The Alien's Equal (Drixonian Warrior #7) - Ella Maven Page 0,46

outline of the Uldani communications satellite appeared on the screen, outlined in green. With a few more taps of her shaking fingers, the satellite blinked red a few times before going dark. She exhaled and let out a bark of laughter as she turned tear-filled eyes to me and pumped a fist in the air. “Done!”

I could see her confidence returning as her spine straightened and her eyes cleared of the haze of panic. I smiled at her. “You’re doing great. Keep going.” A careening vehicle entered my vision a minute too late for me to get a shot off. An explosion rocked the front of the pod. The floor tilted, and Justine shrieked as her chair rolled.

She grabbed onto the control panel in front of her to keep herself in place.

My head slammed into the wall and for a moment, I saw stars in my eyes. “Fleck,” I muttered, shaking my head to clear my vision. I blinked as a trickle of wetness slid down my forehead.

“Nero!” I heard Justine scream right before my head swam and my vision went black.

Justine

When Nero’s eyes rolled back into his head and his body slumped over, something came over me. It was as if the cool collectiveness of his soul transported into mine. My blood no longer flushed hot. If anything, an eerie chill descended over me.

I had almost no control over the situation, and in any other time that would have sent me into a raging panic. I threw myself across the room to Nero’s side and cradled his head in my arms. At the feel of his steady heartbeat and strong pulse, I calmed somewhat. He was alive, but that hit to his head had been a doozy. The thud of it still echoed in my head.

But I didn’t let myself lose it. I couldn’t control what was going on around me, but I could control how I reacted. He was alive, so was I, and we still had possession of the pod. And as I stared down at his face while doing my best to wipe the blood from his eyes, I let the compartments in my head I worked so hard to keep separate blur.

Nero had said to remember what we were fighting for, and those images flitted through my brain now. Everything I hadn’t let myself dream—a future with Nero on his home planet. A small hut full of my art. Our chit running between our legs and spilling my paints.

I had the power to get that future. I knew what I was doing, and the dreams calmed my nerves enough for my confidence to roar to the front of my brain like a steam engine. I could do this. I would do this. These fucking Uldani would see what happened when they messed with human females.

I didn’t let myself lose my shit over Nero passing out.

He was okay; just knocked out.

I ignored the flashes of laser fire that erupted from outside and pinged off the metal walls of the pod. Reaching into my pack, I withdrew a vial of medis. My hands no longer shook, and I spoke a random babble of words to Nero to drown out the sounds of the Uldani attack. Already Nero’s head wound was clotting in that amazing Drixonian healing way they had. I plunged the medis into Nero’s neck, emptying half of it, before slamming the rest into his mangled leg.

His body jerked, and his eyelids fluttered. He didn’t wake, but his face was no longer pinched with pain. Satisfied he would be okay, I didn’t dally. With controlled movements, I stood and returned to my place at the control panels.

I lifted my hands to the screen and while my mind raced with all I had to do; I took it one step at a time. The satellite communications were down, which would render most of their comms useless. Unable to communicate between the troops on the ground and those in the air attacking us, I suspected they’d need to regroup before launching another offensive. The laser fire seemed to have slowed, which proved my theory might be right.

Sitting in front of the massive screens, I shut down each of their utility systems—the water and septic, the electricity grid to all but the pod where I sat. Every time I managed to dismantle a system; shouts rose from the ground like a chorus. I risked a glance outside a small window to see the entire city plunged into darkness except