Page 105 of Claimed by an Alien Warrior

She struggled against the darkness. Ren needed her. He was calling her!

But she was tired. So, so tired. She just needed a little rest…

Chapter Twenty-Three

“Zoey!” Ren called again, shaking her gently.

Her head lolled, but she did not respond.

Fire burned in his veins as he checked her breathing — present, but shallow and weak. Despite his best efforts to shield her, she was banged up and splattered with blood, most of which seemed to be from wounds on her head and her thigh.

The helicopter’s blades whirred overhead, creating a chilled breeze that blew into the broken SUV through the shattered windows. He heard vehicle doors opening outside. Human voices rose in shouts over the aircraft’s din.

His ship was so close. So close, but they were surrounded, and Zoey was hurt…

She’d shown him a life he could never have imagined. Had woken within him feelings he’d never known could exist. Over a few days — so short a time,tooshort a time — she’d become everything to him. She’d become the future he wanted, she’d become his hope, his peace.

His love.

And now she was on the brink of being taken from him. He couldn’t lose her. Couldn’t bear it, couldn’t survive it.

“Stay with me, Zoey,” he commanded. “You maynotgive in.”

“Out of the vehicle!” a human shouted as Ren tore the sleeve off his coat and hurriedly tied it around Zoey’s leg, hoping to staunch the bleeding.

When he lifted his hands, they were stained crimson, glistening in the high-powered lights from the helicopter and nearby ground vehicles.

Zoey is hurt.MyZoey. My kun’ia.

He hadn’t wanted conflict, hadn’t wanted battle; he had resolved himself to simply return home, to put his time on this planet behind him, to fulfill his final duty. The lives he’d taken had been out of necessity and had not matched the aligarii lives claimed by these humans. He’d been willing to forgive them.

But they’d harmed Zoey. They’d declared war.

This is all I knew for my entire life.

And now, the humans would know the wrath of an aekhora.

Rendash twisted in the seat, bent his legs, and kicked the passenger door off the vehicle. It skidded away in the snow. He cast any lingering pretenses of detachment aside with it.

He latched onto the doorframe with all four hands, poured strength into his arms, and launched himself out of the vehicle. His cloaking field settled into place almost immediately.

The human soldiers — he counted twelve standing in the snowy field, with one more at each of the three black transports and at least two in the aircraft — shouted their surprise and confusion.

Rendash formed a vrahsk on each arm, causing his cloaking field to falter just before he landed atop the nearest soldier, plunging two of the blades through the man’s chest.

The impact kicked up loose powder. The hard packed snow beneath the human’s body sizzled against the blades, evaporating to steam.

The other soldiers opened fire, launching dozens of projectiles into Ren’s shield. He leapt into the humans clustered nearby, drawing their gunfire as far away from Zoey as possible. More snow flew into the air to sparkle in the artificial light like stars scattered across the night sky as Ren wove among the soldiers in a battle dance, his vrahsks singing.

Pained screams and gurgling cries mingled with bursts of gunfire and the beating of the helicopter’s blades to create a bone-chilling dirge.

With each strike, Ren saw Zoey, pale and unconscious, in his mind, saw the blood —herblood — soaking her clothing, covering his hands. With each strike, he amplified his strength, his speed, his reflexes, producing scorching heat inside his body. He darted from soldier to soldier, offering no mercy to his enemies.

The helicopter banked around, and a soldier fired a large gun mounted at its side opening. Snow sprayed everywhere, and the projectiles slammed into Ren’s shield in an unrelenting torrent. He staggered against the onslaught; the air around him lit up with purple flashes as his shield strained against the repeated impact.

She may die if I succeed.

Shewilldie if I fail.

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