The Alien's Savior

by Ella Maven

  I gagged.

  Rizars.

  They’d thrown Reba in a cage and would have eaten her if it weren’t for Ward, Gar’s brother. I couldn’t imagine how terrified she must have been.

  Gar spun around, but another six Rizars appeared behind us. We were surrounded, and I shook in Gar’s arms. Was this really happening? Fuck the Kulks and Uldanis. Were we going to be done in by a bunch of lizard-looking man-eaters?

  Gar didn’t seem angry. Or scared. He placed my feet on the ground and pressed on my shoulders. I went to my hands and knees, huddling there as he towered above me. His tail swished along the ground, kicking up dried leaves and dust. I focused on that, and the calm way he rolled his shoulders while his machets lifted from his skin. I would always be in awe of those deadly blades which shone in the sunlight like obsidian. He clicked his tongue piercings on his fangs, and that was the only sound he made before he surged forward like a pouncing lion.

  With his tail, he swiped an arc of dirt at a line of Rizars, who sputtered at the debris clouding their eyes. Their attention occupied; he dove at the row of three standing closest to us.

  I barely saw what happened. One second, they were lowering their spears to charge and the next they were on their backs, blood spurting from gaping wounds in their necks and guts spilling over the ground. Armed with a spear in either hand, Gar spun to the next group, stabbing with their spears while he slashed with his machets. They fell, victim to his horn, blades, and their own fallen comrades’ spears.

  The ones who’d received face fulls of dirt had recovered and one grabbed for me. I shrank back, but shouldn’t have worried, especially as a rush of air passed by my face, followed by the thump of the Rizar’s hand hitting the ground. Blood spurted from the detached appendage, and I screamed just as the Rizar reared back, shrieking as he grasped his damaged limb.

  That injury was the least of his worries, especially as Gar shoved the spear tip down the Rizar’s open mouth until it jutted out the back of his neck.

  “Oh God,” I mumbled, retching what little was in my stomach as the Rizar fell to the ground, lifeless eyes staring at me accusingly.

  After that, I watched with a disassociated detachment as Gar skillfully and unemotionally took the life of every Rizar present. There had to be over a dozen, and none of them got close to me. He moved fluidly and deadly, using every part of his body to kill. I remained huddled on the ground as the last one fell. Well, his body did. Gar held his head in his hands before he tossed it aside with indifference. He didn’t even wipe his hands as he strode toward me, coated in blood and fluids, and—I retched again, and his boots stopped suddenly.

  He reached for me, and I held a hand up.

  I’d seen him kill before, but somehow this felt different. More personal. He’d been inside my body, and I’d let him hold my heart in his hands. He was capable of … this. I’d known it, but seeing it was enough to make me lose the contents of my stomach.

  I wiped my mouth and sat back on my heels as I gazed at the bodies around us. When I finally looked up at Gar, he was tense in a way he hadn’t been during the slaughter. Fear lurked in his eyes along with a defensive wall which had his nostrils flaring with each intake of breath. He was bracing himself for my rejection.

  He’d killed them for me. I knew enough to know those Rizars would have picked my bones clean if they’d gotten me in their clutches. Gar hadn’t hesitated to defend me. That was the way life was on this planet, and I could either accept it or try to judge Gar based on Earth ethics that didn’t apply here.

  I couldn’t judge him based on morals from a galaxy away, especially when he’d proved to me, he held the morals that mattered. He cared for me, he respected me, and he’d done exactly what he promised—he’d protected me.

  Ignoring the rolling in my stomach, I reached for his hand, only to find he wasn’t watching me anymore. His attention was on something in the dirt. He crouched and flicked away a few leaves before picking up a small disk with a glowing red light.

  His lips peeled back, his colors flashed on his scales, and he hissed out one word that had my heart sinking into the bloody dirt.

  “Uldani.”

  Thirteen

  Naomi

  “What is that?” I found my voice despite the ache in my throat from puking.

  “Tracker,” he spat. This wasn’t the Gar who held me and called me little one. This was the Gar who killed, who smashed through cell doors, and killed a dozen Rizars like it was another day at a nine-to-five.

  “Tracker?”

  He rose and kicked at the headless body near him. “Uldani must have bargained with some Rizars to help search for us. They dropped this when they found us. Uldani will be swarming here any moment.”

  I stumbled to my feet as panic gripped heart. “What?”

  He blinked at the tracker before clasping his fist around it. He raised dull, emotionless eyes to me. With a clenched jaw, he reached into the pocket of his pants and withdrew the leather-wrapped controller. Placing it in my hands, he said, “I need you to take this back to the Night Kings.”

  “I’m sorry, what—?”

  He pointed to a large tree in the distance, the massive leaves visible even from several miles away. “Just keep that in your sightline. You’ll reach the edge of our territory before sundown. Nero’s eyes will pick you up, and a pack of warriors will be there in no time.”

  Wait, this didn’t make sense. “Where—?”

  He shoved the tracker into his pocket. “If there was any other way I’d do it, but this is the only plan I can think of. I have to lead them away from you.”

  My eyes went wide as I realized what he planned to do. “What the hell? No, Gar. I’m not leaving without you!”

  He spun on a heel and shoved his face into mine. “You will. You will because I promised to protect you, and this is the only way. I can take out a dozen Rizars but not an entire contingent of Kulks and Uldani. Not with their tech. The only chance of keeping you alive is leading them away from you. All that matters is you and that controller getting back to safety.”

  No, no way. First, I was terrified to be on my own, and second, I refused to leave without him. “Gar, please—”

  He spread his arms out at his sides, gesturing to the bodies around us. “This is what I do, Naomi. This is who I am. I don’t know what I thought…” He bit off a curse and turned away from me. “I don’t know who I thought I was making you forever promises I can’t keep. The only promise I can fulfill is that I’ll protect you. And I’m doing that the only way I know how.”

  He didn’t call me little one. He didn’t look at me with his pretty purple eyes. These were black and lifeless in a way I’d never seen him look, not ever. “That’s not true.” Tears gathered in my eyes. “You’re my mate and—”

  “I’m not your hero,” he growled. “I’m no one’s savior. I’m just a warrior who should have remembered his place.”

  “Your place is at my side.” A sob escaped. “As my mate.”

  For a moment, his expression wavered, and a sliver of purple sliced through his irises before they returned to a fathomless black. “Maybe one day, if we meet again.”

  My body bucked, and I lurched toward him. “Don’t say that!”

  “I have to go!” he shouted, emotion creeping into his voice with a hint of panic. “This is what I have to do to keep you alive and deliver the key to our freedom.” He backed away, and when I made a step toward him, he held out a hand. I stopped, swaying on my feet as tears coursed down my face.

  “Please,” I asked, one more time.

  He shook his head. “Follow the tree. I know you can do it, little one.” A muscle in his jaw ticked. “Be brave. Until we meet again.” He turned on a heel and without another look over his shoulder, took off into the forest.

  I remained standing where I was, surrounded by the bodies of his enemies, until his words echoing in my ears spurred me on. I had no other choice, I couldn’t follow him, and I couldn’t stay. So,
I turned and stumbled forward. Shoving the controller down the front of my shirt to rest between my breasts, I picked up the least bloody spear I could find. Stabbing the ground, I used it to propel myself forward, one eye on my feet, another on the tree ahead.

  Be brave, he’d told me. I was too tired and too heartsick to work through my emotions. My stomach was a tangle of anger, fear, and a bone-deep fatigue. But there was one thing I couldn’t do, and that was let down Gar, his warriors, or my friends. I’d get that controller into Nero’s hands, or die trying.

  The large tree with the tear-drop-shaped leaves was my North Star. I didn’t let it out of my sight, terrified I’d get lost. I started at every noise but refused to slow my pace. And all the while I worried about Gar. I could see he’d been torn leaving me, but I also understood his dilemma. Stay with me and put me at risk, or separate and save me from our biggest threat.

  Before we ran into the Rizars, he’d told me we’d entered a territory rarely used by pivars and the Rizars, which was why I’d been so surprised to see the lizard aliens. But as Gar said, they must have been sent on a mission by the Uldani to help find us.

  I clutched the spear in my hand and trudged on, wincing at the blisters that were starting to open on my palm. However, the spear was the only thing keeping me upright. My feet ached, my thighs burned, and all I wanted to do was lay down and take a nap.

  The sun was high in the sky by the time I slid between two trees into a clearing. And there, standing about ten feet away, was the massive tree with tear-drop-shaped leaves. I gazed up at it, exhaling a long breath. Before I could take another step into the clearing, a slight buzz filled the air. I froze, terrified I’d stepped on a hunner nest. The sound grew and grew until the air vibrated, and it was then I began to hope with a spark in my chest, that the rumbling was from Night King bikes.

  I retreated to the large tree where a small hollow was carved in the trunk. I tucked myself inside, spear pointed out, and waited.

  A bike entered the clearing and landed. I held my breath until I spotted the red armband and familiar mohawk. “Xavy!” I screamed as I burst out of the tree, running toward him with a limp as my legs cramped from my crouched position. His head whipped to me, and his entire face lit up. He held his arms out, and I flew into them. I clutched his bare chest, sobbing into his scales as he held me tightly.

  More bikes landed in the clearing, and I blinked to find Sax and Ward, plus two other warrior brothers—Pika and Nuka.

  “Hey, hey, you’re safe,” Xavy crooned.

  I reared back to blubber in his face. “Gar isn’t! We have to find him. We have to help him!”

  “Gar?” He looked over his shoulder at Ward, who frowned fiercely as he peered into the forest from where I’d traveled.

  I reached into my shirt and shoved the controller into Xavy’s hands, who looked bewildered at my emotional state. “There!” I shouted. “This seemed so important Gar was willing to risk his life, so it better be fucking worth it!”

  Xavy blinked at the bundle in his hands and then up at me with round violet eyes. “Who are you and what have you done with Naomi?”

  “Did the Uldani learn to clone?” Sax muttered. “Fatas help us if they did.”

  “I’m not a clone. I’m me!” I stomped my foot in frustration and pain streaked through my hip. I winced and Xavy tossed the leather bundle to Sax and reached for me again.

  “Come on,” he said, hauling me across his lap. “Let’s get you back to camp. You need food and rest.”

  “What I need is to find Gar,” I insisted, struggling weakly. I craned my neck and shot Ward a pleading look. “He has an Uldani tracker. He said he would lead them away from me. From us. But he’s…”

  “He’s smart,” Ward said, finally meeting my gaze. Sorrow lurked there, but also a grim acceptance. “He’ll handle himself until we’re able to mobilize a crew to get to him.”

  “But—”

  “No buts,” Ward said. “He’d kill me if we took off on a hair-brained mission with you in this state. We’ll get Val to give you a checkup, and then you’ll tell us every detail so we can save Gar the best we can. Understand?”

  I slouched miserably. “Fine.”

  “Mother of Fatas,” Sax murmured. He’d unwrapped the package and held the controller in between his fingers, eyes huge, skin a flushed riot of colors. “It’s…”

  “A controller,” Pika spoke up. “Nero is going to shet himself when he sees that.”

  Sax’s eyes found mine. “Where did you get this?”

  “A cruiser.”

  “A cruiser?” Xavy choked. “A Drixonian cruiser?”

  “Yeah,” I mumbled, more worried about Gar than their stupid spacecraft.

  Xavy looked up as if the cruiser would drop out of the sky and land in front of them. “Where is the cruiser now?”

  “Oh, yeah. About that.” I swallowed. “It’s in a lake.”

  Naomi

  The first thing I noticed was the rows and rows of gleaming bikes and makeshift tents made from antella skin clumped in groups along the path leading to the camp. As we reached the gates, I took notice of the amount of guards there. Usually there was one on each side, but now two stood on each side, while another two patrolled each line of wall from gate to coast.

  The Night King’s camp sat on a cliff which jutted out over the ocean, or what they called freshas. The walls extended along an entire section of cliff, effectively rendering it completely impenetrable.

  Several of the guards wore black armbands, a contrast to the red of the Night Kings. I stiffened, and one of Xavy’s arms patted my leg gently. “Allies,” he said in my ear. “Don’t worry.”

  I didn’t relax my muscles, not until we were inside the gates, but even that had changed in my short absence. The entire place was bustling with warriors. Dozens and dozens, all different colored armbands. It was a lot to take in especially in my physical and mental state. We parked the bikes in the garage and when I made to walk out by myself, Ward grabbed me and shook his head. Up close, the familial resemblance to Gar was clear in the cut of his cheekbones and fullness of his lips. My heart ached.

  I tried to jerk my arm out of his grip, but it was no use. “What’s going on?” I asked.

  Ward tipped his chin to the other warriors and in a second, they were surrounding me, like an elephant pack protecting their young. Only then, with Ward’s hand still clamped on my arm, did we walk through the camp.

  Even then, I felt eyes on me everywhere. No matter where I looked, horned heads with black pupils craned their necks to peer at me. The Night Kings were so used to us women, we weren’t a novelty to them anymore, but warriors from other clavases sought out a glimpse of me like a rare bird at a zoo. I shrank back against Ward, suddenly feeling not so brave without Gar’s presence. I would have walked through this camp at his side with chin high but without him, I felt vulnerable.

  My eyes pricked with tears, and I hastily brushed them away with the back of my free hand. I hadn’t decided if I was going to forgive Gar for this if I ever got to see him again. The thought he’d never return made my throat tight. No way. I wasn’t going to think about that now. On the way back, I’d told Xavy as much as I could over the roar of the bike, and he’d promised he’d report it to Daz. I wanted to be involved though and resented I had to be treated like a child and sent to the nurse’s office.

  I kept my head down, noticing out of the corner of my eye some more makeshift barracks where I was sure some new warriors were staying. The tents outside must be the overflow.

  I was led directly to the healer’s hut, and when we burst through the door, Rokas started from where he was bent over the medis station. He jerked to his feet, eyes wide when he caught sight of me. “Valerie!” he called.

  “What?” she called, sweeping into the room, swollen belly first, wiping her hands on a cloth.

  “We found the runaway, mate,” Sax announced, pushing me forward.

  Val went still, the cloth dropping to
her feet before she rushed forward, sweeping me into her arms and cradling my head to her chest. “Naomi. Oh, sweetheart. You have no idea how worried we were.” She held me away from her at arm’s length, nurse-eyes assessing my body. “Come back to a cot and let me look at you.” With a hand around me, she ushered me to the back room while calling over her shoulder, “Get the girls!”

  She sat me down on a cot, and went right to her station, grabbing liquids and gauzes on a tray. “Miranda has been… I can’t even tell you what she’s been like since we found you were missing. And Justine!” Val turned around and placed the tray beside me on the bed. “Well Justine has lost her mind. You’re her favorite. Tabitha hasn’t written a word since you’ve been gone and cries a lot, which for Tabitha, is alarming as you know.” She was rambling, and I let her, although her words only added pounds of guilt on my shoulders. Wetting a piece of fabric, she began to dab at my face. “Whose blood is this?”

  I had blood on my face? Fuck, of course I did. Maybe my own from branches whipping my face but most likely the blood belonged to… Bile rose in my throat, and I grabbed a nearby basket just in time before I gagged, throwing up nothing but a few berries and stomach acid. “Rizars,” I gasped. “Rizar blood.”

  Val’s eyes went wide, and she stood frozen in place just as a hand threw back the fur giving us privacy and Miranda lunged at me.

  After that it was a dog pile. Justine screeched like a banshee when she saw me, while Tabitha sobbed like I’d never seen her sob before. Frankie tittered around the room wringing her hands with tears coursing down her cheeks. Reba and Luna joined the fray, the massive welf sniffing my hands in a frenzy.

  “I’m okay,” I murmured, even though I didn’t feel okay. Not at all. My heart had cracked earlier when Gar left me in the woods, and I wasn’t sure if I’d ever find all the pieces.