Champion: A Scifi Alien Romance (Galactic Gladiators Book 5) by Anna Hackett

Author:Anna Hackett [Hackett, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-03-25T13:00:00+00:00

***

Despite the monotony of the trek through the desert, Blaine could feel that Saff was on edge. She kept fidgeting, and even the rocking gait of the tarnid didn’t seem to lull the tension away.

His gaze fell to the bronze-colored collar on her neck and his anger spiked. That damn thing shouldn’t be on that elegant neck. He wanted to rip the offending thing off and toss it in the closest sand dune.

“There’s the oasis,” Lore said.

Saff stiffened. Blaine lifted his head, and spotted jagged, rocky cliffs rising up from the desert floor in the distance.

As they got closer, he made out the dwellings carved into the rocks. A gap led into a canyon that he presumed housed the main Gaia Oasis. Up on the top of the cliffs, a sprawling, domed fortress clung to the rocks.

Nero was studying the rocks ahead. “Still another hour until we reach the gates of the oasis.”

They kept moving, all of them tense and silent. Dark thoughts crept into Blaine’s head. What if Dayna, Winter, and Mia weren’t there? What if they’d already been sold and shipped off somewhere else on this wretched desert planet? What if they were hurt?

But he forced the thoughts away, and turned his attention to Saff’s stiff form. He ran a hand down her arm. “Okay?”

“Yes.” A single, determined word.

Ahead, he saw Nero pull his tarnid to a halt. The big man’s muscled chest was bare, and only crossed by fur-lined leather straps with various knives on them. He tilted his head, looking off into the desert sands.

“What is it?” Lore stopped beside his fight partner and scanned around them.

“I can hear…something.” Nero’s deep purple eyes scanned the horizon. “Someone’s coming. From behind us.”

They pulled in closer, and Blaine yanked a spare sword from the saddlebags and handed it to Saff. He looked over his shoulder and spotted the cloud of dust in the distance.

“There!”

Slowly, several battered vehicles became visible through the dust.

“Sand pirates!” Saff yelled.

The four of them leaped off their tarnids. The creatures had picked up on the tension, snorting and stomping their hooves. Blaine kept his gaze on the incoming vehicles bumping across the rocky ground. They reminded him of low-riding, military Humvees, but these were beaten up, covered in what looked like salvaged and rusted sheets of metal. Behind them, he saw some other pirates riding tarnid beasts covered in makeshift armor.

“I make twenty of them,” Blaine said.

“Twenty-one,” Nero said.

Either way, they were outnumbered.

Something fired in Blaine’s blood. He had to protect Saff, and something in him, something wild borne of the fight rings, reared its head, wanting blood.

Blaine lifted his sword. Bring it.

The sand pirates roared closer. “Steady.” Nero kept his gaze glued to their incoming enemies.

Suddenly, one smaller vehicle veered off, coming around to flank them. Blaine watched the pirate driving. He was wearing a mishmash of leather, fabric, and even metal as clothes.

On the back of the small vehicle was a strange-looking machine. Blaine frowned. It didn’t look like a cannon or any other weapon.

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