by Sonia Nova
The alien nodded at her with a smile, his tail swaying gently behind him. But then his whole body tensed and his expression grew serious. He turned in the corridor, as if he’d heard something.
“Olivia, we need to leave here.” His voice was a notch harder and cold.
The reality of the situation kicked in immediately and Olivia’s heart leaped in her chest. She looked down at the corpse of the Suhlik and fought the tremors running through her body. Kraev hesitated and then gave her hand a quick squeeze.
“Quickly,” he urged. “Before more come. I need to protect you.”
She breathed deeply, trying to sort out the mess in her mind, and then nodded. It made her head ache.
“Yeah. Okay. Let’s go.”
CHAPTER 4
KRAEV
His mate was beautiful.
The moment Kraev laid eyes upon her, he was drawn to her. The tattoos on his skin tingled at her nearness and his tail swayed with urgency to touch her. Despite everything that was happening, all he could think about was how gorgeous his mate was.
Olivia. The name sounded strange on his tongue, but he liked it. She looked unlike anything he had ever seen in his life. She had pale skin and shoulder-length hair the color of sunshine. She was so small and fragile that his heart had nearly burst when he’d seen her being thrown about by the Suhlik.
The lizard had not died fast enough.
Olivia’s scent floated in the air around them. Like amihae fruit and a spice he couldn’t quite name. It was the sweetest scent he’d ever smelled in his life, pure perfection. He wanted to bury his face in her hair and inhale deeply. He wanted to wrap her in his arms and carry her back to his bed right then and there.
But first, they needed to get out of the teleport base.
“We need to head for my ship,” he said, turning in the direction they needed to go, but looking over his shoulder to make sure that Olivia was right there beside him.
Suhlik had infiltrated the whole teleport base, and although his fellow Mahdfel were doing their best to keep them occupied, they would be in danger as long as they stayed there.
“What’s going on?” Olivia asked, following him down the hallway. His mate was obviously terrified, her brown eyes wide and her hands shaking at her sides. “I thought this was supposed to be a safe planet. They’re only supposed to send brides to safe locations.”
“You’ll always be safe with me,” Kraev responded, even though he knew he couldn’t guarantee it. Suhlik attacks on the planet were clearly getting worse. The lizards hadn’t managed to get on the surface for years. And now they had.
Maybe she shouldn’t have been sent here. She was so small and it had already been proven that humans weren’t good matches for fighting against the Suhlik. Maybe sending her to this planet had been a bad idea.
But she was here beside him and his tattoos were pulsing in unison with his heart at the knowledge that he’d found his mate. He’d found the woman who was going to give him the family he’d always dreamed of. He would never regret that.
He noticed she was limping slightly as they walked deeper into the hallway, and he came to an immediate stop. “Is your leg okay?”
“It’s fine, just keep going,” she urged.
Kraev frowned. “No, you’re hurt.”
Her face was strained, betraying the pain, but she shook her head. Even that made her grimace. “You said it yourself, we need to get out of here. My ankle is just a little sprained. It’s not a big deal. Please.”
“I can’t–”
She rested a small hand on his bare forearm. “Please. Before more Suhlik come.”
It went against everything he knew to let his mate hobble along beside him without helping, but she was right. They needed to get out of there before more of the damned lizards came, and he needed his hands on his weapon in case they did show up.
Just as the thought appeared in his mind, a door at the end of the corridor opened and three Suhlik walked in.
Kraev pushed Olivia back into the hallway they had come from, but it was too late.
They had been spotted.
He’d have to fight.
One Suhlik was a strong warrior, but three Suhlik was a lot for one man. Kraev wished that Zevyk was by his side. Despite having specialized in engineering, Zevyk had undergone the same warrior training he had. Together, they could have taken the bastards down in no time.
As it was, he was alone. His tail swatted with anxiety, but he knew he couldn’t fail now. He refused to fail his newfound mate.
Quickly, he pulled a smaller gun from his hip and pressed it to Olivia’s hand.
“Use it if you need to,” he said, hoping she knew how to actually fire the weapon.
He would fight with everything in him to make sure that he survived to keep his mate safe and to get to know her, but sometimes willpower alone wasn’t enough to get someone through a battle. His father’s death had taught him that.
He’d expected his mate to protest, but instead, she nodded and stood beside him.
“No, stand back,” he said. “Far behind me. You’ll be safe around the corner.”
This time, she did hesitate, looking up at him. His gaze burned back into hers, and although Kraev could see fear glittering in her brown eyes, he could also see determination. The fates really had favored him.
She finally nodded and stood back. The footsteps of the Suhlik guards approached in the other hallway, and Kraev launched himself around the corner. He aimed his gun at the approaching Suhlik and fired off toward the trio.
The stream of shots caught one of the lizards in the head, taking him down immediately. That left him two on one. He could cope with that.
Unfortunately, the two other guards weren’t about to make the same mistake as their friend. Kraev ducked to the side when one of the Suhlik shot at him. He aimed at the lizard but missed by an arm’s length when the male moved. The other guard rushed straight toward him and Kraev jumped to avoid his shot, but not before the first one aimed again.
There was nowhere to hide.
Kraev shielded himself with his gun. The shots missed him just barely, but they blasted into the weapon’s core.
Dammit. He grimaced, throwing the now-useless gun away. He glared at the Suhlik, pulling knives from his belt. The poison-infused blades were designed specifically to get beneath the armored scales of a Suhlik’s body, and straight into flesh.
He dashed toward the lizards, ducking and jumping to avoid their shots. He quickly got close enough to make their guns useless in the close-combat fight, but the lizards still had an advantage against him: their claws.
Kraev was strong in hand-to-hand combat, but it wasn’t his specialty. He was a pilot, and he felt much more comfortable forcing Suhlik ships from the sky than he did engaging them in close quarters like this.
The Suhlik who had breached the base, however, were specialists in hand-to-hand. Kraev was already at a disadvantage, but he didn’t let it stop him. As a Mahdfel, he had increased strength and speed. He would use them to outwit the brazen Suhlik who thought they could hurt his mate.
He parried vicious attacks from the Suhlik claws and fought back with slashing attacks, but the lizards were just as quick. He curved his back away from the claws on their elbows as they went in together for a simultaneous attack, and then dashed back in, quicker than they could have done themselves.
A knife pierced the left-hand side of one’s stomach, but it wasn’t a wound that would kill him. Kraev continued to get hits, but none of them were fatal, and soon, he started taking hits himself. One of their elbow blades sliced across his chest. It wasn’t deep, but it easily could have been. A close call gave him a graze on his neck.
Knowing his mate was behind him threatened to distract him. He wanted to tell her to run, but there was nowhere to go. She couldn’t fit past their fight to make it to the hangar and back the way they’d come would only lead her deeper into the building.
It was up to him to lead her ou
t. He could not afford to lose this fight.
Kraev dodged backward, barely moving out of the way of a slice that would have cut straight across his eye. Then, out of nowhere, a shot echoed in the hallway and one of the Suhlik fell to the ground, a hole in his head much like the ones Kraev had put through two Suhlik so far today.
He briefly glanced over his shoulder. Olivia was holding the gun he had given her in her hand, aimed at where the lizard’s head had been just seconds ago. Her arm was steady and her face was flat. Almost immediately, her hand started to tremor again.
Impressed and worried, Kraev wanted to go and wrap her in his arms, but he still had one lizard to take down. There was no doubt that he’d be the victor in the fight now. One-on-one, the Suhlik had no chance.
Kraev smiled viciously at the lizard. He dodged frenzied attacks from the Suhlik that knew he was about to die, and then darted forward and pierced the male’s neck with his two blades, pushing him down to the floor as he did. When he pulled them back, they were covered in the grimy blood of the lizard.
He turned immediately back to Olivia, who was holding the gun limply at her side and staring at the Suhlik she’d killed.
“I never thought I’d be able to get my revenge on one of them,” she whispered quietly. It was clear that killing a living being – even if it was a Suhlik – had gotten to her, and Kraev wanted to comfort her. His tail twitched with a need to wrap around her, but he refrained, knowing how she’d reacted when he’d touched her earlier.
“You did great,” he said. “Where did you learn to fight like that?”
Olivia shook her head. “I can’t fight. Not at all. But I’m a decent shot. My family went into hiding for a long time after the Suhlik invasion. My dad taught me to shoot.” She held the gun back out to him. “Here.”
Kraev stopped her and picked up one of the Suhlik’s guns from the floor. “You keep it,” he said. “I’d feel better if you were armed.”
She hesitated but then nodded. “Okay.” She took a couple of steps closer to him and seemed to relax a little when she was beside him.
“Let’s keep moving,” he said. He just wanted this to be over so that he could be somewhere safe with his mate. There was so much he wanted to know. So much he wanted to say. This wasn’t at all how it had been supposed to go and he wanted to make up for that.
“What’s really going on here?” Olivia asked as they moved quickly down the corridors. The tremor in her voice had calmed down a little and it soothed him too. “Is this just really bad timing, or does this kind of thing happen often?”
“A bit of both,” he replied. “Suhlik attacks on R-2841 are rather frequent, but this is also a really bad timing. The lizards haven’t actually made it to the surface of the planet for years until today.”
“Why? Why do they want this planet?”
“R-2841 is abundant with an incredibly rare and powerful mineral called hellstone. It prevents teleportation and is crucial for the defense of any location. The Suhlik also use it for their experiments.” His tail lashed angrily at the thought. “That’s why they’re here. They want to control the planet and get the hellstone. It could be a powerful weapon if it was used by them.”
He glanced to the side and saw Olivia visibly shudder. “So they’ll keep coming back, even if they fail this time.”
His throat was dry. “Yes. They’ll keep coming back.”
He slowed and put a hand out to stop Olivia and bring her in close to the wall. “Around the corner is the hangar,” he said. “Through a pair of double doors. It might be swarming with Suhlik. This could be dangerous, but it’s a better idea than hiding. They travel in groups and if they find us, they might kill us. We need to get as far away from here as possible.”
“Why aren’t you with people?” she asked. “Don’t you travel in groups to try and counter that?”
“Normally, yes. The Mahdfel defending the planet are all in groups. But I came here by myself to make sure you were okay.”
“You risked your life for me?” She looked up at him with big eyes.
He blinked. “Of course. You’re my mate.” He would do the same again every time without a second’s hesitation.
She opened her mouth and then shut it again. “Oh,” she said softly.
Kraev brought his wristband to his mouth and said quietly, “Zevyk.”
The wristband immediately opened a channel with his best friend.
“Kraev,” came the quick, but stressed-sounding, response. “I’m so glad to hear from you, brother. What can I do for you?”
“Can you get eyes on the hangar at the teleport base?” Zevyk was an engineer and, as such, his main role right now would be onboard one of the fighting ships in the sky above, doing his best to repair any damage done. He might have access to camera feeds.
“One moment,” Zevyk said, the words drawn out. “Yes. Got it. There’s a firefight going on in the hangar. Which door are you behind?”
He gave his friend their location.
“There’s a path for you to a ship, but it’s risky. Is it just you, or did you find your mate?”
“She’s with me.”
“I’m glad.” Zevyk sounded just as relieved as Kraev felt. “When you exit the door, you need to go right and skirt the wall until you get to a ship. You should be able to get there without being noticed, but it’s a mess in there, Kraev. Hand-to-hand and guns. Ships are taking off and landing all the time. It’s risky.”
“Not as risky as staying in the base. I have no idea who might find us then. We need to get out of here. I need to keep Olivia safe.”
“I know,” Zevyk replied. There was suddenly static on the line. “My ship is hit. I’ve got to go. Good luck, my brother.”
“And you, brother.”
Kraev allowed himself just a moment of worry for Zevyk before returning to the task at hand. “Did you hear all that?” he asked Olivia.
She nodded. “Yes. I’ve got it.”
“Are you okay to run on your ankle?”
“I’ll be fine. It’s not that bad, I promise.”
He dithered for a second. The need to carry her and ensure she was well nearly overwhelmed him. But carrying her while he needed his hands free to shoot was not only unrealistic, it was stupid.
“Okay,” he finally said.
He wanted to wrap her in his arms and kiss her senseless just in case this was the only opportunity he was going to have for it. His tail swayed in anticipation and his tattoos tingled on his skin. She looked up at him with these big, nervous but somehow trusting eyes and he knew he was going to be the happiest man in the world if they made it out alive.
“I’m glad you’re here,” he said instead.
Olivia laughed, which wasn’t the reaction he’d expected. “I’m not sure I can say the same.”
The weight of disappointment settled on his stomach. He guessed he couldn’t blame her. Being sent to an active battle zone must have come as a shock. But still, did she not feel the same as him? Did she not have that sense that they were absolutely meant for each other? He had always thought that when the time came and he was matched, he would immediately have a bond with his mate, like his parents did.
Doubt filtered into his heart. He knew that humans were different, that their culture was different, but he was already so certain that they were perfect together. Did she not feel it? The genetic matching did not lie.
She must have seen his doubts on his face because she rested a hand on his forearm again. The contact made his tattoos glow softly as the desire to pull her into his arms ratcheted up.
“I’m glad I’ve met you,” she said gently. “Without you, I’d already be toast. And, well, this is probably the most excitement I’ve ever had in my life, I guess.”
Her words were encouraging, but there was something bitter in that statement. He was sure she was lying about the excitement, maybe even about meeting him. The idea felt uneasy in his mind, but he shoved it aside. He’d ask her about it later. Right n
ow, they needed to move.
“Let’s go.”
He squeezed her hand and then guided her to the double doors. They were solid metal and soundproofed. There was no way to know what they were walking into until it was too late. He half expected the doors to open and Suhlik to come charging over them.
He keyed in the code that would allow them to pass and held the Suhlik weapon tightly in his grip, ready to shoot anything that came at him.
Inside the hangar was chaos. The configuration of the fight seemed to have changed even since Zevyk had been looking at the screen. Now, the Mahdfel were guarding the door that Kraev and Olivia walked through, clearly trying to prevent the Suhlik from getting through to where the teleporter was.
It meant that they walked straight into the middle of the hottest area in the hangar. Kraev wrapped his arm around Olivia’s head to shield it from any stray bullets before dragging her right like Zevyk had instructed. He shot toward the Suhlik but focused on moving as quickly as possible. Olivia was practically skipping beside him, trying to move as quickly with her damaged ankle.
Shame shot through him. He should never have been making her do something that caused her pain. He wasn’t being a good mate.
The rest of the Mahdfel defending the door kept their backs and he shouted a few words to them to tell them what he was doing. In return, they promised to keep the fighting as far from Kraev and Olivia as possible. They all understood his actions. No one tried to tell him it was his duty to stand and fight with the rest of them.
Family always came first.
They made it out of the main fighting with Kraev only receiving a couple of grazes to his arms. They would heal in no time. He wanted to stop to make sure Olivia hadn’t been hurt, but there wasn’t time. They moved around the side of the Mahdfel ship he was intending to use and found two Suhlik striding toward him.
Both Olivia and Kraev shot at the same time. Luckily, they picked a different one each, and the Suhlik fell to the ground, neither even getting a chance to start their charge. Olivia’s shot hadn’t quite killed the lizard, hitting the male in the shoulder, but Kraev easily finished him off.
