“But what about Lauren?” Kat asked. “We can’t just leave her here.”
“She and Xairn are right behind us,” Lock said. “I saw them as we were leaving. Don’t worry, they can meet us on the beach. Until then, Xairn will take care of her.”
“How can you be sure?” Kat insisted as they began walking again. The old battlefield was in sight now—she could see some of the wrecked and abandoned ships littering the dusty, barren plain.
“Didn’t you see the way he looked at her?” Deep shook his head. “Don’t worry, Kat, he’ll die before he lets her come to harm.”
Kat thought they were trusting the big Scourge an awful lot on such a short acquaintance but then she remembered Lauren’s words and the way she’d looked at Xairn. Maybe it will be all right, after all, she thought. And we do need to get moving—need to get Deep back to the Mother ship. Even if the knife wasn’t one of the poison kind—a kusax—it still nearly went right through him. Looking down, she realized she was still clutching the bloody blade in one hand. She almost threw it away, but then she tightened her grip on it instead. They weren’t safe on the ship yet and who knew what might happen between here and there?
“Come on, Brother, just a little bit further,” Lock urged as Deep staggered, one hand pressed hard to his wounded side.
“I’m fine,” Deep growled but he made no move to stop his twin when Lock looped an arm around him to give him support. Kat hoped he was all right as he claimed, but she couldn’t help worrying. She wished again that she could tell what he was feeling—if she could still feel his emotions, she would have been able to tell if he was lying or not. Maybe it will all be okay, she thought hopefully. We’ll get back to the Mother ship and Sylvan can fix Deep up. We can find out why Lock and I can feel each other but not him. And get a shower and wash all this gunk off!
She shivered in disgust at the feel of the now-drying goo on her back and hair. It must have been the remains of the AllFather’s bubble—she wasn’t sure. Whatever it was, it smelled worse than anything she could even imagine. She probably would have been happier having rat guts in her hair. Or roaches, or spiders, or pretty much anything else but this disgusting slimy jelly-like stuff.
They were almost all the way through the maze of dead and abandoned ships when she heard a hoarse shout behind them. The three of them turned to see Xairn striding toward them with Lauren held in his arms. He shouted something else, but he was still too far away to hear—just on the edge of the old battlefield.
“See?” Deep said as they stopped to watch the huge Scourge approach. “I told you he would protect her.”
“He may be of the AllFather’s bloodline, but I believe he must have some Kindred genes as well,” Lock said thoughtfully, stepping forward.
“He certainly cares for his female like one of us.” Deep sounded approving. “I wonder if his mother could have been one of the rare Scourge-born females? They say there were a few born before the race was decimated.”
Xairn shouted again and this time Kat could hear him. “You must take Lauren with you,” he said. “Back to your Mother ship. She cannot stay with me.”
Kat frowned. The Scourge warrior sounded truly distressed. “Is there something wrong with her?” she yelled, running forward a few steps to meet them. “Is Lauren hurt?”
“No, but she must—”
But whatever else Xairn was about to say was suddenly cut off when a massive hand reached out from behind an abandoned ship and yanked Kat off her feet.
“Wha—?” she gasped as the hand spun her around. She looked up and up and up…into the face of the Alpha guard. But this time its eyes weren’t the blank, empty black-on-black she’d come to expect. Instead, the pupils blazed crimson with malice. When the guard opened its mouth, a familiar voice came out.
“Die, sssweet little human,” it hissed. “Die ssslowly and know that the daysss of your race are numbered. I will take sssuch revenge on the femalesss of your world asss hasss never been ssseen before.”
A knife suddenly appeared in its grip—a tiny one, so small it looked like toy in the Alpha guard’s huge hand. The blade was strange, black and many sided, and the tip…the tip was a bright, poisonous green.
It all happened so quickly that Kat had no time to react. She wanted to raise the curving black blade she still carried to defend herself, but her arm seemed frozen in place. Somewhere to her right she heard shouting as the tiny sharp, knife came down, the shining, deadly point coming closer and closer…