Page 79 of Akur

A sound from the Arois made them both turn. Though the male’s eyes remained closed, his face contorted in obvious distress. The nodes were pulsing faster now, the green light becoming more intense.

“Can we free him?” But he was already moving to examine the framework before Constance’s words passed her lips. The complexity of the framework was beyond anything he’d ever seen. “These restraints, the nodes—his gem isn’t lit. If I unplug him, I’m not sure what that might do to him.”

A new tension filled the air, an electric sensation that made his skin prickle. The Arois’ face tightened further, and somewhere in the distance, alarms blared.

Turning to face Kon-stahns, he sheathed his blade. “We need to move.” Leaving the Arois felt wrong, but staying meant her capture or death.

Kon-stahns stared at the suffering being. He could see her mind racing. See the moment she realized there was nothing they could do. That they had to run.

As he snatched his blaster from his hip and handed it to her, the door burst open, and chaos erupted.

21

Constance

The blaster feltheavy in her hand as Hedgeruds poured through the doorway. Everything happened at once—the thundering of clawed toes, shouts echoing off cold walls, the sickening whine of energy weapons charging.

Her body jolted as she dove behind a slab just before blaster shots seared the air where she’d stood. Her heart slammed against her ribs as she gripped the weapon, trying to remember how she’d used it the last time. The sound of metal meeting flesh made her peek around the edge of the slab.

Akur moved like liquid death.

His blades caught the harsh lighting as he spun, ducked, and slashed through the first wave of guards. He was poetry in motion, each movement precise and deadly. Two Hedgeruds fell before they could even raise their weapons, dark blood spraying across pristine white floors.

But more were coming.

Forcing down her fear, she squeezed the trigger. The blaster kicked harder than she remembered, but her shot caught a guard in the chest just as he was aiming at Akur’s back. The Hedgerud went down with a gurgling cry.

“Nice shot!” Akur called out, his voice tight with battle fury as he engaged three more guards at once.

She didn’t have time to feel proud. More blaster shots scorched past her position, forcing her to scramble to another slab. The acrid smell of burnt flesh filled her nostrils as shots impacted around her, hitting the bodies of women she had no name for. Women that could have been her, or her mother, her sisters, her friends…

Their sacrifice only made it more important that she survived. Her gaze shot to the Arois in the background. He was silent now. His face an unreadable mask as if he was completely unconscious again.

She made a silent promise that he would be saved, too. One way or the other, this would end.

“We need to get to the door!” she shouted, firing again. This shot went wide, but it made two Hedgeruds dive for cover.

Akur’s response was a primal roar as he picked up one guard and threw him into two others. The tangle of bodies crashed into a medical console, sparks flying. But even as they fell, more rushed in to take their place.

The room was too exposed. They needed to move.

Constance’s hands were steadier now as she fired again. Fuck this. Fuck the Tasqals. Fuck these gator-guards. Fuck everything. She fired again, trying to keep the guards from completely surrounding them. But her shots were growing more desperate as the enemy pressed closer. There were just too many.

A plasma bolt grazed her arm and she bit back a cry of pain. Before she could even process the injury, a massive hand grabbed her shoulder and yanked her back.

“Stay behind me!” Akur growled, his massive frame shielding her as he parried a guard’s blade thrust. The clash of metal on metal rang out as he knocked the weapon aside and drove his own blade up under the Hedgerud’s chin.

They were being pushed back toward the corner where the Arois hung suspended. Panic clawed at her throat. They needed an exit. Now.

Her eyes darted around wildly until they landed on a grate on the floor, but it was past a group of those fucking Hedgehogs. Hope flared in her chest, anyway.

“Akur! The vent!” She pointed with her blaster even as she fired again, dropping another guard.

He saw it immediately. Without warning, his arm wrapped around her waist and he practically threw her behind him as he charged the line of guards blocking their path. His blades became silver arcs of death, cutting through armor and flesh with terrifying efficiency.

She provided what cover she could, but her hands were shaking again. Not from fear this time—from awe. Blood sprayed across his chest. Blood hit her too, but he never slowed.

When the path was momentarily clear, she ran for the vent, digging her fingers in as she tugged on it. “Fuck! Come on!” she screamed, just as blaster fire exploded against the wall above her head. At the same moment, the panel came loose, and she looked back to see Akur engaging what had to be six guards at once.

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