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“Doesn’t matter. Just click it in and you’re good to go. Tareq is almost at your position.”
“He is?” The cartridge clicks as I shove it into the rifle. The light stops blinking. I give it a few test shots and the light doesn’t come back on, which I assume is a good thing. “I thought you guys were half an hour away.”
“We are. He’s…taking a shortcut,” she chuckles. “You’ll see. Stay alive, Astra. I’ll see you soon.”
I don’t have time to think about her words because the spider people have resumed their attack. This time, it seems like they want to overcome us by sheer numbers. There are many more than two dozen. As I look around, shooting one blast after another, I’d say it’s closer to a hundred or more skittering on the horizon.
Some of the more intelligent aliens take the remaining rifles, but they aren’t having much success with them. Their shots mostly skirt way over the enemy lines or straight out into the sky. At least they aren’t shooting each other.
I crawl over to Nikolai, giving him a couple of spare cartridges and showing him how to use them. “Thanks,” he says, giving me a rueful smile. “I hate guns, you know? I always wanted to heal people, not kill them.”
I could argue that he’s not going to heal anyone if the alien spiders impale him with a spear, but he probably knows. He reloads his rifle and goes back to shooting at anything that moves between the rocks.
I reload one rifle for Lizardman and another one for the yellow monkey. By then, the enemies have gotten so close I can see their creepy black eyeballs as they move from cover to cover.
A few have also circled around and are now behind us. The eight-legged wolf and the more primitive aliens armed with spears take care of them, but we all know our situation is becoming unsustainable. Soon, we’ll have to fall back inside the pod and then they’ll simply surround us and smoke us out.
A massive shadow blocks out the sun. I look up, expecting to see some terrifying pterodactyl mutant ready to eat us all, because that would be just my luck. Instead, I see an angel.
I rub at my brow in confusion. Did I hit my head again? Is the CO2 poisoning catching up with me?
The angel circles above, and I notice he’s holding someone in his arms. He flaps his magnificent wings before making a low swoop over the escape pod. At the lowest point, he drops the person he’s been carrying.
“Tareq!” I know it’s him before his feet even touch the ground.
He lands with cat-like grace, his eyes immediately focusing on me. “Hi there,” he says as he joins me behind my boulder. He grabs the rifle slung over his shoulder and begins firing, grinning at me in excitement.
“Nice of you to drop by!” I tease, still stunned by the fact that he’s really here. He came for me. He had a fucking angel carry him over to me.
I look back over my shoulder to see the angel perched up on a tall rocky outcrop a few dozen feet away from the main fight. He’s holding a long rifle, looking into what I assume are the optics with infinite concentration. Every second or two, he squeezes the trigger and one of the spider people falls.
Alright, perhaps he’s not an angel. Unless the celestial armies employ snipers. But still, he has wings!
Tareq stops shooting, looks around to make sure it’s safe, then pulls me into a tight hug. “I’ve been so worried!” he mumbles into my hair. “I’m so sorry for disappointing you, Astra. It will never happen again, I swear.”
“Disappointing me?” I roll my eyes. “Nonsense. You saved my life. All of our lives. You’re saving them again right now. So quit yapping and start shooting.” I squirm out of his embrace and raise my rifle, cautiously peeking out from behind our cover before sending a barrage of shots toward the enemy.
“Yes, ma’am,” Tareq responds with a chuckle and begins shooting too.
His hits are infinitely more precise than mine, which is hardly a surprise. He’s probably been training for most of his life while I’ve been waiting tables and restocking supermarket shelves. I don’t care. It just makes it feel like a bigger accomplishment when I finally hit something. “YEAH! Take that!” I yell, pumping my fist in the air.
Tareq stares at me with his mouth agape. Just as I begin to worry he’ll see me as some primitive, bloodthirsty creature, he grabs my nape and crashes his lips against mine in a passionate kiss. “You’re so perfect, my Myále,” he rasps, his cock tenting his fancy bodysuit.
Maybe it’s the adrenaline or maybe it’s the several near-death experiences in a row, but I’m feeling hornier than ever. I slide my hand over the front of his pants, feeling the delectable hardness underneath. “You are the one who’s perfect, Tareq. A little overdressed, but we’ll fix that when we get rid of these disgusting horse-spider-people.”
His nostrils flare and for a moment, I think he’s going to fuck me right here and now, on the rocky surface, with rifles in our hands, surrounded by enemies. For a moment, I wish he would. Then he shakes his head, grinning. “Later, my dear Astra. Later.”
Chapter 25
Tareq
I knew Astra was perfect, but I had no idea just how perfect she was for me. I’ve been worried out of my mind since Lyri told me about the countless locals encroaching on Astra’s position. I knew they weren’t coming for a friendly visit.
Instead of waiting for the large, cumbersome cruiser to find a spot safe enough to land, I bribed Omni to carry me down to the surface. I hate it when he has to carry me in his arms as if I was a baby cub and Omni doesn’t love it either, but I needed to get to Astra. I was prepared to jump out of the damned hangar with a discarded jetpack I’d found on a scrap pile.
Omni agreed to take me after I promised him all of my warpberry fritters. He’s a blackmailing jerk with a sweet tooth. However, he’s a blackmailing jerk with a sweet tooth and a pair of wings. He was the only one who could help me get to Astra faster.
I’ve been panicking this whole time, even though Lyri kept telling me my mate was alive and well, fighting off the enemies. My mate shouldn’t be fighting! I should be there to protect her. I felt like such a fucking failure for putting her in danger and not being there to help.
