Page 49 of My Alien Angel
I wait for three seconds and when I don’t drop dead, I take my chances. Kicking the guard’s leg sends him stumbling back. When there’s no answering jolt from my collar, hope starts to blossom. Someone must have disabled the security protocols. Whoever it was, they might just have given me my only chance to get out of here alive.
Coughing from painful stomach contractions, I scramble onto my feet. The second guard activates his shock stick, giving away his exact position in the darkness. Striking out in my direction, the shock stick barely grazes one wing, enough to send a jolt of pain through it but not enough to knock me out. Taking advantage of his mistake, I tackle him. Protective gear or not, being slammed into the ground takes a while to recover from. Enough time for me to pry the shock stick from his hand. I finish him off with a kick to his chin. A very light tap, just enough to make him dizzy and dissuade him from getting up. I could easily kill him, but I’d never do that.
Realizing he’s in trouble, the other guard tries to retreat, reaching the door at the same time the emergency lights come back on. Well, fuck. Does that mean the security protocols are back up?
The guard seems to be considering the same because he turns to face me. “Touch me and you’re dead, traitor.” His wobbly voice and shaking hand betray his fear as he raises his shock stick toward me.
“I’m not a traitor, you stupid fuck. Get out of my way,” I spit back.
“N-never.”
His dedication is both admirable and fucking frustrating.
“How admirable,” comes a flat voice from the corridor behind the guard, followed by a shot. The guard crumples to the floor, unconscious. The shooter enters the doorway, his all-black eyes taking me in before he scoffs, “Why are you still standing there? Come on.” Then he just turns around and walks away.
Should I follow him? A Genixarian staging a prison break must mean he’s here to save his slaver buddies and, as much as I hate to admit it, I’d rather stay here with the guards who hate me than be at Garresh’s mercy. Still, I won’t get a chance like this again.Perhaps I could evade both the guards and Garresh and find my own way out?
To my surprise, the Genixarian doubles back when he realizes I’m not behind him. “Are you an idiot?” he asks, showing more frustration than I’ve ever seen his kind display before. “Move your stupid ass!”
“Why are you so interested in me?” Does he think I’m part of Garresh’s crew?
“Definitely an idiot,” the Genixarian mutters to himself. “Who do you think we came here to rescue?”
Me? He’s not making sense but, instead of asking more pointless questions, I follow him down the corridor, the same one I shuffled down an hour ago. There are angry shouts coming from all around us, my eyes bulging out when I realize the cells are still locked with their occupants inside. “Let us out!” the inmates yell as we pass by quickly, the Genixarian pointedly ignoring them, even Garresh’s crew.
Approaching Garesh’s cell, Garesh doesn’t shout but says clearly, “Fifty million galactic units if you open this door.” His outward demeanor is calm and unthreatening, but the savage glare he’s aimed in my direction says otherwise, as if daring me to say anything. Since I have no clue what’s really happening and the Genixarian is the one with the gun, I keep my mouth shut. “And free selection from the next batch of slaves,” Garresh adds. “Free me and we have a deal.”
My mysterious rescuer’s look is flat as he levels it on Garresh. Without responding to the outrageously generous offer, he speaks into his comm. “Found both. Corridor L-2.” There’s a response that Garresh and I can’t hear, to which he reacts with a grunted, “Whatever.”
The sound of footsteps approaching from the corridor ahead distracts me from Garresh and the ruckus the inmates aremaking. My jaw drops when I recognize one of the approaching figures. “Lyriana? Thank the winds, you’re alive!”
“No thanks to you, asshole,” she growls, punching me in the arm, her standard form of greeting. A dark-skinned human male follows closely on her heels. He’s tall and muscular, dressed in a Supernova jumpsuit. It looks like I missed a lot in the few short weeks I’ve been gone.
The human nods his greeting, but his attention is on Garresh. Garresh, who stares back at the human in almost comedic shock. “You?!”
“Yeah, me,” the human replies coldly. I recognize that glint in his eyes. Garresh is so fucking dead. “Didn’t think you’d see me again, eh?Master.”
Ah. This must be the human slave we set out to rescue. Lyri’s mate.
“You can’t touch me,” Garresh sputters out.
“I’m not planning on touching you. Lyri?”
She waves a device in front of the control panel and the force field to Garresh’s cell vanishes. If I had to guess, the device is one created by our engineering expert, D’Aakh. “He’s all yours,” she declares, stepping aside.
Roaring, Garresh lunges at the human who calmly pulls the trigger of the rifle he’s holding. Thrown back by the powerful impact, Garresh stumbles to the floor, blood staining the front of his jumpsuit. The human moves closer, looking down at the slaver with as much interest as one would give a bug. “Mycrippleof a brother is alive and well, too,” he says. “I thought you might want to know that as you rot in whatever hell you believe in.” Then he shoots Garresh between the eyes.
“Fuuuck,” Lyri moans. “That was so fucking hot. The second we get back, you’re getting naked.”
A grin completely transforms the human’s cold expression. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Aww, you two are adorable,” I coo. “I take it this means I won our bet?” Before embarking on the mission to save Lyriana’s fated mate, I’d bet Lyri she would end up accepting him instead of severing their bond like she originally planned. The way they have the hots for each other, it must mean I won.
“I will fucking shoot you in your fucking face,” she growls.
I laugh. “Love you too.”
“Right,” the Genixarian interrupts flatly. “Let’s continue chatting here while your colleagues hold back the guards. I’m sure that’s the best use of our time.”
