by Lily Thomas
She leaped over a rotting tree trunk on the ground and landed on the other side only to stop short.
A four-legged animal with striped brown fur was standing right in front of her. Its head turned in her direction, and it’s four eyeballs blinked at her in surprise before it dashed off into the forest.
Nayli was just glad it was more scared of her than she’d been of it. She’d seen crazier things on other planets. That was another reason she enjoyed her racing career. Sure, things could go wrong, like right now, but it allowed her to travel space and experience different cultures. The pros were greater than the cons.
She continued to look up at the sky, using the smoke as a guide to the other ship. She just hoped it was another ship and not some natives sitting around a cooking fire.
Chapter 6
Roeq woke to something tapping his suit on his butt. His head felt like it might crack open at any moment after the trauma of the crash. He let out a groan, as something continued to tap on his butt.
Cracking open his eyes, he fought past the throbbing pain in his head and turned to find Nayli poking him with a stick.
“Stop it!” He bellowed at her. “If you’re concerned about me being alive or dead then ask me, but don’t poke me with a stick.”
She shrugged in her suit her helmet laying nearby on the ground. “I wasn’t sure if you’d wake up swinging or not, so I figured a little distance might be in order.”
Nayli walked around him in a wide circle, and as he tried to rise, he found his feet unable to move. Glancing down, he found his legs trapped under a heavy piece of his ship. The only thing that had saved his legs from being crushed was the suit he was wearing. Although the helmet had disengaged sometime after his crash.
“Help me with this,” Roeq instructed her as he tried to shift the heavy piece of metal.
“I don’t know about that.” She bit her bottom lip as she surveyed him with her amber eyes.
“What aren’t you sure about?” He could feel the ire building up inside him. His mate was being a stubborn piece of shit, and he wasn’t amused.
“You’ve been paying a lot of attention to me all of a sudden. You’re a competitor, and now my ship crash lands on a planet after the thrusters heat up beyond a point I’ve ever seen.” She shook her head, her purple hair swaying over her shoulders. “I’m starting to wonder if you might be a threat.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Ridiculous?” Nayli raised a hand to her chest, pointing at herself. “Ridiculous?!” She shook her head again. “I’m being smart. You’re a Krocosian, but I’m not your mate and you hanging around and finding reasons to speak with me is suspicious.”
“You can trust me. I haven’t, and I never would do anything to hurt a hair on your body.” Roeq tried to make eye contact with her, but she was avoiding it. He growled in frustration. She was being stubborn and annoying.
“I don’t even know you.”
“I’m your mate, and you are mine.” It came out before he could think about it. He’d been hoping to woo her before admitting his need to have her in his life for the rest of the time they had left in this universe. He hadn’t wanted to scare his human away, but it’d just come out of his mouth without a filter.
She laughed like an insane person, even throwing her head back with the chuckle. Then she straightened and made eye contact. “You’re seriously going to go with that excuse?”
“It’s not an excuse. Now help me out from under this.”
“If I was your mate, then you would’ve jumped me a long time ago.” She snorted. “I might be human, but I know how these mated species things go.”
Roeq wasn’t sure what was going on in her mind and wasn’t sure he ever would. He tried to read her eyes or her facial features, but she gave nothing away. Nothing at all.
“You are my mate. I’ve been waiting to tell you.”
“You can keep saying that all you like, but I don’t believe you, and even if I did believe you, I’m a human and mateless.” Nayli turned, grabbed her helmet and walked away.
“Do not turn your back on me, your mate!” He hollered at her disappearing back. “We are mates! Come back, Nayli!” Rage built in him. She might be his mate, but she was leaving him here defenseless to whatever might be roaming these forests.
Nayli had every intention of helping him when she’d arrived and found him still breathing but now that he’d made that declaration? She just wasn’t so sure. It was one thing to think about being a mate and having the happy ever after, but she wasn’t sure she could promise something like that.
Especially since it was suspicious. He’d never claimed he was her mate back on the station, and now her ship crash landed along with him? It was beyond suspicious. She wasn’t entirely certain he was telling her the truth.
Then there was the mate thing. Yeah, she’d flirted with him and toyed with the idea of being his mate, but now that he’d declared her his mate… well, her heart was fluttering about, and doubts were starting to creep into her mind.
She’d been beyond naïve to think something like that would work.
Nayli was a human. She wasn’t bound by this mate bond. She didn’t trust herself to make him any lifelong promises. It was one thing to flirt with Roeq, and a whole other to actually be his mate. It was like marriage, but more binding. No mate could just walk away from it, which meant he was about to be a permanent pest in her life. How could she, a human, promise to be with him forever?
This truly was till death do we part.
And that was assuming he was telling the truth. She still wasn’t sure he was her mate, because she would’ve thought he’d have jumped her back on the space station.
It didn’t take her long to back track her way to her ship. She let out a groan as she saw it. The poor thing looked horrible. She’d have to cough up a pretty credit to get herself a new ship, assuming this one couldn’t be fixed.
“It’ll be okay.” Nayli walked up to her ship and patted its hull. “We’ll get you patched up. But right now, I need to figure out why we crash landed in the first place.” And figure out if the sexy Krocosian had something to do with it.
Nayli walked around her ship until she got to the panel for her engines. “Now let’s figure out why you would betray my trust and nearly kill me.” She might be talking to herself, but she found it relaxing.
It bothered her that her engines had been reading so hot during their race. This wasn’t something that was normal and shouldn’t have happened at all. There were emergency backup systems to prevent this type of situation.
She stared at the metal panel in front of her, nervous to even open the engine panel. If she found evidence of sabotage, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to handle knowing someone had been willing to risk killing her just to get her out of the race.
Taking out a couple of tools from a compartment nearby, she began taking her engine compartment apart. It was convenient that her ship’s nose was driven into the ground, leaving the underbelly of the ship easy to access.
Nayli stripped away the metal plating and let it fall to the ground with a plop. She paused, sucking in a breath as she braced herself for what she might find. Then she dug around the wires as she tried to find the problem. Then her hand bumped into something. Something that shouldn’t be there in her engine bay.
Nayli closed her eyes, and she sucked in another calming breath.
Bending over, she leaned into the engine bay sticking her head in between the wires and there it was. A little black box attached to one of her engines. Someone had planted a device on her engine.
Nayli just stood there staring at the damn little black box. It was such a tiny device, and yet it had caused such tremendous chaos.
“But how?” She muttered in bewilderment. “I checked the engines before I left. I checked it right before Liam did.” And she knew her brother would’ve been thorough. He would have seen it.
Nayli extracted herself from inside her engine bay and flopp
ed down on her butt. She’d been sabotaged! But by who?
The Daen’su.
Her eyes widened as it hit her clear as day. It had to be him. But would he really take it so far as to take her out permanently? The Daen’su were the galactic black market, but they weren’t usually killers… not always, but usually they wouldn’t resort to killing.
Despair tried to rear its ugly head, but she shoved it back down inside her where it belonged.
She wasn’t going to worry about that right now. When she was found, she would have an investigation done into who planted this device, but for now, she had to survive while she waited for a rescue and kept distance between her and the Krocosian.
There was still the small suspicion that he could have also been the person to plant the black box on her engine. His interest in her could be that of a mate, or it could be that he wanted to get rid of her because he thought of her as stiff competition.
There were so many reasons they couldn’t work if he did turn out to be her mate. They were rivals fighting for the same thing! They couldn’t just pretend like that wouldn’t get in the way. She wasn’t willing to just give up racing… and what if they were mates and he won… because he was better. What if she resented him for that?
Nayli shook herself. Again, that was something she could wait to think on until later.
Quickly, she jumped up to her feet, brushed off her butt and climbed inside her ship, then closed the hatch firmly behind her. She was going to stay in her ship with her active distress beacon. If a rescue party came, she was going to be near her ship so they could find her easily.
As the night descended on the planet, strange animals came out, calling out into the night. Nayli walked around the inside of her ship and found several cracks in the hull. Cracks that might allow alien animals in and the noises outside were freaking her out.
She was a space pilot, not a human who loved to live on planets. She wasn’t used to animals. Or staying alive on an alien planet. She was a modern space age woman, and she loved her technology.
Turning on a flashlight, she watched as an insect crawled into her ship, and her skin crawled in disgust. She hadn’t seen a bug in years. They weren’t adapted to space, and this one that was crawling around had several black eyes and was the same size as her hand. Not to mention all the tiny creepy feet!
She shook her hands in revulsion as she backed away from the creepy crawly that was exploring her ship without a single care in the world.
Thoughts of Roeq crept into her mind, and she couldn’t help but think of him alone in the forest. If she went back and helped him out from under the wing of his ship, he wouldn’t be alone and then she wouldn’t be alone as well.
He’d claimed she was his mate, which meant she would be safest by his side, assuming it was true. And if it wasn’t true, she might still be safer with another person by her side… assuming he hadn’t been the one who planted the device on her ship.
Nayli closed her eyes as she shook her head. Ugh. This was so complicated!
To stay alone where animals could get to her or stay with a Krocosian who might have booby-trapped her engines… it was a tough decision.
“Don’t be stupid,” Nayli muttered to herself. “You can’t go back to him. He’s saying he might be ready to jump into something serious, and you… you haven’t even been in a serious relationship. Your career is your relationship.” She walked around her ship talking to herself.
Something out in the forest roared in anger… or hunger. It was most definitely hunger.
And she was prey. Even with her suit. There was no telling what the animals on this planet could do. For all, she knew their teeth would be able to penetrate her suit. Only plasma bolts were supposed to damage the suit, but she was fairly certain no one had tested it out with the alien animals on this planet.
Nayli could hear shuffling outside her ship, and it had her feeling jumpy. She wasn’t ready to spend her time on a planet alone, especially in the dark. She’d rather face the unknown with the Krocosian.
Climbing up to the hatch on her ship, she threw open the door and jumped down to the ground. Then she began sprinting towards Roeq’s ship. She needed to be with someone else while she was here on the planet.
Another animal roared in hunger, the sound echoing off all the trees.
She had no idea what it was or where it was, but it sounded big, and it sounded terrifying. The tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, and she pushed herself harder.
As she continued to fly through the forest, jumping over fallen trees, and dodging large rocks, she heard all sorts of animals scurrying about under the darkness of the night.
Panting, Nayli stopped short as Roeq’s ship came into view. The light of the two moons lit up the area well enough for her to see he was gone.
He must have gotten himself out from under the ship wing. There was no question in her mind. She had a little trickle of fear flood through her. He was going to be one pissed off Krocosian. Maybe coming to find him had been a bad idea.
Nayli walked closer to his ship as she searched the area. It wasn’t like Roeq would just leave her if she were his mate. He also would want to remain near his ship. So, she supposed she could only hope she really did turn out to be his mate because she was in some deep shit… of her own making, like always.
Spinning around, she surveyed the area around the ship. Maybe he was inside his ship.
She strode up to the door of his ship but couldn’t see any way to get in from the outside. Smacking a hand against the metal hull, she asked, “Anyone in there?”
When there was no answer, she smacked her hand against the hull a couple of more times, but still there was no response.
Either he was a deep sleeper, or he’d left the area. She just didn’t understand where he’d gone unless he’d injured his head and gone wandering off into the forest.
“Great,” Nayli mumbled. Now she was going to have to search for the Krocosian.
She eyed the forest around her. She was reluctant to go too far from the ship, but she walked away from it anyways. It was time to find her Krocosian and make sure he wasn’t out there dying in a pool of blood.
After about thirty minutes of searching, she wandered back to his ship. There’d been no sign of him out there. Just a lot of animals with creepy amounts of eyeballs.
Nayli patted the plasma pistol on her waist. It was a comfort to have, but it didn’t mean she was safe.
Something cracked behind her, and she whipped around, unholstering her pistol and firing into the dark.
Chapter 7
“Dammit, woman!” Roeq flung himself to the ground, the plasma shots searing through the air above him, crackling as the heated energy barely missed him.
His damn mate had almost shot him! She could’ve killed him! Hell, she’d left him to die under a large piece of metal. So far, none of this was going to plan.
Once she stopped firing the pistol, he leaped to his feet and rushed her before she could get another barrage of shots fired. He snatched the plasma pistol out of her hands. Nayli surged forward, trying to snatch the pistol back.
“Oh no, you don’t.” He rose his hand in the air where she couldn’t reach.
She huffed as she backed off. “It’s not yours.”
“You clearly don’t understand how to handle a gun. You don’t shoot first and ask questions later.” He growled at her. “You could have killed me.”
Nayli’s eyes narrowed on him. “But I didn’t thanks to your quick reflex skills.”
“Why are you so jumpy?” Roeq asked her wondering why his mate couldn’t calm down.
“Have you heard any of the creatures walking around out there?”
“I haven’t had much time, as I was trapped under a piece of metal, fearing I’d die there alone.” Roeq glared at her.
“I have reasons to be mistrustful.” She folded her arms across her chest as her amber eyes flashed defiantly.
“Care to elaborate?”
So, he could calm those fears before she riddled him with holes.
“Not really.”
Something roared off in the distance sending his scalp tingling in apprehension. He had no idea what planet they had landed on and if anyone else had crash landed with them.
“Let’s get inside my ship before whatever that was,” he pointed vaguely into the forest, “comes to find out what we are.”
“Does your ship have any hull cracks?” Nayli’s eyes skimmed over the hull of his ship in the dark.
“Not that I noticed.”
“Then I’m in agreement because I have large alien bugs crawling around the inside of my ship.” Nayli visibly shivered.
So, she wasn’t fond of bugs. Good to know. He’d be sure to keep them away from her.
Roeq strode over to the door of his ship, placed his wrist near the hatch, and it popped open with a hiss.
“Nice,” Nayli commented.
“I like to make sure others can’t get into my ship with ease.” He motioned her forward, into his ship.
“Can never be too safe.” She agreed, her eyes going distant as though she was thinking about something.
Roeq’s eyes narrowed on her.
She walked past him, and her sweet scent drifted up towards his nose. His cock responded instantly, and he forgot about the look in her eyes. As his nose filled with her scent, he felt his eyes go all black. Nayli definitely was his mate. There couldn’t be a single doubt in his mind.
He walked in after her and closed the door. “Did you bring any supplies with you?”
“I brought some stuff, but it isn’t much.” Nayli lifted a pack. “Depending on how long we’re here, I might run out.”
Roeq nodded his head in agreement. There was no telling how long it would take a rescue party to get to them, assuming they found them.
“I assume you have your distress signal on?”
“Of course.” He answered. “Do you?”
