Page 45 of Shattered Silence

They hit the floor below, but Layla didn’t feel much of an impact, because Enki landed on his feet like a cat and absorbed everything. Somehow, she managed to keep hold of the gun, and not pull the trigger again, a minor miracle.

Still, the jolt upset her stupid rib again, and she gasped.

“Just more level,” Enki whispered. He dropped to his knee again and sawed through the floor, a terrible sense of urgency radiating from him.

Layla didn’t think she had it in her to fire the plasma gun again. Her arms trembled, and the sharp pain in her ribs was making her vision go dark. Hell; it was dark in here anyway. Only a faint blinking light in the ceiling saved her from total darkness.

Thank the stars. She didn’t know what she would have done if she couldn’t see Enki. Gone insane, probably.

But instead, she drew strength from him as she kept her eye on the ceiling above, waiting for a plasma blast or an enemy to come through the hole.

Enki was relentless, unstoppable, ruthless, always moving forward, never hesitating.

Doing this for her.

Shit, a little pain in the ribs was nothing. She would endure for as long as it took.

“Let’s go.” And then he was grabbing her again, and they were falling, and Layla marveled at the warrior who could cut through the very heart of a Kordolian ship as if it were constructed of nothing more than butter.

Seriously, who the hell was this guy?

Or more to the point, what was he?

Brutally violent yet gentle, seemingly indestructible, and possessed by a mysterious demon that could steal away his consciousness in an instant.

A man with secrets. With baggage.

When all this was over, would Layla ever get to discover the man beneath the hard mask, or would they simply part ways again, surrendering to the laws of the Universe?

Falling…

And then they landed on the floor with a bone-jarring thud.

Chapter Seventeen

Truly, he was tired.

That never happened. Enki’s body had never ever failed him, but now a deep sense of weariness entered his bones, even as he set Layla on her feet and took stock of their surroundings. Suppressing the Tharian was taking more effort than usual, and he feared he wouldn’t be able to sustain this level of mental control for much longer. Sooner or later, he would need to rest.

He needed silence, a quiet place where he could just close his eyes and…

Layla gasped. “Th-this is…”

“The lower decks,” Enki murmured, forcing himself to concentrate. They’d fallen from a much greater height this time, landing in a vast, cavernous space. All around them were the dark, hulking shapes of Daegan’s spacefleet.

We’re in the docking bay.

A great sense of relief flooded him as he realized his calculations had been correct. He bet Daegan and his fucking cronies never expected Enki would literally carve the ship apart. They couldn’t conceive of such a thing, because ordinary soldiers didn’t possess the monstrous strength needed to wield Callidum the way he did.

From across the way, a group of mech workers stared at them as if Enki and Layla were demons that had crawled out of one of Kaiin’s Nine Hells.

Enki didn’t waste time. “You. Come here.” He pointed to the head mech, whose rank was indicated by a series of three parallel bars on his collar. Surprisingly, the head mech looked younger than his subordinates.

“S-sir?” The mech glanced up at the hole in the ceiling, his eyes wide. His gaze snapped to Layla, before settling on the plasma gun in Enki’s hand. He swallowed. “We are not authorized to, uh—”

“You must be incredibly brave,” Enki said softly, and he felt the Tharian stir as his anger uncoiled like an awakening beast, “to have little fear of my gun, even though I am this close to losing my patience. Forget what you are authorized to do, and come here before I melt your fucking face.” It really wasn’t all that hard to behave like an Imperial Kordolian Captain. Enki thought his performance was quite convincing, although he was glad Layla didn’t understand Kordolian.

He kept his arm around her as the mech approached, just daring the man to say something about his human. Impatience sharpened his anger, and Enki’s old hatred of the noble class bubbled to the surface.

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