Page 31 of The Ozar Triad

Rujali tore a strip from the leg of his pants, wadded it up, and pressed it against the wound to stem the bleeding.

Setzan hissed. His body stiffened. Rujali put his hand to his brother’s shoulder in an attempt at comfort.

Setzan covered the material with his hand, holding it in place. His skin was streaked with wet blood. “They attacked the jet. It should have been indestructible.”

It was true. Their jet was the finest, made on their planet for the royal line using the best military grade materials and technology. Yet they’d still been brought down.

Rujali should not have put Riley in danger like that, but he’d been reckless to get the crystal. He was smarter than this.Theywere smarter than this. The weight of guilt pressed on his shoulders.

“There was an enormous pulse of energy. It fried the wires. I had no control.” He hadn’t had time to even change into full manual mode before the wing had listed to the side and gouged into the earth.

“That amount of energy would have been huge to bring it down. We’ve blasted through asteroid fields with little to no damage,” Klaej said.

“How could they have such power all the way out here?” Setzan said.

Rujali stretched next to Setzan, the cold from the ground seeping through his clothing. “They have the crystal, brother.”

It had to be that. There was no other reason. This planet was an outpost, poor in natural resources. Certainly there was nothing here to generate such power. If it wasn’t for the fact it was logistically placed, it would still be a barren wasteland.

“There is no integrated power net as is usual for progressive planets, and the trade centers that are here are run independently from locally generated power sources. There is no other reason. Besides, we know they have the crystal. We tracked it to this cave system,” Rujali said.

Klaej’s face tensed. “Then it’s worse than we originally thought. If they have the capacity to harness the power of the crystal to bring down our jet down, then…”

“Yes, brother. I know.”

Then they had the power to bring down entireplanets. The Ozar Crystal was powerful—the greatest secret of their planet. Not only was the crystal essential for their people to initiate the mate-bond and have precious children, it could be used as a serious weapon to keep their planet safe.

“Where do you think these scaled ones come from?” Setzan said. “I’ve never seen a species like them before. Well, not before I saw Riley.”

“They appeared at the same time,” Klaej said.

A heaviness formed in the pit of Rujali’s stomach. The appearance of two species they’d never seen before at the same time. It was more than a coincidence.

“She said she didn’t know how she got here,” he said. “Abducted from her planet. You can’t make up being that terrified and confused.”

“Clearly she is innocent. We would have detected any sort of dishonesty in her as our mate,” Setzan said.

The tension eased.

“You’re right. Riley has no idea how she came to be here, but the fact she was taken meant she was important to these scaled ones in some way. Why else go to the effort of kidnapping her?” Rujali said

“I have no idea why,” Klaej said. “But maybe she is important to them the way she is so important to us.”

“How do you mean?” Setzan said.

“We knew immediately that she was our mate. The one and only being in this universe that can bring us together as a Quad. It was instinctive. Maybe she’s important to them for a similar reason.”

“She is not their mate!” Setzan roared.

“I didn’t think she was, but there is something about her they want. The attack on our jet might not have been circumstantial. They might have attacked because they knew she was on board,” Klaej said.

Rujali’s head throbbed from his injury. Despite the fact the scaled ones had subdued them, they had still spent time looking into every nook and cranny of the jet while the brothers had been secured in the bedroom. “They took us because they didn’t find what they were looking for.”

“How would they even know Riley was on board?” Setzan asked.

“That littledrumasturd. When I’m free, I’m going to kill him. Slowly,” Klaej said between clenched teeth.

“What are you talking about?” Setzan said.

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