Free Rebellion (A Titan Romance Book 1) by Rowan Bishop Page B

a display of final agony.
    Seeing the creature who almost took Akyra’s life only made him more angry. He unholstered his sidearm and shot a slug into the dead man’s chest.
    “What you got, captain?” Levi said next to him, obviously startled by Raemus' unusual behavior. “One of Xerxus' spies?”
    Raemus realized he was breathing a lot harder than he should be. “Fucker fired on her.”
    The rest of Titans moved into a secure perimeter, securing the rest of the lane.
    Levi patted Raemus on his armored shoulder. “Well… that’ll teach him.”
    It occurred to Raemus right then that he’d been distracted by Akyra just when their attacker had stuck his weapon out the window. If he was doing his job, this might have turned out different. “Damn right.”
    Levi laughed, pointing to the body inside the shop that was continuing to char. “You want to ask him who he’s working for?”
    So… this is what sexual frustration feels like.

Chapter Ten
    Have you watched the way they make love, Korin? Purebred humans can be so bizarre.
    The Collected Letters of Sergeant Vixus, Titan Class
    A kyra walked up and down the square adjacent to the now-compromised safe house with Clarx in tow.
    Since it was compromised, there wasn’t any reason to hold back on security. So the convoy had established solid security, deployed all the drones, and broken the teams down to watch shifts until they felt ready to get back on the road.
    As Akyra walked, mentally dissecting the latest incident, she occasionally talked out loud to herself, mostly in mumbles, which Clarx had learned to ignore if he knew what was best for him.
    She felt better knowing all their equipment was intact. No one was hurt. Not yet, anyways.
    But there was an attack. Perhaps it was random.
    Maybe folks around here hate anything in a uniform. That’s not too unusual in large, segregated ghettoes. Seen lots of that before.
    Every planet was a different set of customs and expectations, sometimes only a twisted, mutated relic of a heavy church presence from hundreds of years ago. Humanity was too spread out, too varied, to unpredictable to make quick judgements. Even though, yes, quick judgments were part of her job.
    These locals, the ones who slinked in and around their location, were incredible to watch. Buried in poverty. Intricately ordained with lots of simple, metal jewelry. Carefully tattooed with symbols she hadn’t seen since her ancient church history classes at Academy. They moved swiftly, their sunken eyes shifting around as though they saw something that no one else could see. They hid in shadows yet danced at every whisper of music. They were like The Church’s lost refugees, reminding Akyra of the strange humans rumored to live in the deep water colonies of Europa, cut off from the rest of humanity for millennia.
    She’d wanted to interrogate their attacker this afternoon, while Raemus was more interested in pulverizing the body. She realized this situation was the opposite of the initial ambush on her convoy four days ago, when Raemus wanted to search and fingerprint all the bodies. She laughed to herself.
    “Captain Roux?” Clarx, always eager to serve, hated being left out of a joke.
    “Nothing, corporal.”
    She stopped pacing for a moment and looked up to see Polli in a dilapidated doorway with one of Raemus' Titans. They weren’t on duty, so their location didn’t strike her as odd, and they were allowed to have the top half of their armor off when off duty. Except, they were whispering together. And… Holy shit, they’re giggling!
    Akyra looked around the square where she’d been lost in thought, and suddenly saw more than a few of her Banshees were chatting up the big, strapping, not-entirely-human soldiers.
    Wait… they’re not just chatting.
    She knew her girls too well. She’d seen them in space ports and bars and even the occasional base party.
    They’re fucking flirting with them!
    “Clarx, what the hell am I seeing all around