“Watch it,” she snapped, expecting a shock.
None came.
Thalia pressed a hand against the acrylic surface. Nothing. The power to the tubes must have been cut along with the lights.
Planting both hands on the tube, she pushed with all her weight. Heavy, it did not want to budge but wobbled slightly at the base. The tube did not appear to be attached. She continued, pushing and holding back, making the entire tube rock back and forth. Without power, the flimsiness of the structure proved to be nothing more than cheap and held together by brute force. That seemed to sum up what she knew about the people who ran the auction.
The tube swayed. Thalia threw herself against the barrier, her added weight toppling the enclosure. She and the tube crashed to the ground. The tube shattered. Distantly, she felt bits of the shattered material scrape and cut into her skin but the adrenaline buzzing through her body let her push it aside. She was free.
“Havik!” The noise of the crowd swallowed her shout. She hoped all this chaos meant her alien had found her.
Rising to her feet, she made a calculated guess as to the direction of the next tube. Broken acrylic pieces dug into her feet as she stumbled across.
The tube was empty.
Thalia moved on to the next, a random person walking right into her back and pushing her out of the way. She fell to her knees, landing hard and catching some of her weight on her hands.
“Thalia!”
Her head jerked up and her entire body turned to the sound of Havik’s voice.
A figure emerged from the shadows, dark and prowling. The sulfurous yellow light shone up, casting a demonic glow to his form. Clad in armor and wearing a helmet that disguised his face, Thalia knew it was her Havik. The chaos of the crowd milled roiled around him, but he remained a perfect point of calm.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” she said.
His tail lashed out with menace, like a cracking whip. The barb on the end could take out an eye and Havik had no control over it.
“I’m sorry. I saw an opportunity and had to take it.”
He stalked closer. She could practically visualize his lips pressed into a thin line, thoroughly displeased, but the glossy black of the helmet only reflected her image.
“You look upset. Are you upset? I know I would be if my partner ran off and,” she searched for the phrase he used, “abandoned the mission, but I didn’t. We found the smugglers! Mission accomplished.”
Another step closer. Yellow light shimmered across the visor of the helmet. He reached down to a thigh and grabbed the hilt of a knife. The blade gleamed.
“Yeah?” She spread her hands wide and wiggled her fingers. “Please don’t be mad. I’m sorry, okay. I’m sorry and I missed you and I hoped you were tracking me and didn’t think I ditched you, because I’m not going to do that.”
He moved like a thunderous storm about to break, and Thalia had never been as frightened in her life. Not because he would hurt her—she never thought he would raise a hand to her—but because she failed him. Thalia had never had anyone care so much about her, and she screwed it up.
“Please don’t—”
The blade flew. She flattened herself to the floor, broken acrylic digging into her palms.
Havik
The blade hit its mark, sinking into the throat of the male who lunged for Thalia. The male touched the handle of the blade, as if in disbelief, and pulled it free. Blood pulsed and he slapped a hand over the wound, falling to his knees. Havik recognized him as the male who Thalia had saved from an allergic reaction.
The iron bar the male held clattered to the floor.
Thalia kicked the bar away and scrambled to her feet. “He was going to brain me! That fucker.”
Under his armor, his tattoos burned with pleasure. He had missed his mate and her colorful language.
“Thalia—” The visor slid open. A smile blossomed across her face, and the air felt clean, like after a storm. For the first time since the smugglers took her, he could breathe.
Then, because the universe could not bear to see him happy, a Terran female grabbed his mate. With an arm wrapped around Thalia’s chest, the female pressed a knife to her throat. Havik recognized his own blade.
Thalia’s oasis-blue eyes went wide but she remained still.
“That was my man,” the female hissed. “No one gets to end him but me!”
“Sue, we can be reasonable,” Thalia said.
“Is that your alien? Is he going to compensate me for my lost inventory? For the fuel I burned hauling your ass here?”
“Sue, this is a raid.” Thalia’s voice remained calm and steady. “Look around you. Those are Mahdfel soldiers. If you leave now, you have time to get away. They can’t stop every ship.”
“Do as my mate says and leave. We will not pursue you,” Havik said.
“Please leave,” Thalia said, her voice continuing to be a source of calm in the noise and confusion of the raid.
“You ruined me! You have no idea what the boss will do to me if I don’t give him his money. Do you think he’s the kind of man to accept an IOU?”
The knife dug in. A drop of scarlet trickled down Thalia’s throat.
“I’m sorry,” Thalia said. The back of her head slammed into the female’s nose, followed by a crunch and cry. Blood gushed from her nose.
Moving with a speed he did not suspect; she grabbed the blaster from the female’s shoulder holster. With the barrel pressed directly to the female’s thigh, she pulled the trigger. The female crumpled to the ground, wailing.
Thalia stood motionless for three heartbeats. He counted out the thuds emanating from her chest. She shook her head, then kneeled over the prone female, pinning her body down with her weight. She
