Tamed By the Alien Pirate by Celia Kyle Page 0,27
sorry…
Someone clutches my hand in a powerful grip and then yanks upward. My sputtering head is finally above the surface, and I spit out a huge gobbet of gunk before sucking in a huge, tasty gasp of air. It’s in my eyes, my nose, everywhere. I can’t even see who my savior is. I really hope it’s not another Kraaj.
“Hey, you all right?”
That’s Kintar’s voice. About the point I manage to get my eyes clear, a tremendous slap across my shoulder blades sends me sprawling to the hard pavement. Between coughs, I manage to sputter out an epithet or two.
“What the fuck was that?”
“Sorry, Zander. I thought your lungs might not be clear of the sludge.”
He picks me up as if I weigh nothing and drags me toward a hover bike stashed in one of the rubbish-strewn alleys.
“How did you know I was in trouble?”
Kintar chuckles as he leads me half stumbling into the darkened alley way.
“After you pulled your disappearing act, Solair didn’t have to think hard about where you went. I’ve been hanging around outside the Starcorp building waiting for, as Varia is fond of saying, the feces to strike the ventilation unit.”
“You mean, for the shit to hit the fan?”
He shrugs.
“Close enough.” He gestures at the waiting hover bike.
“Can you hold on?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine—wait a minute. We can’t leave without Thrase. She’s still in there, and they know she’s a spy.”
I yank myself free of his considerable grip and start staggering toward the Starcorp building. Passing by a large plate-glass window, my reflection stares back at me. My golden skin appears brown because of the coating of black syrup. It’s oozing out of my shoes, sloshing around between my toes, and making me utterly miserable, yet the only thing I can focus on is getting Thrase to safety.
“Wait, Zander. Hold up for a moment.”
Kintar gets in my way, holding both hands out in supplication.
“You can’t go back in there. It’s suicide.”
“Kintar, I must.” Sighing helplessly, I gesture at the building, inadvertently flinging goo onto Kintar. “She’s my jalshagar.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.” Kintar chuckles. “Think for a moment, please. They’re not going to kill her, at least not right away.”
“Yes, they’ll most likely torture her for information first. I can’t abide that, Kintar, I simply can’t abide that.”
“Damn it, you fool, don’t you have any faith in your fated mate at all?”
His fiery query stops me where his flailing limbs never could. I pause, syrup dripping off of me onto the street with a constant pitter patter.
“Of course I do, but…”
“Then you need to express that faith right now. Thrase is a very smart woman. She’s capable of giving them just enough incentive to keep her alive without betraying all of us. Isn’t she?”
I calm myself with effort, but then I picture her strapped to a chair while a murder puppy brandishes its claws, and I start for the building again.
“Zander, does that pistol you’re wielding even function at the moment?”
I look down. I hadn’t realized I’d drawn it again.
“No…” I sigh and sheathe it.
“And do the two of us stand a chance against armed, armored guards who outnumber us twenty to one, or even worse?”
“No.”
“Good. Then do the sensible thing. Come with me, get on the fucking bike, and let’s go back to the Queen for backup and some real firepower.”
I open my mouth to argue, but he grabs my arms and shakes me hard.
“God damn it, Zander. I’m NOT going to stand by and let someone else be killed on my watch. It’s not going to happen.”
“But Thrase…”
“Can take care of herself for the moment. Besides, are you forgetting about Lokyer? I’m the one who brought him onto the Queen in the first place. I’m friends with his father, or did you forget that? Don’t you think I want to charge in there like Zuvok the Terror and start busting heads? Well?”
I hang my head in shame, and nod.
“Right. Let’s go, then.”
He gives me a little shove to get moving, and I go back into the alley. Not a moment too soon, either, because the front door of the Starcorp building bursts open and spills out IHC “Marines” and half a dozen murder puppies. They’re distracted by what’s happened to the street at the moment, but all they have to do is glance up and they’ll see us.
Kintar leaps onto the bike and I sit behind him.
“Hang on. We’re going to have to burn out of here hot because once I start the