Page 45 of The Stolen Tribute
EIGHTEEN
JAXIR
I’d never been one for hand-to-hand combat, but punching Dal in the face was pretty damn satisfying.
“You have some nerve coming back for that human,” Dal spat.
The way he spoke about her made my anger flare. I slammed my fist into him again, using the time to glance around for my fallen laser blaster.
“I came back for more than that,” I said. “I came back to kill you.”
“Well, that much was obvious. Still haven’t forgiven me, have you?” Dal sneered.
I dodged his punch and wiped the sweat from my forehead. “You ruined my life, Dal. You killed our friends and played innocent.”
“I didn’t kill them. The crash killed them!”
That was the same line he’d said to me years ago.
I gritted my teeth. “You don’t deserve the respect of being a warrior. You should have been punished.”
Dal was big, but I was fast. I dodged his blows, pushing him further into the core power room.
Then I saw something out of the corner of my eye. A flash of blond hair. Kylie? The room was too dark to be sure.
I could feel exhaustion creeping in. Dal was a strong fighter. We were evenly matched, just like back in military school. I needed to end this fast.
Suddenly, the shine of a laser blast lit up the room. Everything happened so fast.
The laser hit Dal in the shoulder. He shouted, his fist colliding with my chin.
I stumbled back, temporarily blinded by the flash and dizzy from the force of the blow.
The air smelled like burning flesh.
Dal lunged forward, stumbling over his own feet as the pain rocked his body. “What the hell was that?” He snarled. He whipped around in the direction that the laser came from.
I looked up.
Kylie stood there, with her chin raised defiantly, holding a small self-defense blaster in her hands. She kept it trained on Dal.
I knew it wasn’t the time for it, but she looked so sexy in the flight suit, holding a blaster with her blond hair all a mess. She was fantastic, incredible, so many words just fell short of fully being able to describe the awe I felt when I saw her in her element.
“How did you get out of the holding room?” Dal shouted.
As Dal whipped around, I used his distraction to get the upper hand. My fist collided with the back of his skull, and a terrible crack echoed in the room.
Dal went limp and fell to the floor.
Kylie gasped, jumping down the last few stairs. “Jaxir!” She cried.
I stepped over Dal’s body and ran to her, pulling her into my arms.
“I thought you were dead,” She sobbed.
“Really? No way, I don’t die that easily,” I forced out a chuckle, remembering how close I had been to being blown into a million pieces and scattered across the galaxy.
Kylie lifted her head from my shoulder. Her eyes were red, and tears stained her cheeks. She was trembling, and no doubt, exhausted from the ordeal.
