Page 86 of Mazorium Buys a Human

“You aren’t fine, my Mika,” he growled. “I’ll make sure they all die horrible deaths. First I’ll get you to safety, and then I’ll devise a plan to end them!”

As much as I wanted them dead, I didn’t want him going back there. They still had all those weapons!

“They aren’t going anywhere,” I said. “Your flier isn’t going anywhere, and even if they climb down from the trunk, they won’t make it to us. Let them starve for a while.”

He sounded an amused rumble and reached out a hand to rest it on my shoulder. “I like your idea. We’ll wait until they’re weak and feeble. Then I’ll show them what it feels like to be preyed upon.”

This was a new bloodthirsty version of Maz. I liked it.

The shuttle jolted. There was something flashing on the workstation display, but I couldn’t tell what was wrong.

“Maz?”

“It’s fine, we’re almost home,” he said, voice tight and fingers frantically working the manual controls.

One of the engines failed entirely, but Maz still managed to get us home. When the shuttle landed with a hard thump, I knew it wasn’t taking off again.

Both of us sat there for a moment, stunned at everything that had happened.

“Na-na,” Nadia said, waving her fist again. Her voice sounded unnaturally loud in the silence.

“Da-da!” I exclaimed. “She’s saying Da-da!”

Maz started purring and took her from me. He held her in front of his face. “As long as there is breath in my body, I’ll love you and keep you safe.”

She gave an adorable little sniff and held out both arms. He hugged her to his body, and I lost it.

Hot tears poured down my face, and I started sobbing.

Maz put a hand on my thigh. “Mika?”

I looked up to find both him and Nadia staring at me. “I’m sorry,” I sobbed. “I don’t know why I’m crying now.”

“Because we’re not in danger,” he murmured. “It’s a safe time to release your fear.”

I nodded and tried to stop the tears, but I wasn’t able.

“What if more of them come?” I whispered.

“We’ll defeat them,” Maz said, his voice full of determination.

His words made me feel a lot better, but the tears kept coming. He must have realized I wasn’t going to be able to stop because he urged me to stand up.

“Let’s get into our ship. If anyone shows up, we’ll lock it down and leave.”

I nodded and moved to the open hatch, then stopped and gaped. The ramp was nothing but a bit of ruined metal at the attachment point.

Maz let out an amused rumble. “The ramp matches the rest of the shuttle now.”

I let out a wet snort-laugh. “True.”

As I was gauging the distance to the ground, Maz shifted Nadia to one arm. Turning me to face him, he lifted me up against him, holding me almost exactly as he was holding Nadia.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and relaxed in his hold. I trusted Maz implicitly.

He jumped and landed on the stump without an issue, but he didn’t set me down. He began walking to our ship with long strides, as eager as I was to be inside.

We were halfway there when the sound of a shuttle coming in fast made both of us tense up.