat scales again.

He reached for her, claws outstretched, crocodile mouth opened wide, revealing row upon row of yellowed, dagger-like fangs. But, in doing so, he left his sides unprotected. Aria took advantage.

Slashing at the skin over his ribs as she ducked under his reaching arm, she ignored the sting as his claws lightly scored her back, leapt up onto the stasis tube, then launched herself at him as he turned.

He wasn’t quick enough to throw her off that time and stumbled back with a grunt as she landed on his chest. He raised an arm and tried to slash her face with his claws, but she caught his wrist. Gritting her teeth, she strained to hold his arm away from her as she stabbed her blade into his neck.

Unfortunately, that left both her hands occupied. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as she saw his gaping jaws diving down at her, his sharp, yellowed fangs dripping with saliva. She tried to drop to the floor to avoid those fangs, but he caught her with his other hand, pinning her to his chest.

Aria screamed behind clenched teeth when he chomped down onto the muscle between neck and shoulder with a wet snap. Fire raced down her arm and back. Pain made her vision go white.

Ripping the knife out of his neck, she stabbed at the hinge in his jaw repeatedly, desperate to make him let go before he chewed her fucking arm off.

Tirox yelled her name from the other side of the room before a whistling sound reached her ears. Something thudded into the guard so hard he stumbled forward and almost fell, but he let go of her shoulder.

With a low, warbling kind of groan, he tried to reach for his back. Aria didn’t take the time to look and see what had hit him. She took the opening and released some of the pain-filled fury burning through her and hacked at him, stabbing at his eyes, neck, jaw hinge, and nostrils, anywhere that looked even remotely soft.

That dark part slinking around in the back of her mind surged forward. A savage snarl curled her lips, and a ruthless, cold kind of satisfaction spread through her when the guard stumbled, his reptilian eyes going unfocused, before he dropped to his knees.

Aria held on, following him down, and continued to stab at him even when he tipped backward and sprawled bonelessly on the floor.

Seconds later, she felt Kix’s arms wrap around her waist and lift her off of the guard. He ignored her efforts to shake free so she could stab the asshole a few more times and carried her backward.

“He is dead, Aria. You are making a mess,” he remarked dryly.

“He fucking bit me! Did you see that? Fucking bastard! Thathurt! Let me go. I just wanna stab him a few more times,” she fumed.

Her shoulder was a bright, throbbing ball of pain and only added to the anger sizzling in her chest. She felt… vengeful, violent. She wanted to fight, to maim, to hunt someone down and release her aggression on them and, at that moment, it didn’t particularly matter who. Everyone, aside from her mates, was fair game.

Kix changed his grip on her, twisting her around so they were chest to chest. He frowned, the ripples on his forehead deepening, and cocked his head like he was listening to something as he stared searchingly into her eyes. After a couple of seconds, understanding softened his features. Cupping her ass, he lifted her higher until they were eye to eye.

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