The second Changeling bent forward to grab my arm.
I ducked and moved behind him.
The blast from the neuralizer struck the second Changeling full in the face.
His head lolled and his arm fell to his side.
I ran for Slak. He was a regular Titan. He had no external shell but plain flesh and bone.
I swung at him with the razor-sharp pebble.
But the first Changeling was there with the handheld neuralizer.
I slammed my eyes shut just in time. The glare flashed and I caught sight of the veins in my eyelids. They blocked the worst of the neuralizer’s effects but not everything.
I stumbled as my legs lost the will to move. I crashed to the floor.
“I’ve got you now!” the second Changeling said.
I raised my arms to block my face and eyes. The ray was strong and it was tough to block it all. I kicked out with my leg.
Slak stamped on my upper arm.
“De-neuralize her!” he growled.
“I’m trying!” the first Changeling said.
He kept waving it at me, searching for a hole to flash it in my face.
I screamed and tried to roll away but Slak’s foot pressed on my upper arm wouldn’t release.
I was pinned down.
I was doomed.
YAAAARGGGGHHH!
A pair of wailing banshees threw themselves at my assailants. One crashed into the first Changeling, the second into Slak.
I peered over my arms and found no bright light aimed at me. I sat upright. Vicky wrestled with the Changeling. She was holding her own too. I recognized the style of fighting. Titan military training. The Dance of Death. I wondered how she’d learned it.
Alice was coiled around Slak with her arm locked around his neck. He choked and struggled to shake her off.
These bitches were crazy!
My girls.
I scooped the handheld de-neuralizer off the floor and found the trigger. I fired it at the floor to ensure I was holding it properly. I aimed it at Vicky and the first Changeling.
“Bedtime,” I said.
They both looked at me. Vicky was first to understand my little clue and snapped her eyes shut.
I yanked the trigger and the first Changeling turned comatose.
“Nice work,” Vicky said, panting and out of breath.
Still, she looked strong.
We ran over to Alice and Slak.
“Hey, asshole,” I said.
Alice reacted fast and clamped her eyes shut.
Slak didn’t do so well.
He stood there with his head bowed over and red marks around his neck where Alice had been clinging to him.
“Not so tough now, are you?” I said to Slak.
I slapped him across the face. My palm burned and turned pink.
Ouch.
But it was worth it.
“That was for betraying my boyfriend and our emperor,” I said. “Now, get in a pod.”
Slak shuffled off without a word of argument, an angry red palm glowing on his cheek.
I repeated the command to the others who also did as I said.
None of us breathed a sigh of relief until they were all locked away.
“What do we do with the other girls?” Alice said.
They still stood to attention before their pods.
“Do you think there’s a de-de-neuralizer switch on this thing?” I said.
Fiath
“We’re getting close to the signal now, sir,” the pilot said.
He pointed out the windshield at the large spaceship nestled in a rocky alcove by the seashore. Its engines were engaged and it looked ready to take off at a moment’s notice.
And if it did…
I might lose her forever.
I couldn’t allow that to happen.
After the ship took off, the communicator’s signal was weak but strong enough for us to follow it. I was only relieved the ship hadn’t left the planet.
Not yet.
They likely wanted to make sure they had what they’d come there to steal.
My fated mate.
I swear, I’ll tear them to pieces with my bare hands.
I would ensure the ship remained on this planet, no matter what.
“Target the ship’s thrusters,” I said. “If it attempts to take off, bring it down.”
The other Titans turned to me. They wanted to argue, to make other suggestions, as their own fated mates were on board.
But I was their emperor. When I issued a command, it had to be obeyed.
I understood how helpless they must be feeling right now but I knew I was doing the right thing.
I decided to give them a little encouragement to ease their fear.
“If they make it into space, it’ll be a million times more difficult for us to find them again,” I said. “In space, we’ll be unable to fire on their ship. If they leave our atmosphere, it could be years before we find them again. In the meantime, we would be at Slak’s whim. I can’t allow that to happen. This is our best chance of getting them back. I have no intention of letting any of your mates get harmed in the process.”
A couple eased a little but the others refused to look at me and peered out the window at the ship below instead.
The Creator help me if anything does happen to their mates.
I got the feeling that if they held me responsible for the loss of their mates, it wouldn’t matter I was their emperor. They would cut through as many men as necessary to get their hands on me.
But for now, they were on my side.
“Take us down,” I said. “Tell the other ships to cover us.”
“Sir, may I suggest we set down behind the blind corner over there?” the pilot said. “It’ll make it harder for them to shoot us down.”
“Do as I ask,” I said, doing nothing to calm the chill in my voice.
If they wanted to kill me, then they’d better get on and do it.
“If they open fire, I want all ships to target their weapons, engines, and thrusters,” I said. “Anything that won’t rupture the core and result in an explosion. They have some very valuable cargo on board and I will not risk it being harmed.”
“Understood, sir,” the pilot said before issuing my commands to the other ships.
We sat down directly in front of the Changeling spaceship. It was an old model, fully capable of interstellar travel, but not at modern
