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Champion(7)

By:Anna Hackett


“What is it?” Blaine demanded.

“I thought I heard—”

Then the scream came again, louder than before. A feminine scream. And this time, Saff felt a faint stab of someone else’s fear. When Blaine’s body stiffened, she knew he’d heard it, too.

“Come on.” Saff broke into a run.

Blaine cursed, and together they sprinted down the corridor. They turned a corner and Saff strained, trying to hear the noises again. Nausea rose, her body protesting the exertion, but she forced it away.

Another scream and some alien shouting.

Saff and Blaine powered around another corner. Ahead, she saw Dayna, Mia, and Winter struggling with four masked opponents. Whoever the attackers were, they towered over the smaller Earth women.

Dayna was the tallest and fittest of the women, and she was fighting back, throwing hard punches. Saff remembered that the woman had been some sort of law enforcement officer back on Earth. Mia was a spaceship pilot, and while she wasn’t big, the petite blonde was swinging and kicking with all her strength.

Winter was backed against a wall behind the women, terror written across her face and throbbing off her.

Blaine let out a growl that raised the hair on the back of Saff’s neck. He charged ahead of her, barreling into the fight. Saff followed him.

She landed a hard kick into the gut of one attacker, pushing him over, while Blaine wrestled with another man. The two of them slammed into a wall before hitting the floor and rolling. Saff spun, jamming a sharp blow into the shoulder blades of the third attacker. The fourth man was still fighting with Dayna, but she was clearly outmatched. Her opponent was bigger and stronger, and she was still recovering from her months of captivity.

Saff ducked several blows, and jammed her own fist into her attacker’s side. This was where her ability was most useful. Getting hints of what her opponent was feeling—anger, fear, determination, rage—helped her refine her attack. When he stumbled, clouded in fear, she leaped into the air, swung her leg around, and smacked her foot into the man’s face.

His head flew back, but he didn’t go down.

With an angry roar, he charged her. He grabbed her around the waist, lifting her off her feet. As Saff slammed a hard hit into his back, she heard Dayna cry out. Saff lifted her head and saw that one of the attackers had backhanded Dayna. The woman crumpled, unconscious. A second later, the man grabbed her and tossed her over his shoulder.

Saff fought free, and once again traded blows with her opponent. Then a woman screamed.

Mia had been snatched up, and her attacker was struggling to hold her. Mia kicked and flailed.

But the moment of distraction cost Saff. Her own attacker landed a hard punch to her stomach. Saff slammed backward and hit the wall. Pain flared inside her, the air rushing from her already-sore chest. Drak. Lights danced in front of her eyes.

She glanced over and saw that Blaine had his man down, was straddling the man’s chest, and pummeling his fists into the attacker’s face.

The other two aliens were subduing Dayna and Mia, and were huddled near the adjacent wall. Drak. They couldn’t let these sand-suckers escape with the women.

“Blaine.” Her voice was a hushed rasp, and he was too far lost in the blood-lust of the fight.

Her attacker backed away from Saff and grabbed Winter’s arm. The woman screamed.

“Lemons!” Winter yelled. “Lemons.”

Saff had no idea what the woman meant. “Let her go,” Saff croaked out.

They were in the heart of the House of Galen. These bastards had nowhere to go.

But suddenly, a small explosion rocked the corridor. Blaine’s big body hit Saff, taking her to the ground. He braced himself over her as rubble rained down around them.

“Up.” She pushed Blaine off her. “Get up.”

He rolled off her and she jumped to her feet, ignoring her aches and pains. Something had hit Blaine, and blood covered his face, sliding into his right eye.

There was a gaping hole in the wall.

And the attackers—including the one Blaine had taken down—were gone. And so were the women.

Saff’s muscles locked. The attacker had used some sort of explosive, and blown a hole out into the public corridor outside. She stumbled out the hole, searching the corridor beyond, Blaine’s big, hot body pressed close behind her.

At this time of the day, the arena tunnels were busy with workers and gladiators going about their business. A few had gathered, staring at the hole and the mess around it.

“The people that came through here,” Saff said. “Where did they go?”

A couple of the bystanders pointed down the corridor, but when Saff looked, she didn’t see them.

The attackers were gone. She looked up, her gaze slamming into Blaine’s enraged one.