Razor's Traitorous Heart: The Alliance Book 2 (3 page)

One thing is for sure,
she thought as
she climbed over the edge and began working her way down through
the narrow caged ladder to the floor below.
If those men did
survive the crash I have to help get them out because that crane
sure as hell isn’t going to be able to hold them for long
.

Razor blinked several times in an effort to
clear his vision. He remained perfectly still as he ran an
assessment over his body. Every part of him felt bruised and
beaten. He ignored the throbbing in an effort to assess what was
minor damage and what could be life-threatening. A low curse echoed
through the cockpit when he realized that he was still face down.
The only thing holding him in place was the seat harness. There was
nothing else between him and the ground far below. The windshield
of the helicopter was missing on his side.

He slowly raised his hand to wipe at the
blood that kept blurring his vision. A deep cut ran just above his
right brow. His arms were fine, but excruciating pain in his left
leg hazed his vision when he tried to move it.

Drawing in a deep breath, he lowered his
chin until he could look down at it. A shaft of metal, over six
inches long, was embedded in his upper thigh. He turned his head so
he could look at the pilot. The male hung lifelessly from his
harness. A thick metal rod protruded from his chest.

“Hey, is anyone alive in there?” A soft
voice called out from behind him. “Oh God!”

Razor turned his head as far as he could,
but from the position he was in he couldn’t see who had called out.
He could only feel it. A deep heat mixed with the pain running
through him. Frustrated, he closed his eyes and wrapped his hand
around the top of the metal in his leg and pulled in another deep
breath in preparation for the pain that would come with removing
it.

His eyes jerked open when he felt slender
fingers close around his wrist. “Wait,” the husky voice whispered
next to his ear. “Let me make sure it didn’t hit an artery. If it
did, you’ll be dead before I can get you to safety.”

Razor turned his head and breathed in the
sweet scent of wildflowers. A low moan escaped before he could
contain it. The heat inside him flared again, rushing through him
at such a speed that he had to close his eyes again to calm the
dizziness.

“I am dead either way,” he murmured as the
metal around them creaked and shifted again.

“Not on my watch you aren’t,” the voice
replied with a trace of amusement. “Now, keep your pantyhose on.
I’m going to reach around you and attach a strap to you so I can
release the harness and free you. Is your other leg good?”

Razor’s eyes jerked open and his breath
hissed out when the most beautiful almond-shaped brown eyes, mere
inches from his face, looked back at him with a combination of
humor and fear. The first thought that went through his mind was
that this was the female from the image he had been studying right
before the crash. The second and most disturbing was that she was
in imminent danger.

“Leave me,” he ordered with a dark growl.
“It is too dangerous. The whole thing could collapse at any moment.
Get out now. I will get myself out if I can.”

*.*.*

Kali ignored everything around her, but what
she was doing. If she thought about it, she would do exactly like
the alien demanded. Hell, if she had known that there was an alien
on board the damn ‘human’ helicopter, she would have left his ass
to die instead of risking her neck to save him.

No, you wouldn’t have,
her good side
argued silently with her bad side.
You would have helped anyway
because you are a sucker for those in need.

“Yeah, and look where it has gotten me,” she
muttered under her breath.

“What?” The alien male demanded before he
let out a curse as the helicopter shifted again. “Get out!”

“Shut up!” She snapped back, quickly tying
the thick cloth of a rolled up fire hose around his waist.

“You…” Razor’s voice died as the helicopter
shifted violently.

This time the entire thing dropped several
feet. A large section of the tail boom opened up and fell to the
ground far below. The shift caught Kali off-guard as she adjusted
her feet to get into a better position to unhook the straps holding
him to his seat.

She screamed as the footholds she was using
dropped from under her feet. She tilted and would have fallen
through the opened windshield if his hand hadn’t shot out as she
fell and wrapped around her arm. She slid down until his fingers
clamped down with an iron grip around her wrist. Looking down, she
stared at the ground wondering briefly if this was the way she
would die.

“No,” the voice growled out.

Kali looked up at the face of the male who
held her life in the palm of his hand. Dropping her gaze to his
thigh, she studied the metal for a moment before deciding that
unless they were built vastly different, the metal should have
missed all the main arteries. She looked back up to see sweat
glistening on his brow and his eyes glazed with pain, determination
and anger.

“Well, I think the metal in your leg missed
your artery. It’s still going to hurt like a bitch when I remove
it,” she replied grimly. “You can’t pass out on me when I do, you
hear me? I need you to keep it together until we are out of this
mess.”

“Are you crazy, female?” His deep, rich
voice asked in disbelief as he stared at her hanging from one hand
over certain death. “You are going to get yourself killed!”

“Not tonight, I’m not,” Kali replied in a
husky voice. “Just… don’t let go of me yet. I’d hate for you to
prove me wrong.”

Lifting her legs up, she found a good
foothold and reached up to grab the back of his seat. The move had
her straddling his legs and her forehead pressed firmly against
his. She knew that he was going to be pissed with what she was
about to do, but there was no time for making the task at hand any
easier. The moment he released her hand, she gripped the metal
shard in his leg and pulled it out as quickly as possible.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, staring into his
eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

She dropped the blade of metal, letting it
fall through the shattered glass to the ground below. Readjusting
her position, she reached into her back pocket and pulled out the
bandana that she sometimes used to hold her hair back. It was
barely long enough when folded diagonally to wrap around his
thigh.

She hated having to hurt him, but some
instinct told her that they were running out of time if they were
going to get out of this alive. She needed him to be able to move
and he wouldn’t be able to with a spear of metal in his leg. She
glanced up as she finished tying the strip of cloth.

His head was pressed back against the seat,
not an easy thing to do considering he was hanging by a few straps.
His face was pale and his lips were pressed together so tightly
they were almost white. His eyes had turned to a darker gold. It
was the look of pain, anger and exhaustion shining in them that
pulled at her sympathetic heart. She knew all too well what those
feelings felt like.

She reached up and touched his cheek before
pressing her lips lightly against his. It was the only thing she
could think of to give him a moment of comfort. Resting her
forehead against his again, she reached down and grasped the buckle
holding the straps together.

“Are you ready for this?” She asked softly.
“I’ll help balance you. Use your good leg to brace against the
dash. I’ll act as your left leg. Try not to put too much weight on
it if you can. We don’t want it to give out and have you collapse.
The shift might take the whole thing down. Once we get on the back
side of the seats the side door is open. If we get to the opening
and the crane gives way, don’t worry about falling. I have the hose
around you and it will hold you. Let it swing you down to the lower
floor. The windows are all gone and I’ve kicked out the rest of the
glass so just let the momentum take you to safety.”

“What…” he started to say hoarsely as the
buckle opened and he gripped her as she wrapped her arms around him
to keep him from falling. “What about you?”

“Don’t worry about me,” Kali whispered in
his ear. “Tonight isn’t my time to die.”

Razor’s mind rebelled at the thought that any
night would be her time to die. Gritting his teeth, he braced his
good leg against the instrument panel. He kept one hand wrapped
around the strap tied to his waist to help steady him and his other
arm around the waist of the slender female.

They moved in a slow, painful synchronized
dance over the seats toward the open door. He tightened his arm
around her when the helicopter shifted again under their weight. He
could feel it as it began to tilt. The sudden knowledge that things
were about to change quickly hit him at the same time as it must
have hit her.

“Hold on,” he order
ed
as he bent both legs and pushed off, ignoring the
burning pain as he pulled on the jagged cut on his leg.

For a moment, time stood still as they were
suspended in the air. Razor felt the female’s warm breath against
his neck as she buried her face against it. Her arms had moved from
around his waist to around his neck. He turned at the last minute
so his body could take the force of them hitting the brick
building. They briefly bounced outward, but her hold on him never
loosened. He rolled as they came back against the side so his back
was to the falling debris that was dragged down under the weight of
the helicopter.

He bent his head forward as she splayed her
hands protectively over the back of it. It took several seconds
before he realized that she had wrapped her legs around his waist
and was pulling him closer to the building. He groaned against her
shoulder as she held him tightly against her.

“I think… we… made it out of the
helicopter,” her trembling voice whispered against his ear.

“Yes,” he muttered, pulling back.

He watched as she tilted her head upwards
before looking down, then returning to look into his eyes with a
small grin on her lips. He felt her body relax against his as she
stared at him in curiosity. He saw her frown as she studied the cut
above his eye.

“You’re going to need stitches for that one
as well,” she murmured before meeting his eyes again. She tightened
her legs around him as she raised one hand to gently push his hair
back from his face. Her expression changed as she rubbed it between
her fingers. “It’s soft.”

“Can we discuss the softness of my hair when
we are not hanging almost sixty meters above the ground,” he
muttered through his teeth.

He didn’t know if it was pain or exhaustion
causing the confusion swirling through his mind, but he was finding
it almost impossible to concentrate on anything but the female
wrapped around him. It wasn’t like him to allow anyone, much less
an alien female, to distract him from his mission.

“Sorry,” she muttered, releasing his
hair.

If it wasn’t for the fact that she was still
in danger, he would have demanded that she continue her
exploration. His arm tightened around her waist when she slowly
lowered her legs. Fear that she was about to fall swept through
him.

“What are you doing?” He bit out as she let
go of him.

She raised one delicate eyebrow at him.
“Like you said, we can’t just hang from the side of the building.
I’m going to turn around so my back is to you. Hang on to me and
I’ll walk us along the edge until we get to the window. Once I’m
through, I’ll pull you in and take a look at your leg. Will any of
your people come looking for you?”

“No and yes,” Razor snapped out in
frustration.

“No, no one will come or yes, they will?”
She asked in confusion, even as she twisted nimbly in his arms by
holding onto the hose that ran above his head before it ran down
his back and tied at his waist. “Hold on.”

Razor gritted his teeth until his jaw began
to thr
ob
. The irritating female didn’t
listen to anything he said, had no concept of survival, and needed
her ass thoroughly whipped for putting herself into such a
dangerous situation. He didn’t bother trying to hide his opinion
either.

Soft laughter filled the air around them as
she gripped the jagged bricks and scooted along the narrow lip that
separated the different levels. He refrained from making any more
comments, afraid he would distract her. Right now, his arms around
her and his body pressed against her back were the only things
keeping her from falling to her death.

“Have you no concept of survival, female?”
He asked as she pulled them closer to the window.

“Of course I do. Just be thankful I was here
to help you,” she replied softly. “I’ve done this before without
help, you know.”

A soft, rich growl escaped him at her
comment. “Where is your protector? Your male should not allow you
to do such things.”

He felt her body tremble. At first he
thought it was because of fear of what her male would think of her
risking her life. A flash of hot rage swept through him at the idea
of her belonging to another male. A male like – Destin Parks. It
took a few seconds for him to realize the trembling was caused by
her chuckling.

“I don’t have a ‘male’ as you put it,” she
replied as she gripped the open frame of the window and stepped
through. He grasped her hands when she turned and held them out to
help guide him through the opening. He used his good leg to steady
his body as she pulled him inside. “Even if I did, he wouldn’t have
much say about what I do.”

Razor rested his hands on her shoulders as
she worked at cutting the thick cloth from his waist. “I would,” he
answered in a surprisingly husky voice.