Punished by Tana Stone (best books to read for knowledge .TXT) 📕

didn’t look at me. “I know. I thought that maybe now…” Her voice cracked and her words faded.

I raked a hand through my hair. “I’m a Vandar raider. I am not built to live a regular life on a peaceful planet like Kimithion III. I was born and bred for battle. I was a battle chief of a raider horde. Fighting the empire is all I know. It’s who I am.”

“Can’t you do that here?” She whirled to me, her hair flying as she spun. “You can stay here with me and still fight the empire.”

My chest ached as I faced Sienna, her hands in tight fists by her side. The last thing I wanted to do was leave this fierce female, but I also knew that staying on the planet would make me a shell of myself. “I am meant for the skies. Once we fight off the empire, then what? I remain here waiting for a possible attack that might never come, my blade going dull as I never age, and my battle skills fading until I’m not even fit reach Zedna and spend eternity with my Vandar brethren?”

Her fists unclenched and her shoulders sagged. “I don’t want that for you.”

What I wanted to do was ask Sienna to come away with me, but I was afraid she would say no. She had her younger sister to look after, and she would not want to leave Juliette with her worthless father. Asking her to make a life with me in space and possibly never see her sister again was too much to ask, even though the alternative—never seeing her again—made my heart twist in agony. “You would tire of a warrior who never faced a battle and talked of nothing but raiding missions in the past. The things that drew me to you would vanish, and you would eventually wish I’d left.”

She shook her head. “I would never wish that. I—“

A rumbling overhead cut off her words. We both tilted our heads up, shielding our eyes from the suns as a dark hull descended from above.

“The Zagrath,” Sienna gasped.

I squinted up, recognizing the shape of the spaceship as it dropped from orbit and extended its landing gear. I pumped a hand into the air. “That is not an imperial ship.”

Sienna stared at me as I grinned at the sizable cruiser landing outside the amphitheater. “Then who is it? Vandar?”

I shook my head, not even upset that it wasn’t the Vandar who’d answered the call. “Our odds against the empire just got much better.”

Chapter Thirty-One

Ch 31

Corvak

I helped Sienna over the barricade blocking the entrance to the amphitheater, and we ran toward the ship. Dust kicked up as the enormous cruiser hovered over the flat space on the other side of the open air stadium, and the ground trembled at it finally landed. I braced my hands on my hips as the metal ramp slowly lowered and thudded to the dirt.

A tall, broad-shouldered male stood at the top, silhouetted against the light from within the ship. “I had to see it for myself. The battle chief for the Vandar horde defending Kimithion III.”

I fought a grin as the gold-skinned alien stomped down the ramp, his dark braid swinging from side to side. “There must not have been many bounties to hunt down since I saw you on Carlogia Prime, Kush.”

“There are never enough for Tori,” the Dothvek muttered, as a female with a wild mane of dark curls pounded down after him.

She gripped the steel beam connecting the ramp to the ship as she peered out. “What a wasteland.” She cut her gaze to Kush. “I haven’t seen a place this dry since we crash landed on your wasteland of a planet.”

“I did not expect you to be the ones to answer my distress calls,” I admitted. “Though I am grateful you did.”

“Our pilot, Caro, used to fly for the Valox resistance,” Tori said. “She still monitors all their encrypted channels.”

“Welcome to Kimithion III,” I said, as more of the Dothveks and bounty hunter females emerged from within their cruiser. I walked forward and pulled Sienna with me, even though she looked overwhelmed by the Zevrian female with bumps curving over her eyebrows and sharp teeth that gave her a terrifying smile.

“We did not think we would see more Vandar so soon,” another gold-skinned Dothvek—Tori’s mate, Vrax—said, curling an arm around the Zevrian’s waist.

Tori slapped at him, but her lips quirked at the corners. “We’re here to kick some imperial ass, pretty boy.”

“I am grateful you answered our calls,” I said. “But I am the only Vandar here.” I turned and nodded at Sienna. “This is Sienna, a human I’ve been training.”

Tori eyed her. “She any good?”

“Very,” I said, which prompted a twitch of Tori’s upper lip and a sharp inhalation from Sienna.

A Dothvek with dark slash marks across his chest stepped forward, clutching my arm in greeting. K’alvek was the de facto leader of the bounty hunter ship, aside from his mate, a human called Danica, who was officially the captain. “Then much has changed since we last fought by your side for the fate of Carlogia Prime.”

I cringed at the explanation I owed them.

“We do not need to know why you are here,” Kush said, holding my eyes with his steady ones. “Only that you need assistance to fight off the empire. There are no more honorable warriors than the Vandar.”

“Perhaps the Dothveks,” I said.

“Very smooth.” A female with flame colored hair whom I did not recognize walked down the ramp, her hands over a swollen belly. “I like this one.”

Another gold-skinned alien followed behind her, his dark hair short and the markings on his chest much like those of an elaborate breastplate. “Not too much, I hope.”

The female gave a wicked grin to the alien over her shoulder. “Not as much as you, babe.”

“Ignore Holly.” Tori rolled her eyes and flipped a pair of shiny metal sticks between her fingers. “She’s pregnant and horny,