Ka'Cit's Haven (Riv’s Sanctuary #3)

“Phek. Herza would have had my head if I’d pressed that top one.”

Together, they pushed her inside the room.

There was a singular metal cage in the center of the room, and that was about it.

“Put him in.”

Another push at her back had her stumbling forward, and Nia turned to try and dart around the aliens. The door was still open. Maybe she could—

But the next blow was a kick to her belly that had her stumbling backward and into the cage.

It hurt enough that she doubled over onto herself, hatred boiling in her veins alongside the pain.

She was only vaguely aware of one of the aliens slamming his hand against the orange button on the inside of the room. The buttons on this side of the wall were only two. An orange and a yellow one.

The cage slammed shut and the door as well, locking them in.

Nia struggled to stand, and she held on to the bars, her eyes on the door.

There had to be a way out of this.

There just had to be.

* * *

Ka’Cit gripped on to the hull of the cargo ship and let out a sound of annoyance.

The ship was humming.

That meant the engines were on.

Phek.

Herza was leaving the dock so soon?

He gripped onto the ship, crawling on his belly as he made his way forward toward the hatch at the top.

The ship was an oval thing and getting on top of it had tested his strength, but he’d made it.

He’d been heading to a singular spot, that hatch, even as the plan he’d thought of developed in his mind.

Luckily, he knew ships like this inside and out. The hatch he headed toward would open and drop him right into the ship’s lower sector.

Crawling so high up, the wind whipped at him and he clung to the ship as he pushed himself forward.

He reached the hatch soon enough and peered down.

The interior of the ship was dim, but not dim enough for him not to see there were Niftrills in brown cloaks everywhere.

Phek.

He was hoping they’d remain solely in the cargo hold, but he was wrong.

Herza probably had them doing all sorts of jobs that required they man the whole ship.

Ka’Cit let out a breath.

This wasn’t going to be easy.