Free Crystal Tomb (Starfire Angels: Dark Angel Chronicles Book 3) by Melanie Nilles

or
returned to the homeworld didn't matter, as long as they were
together. He would do all he could to protect her; he had since the
first time he saw her walking home along the quiet streets of
McClarron and felt his breath halted in awe.
    The door clicked and scraped.
Footsteps padded softly in the perfect quiet of the chamber and
stopped.
    "Get up," a voice growled.
    Elis clamped his jaw and shifted to
hold Raea's hands, despite the awkwardness of the cuffs. The warmth
of her hand filled him with strength.
    Something pressed against his head,
the answer obvious. Despite the fear pounding in his heart, he
refused to leave her. "Kill me. You won't get your
translation."
    After a few heart-pounding seconds,
the weapon withdrew, but a sharp jab to his back stole his
breath.
    "Get up!"
    Elis gasped, unable to speak, much
less move. Curse them all for this! He wouldn't help.
    The woman in the body suit knelt over
Raea, a device of some kind in her hand. "She's alive, but her life
signs are weak." Her voice was anything but feminine, a big clue
they weren't what they seemed.
    "What happened to your mate, Inari?"
The voice came from the figure standing over him.
    Elis inhaled sharply, until the pain
where they had kicked him dulled and he let out his breath. "I
don't know." He rushed the words out to struggle for another
breath.
    After a few seconds, the
man standing over him said, "We can't lose her yet. We need the
secrets of the D'Nuvar . Treat her and feed them. They'll stay here until they give
us what we want."
    "Yes, sir." The woman with the odd
voice rose from Raea's side and knelt near him as his breathing
steadied. She passed her scanner over him, her expression neutral
in the few seconds it took to finish. Something must have satisfied
her, since she followed the other man out without a
word.
    Elis stayed by Raea, breathing deeply.
["We'll find a way out of this. I promise."] His lips pressed
against a warm cheek, reassuring him she lived. What did they mean
by weak life signs?
    Raea couldn't die. He'd do everything
in his power to keep her alive, even if that meant sacrificing
himself.
    * * *
    Upon the exit of his commander from
the room, Kalas stepped from the control room window where he had
watched. The girl's hands might have glowed briefly before she
collapsed, but that might also have been an effect of the lights on
her strange markings.
    He stepped out of the room
in time to meet Kan Rikku Nakor Surik with Dar Lorel in the
corridor.
    His commander halted. {"Ronur
Kalas."}
    The extra hiss in that voice sent a
shiver of anticipation through Kalas. His commander sounded
pleased, not what he had expected.
    {" Kan Rikku ."}
    {"You did well capturing
these two. Tell me more about the D'Nuvar shard worn by the
female."}
    {"Its power seems to be a part of
both."}
    Lorel glanced at the scanner. {"I
wondered about these readings."}
    Surik turned to the
xenobiologist in the human female form. {"You're certain the D'Nuvar is blended with
their cells?"}
    {"Yes, sir."}
    {"Is this why they can touch the
crystal and we cannot?"} Surik gazed behind them at the door now
closed to the chamber where the pair laid.
    {"Unknown,"} she answered. {"I would
have to study it further."}
    The crystal had injured several Risaal
since the beginning of the war among the clans and the emergence of
the Nakor as the dominant clan. They had encased it to prevent the
power from harming any others and tapped into it to threaten the
other clans into submission, and now the Inari wore it like any
other jewel, unaffected by its dangerous power.
    Rik had still not recovered from
touching it and lay in a health pod connected to life support
systems. They should have scanned the pendant sooner, but they
hadn't suspected it was a piece of the crystal they sought. Surik
had sworn to take the life of all Inari they encountered if his
clan-mate died.
    {"How is this possible?"}
Surik looked to each of them for an answer but Kalas could not
explain. The triple