Pursued: A Sci-Fi Alien Warrior Romance (Raider Warlords of the Vandar Book 4) by Tana Stone

Author:Tana Stone [Stone, Tana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Broadmoor Books
Published: 2021-02-18T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Three

Bron

“I don’t understand, Raas,” Svar said as we rushed onto the raiding ship. “How could us leading a raiding party onto a lone imperial cruiser put our horde ships in danger?”

I couldn’t explain to him that it wasn’t so much the horde I feared for as the female in my quarters. I’d honed my instincts over a lifetime of raiding and serving as majak, and they were telling me that something wasn’t right.

“Where is the other ship?” I asked when I saw that only one of our black beaked ships sat in the hangar bay.

Our pilot swiveled in his chair. “They left with the technology and weapons, Raas.”

“At your orders,” Svar reminded me.

I pressed my lips together and nodded. “Get us out of here.”

“You are sure about leaving the bridge crew alive?” My majak asked as the ramp slammed shut and the engines roared to life.

“The captain who’d only been promoted for this job?” I ground my teeth together as I thought about the imperial military commanders who’d chosen the inexperienced crew for us to easily defeat and the clueless captain and pilot to sacrifice to our unknowing wrath. “They are nothing but pawns of the empire.” I clenched my hands into fists, thinking of the way the Zagrath had used Alana. “More pawns.”

Svar did not speak again as we rocketed off the imperial ship and toward our invisible horde ships, detectable only with our specialized sensors. Even though all of my raiders wore the marks of a successful raiding mission—chests streaked with blood and axes dripping with the evidence of our dominance—the ship was not filled with the chants of victory. We stood with our hands gripping the iron bars above us, but our faces were grim.

This victory was hollow. We’d killed imperial soldiers, but I suspected they’d been fresh out of training. None of them had showed any battle experience. The kills had been easy and without challenge, and now I was almost sure the entire thing had been a ruse and the Zagrath crew sacrificed for a greater imperial purpose. But what was it exactly?

The empire was always trying to eliminate us, just as we were fighting to rid the skies of them. But how would this botched raid do that?

I was running through options in my head when we entered my warbird and touched down, but nothing I could come up with made any sense. I followed my warriors down the ramp, my eyes flicking to the other raiding ships that had arrived before us. Was it the technology we’d taken? Could that have been tracked somehow?

I strode over the ship. The ramp was down, but the engine still hummed. I poked my head inside and my stomach clenched. The pilot was slumped over his console, blood pooling on the smooth surface.

Straightening, I turned to Svar. “There is a Zagrath onboard.”

He flinched, his gaze darting to the side. “Should I sound a red alert, Raas?”

I shook my head. “I do not want the enemy to know we are aware of his presence just yet.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.