by Octavia Kore
She stepped out of the wreckage of the chamber, scanning the area for any sign of danger. She wished so badly to have Jun there. Her best friend always seemed to know what to do during a crisis; she took charge, organized everyone, got things done.
I’m not equipped to handle this clusterfuck, she thought as her feet sank down into the soft sand. The heat here was far more intense than any place she had ever been. Nausea rolled over her as she struggled to make it to the shade of the trees that lined the top part of the beach. Bile filled the back of her throat, and she fell to her knees, gagging as it forced its way up and out. Her whole body shook as her stomach emptied and she gasped for air.
The heat had never had this effect on her before. Maybe it was a concussion or a side-effect of the cryosleep that was making her feel so sick. Amanda breathed deep, trying to clear her head. She had been in the chamber on a ship, but there was no sign of one anywhere on the beach. Why had she been on a ship? She pinched her eyes shut, digging her fingers into her hair to rub her scalp.
“All will be well.”
The voice echoed in her mind and the picture of a foggy figure appeared. She knew this person… didn’t she? Her head pounded as she tried to sort through her memories.
“Oshen!” She gasped, her eyes flying open. “Hades?” How could she have forgotten about them? She tried to get to her feet, but a wave of dizziness overtook her and she fell back onto her bottom in the sand.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she sucked in lungfuls of air. Her poor cat was probably scared out of his mind, assuming he even survived whatever had happened. Amanda wiped at the tears that streaked down her cheeks. Hades would be okay; Vog would see to that.
Both of the Venium males were more than capable of taking care of themselves, but now she needed to find them. Oshen had told her about the underwater dome cities, but he hadn’t mentioned anything about them residing on land. The beach was most likely her best bet, but the heat was beginning to get to her again. Already, she could feel the nausea bubbling within her stomach and turned to crawl up toward the trees and the few scattered bushes.
Just as she reached them, her stomach roiled and she spent the next minute dry heaving into the closest shrub. A small, almost bird-like creature fled as she wiped her mouth, startling her. She watched as it fluttered up into the trees above, chirping and whistling, no doubt telling her off for disturbing it.
“Sorry,” Amanda said, pushing herself up and brushing the sand from her hands. “Didn’t mean to puke in your bush.” The ground within the shade of the trees was littered with tiny plants that looked very similar to coral. Elkhorn, pilar, and tube types all shot up around the base of the trees, colored in brilliant mixtures of reds, blues, and greens. She had never seen anything like this on land, and she smiled as she ran a gentle finger over one close to her. This place was amazing.
A sound like the bleat of a sheep caught her attention, and she squinted as she scanned the woods for the source. Just on the other side of the bush to her left she found a small creature curled up into an awkward position. It looked like a fawn, staring up at her with the biggest most innocent eyes she had ever seen. Maybe it was hurt.
Oshen had mentioned that there were predators on Venora, like the one he had mistaken Hades for, but this couldn’t be one. The creature before her looked nothing like a cat. Three fleshy ribbons arched up from the top of its head, curling around the long, slender neck and resting against its back. The skin on the front of the throat looked as if it were laced up like a corset.
Amanda swallowed back another wave of nausea as she inched closer on her hands and knees, cooing at the creature. “It’s all right, baby. I’m not going to hurt you.” She got up on her wobbly legs, stepping around the bush as she glanced around. She couldn’t just leave the little one out here alone, could she? What if one of those predators came along and gobbled it up? The soft cry it emitted squeezed at her heart.
“Did your mama leave you here on purpose or are you lost?” She mused out loud, stepping closer. Amanda extended her hand, trying to coax the baby out of its hiding spot.
As it struggled to stand, Amanda smiled, encouraging it softly, but the smile slowly faded as the creature raised its head and the seam along its neck peeled apart, revealing long, jagged teeth set inside of a gaping maw. Too late, Amanda realized that she should have kept some distance between her and the creature. She stumbled back as it stretched to its full height.
The coral plants crunched beneath her feet, tripping her as she tried to get away. Amanda looked around frantically for anything she could use as a weapon—a tree branch, a rock, anything—but the creature lurched forward and she fell backward into the sandy soil. Gods, this couldn’t be how she died. She flung handfuls of sand at it, but it didn’t seem to deter the neck-mouth fawn at all.
“Get out of here! Shoo!”
She scrambled back as it stalked toward her. It screeched, crouching like it was ready to pounce, and Amanda closed her eyes tight shielded her head with her arms. Instead of the impact of the body against her own, Amanda heard a snarl and a loud thud before an inhuman shriek reached her ears.
Her eyes flew open, and she stared in stunned horror as she met the violet gaze of the Grutex. All four of its eyes watched her as a tidal wave of fear crashed down upon her trembling body. His blood-splattered mauve chest heaved and the vine-like tendrils attached to his head snaked around his shoulders. He looked like a barbarian. The nostrils at the end of his sloping head flared wide as he took in a deep, rasping breath.
When he spoke to her, it wasn’t in English like the one from the lab, but a growling, rumbling language. She relaxed a little as his claws retracted into the tips of his fingers but recoiled when he reached a hand out to her.
“No, no!” She shook her head, dragging herself away from him. He slowed his speech in an obvious attempt to communicate, the black-tipped protrusions around his head twitching as he looked down at her.
The last time she was this close to a Grutex male, it hadn’t gone so well, and Oshen wasn’t here to rescue her this time. The memory of that night clouded her mind and she shuddered. He crouched down in front of her, his hands up in the universal sign of ‘I’m not going to hurt you.’ His gaze shifted down to her stomach and she laid a hand over it, frowning up at him. “What?”
The male reached out toward her, placing his palm gently over the hand that rested on her stomach, looking at her almost … reverently. Maybe he’s got a thing for big girls? He spoke to her again, tilting his head as he met her gaze.
“I don’t understand you.” Something about this male seemed familiar, but the Grutex were so hard to tell apart and her head was still throbbing.
A soft rumble rose up from his throat as he held out his other hand to her, beckoning with a curl of one finger. The time that had passed since the attack at the lab hadn’t done anything to ease her anxiety over the Grutex as a species. If anything, it had only made her more cautious of them. There was something about this one that made her want to trust him. He wasn’t anything like the ones on Earth. Where those males had been harsh and brutal, this one was gentle. He touched her like she was precious and delicate, like she would break if he were too rough.
Instead of hurting her, he had saved her from the nightmare fawn. Amanda looked him up and down, waiting for him to change his mind and pounce, but he only looked on with his hand held out silently. Whoever he was, he was certainly impressive. Oshen towered over her, but she was sure this male was even taller than her mate. If she had to guess, she would have put him around eight feet tall, giving him a good foot over Oshen. His shoulders were broad and led down to strong, toned arms. He was built like a warrior, muscular and lean, but she could see the kind spirit in his eyes.
As if determining she wasn’t going to get up of her own accord, the Grutex reached down and curled his arms around her torso, plucking her off the ground. She clutched at his arms as he shifted her into a more comfortable position. The mangled
body of the nightmare fawn was skewered on the dagger-like tip of his tail and trailed behind them as the male stepped away from the bloody sand. She squealed in surprise when he lowered his head to her belly and nuzzled against it, his voice quiet as he spoke. The ridges near his face rubbed along her body, bunching up the thin shirt she had worn for cryosleep.
A soft buzzing noise rose up from him and she blinked in astonishment. Was he purring? Her entire body vibrated softly against him, and she felt the nausea that had started to build up within her dissipate as quickly as it had come. That’s nifty.
His long white tongue slithered out to run along the exposed skin of her abdomen and she shivered. Amanda pressed her hand to his face, not sure if she should push him away or let him continue, but he hissed, lifting his head to look into her face. Her fingers glided down over his neck to his chest, and to her surprise, the plates of his exoskeleton were warm beneath her skin. The male turned his head, looking around before he seemed to decide on a direction.
“Hold on.” Amanda twisted in his arms in an effort to keep the beach in her sights. He was taking her into the woods. “Wait, big guy, I need to go to the water.” Shit, what had Oshen called it? “Okeanos! I need to go to the okeanos.”
The male tilted his head but continued on through the trees, purring and patting her hip as if he were trying to console her. Amanda sighed and settled into his embrace, knowing there wasn’t much use in arguing with an eight-foot giant who couldn’t understand anything she said. She would have to wait for an opportunity to escape.
Chapter 17
Oshen
Bright light filtered through his eyelids, making his vision a hazy red. His skin felt hot, like he was underneath one of the heat lamps that the Hisar, a reptilian species, used when they visited the dome cities on Venora. Oshen opened one eye and then the other as he stared up at the cloudy green sky above him.
Green?
Oshen frowned, feeling the grittiness of the sand beneath his body as he struggled to collect his thoughts. The only planet with a green sky he knew of was Venora, but why was he out of the ship? He was supposed to be in cryosleep with—
“Amanda!”
He shot up from the ground, his head whipping around in every direction as he searched for his mate among the wreckage. Pieces of the black admentine that made up the ship floated in the surf or stuck up from the sand where they were lodged. Lying on his side between two large sections of the outer hull was Vog’s battered, unconscious body.
“Brax.” Oshen cursed as he rolled onto his hands and knees to crawl across the sand and rubble. “Commander,” he rasped, reaching out to gently shake the male’s shoulder. There were deep cuts to his face and limbs, but those would heal in time. “Vog, can you hear me?”
Vog turned his head to squint at Oshen, groaning as he ran a hand through his tangled hair. “That was exhilarating,” he said.
“What happened?” Oshen asked.
“We were attacked by a Grutex working with Tachin scum.” Vog sat up, sighing as he looked around.
“The Tachin don’t work with others.” Oshen frowned as he pushed himself to his feet, his legs feeling unsteady beneath him.
“This one was. I suspect the Grutex is the one your female was running from.”
“How did he find us?”
“It was days into the journey when they made themselves known.” Oshen watched as Vog picked up a scrap of admentine before tossing it aside. “I have no knowledge of the tech they used, but they were able to create an anomaly that displaced the entire ship. We were set off course for a further five weeks.”
“Five weeks?” He gaped. “Why didn’t you wake us then?”
“Wake you for what reason? So you could drive me even more insane than the creature I was cooped up with?” The male pressed a hand to one of the deeper wounds and grimaced.
“Where is my mate, Vog?” Oshen paced across the sand, his tail lashing behind him. It felt as if something were trying to get out just at the prospect of his mate being gone, trying to break free. But he pushed back on the feeling. Now was not the time to lose his temper. He was an ambassador.
The commander hesitated for a moment. “We encountered them again when we reached Venora’s orbit. They engaged us once we were in the atmosphere and one of the shots must have hit something that triggered the ejection sequence.”
“The ejection—” Oshen felt the lifeblood drain from his face. “She was ejected?”
“Within her chamber, yes.”
Oshen’s knees nearly gave out at the thought that she could be injured somewhere with no protection and no knowledge of anything about this planet. “I have to find her.”
“The chamber has a tracker within it for emergency situations like this.” Vog ripped the bottom of his shirt before securing it around the top of his arm. “You retrieve her, and I will go for help.”
“Are you certain you can make it?” He looked pointedly at the wounds.
“I steered the ship as close to the tunnel as I could. It isn’t very far from here.”
Oshen’s gaze fell to the mangled remains of his own cryochamber and he shuddered, praying that Amanda’s had fared better. His head jerked up when he felt a hand land on his shoulder.
“She will be fine, Oshen. Your mate is a fierce and determined female.” He hoped the commander was right because he didn’t know what he would do if something had happened to her. “The same goes for her little beast.”
By the goddess, he had completely forgotten about Hades. There was no sign of him here on the beach, and Oshen hoped that meant that the cat had escaped unharmed. “I sincerely hope nothing on this planet is stupid enough to mess with him.”
“I was able to teleport him to the surface at the last moment, but I have no idea where he was placed or how his body handled it.”
As worried as he was for the little beast, Oshen needed to find his mate and reassure himself that she was safe. “I’ll search for him once Amanda is within the dome.”
“Safe journey, Ambassador. I hope to see you both soon.” Vog nodded and then turned away, headed in the direction of the surface-to-dome tunnel.
Oshen stood in silence, watching as the other male disappeared behind an outcropping of rocks where the opening to the tunnel was hidden, before turning his arm over to speak to his AI. “Mouni, bring up the tracking beacon for the cryochamber labeled ‘human female.’”
“What’s the magic word?”
Oshen growled low in his throat. “I should have shut you down and never let you listen to all those human movies.”
“This is why I like your female more than I like you.” There was a pause before the notification chime. “Cryochamber has been located. Would you like me to provide a route?”
“No.” He looked up to the top of the beach where the tree line started and grimaced, knowing that the ones who had followed them before could still be near, listening. “Show the location on the screen.” The tiny blip on his screen showed him which direction he needed to go, and that was good enough. As he headed into the shelter of the trees, Oshen stayed alert, scanning the area for not only the Grutex that might be out there but also the predators native to Venora that wouldn’t hesitate to take him on.
After he had gotten halfway to the location his AI had provided, Oshen stopped next to one of the freshwater streams that fed into the okeanos, dipping his hand into the cool water and bringing it up to his mouth for a drink. A noise to his left had his head snapping up, swearing he caught a glimpse of something before it disappeared behind a tree. Minutes passed as he scanned the area, waiting to see if whatever was out there would show itself, but it seemed he was alone.
He stood, his tail curling and uncurling in irritation as he set off again toward Amanda’s location. As he walked, he sent up prayers to the goddess that she had stayed near the chamber and that nothing had come around to investigate the strange new scent. Shadows followed him as he weaved his way around the gnarled black trunks of tr
ees and through the dense pockets of underbrush.
Every so often, he swore he heard raspy breathing or heavy footsteps, but nothing showed on the parameter sweeps he performed. If Vog was right and the Grutex had teamed up with the Tachin, who knew what sort of tech they possessed? Oshen’s gills flared in annoyance as he picked up his pace, ducking behind bushes full of red and orange leaves, racing over the fosalli plants that grew in the shade of the towering trees whose branches reached high above him.
Why don’t they just attack already? Oshen wondered, but then it occurred to him. The Grutex knew Oshen would search for Amanda and would lead him directly to her. That wasn’t going to happen if he could help it. Oshen changed course, hoping whoever stalked him didn’t notice the detour. He needed to find a distraction, something that would keep them busy so he could double back and find the most important being in his world.
The thought of leaving her for longer than originally planned ate at him, but it was the only way to keep her safe. If there was one thing Oshen was thankful for in this situation, it was the chance to stop the male who threatened his mate, who thought he could take Amanda away from him. He would put an end to her terror.
Chapter 18
Gulzar
Heart pounding against his chest, Gulzar looked down at the fall of brown hair that flowed gently over his arm. He still couldn’t believe she was here or that she had fallen from one of the flying domes the wayward offspring of Ven used. What had she been doing with them? He had watched her stumble toward the tree line before emptying her stomach and wanted to go to her when he felt her distress, but shock and the sense of shame over his station had rooted him to the spot.
