Heather tried not to feel sick as she crept along the corridors with Loka beside her. She still couldn’t believe she was doing this. They were headed straight toward the enemy.

The Banti were not known for their kindness. As well as liking to eat humans, they enjoyed a good game of torture when the mood took them. On their home planet, Drion, they had what they called torture rings. They’d throw prisoners in and watch them get torn to pieces by another prisoner or wild animal. It reminded Heather of the games played in Earth’s Roman times. The way historians describe ampitheater games made it sound so glamorous. What the Banti did, not so much.

“Quick. In here.” Loka grabbed hold of Heather, and they hurried into a room.

A moment later, two spider cyborgs scuttled past.

Heather let out a relieved sigh. “If it wasn’t for your super hearing, I’d have stumbled straight into them.”

He looked down at her, his smile soft. “I will always take care of you, Heather Roberts.” His fingers brushed a strand of hair from her cheek.

Heather’s hands rested on Loka’s chest. She could feel how fast his heart beat. She loved that he was sweet with her. The kiss they’d shared in engineering played on her mind. It had been a delightful, tender surprise, one she wanted to repeat.

“Thanks for coming after me.” Her hands reached up to his horns, and she stroked them.

Loka’s eyes fluttered closed for a second.

That was an interesting reaction. She stroked them again, this time harder.

With a groan, Loka reached up, grabbed hold of her hands and pulled them from his horns. “As incredible as that is, we need to concentrate on the mission.”

“You get off from having your horns stroked?”

“My horns are a sign of my prowess. They are connected to what makes me male.”

Heather’s eyes widened. She’d never read about this in any alien manual. “If I stroke your horns long enough, you get turned on?”

His smile was sly. “It’s a little more than that. It’s not uncommon for a Picar to climax if his horns are stimulated appropriately.”

Her mouth dropped open. “No way.” She reached for his horns again.

Loka chuckled and held her at arms’ length. “Perhaps when the station isn’t about to blow up, I can show you what I mean.”

Heather grinned at him. “You’re no fun.”

He pulled her to him and kissed her again. “I can be a lot of fun.”

Wow! Where had that hot side of Loka come from? She pulled back from their kiss, feeling warm and lightheaded.

“The way is clear.” Loka took her hand, and they returned to the corridor. The lights blinked on and off, sometimes plunging them into darkness before igniting the way with a color leaching green glow.

Heather had to focus on the mission. She couldn’t think about exploring the options with Loka’s horns and what she’d like to do to him. What would he do if she kissed those horns? Or sucked them? She tilted her head to look at his horns. They were too big to fit anywhere else.

She grinned to herself. Loka liked her. Once they’d stopped the Banti, she’d make sure he knew exactly how she felt about him.

They stopped by the open docking bay doors. Inside stood a handful of ships.

There were two silver bullet-shaped Banti ships. The docking ramps on both ships were open. Standing at the bottom were two cyborgs.

Heather’s stomach dropped. She couldn’t take on another cyborg. “We need a distraction. Get those guys out of our way, so we’ve got a clear run at the ships.”

“What do you suggest?”

“I’ll head around the back of the ships, make some noise at the other end of the docking bay. It should draw the cyborgs away. They’ll come looking for me, and you’ll get a chance to sneak inside and disable the Banti.”

Loka frowned. “We don’t know which ship they’re on.”

“You’ll have to check them both.”

“While cyborgs chase you around the docking bay?” He shook his head. “Not going to happen.”

“What’s less risky, distracting the cyborgs or sneaking onto a ship full of cannibalistic aliens?” When she considered it, neither option filled her with glee. Heather raised her arm. “I sort of like having all my limbs without chunks missing. I’m fast. I can keep out of the cyborg’s way.”

“You have an injured leg.”

“It’s feeling better.” In truth, it was pretty numb. There was an occasional burst of pain as the nerves spasmed, but most of the time, it was bearable.

“I don’t like this,” Loka growled. “I should have brought Hoan.”

“And left two innocent humans undefended?” Heather shook her head. “You’d never do that. They need him, just like I need you.”

“You still have the laser?”

She pulled it out of her pocket. “It’s right here. I’ll use it if I have to.”

“Aim well. Too many holes in a space station wall is never a good thing.”

She reached up and stroked his cheek. “Let’s go distract some bad guys.”

They crept into the docking bay, keeping to the side and using the ships as shields to avoid detection.

When they were twenty feet from the Banti ships, Heather gave Loka a single nod before continuing past the ships toward the doors leading out into space.

Heather tiptoed along the wall, looking for something she could make a noise with and draw the cyborgs to her. Her stomach did a strange, flippy thing. She must be mad. Why did she want angry cyborgs chasing her? Oh, right, she needed to save the station. She wanted to feel like Ripley in Alien, fighting the evil, drooling aliens. Instead, her churning guts made her feel more like that poor dude in the movie who got impregnated and exploded everywhere.

Heather grabbed a wrench that leaned against the wall and crept toward the exit doors of the bay. She slammed it against them.

She waited, her heart racing. Nothing happened. No cyborgs arrived.

Slamming the wrench into the door again, Heather kept her eyes fixed on the Banti ships. Any second now, Loka would be on board. Although Banti were not large aliens in terms of their physical size, they came with an unpleasant set of sharp teeth. If there were enough of them on board the ship, they could overpower Loka, even with his sexy horns and claws.

“Come on,” she muttered under her breath. The cyborgs still weren’t coming. She needed to create a bigger distraction. She pulled out the laser. Aiming at the Banti ship, she fired a single shot.

Stamping cyborg feet headed Heather’s way. Keeping her panic in check, she backed away and hid behind another ship.

That was it. Loka could get on board the ship and deal with the Banti.

She kept up her game of hide and seek for several minutes. The cyborgs investigated the damage to the ship before they began to search the docking bay. They were slow and methodical, edging Heather toward the entrance where she would be exposed. There was nowhere to hide when she reached the corridor. They would see her and be on her. She hoped her leg was up to the challenge.

The cyborgs turned at the same time. Not toward her, but toward the ramp of the ship.

Heather’s throat tightened as she heard yelling inside the ship. That must be the one Loka was in. They’d discovered him. She took a step forward, wanting to go to him.

The cyborgs abandoned their search for her and headed toward the ship.

She followed at a distance. Waiting until the cyborgs had gone on board, Heather followed them up the ramp. The sounds of shouting were louder. Her heart beat at double time as she hurried along the corridor toward the sound of fighting.

The cyborgs opened a door in front of her and stepped inside.

“About time,” the sharp voice of a Banti snapped. “Why are you not guarding the ship’s entrance?”

“There was a disturbance in the docking bay,” one cyborg said.

“This is the disturbance. This Picar snuck on board.”

Heather grimaced. They’d captured Loka. She edged closer to the open door.

“Awaiting your orders,” the cyborg said.

“After we’ve had a little fun, you can throw him into space.”

Heather’s hands curled into fists. No one threw her alien into space.

She risked a glance into the room. All she could see were the backs of the two cyborgs.

She eyed her targets. If she was quick, she could remove the cyborgs’ panels and disable them with their override buttons.

Heather had no clue how many Banti were inside the room. They did not come with override buttons, only claws, teeth, and a desire to eat her.

“Cut off a limb,” another Banti said. “I’ve never tried Picar. I hear they taste bitter, but I wouldn’t mind a sample.”

“Keep your rancid teeth away from me.” It was Loka.

Heather ducked her head back as she let out a shaky sigh. He was alive. She couldn’t leave him to the Banti to have fun with.

Taking a deep breath, she knew what she had to do. She ran around the corner, yanked down the panels on the cyborgs, and slammed her hands onto the buttons.

One cyborg was half turning as it deactivated. Its hand struck her head just before it died.

She staggered back, her head pounding. The sight in front of her stole her breath.

Loka was on his knees, his hands behind his back. Three Banti stood around him. One had a plasma blade in his hand.

The Bantis’ eyes lasered onto Heather. They all licked their lips at the same time, making her shiver.

“Did someone order lunch?”