His bellow of pain was much more satisfying than hairy cat-man’s had been. Yeah, he had balls, but that didn’t mean I wanted to stay around and see them or how he reacted to then being shoved up into his throat.
Isaak blinked in shock at what I’d done, looked from Graig, moaning in a fetal position on the ground, to me. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but his wide eyes and cute as hell grin had me grinning back. Yeah, I had rage issues.
“Nice one, gara.”
“Z, Isaak. Z for Zara,” I said on a sigh. Men never learned.
I swung my titan stick at the hobbling cat-man who had stupidly decided to try to grab me again, which made me realize just because these aliens could walk on two legs didn’t mean they had any brains.
I burst out laughing—hysterical, crazy laughter—at my ridiculous thought as Isaak spun around and shot down the closer of the two huge Cerberus guys. He fell like a log, the thud causing a group of smaller, not nearly as dangerous looking thugs, to slow completely then stop. Since they didn’t have the arm bands, they probably came to the conclusion this wasn’t their fight nor worth dying over.
Only one bad guy was left, and the way his face was contorted with rage, he was really angry at Isaak for taking down his friend. Isaak fired, right into his chest, but the guy was not going down. Shit. Should I help?
“Get on the ship!” Isaak’s order had my feet moving before I could process the thought, and I raced up the ramp…
Straight into the blue bitch. I bounced back a step or two then dodged her claw-like excuse for fingernails grazing my upper arm as she tried to grab me.
“You’re coming with me, female,” she snarled. I knew to be wary of pissed off females. She was more dangerous than all the males I’d encountered so far, I was sure.
“No, I’m not,” I told her. No fucking way.
She grabbed for me, for my neck. “Give it to me!”
I spun as she grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled me in closer, where she could get her hands on my body.
Wincing in pain from the hair pull, I swung the titan stick up and back, stabbing her in what I hoped was her ribs. “No!”
She grunted but didn’t let go. What was she wearing, a bullet proof vest? Zap proof?
Shit. Desperate now, I pulled the weapon forward and struck again, aiming higher.
“Ah!”
Fuck, yes. I got her in the face. I hoped I hit her eye, but I wasn’t sure where I’d managed to strike, only that she’d released her hold, and I could move.
I swung around, whipping the stick with me and brought it down across the side of her head. She screamed this time and stumbled, barely standing. Lifting my left foot, I kicked her ass down the ramp and hoped she fell off. I didn’t want to have to drag her from the ramp, so we could close it, and she definitely wasn’t coming with us.
A guy jumped over her rolling body like a hurdler and landed in a crouch in front of me. Jesus, how many of them were there? Panicked, I brought the titan stick up to strike my new enemy.
“Gara. It’s me.”
His voice penetrated, and I held still, regained control of myself, even as I watched Ulza roll and fall off the end of the platform.
“I got rid of your blue friend,” I told him, taking a deep breath.
Isaak had his hand up, toward me, apparently to ward off a stick attack, but he risked looking back over his shoulder. “Excellent.”
He stood and placed his palm on some kind of scanner. Immediately, the loading platform began to retract, the pieces sliding inside one another like an old-fashioned spyglass. The Cerberus bad guy who Isaak had been shooting at when I ran onto the ship appeared. Either Isaak was a horrible shot, or he had some kind of bulletproof vest like Ulza. Or whatever it was called in space. I had to give the guy points for perseverance, for he must have leaped to grab onto the edge, his fingers curled around the platform, hanging on like a monkey.
“Gara, can you take care of that? I need to start the engine.” Isaak dipped his chin in a pointed reference to my still crackling titan stick.
I glanced from the stick to the asshole trying to pull his elbows up onto the platform. “I can do that.”
Isaak took off down a small corridor at a dead run, putting his faith in me to take care of the pesky guy. I raised the titan stick, walked slowly toward the exposed hands grasping for purchase on the ever-shrinking ramp.
I swung once.
His hand disappeared.
Twice.
He lost his grip, but hand number one had returned.
“You asshole. I am not...”
Slam.
“Going...”
Slam.
“With you!”
The ship lurched beneath my feet as I slammed the stick down on the attacker’s hand for the last time. He fell with a bellow of rage, and I stood at the door, watching until it was completely sealed, making sure no more thugs needed a titan stick up their ass.
6
Zara
“Time to go!”
Isaak’s shout had me moving. I dropped the titan stick—no way was it fitting down the narrow corridor without accidentally electrocuting myself—and hustled in the direction of his voice.
I found the cockpit or whatever it was called in a spaceship. It was literally just like Star Wars with two seats and a shit-ton of buttons and dials and slider things. I settled into the empty seat beside him.
“Buckle up,” he said, not offering me a glance.
I heard and felt the hum of the engine as I clipped into the five-point harness.
He turned his head, narrowed his eyes as he took me in from head to breast, his gaze stalling for a second.
I was in a tight, ugly brown outfit which was far from flattering, but it also didn’t do anything to hide
