Prime Selection (19 page)

Nadia flicked off the safety on her weapon and rested her fingers around the grip, ready to pull and fire at a moment’s notice. She slipped her left hand down her thigh and prepared to go for her knife in its sheath.

Swearing under his breath, Joen subtlety maneuvered away from her and Lia’s bodies, giving him room to fight. All the while, they retraced their steps.

“If they attack before we get back inside the bar…” Joen’s voice was low and monotonic, “…I want you both to run. Let me handle these
apayebote
.” He surreptitiously pulled his weapon and held it along his thigh between his and Nadia’s body.

“Like hell,” Nadia muttered. “Lia can run and get our crew members. You saw what I could do on Tarn—don’t go all protective Prime male on me now.”

“You are unwell—and in training this morning you were hurt…”

“
Dermo
!” Nadia hissed in her native Russian, cutting him off. “I’m fine. I won’t leave you. Deal with it.”

The four men stalking them were closer now. They appeared to be large Prime males. Joen was a decent fighter, but he wasn’t the kind of warrior to take down four bigger men.

“Nadia’s correct. You need her.” Lia released Joen’s arm. “What a day to leave the com-devices in our quarters.”

“Be ready to run, Lia
lubha
.” Joen’s free hand swept down the doctor’s back, a tender, loving gesture. “Nadia, don’t hold back.”

“Didn’t plan on it. Get ready, Lia.” Nadia echoed Joen’s order. “They’re coming.”

The chilly calm Nadia was known for swept over her conscious mind, shoving all other worries aside. The primitive part of her brain was on full alert and in survival mode.

Adrenaline flooded her veins, preparing her for the coming fight. The piercing ache over her right ovary, always bothersome, subsided as if it realized now wasn’t the time to distract her. She needed all her energy, strength, and concentration for battle.

In the back of her mind, the connection with Huw unshielded and began to seek him out as it had on Tarn. All she found was blackness. Again, he denied her. She shoved the feelings of hurt aside; she had no time for such useless emotions with a fight to survive.

The black-clothed stalkers went on attack and flowed across the narrow street like a living malevolent fog rolling over the land. Their angle of approach cut Nadia and her friends off from the bar. The men were armed with laser weapons, but didn’t fire them.

They obviously weren’t out to kill but to capture.

The repercussions of Alliance officers using deadly force on planet, even on men who meant them harm, swept rapidly through her mind. The diplomatic nightmare and the potential for destroying the new alliance had Nadia leaving her sidearm in her holster.

“No lasers until they use theirs.”

“Smart call, Nadia.” Joen mimicked her move.

His immediate agreement meant his mind had worked along the same channels as hers—this attack could be a set up to see how Alliance crews would react to civilian threats. The Alliance military couldn’t be perceived as easily resorting to deadly force for every potential threat. The fact that several Prime—traitors though they were—had died on Tarn, and even earlier on the
Galanti
and on Tooh 2 at the hands of Alliance officers, had created a furor in the Prime Elder Council.

Until these four Prime used deadly force, she and Joen would meet the threat level on an equivalent level.

When she spotted the glint of knives in two of the men’s hands, she pulled her serrated battle knife. “Knives, Joen. They have knives.” Joen’s battle knife made a swishing sound in the quiet night as he drew it from his thigh sheath.

As the four men circled the three of them, one of them made the mistake of leaving an opening big enough for Lia, freeing a path toward the bar.

“Run, Lia. Get the others!” Nadia shoved Lia through the gap and leapt toward the man who attempted to follow the doctor.

Joen beat her to her target, shouting, “Lia,
gemate
! Behind you!” He roared a battle cry similar to one she’d heard the Caradoc brothers use and threw his body at the man who’d threatened Lia’s escape.

Gemate
? Joen and Lia were bonded? Joen’s concentration would be to protect his mate at all costs. The other three attackers had heard Joen’s words. They bellowed and turned to attack Joen and Lia; the bonded status of the couple made them the primary target.

Nadia shouted the battle cry of her family and engaged the enemy. Her job would be to keep the other three off Joen’s back as he battled like a demon to kill the man who would’ve harmed Lia and prevented her from obtaining help.

Calling upon years of training and experience, Nadia rushed into the fray. She swept her knife in wide arcs. As she made initial contact with the three men, drawing blood, they turned to face her.

One man jumped toward her, leading with his knife, testing her mettle. She slashed him across his knife-wielding arm with a backhanded move and danced away from him.

Thank God, she had long arms and legs; they made hand-to-hand fighting easier.

A sweeping side kick kept his two buddies away.

The attackers now realized they had a real fight on their hands. She continued to use her knife and legs to block them from going to the aid of their friend who wasn’t faring well at Joen’s hands.

The man she’d sliced initially charged her as she maneuvered to reposition and find her balance after a series of kicks. Reflexively, she arched away, backhanding him across the face with the fist clutching her knife. He bellowed his pain and managed to slice her shoulder as she twisted away. She forced the pain of the shallow wound into the back of her mind, imagining it sinking into a deep well of soothing water. The pain now blunted; she fought back even harder.

“Forget the other two. The leader wants this one!” one of the three said in Prime.

“She is a friend of Wulf’s woman and is worth much.”

Not gonna happen, bastard.

Nadia parried and thrust at the trio who taunted her with jabs of their knives and their talk of what they’d do once she was in their power. Her agility and superior training were the only things keeping her alive.

She could feel the blood soaking the back of her uniform as the slice was unable to coagulate due to the movement of the fight. Not a good sign. The loss of blood would weaken her eventually, and the predators would swarm and overpower her.

Definitely not gonna happen.

Ignoring the bleeding and the dull, throbbing pain, she fought with a furious concentration, doing as much damage as she could. The sounds of Joen’s grunts and swearing punctuated the background as did the sound of Lia’s feet hitting the pavement fading into the distance.

Joen was still standing and her friend had gotten away. Help would arrive soon.

At the thought of reinforcements, she dug deeper into the little bit of extra strength all warriors held back to close out a battle. She let loose with another battle cry. A new surge of adrenaline infused her blood and she went on the attack.

Nadia slashed at the closest man, slicing him across the thigh and adding to the wounds she’d already inflicted. He glared and spat Prime curses. She smiled and gave him a vulgar Prime gesture Wulf had inadvertently used with his brothers during training.

The assailant’s look of shock had her chuckling, which served momentarily to throw her three attackers off their game plan.

One of the thugs yelled. “You dare laugh?
Sued-seuater! Karote
!”

Anger ate at her gut. Fear threatened as she grew weaker. She encased both emotions within a box of ice in her mind. Soldiers didn’t allow their emotions dictate whether they won or lost a fight. At times like this, training took over.

Her attacker wanted her to react crazily at the egregious insults; she’d refuse. Little did these men realize her crew members didn’t call her the Iceberg for nothing. Better men than these bastards had tried to get a rise out of her.

Only Huw’s continued rejection had the power to touch her; nothing these cowards said could unnerve her.

“You are mistaken,
apayebo
—bastard!” She ducked as a fist headed for her face.

“I’m not a seed sucker or a whore.” She shoved the fist-bearing arm up and away using a forearm block. She followed with a front kick to the man’s crotch, missing his groin and getting him instead in his lower abdomen.

Then, the three backed away; their gazes aimed over her shoulder.

Nadia sensed Joen’s presence behind her before she heard him. The aura of his anger was like a column of flaming heat washing over her back. Now she realized how the Prime worked so well together in battle—they could sense one another’s
batel rabia
.

“Nadia … at your back.” Joen’s rumbling voice sounded loud in the sudden break in the fight.

The night air was chilly, and the rain Joen had predicted had begun to fall in a light drizzle. Nadia’s ragged breaths became little puffy clouds as they hit the cool mist. Joen’s breathing didn’t sound much smoother.

The only good thing was the three Prime labored also. They’d probably expected an easy victory against one Prime and two women. The rebels would soon learn—the Alliance fought until the last man was standing.

“Why aren’t they using their lasers?” Nadia muttered.

“Too noisy. They don’t want to call attention to themselves,” Joen muttered back.

“Plus, pride. Your reasoning for not using our weapons was sound. One man is down. Lia made it away. Help will be here soon.”

While it seemed as if they’d fought for hours, it had only been a few minutes. In five standard minutes more or less, help would arrive. She and Joen could handle these three for that length of time—and if not, they didn’t belong in the Alliance.

As the enemy circled them, she and Joen worked in concert, keeping the three men away with effective sweeps of their knives. A quick glance confirmed the man Joen had fought was down and unmoving; the rapidly spreading blood pool under the body glistened black against the wet cobbled street.

Happier with the odds, Nadia went on the attack. The man who’d cursed her had come too close, so she shoved him back with a vicious forward kick to his diaphragm.

Gagging, he fell sideways onto the rough, uneven pavement, his leg slipping awkwardly on the mist-slickened surface. The sharp crack of a bone breaking sounded loudly amidst the groans and curses of the fighting. The downed man’s litany of filth testified to his pain and frustration.

Good. The odds were better now—one attacker each.

“Good job, Nadia. Left one’s mine.” Following his words, Joen charged the man to his left and quickly forced the fight away from her, giving her room to use her legs, her strongest weapon when fighting a man larger and stronger than her.

“Ready for me, you coward?” She waved him on. “Come get me, asswipe.” She purposely goaded him; she didn’t want him running away now that help would be here any minute.

Stalking her next victim, movement from the man with the broken leg had her glancing his way.
Shit, shit, shit
.

He fired his laser pistol.

Guess he doesn’t care about keeping things quiet now.
Reflex had her moving to her right.
Should’ve broken his arm or at the very least disarmed him
. Her mistake could cost both her and Joen’s lives.

His shot cut a line of fire across her left upper arm. If she hadn’t moved, she would’ve taken a hit to her heart.

As if being stupid and getting shot by a downed enemy wasn’t bad enough, the bastard she’d been about to attack took advantage of her momentary distraction and rushed her. He took her to the ground. It was akin to being run over by a laser tank. The fall jarred her wounded shoulder and arm.

Madder than hell and in pain, she roared and rolled away from the man who pummeled her with forceful body blows. Like an eel, she twisted and slithered until she was out from under him. When he attempted to grab her by the shoulders, she thrust the heel of her hand into his nose. A nasty-sounding crunch and a gratifying amount of blood told her she’d broken the fucker’s nose.

Wiping away the blood, her Prime attacker swore and threw all of his body weight on top of her, his forearm braced against her throat. She grabbed his arm to move it, but the combination of his strength and the leverage he had proved to be too much.

But she refused to quit. As long as she had breath, she’d fight him. She wiggled and bucked to dislodge him, but he was too heavy. If she didn’t get him off her soon, she’d pass out from lack of oxygen.

In the background, Joen swore and grunted. He had his hands full. No help from that quarter. She was on her own until the others arrived.

Nadia took as deep a breath as she could through her constricted airway and calmed her mind and body. She needed to conserve energy and find a way to get the hulking bastard off her.

Brains won over brawn in most fights. The key was to eliminate the fear. Lessons she’d learned through hard-won experience.

The brute breathed heavily as he leered down at her. He was aroused, and his erection shoved against her lower body.

Her mind and body froze, remembering the past, the feelings of helplessness.

No, no, Nadia. Brain in the now. Not the past
.

She’d found a way to survive then—she would this time also.

The man felt her up with the rough, cruel fingers of his free hand. “Terran slut.” His spittle hit her face, but she forced herself not to flinch or display one iota of fear. “You want a Prime male so much? Let’s see how you like me, eh?”