Savor Me Slowly (Alien Huntress #3)(80)
Author: Gena Showalter

“What about you?” Jaxon asked.

She shrugged as if it didn’t even bear considering. “I have alien parts. If I get hit, I’ll freeze.”

“And I won’t be able to see you to know it, which means I won’t be able to protect you.” He raked a hand through his choppy hair. “Since we don’t have the guns, don’t know where they are, and can’t guarantee we’ll get them, I guess I shouldn’t get too worked up about the possibility.”

“I still have eight minutes and eleven seconds.” She said the last over her shoulder, striding from the cell and into the hallway. Someone else’s home, a human most likely, since pictures adorned the walls. Two women in their early twenties. Pretty. Arms wrapped around each other. A good chance they were sisters, since they both possessed the same sloping nose. A good chance they were already dead. What a waste. “Follow me, but don’t talk. Okay?”

Neither responded. Good. Increase ear volume.

Percentage?

Fifty. The sounds of that movie already blasted through her mind, making her cringe. Louder and louder…The hammer of multiple triggers, the shuffle of footsteps, the fall of a vase. More of that discordant laughter. She frowned. Should a movie gunfight last this long? And were there female Schön? Because that time, Mishka had definitely heard a few women.

Louder. Filter out the movie if possible.

Increasing to sixty percent. Filtering…

Under the currents of gunfire, laughter, and grunting, she could suddenly hear Jaxon and Lucius breathing behind her. Could even hear the slide of sweat from their skin. The whoosh of it, the drip as it hit the ground.

Gunfire. Laughter. Yes, female laughter. Muted now. That drifted from the TV, she realized, because there was a hint of static. The gunfight, however, did not fade. It wasn’t coming from the TV.

“—can’t see them,” Mia snapped.

“—they’re on me,” Dallas grunted.

“Duck!” Eden shouted.

“Your friends,” Mishka said. The sound of her own voice nearly felled her. Too loud. She quickly bypassed the small kitchen, the equally small living room with threadbare furniture. The front door loomed ahead, closed, locked. No Schön. No gunfight. “Your friends are here,” she said, trying to keep panic from her voice. “Battle has already been engaged.”

“Damn it.” From Lucius.

“Where?” Jaxon.

Absolute panic covered both of their faces, and they didn’t even try to hide it. Lucius for Eden. Jaxon…for her?

Sweating, she easily picked the lock, shoved open the door, and peered out into the hall. “We’re in an apartment building. They probably killed the other tenants, because I don’t hear any other conversations.” So badly she wanted to cover her ears. More and more, the sound of her own voice was like booming thunder. “Do you hear them? See flashing from under the doors?”

“No,” they said in unison, and she cringed.

Jaxon’s strong arm wrapped around her waist and he dragged her down the hall, to the elevator. “Up or down, sweetheart?” he whispered, and that saved her from vomiting.

“Don’t know,” she whispered back. They’d have to experiment. “Go down one.”

He pressed a button. The doors slid closed. Lucius stood behind the left side, ready to attack anyone who tried to throw themselves inside the elevator when it next opened. As the metal box descended, however, the fight grew the tiniest bit quieter.

“Up,” she rushed out. “We need to go up.”

The elevator stopped on the floor he’d first requested, and the doors opened. No one appeared. No one attacked. Jaxon pressed another button. Soon they were rising, past the floor they’d occupied and to the next one.

When they reached it, she cried out. The fight was so piercing now she could no longer discern individual sounds. Just a constant stream of loud. Return volume to normal.

“There,” Jaxon said.

She opened her eyes. When had she squeezed them shut? Jaxon had already ushered her out of the elevator. They were pressed into a corner in an empty hallway. Blue flashes edged from the crease at the bottom of the door at the far end.

Lucius was already halfway to the room, creeping along the wall. Like a phantom, he blended with the shadows.

“You good?” Jaxon asked her.

“Yeah. But someone needs to stay here in case they try to escape.”

He opened his mouth to say something. What, she might never know.

“I’ll do it,” she said, obviously surprising him. “I’m going to change my vision, so that I can see the Schön even if they’re invisible. They’re brighter than humans this way, but I won’t have time to judge brightness. I’ll simply fire at whoever comes out that door.”

“Noted. Just be careful.” He planted a hard kiss on her lips, slipping his tongue inside her mouth for an all-too-brief taste. And then he was gone, creeping right behind Lucuis.

Staying here was going to be the hardest thing she’d ever done, she realized. Already she wanted to tag behind him, watch him. Guard him. He’s strong. He can protect himself. Knowing didn’t stop the worry, though. He was her man, her love.

He flicked her a heated glance before concentrating on the doorway. Both he and Lucius claimed a side. They were going to kick it in and throw themselves into the heart of battle.

He would be all right, she once again assured herself. Switch to infrared vision.

She heard the creak of metal and the grunt of man as the world around her once again darkened to nothing. This time, she didn’t have the flash of a single red light to break up the black. Jaxon and Lucius were already inside the room.

“Thank God,” Mia said between grunting. She must be fighting an alien while speaking. “We followed your signal, but couldn’t find you.”

“We can’t see them.” Eden. Grunting, as well. “I managed to tag a few with pulse beams, but those disappeared too.”

“Le’Ace?” Dallas said, panting.

“Hall,” Jaxon replied. “Don’t go out there. She’ll attack. Now throw me a goddamn weapon.”

Glass shattered. A table overturned. At least, she thought it was a table by the thump followed quickly by teetering bowls.

Mishka saw a red light peek from the door. It disappeared as she fired, then reappeared a moment later. She crouched, ready. The light never approached her. Instead, something skidded across the floor and sailed into her boot.