Ka'Cit's Haven (Riv’s Sanctuary #3)

“See that door?” Ka’Cit jerked his head toward a large set of doors at the end of the room.

“Yea.” She nodded.

“Make a run for it. I have your back.” Then he chuckled, she was sure. She couldn’t see it, but she sure heard it. “Not that you can’t handle yourself.”

His eyes were on her again and pride swelled within her.

She hadn’t realized her ego had needed that. It meant a lot coming from him.

He had shot most of the Niftrills while his whole attention had been on her. His aim was that good.

For him to say that to her…

Nia held back her smile.

With one last glance at him, she set off across the space.

She was light on her feet as she jumped over the bodies littering the floor.

She picked a path through the fallen Niftrills, one that had the least amount of henchmen and hence fewer hands that could grab her ankles and trip her as she made her way.

But a glance behind her had her coming to a stop.

Ka’Cit wasn’t running.

Instead, he was moving from Niftrill to Niftrill, flipping them over and taking the hood of their cloaks from their heads.

Their heads were bald and looked just like the exposed hand she’d seen earlier.

Like dark rock with lava flowing underneath it.

One of the aliens he held up had its arm exposed and Nia’s eyes widened in their sockets.

Now she knew why they didn’t bother to continue fighting when they were hit.

The Niftrill’s arm was swollen with what looked like a huge pocket of lava under flesh.

What the…

Ka’Cit kept moving from one alien to the other, flipping them over, checking their faces, until he stopped when he reached one of them.

She couldn’t hear what he said to the alien or what the alien said back, but he seemed satisfied with what he’d heard and he released the alien.

As the alien fell to a heap on the floor, Ka’Cit lifted his head to follow after her and that’s when their gazes locked. Something changed within his eyes.

His look was guarded, as if he expected her to say something negative, but she simply gestured to him.

“Are you coming or what, big guy?”

His gaze softened then and it dawned on her that she was learning to read him quite well.

As she started running again, she checked behind her to see if he was following this time. His steps were so silent, she wouldn’t have known he was if she hadn’t looked.

They finally came upon the huge doors and Nia halted.

“She’s watching us, you know,” he said when he reached her and the words sent a chill down her spine.

Nia’s gaze immediately went to the entry to the corridor where they’d come from, but no one was there.