Page 30 of The Ozar Triad

As she watched, Setzan manhandled Klaej’s dead weight to Rujali. Klaej tumbled onto Rujali. A man not as strong would have fallen to the ground beneath the dead weight, but Rujali positioned Klaej and threw him over his shoulder in a classic fireman position.

Klaej’s skin was pure crimson, so she couldn’t tell if he was bleeding or not. But if he couldn’t move, then he wouldn’t have been able to protect himself in the crash.

Setzan jumped to the ground, his entire side shone with fresh blood. He used the momentum to lurch to a Reptile, snapping his fist into its jaw. There was a commotion of hissing and clacking. A Reptile aimed a bazooka at Rujali’s head.

Her entire body stiffened as a reptile slammed the end of the bazooka into Setzan’s head. Setzan fell to his knees.

“Brother, stop! Stand down!” Rujali’s booming voice rang out over the distance. Even hurt, he was to be respected. All three men stood down, hands held out to their sides, palms open to show they held no weapons. They were surrendering!

Riley swallowed a scream. Every cell in her body called for her to run over there and rip those creatures apart. But that wouldn’t achieve anything except get herself captured as well.

A river of red ran down Setzan’s temples. He shook his head, before wobbling to his feet. He steadied himself, hooking a gaze to the Reptile that had struck him that even made her quake in her boots.

The Reptiles herded them into the cave. She didn’t know if it was because they were hurt, or if it was that Klaej was totally helpless, but they didn’t fight back.

It was her fault they’d been captured. If she hadn’t rendered Klaej unprotected, if she’d stayed with them, they could all have fought. Instead, they’d been captured by those monsters.

They disappeared into the darkness of the cave. Except for the sound of grains of sand moving across the hard-packed dirt when the wind gusted, silence rained all around. Still, she didn’t move. She was completely unprotected out here. There wasn’t even a boulder to hide behind.

So she remained still, until she was half-covered with sand. Until her mouth felt as dry as the ground. Until her turbulent thoughts and self-recrimination engulfed her. Until it was dark enough to move with a modicum of safety.

She half crouched and slowly, so slowly, made her way to the craft. She ignored protesting muscles that had stiffened, dryness that stuck her tongue to the top of her mouth, and grit that had made its way under her eyelids.

If she had any hope of rescuing her men, she would need a weapon. And not just one. Luckily, she knew exactly where to find them.

Going against those Reptile fuckers wasn’t going to be easy. They were huge, strong, violent, immoral and had it in for her from the start. She’d be going in to an unmapped territory blind without any backup and the men she was going to rescue were injured and probably wouldn’t be able to help her fight her way back out if they caught her.

She put one foot in front of the other until she reached the wreck of the jet. If this was going to go bad, which it had a good chance of going, she’d go out on her own terms and take as many hideous Reptiles as she could, suicide mission or not.

Chapter Twelve

Rujali

Rujali propped Klaej against the rock wall of the small cell they’d been stuffed into. By way of cell, it wasn’t too bad. Not if the impenetrable solid rock floor and walls could be ignored.

It seemed the scaled ones had merely rammed primitive bars into a natural occurring alcove. It was a tight fit, with barely enough room for the three of them to move, but effective. A strength test of the bars with barely contained curses had told him that.

He’d been knocked unconscious in the crash. A bulkhead had snapped off and smashed his head. When he’d come around, the jet was at an odd angle. He’d struggled to stand, fighting against his pounding head, the first thing he’d done was look for Riley and his brothers.

He’d found Klaej surrounded by reptiles, his body limp in the corner of the room. He’d drawn his blade, ready to fight when one of them had rammed the end of its weapon against Klaej’s head.

There’d been a scuffle when several had brought an injured Setzan into the room. There’d been ten reptiles, and three of them. Not bad odds, but Klaej was unconscious, Seztan was injured and there’d been no sign of Riley. He wasn’t going to risk anything if they had her.

Klaej had come to, but still didn’t move. Rujali thought he was more severely uninjured, but then Klaej had muttered something about the analgesic that their mate had used it on him. Rujali would have been amused, were it not for the fact their mate was nowhere to be seen.

He was worried sick not knowing where she was. Had she been injured, or worse?

A harsh growl erupted from the base of his chest.

Setzan sagged against the wall, his face dewy with sweat. Blood seeped between his fingers from a puncture wound in his side. “At least they didn’t find her. She could be safe.”

Worry etched harsh lines in his forehead, anyway.

Rujali settled next to Setzan on the floor. “Easy, brother.”

He carefully peeled back Setzan’s hand. Blood oozed from the wound. It needed to be treated, and soon, judging by the amount of blood that stained his side. “How did this happen?”

“Fly-away piece of rodding got me when the jet broke apart,” Seztan said.

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