Page 39 of Beauty and the Alien Beast
I made it to Ella’s side and grabbed my swords just as the elder’s wrist lamp speared through the darkness, illuminating a very naked Ella from the waist up. She froze with a squeak that was half terror and half embarrassment.
Both catchers stopped and stared for a moment, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. It would have been almost comical if it weren’t for the fact that the bosom they were so captivated by was attached to my female.
She ducked out of sight, and the older one laughed. “Hey, pretty earthling, don’t be scared now. We’re here to bring you back alive.”
“You think he ran off and left her?” the younger one breathed, drawing a bit nearer as Ella swore and dug deep into the second saddlebag. I tensed as I crouched beside her just out of sight, my blades held in my upper hands.
“Seems fair. I figure he’s not a noble at all, just some thief that gave up when we came after him in force. Go grab her.”
Brax let out a low warning growl as the younger one, face a blur in the dimness, reached out for Ella’s shoulder. Immediately, the beam and both males turned toward Brax’s hulking shape in the darkness. I leaped silently from my hiding place and attacked.
The younger male screamed as my blade bit deep into his shoulder and then went silent as the other sent his head spinning out of the cave mouth. I dove for the elder and then ducked aside quickly as he opened fire on me.
Brax lunged forward, only to be driven back by gunfire himself. I tried to lunge while the veteran catcher was occupied with my dog, but he was too canny and fast. I ended up diving again. My inner beast pressed against my skin, fighting to come out and rip apart this male, but I shoved him down. It was my Gladiator’s time to protect my female, and I’d trained for years to do so.
“You’d best give yourselves up now before Belland gets here! He’ll notice we’re gone soon enough. You’ll much prefer how you’ll be treated if you come quietly.” He glanced over at Ella as he held us at bay and frowned slightly when he noticed she had ducked out of sight. “Eh? Where’d you go, female?”
“She can’t understand you,” I snapped as I feinted a lunge, and Brax growled louder.
“Doesn’t matter. You can hear me well enough. Get the little earthling to come out, and I’ll let you all live.” He took a long step toward the pile of gear, his smirk widening. “Especially if she keeps her top off.”
Ella popped up suddenly, glorious breasts and all, a grim look on her face that, from the delighted look on the catcher’s face, he’d missed completely. She lifted my energy pistol in a good two-handed grip and started firing. The sharp cracks of the pistol were accompanied only by a bluish glow at the end of the muzzle. The first shot killed him, but she didn’t stop firing until he slumped to the ground.
Ella stood frozen, panting hard, still holding the weapon on the dead slaver until I reached her, gently pressing down on her arms to lower her gun. She glanced up at me uncertainly.
My little female was a fierce human Gladiator. She would do well ruling by my side as the alpha female of my pack.
“We go,” I managed in her language and gestured at our gear.
She nodded and offered me the pistol.
Smiling, I shook my head and handed her the gun belt. It was my duty to protect my mate, but if she was that good a shot under pressure, it was time to provide her the means to defend herself.
We both dressed, and then I approached the two corpses, which lay in their own mess near the cave mouth. I knew we couldn’t steal the hoverbike and escape. If this Belland had any brains, he would have trackers installed in the thing, which meant we had to get rid of it quickly. Both slavers had energy pistols, but the weapons were a lower capacity than my own. I decided to leave Ella with mine, and I strapped both of theirs to my hips just in front of my knife sheaths. Grabbing the older slaver’s communicator off his ear, I turned off the speaking volume, then put it on listening mode.
“Continue searching the caves until they are all done. Move along the range and check each one on foot.”I recognized the voice as Belland’s.
Suddenly, muffled screaming erupted over the communicator. “Sir!”One of the men gasped. “We’ve disturbed a pack of shovel-claws! They got Eirlan!”
Belland let out an exasperated sigh. “Unit three, reinforce unit four at their position. If they’re dead when you get there, throw in a gas bomb and move on.”
Hurriedly, I strapped on Brax’s riding pad and saddlebags, then went back to deflate the enclosure into its shell. Scooping up the arm-wide disk that was left, I shoved it into the top of one bag, then strapped everything down.
“Ella,” I said sharply, and I heard her mutter something as she hurried over.
I helped her onto Brax and then turned to the hoverbike. There was only one way to make sure the slavers weren’t drawn here before we could slip away, and that was to use their mode of transportation as a distraction.
Ella exclaimed something in shock and disgust as I grabbed both bodies and put them on the hoverbike, tying them into their saddles. Starting the engine, I checked the location of the other bikes on the view screen and then engaged the autopilot.
I leaped onto Brax’s back, grabbing his harness grips with two hands while holding on to my mate with the other two. The hoverbike rose, its engines blowing dust all over the cavern, and then hummed forward into the light, rising and picking up speed.
Belland noticed at once and spoke loudly over the communicators. “Unit two, you are off course. Repeat, why are you idiots leaving the search site? Unit two, respond!”
Nothing but crackling quiet.“Units one and five, break off and intercept unit two. Their bike seems to be malfunctioning. Or maybe it’s the damn pilots.”Belland sounded ready to rip someone’s head clear off.
I grinned as I spoke to Brax. “Go on, boy.”
Brax sprang out of the cave mouth and scrambled down the slope into the trees as two hoverbikes peeled off from the cliffside to chase after their runaway unit. I heard the whine of their engines intensify as the autopilot sped the two-man bike to its limit.
