She rolled across the shuttle floor once again to come to a halt when her body slammed into an unforgiving surface. A wall had stopped her this time, leaving her sprawled on her stomach. Her hip hurt the worst, followed by the pain in her elbow. She lifted her head to watch the man she’d attacked rising to his feet. She saw blood on his arm, coming from the fresh claw marks she’s left on his shoulder. Rage filled him as he stood his full height.
Behind him his friend turned his attention on Casey too. It gave Rachael a fighting chance. Casey saw Rachael sit up. She was bare from the waist up. Rachael screamed, looking crazy with terror. The man still gripping her thigh turned as Rachael clawed at his face. The man screamed too as he struck out blindly with his fist.
Casey saw it happen almost too quickly for her eyes to follow the motion. The man punched Rachael. He was strong and his fist slammed brutally into Rachael’s face, level with her mouth and nose. The impact caused a horrible crunching. Blood flew as Rachael’s head snapped back, her body flung flat to the floor.
Everything inside the shuttle seemed to freeze, even time. The man who’d been approaching Casey slowly turned, staring at Rachael’s still body. The man who’d hit Rachael backed up in obvious horror, releasing her thigh. Blood ran down his face from the claw marks along both sides of his cheeks that Rachael had just put there.
Casey was stunned for long seconds before she could move. She crawled to Rachael. Neither of the two men moved. Casey crawled faster. Rachael was sprawled on her back, her body bared except for what her pants covered. Casey was shaking badly as she reached the still woman. She stared down at her in horrified shock.
“Oh God.”
Hot tears fell down her face. Rachael was dead. Her lifeless eyes were open, staring at the ceiling of the shuttle. Her nose was broken, blood seeping down her face from the damaged area of her mouth and nose, her jaw looked broken as well. With shaking hands Casey touched Rachael’s warm skin at her throat to search for a pulse. She felt nothing. Rachael was definitely dead.
Casey turned to stare in horror at the man who had killed Rachael. He looked pale as he met Casey’s eyes. He backed up more, shaking his head. Casey just stared at him.
“You son of a bitch, you killed her. You really killed her.”
She heard growling. She turned her head to face the scary sound. The man she’d taken down with a knee to the crotch was getting to his feet. He was the one growling. He roared suddenly, storming for Casey and Rachael. Casey knew her life was over. These men were rapists and killers.
The man ignored Casey as he moved around her. He bent over Rachael’s body staring down at the dead woman’s face. He put his hand to her throat, snarling, before he lifted his head, still ignoring Casey. Pure rage gripped his features, all directed at the man who’d killed Rachael.
The enraged man moved fast, stepping over Rachael’s body, lunging to grab her killer by the throat. The infuriated alien hauled the naked man to his feet, another roar tearing through the shuttle again, a second before the incensed alien threw Rachael’s killer. His body went flying until he hit the far wall of the shuttle in the front. The man hit the floor after bouncing off the wall. The man who’d thrown him snarled again.
Casey was in shock. She watched the three men snarl at each other. They were obviously arguing. They ignored her completely so she felt safe enough to turn her attention from them. She picked up a discarded shirt from one of the men who had attacked Rachael. Her hands shook as she reached over to close the other woman’s eyes, covering up her face and breasts with the shirt.
The men started to fight. Casey was shocked as the two naked men attacked the one who had thrown the killer. They went to the floor in a dog pile of large bodies and fists. Casey got to her feet on shaky legs. The back of the shuttle was close to her. She moved fast, not thinking, knowing she didn’t have time to. She hadn’t heard the shuttle engines come on so they were still in the Zorn ship. She ran for the back door that automatically opened for her.
She was in the room where gravity had been restored. She turned to watch the doors slam shut behind her on the shuttle. She spun in the small cargo room to face the outer door. She saw a large button and dove for it. She hit it as hard as she could. A loud buzz sounded and seconds later the outer doors opened. She expected the gravity to go again but it didn’t. She moved forward, stepping out of the smaller ship. Gravity had been restored in the Zorn ship and the lights were back on.
Casey ran. She had no idea where she was going but she wanted to get away from those men. She bolted for the door she’d come through, feeling relief when it automatically opened for her this time. She ended up in a corridor and she turned, sprinting away. It had been dark when she arrived in this area of the ship but she remembered what side she’d come from. She was pretty sure she was going in the right direction. Somewhere on the ship was Argernon.
Chapter Eight
Casey’s side hurt. She was hopelessly lost and she hadn’t run into anyone. She’d found a hatch and had crawled down a floor. Where were the Zorn men? She was more afraid of running into the men who weren’t Zorn. If the men she’d escaped from were tracking her, they hadn’t found her yet.
She was pretty sure she was in the crew quarters area. She tried to find a place to hide but there wasn’t anywhere to go. None of the room doors would open on this level. She touched pads but the doors remained locked. The only doors that opened automatically were doors that shut off one corridor to another.
In her bare feet she couldn’t miss the slight motion of the floor under her vibrating slightly indicating to her that the ship was moving again. Relief hit her and then fear. Maybe the Zorn had control of their ship again but maybe not. She heard growling right before movement flashed, and she turned her head toward it.
A man was walking toward her dressed in all black like Argernon. He was looking at some kind of tablet thing in his hands, his full attention on it. His heavy-duty black boots were also just like the ones Argernon wore. He looked Zorn. Casey’s eyes flew to his ears peeking out of long black hair that was pulled back from his face, falling down his back, seeing that they were definitely round.
“Hey, you,” Casey called out. She ran toward him.
He stopped walking as his head snapped up. She saw him tense instantly before he spotted her. He looked shocked for a second but he recovered quickly, moving toward her. Casey was sure he was Zorn by the time they faced off, both stopping a few feet in front of each other. She met his glowing green gaze, feeling joy that he was Zorn. This close to him she was absolutely sure what he was.
“Can you understand me? Do you have one of those implant things?”
The man nodded. He reached out his hand holding it out to her palm up.
Casey hesitated. “Where is Argernon?”
He held out his hand closer to her. Casey eyed it and then lifted her gaze to his. “Will you take me to Argernon?”
Relief hit Casey when he nodded. She put her hand in his larger one, feeling his fingers firmly grasp hers. He slowly turned, tugging on her, so she followed him when he led her to a conis on the wall. He was probably turning on the translator, which made her happy because she wanted to be able to talk to him.
A hundred questions filled her head. Instead the man growled into the built-in device. Seconds later someone growled back. The man released the conis to look down at her. His eyes tore from hers to look both ways. He looked on guard to her, tense, like he was expecting trouble.
She heard faint growling minutes later but it wasn’t from the man gripping her hand. She turned around, staring down a corridor, only to see Argernon coming at her fast. He was still barefooted, bare chested and had two other Zorn men walking right behind him. His gaze locked with hers. Sheer happiness at seeing Argernon alive and well slammed Casey. She swore the man gripping her hand chuckled as he released his hold on her. In the next instant Argernon grabbed Casey, jerking her into his arms, pulling her tightly against him.
She slammed
into his bare chest not even caring that he was sweaty. Her arms went around his waist as she hugged him almost as tightly as his crushing arms held her. His entire body seemed to quiver when he lowered his head to nuzzle the top of her head with his jaw.
She didn’t want to let him go, but as Argernon released her he forced her to. She looked up at him, seeing relief in his expression and a few other emotions she couldn’t guess. Mostly she saw his happiness at seeing her and she knew she was damn happy to see him again too.
He studied her face first and then started to examine her with his hands while he visually inspected her body. After sniffing at her a few times he snarled at one of his men. They snarled back. Argernon looked enraged when he faced Casey. One of the men tore open the conis panel to start working on it with a metal tool. He softly growled something and then there was a beep.
“I don’t care,” Argernon snarled. “Fix it right now. I want to know what happened to her. She should have been safe locked in my room. I smell Collis on her.”
“I’m trying to fix it, Argis Argernon,” a male growled. “We’re a mess. I got gravity restored and we’re moving again. I got us up to full power, but we’re still having internal problems with some of our systems. They fried us when they attacked and our internal sensors are shot. I don’t know if any of them are still on board or if we killed them all. I am hoping the lockdown procedure is working so if some of the Collis are still on board, that we’ve trapped them where they are.”
“Just fix it soon,” Argernon looked pissed off. “I want to make sure my bound is unharmed. She’s scenting fear and she was found wandering the ship. She came in contact with a Collis. Make it a priority. I can’t stand not being able to talk to her.”
“Argernon?” Casey stared up at him.
His head lowered. “Yes, beautiful? I wish you could understand me.”
“I can.”
He blinked. Shock transformed his features. A second later he smiled. “You can? The conis is working?”
“Yes. What in the hell is going on? If Collis are men with pointed ears, spots on the backs of their hands, and they look kind of like Zorn, then I definitely met them. They took me from your room and took me to some little shuttle. I escaped.”
Argernon’s mouth dropped open. He paled. “What?”
She fought tears. “They had another human woman there. They killed her, Argernon. They were going to rape us. I fought. She tried to fight. One of them punched her in the face when she clawed his face up. He hit her too hard and killed her. The three men started to fight each other and I got away from them. I’ve been wandering the ship looking for you, but I didn’t see anyone until that guy found me.”
Argernon snarled. The translator was quiet. He jerked his head around to glare at one of his men. “We need to search every inch of the ship and find these betrayers now.”
He turned his full attention on her. He caressed her cheek. “Did they hurt you? Tell me the truth.”
“I got away before they could do anything to me.”
Relief washed over his face. “We were attacked by the Collis. We’re not at war with them so we don’t know why they did it. They live on a planet not far from Zorn. They boarded us. We thought it was only one shuttle they used, but we have that one secured. If they took you to a shuttle then there’s another one. Our internal sensors are down so we can’t track anyone inside until it is fixed. We initiated lockdown so without a palm print it should seal off the ship at every junction.”
“It’s not working. I was able to walk around. The doors automatically worked except it wouldn’t let me into any of the rooms. It just would let me move from corridor to corridor.”
Argernon snarled, turning his head to glare at his men. “Fix it now, and alert everyone that lockdown is not working. Order our men to search every inch for those betraying Collis.”
“Yes, Argis Argernon. I’m sending out the alerts now.” The man at the panel was typing something into it.
Argernon turned to stare down at Casey. “I thought you were safe in my room. I am sorry. If I had known you were in danger I would have been there.” His shoulders slumped. “I failed to protect you.”
She was dazed at how upset Argernon was. “It wasn’t your fault. Really.”
He dropped to his knees in front of her. Casey was surprised as Argernon started sniffing at her, pressing his nose against her shirt, as growls tore from him. It was a vicious sound. His hands fisted on her shirt as his head snapped up.
“I smell more than one male on you.”
She swallowed. “I attacked one of them and I landed on him. Another one took me from your room. I’m fine, Argernon.”
He climbed to his feet, a look of fury hardening his features. “You’re my bound. I should have protected you better. I will never be remiss again, Casey. I swear it to you. Do you forgive me?”
She nodded. He was beating himself up over something that wasn’t his fault. She heard a beeping sound. Argernon spun around to face his men.
“What is it?”
“We have a breach on deck three,” one of his men snarled. “It looks like they aren’t done yet. They are heading right for us. I’m sending the alert and our males are on their way.”
Argernon shoved Casey, none too gently, against a wall. He moved in front of her, trapping her body there with his larger one. She felt fear as she stared at his wide back. She heard the Collis before she saw them. They were wearing those metal boots that clanked loudly on the corridor floor. Casey did a head count on the seven Collis as the pointed-ear aliens paused. The one in front leading the other six was the one she’d attacked in the shuttle and she saw the other two men who had attacked Rachael with him.
“That’s him leading them,” Casey whispered. “He’s the one I attacked because he was going to rape me. The two shirtless men behind him are the ones who killed Rachael.”
“Stay put and don’t move.” Argernon’s voice was hard to understand since he snarled the words harshly. “The leader is mine.” Argernon threw his head back, a roar tearing from his throat. “You will die for attacking my ship.”
The other man roared back. “We want the Earth women. They are worth a fortune. Give us the females, all of them, and we’ll leave you lowly Zorn alive.”
“How did they know we carried humans aboard?” It was the man who had fixed the conis. His voice was soft.
“I don’t know,” Argernon spat. “But it’s the last thing they will do after they tried to steal my bound. Kill them all.”
Casey gasped as Argernon roared again. Suddenly he was gone from in front of her, leaping forward, literally, to attack the alien who had tried to rape her. The alien’s face paled before Argernon was on him. Both men went flying backward into the Collis men. Argernon’s three men were in the fight an instant later. It was four Zorn against seven Collis.
Fear and horror hit Casey while she saw the men fighting. Argernon got lost in a pile of moving bodies. Most of them remained on their feet. The Zorn men snarled and were much stronger than the Collis. Casey figured that out fast as she watched one of Argernon’s men grab hold of a Collis, slamming his enemy hard against the wall, the crack of bones breaking reached her ears. The Collis screamed in pain before being sent airborne by the Zorn gripping him. The Collis went sailing past Casey down the corridor where he hit hard into a wall about six feet from her.
Her attention returned to the fight. Argernon was on top of her would-be rapist, his fists pounding the trapped man under him, blood showing on Argernon’s fists as they rose. More men rushed from down the corridor where the fight was blocking the way. Horror hit her when she realized they were more Collis and not Zorn. She could tell them apart now from a distance by their uniforms. The Collis wore black but their outfits were styled differently. Now the Zorn men were outnumbered four to ten.
A groan caught Casey’s attention. The Collis who had gone flying was cradling his broken arm as he tried to get up. She realized he was the man who h
ad killed Rachael. He shook his head as he got to his knees. Casey saw the dropped tool on the floor, left by Argernon’s man when working on the conis. It was a metal instrument with a long, thick screwdriver-type implement on one end of it.
Rage hit Casey. That was the guy who had killed Rachael. Even though she hadn’t known the woman for more than a few terrified moments, she knew how the poor woman died in terror, trying to not be raped. Casey leaned down, picked up the tool and stormed for the man struggling to get up.
These aliens had boarded the Zorn ship with every intention of stealing human women and raping them. Her temper snapped when Casey saw the man turn his head. He must have heard her approach. He growled at her. Their language didn’t come across the conis to her. Whatever he said she didn’t know and she didn’t care. His growl was vicious with intent. He moved fast, even injured, and bounded to his feet. He snarled as he came at her.
“Fuck you.”
Casey yelled as she threw her body at him instead of backing away. It had worked with the other guy. She nailed him with her weight as their bodies slammed together, the tool in her hand shoved between their bodies, as they hit.
A scream sounded. It was his and not hers. Casey almost collapsed to her knees as the alien staggered back. She stared at the shocked expression on his face. Something warm hit her as it spread down her hands, arms, and chest. He stumbled back another foot so she saw the gaping hole in his chest between his ribs. He looked down his body, seeing his blood pouring down his belly and groin. His head snapped up so he could glare at her as he dropped to his knees. His hands pressed against the wound but blood still ran over fingers.
“Go to hell,” Casey whispered, knowing he was going to die, with the heavy tool still gripped in her wet, blood-soaked hands. “That’s for Rachael.”