Page 81 of Akur

Akur’s response was cut off by blaster fire from ahead. They’d run right into another patrol.

Without breaking stride, he yanked her behind him and charged. His blades flashed once, twice, and two guards fell. But more were coming from behind.

Constance spun and fired, her shot catching a guard in the leg. As he fell, she saw something that made her blood run cold—a Tasqal gliding down the corridor behind the guards, its white robes billowing.

This one was bigger than any other Tasqal she’d come in close contact with so far. And the look on its face, even with the distance, was clear. Fury. Pure, cold fury. “Get them, you useless fools!” it screamed. “Do not let them leave the citadel!”

“Akur!” The panic in her voice made him turn. His eyes narrowed at the sight of their real enemy approaching.

“This way!” He kicked open a door and pulled her through into what looked like…oh fuck. Her stomach churned. Bile actually rose, and she threw up on the door.

The chamber was stacked with bodies all in various stages of decay, and all covered with the same large pustules that fill the Tasqals’ skin. Their abdomens distended where the Tasqal’s parasitic offspring incubated. Some victims still had expressions of agony frozen on their faces, a testament to their final moments.

They had barely made it halfway across the room when the door on the far side burst open. More guards poured in, weapons raised.

“Surrender,” one of them growled. “You cannot escape.”

Akur’s only response was a savage laugh that would have sent chills down her spine had she not known him. His blades twirled once, catching the light. “Come then. Let me show you how a Shum’ai warrior dies.”

The air crackled as Constance raised her blaster, back-to-back with Akur as they turned in a slow circle. Her hands were steady now, despite the horror surrounding them.

“You got me, warrior?”

“I’ve always got you, bright eyes.”

She grunted a harsh laugh that felt like it scraped against her dry throat. Because they were trapped. There was no getting out of this. And this moment, unlike all the others, this moment might well be their last.

“I won’t let them take me alive,” she whispered, just loud enough for Akur to hear. “I won’t end up like…” Her eyes flicked to the bodies around them.

“You won’t,” Akur’s voice was steel and silk. “Not while I draw breath.”

She only knew the first guard lunged because Akur’s muscles flexed at her back. He met them with a brutal efficiency that would have been beautiful if it wasn’t so deadly. In the corner of her eye, another moved and her finger depressed the trigger, firing into the group at her side. Everything slowed down. The movement of Akur’s blades, the blaster fire as she gritted her teeth and pumped out shot after shot.

Blaster fire filled the air as more guards poured in through both doors. They had no choice but to break apart. Losing Akur’s warmth feeling like it took a piece of her heart along with it. Time still moved in milliseconds as she spun and rolled out of the way of a lunging gator-guard. Her injured arm screamed in protest as she pumped the trigger till the blaster began burning.

There were too many of them.

For a moment, in all the chaos, she looked up and saw Akur fighting in a sea of enemies. Fighting for them all. Fighting forher.

“Constance!” His wild eyes darted to where he’d seen her last, and she saw the moment he realized she wasn’t there.

In that fleeting moment, she saw something in his eyes that made her breath catch in her throat. It wasn’t just concern. Not just protectiveness. It was…fear. Raw, unadulterated fear. Fear forher.

He’d been so careful, so guarded. But now, she could see it as clear as day. The thought of her lost, of her taken, had shattered his mask, revealing the depth of his…caring. The male she saw now was the male that had jumped out of a ship in space and come after her. This wasn’t just a job or some mission he had to complete.

It went past that.

Akur cared.

He cared more than he’d ever let on.

The moment passed, his gaze shifting as his head lowered.

And then he changed.

The controlled, efficient warrior vanished, replaced by something wild,something…feral. His movements became a blur of motion, his blades flashing like lightning, a whirlwind of death and destruction.

He roared, a guttural sound that echoed through the chamber, a challenge to any who dared to stand in his way. He was a force of nature, a whirlwind of Shum’ai fury unleashed. A beast, driven by instinct, by a primal need to protect what was his. And in that moment, she knew, with a certainty that defied logic, that she was…she was his.

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