by Erin Raegan
Fihk and Tohn froze and turned to face me in the doorway, piles of panties in their hands and under their flat noses.
“No. Just no.” I stomped to them and snatched the underwear from Tohn. I held my hand out to Fihk and wiggled my fingers impatiently. He dropped them into my hand with a scowl. “Gross, inappropriate, and downright rude,” I scolded them.
“Her smell is most potent here,” Fihk announced.
Nathan giggled uncomfortably.
“Out.” I pointed at the door.
Nathan darted out, and I raised my brows at the three aliens. They scrunched their own brows. Olynth glared at me from the doorway as I put away the underwear. When I was done, I shooed him out of the way so I could slide by. The five of us crammed together in the hallway.
I subtly stepped in front of Nathan, crossing my arms. My nose was inches away from a purple chest, but I didn’t let it stop me. “All right, perverts, that’s enough sniffing.”
Nathan giggled again, his man-boy voice echoing in the small hallway.
“What is pyhrvyrt?” Tohn looked at Fihk.
Nathan laughed harder.
“Her smell is most potent here because it’s her bedroom. And it looks like she packed a bag,” I told them dryly.
Which I had to admit was a little strange. I hadn’t bothered going for my panty drawer when I grabbed my provisions bag from the apartment. Nate and I had had to raid a department store two weeks ago just so I could change out of my stinky uniform. But the woman liked shopping, if her fancy décor said that much about her. I guessed lace and silk may have been a priority for her. If I had known I would have had to risk our lives for a pack of undies, I may have stopped at my underwear drawer that day too. So, weird, yeah, but also smart. She was prepared for cleanliness. I’d give her that. Let’s just hope she was smart enough to grab a few more useful things than panties.
“You’re not going to find her here,” I told them. “You need to retrace her steps. Anticipate where she would have gone and move back from there. Where does her daughter live?”
“In the treeees,” Tohn said funnily and shuffled back as Fihk tried to squeeze by.
“I have the coordinates,” Fihk announced as he went down the stairs.
Tohn followed him, but Olynth played footsie with me as I tried to drag Nathan past him when he wouldn’t move first. The guy couldn’t make up his mind. He wanted to go before me but also wanted to nip at my heels. I growled at him and stomped on his heel. He snarled but let me pass.
After looking over a freaky-looking electronic map Fihk showed me, I realized her daughter was from Idaho.
“She would have stuck to these roads if she drove, but she would have needed to ditch the car early on. On foot, she couldn’t have made it too far.” I ran my finger down the line where I would have continued on foot. But I was guessing. What I would have done was far from what a random rich lady would have done. I didn’t want to say it, but it was highly unlikely the woman was still alive. Especially if she was alone.
“You will take us there―?” Fihk coughed at the end of his statement to make it sound more like a question. He obviously wanted to order me to do it.
I shook my head. “No, I looked through the house for you guys. We’re done.”
I grabbed Nathan’s arm and pulled him toward the door. Fihk traded a glance with Olynth. The big guy was fighting mad.
“You will take us,” he stated, just as I knew Fihk wanted to, and blocked my way with his enormous bulk. At least Fihk had the decency to pretend it was a question.
“Bahyly, we wish you no harm,” Fihk said placatingly.
I sighed. “I want to believe you. We’ve been here for an hour and you haven’t eaten us. But where you guys are going is not where we’re headed. And no offense, but you guys attract a lot of attention. Plus, you did bite me.” I glared at Olynth.
“Where are you going?” Olynth growled through a tight jaw.
“Yeah, Bails, where are we going?” Nathan asked snottily. I pinched the skin above my nose. I had no clue where to go, but I was not hanging with a bunch of oversized purple muscleheads. They hadn’t killed or eaten us―yet―but I did have a painful bite on my neck and no idea why he’d done it. Besides, I wasn’t sticking around to find out why they were on Earth. They may be looking for some woman, but that wasn’t why they’d come to our planet. Saving us? I wanted to snort. Nobody did anything for free, human or not. They wanted something, and I wasn’t naïve enough to believe it was to shake hands and sing friendship songs.
At the very least, they would attract the Vitat. And that made hanging with them a hard pass for me. I needed to get below ground and find a carnivorous-alien repellent that would last longer than a few cans.
If they were really going to save us, why waste time looking for one woman? Fihk was supposedly acting commander of all of them. How many were there? Were they scattered around our planet, all looking for their own humans? No, they could go find her on their own, and I would be just as happy sticking my head in the sand and trying to survive―
Shit, and then what? Could I really keep Nathan alive? For how long? A week? A month? If the last three weeks taught me anything, it was that life as we knew it was over. Hell, life, period, was over. Blood and gore coated the ground everywhere we went.
The fear and panic I tried so hard to keep control of nearly crippled me.
“I—I―” I looked at my brother. My family. Not by blood but of love. The only kind that mattered.
He read the panic on my face and squeezed my hand, his brown eyes blinking back his own fear.
Fihk’s face softened with something that looked like pity. It pissed me off enough that I was able to quell the tightness in my chest.
He exchanged a silent conversation with Olynth then sighed. “We need your help, but I do not wish to force you.”
He looked apologetic, but all I heard was force.
“You’re on your own.” My hands twitched for the repellent in my pack. They still had it. I balled my fists. It would be hard, and I had no fucking clue how, but I would keep us alive. I would. But we had to go now if I was going to have any hope of accomplishing that. I ripped my necklace from around my neck, and the snick of the hidden blade echoed through the room. “We’re leaving, and you’re not going to stop us.”
With one hand holding the pathetically tiny blade in front of me, I stepped up to the big alien blocking my way. I would go through him if I had to. I was no slouch with a blade. Having a childhood like mine, you had to pick up a few skills on the streets. I may not be able to take these guys, but I was quick, and some instinct told me they really didn’t want to hurt me. That hesitation would give me the upper hand I needed.
Olynth backed away, his hands down by his sides. I eyed the blades strapped along his body. There were a lot.
Nathan stepped with me, not a single protest on his lips. He may have thought these guys were cool, but he’d grown up on the streets, same as me. He read me, and I thought he knew it wasn’t smart to stick with them any longer. Even if he didn’t, we were a team. We always had been.
“Let us go,” I told them.
“I am sorry, little warrior, I can’t allow that,” Olynth said gravely and lunged.
Chapter 3
Olynth
The female, Bahyly―my Pythe―was quick, but no match for me.
Her arm shot out and stabbed at my left flank. I blocked her weak jab, surprised at the precision and speed of her attack. She may be weak, but her skill was raw, and her determination drove her with an intensity that took me off guard.
I allowed her to move away and attack my right side. I found myself reluctant to cow her so quickly. Blocking her once more, I backed away rather than advance and subdue her. Tohn looked at me in surprise, but Fihk watched with an understanding that angered me. I allowed the little warrior to spin and land a blow to my left thigh with her knee. It did not hurt, barely a sting, but she bounced back, grinning triumphantly. My gaze s
nagged on her expressive mouth.
My groin thickened.
She ducked and swiped at my arm with her tiny blade. I snagged it and tossed it aside. She blinked in shock, her small smile flattening.
I immediately regretted being the cause of its loss.
She balled her tiny fists at her sides and bent her knees. I eyed her feet warily. Her foot coverings were thick and far more fortified than those of even the Juldo. She looked down, and her enchanting grin was back.
I allowed her to grab my arm, enjoying the warmth of her skin, but shifted to avoid being stomped by her painful step as I had been before. I twirled her around, pulling the curve of her backside against my front. She was so small in my arms. I caged her arms across her chest by her delicate wrists. She huffed and bared her blunt teeth at me.
I shifted my hips back and away from her rump, so she would not feel how she affected me. I bent and sniffed at the column of her pale neck. She stiffened and dug her claws into my hands.
My groin throbbed, nearly unbearably.
The mating rage was far more difficult to control than I could have ever prepared for. I had seen my commander battle its symptoms and fail. I would not allow my control to slip as his had done. My commander was strong—a warrior—but no match for the Pythen mating rage. I would not succumb. My past was too ingrained.
I was always in control.
But I could not deny her pull tested me beyond anything I had ever felt. She struggled in my arms, so I tightened my hold. Fihk watched me with alarm. I flashed my fangs at him. His doubts were unfounded.
I would not yield. I would not fall to the rage’s demands as so many had done before me in the days of the Old King.
The human female may be my Pythe, but I had not asked the ancestors for her and I would not bow to their will. She was safe from me. But I could not let her go. I detested these new instincts. They demanded I possess her. Take her for my own.
I wanted to purge them from my being.
Her body writhed against me in her need to escape. I grunted and pushed away from her, releasing her. Her scent was too much. I felt the rage thrashing at the surface, grating from inside, but I could only bear a few steps’ distance. I did not know how I would be able to leave her. Even now, she was too far from me. I gnashed my teeth. Control. I needed to remain in control.
Her companion, Nahythahn, shouted her name in alarm. He was much darker skinned than my Pythe, but she guarded the youngling with familiarity. He was a member of her House. A sibling perhaps. Their features held no resemblance to indicate a shared lineage, but my Pythe protected the male as only a House member would. Even now, she stepped before the youngling, blocking our ability to get close to him. She shielded him as a mam would her dahkling.
I vowed to protect him as I now had no choice but to do for her.
I may not want a mate, but the ancestors had chosen for me and I would not shirk my duties. If I had a House on Home World, they would both become members, but I did not and I never would, so I would protect them as best I could here on their world.
I softened my stance from attack to supplication, an effort to soothe the female’s anxiety. It did not work. She saw the ploy for the deceit it was. She eyed a large bowl of some sort off to her side, then snatched it and held it in front of her protectively.
I held my hands aloft and stepped closer. She hissed and backed away, pushing the young male behind her. I sighed. This female would give me a great deal of grief and aggravation in the foreseeable future. Her stubbornness would not make my transfer to a new world easy.
I would not miss Home World, there was nothing for me there, but the humans' world would not welcome me with open arms, even after we eradicated the threat of the Vitat. It was no matter. Earth was my Pythe’s home. Therefore it was now mine. The humans would have to adapt.
I did not wish to harm the female or her charge, and my hesitation cost me. She tossed the bowl, and it shattered against my chest, small sharp particles raining down against me and the others. She darted for the domicile’s door. Their quick feet took her and the young male outside before I could stop them.
“Do not touch her,” I snarled to the others as we shook off the sharp particles and rushed after them.
Tohn snorted but nodded. Fihk eyed me but said nothing. He worried I had no control. I understood. It was unheard of for a male to deny the Pythen rage, but I would not force myself on her. I would not become one of the vile fiends of my past that haunted my thoughts in my darkest moments.
They ran down the cracked black earth, their hurried steps echoing off the humans’ dwellings around them.
The Vitats’ tell-tale screeches answered them.
I quickened my steps, my legs pumping. The female no longer carried her deadly cans of mist. We’d stolen them from her. I cursed myself. She was without any protection.
A flash of her startling fire-blue fur trailed her behind a sharp turn. I pumped my wings and shot into the sky. From there, I could see her running with the young male down a narrow path. I shot ahead of them and looked around another corner. A dozen Vitat were charging toward them. I turned sharply and plummeted to land in front of the humans, my knees quaking from the harsh blow. Fihk and Tohn landed behind me.
“Foolish female,” Fihk growled. “The Vitat have sensed you.”
Bahyly skidded to a stop a few feet from me, panting. She bent over, clutching her knees. “I hear them.”
“A dozen Vitat will be here in a moment.” Tohn turned his back on the humans and drew his sword.
“A dozen?” the young male screeched.
“I need my spray.” Bahyly stepped forward, slapping at her sides frantically.
“You do not.” I drew my sword and dagger and turned from her. “Stay behind me.”
“No, I need it. We left my pack at the house.”
“I will protect you.” I braced for the enemy as they skidded around the corner. Their long strides ate up the ground between us.
“Sorry if I don’t really believe you,” she whispered ominously.
I turned as she grabbed the male and darted back toward the Mother Lyndah’s dwelling. I cursed and leaped for her. But she stumbled back as another half-dozen Vitat ran through the opening in front of her.
“They have caged us in,” Fihk snarled. “Take the humans and fly them to safety.”
“Fly?” Nahythahn whispered.
“It is too narrow to expand my wings.” I cursed and lifted my Pythe, tossing her into the center of us.
The male followed and huddled against her. The three of us circled the humans protectively.
“You can’t fight them all.” Bahyly winced and covered her ears as the Vitat’s screeches grew closer.
Tohn grinned. “You have so little faith in our abilities?”
Fihk grimaced. “She is right. The humans are too fragile. So many Vitat would hinder our ability to guard them effectively.”
“This way.” Bahyly pointed at a door off to the side.
The Vitat were closer, clawing at each other to squeeze between the dwellings.
A tiny hand tugged on my arm. I snarled at the female. She scowled and pointed at the door again.
“Go,” Fihk ordered and backed away from the door as a Vitat lunged for him.
I wasted not a moment second-guessing the lieutenant’s order. I’d fought beside him through many battles. He could hold back this many with Tohn for long enough for me to stash the humans somewhere safe, away from the battle. Shoving the humans in front of me, I crowded them as Bahyly yanked on the steel door.
“It’s locked,” she said, fear and urgency evident in her voice.
“Move,” I snarled as a Vitat claw raked down my spine.
I cocooned the humans in my wings, protecting their vulnerable hides as I reached around them. I balled my fist and pounded the door’s handle. It gave way too easily. Guhuvin steel was far superior.
The young male gasped. “Dude, you just bent that door.”
<
br /> The door bounced open, and Bahyly shoved Nahythahn through. Only after Bahyly was safely inside did I turn and engage the Vitat clawing through Tohn and Fihk. They held back the majority of the enemy, but one vile creature had clawed at my back between them. I sliced it in two, its lifeblood spraying my chest.
I followed the humans inside. The door hung at an unnatural angle from its hinges. Seeing a tall structure of shelves, I flipped it on its side and threw it against the door. It would not hold for long.
Bahyly was on the opposite side of the room, fighting another locked door.
Nahythahn gaped at my chest with wide eyes. “Narly.” He grinned. “Can you teach me how to use a sword like that?”
“No,” Bahyly grunted without turning around.
“Aw, c'mon, Bails! That was badass!”
“Mouth.” She grunted again. “Darnit, I can’t get it open. You wanna help out, big guy?”
“In a moment,” I snarled and rushed over to a small glass portal.
A Vitat was beating against the glass, its sharp teeth bared and dripping with hunger. I balled my fist and smashed it against the barricade, yanking the creature through. It did not fit past its waist, its bony hips too wide. Drawing my sword, I pushed its snapping head down and away from my arm, then I severed its neck with one blow.
The young male paled, his eyes consuming his small face. Bahyly gagged. Leaving the Vitat carcass in the small portal, I stomped to my Pythe and gently moved her away from the door. When I beat my fist against it like the other, the door folded in on itself.
Bahyly huffed and pushed it open. “Nathan, let’s go.”
She watched me warily as I pushed her back. I walked through the door before her, searching the room for any threat that may be lurking.
“Your back,” she whispered. Delicate, warm fingers trailed down my spine.
I grimaced and stiffened. I could not handle her touch. I growled and bared my fangs at her.
She flushed and snatched them back. “You’re bleeding.”
