Ignite by Tana Stone
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Jaxon
My head throbbed as I gradually opened my eyes, the bright light causing me to wince. My surroundings slowly came into focus—a dull-gray wall, a low ceiling, a naked light hanging from the ceiling and shining down mercilessly.
I wasn’t in the cockpit of my fighter anymore, but where was I?
The last thing I remembered was fighting off the Kronock fleet as it attacked, racing toward the energy rift next to Kalex’s fighter. Then laser fire had hit my wing and I’d spun out of control, careening away from the rift moments before Kalex had vanished into it. When I’d righted my ship, the rift was gone. I was alone and facing off against dozens of enemy ships.
I put a hand to my temple, my fingers touching something sticky. When I pulled back my hand, blood stained my fingertips. I had no memory of anything after I’d turned my fighter around and flown it toward the attacking Kronock, trying to take out as many of them as I could before they blew me to bits. Clearly, I hadn’t been blown to bits, but my recollection was a hazy jumble of sounds and images that didn’t make sense. What had happened and why couldn’t I remember?
I managed to stand, despite a wave of dizziness that almost brought me back down, and I staggered over to the heavy metal door. There was no internal door panel, but I attempted to slide it back. It wouldn’t budge, not even when I pushed hard against it. All hope that I was on a Drexian ship drained away. I was obviously a prisoner.
I swallowed down a flutter of fear as the realization settled over me. I was a prisoner on a Kronock ship. I’d been taken by the enemy.
Curling my hands into hard fists, I clenched my jaw. They’d made a serious miscalculation if they thought taking me as a prisoner would give them any advantage or leverage. I was a trained Inferno Force warrior. No amount of torture would get me to betray my people. I’d gladly die first.
I squared my shoulders and drew in a breath, strengthened by my resolve to give nothing to the enemy. Scanning the small cell, I searched for a way out but saw no vents and no windows. My heart sank a bit, but then I remembered Kalex. He got through the rift with the coordinates of the Kronock battleships and jump site.
“Inferno Force never leaves a warrior behind,” I said to myself. My Drexian brothers would come for me, and they would rain fire on the Kronock for taking me.
This thought cheered me, as did the idea of a raging battle against the Kronock. I was still grinning at this when the door swung open, and a creature stepped inside my cell.
He was forced to bend his head to pass through the arched doorway, his long, scaly jaw entering before the rest of him. When he straightened, I got a good view of the cybernetic steel device that covered one eye and flashed red as he coldly appraised me.
For as much as I’d battled the Kronock, I’d rarely been in close contact with one of them. The sight of the gray scales covering his massive body and the thick tail sliding across the floor behind him sent a shiver down my spine. Although the Kronock walked erect and possessed considerable technology, I couldn’t help thinking they were monsters.
The Kronock crossed his arms across his chest and drummed his claws on his bare forearms, grunting as one thin lip curled up, exposing razor-sharp teeth. “I hope you’ll prove to be more loyal than the last Drexian we took.”
Anger welled up in me as I remembered stories of the Drexian officer they’d abducted and brainwashed. “I’ll never be loyal to the Kronock.”
The alien leaned closer, his fetid breath warm as he huffed out a laugh. “That’s what he said before we broke him.”
Then the laughter died on his lips, malice flashing in his one beady, black eye, and my skin went cold.
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Thank you for reading IGNITE! Want to know what happens to Jax? Don’t miss SCORCH, the second book in the Inferno Force series, featuring Jax and the cat-burglar from Earth, Samaira, who’s tasked to break him out.
I volunteered to sneak onto an enemy battleship. Now I’m stranded on a prison moon with a hot Drexian pilot who can’t stand me.
All I have to do is survive until we’re rescued, and I’ll never have to see the aggravating Drexian again. If I can fight the urge to kill the annoyingly gorgeous alien for that long. Not to mention my urge to…
One-click SCORCH
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