by Octavia Kore
The Alpha at the time, the one who had created him, told them that the gods were remaking them, reforming their bodies so they could all receive the gift. He’d been only five rotations at the time and thought for sure he would die, but when it was over, Zaheer and the other pups who had gone into the temple with him walked out transformed. They became guardians that day, and rotations later, when the Alpha who had changed them died, Zaheer took on the title and the responsibility that went along with it.
At thirty-five rotations, shifting into his four-legged form was second nature to Zaheer and he’d gotten used to the way his beast tried to sway him.
Let’s go! Hunt! Search! his guardian shouted excitedly in his mind.
The soil beneath Zaheer’s paws whispered to him, transmitting tiny vibrations along his web, telling him exactly where to find these intruders. Whoever was out there felt… strange. They were different, unfamiliar, and he could barely restrain his guardian at the thought that they may not even be from this world. It was a chilling possibility that he wasn’t prepared to entertain just yet.
“Is it another tribe? Have the Ushoo grown brave and crossed the boundaries again?” Arzil asked.
The neighboring tribe was a pain in his hide, but this felt nothing like them. “No, not this time. This is something else… someone else out there.” Zaheer took off into the forest, weaving expertly through the Saanqaed and other smaller trees. This was his home, and the ground his webs guarded knew him. His mind strayed to the being whose gift called out to him. Another guardian perhaps? No, he thought, leaping over a patch of small bushes. The Alpha of a pack was the only one who could create another guardian, and if Zaheer had created it then he would be able to sense that.
Would this creature be able to hear them when they spoke to it? The intruders traveled along the threads of his web and Zaheer led his pack in their direction, stopping when they heard voices. The sweetest, most alluring scent he’d ever come across wrapped around him like a delicate thread. He closed his eyes, inhaling it greedily, and without a thought his guardian took a step forward.
Want.
Zaheer wanted to drown in the scent, to submerge himself in it until it had sunk so far into his body that he couldn’t tell where it ended and he began. His guardian wanted to roll around in it like some silly pup, but when a second scent reached his nose, Zaheer’s beast balked. This one was male, and even after rotations of learning to control his guardian, Zaheer practically had to dig his claws into the exposed roots of a nearby tree to keep himself still. A growl rumbled up from his chest, and his lip curled, exposing deadly fangs.
“What is it? I can feel the vibration, but I still can’t hear the way you all do.”
The sound of her voice filled Zaheer’s mind and sent an unexpected shiver down his spine. It came as no surprise to him that he could understand this creature’s tongue. Any sentient being who came into contact with a Krunkeeli’s webs unknowingly transferred their language, and the group she’d traveled with had trampled all over his, providing him with multiple new and unfamiliar languages to explore. He wasn’t sure if the female who spoke within his mind was unaware of how to only include those she meant to speak to in her conversations or if she just didn’t care who heard her.
Movement between the low-hanging branches caught his eye, and Zaheer frowned when he saw a male, likely the same one whose scent he’d picked up. This was not a being that belonged in this forest. The creature held a finger to his lips as he stared behind him as if he were trying to figure out if they were being followed. They were.
A small clan of quaqesee were on their heels. The tree dwelling creatures were harmless, but if one was unfamiliar with them, the six-legged beasts with two massive orbs for eyes were startling to behold. The quaqesee were merely curious and wouldn’t harm them, but he was sure the rustling sounds made the intruders uneasy.
“Be careful,” Zaheer whispered to his pack, jerking his head toward the largest male in the group of intruders. The male’s body was made for combat, and even in their guardian forms, Zaheer knew this one would be a challenge. Tendrils of inky flesh hung down from the sides of his head, wriggling against his shoulders in a way that made Zaheer wonder if these were things the male could control, and a long spiked tail trailed on the ground behind him. “That one there is our greatest threat.”
All of the air rushed from Zaheer’s lungs when a female walked into his line of sight. She was the one he’d scented—he knew it. Her body was willowy, and she had long hair the burnt orange color of ishtar leaves when they turned in the cold season. Curious eyes the same rich brown as the soil beneath his feet darted around the forest, searching the trees surrounding her, and there was a smattering of tiny dots a few shades darker than the pale skin beneath them along her cheeks and the delicate arch of her nose.
“What are your orders, Alpha?” his cousin, Ivnalth, asked.
Zaheer leaned heavily against the trunk of a tree as he struggled to collect himself. This was not a female of his species or any that he’d ever seen before, but his guardian’s interest couldn’t be ignored. It nudged insistently at his mind as it fought to wrest control from him. Get ahold of yourself, he chided. We have people to protect, and we will not risk them for some strange being!
“Something is watching us, Nuzal,” the female spoke along the mind link. “I can feel it out there, just outside my reach.”
Shoving his beast aside, Zaheer regained control of himself. “We follow them and see what we can learn.” They trailed after the group, careful to keep their distance and remain silent as they observed them. With every step he took, Zaheer’s guardian grew more and more insistent, pushing at his mind and trying to take over. In all the time they’d been together, his beast had never acted in such a manner. What was it about this female that made the guardian react this way? Zaheer felt like a pup right after his first shift, just learning to master his mind.
Using the trees to hide their forms, Zaheer and the other guardians watched as the intruders gathered water from the stream and climbed trunks and branches to pick fruit, conversing with one another as if they hadn’t a care in the world. If they’d known what was lurking in the forest around them, he doubted they would be so unguarded. The quaqesee weren’t the only creatures curious enough to venture closer, and if it weren’t for the presence of the guardians, the group might have been in even more danger. When his eyes strayed toward the female again, Zaheer grimaced and turned toward his pack.
“Into the trees,” he told them. “We need to be ready in case they attempt to cross over the boundary.” The Ushoo tribe’s border wasn’t far, and Zaheer wasn’t willing to get too close. His people, the Oparian, didn’t need another conflict with their neighbors over these intruders.
Even without an explanation of what exactly they needed to be ready for, the pack did as he commanded, leaping silently into the branches. Climbing in their two-legged form would have been much easier, but they were no strangers to it while shifted. Members of the pack were skilled hunters and warriors, and they relied on their finely honed abilities to move silently. The sound of a small branch or twig snapping off to the side caused him to grit his teeth. Perhaps they needed to work on their stealth some more once they returned home.
“Alpha?” Ivnalth whispered.
Zaheer ignored her, his eyes on the small female as she moved toward the massive warrior. His lip pulled back into a snarl as his guardian’s hackles rose. Too close, his beast hissed.
“Zaheer!” Ivnalth’s voice echoed in his mind, and he blinked in confusion at the sound of his name. She never used that while they were in their guardian forms.
“Quiet! We don’t know if they can––”
“Where’s Layla?” the dark-haired female clinging to the large male asked.
Oh no… no. Zaheer jerked his head to the side, and he felt his stomach drop the moment he saw one of the strange females held gently in his cousin’s jaws. Her body was limp, and Ivnalth’s stinger
was still embedded within her thigh. “Gods above, Ivnalth, why?”
“I’m so sorry, Alpha! The creature looked right up at me, and I did what I thought was right!”
Zaheer wanted to shake her, to ask Ivnalth how she could have been so careless. His cousin was a guardian, a warrior who had trained with him long before he became the alpha. How could she have made such a reckless mistake?
They will get away! his guardian protested, straining against his control. She will get away from us! No, Zaheer couldn’t allow that. Although he didn’t really wish to harm the intruders, he wasn’t going to let the female leave with them. “Keep the males back, but don’t kill them. We’re taking the speckled female with us.”
“Alpha, shouldn’t we––” Arzil’s protest was cut short when Zaheer dropped from the tree and onto the female, pinning her to the ground as he closed his jaws around her throat to hold her still. There was a moment of hesitation where he stood over her, his tail poised to strike. She wasn’t Krunkeeli or any other species living on Inore, and there was no way to know how his sting would affect her, but time was not on his side.
Zaheer dug his claws into the soft soil near her head, easily connecting with his webs. He weaved the outsiders a new memory, one in which they didn’t see him holding their companion gently in his mouth, but where they witnessed him clamp down and sink his teeth into her delicate flesh. It was bloody, gruesome, and even though he was the one creating the scene, it sent a wave of disgust and unease through him. The stinger at the tip of his tail pierced the meaty part of her thigh and the female gasped a second before she went still beneath him.
Sleep, female. When you wake, you’re mine, his guardian growled.
There was no time to dwell on the beast’s words or the concern it caused to well up within him. He needed to get her out of there and find somewhere safe to reorganize. Zaheer gathered her limp body into his jaws, doing his best to be gentle as he took off through the forest. There was chaos unfolding behind him as the intruders shouted and cried out. Ivnalth was at his side, the other female dangling from her mouth as she leaped over fallen trees and rocks.
“Fall back!” Zaheer called. “Regroup at the outpost! Arzil, Baeum, Maylu!” A screech rent the air, and Zaheer flinched as pain sliced through his side. It took him a moment to realize it was not his own, but something that had traveled along the connection. One of his pack members was injured.
The outpost wasn’t far, but Zaheer didn’t think the intruders would follow after the vision he’d weaved for them. The moment he caught sight of Arzil, Zaheer understood the pain he’d felt. The male was covered in blood, and the injury to one of his primary eyes was extensive. A nasty open wound on his side gave Zaheer cause for concern, but the fact that he was still standing reassured him.
“What happened to you?” Maylu asked.
Arzil shook his head carefully. “The larger male and his female caught me off-guard. I’ll live.”
“You look awful,” Zaheer said, checking the others for any signs of blood, only to notice that his pack was staring at him. “What is it?”
“Your head…” Ivnalth said, taking a step closer as she squinted. “It’s… well, there’s something on it. A growth or… something.”
Zaheer resisted the urge to shake his head, afraid to jostle the female he was carrying. He felt nothing there, but with the way his pack was staring, he had no doubt something unusual had happened.
“What if the creatures somehow poisoned you?” Baeum asked, eyeing the top of his head. “We should return so you can seek out the High Priest.”
“Poisoned? They aren’t on me, right?” Ivnalth twisted her head, but there was nothing out of the ordinary on top. She looked around at the others and visibly deflated when they shook their heads.
“We will hide the females first.” Zaheer glanced up at the pods within the trees that served as their outpost.
“Hide them?” Ivnalth lowered her head, depositing the female in her mouth onto the ground. “The intruders should be taken to the priests. We have no idea what they are or why they were here.”
His guardian wanted to reprimand her for questioning his judgment, but his Krunkeeli mind knew what she said was true. These two were strange and unknown. They had no idea what they were dealing with here, but that didn’t change the fact that somewhere deep in his heart, Zaheer feared what would happen if he handed them over to the priests.
Mine. We guard her. We keep her.
“If you are questioned about the females or anything that happened, you will tell the priests and anyone else that they died during the conflict. Do you understand?” Zaheer watched as each member nodded. They were his pack, and he knew that their loyalty to him was unwavering. Zaheer was sure the High Priest would be furious if he were to ever discover he didn’t have as much power over the pack as he believed. “The females will remain in the outpost with Ivnalth.” When his cousin tried to protest, Zaheer narrowed his eyes. “You are needed here, cousin. I’ll tell them that I assigned you to the outpost in case more intruders arrived.”
Ivnalth shifted, transforming back into her Krunkeeli form as she eyed him. Maybe she felt like he was leaving her out, but Zaheer was trusting her with something that his guardian, for whatever reason, deemed incredibly important. His cousin stepped forward, and when she reached up to take the limp female from his jaws, Zaheer’s guardian bristled. Ivnalth must have sensed it because she looked up at him with a frown, her hands lingering in the air, but not yet touching the creature.
That’s enough from you, he growled at the beast. Hand her over and stop making such a fuss over this.
Zaheer sighed with relief when his guardian backed off, leaving him in full control. He placed the female in his cousin’s lower arms before stepping back and shifting into his Krunkeeli form. Not entirely satisfied with the situation, his guardian paced in his mind, huffing and puffing and being generally unpleasant. Zaheer needed to put some distance between them until he could figure out what was happening here.
“Maylu, you will patrol the area around the outpost until we return.” The younger male nodded. “Baeum will go with Arzil to the healers while I see the priests.”
Ivnalth crouched down next to the dark-haired female she’d captured, placing the speckled one close by. Her twin tails curled around in front of her, and he watched as she spun thread around their wrists and ankles, making sure they were securely bound before she turned back to him. “Just in case they wake before you get back,” she spoke aloud.
As the others began to depart, Zaheer and Ivnalth lifted the females into their lower set of arms. “You take this outpost and I’ll bring this female to the other,” he told his cousin before setting off toward the other tree. The outposts were used only by the guardians, and he knew it was the safest place to hide something—or someone—in a hurry where no one would think to search. He passed through the membrane of the outer wall and placed the female on the floor of the main room.
Her hair was tangled and wild from their escape, and Zaheer brushed the loose red-orange strands from her face, marveling at the softness of her skin. There was no fur to protect her from the elements, but she wore something over her body, some sort of thin, shimmering black material that reminded him of the membrane that concealed them within the pod. Zaheer brushed his fingertips over the back of her hand before turning it over to trace the thin lines on her palms. If she were awake, would she feel what he did? Would she feel this strange pull, this urge to stay close, to make contact?
He shook his head at the ridiculous thoughts and stood. Tratek would be waiting for him, and Zaheer had a feeling that whatever the other male had to say wasn’t good. Perhaps he knew something about the situation Zaheer currently found himself in. As he stood there staring down at the female, a cold dread filled his body.
Something was wrong, and he needed to figure out what it was before chaos erupted.
Chapter 2
Clara
Clara’s eyes
flew open and she blinked rapidly, trying to clear her vision as her mind attempted to process what had happened. Where was she? The last thing she could remember was something pouncing on her from the branches of the tree. It had been as black as a shadow and its teeth… God, those teeth had been terrifying.
She raised her hands to run them over her neck, to check for punctures, only to realize her wrists were bound. Ankles too, she noticed when she tried to sit up. I should be dead, Clara thought. That thing had me in its jaws and somehow I’m still alive. Had the others gotten to her in time? Had Nuzal been able to fight the beast off before it actually hurt her? Panic began to rise up within her, clutching at her frantically beating heart.
Get a hold of yourself, Clara. You made it through all sorts of horrible things in your life, and you’ll make it through this too.
The room she found herself in was lit only by the dim light that passed through the walls. She brought her hands closer to her face, studying the material wrapped around her wrists. It felt sticky where it touched her skin, and although it was tight, it didn’t hurt her when she tested its strength. Whatever this material was, it definitely wasn’t budging.
Clara twisted until she could push herself up onto her knees, but she lost her balance and her palms smacked against the floor as she caught herself. Crawling awkwardly toward the wall, Clara maneuvered so that the fading light illuminated the bonds. They seemed to be made of thin strands… like the gossamer threads of spiderwebs she’d marveled at as a child. Clara glanced around, her pulse racing. Oh, God, not spiders. It wasn’t that she didn’t find the little things beautiful—in fact, she quite liked them—but if the bindings were made by a spider, it would have to be huge.
