His Human Possession (Zandian Masters 8)

The galactacarrier was surrounded, defending itself against assaults from all sides.

Paal had to repeatedly remind himself of their mission, because the urge to try to save his fellow warriors nearly slew him. But Lamira had seen where Fluut lay in hiding and she saw that killing Fluut would end the war.

He couldn’t second guess his decision making now.

What he could and would obsess over was leaving without fixing things with Leti.

“Battleships cleared for takeoff,” Ronan said.

“Battleship One heading for Zandia,” Cambry said.

“Battleship Two heading for Zandia,” Lily said as soon as Cambry’s ship had disappeared out the docking gate.

He waited for Lily’s ship to disappear, then spoke into his comms unit. “Battleship Three heading for Zandia.”

“May the one true star of Zandia watch over you,” Ronan murmured the ancient benediction over the comms unit, sending chills racing along Paal’s skin as he sped toward his beautiful planet.

“Ronan.” He couldn’t stop himself.

“Yes, Commander?”

“If anything happens to me, I want you to tell Leticia, my female, that my only regret in life is not mending things with her before I left.”

Ronan didn’t answer.

“Ronan?”

“Tell her yourself when you get back,” the young warrior challenged.

“You heard the message. I want you to promise me you’ll see that she’s protected. She’s—” he swallowed back the tightness in his throat. “She’s carrying my young.”

Ronan cleared his throat. “Copy that, Commander. You have my vow on Zandian honor.”

“Thank you.”

He focused on the controls. As they entered the Zandian atmosphere, the battle near the capital became clear. Zandian battleships swarmed in the airspace above the—oh stars.

“I have a visual on a crashed Zandian ship,” Cambry reported. Their troops had suffered severe losses.

“I see it, too,” he answered. “Stay the course.”

Two fighter units swooped in behind them.

He flipped his craft upside down and fired, hitting his target. The enemy ship plummeted, smoking, to the ground. He kept firing, rotating back, but Cambry had already taken the other ship down.

“Nice shooting, Red.”

> “Not so bad yourself,” the human answered. “Now let’s get the hell away from here and find that mine. Cloaking up.”

“Cloaking engaged but I’m not sure it works,” Lily reported. “You’re still on my radar.”

“These ships are designed to see each other to prevent accidents. Let’s hope it hides us from their technology.”

They flew in a triangle formation and shot around the side of the planet to the largest crystal mine. There, Lamira said Fluut had taken residence, believing he was undetectable and protected by the Zandian crystal, the hardest substance in the galaxy.

Too bad for him the crystal itself had spoken to their princess.

He closed his eyes and sent a silent message to Leti. Wait for me, little female. I’m coming back and I’ll fix everything. I promise.