Read Silas: Imperial Warrior (A Sci-Fi Alien Warrior Romance) for Free Online

about what they had done. His fingers tightened around his weapon.
    "So...wait," Cress was saying, and Silas made himself listen. "You eat people?" He sounded slightly hysterical, probably with good reason.
    "Drink," Hamara said, lip curled in distaste. "They drank from the boy."
    "So when you said drained..."
    "Of blood," she clarified.
    Cress went positively green.
    "Delicious," the Fremeri said again, and this time licked its lips. Or what passed for lips.
    Hamara shot again.
    “Hamara,” Silas said, already weary of this. “Stand down.”
    “Yes, Captain.” Her tone was reluctant, but she put away the blaster and took a step back.
    The Empress was not going to be pleased. The Fremeri were draining her people, right under her nose, and hauling them in to answer for what they had done wasn't going to erase the mess they had already caused. And there was no telling how many Fremeri were lurking, waiting to continue this mess.
    For a long moment, nothing happened. Neither HIMA nor the Fremeri moved. It was a standoff of sorts, even though Silas was the only one with his weapon out. He had to make a decision about what was going to happen here. Ammaline had instructed them to leave at least one of the creatures alive, so there was no reason why he couldn't let Hamara and the others keep shooting. Especially if they were killing children.
    He opened his mouth to say as much, to suggest that they try to detain as many as possible, though, when the Fremeri closest to him broke out into a run.
    The creature had swung forward so it was nearly galloping on all fours, and it was covering a lot of ground, towards a ship that was just a few hundred feet away.
    "Stop!" Silas called, but his inattention meant that the others were getting away, too. The one who'd been shot in the thigh was hobbling, and Cress bounded forward and grabbed it, pulling the Fremeri back and holding on tight.
    "Oh, no you don't," he said. "Not this time."
    "Hold her, Cress," Silas said as he took off running.
    "Where are you going?" Cress called after him, sounding incredulous."
    "I'm in pursuit. Take that one back to the Empress!"
    He could hear Cress mumbling, and Silas smiled a little to himself. It was a lot like the good old days before a difference in rank kept them from doing things like this together.
    Although Silas was going to be on his own for the rest of this. He could see a speeder parked in the shuttle bay not far up ahead, and though the Fremeri had a head start, and were already scrambling aboard their ship, Silas wasn't worried. He was still practically the best pilot HIMA had, and no one had ever outrun him in space before. He'd catch up to the Fremeri and make them wish they had just complied with his orders.
    Excitement pulsed in his veins, and his heart pounded.
    This was something he had missed.

Chapter Two: Enterprising
    Katia poked her head out of the tangle of covers as her alarm blared to life. She groaned, rubbing at her eyes and then stretching with a jaw cracking yawn before she reached over and quickly did the puzzle on her phone that would let her turn the alarm off.
    It was a good thing the puzzle changed every day, or else she’d have learned how to do it in her sleep by now.
    It was also a good thing it was a Friday, because Katia needed the weekend like she needed air to breathe. Granted, the only day she had off was Saturday, and that was because she’d hired someone specifically to handle the Saturday crowd.
    Sundays were her favorite days, since there was a high tea in the afternoon, and she loved presiding over that, but honestly, every day was a good day when she was doing something she’d wanted to do for so long.
    Three and a half years ago, she’d been still trying to scrape together enough money to make The Laureled Lily a real thing. It had just been an abandoned old mansion on the edge of town, covered in ivy and fraught with structural damage, termites, and mold. Honestly, it should have taken much longer