Rescued by the Alien Warrior by Hope Hart (motivational books for students .txt) 📕

“Sorry. I was just…thinking.”

One of the women gives me a knowing look, her moss-green eyes narrowing on my face. Makayla, I think her name is.

“Thinking about Tagiz?”

I shrug. This camp isn’t small enough for me to escape the sympathetic looks that are going to appear on everyone’s faces when Tagiz mates with Malis, making it clear whatever obligation and guilt he feels toward his dad is bigger than anything he feels for me.

The atmosphere turns serious as Clara arrives, placing her plate down on the grass in front of her. We’re sitting in the clearing where I talked with Ellie, and if we weren’t watching Braxian kids attack each other with fake swords, we could be sitting in any park on Earth.

“Hey, ladies,” Clara says, sitting down. She’s tall and slim, with curly blonde hair and a light dusting of freckles scattered across her nose and cheeks. She looks delicate, but I recently saw her throw a Braxian warrior over her shoulder while she was training. Granted, the warrior was a teenager, but she planted her foot on his chest and lifted one eyebrow while he scowled up at her.

“So I’ve been thinking,” Clara says, and Aria laughs.

“What else is new?” she murmurs, and I grin. Aria has long wine-colored hair that reminds me a little of Ivy’s, but unlike the firefighter, Aria is pint-sized, with the creamy skin and delicate features of a porcelain doll. She’s also hilarious, with a love of practical jokes.

“Anyway,” Clara says, throwing Aria a look. The other woman gives her an easy grin but pretends to zip her lips. “When the Dokhalls separated into smaller groups, they became more of a threat, not less. It allowed them to be sneaky and move around in a way they couldn’t as a large group. Just look at what they did to Zoey and Nevada.”

The other women glance at me, and I fight not to squirm.

“I agree,” I say. “The Dokhalls have no true loyalty to each other. If a group of them can get that ship, they’ll leave the rest of their people here in a heartbeat.”

Clara nods. “So if we want to take them all out at once, we need to be able to get them all to show up at the same place at the same time.”

“Makes sense,” I say. “But the Dokhalls are brutal and smart.” I brush my hand over the bruise on my cheek and fight to ignore the way my ribs seem to twinge at the reminder of just how brutal they are. “We’d have to lay the kind of trap they can’t ignore.”

Clara blows out a breath, and we all go silent. She nods her head once, straightening her shoulders. “I think we need to tell them we’ll give them the ship.”

Everyone explodes, talking at once. Clara raises her hand, and I have to admire the way she takes back control.

“We let it leak we’re tired of being targeted and we want to stay here. After Zoey and Nevada were kidnapped, we’ve realized the Dokhalls are too dangerous. We’re willing to give them the ship if they leave and swear never to come back.”

“Why would they believe us?” Makayla asks.

“We tell them we’re staying with the Braxians. We don’t trust that the ship will work if we take it. Plus, we don’t have the chip anyway.”

I chew on my lip. “It’s risky. If we lure them close to the ship, we have to take most of them out. If they survive, they’ll be gunning for us. Not to mention, the ship was already damaged in the last battle. What if it gets damaged again?”

“And what if they have the chip?” Eloise pipes up. “All they’d have to do is get on the ship and they can take it.”

“We have part of their thruster,” Aria says.

A woman I haven’t been introduced to snorts. “I bet they’ll take the risk anyway. We don’t know how far their planet is from Agron. If its close, they might be able to make it even if the ship is damaged.”

Clara angles her head, her eyes serious. “There are risks,” she says. “And if you guys can think of another way to lure all the Dokhalls into the same area at the same time, I’m willing to hear it. But I think this is the only way.”

“If we do this, we have to find a way to take them all out at once,” Aria says.

“What about the explosives you guys used last time?” Eloise asks. “The pods?”

I shake my head. “If we’re luring the Dokhalls close to the ship, the pods are a bad idea. The last thing we need is to blow a hole in the side of the ship by mistake.”

The beginning of an idea is simmering in my head. It’s the kind of idea that if I execute it, it’ll change me. Forever.

“I have a few thoughts,” I say. “But first, we need to see if luring the Dokhalls to the ship is even possible and if we have the numbers we’d need to take them down. Let me talk to Nevada and Rakiz.”

Tonight, the entire camp will be celebrating the arrival of their baby girl. Danica represents hope to a tribe that rarely sees female babies. Alexis convinced Dragix to move the old ship that was leaking fuel into the Braxians’ drinking water, and while she’s hoping it will help with the uneven male-to-female birth ratio, it’s still far too soon to tell.

“Zoey! Oh, thank God!”

I jump to my feet as Ellie rushes into the clearing. “What is it? Is it the baby?”

“No,” she says. “It’s Hewex.”

Chapter Fifteen

Zoey

I sprint to the healers’ kradi, finding a group of warriors gathered outside. I elbow my way through them, and a familiar voice roars at them to let me past.

Tagiz reaches for my elbow, hauling me through the crowd.

“How bad is it?” I ask.

His gaze darts away, and my heart sinks.

“Oh God.”

From the moment