And as for her body, even though Lazet had been focused on getting her warm and dry, he hadn’t been able to ignore the soft supple feel of her skin under his fingers. He’d never felt anything like it, warm and yielding to the touch. He hadn’t done anything to her, but he’d enjoyed looking, just for a second. If things had been different, if she’d been awake and willing to offer herself to him again, he would have been interested to see how well they melded together.
Melody intrigued him, and if they got out of this game together, he was going to see just how feisty this little human was. She might even be a match for him.
The comms link made a single bleeping sound, and a red light glowed before the pitted, twisted face of a Fraken appeared on the screen.
Lazet’s spine stiffened, and he set his arms by his side. “You wanted to talk?”
“Explain your actions.” The Fraken in front of him was a particularly ugly one. Nicknamed Freddie by the elite warriors, after an archaic horror movie transmitted by humans about a child killer who came back to life after being burned to death.
“I’m playing your game,” said Lazet.
“Keeping the human woman alive is not playing our game.”
“For your entertainment,” said Lazet. “I’m keeping her alive to amuse you. You must have witnessed what happened in the swamp.”
“She should be dead,” said Freddie. “We had to send in one of our beasts to finish the job you were not able to do.”
“But you must have seen that I left her in the swamp,” said Lazet.
“I did. I also saw you went looking for her and got her out when our beast attacked. Explain that.”
“Because the game would have been over too quickly if I’d let your creature have her,” said Lazet. “I want her death to be spectacular for your audience, not just lose her to the swamp. Your fans would not want that. They want to see her death up close, see the life drain from her eyes. Just like I do.”
Freddie hissed at him. “You do not get to make decisions about our games.”
Lazet gritted his teeth, forcing his mouth into a calm smile. “I was doing it to make your game better.”
“Our audience wants to see death.”
“They wouldn’t have seen it if she’d drowned under the swamp.”
Freddie bared his teeth. “She must die.”
“And she will.” Lazet decided not to mention it wouldn’t be at his own hand, nor in this game. Not for a very long time if he had anything to do with it.
“Where is she now?”
“Recovering from her experience in the swamp.”
“Don’t leave her to recover. Drag her out where the audience can see her and slit her throat.”
“Wouldn’t you rather see me hunt her down? Chasing prey is more entertaining than getting them when they’ve been beaten.”
Freddie’s face filled the comms screen, and his yellow eyes turned flinty. “Chase is always good. But she did that, and then she still escaped. What happened in the trees? You were hidden from view.”
“Humans are resourceful,” said Lazet. “When I chased her, she climbed a tree. I didn’t know humans could fly.”
“They can’t,” spat out Freddie. “You must finish her.”
“This game will finish in success,” said Lazet. And it would be a success, when he got out of the game alive, with Melody next to him.
“Yes, it will,” said Freddie.
Lazet recognized the sly look on Freddie’s face, and his pulse raced. “You’ve sent in a beast.”
Freddie’s broken tooth leer increased. “The audience needs to be kept entertained. You have failed them, so far.”
Lazet gripped the edge of the comms post. “What’s in the game with us?”
“If I told you, it would take away all the fun.”
Lazet leaned closer to the comms screen, wishing he could reach through and smash the smirk from Freddie’s face. “I told you I would kill her.”
Freddie glanced away from the screen, and Lazet grabbed the shock collar around his neck, as several high voltage charges shot through it. “Do not fail us anymore.”
“I’ve no intention of failing.” Lazet glared at Freddie.
“Obey our orders and everything will be fine.”
“Not fine for Melody,” muttered Lazet.
“What did you say?”
“I said she’ll be dead by the end of the day.”
Freddie smiled at him. “Yes, she will. Our beasts will see to that.”
Chapter 10
Melody backed away, her movement jerky, as the black wolf watched her from the entrance of the cave. It was the size of an Earth buffalo; its shoulder muscles bunched around its gigantic head, and thick, shaggy fur covered its skin.
She paused and then bent slowly, grabbing a stick from the fire. It burnt her flesh, but she held on, despite the tremor in her hand. Maybe she could stop the wolf from reaching her if she could ward it off with fire.
The wolf grumbled and took a step into the cave, its teeth bared and its bright yellow eyes fixed on Melody.
“Good doggie,” whispered Melody. “You don’t need to eat me. You won’t find anything to your liking here. Go chase a stick or something.”
The right eye of the wolf rolled in an unnatural manner, and Melody realized she was being watched by the Fraken through this beast. They must realize something was wrong and had come to see for themselves what Lazet was doing by keeping her alive. She wished she knew the answer to that question. Melody also wished Lazet would come back from wherever he’d disappeared to. Right now, she could do with an oversized warrior to beat the life out of this monstrosity.
Melody felt rough rock against her back, and her breath rasped out of her. She had nowhere else to go. She held the burning branch in front of her, ignoring the blistering of her skin. “You stay where you are, and we’ll both be fine. Maybe you’d like to lie down by the fire?”
The wolf took another step towards her, snapping its enormous jaws as it did so, its huge paws shaking the ground.
“Nothing for you to eat here.” Melody’s voice wobbled. If the beast wolf got any closer, it would be able to jump on her.
The beast growled but remained where it was. What was it waiting for?
“Good doggie.” Where was her annoying alien when she needed him? Men, alien or not, they always let you down. Melody was on her own.
The beast wolf stared at her, and she could see the electronic eye working, the beast moving its head from side to side. The Fraken must be taking a recording of her whereabouts, trying to figure out where she was in case she managed to escape from their view again.
Melody wished she had clothes on. There would be millions of eyes roving over her body, right now, and the cover she wore felt flimsy, even though it was warm. A sliver of guilt ran through her. She’d once been in the audience, watching such a scene repeated over and over as prey finally met their end.
“If I get out, I’m never going to watch another Fraken game again,” said Melody. “I’m giving up gambling and turning over a new leaf.”
The wolf grumbled at her and tilted its head to one side.
“You can tell the Fraken that,” said Melody. “When I get free, I’m going to destroy the Fraken Empire, starting with these games.”
The wolf grumbled a growl through its chest, and she thought, for a second, it sounded like laughter.
“Stupid wolf, laughing at me,” muttered Melody.
The wolf chuffed a noise through its nose and raised its ears.
Melody let out a strangled gasp as she looked behind the beast wolf and saw two more equally vicious looking beasts appear. The wolf hadn’t been waiting for her to move; it had been waiting for backup.
***
Lazet dashed back towards the cave, the muscles in his calves burning, not knowing what he’d find. If the Fraken beast had already found Melody, he could be too late. Lazet barely noticed the sore skin around his throat from where the Fraken had so
viciously shocked him; he was focused on getting back to Melody.
He should have made the game look more real. But that meant scaring Melody even more. The thought pressed uncomfortably on his shoulders. He’d only known her for a short time, but he liked her, more so than he’d ever liked a female. Maybe it was the human way; the women could have some kind of intoxicating chemistry in their blood that made men desire them. Whatever it was, he enjoyed being around her. A Fraken beast was not going to end her life.
He sniffed the air; he was not alone. There was another creature nearby, and it wasn’t Melody. Lazet turned slowly in a circle, drawing a blade from his weapons belt as he did so. What he was smelling was feral and dangerous. His senses screamed at him to be on guard.
A piercing shriek broke the silence, and Lazet sprang into action. The scream had come from the cave; it must be Melody. Whatever the Fraken had decided to challenge them with, it was focused on her.
Lazet cursed as he raced through the snow, oblivious to the cold. He should have picked a more secluded spot to hide Melody. But she’d been dying, freezing to death, and he thought they’d have more time. But it looked like the Fraken wanted this game over quickly.
Lazet slowed as he reached the mouth of the cave. There were no obvious dangers outside, but he needed to focus. A mistake could be the end of both of them.
As he ducked into the cave, Lazet pulled up, adrenalin flooding his system. There were three mutant black wolves surrounding Melody.
Lazet took another step into the cave, just as one wolf leapt on top of her. He reacted on instinct, a hot feeling of rage seeping through him, honing his anger and directing it to the enemy. The Fraken had sent these monsters to kill Melody. That was not going to happen.
He dove forward, blade raised over his head, and struck one of the mutant wolves across the back of the neck. The wolf collapsed, and Lazet turned his attention to the second one. Its head swung around, and its cold yellow eyes focused on him.
The wolf jumped, and Lazet swung his blade, just as Melody let out a pained cry. He risked a glance towards her to see what damage the other wolf had done. That was a mistake. Lazet’s aim was an inch off. The wolf slid around his blade and grabbed hold of his left arm.
Lazet growled through the pain as the sharp fangs of the wolf punctured his tough skin. The wolf kept hold and began to shake Lazet, trying to tear his arm from his shoulder.
But the pain didn’t stop him. Lazet adjusted his grip on the blade and sliced it across the wolf’s exposed belly. Blood poured out, along with electronic sparks, as the impulses keeping the wolf alive faded.
Lazet shook the dead wolf off him and raced towards Melody, his blade now covered in wolf blood as he raised it again. Horror filled him as he saw the wolf standing on top of her, its jaws worryingly close to her vulnerable neck.
But even with an enormous mutant wolf bearing down on her, Lazet felt a rush of pride, as he saw Melody was fighting back. She had a stick in her hand and was thumping the side of the wolf with it. Lazet doubted the wolf felt the blows, but he saw just how much of a fighter Melody was and how much she wanted to live. And he wanted that too. Anger poured through him as he heard the wolf snarl.
“Glad you decided to come back.” Melody shot a terrified look at Lazet.
“When have I ever let you down?” Lazet raised his blade.
The wolf growled and opened its mouth, still focused on Melody. Lazet slashed his blade across the back of its head, and as the wolf howled, he struck the blade straight through its spine.
The beast fell to the ground, motionless. The threat was gone.
Lazet dropped to his knees next to Melody, his forehead wrinkling as he examined her injury. Blood oozed from a wound on her hand. “You’ve been hurt.”
“Fraken dogs don’t play nicely,” said Melody as she shoved away the body of the wolf.
“Let me help you up. I need more light to see your injuries better.” Lazet dropped his blade and held out his hand.
Melody struggled to her feet, a look of concern passing over her face as she stared at Lazet’s injured arm. “I’m not the only one who’s been injured.”
Lazet had barely felt the pain in his left arm, but now that he focused on it, it shot through him like a poisoned missile. “It’s nothing.”
“It looks like something to me,” said Melody. “Not sure the Healing Stick will be good enough to treat that.”
“Vortens heal quickly,” said Lazet. “I’ll use the Healing Stick and my own abilities. Be as good as new by tomorrow.”
“I wish Grace were here to help,” said Melody. “She’d know what to do with an injury like that.”
“Who’s Grace?” Lazet felt a wave of sickness flood through him; his injury was worse than he’d realized.
“One of the other women captured from the Capella starship.” Melody inspected her own injured hand. “I shared a cell with her for almost two weeks before I was dragged into this game. She was a medic of some sort, treated all our injuries after we’d been captured.”
Lazet nodded. “You never know. You might see her again.”
“Only if I watch the game she’s in,” muttered Melody.
“You never know what might happen.” Lazet grunted as the pain from his injured arm threatened to overwhelm him.
“You need to sit down,” said Melody. “Let me see what I can do with your arm.”
Lazet fought against unconsciousness as he swayed on his feet. “Be fine. Stop worrying.”
“You’ve gone grey,” said Melody. “That’s not your camouflage doing that. Just rest a few minutes.”
Lazet nodded as pain drove him to his knees. “Just for a few minutes, but then we need to move.”
“We don’t need to do anything,” said Melody. “I’m only helping you now because you stopped that wolf thing from chewing on me like I was his favorite toy.”
“We’re in this together.” Lazet fought to keep his eyes open.
Melody stared at him before hurrying over to grab the Healing Stick. “Let’s see how this helps.”
Lazet let out a groan, and his head slumped back, just as Melody’s hands touched his skin. He’d finally lost the battle.
Chapter 11
Melody didn’t move for a few seconds as she stood over Lazet.
The wound in his arm was freely leaking blood, and his skin was covered in a film of sweat. She could see his muscles twitching, still pumped full of adrenaline from the fight with the wolves.
This could be her chance. With Lazet out cold, he couldn’t harm her. She could get away from him, maybe even out of the game as well.
She dropped the Healing Stick and hurried to the cave entrance. Melody paused and looked back. She wished she understood Lazet. When he wasn’t teasing her, he was helping her. Why was he doing it? He’d alluded to something bigger, something he wouldn’t tell her about. Could he really be trying to keep her alive?
She was foolish to miss this opportunity to escape. But what would she be escaping to? More beasts sent by the Fraken to kill her? Was this opportunity really an escape or a crazy dash towards something much deadlier?
Melody took a few steps towards Lazet. She saw pain etched deeply on his brow ridges, a line between his eyebrows that she’d seen when he was deep in thought or concerned about something.
Looking down at her hands, she gave a disgusted sigh. She was covered in wolf blood, blood Lazet had spilled on her behalf. For whatever reason, he was helping her, and she just couldn’t leave him. She took hold of the Healing Stick again and knelt next to Lazet. “You’d better be worth it, you overgrown alien. If you kill me after I help you, I’m not going to be happy.”
Lazet grunted as Melody applied the Healing Stick to his damaged arm.
It took half a dozen strokes of the stick before Melody was happy that the bleeding had stopped. The Healing Stick was almost empty by then. She ran it over her own wounds and then applied Medi-patches. They would prevent any infection. She’d have
to get her wounds properly treated when she got back to Earth.
The thought made her smile. Melody doubted she’d ever see her planet again, and she wasn’t even sure she wanted to anymore. Life there had been full of danger and uncertainty.
“Like it’s any better now,” she said to herself.
“Get out of the cave,” muttered Lazet, making her jump.
Melody stroked a finger down his cheek. “You need to rest now. No more telling me what to do. I need to have my warrior in proper fighting shape if we’re going to deal with the Fraken.”
Lazet shifted and his eyes fluttered for a brief second before he stilled and his breathing grew deeper. He was handsome, maybe a couple of years younger than Melody. His jaw was firm, mouth full, and he’d definitely eaten his greens when he was growing up.
She shook her head; enough lusting after the dangerous alien. Melody grabbed a bottle of water and cleaned herself as best she could. The stench of blood still lingered, but she couldn’t do anything about that.
She wiped her damp hands over Lazet’s muscles, removing the worst of the blood from him as well.
And they were some muscles Lazet owned. He was honed to perfection. And sure, he wasn’t as massive as some of the other Vorten she’d seen participating in the games, but she didn’t mind that. Melody was so used to weak human males, underfed and damaged by the radiation, seeing Lazet’s prime physical form made her heartbeat speed up.
She’d had a few encounters with alien males, but they were nothing like Lazet. They basically looked like humans, but with different colored skin, although one of them had a particularly long tongue she’d enjoyed from time to time.
Melody had never had any close encounters with a Vorten. The thought made blood rush to her cheeks, and she found herself stroking her hands gently over his muscled arms. She was careful to avoid his injury, but as she looked at it, she realized he was right. Lazet was already healing, and she could see new skin as the wound knitted together. Melody moved her hand over Lazet’s chest and ran her fingers along the hard ridges of muscle.
Lazet (Vortex Alien Warriors Book 2) Page 7
