Alien Knight Blind Date Disaster

on her way.
“Did you use the maju paste? Bella? Did you lie to me?” Fuck. Her headache. The pain in her eyes. “Are you feeling sick? Feverish? Are you seeing things? Answer me?”
She ignored his questions. “Stay here and don’t try to stop me. I’m going to go get some answers from our prisoner.”
Unease turned into terror, not for himself but for her as he realized what was happening. Somehow her voice was becoming a powerful weapon. And for some reason, she’d lied to him about the maju paste. She was changing. Evolving. And unless he did something, she was going to die.
The sound of the door clicking shut behind her was like an ice pick going through her skull, but she ignored the pain and made her way down the long hallway to an elevator. Once inside, she saw that there were two sets of numbers. Other than that, the buttons were pretty self-explanatory.
Hoping she was choosing the correct one, she pressed the number two on the first set and braced her hands on the rails as the doors slid closed. The elevator surged to life beneath her feet. It was fast, her stomach falling as the small box hurtled toward the surface—and her quarry.
She couldn’t stop now. Especially since it could very well be Sevron’s life on the line. Her friend. They hadn’t spoken often, but she knew him. Knew he was honorable. Good. He did not deserve whatever might be happening to him now. Especially if the rumors she had heard about the Blood Market were true.
And if he didn’t know anything about Sevron, he would know about the Blood Market. About the rumors she’d heard, rumors of people dying. Humans dying. Not that King Dagan or the other Caldorians seemed to care about that. But she was human. And fuck them all if they thought she was going to let this one go.
She would make the asshole they’d captured talk if she had to cut off his dick and feed it to him one piece at a time.
Rage fueled the thought, but she was not shocked by it. She’d survived this long, and not without seeing things she wished she could forget. Falden could throw her away, just like her family had, her so-called friends, the gang members she’d run with when she was young. She knew the streets, knew poverty, knew what it was like to live without hope of a better future. And this Blood Market bullshit was not okay.
Yes. The asshole was going to talk. And then she was going to go find Sevron and shut down the Blood Market if she had to call in the FBI, Interpol, China and the Russians to get it done. And no one, not Dagan, not Falden, not a dozen Caldorian guards were going to stop her this time. She was smaller than they were. True. She was female. Also true. But she was not helpless or defenseless or stupid. She knew this city. Knew every rathole, shit show and hiding place in town. She had friends everywhere. Informants. Survivors, like the little boy, Matthew, that she’d grown to love. She knew her way around this city and its underbelly.
Whether they knew it or not, she was the best chance for Sevron’s survival. If King Dagan and Falden weren’t going to listen, she’d make them listen. She was not sitting in that little prison cell watching videos while they went after the bad guys in her city, with her contacts and her intel.
Not happening.

Chapter Nine
The ride up the elevator was eerily silent but over quickly. Thank goodness, because Isabella was about to throw up all over her favorite pair of cross-trainers.
A soft bell sounded as the door slid open on the second floor, and Isabella stepped out of the elevator to find two Caldorian guards standing at attention.
“Gentlemen.”
“Miss. How can we help you?” The voice was friendly, but the stance was less so, both large males moving to block the hallway before she’d taken a single step. Annoying.
“I’m looking for the prisoner brought in two nights ago. The one from the bar attack.”
The first male looked down at her and crossed his arms. “This is no place for a female, nor an outsider. You must be lost. Let me escort you back to the visitor center.” He stepped forward, his arm out as if to herd her back onto the elevator as his cohort watched.
“No. Do not touch me.”
The guard froze, and Isabella felt a thrill at being listened to. Finally! Maybe some of these Caldorians actually had a few brain cells behind all that sexy brawn. Because damn, they knew how to build ’em on Caldor. All muscles and chiseled jawlines and eyes that screamed hot sex.
Well, not this alien’s eyes—they were narrowed, focused and clearly annoyed with her. But he hadn’t moved to touch her again, which was nice.
Falden would have had her against the wall again if she’d spoken to him like that.
And maybe that wasn’t a bad thing…
“Miss? You can’t be here.” The second guard had decided to step in, but Isabella’s head was pounding again, the brief euphoria or endorphins or whatever it was fading fast, just like her patience.
“Take me to him now. I need to speak to him.”
The two males looked at each other as if confused, but neither spoke out against her request. They turned away, leading her down the corridor. At the far end she peeked through a glass door to find the man she’d run over with Falden’s…no, with her car, at the bar. Her car now. He’d given it to her, and she wasn’t giving it back. The traitor was right where Falden said he’d be.
The two guards stopped and stared down at her as if wondering what to do next. The guard closest to her cleared his throat before warning her, “Be careful. He is restrained, but—”
“I know, I know. I am a small, helpless, defenseless female.”
Her sarcasm made his