Page 36 of Defying the Relic Hunter

I rolled under the table. Stun beam zinged overhead. I flipped my laser pistol to stun mode and shot him when he pulled himself through the half-open door.

The warrior crashed to the floor as violent muscle spasms contorted his body.

A glittering blue light suddenly engulfed me. “Fuck!”

Thirty seconds later I was back in that damned cavern. The first thing I noticed was the yellow skulls were clustered over an unconscious woman. She had long silver hair, pointy elf ears and an ownership band. Bet she belonged to one of Ethan’s cousins. I hurried over to her, took her pulse and checked for any obvious signs of injury. Whew! She was alive. The only damage I could find was a lump on the back of her head.

Granny Annabel appeared.“Your man is not taking proper care of you.”

“And here I thought Ethan was my destiny.”

“I do not find you amusing,”Granny huffed.

“At least this time I have my bracelet and a weapon. Any idea how the Bjarke got on the ship?”

“They bribed a Central Command soldier to disable the warbird’s shields.”

“Hope he has a will. Any idea why they grabbed me again?”

“The Bjarke mercenaries want to use you and the silver-haired alien to find Montezuma’s treasure.”Granny ran a hand over her.“She is a Farin and mated to Quinn Jones.”

“Does Ethan know where I am?”

“He does.”

Glittering blue lights formed in the distance. Wonder why they didn’t transport closer?“Could you go tell him to hurry his ass up. We have company.”

Granny disappeared.

The warriors were acting as if their prey was extremely dangerous. Kinda weird. I wasn’t dangerous and neither were most Farin females. I patted the woman’s face. “C’mon. You’ve got to wake up. The bad guys are coming.”

Her eyes popped open. The next thing I knew, I was face down in the dirt with her knee in my back. “Nice move. Think you could teach it to me?”

“Who are you? Where are we?” Her knee ground into my back.

“Whoa! Easy. My name’s Kizzy. I’m mated to Ethan Jones. I call this the Cavern of the Damned and if you hadn’t noticed there are Bjarke warriors heading our way.”

“Ethan?” She brushed the hair off my neck and touched my ownership band.

“Yep. Big, good looking guy who kisses like a dream.”

“Drekk. Sorry.” She climbed off me.

I sat up and winced. It felt like I been hit by a linebacker. “How did you end up here?”

“Don’t know. One minute, Quinn and I were having a romantic dinner at The Sanctuary. He got this funny look on his face and…” She sucked in a shuddering breath. “And he just keeled over. Before I could check on him, some Bjarke warriors grabbed me. No one hurts my man. Ever. I unleashed my Berserker’s powers and was kicking their asses until someone bashed me over the head.”

“A Berserker? I thought Farin women were fragile, timid creatures?”

“My Aunt Detja and I are throwbacks to a time when Farin females were warriors.” She held out her hand. “I’m Xenia.”

I grinned and took her hand. “Xenia, warrior princess?”

“My mother loves old Earth television shows.” She pulled me to my feet.

“I’ve got you beat. My mom named me after the formidable Greek Goddess Kassiopeia. Formidable, I’m not. Were you able to tell if Quinn’s ok?”

“I think so, but I can’t sense him.” There was a note of fear in Xenia’s voice.

---