Between the screams of agony and the rushing of my own blood in my ears, I could hear little but the battle. Until her voice pierced through the grunting and wailing. Alana was calling my name.
Spinning around, I scoured the top of the cliff for her. She’d been right by my side when the fight had begun. Now, she was nowhere to be seen.
I ducked as blaster fire rained over me, slicing my axe through the air to take out the last soldiers rushing toward me. Then I held my breath, my chest burning, and listened again. There it was. The sound of furious grunts and Zagrath curses.
I ran toward the noise, slipping down an alleyway and spotting the imperial solider first. He was straddling Alana, his hand forcing her head down while he fumbled with his pants and kneed her legs open. Her skirts were pushed up around her waist and her ass was bare.
Fury drove me forward, my vision clouded with red rage as I swung my axe high and brought it down between the soldier’s shoulder blades. A sharp breath was expelled from his chest, along with a bubble of blood from his mouth as he twisted around to look up at me with shocked eyes before slumping forward.
Lifting the body off Alana, I jerked my bloody blade from his back, then tossed his corpse aside like the trash it was.
She swiveled her head to me, her eyes still wild with panic and anger. When she saw me and then the dead Zagrath, she squeezed her eyes shut.
I calmed my own ragged breath as I knelt beside her. Although I wanted to kill a thousand Zagrath to pay for what they’d done to her, I’d have to settle for the dead body bleeding out beside me. And I’d have to quell my rage in order to comfort her.
I pulled her skirts down and noted that her knees were bloody. If I could have killed the man a second time, I would have. Instead I brushed a tangle of hair out of her eyes. “Did he hurt you badly?”
Alana shook her head even though her hands were trembling. “You came.”
Curling an arm around her waist, I pulled her up. “I will always come for you.”
She leaned into me for a moment, her body warm against mine. Then she cut her gaze to the unmoving imperial soldier. “I’m glad you killed him.”
“The pleasure was all mine.”
Alana laughed weakly. “I believe you.”
Taking her face in my hands, I wiped away a trickle of blood from her bottom lip. “The empire has no claim on you anymore.” I lowered my mouth to hers, feathering my lips across her bruised one. “You are mine.”
When she pulled back to meet my eyes, she shook her head, resting her fingers on the hot marks etching my collarbone. “We are each other’s.”
I nodded, my throat tightening as I kissed her again.
Before I could fully lose myself in the feel and taste of her, a loud whoosh overhead made us both look up. A ship was descending through the atmosphere and hovering over the cliffs. Correction—a fleet of ships. This was either very good or very bad.
I handed Alana a blaster I’d tucked into my belt. “Ready to get out of here?”
She gave me a sharp nod. “And take out some imperial soldiers along the way, right?”
My mate amazed me. Even though she was bruised and bloodied, she still welcomed the fight. “You will make an excellent Vandar.”
We ran down the alley, and I held out a hand to hold her back so I could assess the situation. I’d managed to take out all the fighters who’d come up from below, but if the ships from above were depositing more soldiers, I didn’t want us running into an ambush. I saw nothing, so I rushed out with my battle axe clutched in one hand, and her hand held tight in the other.
The street was littered with dead bodies, the scent of blood and burned flesh making my nose twitch. I ignored them and the fact that I’d killed them all.
I needed to get Alana off the planet and to safety, but there would undoubtably be more fighters coming up from below. A rush of hot air from behind made me turn and hold my weapon high. But when I saw the shiny black of the hull, I almost cried out in relief.
The raider ship touched down and the ramp lowered, my majak rushing off with a squad of screaming Vandar behind him.
“Svar!” Relief coursed through my body at the sight of my first officer and more raiders itching for battle.
He spotted me and ran forward, while the rest of the raiders fanned out to meet the Zagrath soldiers as they crested the cliffs. “Raas. You are alive!”
I gestured to the bodies strewn behind me. “Not because the empire did not try hard enough.”
Svar made a face. “Imperial automatons against a Raas of the Vandar? Was there ever much doubt who would prevail?”
I clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Tell me what is happening, majak. How did they find us?”
Svar let out a breath, his face contorting into a grimace. “The Valox resistance was attacked again. When the Zagrath tortured them, one of their fighters revealed the presence of a human female on our horde. The empire figured it out from there.”
I pulled Alana closer. “So this was not an attack on us as much as an attempt to eliminate my mate?”
Svar glanced at Alana then his gaze dropped to the ground. “It seems so, Raas. As soon as I found out, I alerted the entire horde and sent reinforcements to the surface. We have beaten back their fleet, Raas, and destroyed the lead battleship. They are in full retreat.”
I scanned the helmeted soldiers still emerging from the stairs. “So these remaining imperial fighters?”
“Have been abandoned.” Svar’s lip curled in obvious derision. Vandar never left raiders behind.
I
