Page 45 of Decadence

“Jesus, Sienna,” Emmett shook his head in disbelief. “Next time you’re expecting killers for breakfast, tell them to knock first.”

“Sorry,” she mouthed, suddenly feeling guilty that she’d completely upended her friends’ lives.

Two of the Kordolians stalked over to them; dark, phantomlike, utterly menacing. For the first time, Sienna realized how big and scary their guns were, and how very long their blades were. Why hadn’t she noticed these details before? This time, their presence felt different, somehow. There was a cold, dangerous edge to them that she hadn’t experienced before.

One of the warriors gestured coldly toward Emmett and Cleo. “You two. Go out front to the seating room and remain there while we secure the area.”

“You know what?” Cleo said softly, and Sienna wondered how the hell she had the presence of mind to appear so calm amidst all the destruction. “Why don’t the three of us just pack up for the day and go home so you can all do whatever you need to do without us getting in the way?”

“Quiet, human,” the Kordolian snapped. “Go and sit in the front room and do not cause trouble, or we will have to restrain you.”

“Like hell you’re going to lock any of us up,” Sienna snapped, glaring at the warriors. She wasn’t scared of any of them. She’d already been to hell and back, and there was no way she was going to let these Kordolians traumatize her friends. “This is my shop, and these are my people. I trust them one-hundred percent. You’re wasting your time holding us here. They have nothing to do with any of this. There’s no reason not to let them go.”

The Kordolians let out derisive snorts.

Sienna glowered. “We’re the last people who would try and make trouble for you. Especially when…” he’s in such a bad way.

She swallowed a tight lump in the back of her throat. What would happen to Ikriss now? Would she ever see him again?

Damn you, Ikriss. Coming in here with your weird disguises and intentions and dangerous secrets and violence.

Saving my ass once again…

The lump in her throat grew bigger.

She wanted to go to him; she wanted to know that he would survive.

But first she had to make sure Emmett and Cleo would be safe.

One of the aliens clamped down on her bare shoulder with hard armor-gloved fingers, causing her to jump. “You are not to make trouble for us. The Commander wants you back on the ship. You are under our protection now.”

“And if I said I didn’t want to go?” Although she desperately wanted to go to Ikriss, she couldn’t help but put up some semblance of resistance.

The alien let out a cold, sharp-edged chuckle. “But you already know you don’t have any choice in this matter. Those were his orders, and one does not simply question a Kordolian High Commander. Do not make this difficult for yourself, human.”

Ikriss’s orders…

Cleo and Emmett were staring at her as if she’d grown a third eye.

“If you people are taking her, then I’m going too,” Cleo said determinedly.

“No,” Sienna snapped. This is my shit. I’m not dragging either of you into any of it. She glanced down the hall toward the back entrance, past the drying smears of black blood and the shattered crockery and the discarded heavy cast-iron frying pan, which Ikriss had picked up with ridiculous ease, wielding it as if it were as light as a baseball bat.

Outside, she saw moving shadows and strange flickering lights.

The Enforcers and the ambulance Cleo had called weren’t coming.

All her customers were gone.

Ikriss was gone.

She had to see him again. She didn’t know whether he was going to live or die, but for reasons she couldn’t explain, he exerted a pull on her, like gravity; like the sun toward the Earth.

And he had taken an interest in her. An intense interest. The memory of his stare sent a jolt of anticipation right through her.

He had to live.

He had to.

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