Page 15 of Akur

“Bracing for impact!” The Hedgerud’s panicked shout scrolled across his screen.

That’s all the warning he got before the shuttle cleared the city and slammed into the ground. A mountain of sand shot high as the shuttle rose before slamming down again.

“Oooh, I love this part!” The female’s words lit up his visor just as his body whipped back and forth like a lifeless toy, his entire frame slamming repeatedly into the shuttle’s hull. Pain exploded through him with each impact, his vision flickering as he looked up to see the utterexcitement reflected in the female’s face through the dome that still protected her.

She was still breathing. That’s all that mattered.

Finally, mercifully, the shuttle ground to a halt, half-buried in the side of a building. Smoke poured from its crumpled side, sparks dancing across the buckled metal.

For a moment, he hung limply there, every part of him screaming in agony. His suit was in tatters, barely threads holding together across his back. But he was breathing. Somehow.

A groan from inside the shuttle drew his attention. The Hedgerud was stirring, clearly dazed but still a threat. And Kon-stahns…

“Let’s do that again!” He could hear her voice now. Her actual voice. There was a breach in the vessel. But that didn’t matter. They were on land. He needed to get up.

Gritting his teeth, Akur pulled himself up on his elbows. He had to get in there, had to secure the human before the Hedgerud recovered.

“Hang on, rebel dude!” Kon-stahns called out. “I’ll come to you!”

Before he could even process what she meant, the shuttle’s hatch popped open, and Kon-stahns came tumbling out, giggling all the way. She rolled to a stop right before him, those bright blue eyes of hers staring up at him.

“Tada!” She struck a pose as if expecting applause. “Whoo, that was one heck of a ride. What’s next, boss man?”

Maybe it was her eyes. Maybe it was the fact he didn’t expect this…this jovial demeanor. He’d expected the same resignation and maybe the same despair as the last time he’d seen her. Maybe it was because this was so unexpected, or because some part of him didn’t think he’d find her at all. Or maybe it was the fact his body was at the point of breaking that his instincts were dulled. Yes, maybe it was all that which caused him to not notice they weren’t alone as he stared into those blue eyes twinkling with happiness that seemed so misplaced, but so…right. So…good.

That’s why the surroundings faded. Why he didn’t see the Hedgerud in the vessel beneath them wasn’t the only threat in the vicinity.

He could only stare at her.

“I’ve found you, Kon-stahns.” His gaze shifted from her blue-white eyes to the soft filaments that crowned her head. “Female of ice and fire.”

She giggled, those twinkling eyes regarding him and nothing else.

Curses. She was completely out of it. Meanwhile, he felt like an insect stuck to the behind of a frazzled floop. He needed to get her out of this place and back to safety, find E’lot, and—

“There he is!” It was the shout that finally made the surroundings come back into focus. Akur lifted his head.

“Qraaak.”

The female lifted her head, too. “Uh-oh!”

“Halt!”

Yeah…he needed to get them some cover…if they survived the next few clicks, that was.

4

Akur

Akur stiffened,shifting his body so he was braced over the soft, pale female. She blinked, looking up at him with a laugh in those big blue eyes. Completely unaware of the surrounding danger.

Struggling to keep his balance, he barely moved as the dust cleared and the landscape around them came into view. Through the haze, he glimpsed towering white spires that pierced the tan sky. He’d only seen buildings like those in certain other places—worlds the Tasqals had taken as their own. Majestic white buildings that served as their lodging. So at odds with the breeding grounds they stood over. But even with that similarity, this place was different.

Bigger. Grander.

This wasn’t just some wild, uncharted breeding ground he and E’lot had somehow discovered. No. This was the Tasqal base. The enormity of this one section alone told him so. It was a place no rebel had ever found, let alone infiltrated…until now.

The gleaming white structures stretched as far as his eyes could see. Even the ground beneath them seemed to pulse with a thick energythat felt like it was trying to leech from his skin. As if the entire planet were alive with the Tasqals’ influence.

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