deal with the pitiful Slasu horde that wanted to face a Xaravian.
He growled, then jumped and nearly ran into the wall when EJ fired her stunner over his shoulder at whoever followed him. She muttered, “Quit bouncing me around so much; I can’t freakin’ aim,” and tried to brace her elbow between his spikes to steady as much as possible.
Nokx wanted to crow his approval to the stars and the end of the universe. Fierce, funny little marmox, armed and prepared to defend herself. They were dangerous, the marmox, when approached in a burrow or their young were threatened.
She kept firing and almost took half his spikes and most of his ear off with one wild shot when he dodged into a side corridor as five Horgut guards, looking somewhat the worse for wear, dropped down a ladder and landed in front of them.
Power flickered in and out, the last-ditch survival systems struggling to maintain connections when it was obvious the slavers did not want anyone else to have light or air. The acrid stench of Slasu mixed with the staticky stunner fire had Nokx baring his teeth, though it only coated his tongue until it clogged his throat. He knew he would remember that taste the rest of his life.
However long that would be.
The guards closed in around them, getting near enough to shoot at them and slide percussive charges down the narrow corridors. Nokx winced and jumped to avoid a drone carrying some kind of knockout gas. He staggered as he breathed some in and started coughing and put EJ on her feet. “Go. Run. I’ll catch up.”
“Don’t be stupid,” she said. EJ grabbed his arm and pulled, dragging him along.
Nokx fought the fog growing in his thoughts and focused all of his being on getting her to the escape pods that waited at the end of a long corridor. EJ’s hand anchored him in the present. “I love you.”
She didn’t respond, running and dodging as more Slasu and a few of the Horgut closed in around them. The pods weren’t that far. The muster areas would be difficult to cross without any cover. They couldn’t just barrel in there. It was obvious the slavers knew where he and EJ headed, and they would be waiting. Nokx bristled and caught EJ up again, hauling her into one of those tiny closets.
EJ, panting hard, stared at him and hissed, “What the hell are you doing?”
“We need a plan,” he said. Nokx’s hearts raced and his spikes rattled. “They’ll have an ambush at the escape pods. They know it’s our only way out. If we run in together, they will capture us both.”
She shook her head. “No. We go together.”
“We’ll be in the pod together,” he said. Even though he wasn’t certain. How could he be? A knot tied up his throat. “If we go separately, we split their focus and stand a better chance.”
EJ’s gaze caught his. Fear lurked in their depths. “Promise.”
Nokx swallowed a groan. He’d sworn not to lie to her. Not to mislead her. But if he didn’t promise, she’d never go. He would make it up to her somehow. “Yes.”
She watched him, weighing and measuring, as the ship groaned and creaked around them. Nokx feared she wouldn’t believe him and he would have to sacrifice himself to shelter her as they ran for the escape pod. Then EJ took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay. Since you promised. We go together.”
He choked on the lie. He would do everything he could to get on that escape pod with her, but in the end... He needed her to be safe. Any sacrifice was justified.
Chapter 41
EJ
EJ didn’t believe him when Nokx promised they’d get in the escape pod together. She could tell by the tone of his voice and the tension around his eyes, the way a hint of sickly orange-mauve drifted through his scales and was gone. Regret, maybe. Guilt. She couldn’t tell anymore. Her throat burned and made it even more difficult to breathe through the drifting gas the Slasu had released.
But there wasn’t time to argue or reconsider. He wouldn’t change his mind no matter what she said. At least if EJ went along with it at the beginning, she stood a chance of intervening and making sure his ass got in the pod as planned. She wasn’t going to give up on them so soon after they finally kind of accepted each other. She wasn’t ready to say goodbye, no matter what separated