by Ivy McAdams
I look up again and watch as the young warrior shimmies his way in between two of the women, settling in close to his mate Trinity. He says something and they all laugh.
Everyone but Eva. She smiles shyly at them but isn’t included.
I wish I could scoop her up and carry her away, where she’d never feel left out again. The need burns so deep within me it feels as if it might burst into flames.
“Your eyes travel to one in particular,” Kovak says.
One of his eyebrows lifts teasingly when I glance at him. It sends a nervous tick over my skin.
“It cannot be helped. She has the beauty of the rising sun, and her energy sings to me.”
Kovak's deep chuckle isn't mocking as I expect. It's uplifting.
“You have no idea yet, my friend. I felt Gemma’s energy pull to me like that when she was human, but once she turned…” He leaned back as if recoiling from a blow. “It’s like the pull of the moon on the seas. It feels like we could move mountains with our power.”
A surge of longing hits my heart.
“I would have that with Eva. I am already addicted to the pull we have now.”
Kovak nods. “It is the beginning of something great. You should follow it.”
“If only she’d made the change like the rest of them. She’s no less beautiful like this, but she’s—” I gesture up and down her small frame. “I’m afraid I’ll hurt her.”
"Do not be afraid. I know there are communication barriers, but don't let it stand in your way of finding your future, my brother. You can discover what works together."
I take a long breath.
He’s right. I must follow something that feels so right. There will be challenges—many of them—but we can face them together.
Kovak nudges me in the arm and nods toward the group. Another warrior has taken a seat between Eva and the next female.
Heat rises in my stomach and the hair at the base of my skull stands on end.
“Go to them,” Kovak says. “Eat with your female.”
I don’t need further encouragement. I stride over to the gathering and move around behind Eva, stepping over the log she’s sitting on and placing myself between her and the warrior that’s taken up residence. She glances up at me and scoots down in her seat to give me more room. I take it as all the permission I need to join her.
The warrior next to me snorts a breath, but I pay him no attention.
"Good evening, Eva," I say, settling into the close quarters.
I don’t want to touch her right now, without the proper go-ahead. And warrior protocol dictates we don’t touch our brethren in social situations such as these. We give proper berth out of respect. I’m not being particularly polite at the moment, but it isn’t a priority of mine right now.
Eva is.
So I sit with my knees together—not particularly comfortable—but it’s all worth it when she smiles at me and speaks.
Gemma leans over Eva’s head just enough to murmur, “She says hello.”
A spark of excitement hits me and I blink at Gemma. “Would you help me speak to her? For just a moment.”
The smile that spreads over the lady Kutarian’s face is sly. Calculating. I wonder if I made a good choice.
“Of course I can,” she says.
Eva looks back and forth between us over her head.
“Thank you. I want to tell her…” My voice falters as I pause. I haven’t prepared myself properly for this. I’m not sure what I want to tell her. How can I explain myself without frightening her away?
My lips pinch slightly as I consider, then I take a breath and start again. “I wish to know something about her. About her life back where you came from.”
Gemma recites my words in their human tongue. Hopefully just my revised portion.
Eva watches me silently for a moment. Her gaze moves over my face. It’s hard not to concentrate on her lips behind that clear thin mask. Especially when she speaks.
“I was born on a farm,” Gemma translates. “I helped my parents raise goats. For milk and cheese.”
“That sounds like honest work.”
“It seemed to keep my parents happy. You don’t make big money working in the milk department unless you have a stupid huge facility, but we have close to four hundred head, so we do okay.”
I bite the inside of my cheek as I do my best to understand her words. “Big money?”
Her smile quirks up at the edge. “Striking it rich? I’m not sure what your equivalent would be here. This place is so simple and peaceful. Trade commodities?”
I nod. “Of course. You have a modestly working trade.”
Her smile relaxes. “Exactly.”
I smile back, resting a hand over one of hers on the log. Then I clear my throat with a glance at Gemma, having forgotten for a moment that she’s with us.
I shift in my seat a little but get back to my conversation.
"Your parents must have been thankful to have you there to help."
Eva tilts her head to the side and some of the light fades from her eyes. “Well, enough. Though not as much after two sisters.” She chuckles, but it’s easy to hear it’s only to hide some discomfort. “A son would have been more helpful.”
“Did your parents need someone to slay the goats?”
The laugh that bursts free this time is more genuine. “Of course not. To man the machines and milk them.”
“I do not see the need for a male heir for this.”
Her eyes roll back a fraction. “Tell that to my father.”
I sense the hostility in her words even before Gemma translates them for me. My fingers twitch on hers and I lift a hand to rest it on her shoulder, but it strays and I brush my knuckles across her cheek.
“Your father does not understand the value of a worker.”
She snorts softly, bringing a waterskin to her lips. “What about your parents? No family businesses around here, I assume.”
“My father was captain of our warriors and saw to that. I followed him.”
“You’ve been around warriors your whole life?”
“Of course. It is an honor to protect my people, and my father made sure I was prepared from a young age.”
"Your father taught you to be a strong stoic warrior?" She gives me a teasing smile.
If only his strict teachings were as simple as all that.
“More or less.”
She passes me her waterskin, and I take it for a long drink. It’s spicy and warm, strings my tongue and fuels my energy.
I want to know more about her. All her secrets. Her wants and needs.
Before I can ask further, Kovak sits on Gemma’s other side and puts a hand on her leg. She’s instantly pulled away with a delighted grin, and Eva and I are left in silence.
We stare at one another for a moment, and I’m unsure what to say now. But it does not matter. She won’t understand it.
I’m feeling defeated when Eva plucks up another water skin from the middle of their circle and lifts it in a toast.
That I’m familiar with.
I raise my waterskin as well, thankful for a manner of communication, no matter how small.
Before I can lower it, a male across the circle mutters my name.
Xjhun.
I begin to ask what he needs from me before I realize he’s not looking at me. His gaze is locked on the trees above us and his ears move. He’s listening.
Xjhun has the best hearing of anyone I’ve ever met. I’ve long ago learned to trust him on that.
The warrior’s long gray ears move and perk as his eyes narrow. Then quick enough to startle me, they flash in my direction.
“The levadon,” he murmurs. “Something’s wrong.”
A spike of fear hits me and I strain to hear as well, but there’s nothing in the air for me but the casual conversation still floating around us.
“Calina?” I ask.
Xjhun nods. “They’re distressed.”
Without ano
ther moment of hesitation, I leap up from my seat.
Eva’s shout of alarm stops me in my tracks.
My name is on her sweet lips, curious, concerned. Her brows peak and there is a questioning need there that I can’t ignore.
“I’m sorry. I must go.” I clasp her tiny hands in mine and give her an earnest squeeze. “Xjhun, Gemma.” I motion to them, hoping one will at least fill her in.
Because something’s happening down at the levadon pit, and I won’t have Calina or her baby killed like the last poor mother.
I fight the urge to kiss Eva full on the mouth in parting and give her my best apologetic face as I slip away. Her fingers tug at mine slightly and it’s nearly enough to have me change my mind, except now that I’m listening, I can hear the levadon too.
They need me.
I run to them.
Chapter 9
Eva
I watch Drek leave and clench my hands against my chest. They’re still warm from his touch but growing colder by the second, empty and alone without him there to hold them.
“What just happened?” I whisper, leaning back into Gemma.
“Xjhun said something about the levadon.”
Realization hits me and I spin to look up at her. “The sick one? What happened?”
Gemma blinks, glancing across the circle at the warrior who’d spoken to Drek. Trinity’s mate Xjhun.
He speaks to her, a seriousness in his face as if he’s reporting official business to his captain.
“The levadon are calling out. Something’s wrong,” Gemma says.
I climb to my feet and squeeze in between two log seats.
“Where are you going?” she asks with a frown.
"To help. Did you see Drek's face? It looks like he could use all the help he can get."
“The levadon get anxious if too many of us are down there. It’d be best if you stayed here.”
“I worked my ass off in pre-vet studies and it doesn’t look like I’ll ever get the chance to take my licensing exam. Might as well put some of my knowledge to work, don’t you think?”
Gemma’s jaw tightens but she doesn’t respond. After a breath, she nods. “Be careful.”
I spin and run along the same path Drek took. He’s long gone, but I vaguely remember the way to the pit from here.
A couple of the other females call my name in question, no doubt wondering where the only small human in the village is running off to so fast, but I don’t slow down to answer them. If there’s any way I can lend Drek a hand, I want to be there for him.
The evening has faded to dark. Lights and crystals are strung through the canopies over my head, sending tiny glowing lights flashing along the ground and over my feet.
As I pass the last row of huts, however, the twinkling lights fade away and I come face to face with the large ravine.
The small herd of riding dinos are clustered at the back of the pit as they’d been the first time I saw them. The rising moon reflects blue and white off the heads and backs of the animals. The snouts move back and forth between the commotion coming from a small cave in the rock wall and Drek running across the bottom of the pit to reach it.
He’s so dedicated to the animals. It makes my heart glow.
I step down onto the ladder and hold tight to the highest rung.
This is going to be tricky.
The Kutarian’s legs are twice as long as mine. I’ll have to hop my way down.
Holy hell, the bottom of the pit is like fifty feet below me. I clench my eyes closed and look away.
Please, don’t die.
With my fingers clenched to the closest rung, I stretch down and desperately try to hook my toe on another step, even though I know in my mind’s eye that I’m not even close.
I’m concentrating so hard that when something hits me on the head, I jump with a gasp.
Something wet just exploded on me. If some giant dino-bird just shit in my hair...
I lift a hand to my crown and feel around. Wet. I grimace. But it just feels like water. I bring my hand down, but the moonlight isn't bright enough to discern what's there.
When the second drop plops onto my shoulder, I gag and shy off to the side of the ladder.
“What the fuck?”
Then the drops hit me again and again. In the head, the arm, my back. I can smell the water, but I’m thoroughly confused.
I put a hand out, palm up and wait. When a drop hits it, I stare open-mouthed.
The small bauble of water glows soft white as it comes down, fast like rain, but it’s not a droplet of water. It’s a tiny ball, like a bubble, falling from the sky. When it hits my skin, it pops and water melts over my palm. A laugh escapes me as I stare, mesmerized. The way it hits and explodes in a micro-splash reminds me of a water balloon, but it’s soft like the tickle of a popping soap bubble.
I bring the wet hand to my mask and breathe in. It smells like the water we have on Earth. But the delivery is beautiful.
As I gaze around, I see other random drops falling from the sky. Tiny balls the size of a quarter falling with a soft glow. Most of them white. A couple that shimmer with a pink hue.
Is this a rainstorm? Or at least the beginning of one.
I should get off this ladder before it gets wet and slippery.
Despite the urge to sit and watch the beautiful water fall, I turn back to my task. Drek is already in the cave, and I don’t particularly want to be out here by myself if the other levadon start wandering back into the pit.
Reaching down with both feet, I stretch my arms down as far as they’ll go, say a little prayer, and drop. My feet hit the next rung about half a foot down and I suck in a breath as I cling to the sides of the ladder to keep myself stable.
“Phew. Okay. I got this,” I murmur as my heart races.
That’s scary, but, hell yes, I did it.
Only like eight more to go, if I had to guess.
I roll my eyes but steel myself.
I can do this.
The rain is plopping on me more now. Tiny bursts of water along my arms and shoulders. My hair is starting to stick to my forehead.
I grit my teeth and lower my feet again. The muscles in my arms flex and shake as I strain to extend slowly.
This hurts. I need to work out more.
Okay, one, two, three. Drop.
My shoes hit the rung and one slips off. I yelp as I grab for the outside of the ladder, swinging wide and hitting the dirt wall. I've never scrambled to get my hands on something so fast in my life. I pull myself against the side of the ladder, wrapping my free foot around it too.
Whoa. Shit. Okay, breathe.
I’ve just recovered my breath when a movement on the south end of the pit grabs my eye. Something’s at the top of the wall. And it looks like trouble.
I press my back into the wall and shimmy my body further behind the ladder railing to watch, doing my best to be quiet.
The form moves closer to the edge and the moon plays along a scaly back and long tail. I bite my cheek and suck in a slow breath to keep from screaming.
Some sort of dinosaur is up there. Two legs, long tail, strong neck. It looks like a velociraptor. A small dino compared to the levadon. Probably only a fifth of the size, though bigger than me. Either way, raptors are vicious. And they’re never alone.
At least that’s what I know of Earth raptors. Who knows what this thing is.
As the animal leans its head over the pit and sniffs, another comes up alongside it.
I bite into my cheek harder, staying as still as I can manage.
The beasts are on the ledge just opposite the cave. They’ve probably heard the levadon making such a fuss, which at least seems a little quieter since Drek went inside. Or else I just can’t hear it over the pound in my ears.
I want to scream out and warn Drek. But I’m much more of a sitting duck here. I’m not sure which would be a better move. Be silent and safe, or loud and helpful.
Although when a crumbling cascad
e of dirt and rock trickle down onto my shoulders, I know I no longer have the option. Something’s above me too.
I jerk my head up just as a third raptor lunges down and snaps its jaws at me. The clack of sharp teeth just over my ear is horrifying. I slide down the ladder pole, trying to drop to the next rung, but my feet don’t find it. I keep sliding, my hands slipping down the moist railing. One of my feet bumps a rung, and that hurts like a bitch, but it doesn’t find purchase. I manage to snag a step with my hand though, and when my arm extends, it jerks me into the ladder. The next rung down hits me hard in the hips and I double over, unfortunately snatching my hand clear of the ladder.
As I free-fall through the air, I scream and grab out for any other parts of the ladder I can get to, but nothing's within reach. All I can do is stare up into the soft white and pink lights of the rain. And the raptor standing over the ladder, screeching as it watches me.
Then it jumps down into the pit, landing just behind me. I scramble in the air, channeling my best inner cat in hopes I can land on my feet and jump away. No dice though. I hit the ground hard on my back, but thank the Lord the dirt is soft down here and it gives. I live but it knocks the wind out of me, nearly dislodging my mask.
Not that I can take a breath, oxygen or not, anyway. Robbed of air and a deep ache in my chest, I do my best to flop away from the raptor’s clawed feet. It has a nasty scream of a roar and kicks at me. I narrowly escape being cut to pieces with its wicked claws.
As it snaps its jaws and stares at me with its ugly yellow eyes, I come to terms with my death. A puny human on a foreign planet. I was never meant to be here. I don’t belong. I’m not on their food chain or their pecking order, but this raptor is getting ready to give me a place.
Six feet under.
I put my hands up to shield myself and scream as the beast snaps at me. When its roar gets even louder, and deeper. I peek out in horror.
But the raptor is looking up too.
The noise is coming from behind it, and I only just manage to glance around its legs before the levadon hits it from behind. I shriek as the smaller dinosaur goes flying over my head, landing in a heap in the dirt behind me.
Oh, shit, I’m going to die. I’m going to be crushed into the ground like a cigarette butt. Or get stuck in between this levadon’s toes like chewed bubble gum.
