Born of Shadows (The League Gen 1 #3)(15)
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

I can’t move. But at least by unbuckling them, he’d saved their lives.

The sudden smell of engine fuel hit him… like it was gushing out of something and pooling nearby. It mingled with the harsh odor of burning wires.

Shit. The pod’s going to explode.

True to that prediction, he saw flames spread across the floor. They licked at his boots. The heat was searing. Grinding his teeth, he forced his ravaged body to move and move fast. But it was hard. Nothing wanted to work as he stamped out the fire at his feet.

“Princess?”

She was unconscious and bleeding profusely from a head wound. With a loud groan, he pushed her back enough so that he could roll out from under her. On unsteady feet, he picked her up and cradled her close. She really was tiny. Something that was easy to lose sight of when she was awake and bitching at him. Then she seemed larger than life.

His body rebelling against any act that didn’t involve him lying down, he carried her out of the craft and took her to a safe distance from the pod before he laid her down on the ground.

He sat back on his heels, grateful to be out of the pod and able to breathe fresh, nonburning air. Brushing his hair back from his forehead, he saw the blood on his hand. Yeah. Just what he needed. A head wound of his own. He took inventory of his conditionhis f hers. Instinctively, he reached for his backpack to get a cloth to stop her bleeding only to realize it was still in the pod.

Shit. He needed that. It would have medical supplies, food and other things they’d need if they planned to survive this.

He looked back at the burning pod. Only a flaming, krikkin idiot would run into something that was about to explode…

Good thing I’m an idiot.

Before his common sense could override his stupidity, he dashed back to the pod. The metal was hot from the flames—which he discovered as his hand accidentally brushed a wall and was burned. Coughing, he covered his mouth with his shirt and held it there with his burned hand while he tried to see into the small compartment. Ah man, everything had been tossed around to the point he couldn’t identify anything. Getting down on his hands and knees, he searched the wreckage as fast as he could. He choked and coughed, struggling to breathe. Just as he was about to give up, he saw a black strap on the floor.

His pack was underneath the crushed-in front console. He scooted forward and grabbed it, then paused as he heard something whine.

The roof lining was caving in.

Damn it! Jerking the pack to him, he scurried for the door. Just when he thought he was free, a part of the ceiling fell across his back and slammed him to the ground. He tried his best to crawl out from under it, but he was trapped. Flames blazed higher and brighter. The stench of fuel was making him light-headed. His lungs struggled to find oxygen.

Crap… I’m going to die.

Right here. Right now.

Still he fought even though it was futile. After all, he was a Dagan and Dagans never surrendered to death. Not without a bloody battle.

Desideria came awake just in time to see Caillen running back to their burning pod. What was the moron doing now? Hadn’t anyone ever told him that the correct protocol was to run away from burning objects?

Her head throbbed so badly that she feared she’d vomit. More than that, her vision was blurry. She reached up to wipe the sweat from her forehead. The moment she touched it, she realized it wasn’t sweat. She was bleeding all over the place.

It’s a concussion.

Her stomach lurched as more pain pounded through her body. Rolling to her side, she saw Caillen vanish inside the pod. He’s going to kill himself.

Let him.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t. He’d pulled her out twice now and saved her life. She’d still be inside the burning pod but for him.

Get up, soldier. Time to save the heroic idiot.

As she came to her feet, she heard a loud crash from the pod. There was no sign of Caillen. A bad feeling went through her.

He was dead or trapped.

Only a complete imbecile would run into a burning pod…

Bad thing was, she was an imbecile. Especially since she owed Caillen her life and even if it was only a small chance he was still alive, she couldn’t leave him there to burn.

Forcing down her nausea, she headed for the pod on unsteady feet.

The smoke was so thick as she neared it that she could barely see. The stench did nothing for her nausea. You’re a Qillaq. Stop whining.

Over the loud popping and roar of the fire she heard something… A string of obscene profanity.

She couldn’t help smiling as she used his angry tirade against the gods to find him trapped under burning debris. His wrath was palatable as he tried to free himself.

“I hope you melt into oblivion! Stupid, stupid son of a—” His words broke off as he saw her. For an instant, his entire face lit up, then it turned to a dark scowl. “Are you out of your krikkin mind? Run!”

She did, but it was toward him.

Caillen was astounded as she knelt down to help him get free. “There’s a tank about to blow. You have to leave. We only have a few seconds. I can smell it.”

“Not without you.”

“Princess—”

“Not without you,” she enunciated each word sharply, letting him know that he was the one wasting their time with a useless argument. She pulled as hard as she could against the hot metal that pinned him to the floor. “I’d already be dead if not for you. I’m not about to leave you after that. Now shut up and help!”

Caillen smiled at her sharp command. Only a sick bastard like him would find that amusing, especially given his circumstances. But they didn’t have long.

He growled as she lifted the burning beam where his leg was trapped. He slid his foot free and grabbed the pack. But not before he could hear the tank whine and whistle.

It was about to go. Their time could only be measured in heartbeats now.

Even though his foot felt broken, he grabbed her hand and his pack and ran with her from the pod.

Still they weren’t safe. The shrapnel would blow out for yards and could very easily pierce them. Tightening his hand on hers, he pulled her toward a copse of trees that would hopefully offer some protection.

They’d only made it halfway there before the pod blew. The shock wave of the explosion pitched them forward, causing them to tumble. All Caillen could do was try to protect his head as he rolled and fragments rained down all around them.

He came to rest on his stomght=/font>

Desideria lay a few feet away from him, on her back. Unmoving.

A sick feeling of dread constricted his stomach. “Princess? You alive?”

“No,” she groaned.

“Me either.”

A second explosion sounded. Caillen cursed as he saw more shrapnel heading for them, including a sizable chunk of the door. Grabbing Desideria, he barely made it behind a fallen log before the door impaled itself upright in the ground right where she’d been. Small fires burned all around them.

Her face pale, she looked up at him in awe. “Thank you.”

Letting out a long breath in relief, Caillen laid his head on the ground and did his best not to whimper from the pain that was tearing through every single inch of his body. He felt like he’d been run through a compactor. The last thing he wanted was to move, but he needed to check on her and tend the long gash in his leg. His luck it’d turn to gangrene and he’d lose it if he delayed treatment.

“Any time, Princess. But really, we have to do something about these near fatal interactions of ours.” Bracing himself for the pain, he sat up.

She glared accusingly as she shoved at his shoulder. “Don’t you dare blame me for this. What the hell was so important that you had to go back for it and risk our lives?”

“I only risked my life. You’re the loon who came back for me.”

She rolled her eyes. “I couldn’t agree more. Now why would you go back?”

He held his pack up.

She gaped at him, then glared as if she could murder him herself. “You almost killed us for a stupid backpack?”

“Not a backpack, baby. It’s a survival pack.”

“I would comment on the irony of you almost dying for that, but right now I really ache too much to bother.”

He laughed as he rifled through it. Until he heard the soft whir of an engine drawing near. That sobered him fast. “Someone’s coming.”

Her face lit up with relief. “Oh please, God, let it be a rescue crew… one with a clean bathroom.”

He didn’t share her optimism. Instead, cold dread weighed heavy in his gut. “C’mon.” He pulled her toward the tree line, deeper into the woods.

She dug her heels in and slowed him down. “What are you doing?”

“We don’t know where we are or who they are. They could be our friendly assassin or an accomplice. Until we know for sure, let’s not be seen.”

Desideria wanted to scream in frustration at his paranoia. But not so deep inside she knew he was right and unl they discovered the intentions of whoever was coming, they did need to keep a low profile. “I really hate you.”

“Hate you too, babe.” He gave her a charming grin and a wink that managed to be adorable even though she wanted to kick him some place that counted. “Now, c’mon.”

Desideria groaned as she forced herself to run after him. How could he move on that busted leg of his? Did the man not feel pain? She glanced to the woods and winced. It looked so far to those trees…

Caillen doubled back to try and carry her.

She stopped him. “You’re injured too and I can walk. I am not helpless or weak. I’m simply pissed,” she growled.

He held his hands up in apology. “Fine, but we need to hurry.” He jerked his chin to the sky where she could see the craft almost on them.

Run!

They barely made it to the trees before the hovercraft came in. It hesitated over the remains of their pod for several minutes as if the occupants were photographing the area or conducting some kind of test or evaluation.

Caillen scowled as he tried to figure out what they were doing. Normally, they’d be out and scanning the ground on foot. But these…

They had a separate protocol that deviated from the norm, which meant he had no idea what to expect. Damn.

“Can you tell anything about them?” Desideria whispered.

“They’re Andarions.”

“How do you know?”

He pulled his FVG out of his pack and held it to his eyes so that he could see the pilots in the cockpit who were scanning the ground and talking to each other. “Style of the craft. It’s an older Andarion model S10-B60. Most humans are too short to pilot it. And now that I can see them, they’re definitely NHL.” Non Human Life forms.

“Is that good or bad for us?”

Caillen sighed. “Depends on their intentions.”

“You’re not funny.”

“Not trying to be.”

The craft descended until it was on the ground. As the door opened, Caillen motioned for her to be quiet while he shoved an amplifier into his ear so that he could hear their conversation even from this distance. Luckily it only amplified voices and not ambient noises, otherwise his hearing would have been blown out by their hovercraft’s engines.

Two officers came out of the back to investigate the crash site while the two pilots remained inside.

Desideria opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off with a fierce head shake. One thing about the Andarions, those bastards could hear for miles even without an amplifier. They’d be lucky if the soldiers didnnt hear them breathing.

And what they were talking about was making his stomach shrink.

No, they hadn’t landed on a penal colony. This one was worse.

Much worse.

12

Caillen grabbed Desideria’s arm and pulled her back, deeper into the woods. Every time she opened her mouth to speak, he motioned for her to be quiet. Something that was beginning to really annoy her. He made other gestures that she couldn’t even begin to identify in a way that said he thought she should understand them too. She only hoped they weren’t obscene because if they were, he was going to be limping even worse than he already was.

It wasn’t until he found a cave that he allowed her to stop moving. He sent her in deeper before he set the pack on the ground and pulled out two devices she couldn’t identify. Frowning, she watched as he attached one to each side of the small opening, then turned them on. A low-frequency hum started and the devices caused the light in the cave to darken even more. She could barely see in front of her.

Without breaking stride, he pulled a light stick from the bag and snapped it, then shook it hard before tossing it on the floor so that it landed not far from her. Everything was bathed in a dull purple glow as he picked up the pack and moved toward the back of the cave where she was waiting beside a monstrous black stalagmite that shimmered from the light.

Only then did he let out an elongated, audible breath.

Can I speak? She mouthed the words.

“Yeah, but keep your tone low,” he whispered.

“Why?”

He wiped his chin against the back of his hand in a gesture that was an odd mixture of little boy and all-sexy, rugged male. “Andarions have supersonic hearing and I’m not completely sure my dampeners will work against it, especially if they’re using any kind of amp.” He gestured with his thumb over his shoulder to the opening of the cave. “Those guys out there… they’re not your usual crew. You and I hit the mother lode of bad luck. We didn’t just land on an Andarion planet. We landed on one of their colonies.” He pulled a small device out of his pocket and put it in his ear.

Call her stupid, but she didn’t see what the big deal was. The Andarions were members of the council, subject to the same laws as anyone else. Why was he freaking out? “Meaning what?”

“Their colonists are under martial law. Any offworlders caught without proper papers, visitation passes and authorizations are automatically marked as spies, especially human ones. And prosecuted as such. Standard practice is to lock us up and leave us there to die without ever notifying anyone that we’ve been taken. In fact, if ever asked, they’ll deny all charges. Bastards are good at that.”