Page 126 of Fractured Souls

They made their way across the garden, across the porch, and Alexis was about to knock on the door, but then she stopped. “Nobody’s home, right?”

Nythian shook his head solemnly. His eyes narrowed. “Wait here.”

“What?” But before she was able to ask him anything, he’d slipped away, disappearing across the garden and into the shadows, into the jungle, making barely a sound as he

How did he do that?

She might have felt vulnerable, standing all alone here in the deepening dusk, but she had her plasma gun and her Tharian abilities, and in the four months it had taken to return from the Fleet Station to Earth, Nythian had put her through a brutal combat training regime.

It was one of the hardest things she’d ever done in her life, but she was fiercely glad she’d gone ahead with it. She was stronger and faster and fitter than she’d ever been in her life.

The training was addictive, especially when one’s teacher was a stern and fantastically ripped Kordolian. At Alexis’s request, he started wearing long-sleeved kashkans to their training sessions.

Otherwise, he was just too distracting, and she would want to jump his bones.

They’d done that a couple of times too, in the training room… well, more than a couple of times.

Alexis moved over to a window and peered inside. The interior of the house was dark; she couldn’t see a thing. Where had Nythian gone? What the hell was he doing?

He’d said there was nobody in the house, and she believed him. The man had preternaturally good hearing.

She employed a little trick she remembered from when she was a kid, slipping her fingers through the gap between the window frames, flicking up the little metal latch that held the window closed. The wood-and-glass panel swung open with a creak.

She opened the other half and stepped inside, pushing aside the white linen drapes. She reached for her guide-light and…

An arm went around her throat, dragging her backward. She tried to spin around, but her attacker was inhumanly strong. Alexis reached for her gun but that was quickly knocked from her hand.

Her opponent was no joke… and they’d had the element of surprise.

Shit. She tried a different tactic, hooking her leg around one of the attacker’s, shifting her bodyweight…

Thud! They fell to the floor. The attacker’s hand clamped over her mouth. “Shh! Be still, Alexis. I’m not going to hurt you.”

Alexis was having none of it. She grabbed the attacker’s arm with her right hand and unleashed a little of her power, hoping to incapacitate her enemy rather than kill.

But it didn’t work the way it was supposed to. Her attacker didn’t go limp.

What the hell?

She slammed her elbow into her enemy’s belly and was rewarded with a grunt of pain. She was about to reach for her fallen gun when…

Suddenly, she was free!

She spun and caught sight of two figures in the shadows; one massive, one small. Immediately, she knew the big one was Nythian, and she breathed a small sigh of relief.

There was a small struggle—well, it went on for longer than it should have, given it was Nythian doing the subduing—but he quickly got things under control, forcing the attacker to the ground. “Move again and I’ll snap your neck, human.”

So cold. Alexis had never heard him speak like this before. A little chill ran down her spine. This was the side of him she rarely got to see.

She flicked her light on and froze.

Nythian stood with his boot on the attacker’s back. It was a woman! A petite woman with a sharp bob of blonde hair. She wore black jeans and a black tank top, and her arms looked strange… but Alexis couldn’t quite put her finger on what the difference was.

“You know her, Alexis?” Nythian raised an eyebrow, looking completely unsurprised.

“I…” Alexis stared at the woman, who turned her head and met her eyes.

Startling blue.

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