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

like half the females on our ship. I, for one, am just glad to get a break from all the hormones in the air.”

K’alvek let out an almost imperceptible sigh. “Tori is correct. There are two other females with child on board—my mate and Bexli, the Lycithian shape-shifter. They won’t be joining the battle.”

“Which is a fucking shame,” Holly said, flipping her red curls off her shoulder. “Bexli is a badass when it comes to fighting. But she can’t shift now that she’s pregnant, so it isn’t as cool to watch.”

Kush stepped forward alongside K’alvek. “Tell us the situation, battle chief. We came to fight by your side.”

“Even if there will be no one else coming to our aid, and a population that doesn’t know how to fight?”

Tori flashed her pointy back teeth as she elbowed her way between the two Dothveks. “This sounds like an epic battle I don’t want to miss.”

“I’m glad you think so,” I said, cheered by the bounty hunter’s enthusiasm about an outmatched fight against a brutal empire. “The Zagrath sent a scout ship several solar cycles ago. After informing the village that they would be sending an unwanted garrison of soldiers, I killed them.”

Tori chuckled low. “Yeah, you did.”

“They have not responded, or sent another ship, but it is the empire. They will not go away so easily.”

Kush folded his arms over his bare chest. “They are determined to take this planet?”

The question that was implied but not asked was why the empire would want a hot, sparsely populated rock like Kimithion III?

“I have good reason to believe they are convinced of its value and will make great efforts to secure it and banish the people living here.”

“Sounds like the empire, all right,” Holly drawled from the ramp where she still stood, her alien mate’s arms wrapped around her and cradling her belly. “Does this planet have any defenses? Any planetary shields we didn’t see on the way in?”

I shook my head. “None, and until very recently I was unaware they possessed any weaponry. I’ve since learned of an armory. But I’m still testing the ancient weapons to see if they work after so long.”

K’alvek tilted his head at me. “One ship against a potential fleet of imperial ones won’t last long.”

“I would never ask you to fight them off from space,” I said. “I believe our best strategy is to lure them closer to the planet’s surface where we can target them with surface-to-air missiles.”

Tori stuck the metal sticks in her hair and rubbed her hands together. “Old school. I like it.”

“I might not be able to fight,” Holly said, “but I can help you reengineer your weapons to get more distance.”

Kush inclined his head. “She is a brilliant engineer.”

“You’re hired,” I said. “I will show you where I have all the launchers.”

“Even with missiles, some Zagrath ships may get through and land on the surface,” K’alvek said. “We should ensure that the people are safely tucked away. Those that do not wish to fight.”

“The ones who do wish to join the battle are welcome to fight by our side,” Vrax said from behind Tori.

“We will be ready to fight.” A rush of excitement flooded my chest, and my fingers buzzed with a hunger for battle. The same desire I’d always felt when I’d boarded a Vandar raiding ship with my brethren beside me and my axe in my hand. This time there would be no other Vandar, but the Dothveks and their female mates had proven their strength in battle before. It would be an honor to defeat the empire with them. And with the human female I’d made my mate. “Isn’t that right, Sienna?”

But when I turned to her, she was gone.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Juliette hurried along the stone path, her stomach roiling. She pressed her fingers to her lips, hoping to keep down her breakfast as the sharp tang of bile teased the back of her throat.

She was doing this for Sienna, she told herself, as she sidestepped a Kimitherian in a beige cloak walking in the opposite direction. It was to save Sienna.

And keep her with you, a voice whispered in her head. But she shook that voice from her mind. It wasn’t about that. Well, not entirely. Her older sister was being foolish and headstrong, and she couldn’t see that the Vandar was using her.

Juliette’s cheeks burned as she thought about how her sister had looked when she’d snuck in the night before. Her clothes had been rumpled, her hair was a mess, and she’d sported a bite mark on her neck. She couldn’t imagine what sort of depravity the Vandar was into, but her sister deserved better. Sienna deserved someone who would stay with her on the planet and share a life. A real life, not some bizarre existence flying around in a battleship fighting enemies.

Even if Sienna was bored with life on Kimithion III now, that would change, Juliette assured herself. As soon as she was married and had a child, she’d settle down and abandon her fantastical notions of leaving the planet for a more exciting life.

“Once she’s given up the Vandar,” she muttered to herself, drawing a curious glance from a woman passing her.

When she reached the door to the dwelling, she hesitated, holding her small fist in mid-air for a beat. Once she did this, there was no going back. No matter what happened or which future she chose, her sister would consider it a betrayal.

“A betrayal she’ll get over,” she whispered to reassure herself as she knocked sharply on the door.

There was shuffling inside and then the door opened to reveal and bleary-eyed Donal, his nose still bandaged, but the bruises around his eyes faded from purple to a sickly shade of yellow . He blinked at her a few times. “Juliette?” He glanced behind her. “Are you here on your own?”

She nodded, drawing in a breath to bolster her courage. “Can I come in? There’s something I need to tell you.”

He stepped