Alien Romance Box Set: Uoria Mates II Complete Series (Books 1 - 10): A Sci-fi Alien Warrior Invasion Abduction Romance

by Ruth Anne Scott

  She took a breath and released George's hand beside her. Without looking at any of them, Zsilvia strode forward toward the wall. It seemed to grow taller as she approached it, as if trying to intimidate her and convince her to stay back and follow the restrictions that she always had. Tired of being told what to think, how to act, and what to do, she looked at the wall with more determination than she had ever felt, reached forward to grab onto one of the stones protruding just above her head, and planted her foot against it. She blocked everything out of her mind and concentrated for a few seconds on the sound of the raindrops on the rocks. When she had isolated the drops so that she felt she could hear each as they hit the stones rather than just a continuous cascade of water, she brought the focus and clarity within her and pushed herself up.

  Suddenly she was perched on the top of the wall and the sound of the raindrops no longer sounded like an assault but a soothing, calming assurance. Zsilvia lifted her eyes from her own legs draped over the top to the land that waited beyond it. Even in the darkness of the storm the open space was beautiful and she felt the tension within her coil up in her belly, shifting from a feeling of nervousness and anxiety to one of potential and excitement.

  Zsilvia drew in a breath, swung her legs forward, and released the wall. She felt herself falling and a second later she hit the ground. She was beyond the boundary. There was a moment of still quiet as she stood slowly and looked around. Unlike the compound where there always seemed like something was creating walls around her, whether it was the trees, the cliffs, or the actual buildings of the village, this space was wide and open. It seemed to ripple slightly in front of her and stretched so far it melted into the smoky black line of the horizon.

  "I'm over," she finally called to the others on the other side of the wall.

  In moments she saw George scramble over the wall and land on the ground beside her. He stood and swept her into his arms. She returned the embrace, tucking her head into the curve of his shoulder and neck so she could draw in the rich scent of him and find stillness in the steady rise and fall of his breath. Around them the other women helped each other over the wall and finally Zuri helped Elianna make her way down and they were all outside of the compound.

  It seemed that the intensity of the storm had been, much like her, contained within the compound, and now only clouds and the soft mist of rain lingered. Their pace increased as they continued forward, all of them moving faster despite their exhaustion, compelled and refreshed by the excitement of finally achieving the goal of getting out of the compound.

  The sun was halfway behind the horizon when they finally stopped. Zsilvia didn't realize until then how hungry she was. They hadn't stopped to eat at any other point in the day, though the others might have eaten something when they were in the mirrored realm.

  "Where are we going to sleep for the night?" Elianna asked as they all dropped down to the ground to rest.

  "I don't see any caves or anything," Samira responded. "I think that we're just going to have to set up our tents and settle in wherever we can."

  Despite the wetness of the ground it felt amazing to finally be sitting again after so many hours of trudging along. Zsilvia rested back against her bag and let her eyes drift close for a moment. She didn't really care where they slept as long as they didn't go much further than they were right then. She wanted to sleep like she never had in her life, but as she felt herself drifting away, someone came up beside her.

  "Can I talk to you?"

  Zsilvia opened her eyes at the sound of Ivy's voice. The blonde woman had settled down beside her and was watching the others digging through their bags to pull out their tents and get started on a fire to heat up their evening meal. Zsilvia pulled herself up so that she was sitting straighter and nodded.

  "Sure."

  "I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry about the misunderstanding with George. I didn't mean to upset you. He and I have worked together for a long time at home and are really close, but it has never been anything more than a friendship. I promise you that."

  "I know. He explained it all to me."

  "If I had known about you before I got here, I never would have acted the way I did with him. I'm really sorry."

  Zsilvia shook her head. Now that she understood the entire situation she was starting to realize that Ivy was not at all the type of person she thought she was.

  "It's alright, Ivy. There's no way that you would have known. There wasn't really an “us” until today."

  "That's not true," Ivy said, the hint of a smile flickering in her eyes. "You might not have acknowledged it, but for George, there was an “us” from the moment that he saw you. I know that man and I have never seen him like he is with you. Just hearing your voice made him light up. It was like his heart wasn't really beating until he was here with you. You brought him to life."

  Zsilvia smiled, and then something about the words hit her. She sat up straighter and stared at Ivy.

  "What did you just say?"

  Chapter Four

  Lynx pulled his dagger up over his head and brought it down with as much force as he could draw into his arms. The sharpened tip burrowed down into the gleaming eye of the young Covra scuttling toward him at a speed that made his skin crawl. The eye split, vibrant green blood splashing out of it and across the ground. A screech poured out of the creature, sending a shudder down Lynx's spine as the creature thrashed for several seconds, fell still, and disintegrated into the floor. Around him Lynx could hear the other warriors grunting and shouting as they fought off the young Covra emerging from the destroyed bodies of the Light Ones that had acted first as the incubators for their eggs, and then as their first meal.

  The birth of the new generation of the creatures had thankfully begun slowly. Rather than all of the eggs within all of the Light Ones in the settlement hatching at the same time and releasing all of voracious young Covra, the warriors had only caught three of the sets of eggs hatching. Though the three people who had contained the eggs had died in the wake of the hatching, Lynx knew that they had to concentrate first on killing the Covra as they emerged rather than attempting to save the people. They didn't know what they could do to save them and the risk of allowing any of the creatures to get out of the settlement or have the time to get bigger and even stronger was far too high to allow it to happen.

  Lynx tried to block out the image of the woman lying on the steps of her home in front of him, her body contorted in the position where it had fallen when the Covra were born and began eating their way out of her. Though there was no blood, it was a horrific sight and it made his mind wander to Rain lying helplessly in her bed at the other end of the settlement. He knew that there was nothing he could do to help her, and that made him feel helpless, empty, and terrified. Just like the rest of the people in the settlement, her body was harboring a clutch of Covra eggs and those eggs, embedded deeply in her stomach, could hatch at any moment, destroying her before he even had the chance to see her eyes open or hear her voice.

  The knowledge that his intended mate could be mere moments from dying a horrific death and that there was nothing he could do to stop it made Lynx feel like he was tied down with invisible ropes, kept from making any move and forced to simply stand by and watch the young Covra destroy her. He knew that he couldn't continue to think about her. He needed to force those thoughts out of his mind and focus on eliminating the Covra as they were born. It would motivate him to keep going and keep him following through with the responsibilities that Pyra had given him.

  Lynx ran back down the steps, leaving the woman where she was for the time, and out onto the street. He looked around, waiting to see another of the locked people collapse and release the new wave of young creatures out. For the moment everything seemed still but he couldn't let himself go off guard. He had to remain vigilant or risk one of the creatures surprising him and overtaking him before he was able to fight back. Loralia had warned them that the newborn Covra woul
d be far stronger and more powerful than even the older creatures that they had already encountered, and he had quickly learned that she was absolutely correct. Even though they had just hatched these young were fast, aggressive, and fought with even more intensity than the generation before them even though they had absolutely no knowledge of the conflict of those that came before them. Rather than fighting out of the anger that came from their original conflict with the Light Ones or knowledge of their struggle with the Denynso, the young fought and attempted to kill purely out of inborn compulsion and lust for blood.

  "Lynx!"

  Lynx turned toward the sound of the frantic voice and saw Bannack running toward him clutching the heavy silver compact that Loralia had given him in his hand. The compact was open, which meant that either he had reached out to the women or they had contacted him. Lynx knew that the women and the new professor who had arrived at the compound after the warriors had left were on their way to the settlement to help them, and something about the possibility of them contacting the men made Lynx feel like there was a rock in his stomach.

  "Is there something wrong?" Lynx asked as Bannack got close to him.

  "I don't know," Bannack said, "Loralia wouldn't tell me what was going on and immediately handed the compact over to Zsilvia. She said that she needed to talk to you. I have no idea what she needs to tell you."

  Lynx nodded and took the compact from Bannack's hand. He was still trying to get used to the idea of communicating through the glass of the mirrors contained in the compact, but it had proven extremely useful in the time that they had been in the settlement and he was thankful for the incredible abilities of his friend's mate.

  "Zsilvia?" Lynx said, looking into the compact.

  "Lynx, are you anywhere near Rain?"

  "No. I haven't been back to the house since the eggs started hatching."

  "Get back there."

  Before he could ask why Lynx heard the scream of another of the warriors from somewhere in the settlement and he knew that another of the locked people had succumbed to the creatures within them.

  "Another set of the eggs has started hatching," he told her.

  "Then you need to get back to that house as fast as you can."

  "I have to help. Pyra left me in charge."

  "Pyra left you to lead and to do what is right for the Light Ones, and in order to do that, you need to get back to Rain. Tell the other warriors to help with the Covra hatchlings. For now, you need to get to the house as fast as you can."

  Lynx looked up at Bannack, who nodded at him as if to confirm that he needed to do as the Denynso woman had instructed. Together they started toward the house and Lynx ran up the stairs to Rain's bedroom, terrified that he would find her dead and her room overrun by Covra young.

  When he opened the door he felt relief wash over him as she saw her lying in the bed just as he had left her, quiet, peaceful, and oblivious to the chaos going on right outside her window.

  "I'm here," he said into the glass.

  Zsilvia nodded.

  "Show her to me."

  Lynx turned the glass so that Rain's reflection appeared in it.

  "Can you see her?" he asked.

  "Yes. Now say something to her."

  The request struck Lynx as odd and he turned the mirror back to himself.

  "What do you mean?"

  "Turn the mirror back to her and say something to her."

  Lynx turned the compact back around, but couldn't think of anything that he wanted to say to her that he would like an audience for.

  "What should I say to her?" he asked.

  "Anything. Ask her to wake up."

  Wishing he could touch her without going into the intense vision of her last several moments before getting locked, Lynx leaned toward Rain and gazed down into her pale, beautiful face.

  "Come on, Rain," he said softly, "Wake up."

  There was silence for a few seconds and then he heard Zsilvia again.

  "Did anything happen?"

  "No."

  She sighed and then Lynx heard a voice he didn't recognize.

  "Lynx, can you show me her injury?"

  Lynx pulled the compact up to look at the source of the male voice and saw a middle-aged man looking at him.

  "Who are you?" he asked.

  "My name is George. I'm the new professor that came to be a part of the university exchange program."

  "Lynx," Bannack said softly from beside him, but Lynx gestured for him to be quiet.

  "Hi, George. Why do you want to see Rain's injury?"

  "I'm a scientist. My research assistant and I have been working with Zuri and the other women to find a solution to the locking of the people in the settlement. Loralia has been the only one to see the Covra injury itself, and it is possible that if I see it, I might gain more insight into it."

  "Lynx," Bannack said again, more insistently.

  "What?" Lynx demanded, turning to Bannack.

  The other warrior's eyes were trained on Rain and when Lynx joined the gaze he didn't need to ask what was causing the shocked reaction.

  Rain was moving.

  Chapter Five

  Lynx could hear George repeating his name, but he couldn't pull his attention away from the subtle flickering of movement behind Rain's eyelids and the occasional tremor of one of her fingers beneath the blanket.

  "Lynx!"

  Zsilvia's voice startled the Denynso warrior and he looked back into the compact.

  "She moved," he said.

  Zsilvia smiled broadly.

  "When you spoke to her?" she asked.

  Lynx shook his head.

  "When George was talking."

  The smile on Zsilvia's face faded.

  "What?"

  Her voice sounded lighter and slightly strained.

  "When George started talking, I noticed that she was moving," Bannack said.

  Lynx nodded.

  "I saw it, too. It wasn't much, but she was moving!"

  "Is she still moving now?" Zsilvia asked.

  Lynx looked down at Rain, but her face had gone just as still as it had always been, and the subtle tremor of movement under the blankets had stopped.

  "No. She stopped."

  Disappointment washed over him and he felt tears stinging in the corners of his eyes. It suddenly felt even more hopeless. Somehow seeing that little glimmer of possibility, of potential, and then losing it without understanding how it had happened in the first place or what he could do to reclaim it was even worse than not having anything. At least if she had never changed he would always remember her just as she had been and it would be a matter of losing something that he had so desperately wanted and was meant to have, but never really did. Seeing those small movements and then watching them disappear made him feel like he had her in his hand and then watched her slip through his fingers like sand.

  "What was he saying when she moved?" Zsilvia asked.

  "She started moving as soon as he spoke," Bannack said. "It wasn't any word in particular or anything."

  "Oh," Zsilvia said, sounding disappointed.

  "What is it, Zsilvia?" Loralia asked.

  "I thought," Zsilvia started and then hesitated, "Do you remember what George said about the Light Ones' hearts not beating? That their blood was locked just as much as they were, and that it would take getting their blood flowing again to make them alive?"

  "He said that if their hearts had just stopped beating and the blood had stopped flowing because of it, it would have pooled in the lower half of their body and creating dark discoloration," Loralia said.

  "That's right," Elianna started and Lynx saw Rain's eyelids flicker again.

  "She moved again!" he said, cutting off Elianna before she could say anything else.

  "Lynx, turn the compact toward her face and bring it close enough that we can see her eyes," Zsilvia told him.

  Once he had followed her instructions,
Lynx heard Zsilvia speaking directly to Rain.

  "Hello?" she said, "Rain? Can you hear me?"

  Rain had no reaction, but Lynx forced the dark brooding thoughts to stay at bay. They had brought the movements back once. They could do it again.

  "Rain? This is George."

  Rain's eyes fluttered again and Lynx heard the women on the other side of the compact gasp as they noticed the movement for the first time.

  "Rain? My name is Loralia. Can you hear me?"

  There was no movement and Lynx bit into his bottom lip, trying to hold back the emotions that had started to build up inside of him.

  "Hi, Rain," another unfamiliar voice said, "My name is Ivy. Can you hear me?"

  Rain's eyelids fluttered again. Lynx heard a few moments of excited chatter but couldn't decipher any words. Suddenly he heard Zsilvia again.

  "Lynx, look at us." Lynx turned the compact toward himself. "I'm going to ask you a question and I need you to answer it completely honestly. Do you understand me?"

  "Yes."

  "Alright. Do you know what species Rain is?"

  Lynx felt his heart constrict again just as it had before he admitted to Ero that Rain and the other Light Ones were human. He felt the inexplicable defensiveness again; the resistance to reveal that information to them. Zsilvia must have seen the tension in his face because she tilted her face slightly so that she stared directly into his eyes.

  "Tell me, Lynx."

  When he didn't respond again, Zsilvia demanded that he give the compact to Bannack.

  "What are they, Bannack? Loralia says that you know."

  Lynx looked over at Bannack and saw the hint of an apology in his friend's eyes before he nodded.

  "They're human."

  Lynx could hear the loud jumble of reactions from the women and suddenly George's voice coming through the compact, sounding angry.

  "Why didn’t you tell us that?" he demanded.

  "I didn't know how anyone was going to react," Lynx said.