Page 45 of Badass Alien Boss

He went inside, and she wheeled her case to her unit. Balancing the boxes in one hand, she palmed in with the other then pushed the door open. Keeping it open with her body, she kicked her case inside. She entered and let the door close.

Why is the coffee table upside down?

A hard band clamped around her neck, cutting off her air. A string of guttural gibberish growled in her ear. Against her back, she could feel the bulge of a weapon.

Instinct and training kicked in. Food splattered as she dropped the boxes to free her hands.

“Don’t hurt me.” She feigned compliance while tucking her chin low and relaxing to create space between her body and the attacker. Then she drove her elbow hard into his gut. He let out anoomph.The band around her throat eased, and she twisted and slammed the butt of her palm into her attacker’s nose. His face was covered by a mask, but she heard a satisfying crunch. Another quick blow under his chin knocked him into the wall.His jacket parted, and she spotted the weapon tucked into his waistband.

He reached for it, and she delivered a swift kick to his nether region on the hunch alien gonads were as sensitive as human ones. With a high-pitched squeal, he doubled over. More gibberish spewed from his mouth, and her translator finally caught up. His curses weren’t very complimentary toward her.

She drew her weapon from its thigh holster under her skirt.

Eyes widened in the masked face, and then he bolted, yanking the door open and charging into the hall. She watched him skip-hobble to the stairwell.

How had he breached security and gotten in? Keeping her weapon at the ready, she did a quick search of the apartment, careful not to touch anything. The unit had been ransacked, tables overturned, drawers yanked out, contents flung around. Clothes had been pulled from the closet and tossed onto the floor.

She holstered her weapon and called Ruyn.

“I just got out of the shower,” he said. “I’ll be on my way in a few.”

“Um…I have bad news…and worse news.”

“Are you having a reaction?”

“Nothing like that. The bad news is, I had a visitor.”

“What do you mean?”

“I walked in, and there was an intruder in my apartment.”

“Phuk! Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. I handled it. He ran away. He made a mess of my apartment though.”

“I’m coming over—phuk, that was the bad news? What’s worse?”

She eyed the mess on the floor. “I dropped our dinner.”

He arrived in a flash. “Are you all right?” He hugged her.

He smelled good, and she was still grungy, but she hugged him back, absorbing his strength. Reaction had set in, and she felt shaky, but part of that could have been due to not eating. She eyed the food on the floor.

“He was behind the door when I came in. He grabbed me. I delivered a couple of blows and broke free. When he went for his weapon, I pulled mine, and he ran. I let him go rather than engage in a shoot-out.”

“He was armed?” Ruyn swore.

“Nothing I couldn’t handle,” she downplayed the incident. The intruder had underestimated her and the situation. If he’d had his weapon out, the outcome could have been different.

“Did you call the police?”

“Not yet. I called you.”

Ruyn notified the police who arrived within minutes.

Inspector Nsia introduced himself and his partner, Puul, and she gave him their names. “What happened?” Nsia swept his gaze over the mess before focusing on her.

She reiterated what she’d told Ruyn, how the intruder had been inside when she’d walked in.