Alien in the Depths (Thryal Mates #2)

Chapter 18

Zaraq

Zaraq could feel his heart racing, his face growing hot, his hands trembling with rage. All concern for his own wellbeing had fallen away. Now, all that mattered was Sofia.

But with Vexis and his lackeys surrounding him on all sides, and his weapon snatched away, there was little he could do.

“Just let her go!” he shouted into Vexis’s face as a last-ditch attempt to save her. “She’s done nothing but what I asked of her. I’m the one you want!”

Vexis’s dark eyes creased at the corners as he laughed. “You’re not in a position to be making demands.”

Zaraq scowled, drawing himself up to his full height. This brought him a few inches taller than Vexis and he looked down at him with as much authority as he could muster, given the situation.

“I told you, I’m not playing your game.” His voice was low now, more controlled than it had been, even though a river of anger still coursed through him, just beneath the surface.

For a split second, Vexis’s veneer faltered, his eyes showing a brief flicker of doubt. But then he squared his shoulders, looking Zaraq dead in the eye.

The sound of crinkling plastic and several thuds drew Zaraq’s attention, and he saw out of the corner of his eye that Vexis was lifting and dropping the sigma blaster, feeling its weight.

“What if I just get rid of both of you then? If you’re not playing my games. Or better yet, I get rid of you, and your girlfriend becomes my own personal plaything.”

The salacious grin that crossed Vexis’s face made Zaraq start forward instinctively, his fist pulled back. Everything in him wanted to end the Rikuan, and he felt his muscles tense like a spring, ready to uncoil.

But then he felt something else. A hard jab of metal into his solar plexus.

“Wrong move,” Vexis snarled, holding the sigma blaster to Zaraq’s chest.

Zaraq’s fist was still raised, and for a second, the two men stared at each other, a stalemate that Zaraq knew could only end one way. He was at the worst disadvantage possible, and the only way he was leaving that apartment was in a body bag, no matter what he did.

He was debating whether or not the punch would be worth hastening his own death when a sudden blast filled the hallway with bright orange light.

“Aaaah!” Vexis’s scream rang through the house, bouncing off the marble floors.

For a second, Zaraq thought Arccoo had snuck in through the broken glass door, but as Vexis bent down and clutched his calf in agony, Zaraq saw a familiar figure emerge from the shadows.

“Zaraq!” Sofia cried, sprinting toward him. The blaster he had given her was gripped tightly in her hand.

In the split second after Sofia’s shot, three things went through Zaraq’s mind, as if everything else was moving in slow motion.

His first thought was to push past Vexis and run to Sofia, to take her in his arms and tell her over and over again that he loved her. He wanted her to know everything he hadn’t said before, everything he’d held back.

His second thought was to wrestle the sigma blaster out of Vexis’s hands before the cretin could regain his composure. That weapon was his only chance at freedom, but he’d have to get it before the guards had the chance to turn on him. Judging from the rough hand he felt grabbing his shoulder, though, that wasn’t all that long.

And his third thought was simple—grab the delta blaster.

Ripping himself away from Joran’s grip, Zaraq lunged forward, his heart thundering in his chest as he reached for the gun still lying on the sideboard. As his fingers closed around it, he saw Vexis starting to rise from where he crouched.

The look on his face was unlike anything Zaraq had seen from him until now. It was the pure, unadulterated fury of a man who was used to being in control and had suddenly had that ripped away from him. In his hand, Vexis still gripped the sigma blaster in its airlock bag, and now he tore the bag away with a scowl.

“Look out!” Sofia’s voice rang through the hallway from behind Vexis.

But Zaraq’s stomach dropped as he saw Vexis spin around to follow her voice, the sigma blaster in his hand and the airlock bag floating to the floor. Zaraq raised his blaster to shoot the Rikuan, but suddenly he felt the telltale press of a blaster at his temple.

“Sofia, run!” he yelled, his adrenaline pumping. In a risky move, he knocked the guard’s gun away from his head, spinning around before Joran could react.

With a triumphant yell, Zaraq brought the butt of his own blaster down into the Rikuan guard’s temple. Joran’s yellow eyes rolled back in his head, and his heavy frame collapsed to the floor with a thud.

Behind him, Zaraq heard blaster fire and yelling, but he couldn’t turn around. Weedy was snarling at him, his snakelike features curled into a look of contempt.

“Get the fuck down!” the guard yelled, brandishing his blaster shakily at Zaraq.

The look in his eyes told Zaraq he was on shaka, and a high gunman was even scarier than a sober gunman. Zaraq took a step back, but with a strangled yell, Weedy fired haphazardly.

The blast grazed Zaraq’s hand.

“Aah!”

More than the pain of his injured fingers, he was yelling for his weapon. The blast knocked it out of his hand and skidded across the shining black and white marble of the floor. It came to rest by Joran’s side, who remained unmoving.

Before Weedy could fire again, Zaraq retreated, bolting toward the arched door of the living room where he hoped to take cover. As he ran, he heard more blaster fire from the end of the hallway and caught a brief glimpse of searing white light.

That wasn’t a delta blaster, with its telltale orange glow. It was something else entirely. Something he hoped he’d never have to see, especially aimed at the woman he loved.

He couldn’t stop, though, and dove through the doorway, seeking momentary refuge behind the couch. Even as he escaped from Weedy’s new barrage of haphazard shots, Zaraq’s blood ran cold. He needed to get to Sofia, but he was trapped without a weapon.

More blasts rang through the house, and in spite of everything, Zaraq figured that was a good sign.

As long as two guns are being fired, Sofia is still alive.

“Get out of there, you coward!” Weedy yelled, blasting three more shots into the couch.

Zaraq felt the furniture shudder, but the blasts didn’t make it through, thankfully. He figured if he could just get to the gun cabinet, he might make it to Sofia’s aid. As quickly as he could, he scurried to the other end of the couch, preparing himself to make a run for it.

He had to have faith that Weedy’s shakiness would come in handy this time.

Just as he was about to dash to the cabinet, another blast rang out, followed by a strangled cry and a thud.

“Zaraq?”

Arccoo’s voice was panicked, but the sound of it was music to Zaraq’s ears. He jumped out from behind the couch to see the Thryal prince’s concerned features dissolve into relief but then shift back to concern again.

“And Sofia?”

Another series of blasts ringing from the back of the house answered Arccoo’s question, and without another word, the two of them ran past Weedy’s body and toward the sound. Zaraq’s heart raced as he stooped mid-run to snatch the weapon lying by Joran’s unconscious body.

The sound of distant blaster fire mingled with Zaraq and Arccoo’s echoing footsteps as they raced down the hallway. Past several darkened doorways, past a Rikuan chorangel statue that toppled to the ground as they scrambled toward the sound, and finally through another arch that led into the depths of the house.

“Over there!” Zaraq shouted, pointing toward a distant flash of orange light that was accompanied by a cry. Sofia’s cry.

The two Thryals dashed through what, in the dark, looked to be a large leisure room. Zaraq almost ran into a card table and knocked over several bottles of liquor as he ran, but none of it registered. All he cared about was getting to Sofia before it was too late.

The leisure room gave way to another long hallway, and finally, the sound of yelling became clearer.

“Get the fuck out of there, you whore!” came Vexis’s voice, hoarse and breathy. “You can’t hide forever!”

As Zaraq rounded the corner, Arccoo hot on his heels, he saw the Rikuan taking cover behind a long marble island in a vast industrial kitchen. It was obvious food was not the only thing being cooked there. The benches were littered with beakers and pipettes, burners and tubs of chemicals, and the whole place emanated with the stench of shaka.

At the far end, pale shafts of light poured from a huge walk-in freezer, its door hanging off its hinges and punctured with scorched black holes. They were the same kind he’d seen in Ryka’s chest.

As Zaraq soaked in the scene, Vexis turned to face them, his mouth turned into a scowl. Dark green blood oozed down one cheek where he’d been grazed by a blast, and even in the dim light, his eyes burned with hatred.

In a flash, Vexis had raised the sigma blaster to the two Thryals, but Zaraq was faster. His injured finger was already squeezing the trigger of his weapon and in a flash of orange light, Vexis dropped to the ground.

A pool of green formed around him, and those black eyes held no more hatred, no more malice, no more scorn. They held nothing. But Zaraq didn’t linger.

“Sofia!” He rushed forward, throwing his weapon on the kitchen island as he went.

The pain in his finger all but disappeared as he grabbed the freezer door and hefted it away on its one remaining hinge. Light streamed out, making Zaraq suddenly blink as his eyes grew accustomed to the brightness.

“Sofia?”

Zaraq’s voice balanced perfectly on the precipice between fear and hope as his vision slowly adjusted, but he felt her before he saw her. He felt the weight of her body as she threw herself into his arms, felt the chill of her skin that matched the coolness of the freezer, felt her breathe deeply and hold him tightly.

And he felt his heart beat faster as he wrapped his arms around her.

“Oh my god, Zaraq.” Her words came out as a cry of relief, her breath warming his neck as she buried her face in his shoulder.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Zaraq asked, reluctantly drawing away.

When he did, he saw her brilliant green eyes gazing at him with such adoration he thought he might collapse there and then. As he adjusted to the sight of her, though, Zaraq saw how the battle had taken its toll on her. Sofia’s face was streaked with cold sweat, her auburn hair matted and falling over her face, her tight black dress ripped in places, and finally, her bare feet turning blue.

“Mostly just cold,” she admitted with a laugh that told him how lucky she was to be alive.

Zaraq smiled, hurrying Sofia out of the freezer while wrapping an arm around her.

“Thank the gods you’re okay,” Arccoo said once they’d reentered the kitchen proper. The prince stepped forward and embraced Sofia himself.

“The gods had nothing to do with it. That was all you two,” she joked, smiling up at Arccoo and then at Zaraq. The moment she pulled out of Arccoo’s hug, she slipped herself beneath Zaraq’s arm again, pressing her body into his side.

But her words struck something in him. “Sofia, no,” he told her softly, drawing away to look her in the eye. “You saved me. You both did. And if it wasn’t for you, I would have been long-dead by now. Vexis was this close to shooting me in the chest with the sigma gun.”

The thought of it sent a shudder through him, and judging from the tension in Sofia’s body, the thought had a similar effect on her.

“Lucky for you, your girlfriend’s pretty sneaky then, huh?” Her wary smile told Zaraq she was trying her best to lighten the mood, but the word girlfriend made his heart beat erratically.

Arccoo had stepped back again and was busying himself inspecting Vexis’s body. At that moment, Zaraq knew he couldn’t wait another second to tell Sofia how he felt.

“Sofia,” he told her solemnly. “I need you to know—”

“Wait! Don’t touch anything!” Sofia cried out, her eyes shooting over Zaraq’s shoulder.

Zaraq followed her gaze to where Arccoo was frozen, his purple eyes looking up at them questioningly. His hand was outstretched, just inches from the sigma blaster.

“Right now only Vexis’s prints are on the gun. Right?” Sofia continued, stepping forward and looking between Arccoo, Zaraq, and Vexis’s body.

Arccoo straightened up and looked at Zaraq for clarity. He nodded, realizing where Sofia was going with this.

“Right,” he added, grateful once again that he had such an intelligent and capable woman on his side. “We can finally prove Vexis was responsible for Ryka’s death and for—” He gestured around the kitchen. “All of this.”

Sofia turned to him again with a smile. “You’re finally free.” The look in her eyes was the purest relief, and Zaraq felt it, too. Almost.

“We have to call the planetary authorities first,” Zaraq told her, but his heart was beginning to slow, for what felt like the first time in years.

“You should do the honors,” Sofia told him, stepping a little closer and sliding her hands inside his jacket. “You’ve been running from them long enough.”

In the cold white light of the kitchen, Zaraq smiled down at Sofia and then at Arccoo.

“Thank you, both of you.” He felt like a weight was finally dropping off him, and the immense wave of gratitude that replaced it made his heart swell. “You had no reason to help me.”

“We’re family now,” Arccoo said with a wink. “We had every reason to help you.”

Sofia nodded, grinning up at him and letting her fingers play affectionately on his lower back.

“Now stop stalling and get on your comm. The police are gonna love this.”

The mischief in her bright green eyes made him want to kiss her and tell her he loved her, but she was right. They needed to clean this up first. Besides, another idea was forming in Zaraq’s mind.