Crystals Three Chosen Mates by Suzanne Graham Page B

and he blinked rapidly as if to bring the world into focus.
    Within a surprisingly short amount of time, the cafeteria was being cleared of protestors. “What will the Council do with them? They wouldn’t really sentence them all to death, would they?” Crystal swallowed hard to keep her lunch in her stomach.
    “If they want to send a message and stop the protests, they will.”
    A familiar head of red hair in the crowd caught Crystal’s attention. “Oh, hellitude, no! Bella’s in the middle of that.” She rushed through the cafeteria door without thinking through the consequences.
    “Shiitake,” Fisher cursed at her side. “I’ll get her out.”
    “I can do it.” Crystal elbowed ahead of him.
    He grabbed her upper arms and spun her to face him. “I’m taller and wider. I’ll get her. Stay out of the way of the Guards’ laser guns.” His face was deadly serious as he glared down at her.
    She hated to back down, but he was right. He would have a better chance of getting Bella out safely because he could find an escape route easier by looking over the heads of everyone.
    Feeling inadequate, she stood along the outer wall of the cafeteria, hopefully outside the notice of the Guards. She watched Fisher blend into the crowd as he arrowed in on Bella, who was trying to help an injured man get to his feet.
    Fisher appeared to exchange some urgent words with Bella. From the shaking of her head, she didn’t seem willing to follow Fisher out of the melee.
    Come on, Bella, Crystal pleaded silently. Walk away so you can fight another day.
    Fisher must have run out of patience because he wrapped his arms around Bella’s waist and forcibly removed her from the center of the conflict. Bella got one good elbow thrust in Fisher’s gut before he contained her in an arm lock and hustled her out of the chaos. As they neared the edge of the circle, they caught the attention of a nearby Guard.
    Crystal shouted a warning, and Fisher put his body between the laser gun and Bella. He stumbled as the blast hit him in the thigh, but he shoved Bella at Crystal while maintaining his upright stance.
    Crystal grabbed her friend and shoved her into the kitchen. “Take the back door, and get out of here,” she urged Bella.
    Bella glanced back over the service counter at Fisher, who was being swarmed by Guards. “What about you and Fisher?”
    Crystal took an assessing look and made a quick decision that surprisingly hurt more than she could have imagined. “We can’t save him. Not by ourselves.” She hurried into the kitchen after Bella, resisting the internal personal impulse screaming at her to stay and fight for Fisher.
    Banking the outrage at the injustice she’d just witnessed, the soldier in her began planning a strategy to make things right.
    Bella grabbed Crystal’s hand and pulled with an unexpected amount of strength. “Come with me. I know who can help him, but we have to hurry.”
    Crystal looked behind her through the service opening one last time, grateful the Guards didn’t seem very concerned about two women who’d left the scene while they were engaged in subduing Fisher.
    Stars, that man had a lot of fight in him, but it wasn’t doing him any good. He was going to end up a bloody mess before they sentenced him to death.
    Bella tugged Crystal into the hall, and they sprinted through the corridors of sector one. Crystal’s military training rebelled at abandoning her fellow soldier, but she had to trust Bella’s contacts could do more to rescue Fisher than Crystal could alone.
    Suddenly, she stopped running and bent over, dry-heaving.
    “Crystal?” Bella rushed back to her. “Are you injured?”
    “No,” she gasped between heaves. “I’ve been nauseous lately. Too much job stress.” She tried to make a joke of it, but she didn’t feel anywhere close to laughing.
    “We can’t stay here,” Bella pressed. “The Guards may still decide to come after us.”
    Crystal stood upright; dizziness spun her