Daggertail by Kaitlin Maitland Page B

their now-lifeless husks.
    Xave wrenched the daggertail's links free of the carnage, and the weapon settled itself around his arm. Heedless of the stunned and horrified silence blanketing the entrance, he took two steps toward the remaining cyborg, reached down, and twisted its neck until he heard the unmistakable pop . It was time to go. He had to find Tavish before anything else did.

Chapter Twelve

    Tavish caught the toe of her shoe on the sidewalk and pitched toward the ground. She scrambled to her feet and gazed at the jumble of buildings and refuse surrounding her. A sleek public transit unit turned the corner and headed in her direction. Lights from the droid-driven unit framed Tavish against the dingy wall of the building at her back. Heart pounding, she ducked into an alley.
    Chills racked her spine. Was it cold or was it nerves? How would she ever be able to tell again?
    She pressed on through deserted backstreets she hoped would lead her from the not-so-prosperous outskirts of the gambling district, through a residential slum, and toward the more populated shopping district and Heidi. It wasn't much of a plan, but she didn't know what else to do.
    She ducked down yet another dingy side street and twisted her ankle when she turned to glance over her shoulder. The heel of her left shoe snapped off. She lurched to one side but couldn't keep her balance. Tumbling to the hard ground, she heard a seam pop on her dress.
    “Great, this is just perfect.” She unfastened her broken shoe and tossed it aside. It was difficult to see the frayed threads of her dress in the dim light, but it looked as if the slit in her dress now went a lot farther up her body than had been intended.
    A stabbing sensation in the vicinity of her heart made her eyes slide shut. She shouldn't miss him. She shouldn't care what happened to him or where he went next or whom he went with. He was nothing more than a cold-blooded machine.
    “He would've sold you back to Louie the minute he got Mendez,” she muttered to the empty air around her.
    She struggled to her feet. She grabbed a grimy light pole to help her up and sheared off the nail on her right index finger. Cursing beneath her breath, she fought tears. Not because the nail break was painful, though it wasn't pleasant, but because it was all too much.
    Sucking in a deep breath, she forced her emotions into a tight little ball and reached down to remove her remaining shoe. The street was cold beneath her bare feet. The beautiful dress Heidi had chosen was dirty and torn from the flight and her fall. She longed for Xave's comforting presence and hated herself for that weakness.
    Why had she left Xave like that? Had it really accomplished anything?
    Flickering directional arrows signaled an intersection ahead. She sped up, eager to see a street sign or some indication that she'd somehow managed to head in the right direction.
    A strong arm wrapped around her midsection and snatched her back from the corner and into the darkness of a back alley. Before she could suck in enough breath to scream, a large hand clamped down on her mouth.
    “Don't make a sound. They're already on high alert.”
    Xave's gravel voice in her ear set off a maelstrom of conflicting emotions. He felt warm and hard at her back. Every curve of her body molded to each angle of his. She dragged in a deep breath of his familiar male scent, which triggered memories of his touch and their shared passion. Heat flared between her legs.
    Common sense stirred beneath her arousal. How could her body respond when her mind wanted nothing more than to flee? What was wrong with her? Even at Louie's her physical responses hadn't been outside her control.
    “They're searching for both of us now,” Xave murmured, interrupting her self-recrimination. “I think they're backtracking our trail.”
    Tavish twisted her head to try and see his face, but the inky darkness hid the details of his expression. “Why bother coming after me? Your