Drak. Toren came in from the side and punched the creature.

  It grunted, flashing its razorlike teeth. Then it gripped Toren and picked him up. Drak, it was strong. The scorrux yanked him close, wrapped its beefy arms around him, and squeezed.

  Pain exploded through Toren’s body. He pushed against the scorrux, trying to break free.

  “Leave him alone.”

  Simone jumped on the monster’s back. She reached around and poked it in the eyes.

  With a roar, the monster released Toren and he hit the sand.

  The scorrux spun, lifting a clawed hand to grab at Simone. It wrenched her off its back, yanking her over its shoulder. It shook her like she was a toy, then the monster threw her into the air.

  “Simone!”

  She hit the ground and rolled through the sand.

  “Hey, ugly.” Bellamy waved her arms, trying to get the monster’s attention. It swiveled and started advancing on her.

  Toren rushed to Simone and turned her over.

  “Toren.” She smiled at him.

  He looked down her body, and pain slammed into his chest.

  She had her hands pressed to her stomach.

  And blood was pumping between her fingers and onto the sand.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Simone.”

  Simone saw Toren’s face twist with pain and worry. His hands pressed over hers on her belly.

  “Caught me with its claws.” She licked her lips. “It doesn’t hurt.” She couldn’t feel anything. “You need to help Bellamy.”

  “I’m not leaving you.”

  The bots were circling, and nearby, the monster roared.

  “Save us, Toren. I know you can do it.”

  He sucked in a breath. “I can’t think through the pain. You can’t die. I need you.”

  She pressed a hand to his face. “I love you, Toren. I didn’t mean to fall in love. I was afraid to, but with you, I’m not afraid. I don’t want you to be afraid either.”

  He pressed his face into her palm. “With you, everything feels right.”

  “Go,” she urged.

  “Wait for me,” he said, voice firm.

  She managed a nod.

  She watched him stand, then run down the dune toward Bellamy.

  He rushed at the monster. It was focused on Bellamy, but then it turned and charged at Toren. Simone blinked and watched him fight the creature.

  She saw Toren yell, embracing his emotions. He was no longer afraid of them. The realization made her smile.

  Then weakness washed over her.

  Ow. Now she felt the pain trickling in. She knew her injury was bad. She licked her lips again. She was so damn thirsty.

  Her vision blurred for a second, then came back into focus.

  She saw Toren leap on the beast, raining blows down on its head.

  With another roar, the scorrux fell to its knees. Toren kept fighting—strong and relentless.

  Simone smiled. The man was hers. God, she loved him.

  She sucked in a shaky breath and felt the prick of tears in her eyes. She wasn’t going to make it. She knew it in her heart. But she was certain Toren would look after Grace—care for her, love her.

  The bots returned, hovering in formation.

  One moved right in front of her, like it was cataloging her pain and suffering.

  Fuck the Edull. With every last ounce of strength she had, Simone pushed herself up, staggering to her feet. She reached out and grabbed the bot. It made a beeping noise and she yanked it down to the sand. Once it was stuck on its back, she kicked it. Then she kicked it again and again.

  “You don’t win. I’m free. Whatever happens, the House of Rone will take you down.”

  She kept kicking the bot until the lights smashed and went out.

  She dropped to her knees, her chest heaving.

  She hurt, but damn, that felt good.

  Suddenly, Toren was back. “Simone.”

  She collapsed onto the sand and he pulled her into his lap.

  “God, you’re so handsome,” she said.

  His face contorted. “Simone.”

  “I’m sorry, Toren. I think I’ve lost too much blood.” She tried to fight the dizziness, but it was getting too hard.

  “You made me fall in love,” he said. “You can’t leave me.”

  He loved her. She felt a burst of warmth in her chest. Damn, she liked that. “Take care of Grace.”

  “You aren’t going to die!”

  “Promise me.” She gripped his arm.

  “I don’t need to promise, Grace is mine, too.”

  Simone relaxed against him. “I love you.” She glanced over to see Bellamy kneeling close by, biting her lip. “Glad we found you.”

  “Me too,” Bellamy murmured.

  Then, Simone saw something up in the sky above, but she couldn’t quite focus to see what it was.

  At that moment, everything went blurry, and blackness pulled her under.

  * * *

  Toren couldn’t think, he couldn’t breathe.

  He pulled Simone close. There was so much blood and her breathing was labored.

  Drak, love hurt. To see the one he loved in such pain and suffering flayed him open.

  “Let me see.” Bellamy knelt down beside Simone. She looked at the wound, then tore at the bottom of Simone’s shirt. “Damn, this always looks easier in the movies.”

  Toren grabbed the fabric and, with one flick of his wrist, tore the bottom of the shirt away.

  “Thanks.” Bellamy wadded the fabric and pressed it against Simone’s wound. “She needs a doctor.”

  He scanned the desert. There was nothing here. No one who could help.

  “Fuck.”

  At Bellamy’s curse, he looked up. She was staring into the sky.

  His stomach dropped. The security bots were hovering in the sky, and beyond them, in the distance, he saw several more dark shapes on the horizon.

  “I think they know that the scorrux didn’t eat us,” Bellamy said.

  Anger and pain coiled in his gut. He rose and targeted his weapon on the closest bots. His laser whirred, bolts blasting through the sky. The bots tried to dodge, but he hit one, and it exploded in a ball of flames.

  The other one tried to pull back. But Toren focused. He was the best sniper at the House of Rone. His next shot hit the bot dead center. It crashed to the ground.

  Toren studied the new incoming bots. These ones were a different style to the other ones, bigger, with rugged, metal plating.

  “She loves you.”

  He looked at Bellamy.

  The woman shook her head. “I’ve never been in love, but the way you two look at each other, it’s special.”

  “She’s everything to me.” He looked down at Simone’s pale face. “But I can’t help her.”

  “You can. By not giving up. She’s not dead yet. We have to fight.” There was a fierce glint in Bellamy’s green eyes.

  Emotion swelled in Toren and he reached down to stroke Simone’s face. Love, anger, protectiveness, sadness, happiness, desire, it all swelled together inside him. All the colors and emotions of life. Things that had been missing from his bland existence.

  And he was going to use them.

  “I’ll be back, Simone.” He rose. “You hold on.”

  He stood with Bellamy, and they watched the bots fly closer.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  Toren activated his weapon and fired on the bots. They started firing back, and Bellamy dived to the sand. Toren ran along the top of the dune. He leaped into the air, sailing toward the first bot.

  He grabbed the robot and it dipped under his weight. He rammed his fist up into the metal and yanked the guts of it out.

  The machine made a whirring noise, then crashed downward. He let go of it, hitting the sand and rolling. The remains of the bot crashed into the sand.

  One down. For Simone.

  He rose and spun.

  Another bot was attacking Bellamy. She was jabbing at it with one of her tools.

  Another one zoomed in close, and Toren fired. It swiveled and fired back. He leaped over the laser blast.

  Running, he jumped up and grabbed the bot. He yanked it down to the sand. It made a clunking noise, but he dragged it through the sand, then he kicked it. It rolled down the dune.

  Three more bots hovered, but were keeping their distance.

  Bellamy slashed at hers with her laser cutter. “Take that, you rusty piece of junk.”

  Toren focused his weapon to target the others and fired. They all dodged across the sky.

  Then he watched two bots slam together. Toren frowned.

  “Oh, shit,” Bellamy said.

  The third collided with the other two. He suddenly realized that they were joining up. They were connecting to make a larger bot.

  The larger bot swiveled around and fired.

  The powerful bolt of laser raced toward them, and Toren tackled Bellamy to the sand. The blast hit nearby, turning the sand to glass.

  “Run!” he yelled.

  They bounded up, leading the bots away from Simone.

  Together, he and Bellamy dodged the laser fire, but he knew that they couldn’t keep this up forever.

  “Fuck,” she cried. “There are even more bots on the way.”

  Drak, she was right. Several large silhouettes were high in the sky, coming in fast.

  The large security bot swiveled around in front of them. It was getting ready to fire again.

  Toren jumped on Bellamy and the laser hit him. It tore into his back and he grunted in pain.

  “Shit, cyborg,” Bellamy said.

  “Stay down.”

  He heard the whine of a bot preparing to fire again and he squeezed his eyes shut. I’m sorry, Simone. I love you.

  The sound of laser fire filled the air.

  But no laser hit him.

  He raised his head.

  He watched as laser fire hit the large bot. It lurched, smoke pouring from it.

  A sleek flyer zoomed past, Maxon riding it, his tawny hair whipping around his face. The weapons master fired again, and this time, the bot exploded.

  More flyers raced past, all ridden by cyborgs.

  The House of Rone was here.

  * * *

  Maxon

  Maxon touched the controls and fired his flyer’s weapons. The wind whipped his hair around his face as the laser ripped into another Edull bot.

  He watched in satisfaction as the bot disintegrated.

  He turned, checking another screen where he was monitoring the engines of all the flyers. The drakking sand. He hated the stuff. It always got in places where it shouldn’t, and now it was drakking damaging his flyers. The temperatures in the flyers’ engines were spiking.

  “Take those bots out,” Magnus roared.

  Their imperator flew past on his flyer, Jax flying close behind him.

  Off to the left, Mace and Acton were flying side-by-side, taking aim at the bots. Zaden and Seren were on the right. Seren flew in wild, dizzying circles around the Edull bots, while Zaden’s maneuvers were more measured.

  As they continued to take down the last of the bots, he saw Acton’s flyer pull away. Maxon frowned, then realized the cyborg was flying toward a fallen figure on the neighboring dune.

  Drak. It looked like Simone.

  An Edull bot edged back, hovering in the sky. A thin trail of smoke was snaking from it.

  Maxon flew in close and he spotted Toren on the sand below. The cyborg had some ugly monstrosity on his shoulder—definitely not one of Maxon’s creations. There was another person with him. A short, compact blonde with colored ink on her arms.

  As he watched, the woman leaped onto a smoking bot, jamming a laser cutter into it.

  Maxon grunted. A dumb, heroic maneuver like that meant she was definitely an Earth woman.

  Suddenly, the Edull bot she was sitting on shot straight up into the air. The woman almost fell off, but managed to clamp her arms and legs around the bot.

  Drak.

  Maxon aimed his flyer upward and chased after them. They went higher and higher, the ground racing away from them.

  The woman was still hacking at the bot. Then, it died, and started to plummet.

  The woman dropped as well.

  Maxon flew in close and grabbed her hand. He swung her through the air and up behind him on the flyer.

  “Nice catch.” She was breathless as she slid in behind him. She tucked her body close and plastered herself against him.

  He scowled. He hated people in his space. “Dumb idea to kill the bot holding you airborne.”

  “Only dumb if you crash into the ground and die. I didn’t.”

  Her voice was surprisingly deep and gritty for a female. It echoed right in his ear. He liked it much better than the high-pitched, breathy voices of the women who usually approached him.

  “Hey, Mr. Brooding, watch out!”

  He looked up to see an Edull bot flying straight at them.

  “Weapons?” she yelled.

  He snorted. He always had weapons.

  He touched the controls on the side compartment of the flyer. It flicked open to display his MaxStorm blaster. She yanked it out.

  “Nice.” She lifted it and fired it one-handed. The bot dodged to the side.

  “That’s not how you use it,” he growled. “Show some respect.”

  “Bit busy right now.” She kept firing. “I’ll shoot, you fly.”

  He jerked the controls of the flyer, pulling them to the side. He dodged the bot and wheeled around.

  The woman stood up behind him, one hand on his shoulder to keep her balance.

  She was either crazy or fearless, or both.

  She fired on the bot and scored a direct hit. The bot exploded and slammed to the ground below.

  “Woo hoo!” the woman shouted.

  “Sit your ass down,” he said.

  “Since you asked so nicely.” She leaned down and bit his ear.

  Maxon growled again and flew lower. They whizzed past the final bot and she fired on it. It exploded.

  He flew in and landed near the others. They were all clustered around Simone.

  The woman leaped off the flyer.

  “Gorgeous weapon.” She handed the blaster out to him.

  He took her in—the tattoos up her arm, the strong face, the green eyes. Her platinum-colored hair was cut short against her head.

  “That’s because I designed it.” He took the weapon.

  “Well, you’re good at weapon design, not bad at flying, either. Shame about the grumpiness.”

  He grunted and she grinned.

  Then she cupped his cheeks, leaned forward, and kissed him.

  Drak. The touch of her lips on his was like a punch in his gut. An electric shock ran through his body.

  She pulled back, looking a bit shocked herself. But then an unrepentant grin reappeared, and she saluted him.

  Drakking Earth women.

  Chapter Twenty

  Toren knelt beside Simone, watching as Acton and Jax helped her.

  “She’s stabilized,” Jax said. “But she needs the healers.”

  Simone’s eyelashes fluttered and her eyes opened. “Toren.”

  He grabbed her hand. “I’m here. Everyone’s here.”

  She looked confused. “Grace?”

  Jax patted Simone’s shoulder. “She’s waiting for you back at the House of Rone. You hold on.”

  Mace brought out a small device and it unfolded into a stretcher. Toren helped ease her onto it, and tightened the straps.

  “Magnus, the flyers have been damaged by the sand.” A scowling Maxon appeared. “I can do some quick fixes on the engines, but it’ll take time. As they are, they won’t take us much farther.”

  “Will they get us back to Rillian’s ship?” Magnus asked.

  Maxon nodded.

  The imperator helped Toren attach Simone’s stretcher to one of the flyers.

  “Simone has a holo-cube.” Toren took it out of her pocket and handed it to Magnus. “It’s coordinates and a rough map of Bari Batu. Bellamy gave it to us.”

  Magnus looked at the woman and nodded. “Thank you.”

  “Just let me help you dismantle those fuckers,” Bellamy said, “and that will be thanks enough.”

  A faint smile touched Magnus’ lips. “Let’s get out of here so we can start planning.”

  Everyone slid onto the flyers. Jax waved at Bellamy to join him.

  All of a sudden, Acton froze. “I’m detecting bio signs.”

  Toren looked up. “Where?” The sky was empty.

  “Below us.”

  Suddenly, bots exploded out of the ground. Toren leaned over Simone, shielding her from the flying sand. Humanoid bots towered over them, but in a flash, he realized they weren’t bots. They were Edull, wearing some sort of mechanical suits.

  Several of the Edull launched at the cyborgs, attacking Mace and Acton.

  Another Edull crashed through the flyers, tipping them over.

  Seren appeared out of nowhere, black smoke around her, using her teleportation ability. She slammed into one Edull then disappeared and reappeared, kicking a second Edull.

  Zaden stepped forward, raising his arms and lifting several Edull into the air.

  Magnus and Jax drew their swords, moving in a blur as they attacked. Maxon lifted his MaxStorm blaster, firing.

  Drak. Toren activated his weapon and swiveled to take aim. He had to protect Simone. But with all the House of Rone cyborgs fighting, he couldn’t get a clear shot.

  “Let me go!” Bellamy’s angry shout echoed through the fight.

  Toren turned and saw that one of the Edull had grabbed Bellamy, lifting her off her feet.

  Maxon stormed toward her, his blaster in hand. His face was set like stone as he fired, but his bolts were deflecting off the Edull’s suit.

  “Drop her,” Maxon demanded.

  The Edull backed up.

  Maxon lunged, reaching for Bellamy. The woman reached out, her fingers brushing Maxon’s.