Serix quieted in panicked confusion. It was “okay?” What did she mean it was “[i]okay[/i]?” Did she think her death would spare him some kind of pain? Surely she couldn’t believe that! After the weeks they spent together, she should know that he had no reason to keep fighting without her, and he had no hope of returning to the Lunairan society, even if he wanted to. He had given up everything to be with her now. How could she possibly tell him it was okay!

When he heard the gunshot, Serix’s heart stopped. There was a burst of dark crimson from Cassie’s shoulder. He staggered. They killed her. They actually killed her. The thought played over and over in his mind. But then, the Lunairan guard on Cassie’s left fell to the ground. Serix stared for a moment before he realized what happened. A wave of relief washed over him. He had been mistaken; the bullet hadn’t hit his mate, it had hit the Scout that held her. She was okay.

His moment of respite was quickly swallowed up in a new surge of adrenaline. They were fine now, but if none of the Lunairans had fired that shot, then who did? He didn’t have time to look for the source of the ambush. Cassie was already taking advantage of the situation. She had retrieved her gun and took down one of the Scouts restraining Serix. He followed suit, swinging his now free arm around to jab the other Lunairan in the throat. The Scout gagged and let go of his other arm. In the next instant, he had a hole in his chest, where he was pierced by another speeding bullet. He keeled over at Serix’s feet.

Serix turned away. The sight of a dead Lunairan made his stomach churn, and he couldn’t let himself dwell on it. He had to stay focused on the battle at hand. He blocked the image out of his mind and knelt to take his own gun back from the unmoving body. He and Cassie weren’t out of danger yet. They still didn’t even know what they were up against. By now, four of the Scouts had been murdered and lay still of the ground. The attackers had revealed themselves as well, but they were concealed by layers of black clothing. He could see nothing but their eyes.

Wait… their eyes?

As far as Serix knew, there were only two races currently on this planet that looked like these people: humans and Lunairans. All of his people shared the characteristic of glowing violet eyes. The attackers had non-luminescent eyes of various colors. That could only mean one thing: these fighters were humans. But how was that possible? The humans should have all been eliminated by the Plague. Cassie had only survived it because of her mixed blood. How could there be more living humans?

Before Serix knew what was happening, the band of humans had sent the two remaining Lunairans running —cruelly murdering one of them in the process— and were moving towards him and Cassie with ropes to bind their hands. He tensed, ready to fight them if he needed to, but he could already see it was pointless. He and Cassie were badly outnumbered, so it didn’t take long for the humans to overwhelm them. He tried to tell himself it was for the best that he didn’t retaliate much. After all, it didn’t seem like the humans wanted to kill them… yet.

The mysterious group dragged them somewhat violently towards three large, parked vehicles. At this point, Cassie had started protesting. She struggled against her restraints and shouted human obscenities at their captors, who proceeded to ignore her. Serix tried to move towards her. He wanted to stay close to her, but the humans forced him to walk in a straight line. He could only begrudgingly content himself with shooting her guards icy glares whenever they handled her roughly.

The humans shoved them into the back of one of the vehicles and slammed the door, closing them in darkness. Serix struggled into a sitting position against and pressed his back against one of the side walls. He felt Cassie curl up against him, although he couldn’t see her. He leaned his head against hers and closed his eyes. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and protect her from whatever dangers lay ahead, but the cursed ropes around his wrists prevented him from doing so.

They bumped along the road for quite a long while, speaking little as they took comfort in each other’s presence. Serix spent most of the time mentally chiding himself for his sloppy performance in the first battle against the Lunairans —if one could even call it that. Yes, they had been ambushed, but his reaction speed had been uncharacteristically sluggish. If he had only drawn his gun faster, he and Cassie might have at least stood a chance. Instead, he had almost gotten her killed, and now they were prisoners again to another group who possibly wanted them dead. Their situation seemed to have gone from bad to worse.

After a while, the vehicle stopped and the door was opened, letting in a flood of light. Serix squinted against the brightness and angled his body to shield Cassie from their captors. The humans paid him no mind, though. They climbed into the vehicle and dragged them both out into the open. They were led into a wide crevice in a rock wall. The inside was hollowed out to form a labyrinth of tunnels and rooms that were lined with fluorescent lights. The design reminded Serix a bit of Cassie’s hideout back in the city.

More humans milled about around the edges of the hallway, staring as their companions led Serix and Cassie through the compound. Serix was acutely aware of the hostile expressions they took on when their eyes fell on him. It was slightly unnerving to be surrounded by so many angry people, but he refused to meet their gazes. He kept his shoulders straight and his eyes forward. He would not give them the satisfaction of acting like a frightened prisoner. He was determined to show them that they had captured a proud Lunairan, one who would not bow to them simply because they happened to capture him in a one-sided fight.

Eventually, the human onlookers dispersed, leaving only a small group of five to confront Serix and Cassie. One of the humans stepped forward. There was an authoritative look in his eye that led Serix to assume he was their leader. The human uncovered his face to reveal features he had only seen in Cassie before. He had pale golden hair and blue eyes. Serix found it somehow strange to see these light colors on a male.

[b]“So,”[/b] the leader spoke up, looking them over. [b]“We have a normal girl and a Lunairan. The question is, what to do with you two…”[/b]

[b]“I say we keep the girl, but kill the Lunairan,”[/b] one of the other humans offered snidely.

Serix glared at them, taking a step back. Under normal circumstances, he would have already marked his exit points to prepare an escape if the humans tried to attack him, but with Cassie by his side, he couldn’t run away. If their captors decided to kill him here, he had no chance of getting out. However, he wasn’t going to go down without a fight. If they did choose to kill him, he would be sure to take at least two of them with him.

Cassie suddenly moved to stand protectively in front of him. While there wasn’t much she could do, Serix appreciated the gesture. The humans just laughed at her, though, which only led him to glower at them more venomously. How dare they mock his mate like that? They seemed completely blind to the pair’s frustrated helplessness.

[b]“Seems like the girl has some spunk,”[/b] one of the humans snorted. [b]“Don’t have many girls with fight in them anymore around here.”[/b]

[b]“Eh,”[/b] the leader seemed unimpressed. [b]“I doubt it. Probably just some little act.”[/b] He stepped closer to Cassie; an action which he would soon discover was a mistake. She didn’t miss a beat, swiftly thrusting her knee up to hit him in the groin. The spectating humans howled with laughter, and Serix smirked as the leader doubled over in pain. It served him right for belittling her courage like that. The light-haired male narrowed his eyes at Cassie once he had recovered himself enough to speak, [b]“That was a cheap shot.”[/b]

[b]“Hardly,”[/b] Cassie replied just as venomously. [b]“There are no cheap shots in fighting, only weaknesses.”[/b]

[b]“Wait a minute,”[/b] the human looked her over again, taking her in in a way that made Serix’s skin crawl. [b]“Where did you hear that from?”[/b]

[b]“My father,”[/b] Cassie answered.

The leader paused before he replied again, [b]“You’re Castiel Daniels.”[/b] He gestured for one of the other humans to untie her hands.

[b]“How do you know my name?”[/b] Cassie looked confused. Serix looked at him warily, wondering the same thing.

[b]“I’ve known you for quite some time, Castiel,”[/b] the human said with a laugh. [b]“In fact, you know mine, too. It’s been a while, but surely you remember your rival and best friend, right?”[/b]

At first, Cassie just continued to stare blankly, but then her eyes widened in recognition, [b]“Ryan?”[/b] She ran over and embraced him. Serix stared at her in shock. She was just as friendly with this male as she was with him! He felt a twinge of irritation. He would have liked to do something about this, but his bound hands and the surrounding guards prevented him from doing anything. He was forced to stand and watch the exchange from the side.

[b]“I-I can’t believe it!”[/b] Cassie exclaimed. [b]“I thought you were dead! What are you doing here? What happened?”[/b]

[b]“Whoa there,”[/b] the human, Ryan, replied. [b]“Slow down. I’ll answer questions a little later. First, let’s get this alien to one of the holds and get you cleaned up.”[/b]

Serix narrowed his eyes. He really didn’t like the way this male referred to him as an “alien.” He wasn’t exactly sure what the term meant, but it sounded derogatory. He also wasn’t about to let this human separate him from Cassie. Wherever she went, he would go, too. He was just about to voice this thought, but Cassie spoke up first.

[b]“No,”[/b] she said firmly. [b]“Serix stays with me.”[/b]

[b]“You know this alien?”[/b] Ryan asked, looking surprised. [b]“And you’re on good terms with it?”[/b]

Now Cassie seemed irritated by his words, too. [b]“He’s my husband,”[/b] she said, hugging Serix’s arm as if to emphasize the point. Ryan looked stunned, and Serix relished it. Whatever he was to Cassie before no longer mattered. Serix was the most important male in her life now, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Ryan stepped over to him, seeming to size him up. Serix stood as tall as he could under the human’s stare, but up close, he could see that Ryan was slightly larger than he was. However, if he hoped to intimidate Serix, it wasn’t going to work. He had grown up among plenty of tall males back on the Lunairan ship. Being smaller than his peers was not something he was unfamiliar with. He tilted his chin up, meeting the leader’s eyes challengingly. Ryan wrinkled his nose slightly and turned back to Cassie, “Your husband? I’m sorry, but I don’t see how—”

“I’m not mute, I hope you know,” Serix interrupted. “And I’m not deaf, either. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t talk about me as if I’m not here.”

Ryan turned back to him, “I don’t make a habit of chatting with aliens.”

“I can’t imagine why,” Serix said sharply. “We ‘[i]aliens[/i]’ happen to be just as reasonable as you humans; maybe even more so.”

“Oh really?” Ryan sneered. “That must be why I saw a group of them holding you two at gunpoint. Very reasonable people there.”

Serix opened his mouth to reply, but he couldn’t think of anything to say so he closed it again and glared at the human bitterly. He had practically walked into that one, and Ryan knew it. Ryan nodded, acknowledging his victory, and turned back to Cassie, “I think you have a lot to tell me.” He cast Serix one more condescending glance. “Unfortunately, I can’t break protocol. We have to take this alien to the hold. We have no proof that he won’t turn around and attack us, so it’s safer for everyone if he’s locked up. I hope you understand.”