Ka'Cit's Haven (Riv’s Sanctuary #3)

When she looked up, the alien was frozen with his hand still grasping her cloak, but his gaze wasn’t on her anymore.

That’s when she realized he was frozen because his hand couldn’t move.

On her other side, Ka’Cit had let her go to grasp the alien by the wrist.

Now there was definitely tension in the room. If she had a knife, she could cut it like a piece of cake.

“Remove your hand, or I will remove it for you.”

Ka’Cit’s words were said so slowly, so surely, that they sent a chill through the room.

The brute appeared momentarily surprised, but it seemed to draw strength from the presence of its cronies.

One moment, she was standing still and the next, the alien was using his other arm to pull her toward him.

It happened so fast, she landed with her back against him and his hand around her throat.

The alien looked down at her, seeing her properly for the first time and his eyes widened a little before he grinned around his tusks.

Nia gritted her teeth and struggled in his arms.

She didn’t want to reveal her gun, she was still grasping it with one hand underneath her cloak, but if she had to…

Through the corner of her eye, though, she realized Ka’Cit was leaning off the counter.

His movements were slow, bored, but an underlying current of lethal seemed to swim around him.

It was enough to even scare her a little.

As he stood at his full height, Ka’Cit let out a breath and cracked the bones in his neck.

“Why do they never listen?” he said to himself.

The alien grasping her throat grunted and glanced at his cronies. “Who the qrak is this?” He chuckled and his cronies cackled beside him. “Look, I’ll give you a chance to get out of here and go back on your supply run unharmed. But you leave this little gem to me.” He squeezed her neck a little tighter and Nia slammed her elbow into his chest.

The brute’s eyes grew wild and he held her even tighter. “Fighter, are you, little one?”

“I warned you twice.” Ka’Cit’s words cut through the air, stopping the cronies’ cackling and stilling the air around them.

“Twice?” The alien brute sounded confused.

“Didn’t I?” Ka’Cit asked. “Too bad.” He still had the alien’s wrist in his hand and, in one movement, he twisted it.

The alien grunted in pain but he didn’t let her go.

One of his cronies was moving at her side and, without taking his eyes from the brute holding her, Ka’Cit spoke again.

“Take one more step and I’ll cripple you.”

The alien at the side paused.

One of the others spoke. “Who does he think he is? Show him how the Rachzers do things, boss.”

The boss grunted around the pain in his wrist.

“You don’t tell us what to do,” he taunted.

Ka’Cit let out another breath. “I really didn’t want to do this. Not in front of you, ta’ii.” He spoke but he wasn’t looking at her. He was still focused on the brute.