Alien Savior (Zerconian Warriors Book 5) (5 page)

“Kyle invented a cloaking device that disguises our ship. There are Coizil warships surrounding Lilan and we needed some way of sneaking past them. It actually worked. Kind of surprising. He hasn’t even really tested it.”

“Do you say that this ship snuck past Coizil warships to land on Lilan?” His voice rose at the end.

“Yes. We flew right underneath one and the Lilans opened their shield for a few seconds so we could sneak past before the Coizils knew anything was going on. Of course we’ve got to get safely past them again when we leave.”

“If this cloaking device failed the Coizils would have killed you.”

Unease filled her stomach, but she hid it behind a wall of attitude. She crossed her arms over her chest. “Well said, Captain Obvious.”

“Why would you wish to go to Lilan?”

“Ahh, I think I’ve said enough.”

He muttered something to himself in Zerconian.

“Hey, beast man, it’s rude to talk about someone when they can’t understand you.”

He eyed her closely. “You do not wish to know what I say. I fear I have vastly underestimated the intelligence of your leader.”

“Say what you really think. Don’t hold back.”

“I will not. Go. I wish to be alone.”

She turned and strode out of the room, shutting the door behind her. How the hell had that deteriorated so quickly?

“Been having fun with the prisoner?”

She spun to find Mitch standing behind her. The snivelling asshole shouldn’t be part of this crew. He was sneaky and conniving. Ever since he’d made a pass at her and she’d turned him down, he’d been a complete and utter bastard to her. Oh, never when one of her brothers were around and he never went far enough to make her tell Rye—not that she would anyway; she could fight her own battles.

Steele stood beside him, glowering at her. She was a hit with all the men in her life right now.

“Really, Mitch, you’ve got to stop following me around, I might start to think that you like me.”

His eyes flared at her taunt and he took a step forward, his hands clenching. “I am not following you around, you mean nothing to me, bitch.”

“Mitch,” Steele said in a low, warning voice.

Willa turned to Steele. While he could be a bossy, overbearing jerk, he’d never made a pass at her or treated her like she was a piece of meat.

“You hanging around with garbage now, Steele?” she asked. “I thought better of you than that.”

“We’re not hanging out together.” Steele straightened as his com beeped. “I’ve got to go. Rye and the others are headed back and I need to meet them. The two of you should get to your stations.”

As he left, she turned to Mitch just as he swung his fist towards her.

Barely managing to duck in time, she threw her arm up to deflect his. Pain reverberated down her arm, making her grit her teeth. She took a step back, taking a defensive stance.

“You want a piece of me, Mitch?” She curled her fingers at him, ignoring the way her whole arm throbbed. Willa knew she was pushing him into acting, but this had been a long time coming.

Time to face this once and for all.

“Bitch, you deserve to be smacked down,” Mitch spat out, his face red and blotchy. He might be considered attractive—before he opened his mouth and you discovered what an utter jerk he was.

His gaze was lit with glee. He really thought he could take her. He might be larger but she was faster. And smarter.

“I don’t care who your brothers are. You’re just a stupid cunt who doesn’t have the brains to know when she isn’t wanted.”

“Yeah? Come on then, teach me a lesson.”

Mitch roared as he swung a punch. She dodged to the side.

Tire them out then attack.

Rye’s words ran through her head and she dodged another fist.

“Come on, is that all you’ve got,” she taunted. “I could do this all day.”

“You think you’re so wonderful,” Mitch sneered. “Just because your brother is the boss. But you’re just like every other cunt, only good for one thing.”

She saw red. All of Rye’s advice and her training flew out of her head at Mitch’s words. She dived at him, throwing them both to the ground. She got in a good smack to his nose that made a sickening crunching sound. He flipped them so he was on top, pressing down on her, making it hard to breathe. She bucked, trying to dislodge him.

His fist rose and she knew she was in a shitload of trouble.

“Mitch!” Steele roared. When had he come back? Before Steele could reach them a huge roar rattled through the corridor. There was the sound of something creaking.

It couldn’t be. Impossible. She stared over Mitch’s shoulder, shocked as Darac bore down on them. Red filled his gaze. The fury on his face was so terrifying that she froze for a moment.

“Run!” she screamed at Mitch. Well, that was a shocker. She’d never envisioned a situation where she would want to protect him.

“What?” he asked dumbly, then looked behind him just as Darac reached him, plucking him up into the air and tossing him like a ball towards Steele, who had to get out of the way or risk getting bowled over.

It was terrifying how easily he tossed Mitch about, like he weighed nothing.

She scrambled to her feet, putting herself between Darac and Mitch.

“Willa, get out of the way,” Steele ordered calmly.

She glanced behind her to find Steele had his blaster raised and pointed right at her.

Well, not her.

Darac.

And she didn’t blame Steele a bit. Right now, the monster in the room was Darac. And she needed to convince Steele not to kill him.

“Don’t fire.”

“Are you crazy? He just tossed Mitch like a ball.”

“But he’s no use to us dead, right? And Mitch will survive.” Maybe. She didn’t dare check if he was still breathing. “Think about the ransom.”

She wouldn’t tell him what Darac had told her earlier. That he might be worthless to them. That could very well sign his death warrant, especially if he kept throwing people around like dolls, let alone breaking out of hover cuffs and locked rooms. How the hell had he done that?

Steele shook his head. “We can’t collect our share of the pot if we’re dead.” He raised his blaster higher. “You’re not tall enough to protect his head.”

“And what if you miss? You’ll make things worse. Just wait.”

She turned back to Darac who had his gaze trained on Mitch, ignoring them both.

“Umm, Darac, you in there? Darac?”

“Willa, move,” Steele insisted.

Darac’s gaze moved to the other man and he let out a warning rumble.

“Steele, shut up and let me try to calm him down.” Men. They never knew when to be quiet.

Mitch groaned and Darac took a step towards him. Willa held her arms out straight from her body, as if she could hold him back if he decided to attack.

“Listen, Darac, he’s down. He’s not getting back up. But I can’t let you hurt him anymore.”

A roar erupted from Darac that literally shook the floor beneath them.

She brushed a hand back and forth in front of her face. “You know; you might want to take a breath mint or something.” He took another menacing step forward. Okay, obviously trying to lighten things up was not working. “Darac, you need to calm down.”

“He. Hurt. You.” His voice was a low rumble, but at least he was talking. That had to be a good sign.

“That’s the problem? How did you know?”

“Heard.”

He’d heard? How could he possibly have heard anything? She glanced up and spotted an air grate. Their voices must have travelled through to the storage room where Darac had been confined.

“I don’t know what you heard but I had things under control.” Liar, liar pants on fire.

“He. Hurt. You.”

Shit, this was not going well.

Voices and footfalls running towards them distracted her, and Darac lunged forward, grabbing Mitch, shoving him against the wall, one arm across his throat.

“God damn it. Let him go!” She tugged at Darac’s arm, praying that he hadn’t completely lost it, because it would only take one hit from those huge hands to seriously harm her. If he had completely lost the plot and didn’t recognize her, he could well kill her.

It would kind of suck to die trying to save Mitch.

“Get away from him, Willa. Now,” Rye commanded.

She glanced over her shoulder at Rye. It went against the grain to disobey him. He’d raised her. He was more father than brother. And he was the boss.

But if she stepped away, she knew they would kill Darac. She didn’t question why she needed to save him, it made no sense. She wanted nothing to do with him. She didn’t even know him. And she had a feeling he was going to cause a whole heap of problems in her life. Problems that she really didn’t need.

But she couldn’t let them kill him.

“Willa. Now.” There was no emotion in Rye’s voice.

“Rye, I can get through to him.”

“Move. Now. I mean it.”

Zuma stood beside Rye, his blaster drawn. He took a few steps to the right to get a clearer line of sight.

“Darac, let go of him or they’ll kill you.” He didn’t move. Damn it. She had mere seconds to get him to move. “If they shoot you they could hit me.” It was a long shot, but her last chance.

Amazingly, he let his arm drop. His eyes remained red as he took two steps back. Mitch collapsed on the ground. Darac placed his arm around her, pulling her close. A shiver of delight raced through her body.

So not the time, Willa.

Quickly, Nolan stepped in to help Mitch. The others kept their blasters aimed at Darac.

“Step away from him, Willa,” Rye ordered.

“He wasn’t in his right mind, Rye. We need him alive to get that ransom.”

“Ain’t gonna be a ransom if he kills us all,” Zuma drawled, but his gaze was hard as he watched Darac.

“The only reason Darac went all crazy was because Mitch attacked me.”

“What?” Zuma glanced over to where Nolan crouched over Mitch.

“Steele?” Rye asked.

“When I arrived, Mitch was on top of Willa, his fist raised. Then he,” Steele nodded at Darac, “split that door in two and attacked Mitch. He’s out of control and obviously we don’t have anything that can secure him.”

“He’s fine now, though.” She glanced up at Darac who stood still. But it was the stillness of a predator waiting for its prey to move so he could pounce. Yeah, he definitely was not fine.

“How could he know Mitch was attacking you?” Zuma asked.

“I think sound travelled through the grate,” she explained, pointing upwards.

“Why isn’t he attacking now?” Deacon asked.

“Seems to me he’s just waiting to pounce,” Steele drawled.

Crap, so Darac’s stillness wasn’t fooling anyone. She could tell that Steele was waiting for an excuse to take Darac out.

Deacon moved back slowly. Where was he going? Did he think to sneak around the other side? Darac stiffened, obviously seeing the other man move. With a roar, he swung her up into his arms. Then he took off down the corridor, with her cradled like a babe against his chest.

Shouts followed but soon quietened. Dude might be huge but he was fast. Gradually, they found themselves in the cargo bay and he slowed, looking around him. He pushed the button to shut the door then smashed his fist against the panel to dismantle it.

“Well, what’s the plan now, big guy?” she asked, trying desperately not to show how shaken she was. The adrenaline rush that had seen her through the confrontation with Mitch was dying, leaving her shaking and jittery. “That won’t hold them for long.”

All they’d need was one of her lasers to slice an opening in the door.

“My ship.” He headed towards his ship.

“Your ship isn’t going to help. Rye isn’t going to open the cargo door and let you fly out,” she pointed out, trying not to think too much about how right it felt in his arms.

“You come with me.”

“Oh no, no way. I am not going anywhere with you.” Not even if he were acting sane.

“We go. Home.”

“Please don’t tell me you’re going to talk in short sentences forever, that’s going to get old fast. Kind of hard to argue with you when you can barely talk.”

Darac closed his eyes for a long moment, his face strained. When he opened them again, they had bled back to dark brown. The others would be here soon. Darac had longer legs and he was fast. But it wouldn’t take them long to get here. She had to figure out what to do.

“Darac, put me down. We have to hide you.” She knew her brothers. Normally, Rye thought everything through thoroughly. Unlike Zuma, who was a shoot first, apologize later sort of guy. But in these circumstances Rye would be firmly in Zuma’s camp.

Not because she was his sister, but because she was crew.

“He hurt you.”

“He didn’t hurt me. Seriously, put me down.” She searched the cargo bay. Where could she hide him? It was nearly completely empty now that the crates of weapons had been unloaded. “Hide behind those crates over there while I talk them down from killing you.”