It was shocking to Caeyin that the human pinning him to the floor was so strong. He’d been told by his leaders among the Lunairan military that their kind was weak and fragile. Thus far, he’d only encountered the opposite. The female that had captured him had been conniving and had managed to overpower him with the use of a weapon, and now the male was keeping him on his back with nothing but its bare hands. As he fought back against it, he marveled that the information he’d been given had been so wrong. If he’d known that he would have to try this hard to fend them off, he wouldn’t have let his guard down so much. They were more formidable than he’d expected.

Just as his arms began to tremble beneath the pressure with which the human was bearing down on him, he flinched at the deafening boom of the other one’s weapon. In the next moment, his eyes widened as his attacker let out a cry of pain and lurched to the side, struck by the projectile that had flown from the barrel. Blood rained down from the wound, spattering across his cheek and neck, and suddenly the pressure was gone as it turned its attention to the other human, leaving him breathless on the ground.

At first, he didn’t move, dazed and still comprehending what had just happened. Aside from the fact that he had just been assaulted by what had appeared to be a deranged human, he was also surprised that the female had protected him. He turned his head toward her and sat upright, watching as the wild one fell upon her and wrestled her to the floor just like it had done with him. It was hard to tell if she had distracted it from him intentionally or if his safety had just been a byproduct of her desire to kill the more dangerous threat. Either way, he didn’t know quite what to think.

Climbing to his feet, he kept his gaze fixed on the scrapping humans and took a step toward them, drawn by the compulsion to intervene. He didn’t necessarily feel the need to protect the female, but he didn’t want to leave the fight unfinished. He’d been trained to finish what he started.

As she let out a scream, he edged closer and tensed to strike while the deranged human was distracted. Though he didn’t have a weapon in hand anymore, he still knew how to fight with his fists. He also knew how to strangle a creature to death if need be. That was exactly what he planned to do now, but before he had the chance, another explosion shook the room, and the creature fell limp on top of her. Apparently he hadn’t needed to do anything at all, because the female had taken care of it, herself.

Still breathing heavily from the adrenaline rush, he narrowed his eyes as she turned her weapon against him and climbed out from underneath the other human’s dead body. Of course, the instant the outside threat was gone, she tried to get the best of him again. He didn’t expect anything less.

“How was I supposed to know what was on the other side of that door?” he tossed his head, affronted. As he spoke, he glanced at the weapon in her hand, deciding to get rid of it before he found himself in harm’s way. His pupils dilated once more, and he projected a vision into her mind of himself standing exactly where he was now while he crept closer and reached out to take it from her. She had broken free from his mental grip once before, but she hadn’t been able to do so right away, so he was sure he had at least a few seconds to pull off the theft before she could force him out of her head again.

Taking advantage of the small window of time, he grasped the weapon in his hand and pulled hard once he was close enough. “I’ll take that,” he declared. “So you stop pointing it at me.”