Page 47 of Taken By The Alien Warrior Pirate

“I just have one thing to say to you,” I said resentfully, ignoring her jabs at my size and the fact that I was a human. She was always trying to segregate me from the others and make me feel unworthy of their presence, including her own.

She thought she was so perfect, but she was clueless on most everything. She only saw what she wanted to see. Amada had tunnel vision for Cyburn, and I was ready to snap her back to face cold, hard reality.

Amada might have felt like she had the warmth of Cyburn as a blanket of protection for her, but she would soon realize that jarring truth — the truth where deep, desolate isolation was nothing more than an empty void of blackness, just like the blackness in her eyes.

It was a place where she was alone and trapped in the dark and cold, shivering and wishing she’d made better life choices.

I was the one who could either push her further into that abyss or help yank her out. Her own actions tonight would be the very things to prove her own fate.

Amada maintained that amused smirk. I was itching to smack it right off her face.

“Oh yeah, scrawny shrimp? What isthat, then? I can’twaitto hear,” she chastised.

Her eyes danced as if I was nothing more than a source of entertainment for her.

“Howdareyou try to come between me and Cyburn. Who thehelldo you think youare, anyway? You really havesomenerve. You aresopathetic. It’ssadreally, how much you desperately fawn all over him.”

I had rehearsed this moment in my head over and over again. I had choregraphed every move I was going to make, everything I was going to say was intricately and precisely laid out specifically for Amada.

Yes, I was trying to get a rise out of her, to berate her and cause friction in her temper — just like she’d done to me so many times before.

At the mention of Cyburn’s name, and the row of insults directed toward her, Amada’s black eyes flashed with malice. Her jawline formed a carved line of anger. Her lips also formed a line of disdain, pressed together so tightly they turned stark white.

“Listen to me, you humanbitch,” she hissed. “Don’t youdarecome near me again, or you’ll be sorry that you did.”

Her threats sounded sugar coated and hollow. She was bluffing. Everything she said had no merit. I knew her better than she thought.

I returned her combative smile. I slathered on a thicker layer of charm than peanut butter on a cracker.

“No,youlisten tome.I’mdonedoing the listening. Did youreallythink that your efforts would pay off for you in the end? What did youreallythink would happen to you if you openly attacked the captain’s woman? Do youreallythink that threatening me is going to do you any good in the end?” I took a step backward, gave her a callous glance up and down, and let out a heartless laugh. “I guess you are stupider than you look after all.”

Amada’s green cheeks burned a dragon fire red. The wrath of hell swirled around in her dilated pupils.

“I think you are confusing me with yourself,” Amada snarled.

She got close enough to me that I could smell her sickening, flowery perfume that was overbearing enough from a few feet away, much less only inches. My nostrils burned and my temper flared.

“I’m not confused.Youare. Cyburn is in love withme, which means no matterwhatyou want to do to me, you can’ttouchme. I’m off limits. You havenoidea what Cyburn is capable of if you hurt me. I would heed that as a warning if I were you.”

For a moment, I thought that I had her right where I wanted her. I thought that I finally scared her into submission, that she was going to heed my words and back off. I thought that she was finally listening, but I was wrong.

None of that happened. Instead, Amada retaliated with evenmorerebellious force. Her lips curled up into a twisted smile. She looked like she was only one tattered thread away from losing her mind completely.

“I’mnevergoing to be scared of you. You’re nothing more than an impostor. You should have been left to be reduced to brain scraps that live inside the Belic robot bodies.”

I opened my mouth to retort, but Amada put a stop to that immediately.

I didn’t have time to react. It happened too fast. Amada’s arm swung upward. Her jaw stiffened. Her eyes narrowed in concentration. Her fist formed a solid rock of knuckle and bone. The torrential downward motion of her hand went thundering down like steel as she belted it directly into my face.

I heard the crack next. I wasn’t sure if it was my bones or hers. Searing pain ran like a hot fire-poker through my nose and cheekbones, then went tremoring through my jaw.

The pain made my eyes water and blurred my vision. I let out a deafening scream as my knees buckled. I dropped like a limp rag doll to the ground, clutching my wounded face. I was down, but not out.

Fury raged inside me like a tornado — one born of violence and destruction. I rose like a phoenix to my feet and lunged toward Amada with adrenaline fueled revenge pumping through my veins.

I meant what I said. If this bitch refused to listen to me, she was going down tonight.

ChapterNineteen

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