by Mel Teshco
Shivers slid up and down her spine. Surely nothing else could make such an eerie sound?
Sorry, sis, looks as if I failed you, after all.
Aline, with her animal skills and natural empathy for wildlife, would have had a chance to get out of this situation, while she, the supposed plant authority, was blinded by the very thing she was warned about.
She dragged a hand over her face, sick with grief. Genesis, forgive me. I failed you the moment I pretended to be your intended.
Simon trembled, terrified. Eden sucked in a breath, hands fisting. She wasn’t giving up without a fight! She might deserve this fate but Simon deserved better than to die with a coward on his back.
She exhaled slowly, relying on her hearing to work out the whereabouts of the fierce predator.
It was possible she and Simon weren’t visible with the long grasses giving them cover. It was possible the caltronian would pass them right by. But it was more likely the approaching predator had come looking for a drink.
She lay flat on Simon, arms around his neck and reassuring him with whispered words. No reassurance could soften the sudden roar of the monster who’d obviously spied them.
Fuck.
“Go Simon!” she screamed.
Simon didn’t move. Froze with fear? Or was it that he didn’t respond to English?
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Surely no flight animal would be this obedient?
“Unct!” He shot to his feet. “Merdee.” She closed her sightless eyes, incredulous by Simon’s unquestionable subservience.
The next roar was tremendous, an ear-splitting sound she’d never forget for as long as she lived—probably not long. “Run!” she screamed, racking her brains for the word her dad had used whenever he’d reverted to the Carèche language. “Polma!”
The word came to her too late. Much too late.
Simon broke into a jerky gallop, seemingly right into the caltronian’s path. A blow sent her flying, knocking the wind right out of her. She hit the ground hard, just as Simon’s high-pitched, agonized cry infiltrated her senses.
Simon, no!
She sat up, trying to breathe even as the world spun before her eyes, a sharp, red swirl that abruptly righted itself.
She almost wished she’d stayed blind.
Simon was on the ground and struggling to get to his feet, bloodied strips of flesh hanging from his side.
The caltronian beast stood over Simon with a feral gleam in its eyes. Swinging its head from side to side, it let out another roar, its open mouth revealing teeth as sharp and big as sabers before it raised a massive paw, claws extending.
She clambered to her feet, ignoring the pain in her side—a broken rib?—and the ground’s heat blistering her feet. “Hey!” she croaked, waving an arm in the air and gasping at the shock wave of pain crowding her body and making her dizzy. “Over here you big bastard.”
The caltronian’s claws sheaved as its paw folded inward and it lifted its snout to breathe deep, its nostrils flaring pink. Dropping its paw back to the ground, it lurched over Simon with a chilling cough-bark and padded toward her.
She backpedalled. She wasn’t afraid of dying, but it was something she expected later in her life, not now. She had too much to live for, too many people she’d yet to tell goodbye. Genesis’ face filled her mind. Too many people she’d yet to tell she loved.
Less than a few yards away now, the crimson-furred giant abruptly stilled. No sound emitted from its throat as its savage stare roamed left then right, as though suddenly indecisive.
Two mallakwats burst into the clearing with silent and deadly intent, heading straight for the caltronian before they separated and slowed, approaching the caltronian from either side in what appeared to be attack formation.
Eden didn’t move. She couldn’t think, couldn’t feel. It was as though all emotion had frozen inside her and the images before her were happening to someone else.
Her eyes widened as she noticed the long barbs sprouting from the mallakwats muzzles as if the prickly spines of a porcupine, undoubtedly toxic even as they protected much of their heads. So that was how the camp guardians could defeat such a deadly predator?
The caltronian’s mean eyes narrowed, shrewdly assessing. Seconds later it swung away with a ferocious roar and took off running, the mallakwats hot on its tail.
Eden stood dazed and disbelieving, then shaking out of her stupor she ran to Simon, dropping on her knees beside him and ignoring her own pain. That was the least of her concern. Simon was in a bad way.
He was dying.
“I’m sorry, Simon,” she whispered. He was her responsibility, she couldn’t let him die. She brushed a hand over his face and down his neck. His bottom lip didn’t quiver. Her belly dipped, then churned sickeningly. She wasn’t going to let him give up and die!
Retrieving two of the xenz she’d shoved down her dress, she opened Simon’s lips and squeezed some of the sap from each stem into his mouth, holding his head up until he’d swallowed. Satisfied he’d had sufficient amount without poisoning him, she kissed his muzzle affectionately and then pushed onto her feet.
Balancing on one leg at a time, she thrust the blistered soles of her feet beneath the cool, trickling waterfall. Ignoring the need to keep her feet under the cool water and off the baking-hot ground, she retrieved a chunk of gratzi from inside the front of her dress and slapped the bark under the water until it was soaked right through.
There was no time to let it infuse, not that she had anything to hold the water in anyway. She’d just have to make do. Peeling the bark into strips she said to Simon, “Sorry, this might hurt,” before pressing each piece gently onto his wounds.
His whole body shuddered before he let out a distressed groan.
She didn’t have time to dwell on his pain. Movement in her peripheral vision had her jerking around even as Genesis’ strangled shout pierced her consciousness. The guilt rolling through her body was almost immediately overtaken by relief, then joy and a whole lot of other emotions that thickened her throat and stilled her breath.
Genesis had found her!
Chapter Seven
But of course he had. How else would the mallakwats have known to be here and take down the caltronian?
Shit. He’d demand to know why she was there, why she’d left his people.
How was she going to explain her way out of this one?
Genesis galloped to her on his mount then swung to the ground even before he’d shouted the command to stop. His eyes glittered fiercely as he swept her into his arms. She winced as pain coursed through her, but the tears streaming down her face were happy tears, tempered only a little by shame.
He swore savagely under his breath at seeing her blistered feet and battered body, but then he was whispering sweet words of reassurance and pressing kisses on her brow. “I thought I was too late,” he said hoarsely, his eyes filled with the deepest kind of emotion. Love. Adoration. Thankfulness.
No, my darling, I’m the one who is too late.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “For everything.”
His gaze darkened, for a moment giving her a glimpse of the magnitude of her wrongs before utter, stark relief returned in his eyes. “We’ll deal with the whys later,” he said, “right now my priority is to get you off this mountain and to the safety of camp.”
She looked away, hiding the dread she was unable to conceal. The questions would come and soon enough he’d learn the truth. Soon enough he’d feel anything but love for her. Fighting for neutral territory, she turned back to him and said huskily, “We can’t leave Simon behind, he kept me alive.”
He frowned. “Simon?”
She nodded toward the bolishta lying still, too still, on the ground. “Yes. Simon.”
Nausea and desperation clutched her belly all at once, pushing aside her own problems. “We have to save him.”
He nodded agreement. “He saved my intended’s life. I’ll do everything in my power to save his.�
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Trasean and Auron approached in a gallop then commanded their mounts to stop behind Genesis’ bolishta.
“Thank the Gods,” Trasean muttered, pulling his long hair over a shoulder as his gaze roved from Eden to Genesis and back again.
Auron put a hand out in a gesture of relief. “Does this mean our prince won’t rip everyone’s heads off now?”
A ghost of a smile flitted across Trasean’s face. “Not to mention the fact we’ll now get to find our intended.” He nodded upward, and that’s when Eden saw how close she was to saving her sister.
Saving herself.
Her heart sank. The tower was perhaps three hundred yards above them, an unassuming looking structure that was all-important to her future. If she’d not been so focused on the life-saving water she would have craned her neck and seen the very thing she’d risked her life to sabotage.
Four more bolishta broke into the clearing with four of the unattached males riding hard their way. As the men pulled their mounts to a stop Genesis nodded to two of the men at the front and instructed, “Return to the gardens, gather anything you need to repair this bolishta’s wound.”
The two men ran quick, appraising eyes over Simon before they wheeled their mounts around to do as they were commanded. Genesis nodded at the last pair and commanded, “Stay with…Simon. Ensure no more caltronians come near.”
One of them, a broad-shouldered alien with a stern face, lifted his gun-like weapon, his eyes flashing menace. “With our life.”
Genesis nodded, but added, “No heroics, I want all my men to return, alive and well.” He looked down at her then. “Are you ready?”
“But Simon—”
“Is under the best care we can give him now.” His face hardened, revealing a strength of purpose that brooked no further argument. “Let me help you now, okay?”
You won’t be saying that when the men discover Aline comes from exactly the same place as I did…when all the dots are drawn into place—if your questions don’t break me first.
She dragged her eyes away from Simon, his fate was in the hands of the alien males now, before she cast another long look at the tower. She barely withheld a whimper of denial knowing she’d risked everything and come so tantalizingly close to success. She swallowed hard. “Okay,” she said weakly.
His smile as he considered her didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Let’s go home.”
Home? She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
He placed her carefully on the back of his own mount, before briefly conferring with Trasean and Auron. “I’ll ensure the craft is fitted out with another chair and reinstated with supplies by the time you’ve secured the location of your intended.”
The men nodded and said in unison, “Dakkena,” then turned their mounts toward the tower.
Genesis had his bolishta kneel before he mounted in front of Eden. He turned to her and explained, “The descent gets a little tricky, you’ll be safer behind me.”
Her teeth sank into her bottom lip as she thought about the rock face Simon had climbed earlier. At the time she hadn’t thought about the return home. But how the hell did they descend an almost vertical drop?
For the time being though it was easy enough going, with Genesis’ mount stepping out in an effortless, long-limbed stride.
Eden shut down the pain of her burned feet and aching side in just the same way she closed off all guilt and thoughts of an uncertain future. Instead she lost herself in Genesis’ musky scent, in the long, lean lines of his corded back. Twining her arms loosely around his waist, she spread her fingers and traced the light ripple of muscles along his abs.
She smiled at his sharp inhalation before she rested one side of her face against his warm skin and watched the red world go by with half closed eyes. The loping stride of the bolishta was a gentle, rocking motion that all but induced sleep, a calm before the storm.
Genesis would find out her true identity soon enough. But not here. Not now.
Not yet.
This time was hers to take and enjoy while she still could. She’d face his horror and rejection soon enough.
Genesis ordered the bolishta to stop before he twisted to face her, indicating the near-vertical drop off. “This is far scarier than it looks. I just need you to lean back as far as you can and hold on tight with your legs.” He nodded at his mount. “My friend here will do the rest.”
She nodded, heart in her throat. This was the only way down and the sooner they got it over with, the better. “Okay.”
She leaned back, suppressing a sob at the pain lancing her side. Genesis reclined against her, his bulk locking her in place as he commanded his mount forward.
The world tilted abruptly, then the bolishta was all but sitting on its haunches and skating downward, leg muscles bulging and hooves suctioning sharply along the rock face.
She opened her eyes. Incredible. They were all but flying, the ground far below and nothing in between but air and glimpses of the cliff face. The bolishta abruptly lurched, then staggered as it got its footing in the sandy, far less steep incline.
Genesis straightened and turned to her. “Are you okay?”
She straightened slowly, pushing back a tangled lock of hair and unable to hide a wince as pain rippled through her side. “I’ll survive.”
Lines of concern etched his face, softened his voice. “We need to get home so I can look you over properly.”
The bolishta’s stride ate up the ground, the trees long since thinning out when she asked, “How was it possible to get down the incline?”
“Those hooklike claws I told you about—”
“Yes.”
“The bolishta can extend them as long as needed and exactly counterbalance their weight.”
“Wow. Your world and its animals really are amazing.”
“It is.” A smile lightened his next words. “Earth women usually come around to that way of thinking.”
Yes. Aline will love it here.
Pain lanced through her heart, sharper than any broken rib. “I bet they do,” she said dully.
Long since leaving behind his weary bolishta to the care of its herd, Genesis slowed his cercanne to a stop just outside his seemingly deserted camp.
Eden’s arms tightened hold around his waist, but he ignored the possessive tug of desire deep in his belly, his groin. He had other far more pressing issues to deal with, other than her injuries.
He blew out a taut breath, taking in the deathly quiet surroundings. He didn’t blame the women and children for choosing to avoid Eden, not after she’d abandoned them with no way of leaving his donya.The hanging shields were dangerous and the donya fabric almost impenetrable.
None had dared speak their accusations, but all knew that if he’d been killed by the rogue caltronian or was unable to return for any length of time due to injury, the women and children would likely have perished.
He closed his eyes on a ragged breath. The women and children of his entire province could all have been wiped out because of the selfish actions of one Earth woman.
It was only his status as a prince that would see Eden go unpunished, at least for the time being. A princess she would soon become, but even royalty had to pay a price for dishonoring their people.
Dishonoring their intended.
He opened his eyes to the hurt tearing through him, sharper than ever before. It was beyond incomprehensible that she’d not only betrayed him and his people, but had put her own life at risk too.
He refrained from grinding his teeth together. What had possessed her to escape to the mountain? When he’d shown her the plants at the foothill, her offhand questions about climbing the mountain had seemed nothing more than small talk. Now they took on a whole new meaning.
He dismounted. The only thing of value up on the mountain aside from its pure drinkable water was the tower’s transmitter. He considered Eden with narrowed eyes, looking past her disheveled flame-red hair, parted full lips and delectably flushed face
. Was it possible she thought he would replace her with another Earth woman?
No. Eden might be an innocent, but she was beautiful inside and out, as smart and as intoxicatingly bright as her exquisite hair. If his world had a million woman he’d be the biggest fool on the planet to cast her aside for another.
Yeah, and perhaps I am the fool who has been blind to everything but her beauty and her supposed precious innocence.
He lifted Eden carefully into his arms, mindful of her injuries, before carrying her stiff and silent form toward his donya.
Had he been wrong about her? Was she as conniving as Sala, deep down? Eden had deliberately gone against his wishes that she look after his people, broken his usually hard-won trust that he’d given her freely.
Fuck. It was unacceptable, unforgivable even.
Except, there’d been something about the maniacal glint in Sala’s eyes and the worry and guilt in Eden’s when Sala had claimed to have seen the caltronian near camp that continued to plague him.
He didn’t trust Sala, not one bit. But even though the breeze had obliterated any caltronian tracks, there’d been no reason for the woman to lie. She’d already pushed the boundaries and would be aware any further incident would warrant serious consequences.
When he’d returned empty-handed from the caltronian hunt with his men to find Eden gone, he’d questioned Sala without mercy. At first she’d stuck with her story of Eden being attacked by a caltronian, but she’d soon given him a shamefaced version of how Eden had manipulated her into taking them on the cercanne to the mountain, where Sala had then fled back to camp.
His mouth tightened, his belly clenching with how close he’d come to losing his intended. If the mallakwat guardians hadn’t reached Eden in time on the mountain, she’d almost certainly not be with him now.
He hadn’t been about to risk it a second time. He’d exiled Sala, had one of his men take her to a predominately male camp in the outlands. Sala’s penchant for sex and men would be pushed to the limits and probably beyond.
A fitting punishment.
He searched Eden’s face. Her beautiful emerald eyes were shadowed with pain, her mouth pressed into a tight white line as sweat beaded her brow.
