Page 28 of The Ozar Triad

She yanked it open and squinted in the bright sunshine, putting a hand up to shield her eyes. Oppressive heat beat down on her, crushing compared to the relative coolness of inside the craft.

She perched on the lip of the open doorway. Beneath her, sand and small rocks raced by. Impact would be a bitch, but there was no choice. These men were possessive and it was clear they weren’t going to let her out of their sight long enough for another chance of escape. She could be trapped with them for a very long time. Even the risk of a broken bone or two was better than being held captive by three, very strong, very virile men. They could do anything to her and she’d didn’t have a hope of fighting them off.

Surrounding them, the landscape was flat, arid, and desert-like. The horizon was marked by a black dome that was quickly shrinking into the distance. At a guess, that was her space port. And her way home. There was no choice.

She glanced back at Klaej, but ignored the lurch of her heart.

There was a flash of light and an impact that made the craft shudder. It listed sideways. Right in front of her, the wing of the craft struck the ground with a resounding crunch, crumpling with the impact. Grains of sand and gravel flicked up and struck her. White-hot darts of pain burst over her body. She covered her face with her hand.

“Riley!” Klaej roared from behind her.

She slipped, blind, and reached for the doorframe. Her hand passed through air. She overbalanced and lost her footing.

And fell.

Chapter Eleven

Riley

Pain radiated from her shoulder with the impact of an unforgiving ground. She rolled over and over, bouncing across gravel, grit, and hard sand until she finally flopped to a stop in a heap.

She ignored the sharpness of pain radiating all over her body. She was adept at compartmentalizing any physical hurts. That was part of that training she was thankful for. She tensed her limbs, testing them out. Nothing broken. Skin intact. She could get by with scrapes and bruises. She wasn’t incapacitated.

A thunderous boom blasted over her. Their craft had travelled quite a distance while she’d come up close and personal with the ground. Her head shot up to see the wing had broken right off and remained lodged in the ground. The craft spun like a top on its belly, spraying a wave of dirt and gravel into the air. She put her hands over her ears as metal wrenched and screamed.

The remaining wing struck a large boulder and spun it in another direction. A great dent appeared down the middle of the craft and sheared apart, cracking it open like the brittle shell of an egg. Two halves finally came to rest in a crumpled heap of metal.

The sound of silence was deafening.

“Oh, my God!” Riley staggered to her feet and took a couple of loping steps.

Dust cleared, falling to the ground. There was no movement.

She swallowed through a dry throat.

What if they were injured? What if they were trapped beneath a twisted hulk of metal. In pain. Bleeding out.

She’d left Klaej defenseless.

Her mind strung a series of horrible scenarios together. All included twisted limbs, blood, and gore.

She took another staggering step forward. She had to go there. Find them. Help them. She’d wanted to get away, yes, but she also didn’t want them to be injured or worse. They didn’t deserve that. She found herself limping towards the craft, heart strumming in her throat, mind trying to ride over the turmoil of jagged thoughts.

Her training kicked in. She’d been in plenty of attacks where soldiers were injured. Been first on scene in many. She knew what to do.

Only…

Only this time it was different.

She couldn’t seem to disconnect from her emotions. Couldn’t find the calm in the storm that would help her to do what she had to do. She needed a clear head, damn it. She didn’t need to think. She just needed to act. This shouldn’t be personal.

But it was.

Rujali. Setzan. Klaej.

Damn it all to hell. They meant something to her. Against all logic, they did.

She mentally shook her head. It had to be the shock. Why else would she be limping back to three men who could more than take care of themselves?

---