Savor Me Slowly (Alien Huntress #3)(81)
Author: Gena Showalter

“Gun,” Jaxon said. “Your ten minutes are up.”

The small light disappeared.

If she hadn’t been so nervous, she would have grinned as she palmed the weapon. Straightening, she weighed the weapon. Pyre. Having trained in the dark, she pressed her thumb against the internal dial and knew it was locked on stun. Good.

Several minutes ticked by. More grunting, even a scream. Curses. Glass breaking, crunching. Sweat trickled down Mishka’s body. What was going on? The longer she stayed in place, the more intense her feeling of helplessness.

There was a growl. Dallas, she thought. Jaxon cursed. Someone crashed against something solid. A red blur darted from the doorway. Le’Ace aimed and fired. The bright red line froze in place.

Alien.

One down.

How many more to go?

Had any of them managed to hurt Jaxon? Was he still unscathed?

Panic rising. Breathing too uneven.

Deep breath in, deep breath out. The darkness, the sounds of battle, she hated them both more with every second. Someone screeched, cutting into her thoughts. She tensed.

The aliens began muttering in a language she did not understand, a language she had not heard before. Panic must have settled inside of them, as well, for they’d managed to remain quiet, keeping them from A.I.R. detection until now. If not for the isotope inside of Jaxon, Mia and her friends might not have found them at all.

“You bitch!”

Mia’s voice. Then, a red blur stepped into the hall and Le’Ace fired. Could be Mia, could be someone else. The blur managed to jump out of the way.

“Not going to get me that easily.”

Mia, then. Not a Schön. Still, Mishka didn’t relax. No, she geared for more. “I don’t want to hurt you, Mia.” Jaxon, where are you?

“Too bad.” The red inched a few steps closer. “I want to hurt you. Will hurt you.”

“We have a job to do.”

“Yeah, but I doubt we’re on the same team.”

Jaxon! She didn’t call his name, didn’t want to distract him. But she needed his interference. He would not forgive her if she killed his friend. Mia was too quick to stun, however, so that left no other option but physical confrontation.

Mishka couldn’t risk switching back to normal vision to fight, gauging where her punches landed so she didn’t cause too much damage. If one of the Schön left the room, she had to know it.

“You froze Devyn. He was trying to help us!”

“Accident. I can only see color, not features,” she said, even though she knew it exposed a weakness. “He was warned.”

“Was Elise?” The words were edged with hate.

“Do you seriously want to do this here? In the middle of a battle?”

“They’re the enemy, you’re the enemy. No better time.”

She leveled the gun. “I’m sorry I killed Elise. I live with regret every day, every night.”

“Even if you spoke true, that wouldn’t be enough.” Another inch.

“Have you never done anything you regret? Never done something bad for what you thought was a good reason? Have you ever been forced to do something you didn’t want to do?”

“You killed her,” she said, obviously unwilling to consider Mishka’s words. “And you’ll kill Jaxon if you’re allowed to live.”

“Never.”

Another inch. “Dallas saw it! I read the list.”

“He saw wrong! You are wrong. Now stay where you are or I will be forced to hurt you even though we need you.”

“Try.” Mia’s relish was like a living thing in the hallway.

Mishka didn’t have time to respond. One moment Mia was at the opposite side of her, the next she was in her face, knocking the pyre-gun out of her hand and slashing a blade at her throat.

On instinct, she arched backward. The blade still managed to nick her, stinging. Immediately she turned, kicked out, but Mia was already out of range, red outline moving to the left…quickly. Mishka struck, fist flying forward.

Crunch.

A hiss of breath exploded from her. She’d hit the goddamn wall. With her human hand! Because she couldn’t see the little details of Mia’s body, she was afraid to hit her with metal. At this speed, one wrong move might kill the agent.

Mishka whipped her head from side to side, seeing only a vast expanse of darkness. Where the hell was she? Mishka turned, took stock. Again, only darkness. The wall, behind her, she knew. Stay focused. The elevators were a few feet over. No light there. Ceiling—

Her ankles were kicked out from under her, and she tumbled to her ass. Breaking through a momentary suspension of shock, she punched forward in case Mia thought to close in and go for her face. Only air greeted her, whooshing mockingly.

Feminine laughter. “How does it feel, being helpless?” Blur to the right. No time. A fist slammed into her temple. Blur to the left. Another fist to the temple.

Her brain rattled inside her skull, and stars winked over her eyes. “Never helpless,” she growled. Seeing the blur race behind, Mishka popped to her hands, legs kicking backward. Contact.

Mia propelled into the wall and gasped. “You’re not going to kill me, and you’re not going to kill him!”

“I love him.”

“You love yourself.” Mia was panting. Tiring? The blur moved again, faster this time.

A sharp sting sliced through the back of Mishka’s leg as she stood. She didn’t have to see to know she’d been cut. Then the blur twisted, some of the heat remaining behind and forming a vortex of twinkling stars.

“If you loved him, you’d walk away from him.”

Walk away? She knew herself well enough to know she didn’t have the strength to do so. As long as she was alive, she would do everything in her power to be with him. Circumstances be damned. He was a drug, her drug, an invisible tether seeming to stretch from him to her, always pulling at her. No, there could be no walking away.

“I can’t.”

“Selfish. His friends will never accept you, which means he’ll end up giving them up to make you happy. Maybe he’ll grow to resent you, maybe he won’t, but either way the loss will kill him. Even if you don’t.”

“Maybe he needs better friends,” she said, even though panic rose inside her. Hot, dark, consuming. She had trouble drawing in a breath. If his friends wouldn’t accept her, Jaxon would give them up. He loved her that much, she knew he did. And without his friends, his job would be the next thing to go. She didn’t want him giving up all that he loved.