Page 82 of Alien Prince's Claim

We both knew that.

It was going to be Cayah’s ship or nothing.

I kissed him and squeezed his muscled arm. “Don’t worry. Everything will be fine.”

Yaltah climbed into the hole and dragged the bed in behind himself.

I peered over at the fist-sized hole.

Goblar arms already stretched through it, attempting to reach me.

Occasionally, I caught sight of a tuft of hair, the shining rings pierced through their noses, and their evil glowering yellow eyes.

Worst of all was that disgusting hacking haw-haw-haw of their cackling laughter.

Goblars or a dark tunnel?

The choice was easy.

I climbed into the hole after Yaltah and backed up enough for the bed to slide aside so Yaltah could reach up, grab the handle, and slam the hatch shut.

He spun the wheel and turned the lock back into place.

We were cloaked in claustrophobic darkness, the cloying stink of something sinister filling my nose and stinging my eyes.

The bed slid forward and I crawled on my hands and knees after it.

With the threat of flooding at any moment, or the Goblars finding another entrance to crawl in after us, I wondered if it was possible for the situation to be any worse than this.

I couldn’t imagine it, but within the next thirty minutes, I was about to witness it firsthand.

27

YALTAH

I did not like having to follow Cayah.

I did not like having my strength slowly sapped by having to drag Cayah’s mate behind me.

And I hated that Emily had to follow in last.

As my mate, she should never have to put up with being last in anything.

Least of all in a situation when she should have been first.

But an even worse fate awaited her if we had stayed in that room or attempted to escape back through the hallways.

The idea of her in the Goblars’ hands was worse than disliking or hating.

It angered me to my very core and knew it would haunt me for the rest of my life if that were to occur.

For her to be defiled by those demons was a fate worse than death.

In fact, death would be a welcome escape from such an outcome.

I knew I would not take my own life — it went against the very principles of the Krev.

But more than that, I refused to betray Emily’s memory and the failure I had led her to.

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