Page 59 of Swept By The Alien Pirate Prince

“It’s here. Yes.” I licked my lips and wiped the sweat away from my eyes with the tips of my fingers.

“Press it,” Carmela pleaded in a breathless whisper.

I stabbed my index finger into the button and the moment I did, the robot went limp, and released its heavy, snaky arms from around Carmela’s neck and torso.

She crumbled to her knees, bringing her hands up to her neck, gasping for air, her lungs working overtime, her chest rising and falling rapidly.

I was on the ground with her in a split second flat, linking my arms around her drooping torso and stroking her back to comfort her — but there was little time left, and if we stayed on this ground for too much longer, we were going to be in trouble.

The enslaved robots occupying this place showed no mercy. They ruthlessly attacked from all angles, swiping at us, trying to claw at us, climbing on our backs.

One ripped into the fabric of my warrior gear and broke skin. The pain sliced through me, but I ignored it. It wasn’t a deep cut, and I had no choice but to move on and deal with it later.

I shielded Carmela as best I could, cupping my arms over her head like a protective dome, using my body as an umbrella against the thrashing robots.

They were only doing what they were programmed to do, what the Operator wanted.

Once I got a hold of that Operator, I could put an end to all this madness.

Carmela’s breathing was shallow underneath me. I reached my hand, which looked enormous in contrast, over her head and patted it, brushing my fingers against the spiral ringlets of her auburn curls.

“It’s okay, baby,” I said. “It’s going to be okay.”

“How much further is it?” she croaked.

I swear it seemed like she had just asked me this question, but I couldn’t remember now. The world was surreal around me. I bristled as another robot tried to come at me from the side — but I saw it in time and was able to throw a reeling punch to pop it backward.

After the rowdy little thing was blown back, Carmela hustled from underneath me and skidded on a heel in front of it, threw it over with one hand, and disabled it from its back panel.

I ogled at her, knowing that my eyes were huge. “Wow.”

“What?” Carmela took her fingertips and moved them across her cheek to remove a few fallen tendrils of auburn curls from her face.

“I’m just impressed, that’s all.”

Carmela, panting hard, grinned. “Yeah? Well, there’s more where that came from.”

“I’d love to see it,” I said.

“Keep me around and find out.” Carmela’s eyes flashed with reassurance, like she was in it to win it no matter what, and that wars like this were where she felt the most alive.

My heart swelled a million times for her. She was the air I breathed, the oxygen in my lungs, my presentandmy future.

I reached for her, clutched her petite, warm hand in mine and tugged her forward. “Come on. Let’s keep moving.”

We finally reached the Operator. It was huge, towering over me and my soldiers. The robot swarm had died down somewhat, although we were still dealing with a lot of pesky ones that refused to be caught and disabled.

They had started to learn our movements, and steered clear from Carmela, knowing she was the one doing most of the robot killings.

“I’m going to have to kill it,” I shouted to Carmela over the roar of the action.

“I can hack into the system,” Carmela said.

I shook my head. “Wait for me to injure it first. It’s going to be guarding the mainframe. It's not going to let you past it to get to the system.”

Carmela’s eyes narrowed and flickered with stony determination. Her fists balled and her cheekbones raised with eagerness.

“Go for it. I’m going to be right behind you. Just say the word and I’ll hack the system.”

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