Page 73 of The Warrior's Oath
She shifted her legs, the hot tingle between them a distraction she could ill afford right now. They had a job to do, and she couldn’t get derailed, not even for a quickie. And besides, with Steve there, they really didn’t have the option anyway. That is, unless Korvin had an exhibitionist streak in him she didn’t know about.
The thought made her arousal spike even further, though quite against her will.
Stop it, she told herself.Down girl. Not now. Not yet.She pinched her leg. Hard. “Are you serious? You’re not fucking with me, are you?”
“We do not joke about the Infala bond.”
She swallowed hard, wet and ready for him, as inappropriate as it might be given the circumstances. “Okay, then. We really need to find the others, kick some alien ass, and get back to Molok, because we havethingsto do, you and I.”
The joy in his eyes relayed that he knew precisely what she was talking about. And he was very much on the same page. Poor Steve, however, was not.
He stood there quietly, confused by these utterly unexpected pronouncements of undying love. He was an alie; she was a human. And they’d only just met, no less. It was all pretty weird, to say the least.
But then he was a human abducted by lizard-like aliens, crash landed on another planet, and now fighting for his very survival at the side of a different alien and his human lover. Relatively speaking,everythingwas pretty weird right about now.
“Uh, guys?” he said, breaking the moment. “I hate to rain on anyone’s fun time, but shouldn’t we be going?”
Korvin gave Nyota one more passionate look then forced his emotions back into the strongbox in which he normally kept them locked away. There would be time for that later, oh yes. But right now they had work to do.
He drew one of his knives and pointed ahead. “Through there we will find what we are looking for. We donotlet ourselves be known no matter what you may see. We will have one chance to do this.One. And we must make it count.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-NINE
Steve handled the somewhat awkward third-wheel position he was abruptly thrust into as well as could be expected. He didn’t know how or why the human and alien seemed to be so enraptured with each other—especially in so short a time span—but he wisely kept any questions to himself. They were in a dangerous situation and curiosity wouldn’t help but could be a distraction that might hinder their rescue plan.
Plus, he really did not want to be recaptured or killed.
The trio crept along, staying low in the brush as they pushed forward, closing the distance to the murmuring voices and cries of the captives.
“Raxxians,” he confirmed to his companions in a hush when they got close enough to make out the sounds of the voices better.
The Raxxians had a distinctive way of speaking that even with translation runes still came across in a very particular fashion. At least now they knew who they were dealing with. And from what he’d said earlier, while tough on their own, the Raxxians would at least not have the support of a proper retrieval team. Not yet, anyway.
Dohrags, on the other hand, appeared to control the airspace, and with a supply hub in orbit, they would have been a far more difficult adversary to overcome. The team continued on, not exactly at ease, but a bit more confident now that they had more information.
Sometimes not knowing was worse than the reality of a situation, no matter how difficult that might be.
Korvin froze abruptly, his hand up. Nyota froze immediately as well, her muscles tense, senses on high alert. Steve did his best to mimic her reaction though he nearly bumped into her with the sudden stop.
Korvin backtracked a step and pointed off to their left side. Nyota nodded but Steve shrugged his confusion.
“Trap,” Korvin whispered, his fingers moving close to the fine wire loop coated in dirt laying right where someone might place a foot if they happened to be going this direction. If not for the recent rain making the ground muddy, then dry again, it might have been entirely undetectable, so fine was the wire’s material.
“Raxxian?” Nyota asked quietly.
Korvin shook his head. “No. Possibly Dohrag, but possibly something else. This is old and has been here at least a month. And the design of it is not really Dohrag style.”
She nodded her understanding. “So who, then?”
“I cannot say. Whoever set this trap, we must assume there are others. Step where I step. Do not stray. Frankly, it appears to have been blind luck the Raxxians did not stumble into one of these.”
“Sometimes, luck favors the bad guys too,” Steve muttered.
Korvin gave a little nod. “Well said. Now, stay close, stay alert, and from this point on stay absolutely silent unless it is of vital importance.”
Nyota and Steve nodded their understanding, lips zipped tight.
They moved much slower now that Korvin had to scan the ground as well as look out for any Raxxian guards. They were fortunate that their adversaries tended to be brutish and overconfident due to their size, strength, and numbers, making them somewhat lax in the use of sentries.
