Page 38 of Crossing Quinn

“What!”I ducked one of the Executioner’s flailing tentacles. “They act like they want to eat me.”

“They do.”

Quinn’s mind touched mine. “Have you been harmed?”

I could feel his concern and impotent fury. “Not yet.” I showed Quinn the Executioners following us. “But they want to gobble me up.”

“Protect Xenia with your life, Adan. If she dies, you die.”Quinn’s words were filled with a quiet, deadly rage.

“I will do all I can to protect your mate.”

Mate? The idea of belonging to Quinn was both horrifying and fascinating. “I’m not his mate.”

Adan countered, “Are you sure of that?”

The violent rotating walls abruptly began to collapse. I gulped. “Is that supposed to happen?”

“We are arriving. Prepare yourself for battle.”

“Wait! Wouldn’t it be smarter to sneak onto the base and do a little recon?”

“Katanic males do not sneak.”

Typical male logic.

The vortex spat us out on the tarmac of the badly damaged spaceport. Bolts of lightning danced and pulsed over the wreckage.

I shuddered as the world spun wildly around me. It was hard to breathe, I couldn’t feel my face, and I was covered in goopy green slime

Adan shook me. “Fight, little female.”

Fight? I could barely stand. My legs buckled, and I painfully hit the tarmac. “Dizzy. Need a second.”

“Get up, Xenia. Now!”Quinn snarled; his power penetrated me like an electric shock. Adrenaline rushed through me, and I shot to my feet. Drekk! There were Tai-Kok warriors everywhere. Adan was so dead.

Quacking like a demented duck, a Tai-Kok seized me. I slipped out of his grip like a greased Kaleo pig. No matter how many times he grabbed me, he couldn’t hang on to me.

“Unbelievable,”Quinn groused in my head. “Instead of playing slip and slide, how about you kick his ass?”

“Yes, my lord. Right away, my lord.”I fell to the ground, rolled on my back, and kicked the Tai-Kok warrior in the nuts.

The warrior doubled over, and I drove my boot into his nasty face. A satisfied smile curved my mouth as his teeth made a cracking noise and he toppled over.

Another Tai-Kok lunged for me. I dodged his metal talons.

One of Adan’s tentacles encircled the Tai-Kok warrior’s neck and snapped it like a twig.

“I need his weapons!”I yelled.

Adan’s busy tentacles yanked the sword out of the dead Tai-Kok warrior’s scabbard before hurling him at a hairy slaver. Smack! They went down in a tangle of arms and legs.

Boom!A dazzling green ball shot toward me.

Which idiot had fired the stun net? In my mind’s eye, I saw where it would hit me and quickly ducked behind a fat security guard. Five seconds later, the net deployed. It wrapped around the guard, and he crashed to the ground, jerking convulsively.

“Xenia!”Adan tossed the sword to me.

I caught it and noticed the all-powerful Executioners, aka the riot squad, had arrived in a dazzling display of pyrotechnics. Slashes of incandescent green shot from the vortexes, disintegrating anything they touched.

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