Mad Panther (Alien Guardians of Earth Book 2)

by Donna McDonald

  “What is so wrong with wanting to help?” Axel exclaimed, lifting a hand. “The blade hosts need protecting. Isn’t that our job as their mates?”

  Nyomi sighed. “I hear the echo of my own thoughts coming from my beloved son’s mouth, and I can’t even enjoy it. I can only answer that I do not really know what our role is where the blades are concerned. They allow our mates to be with us, but Rodu has always insisted that there are things he must do alone. I have no choice but to accept his words are his truth.”

  “That is you,” Axel said, then smacked his chest with his fist. “But I will never accept such a thing. I have seen Sugar helpless and in need of care. After she fights, she sleeps like death before she is reborn.”

  “I know the full worry of what you speak, and yet you must somehow find a way to bear it emotionally,” Nyomi said firmly. “If you do not willingly let her go, Sugar will leave you to seek the freedom she requires to obey the blade.”

  Axel grunted. “Sugar will not leave me. All I’m asking is that she not go out alone and unprotected.”

  “She will leave you again and again to serve the blade, but from that, she will always return,” Nyomi said firmly. “But if she flees your fears and your hovering, she will be gone for many, many years. By the time you find her, your human love might be on death’s door. Then you will watch her regeneration and pray that her frail human cells allow themselves to be remade. It is a torture that goes on for months and one that cannot be adequately described.”

  Axel shook his head. “It does not have to be that way. No matter where Sugar goes or what she does, she cannot escape me following. I have ways to find her.”

  Nyomi shook her head and kept on shaking it. “You will not find her unless the blade allows her to be found.”

  “Before she merged completely with the blade, I put a bio-tracker in her. At the time, I thought I was doing it to protect a mere human. I’d forgotten about it until now. My craft is equipped to track her through that chip I implanted. I merely have to activate the program.”

  Axel paced in a circle in front of the throne.

  “I’m going after her, Mother, and I will tell her she is not to go without me ever again. We will come to an agreement.”

  “Or to blows,” Nyomi warned.

  Axel stopped and stared at his mother. “Didn’t you ever go after Father?”

  “Of course I did. I chased him many times until I realized that loving him was not my only purpose in this life I’m living,” Nyomi said, lifting her chin. “I learned my lesson about it the hard way. While I was gone searching for someone who didn’t wish to be found, there was no one here sitting on the Lyran throne. My son refused to sit it for me. Being gone too much and too often nearly cost me my people. I cannot abandon my duties, not even for the only male who owns my heart.”

  Axel’s guilty gaze dropped. “I’m sorry, Mother. Truly. If I had known what was happening…”

  “I’m not attempting to inflict guilt on you for your decisions. I could have ordered you here, and you would have come, but a reluctant ruler cannot lead. And your father’s relationship to his blade was nothing I could tell you about back then,” Nyomi finished with a shrug. “The bottom line was that Rodu didn’t want me following him around. Like you, I consoled myself with finding clever ways of tracking him.”

  “How do you do so?” Axel asked.

  “Your brilliant sister developed nanotechnology that I placed in the fabric of his clothing—all of it. So long as he remains dressed, I can find his whereabouts. When he stays too long in one place, I send my elite guard to see why. However, I learned the hard way not to interfere with the blade’s business directly. Please learn that lesson from me and not from your own mistakes, Axel. It will save you from angering your mate and from the grief I suffered.”

  “When the blade owns Sugar completely, it undresses her without thought. Does Father always remain dressed when he is gone from you?” Axel asked bitterly.

  “No. Not always,” Nyomi admitted.

  “Sugar is mine, Mother. She will undress only in my presence.”

  “Axel, try to remember that you are Lyran. Human jealousy is not part of Lyran logic. Do you not trust Sugar’s love for you is complete and unchanging? Do you not see that your lack of trust in her love is about your own selfish motives?”

  Axel bowed his head. “I hear your words, my queen, but the need to find my mate is greater. If there is wisdom in your advice, my heart is not able to hear it.”

  “Very well then,” Nyomi said finally. “Go and search for her. I have warned you of what could happen. That is all I can do. You almost didn’t win Sugar’s heart back the last time you messed up with her. I caution you once more to reconsider your course of action.”

  “In this instance, I cannot heed your advice,” Axel said tightly. Bowing once more to his queen, he turned and walked quickly from the room.

  Nyomi sighed heavily as she watched Axel go. She could have told him where to start searching, but her son seemed determined to seek out his own lessons. As for her, she might brood about Rodu’s absence, but she would stay focused.

  Rodu the Destroyer was with Sugar the Protector. No one knew yet what two blades working together could do. Given what she’d seen Rodu do alone, Nyomi suspected their combined power would exceed even her imagination. She would cling to that until her mate returned to her.

  5

  “This place is majestic,” Sugar declared, looking out over the valley below.

  “The Temple Of The Moon is this way,” Rodu said, forging ahead without glancing at the scenery.

  Sugar sighed as she hurried behind him. “How can you keep so focused? Are you jaded from all your years of seeing humanity’s greatest glories?”

  Rodu slowed and glanced over his broad shoulder. “Perhaps I am. I forget you chose to explore the earth for a living. I never longed for those sorts of adventures.”

  Sugar chuckled. “Well, I did try to make a living as an explorer, but I ended up teaching instead, as most explorers do. Before finding the blade, I was certainly no Indiana Jones when it came to archaeology.”

  “I do not recall hearing of that historical figure.”

  “He’s not historical. He’s fictional. Do you read fiction?”

  “No,” Rodu said as he shrugged. “I suppose I prefer reading about things that actually happened.”

  Sugar stopped and chuckled. She hadn’t seen a bit of TV or a movie for months. The literal-minded Lyrans evidently didn’t have that kind of entertainment at the palace. It didn’t surprised her that Rodu had all but turned into one after all the years he lived with them.

  “Indiana Jones was a fictional archaeologist who went exploring on great adventures. I used to watch movies about him when I was a kid. It made me want to see places like Machu Picchu. When I walk these paths, my mind fills with images of the builders. What were they like? How long did it take them to haul all these massive rocks up here? I think of stuff like that while I appreciate how beautiful this place is.”

  Rodu stopped and snorted loudly as he turned to face her. “Do you really think humans of that time could have hauled such massive stones up a mountain on their own? The Incans weren’t as physically fit as we are today. Limited diets as they grew up and poor gestational care while in the womb kept them quite short of stature—not to mention the lack of oxygen at these altitudes requires a human to adopt a slower pace of existence. A thirty-year-old then would be like a fifty-year-old or sixty-year-old now, only they were in worse shape for having had to struggle to survive.”

  Sugar shook her head. “That slant on human history has never been conclusively proven. We find human skeletons of large stature all the time at historical sites. The evidence I’ve read has not convinced me that humans of that time weren’t capable of all sorts of unusual physical feats.”

  “You don’t need academic proof when you have seen the ancient Incans with your own eyes,” Rodu stated before turning to resume his w
alk.

  “I suppose you’re going to tell me aliens helped the Incans build this place.”

  “No, I’m not,” Rodu said as he walked. “The aliens built it for the Incans who traded gold for it. Many alien species visit Earth for its gold and other minerals which they use for energy creation on their home planets. I think somewhere along the line, Nyomi told them all that they had to stop mining our planet’s gold. As I understand it, Earth used to have about a million times the gold resources that it does now.”

  Sugar stared at his stiff back and thought once more of how much Axel and Rodu had in common. Their logical arguments were real conversation killers. If they weren’t so good looking, their socially inept asses would never get laid.

  “So how much longer until we get there?” Sugar grinned when Rodu grunted at her annoying query. Rodu shook his head but didn’t turn around.

  “I refuse to answer that question. Keep walking, and you will soon see for yourself.”

  She lapsed into silence then and let her gaze wander. The mountain citadel was indeed a marvel no matter how it came to be.

  Haste required. Merge imminent.

  At the warning, Sugar’s concerned gaze scoured the terrace. “Let’s hustle, Rodu. I think the new Protector blade has found its victim—I mean, its host. Mine is warning me that merging is imminent.”

  “The Temple Of The Moon is just ahead.”

  “Where? I don’t see it.”

  Rodu raised his arm and pointed. “See the overhang with the rock surface carved out? That’s the Temple Of The Moon. It’s in a cave.”

  “A cave? I’m not sure that rock overhang counts as a cave,” Sugar said.

  “Tell that to the dead Inca empire. I’m sure they will care about your semantics.”

  Sugar wanted to growl. His sarcasm was starting to grate on her nerves. “Did you eat before we left? Because I definitely hear hangry talk. I offered you a protein bar in the flying saucer.”

  “It’s not a…”

  Before Rodu could utter another defense of the craft that had brought them there, the whole mountain shook from within. The echo that followed shook nearly all the rock walls and buildings. They rattled and rumbled before settling right back into place.

  Rodu turned and grabbed her arm as they worked to steady themselves. Some of the people around them were on the ground and struggling to get back up. Most would think what was happening was an earthquake because they were very common in the area.

  “You okay?” Rodu asked as tremors eased off.

  Sugar nodded.

  Rodu pointed toward the Temple of the Moon. “There was an explosion inside the mountain. I thought you said the blade’s awakening was happening in a lake.”

  Sugar pulled away from his grasp. It was hard to tune out the panicked discussions happening all over the plateau and focus just on what Rodu was saying.

  “You’ve been speaking with your artifact longer than I have mine. Sometimes what it says confuses me, but dude, it definitely said lake. I know what I heard.”

  “Lake makes no sense. Come on,” Rodu whispered. “We have to move fast. The guides are making everyone leave. Keep your head down and walk quickly.”

  Sugar nodded as they nearly jogged the remaining distance to the rock temple and stopped to preview all the doors. Some were in front of empty rooms. Others were fake or unfinished. Nothing appeared to be happening in the cave housing the Temple Of The Moon.

  Sugar walked close to the wall and put a hand to her chest when it instantly vibrated. “Talk to me, Artifact. What am I not seeing?”

  Travel portal. Hidden room. Protector blade in Lake.

  Sugar snorted and patted her chest. She turned to Rodu who was standing guard. “Ever heard of a travel portal?”

  “No.”

  Sugar shrugged both shoulders. “My blade must be malfunctioning. It says there’s a travel portal here and a hidden room. Then it said the blade was now in a lake—and it definitely said lake.”

  Rodu hurried to her. “My blade has never had a malfunction—not once in all the years of our merging. You’re not understanding.”

  “Are you calling me stupid, Rodu? Because I’m feeling stupid enough without hearing it from you. Normally, I get what it tells me. My blade is literal to a fault. It said lake.”

  “No,” Rodu denied. “Let’s just say you’re misunderstanding. Clarity will come in time.”

  “Look, I translated Athena’s original language looking for the other two blades, and I dreamed the coordinates of this place. I am not misunderstanding all of it. I’m just…” Sugar looked around. “The travel portal might throw us into a hidden lake or something.”

  “I think the ‘or something’ is where we will convene eventually. Start searching for all the clues you can find,” Rodu ordered before walking away to peer into one of the empty rock rooms.

  He then trailed his hand over the nearest fake doorway and over the rock face inside its carved edges. Sugar watched, but there was nothing to see.

  “We need to move quickly. Guides will be searching for stragglers soon. When your chest vibrates, you’ll know we’re close to an answer.”

  “I can’t tell if you believe me or not,” Sugar told him. She ran her hand over the rock surface of the doorway she stood in front of.

  Nothing. No vibration.

  She put a hand on her chest. “I feel like I’m playing Blade Jeopardy. I’ll take travel portals for five hundred, Artifact. Show me the answer.”

  Exasperated, Sugar moved to the next fake doorway. Her whole body shook in vibration. “Rodu,” she called, trying to get her breath. “I’m having my own personal earthquake here. Damn, I always forget how much that shit hurts until it starts happening.”

  He came running over and grabbed his chest when he got within arm’s length. “Yes. It always hurts—every single time.”

  “Great. Now I’m panicking too,” Sugar complained, venting her pain through sarcasm. The pain was so intense it was all she could do to stand upright.

  Rodu put a hand on the rock face. He slid it downward until he felt the answering vibration in the rock. “This must be the hidden room,” he whispered.

  “Where’s the travel portal?” Sugar whispered back.

  Rodu let the rock pull on his hand. Moments later it passed through the stone.

  “Damn,” Sugar said, putting her hand next to his. “I can feel it sucking me through it. Do you think the lake is on the other side?”

  “Only one way to find out.” Rodu pushed his arm through until it got to his shoulder. He looked back at Sugar. “Follow if you can. Be careful if you can’t.”

  Sugar huffed. “You don’t have to give me orders. I’m not staying here by myself.”

  Her breath caught when the rest of Rodu’s body disappeared through the rock wall.

  She touched the place again and felt it vibrate against her hand. She swallowed nervously. What if she got stuck? People would find her, and she’d be half in and half out of the rock.

  That wouldn’t be good for her low profile. Right?

  Sugar needed. Merge incomplete. Host at risk.

  “Okay. Okay,” Sugar answered out loud. She couldn’t let Axel’s father face whatever was beyond that wall alone, could she? “Prepare yourself, Artifact. Here we go.”

  Sugar let her hand be pulled through and winced as her shoulder bumped against the very solid rock face. She squealed when something grabbed onto her fingers and yanked her the rest of the way through.

  Sugar called out, but her yelling was cut off when she saw the sparkle of gold that covered literally every surface that wasn’t part of the dirt floor or made of rock.

  And in the middle of all that gold was a pedestal with the outline of a box still visible on it. Been there, Sugar thought, sighing out loud.

  “Looks like we found the hidden room,” she announced.

  Rodu nodded and left her where she was.

  Sugar turned back and reached out to feel the vibratio
n of the wall she’d passed through. It was still there. “And the vibrating rock wall must be the travel portal.”

  Affirmative.

  “Great, Artifact. Now, where’s the mysterious lake you keep talking about?”

  Search cave floor. Host requires help.

  “Right,” Sugar grumbled in reply. “First, an earthquake—then a potential lake. And if that’s not enough, we’ve also got a blade host in jeopardy. Who gets out of bed for this? I could be cuddled up to my sleeping cat right now.”

  Help required. Save Protector.

  “You know, you do guilt really well. Guess you’re showing me who’s the boss,” Sugar grumbled, frowning as she started walking the same path Rodu had taken.

  Boss?

  “An employer—someone who trades work for money,” Sugar said flatly. “Isn’t that word in your lexicon?”

  Negative.

  “Well, it is now,” Sugar said dryly. “Any human who has a job also has a boss, unless they work for themselves. In that case, their customers are the boss.”

  No boss. Prefer partner.

  “Me too, but that hasn’t always worked out well for me.”

  Sugar talked on, knowing Rodu wouldn’t think badly of her speaking out loud to her blade. Sharing thoughts without talking often gave her a headache that lasted for hours.

  “Sugar! Come quick. I think I’ve found the new host, and he’s in trouble.”

  Ignoring the gleaming objects on both sides of her, Sugar covered the rest of the path in a run.

  6

  “I still don’t see why you needed to come along.”

  Gina answered without turning her head. “Because I switched voice and touch control while I was doing maintenance. Your airship won’t respond to you again until I’ve finished your upgrades, brother. Now please stop fidgeting and sit. We have a handle on her location, but it’s going to take several hours to get there.”

  “Where is she?” Axel demanded.

  Gina studied the coordinates. “Looks like Peru.”