Page 21 of Her Lawless Prince

“Hold this wire,” Nyle instructed Payton. He didn’t need the extra set of hands for a cyborg limb removal, but he wanted her to look busy.

Nyle had seen the look on her face when he brought her food. She’d been about ready to claw through the walls. He wouldn’t be leaving her alone on the ship again if he could help it.

Payton held the wire as Nyle went in to cut it. Yevgen’s fingers lifted slightly to tap Nyle’s arm, causing him to miss. The cyborg should not have been able to move while powered down.

Payton and Nyle glanced at their guards to see if the men noticed. They hadn’t.

“Faulty wiring must be causing a glitch,” Nyle explained, not understanding what was going on with the unit. He’d worked on thousands of them in his lifetime.

Nyle moved to cut the wire. Yevgen smacked him again.

Nyle shared a look with Payton.

“Maybe we start the next plan,” she whispered. “He wants to keep his leg.”

Nyle studied Yevgen. “I suppose…”

The next plan would be a blood transfusion to replace the cyborg’s lost fluid.

Nyle turned to tell the guards, “I’m going to need a medical kit that has a transfuser and—”

“Are those parasites?” Payton interrupted loudly, pointing at Yevgen. She took a fearful step back. “We’ve got to get out of here. They’ll eat through the ship’s hull!”

“What?” Nyle turned to look at the cyborg’s chest in confusion. He didn’t see anything.

Thane and Sandon stepped forward to look for themselves. Sandon pulled his blaster pistol from its holster.

Nyle watched Payton’s expression change from fear to bemusement. Fur sprouted over her features as clawed hands grabbed the guards by their heads and slammed them together. Thane fell across Yevgen, unconscious. Sandon swayed but quickly caught himself. A rogue shot zipped past Nyle, causing him to jump back.

Sandon turned to fight. He lifted his weapon to aim it at Payton. Nyle didn’t hesitate as he lunged at the guard’s back. Leaping onto the man wasn’t the most elegant fighting tactic, as they both fell toward the metal floor grates, but it served its purpose. The weapon slid away from them. Sandon grunted as Nyle pressed on top of him.

Payton grabbed the pistol and ordered Nyle, “Move.”

Nyle rolled to the side just as Payton shot Sandon. The man grunted and then stopped moving.

“What did you do?” Nyle demanded, looking at the fallen guards. She hadn’t left them with much of a choice. Either they waited for punishment, or they tried to overtake the ship. Neither prospect seemed ideal.

“I started the next plan,” Payton said as the fur retracted into her skin. “I can’t believe the parasite thing worked. My uncle Rick told us that joke when we were children.”

“This was the next plan?” He pointed at Sandon. “Killing a guard?”

Payton nudged him with her foot. “He’s not dead.” She showed the blaster grip where the controls were embedded in the weapon. “I stunned him. In case we need prisoners.”

Her explanation was better. Barely.

“Thiswas the next plan?” Nyle repeated. “Overtaking our guards in the middle of deep space on a ship full of mercenaries?”

Payton actually looked bemused. “We talked about this. I said if I found an opening, I’d take it. And just now you agreed to the next plan.”

“I thought you meant the next plan on repairing Yevgen,” he countered.

“Why would I mean that? He’s fine.” Payton frowned. “We discussed this.”

“No. We…” Nyle started to take a mental tally of their surroundings. The guards had two blasters between them. A few of the lasers could cut through metal, and he might be able to break into a wall panel to find the controls to open the door. That was if the ship’s computer system didn’t detect him fumbling around inside the walls.

“You weren’t talking in code?” Payton asked.

“What code?”

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