“I have to help him,” I tell it, clearly on the verge of losing my mind. “Don’t get hurt, you weird little alien thing.” The zoleh settles its huge head on its front paws, blinking up at me.

Another plasma bolt crashes into the lake behind me. I grin. Perfect.

Three, two, one.

I dart out from behind the rock, sprinting towards where Draz grapples with another Suevan. Draz launches a swift kick to the alien’s stomach, his claws raking down the scales. The attacker grunts, and Draz uses the distraction to force the energy knife from his hand. Its honed edge burns against the ground for a split second before Draz picks it up, hammering it into the other alien’s neck. Crimson blood spills from the gash in his throat.

Wow. Seeing him in action on a screen is one thing, but seeing him move like this, like fighting is a deadly dance… wow. He’s incredible, somehow wickedly fast and graceful despite his massive size.

And to think those vicious hands have carried me, have braided my hair and brought me berries.

It's over in a matter of seconds, and I’m still running for him, where a second attacker surges forward, clutching another plas knife.

Which means there are at least one or two more. I need to take out the crossbolt alien, and since I’m clearly the target here, I’ll have to play bait.

Well, bait that’s running toward the action with a bone shard and a lifetime’s worth of hand-to-hand combat training, but whatever.

“Over here,” I yell, and the second alien’s eyes go wide as he takes me in. A rough laugh leaves my throat, and I put on a fresh burst of speed. Draz growls low, sounding feral, and uses my momentary distraction to take the separatist down, drawing the knife at his neck.

“There are too few of us for me to take any joy in killing you, but if you harm my mate, I will do so with a smile on my lips.”

The separatist blinks slowly, still staring at me with a slack-jawed expression.

Where is the shooter?

I’m still running when the underbrush rustles to my left. Swiveling, I change direction, my lungs burning as I ram into the reason for disturbance. It’s a move I’ve deployed countless times with great effect, usually sending an unsuspecting sparring partner tumbling off balance.

The third attacker lets out a guttural laugh, and I barely dodge from his grip.

At least, I think I have, until pain slices along my scalp as he grabs a fistful of my freshly cleaned and combed hair.

My heart pounds against my chest, and clear, cold fury descends. Nope. This is not how this ends.

“I just had that done,” I snarl, swinging an elbow into the alien’s hip.

Yeah, I played it stupidly, but that’s what adrenaline will do to you. I should have known better. I close my eyes, blowing out a breath, focusing on the jagged bone in my hand. The pain in my scalp fuels me as the alien tugs me in front of him, a knife at my throat.

The world turns crystal clear.

“Is this the species you would mate with?” The alien holding me shakes me a little. Leaning down, he presses his flat nose against my neck and inhales.

Draz’s eyes are wide, his face slack with fear.

No. I don’t need him to go ineffective, I need him to use his fear. I bare my teeth, my knuckles whitening on the bone shard in my hand.

The alien tugs me closer to him still, until my back is flush with his body. The crossbow dangles from one of his hands, and I wonder at it. Why isn’t he pointing it at Draz?

Why isn’t he pointing it at me?

“Do they all smell like this?”

Ew. I frown, goosebumps pebbling across my skin as he presses his blunt nose into my hair, his hand tangling around it.

Draz growls, taking a step closer, hauling the Suevan with him at knifepoint. “Take your hands off her.”

“I asked you a question, Warlord,” the alien holding me snarls. A second later, the crossbow drops to the ground, and I lunge for it.

Not fast enough. The alien’s now free hand circles my neck, and he lets out a low chuckle.

“I’ll kill you,” I grit out. Yeah, this is not going the way I planned.

“She is fierce. Are they all like her?”

I do not like where this is going. Draz lips are pulled back, his fangs fully exposed. My odds aren’t great, not being held like this, where this massive alien could snap my neck at a whim. Unfortunately, judging from the hardness jabbing into the middle of my back, I don’t think he’s planning to kill me.

Right away, anyway.

I close my eyes, focusing on the bone shard in my hand, the smooth way it slides against my palm, envisioning the sharp edge of it jamming right where I want it to go.

When I open my eyes, I lock my gaze with Draz and smile. His tail lashes back and forth. “Let her go, and I will let you and your idiotic companion live,” he says.

Oh, he’s going to let me go.

Ignoring the too-tight way he holds my hair, I let myself go limp, pretending to faint.

“What happened? Did she die?” Perplexed, the alien turns me around, and it takes everything in me to wait for the right moment.

I drive the bone shard up and out, putting the entire force of my body into the motion. When it meets soft flesh, likely the only soft flesh on the alien’s entire body, my grin turns feral. The alien lets go of my neck and hair, his hands clutching instinctively to his balls, where the bone shard juts from. Blood drips down his thighs.

He drops to his knees, and his expression is one of both wonder and fury.

I kick him in the nuts for good measure, and he folds over. Then I kick the crossbow out of his reach, too.

“Yes, we are all this fierce, you stupid fuck,” I tell him, backing up quickly to avoid his reach.

“We will tell the others,” the alien Draz holds says. “We did not know their species was like this. We heard they were weak, and primitive.”

“She smells good,” the alien I stabbed grunts. “Are there more?”

My jaw drops, and Draz makes a vicious warning sound deep in his throat. Blood trickles between his legs and he’s still thinking with his dick?

“Are there more?” The alien manages, despite the energy knife Draz holds to his neck. “If you let us go, we will spread word of these humans.”

“They may not listen,” Draz says.

Is he seriously considering this? Is he seriously going to just let these two motherfuckers go?

The alien kneeling on the ground jerks the bone shard free, and I back up another step, watching him warily. “I will show them the damage she’s wrought. This is a worthy species.”

“They’re zealots,” Draz argue. “They will not see reason.”

“They will when I tell them of how her soft body felt against mine, of how she’s already perfumed with mating aroma.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I rub my hand over the newly sore spot on my head.

The alien ignores me, grunting as he stands, dark red blood dripping down his thighs. “I mean no disrespect to your human female,” he tells Draz.

“Fuck this,” I spit.

“Apologies, little human.” He grins at me, clutching the bloodied bone in his hand. “I would not have taken this mission had I known what a prize you are.”

“I’m not a prize, I’m a person, you asshole,” I say. Something wet drips down my side, and I flinch when I look down. The biggest snail-inflicted blister popped, leaks a yellow, viscous fluid.

“Your mate is hurt,” the bleeding alien says. “Let us go, and we will leave our weapons and packs. We have medicine she could use. The two of us will do our best to convince the others of these females’ worth.”

“Swear it,” Draz says, his eyes narrowed. I look between them, my mouth open in disbelief.

“I swear it on the blue snails of Sueva, may they bless your mating,” the alien says easily.

“Not those fucking snails again,” I grit out. Now that the adrenaline is burning off, the blisters from those stupid blue lust snails really, really hurt.