Page 33 of Anna's Bounty
“Sorry. Sorry. My fault.” Pressing my hands together, I bow my head before taking off once more.
Once I’m through the group of alien nuns, I scan the crowds for something—anything—familiar. Maybe I can stow away on another vessel. Maybe someone will take pity on me and take me off this god-forsaken space station.
I’ve only gone a few yards when a stitch shoots through my side, stealing the air from my lungs and forcing me to slow my pace.Damnit!Nothing looks familiar. I don’t know where I am or where I’m going. I also don’t know how far behind me Volethos is.
I yelp when a tentacle slides across my hip as I step around an alien that looks too much like the slug that was my cage neighbor aboard the Xar’ads’ ship. When another tentacle comes at me, I scream and jump out of its reach and into another alien.
“Hey now, sweetness,” a husky voice drawls at the same time an arm wraps around my waist.
“Let go!” I shout, but the alien tightens his grip on me.
“What’s your hurry?” the alien asks, pulling me against his narrow frame. He is tall, eerily thin, and reminds me of theSlenderman.
“Don’t you know that if you’re lost, you should stay in one place?” another Slenderman alien asks, followed by raucous laughter.
Digging my nails into the arm around my waist, I fight against his grip while keeping an eye out for any sign of Volethos. I don’t see him anywhere, but he can’t be far.
“Let go, asshole!” I growl, grabbing one of his fingers and pulling it back until I hear a snap.
The Slenderman screams, and I’m able to break free of his hold. Giving him one last shove, I turn and bolt away.
With a fresh burst of energy, I careen around a corner and straight into a solid wall of muscle. I hit it with enough force that I stumble back and would have landed on my ass except for the pair of hands that grab me.
“No!” I scream, lashing out when I’m pulled against a rock-hard chest roughly the size and shape of Volethos’. My hands clench into fists, and I strike out. “No! Lemmego!”
His fingers wrap around my wrist, holding it in a bruising grip before wrenching my blood-stained hand out in front of me.
“What is this? What happened!”
“Let. Go.” I try to twist from his grip, but he’s too strong. Sucking in a breath to scream, I expect to smell, or even taste, the fetid stench of his unwashed body. Instead, I’m overwhelmed with the scent of clean laundry along with something… pleasant, comforting andfamiliar.
My head snaps back, and I blink in surprise. “Rovos?”
He releases my wrist, and then his hands rove over my body, searching for the source of the blood on my hands.
“It’s not mine,” I tell him, but he doesn’t seem to hear. “Rovos! I’m not hurt. It’s not my blood.”
“Then whose blood is it?” His eyes are swirling between green and gold as he continues to inspect me for damage.
“There were two green aliens with Volethos. They dragged me to his ship, and I—” My hands begin shaking from the memory. “I killed them.”
Oh god,I think as the weight of what I’ve done really hits me. I’m a nurse, damnit! I’m supposed to save lives, not take them.
Suddenly I’m in Rovos’ arms, and he’s tucking my head under his chin. “Shhh. I have you, Annah.”
“Rovos, Ikilledthem!” My arms slide around his waist, and my hands clench at his shirt until I’m holding on to him as though I might be pulled away at any moment.
“You did what you had to,” he says against the top of my head. “It takes fierce bravery to end a life, even in self-defense. I’m proud of you.”
Focusing on the solidlub-dubof his heart against my ear, I burrow my face into his chest as more tears wet my cheeks, this time from relief instead of fear. He’s right. Iknowhe’s right, but it doesn’t lessen the shock.
I give myself another handful of seconds to be thankful that it’s him and not Volethos. Then I step back and slap him across the face. “You asshole!”
Rovos blinks like an owl and lifts a hand to his stinging cheek.
“If I hadn’t escaped, Volethos would have sold me to a Madame! And you justleft me there.” I raise my arm to slap him again, but he catches my wrist before my aim can connect. So I kick him in the shin instead.
“Ow! I’m sorry.” He has the nerve to look contrite. So I kick his other shin, hard enough to bruise my toes.
