Page 33 of Alien Prince's Claim

I recognized the deep whirr and heavy thud of ion cannons, the hiss-whip crack of anti-matter torpedoes as they slammed into the outer defenses.

And I knew we were in big trouble.

There were only so many organizations with the kind of arsenal being unloaded on the Seeding Facility at that moment, and none of them spelled anything good for our near future.

If they were attacking with this kind of fervor, it was because something they desired very much was within the compound.

But what was there of value here?

I could think of only a few things — the fertile bodies of the mates perhaps, or some untold wealth one or more of the aliens had brought to the facility…

Or maybe someone of supreme importance was here that made breaking long-held peace treaties worth the risk.

I tried to block the latter option from my mind.

The last thing I needed was to jump to unwarranted conclusions.

Whoever these attackers were, whatever they wanted, I had to ensure my mate was out of danger.

Let them take whatever it was they had come for.

But leave my mate out of it.

To attack a Seeding Facility wasn’t a particularly well-thought-out strategy.

There were many large alien males frustrated during their Steyatt and threatening their female mates was not the best idea.

But they were unarmed — that was a prerequisite to get into the facility in the first place.

No weapons were allowed on the premises but I knew, as well as any of the other warrior males did, that in a pinch virtually anything could be harnessed as a weapon to inflict grievous harm.

The attackers would find they had disturbed an angry morik nest and would get stung — perhaps mortally — in the process.

But I had to assume the attackers had taken that outcome into account and had come prepared for such a scenario.

I didn’t know who was attacking or what they were attacking for, but I knew I didn’t want to get involved in it any more than I needed to.

I focused on the sounds and the screams and identified them as coming from the opposite direction we were heading.

The dock where my ship was stored was on the other side of the facility.

“We need to get to the dock,” I told Emily. “If we’re quick, we can get there and take off before they even know we’re gone.”

It was a long shot but it was the only one we had.

It would be much easier to escape this nightmarish situation in a ship than to have to face our attackers in the facility’s hallways.

We were unarmed and would have to use stealth tactics to take them down.

I knew I would much rather be away from here than have to face them in close quarters like that.

And still, that third possibility, the reason for the attackers coming here, played on my mind.

Should I tell Emily the truth?

Did she need to know?

Would it help her?

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