There was just a little bit of charge left in it. She hoped that would be enough.
Following what the little alien had done. She did the same. She cracked the door open a little just, enough that she could see inside the room.
What her eyes fell on made her heart thump and sink in her chest.
She recognized the alien. Even with their back turned towards her, she knew who it was.
The dark leather.
The long blue tail.
The way the alien walked with confidence and poise.
Herza.
She was standing with her leg wrapped around him, her tail stroking his leg.
Nia almost growled at the sight.
He was tied with his arms above him and Herza was stroking her body against his.
But despite Herza’s presence, Nia found she could only look at him.
Ka’Cit.
Her heart leaped and joy filled her at the fact that he was there.
She’d found him and he was alive.
“You’d really give this up for that little animal?” Herza’s words swam through the air and brought her back to reality. “That little thing? You’d prefer that…over me?”
She gestured to herself before running a finger down Ka’Cit’s cheek.
“This is the last time I’m offering. You should take it while you can get it,” Herza continued. “You won’t get a second chance, Smooth-Faced. Not where you’re going.”
Ka’Cit didn’t respond and Herza’s anger visibly grew.
Nia heard when the female’s claws extended as she stroked her finger down the side of his mask.
“And this mask…” Herza growled. “The Bone Crusher.” Her tail flicked and Nia knew what that meant.
Herza was turned on.
The realization made Nia see red.
“Do you really think somebody is coming for you? Is that why you’re holding out?” Herza asked. “Wake up Smooth-Faced. No one cares about your kind. You’re lucky I’m even here touching you. No one is coming for you. You may be the Bone Crusher, but people like you don’t have friends.” She flashed her fangs. “You’re alone and you’ll always be alone.”
The words made Nia grit her teeth. She’d heard enough.
Pushing the door open, Nia pointed the gun in Herza’s direction.
“Get off him, bitch. He’s mine.”
Shock registered in Herza’s eyes as she turned and almost stumbled off Ka’Cit.
“Who—” Herza backed away.
Ah.
The mask.
She forgot she was wearing it.
“Nee-ya?” The utter hope in Ka’Cit’s voice, the disbelief, the shock—it knocked Nia out of her element for a second. “How are you here? You shouldn’t be here.”
His eyes darted to the door behind her, the fear growing in that green pool of his. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“I came for you.”
Her words brought another level of shock to his system, it was clear.
She hadn’t seen those diopside eyes in weeks, but she was still just as good at reading them. And he wasn’t hiding his emotions behind a wall at the moment.
Right now, they were raw and at the surface.
Movement to her side caught her attention and she realized Herza was trying to pull a blade from her hip.
Nia trained the gun on the female.
“I’ve already dealt with the guards in the next room. One wrong move and I’ll have to take care of you too. I don’t want to do that.”
“You what?” Ka’Cit asked, his voice growing incredulous.
Herza dropped her hands to her sides but the look in her eyes spat venom.
Nia turned her attention back to Ka’Cit and began heading his way to release him, but there was movement in her peripheral vision once more.
Herza moved quickly, but not quickly enough.
It was pure instinct at this point. Reflex.
The gun swung in her hands as she fired, hitting the female Merssi in the side.
Herza let out a scream and clutched the spot where the bullet had seared her flesh.
The blade she was carrying fell from her hands to clank on the floor as her body fell beside it, writhing.
Nia let out a sigh. “I told you not to move.”
“Phek,” she heard Ka’Cit say. “This isn’t a hallucination. Nee-ya is really here.”
That made Nia turn in his direction and she marched right up to him.
“You.” She pointed the gun at his head but the look in his eyes was so filled with awe that it didn’t seem to register.
Awe and longing.
Suddenly, all the pent-up emotions from the past few weeks came crashing down and she only managed to stifle a sob as she plastered herself against him, wrapping her arms around his torso.
“Nee-ya,” he said.
“You asshole.” She gripped him tighter.
“I—What?”
She simply sniffed against him and held on to him.
For a few moments, he stiffened against her before she felt him struggling against his restraints.
She was just about to help him out of them when his arms closed around her.
Nia stifled a chuckle this time. “You could have gotten out all along?”
“From those restraints? Yes. From out of the rest of this mess…I’m not so sure.”
Nia nodded and still gripped him and he pulled her close.
“Nee-ya,” he breathed. “What the phek are you doing here?”
“I came for you…”
He held her away from him as he studied her, his gaze searching hers.
“How did you… Why?”
Nia sniffed again. Why did she feel so freakin’ emotional? “Isn’t it obvious?”
He gulped so hard she heard it.
“You’re wearing my mask…”
“Yes.”
“It suits you.”
“Good. Because I’m planning on keeping it.”
“But…it was at my home…you…don’t tell me you went there.”
Each word he spoke sounded as if he was still in a dream. As if he couldn’t believe he was really speaking to her.
“I saw the dead guards. I knew you were in trouble.”
He held her away from him enough that his pointed gaze bore into hers.
In that moment, it didn’t feel like they’d spent weeks apart.
His touch still sent tingles through her skin, being so close to him made her heart beat in a different way, and she could feel something pushing her toward him.
“Don’t ever do that again,” he growled.
“Don’t go to your house?”
His gaze was incredulous. “Don’t come after me! What if…what if…”
His gaze became pained as he pulled her against him once more.
A groan filled the room and brought them back to reality.
Herza
