by S. E. Smith
“Thank you,” Madas quietly said.
She carefully cleansed the dozens of small cuts on Gril’s wrist and palm before spreading some of the salve on them. Picking up a clean wrap, she tenderly wound it around his hand and wrist. Once she was finished, she packed the items in her bag. Her fingers skimmed the top of the metal case holding the part to his ship.
She returned her attention to him. A light layer of moisture clung to his skin from his shower. The towel that he had wrapped around his waist barely covered him.
“If you keep staring at me like you are, I won’t let your pleas to care for a few cuts stop me from taking you again,” he warned.
She could feel the heat blossom in her cheeks. “Like they were able to stop you in the shower,” she muttered.
He reached up and pulled loose the wrap tucked between her breasts. The wispy cloth fell to the floor around her ankles. She reached out and ran her hand along his bare shoulders.
“I love you, Gril,” she said, pushing him back on her bed.
He wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her along with him as he lay back. The towel around his waist fell open. She leaned forward so he could suckle her breast while she gripped his thickening cock. She slowly impaled herself on him, moaning with pleasure as her body clamped down on him, locking him to her.
“I love you, Madas,” he said against her breast.
“My mate,” she moaned as the fire in her body took over.
Several hours later, Madas grinned across the table at Gril. She stirred the thick stew in the bowl in front of her. He was gazing down at it like he was afraid something might jump out and attack him.
“It is vegetables, roots, and seeds,” she explained.
He dipped his spoon into the broth and shook his head. “It looks like an eyeball,” he complained.
She laughed. “It is a vision nut—called that because it does look like an eye. You know, you are completely ruining the myth about pale Tearnats devouring others while they are still alive. You can’t even eat a seed,” she pointed out.
“That is a disgusting rumor,” he grumbled. “We always kill our food before we eat it.”
Her expression softened as she watched him try to cut the seeds so they would look less like eyeballs. “You are a very complex male, Prince Gril. You are protective, yet never try to hold me back. You have a sense of humor and compassion, and yet I saw the way you dealt with my mother—not even she could stare you down,” she reflected.
“Don’t forget that I am an amazing lover,” he added.
“And you are an amazing lover,” she laughed.
“I’m glad you see those qualities in me, Madas. I see them in you as well—and so much more,” he tenderly responded.
She reached for his hand when she saw her older brother Goroff, several members of the Council, and a few cloaked figures. She pushed back from the small table in the kitchen where they had retreated.
“Goroff, what do you want?” she demanded.
Her brother grinned at her. His smile did not reach his eyes. Out of all of her siblings, he was the most like her mother. She had always avoided him whenever possible. He simply couldn’t be trusted.
“You—and him. You agreed to mate with him, did you not?” Goroff scoffed.
“Yes, I’ve accepted his request,” she boldly stated.
“What is the meaning of this?” Gril quizzed, rising from his seat and turning to face the group.
“She doesn’t have your wrist cuffs, so the claim isn’t sealed. If you want her, you have to prove you are worthy—it is our law and one upheld by the treaty,” Goroff chuckled.
Madas saw the barrel of the dart gun rise. She reached for Gril, but it was too late. Two darts struck him—one in the thigh and one in his shoulder. He jerked back, knocking the small table over before staggering to the side. Madas reached for him even as she felt a sting in the side of her neck.
They held each other as they collapsed. Her vision blurred and she weakly struggled to break free of the hands grabbing her and pulling her away. She shook her head, trying to clear the fog overtaking her. Tears burned her eyes when a cover was placed over Gril’s head and he was rolled onto his stomach.
“No!” she faintly protested.
Goroff squatted in front of her, blocking her view of Gril. She tried to reach for him, but her arms would not obey her commands. Hatred filled her when she saw the amusement in his eyes.
“Let’s see how he does following our laws, sister,” Goroff maliciously chuckled.
“Gril…,” she whispered.
Her head fell forward and she felt her arms and feet being bound. She laid her forehead on the floor and closed her eyes. She was going to kill Goroff for what he was about to do—if she survived.
Gril strained against the restraints binding his wrists. He winced when he felt the tip of a spear poke him between his shoulder blades in warning. He wrapped his tail around the spear, snapping it in two. At the same time, his booted foot connected with the guard’s stomach.
The male flew backwards into several others before collapsing to the ground. The guard wheezed as he tried to pull air back into his lungs. Gril twisted around on the pole that he was tied to when two males moved into a defensive position while a third helped the male he had knocked down. He sneered in warning and both males took a wary step back.
“Save your energy, Prince Gril. You’ll need it to survive long enough to find my sister and rescue her. You have three days—make that two and a half. At sunrise, she will die if you haven’t reached her,” Goroff coolly stated.
“Where is she?” he demanded.
Goroff chuckled. “Since you know nothing about the area and even less about our customs, I’ll be gracious enough to give you a clue. She is in a place that we call the Goddess’s Fury. It is too bad that I won’t be giving you a map—not that you could actually reach it in time, even if I did. You’ll find her hanging over the water that boils, where the night crawlers never sleep. You’ll like night crawlers, Prince. They are like you Sand Tearnats—they like to eat their food while it is still screaming.” Gril gritted his teeth when Goroff pulled on the rope binding his wrists and patted his cheek. “Of course, you first have to get free.”
“I am going to kill you,” Gril vowed.
Goroff shrugged and stepped back. “Madas is probably thinking the same thing right about now as she hangs over the boiling water in a little cage. I’m sure the heat and smell are making her wish she had accepted Cardin’s mating request. It’s such a shame that neither of you will survive long enough to try to kill me. I guess I’ll just have to live with the guilt,” he cruelly chuckled before he turned to the others. “Move out, I want to be back to the village before dark.”
Gril twisted around, his glare following the procession of males as they disappeared from view. Once they were out of sight, he glanced at the broken shaft of the spear sticking up out of the soft moss. The others had forgotten about it in their hurry to leave.
Stretching, he gritted his teeth against the pain of the straps cutting into his flesh. He used his tail to slowly pull it closer. Once the piece was close enough, he wound the tip of his tail around the broken shaft, brought the sharp blade of the spear between his wrists, and began sawing through the thick bindings. A hiss of triumph slipped from his lips when the straps fell away.
Gril lowered his arms and rubbed his wrists, working the circulation back into them before he gripped the end of the spear and scanned the area. He looked up at the sky. He needed to go north.
Taking off at a steady run, he took in his surroundings. He wasn’t completely sure where they had brought him. It had been early evening when he had been drugged. It was late morning now. A lot depended on if they had traveled through the night.
He had traveled a couple of miles when something out of the ordinary caught his attention. He slowed when he came across several thick limbs that had recently been snapped. Looking up, he could see more broken branc
hes hanging in the canopy above him. He now had a marker—the damage caused by his spaceship when it hit the trees. If he followed the path of destruction, it should take him back to the meadow, the lake, and his spaceship. From there, he would head north.
“I’m coming, Madas,” he grimly promised.
Madas gagged at the intense smell of sulfur rising from beneath her. She groggily pushed herself up into a sitting position, only to frantically reach out and grab the metal bars of the cage when it swayed from her movement. She pulled her hand away from the hot metal and picked up the hood they had placed over her head.
Rolling it, she created a mask to cover her nose and mouth. The bars were hot. She could touch them for a short period, but not for long.
Her fingers curled in the thick moss that had been placed in the bottom of the cage. Nausea rose in her throat when she saw the bubbling hot spring below her. This was not how she wanted to die.
“Gril….”
Panic threatened to engulf her when she thought of what her brother and the others could have done to Gril. This was not how the ceremony was normally conducted. Her clan members did not drug the couple or tie them up. If they had, none of her siblings would have survived.
She had to find him, but first she needed to escape. Madas carefully studied the cage. There was a bar under the bottom to which a thin rope was tied. She followed the thin rope to where it was attached to a nearby post that had been sunk into the ground near a dead tree, and another thin rope stretched from the cage to a second pole on the other side of the hot spring. This arrangement was meant to prevent the cage from swinging, she assumed. Attached to the tallest of the poles was also a thick rope made from woven vines. This rope was threaded through the metal loop at the top of the cage, supporting its weight.
A sharp prick in her side made her reach down. Her fingers closed around the thin dart. She pulled it out of her side, twisted, and looked back across the hot spring as a cloaked figure emerged from the shadows. A wave of dizziness swept through her and she limply fell back against the bars of her cage.
Madas blinked several times, trying to clear her vision. Shock coursed through her when another emerged to stand beside the first. Helpless rage coursed through her when the first cloaked figure lifted his hands and pulled back his hood to reveal his face.
“You should have put my mating cuffs on, Madas,” Cardin said.
Madas fought the numbness seeping through her. She bent forward and reached out with one hand, curling her fingers as if to grab Cardin. Her eyes closed and she fell forward as the sedative took effect. The last thing she remembered was his mocking laughter as she thought about how much she was going to enjoy killing him.
Chapter Twenty-One
Gril followed the path of destruction caused by his ship, and emerged on the west side of the lake. He could see the outline of the cove where his ship should be.
This section of the tree line bordered the water. He would have to travel through the forest. Retreating inland, he kept the lake in his peripheral view as he navigated his way through the undergrowth, climbing over fallen trees, detouring around large boulders, and crossing the multiple streams that fed into the lake.
His booted feet sank in the mud, almost tripping him. He clawed at the bank of the shallow stream and pulled himself up to the other side. As he traveled, he mulled over the best path to the Goddess’s Fury.
It had taken them over two days to reach it before, but that was going up through the Goddess’s Stronghold and across the Plateau. Madas had been leading him to the ravine, not to the Goddess’s Fury. The only reason they had to go through it was because of the floodwaters.
Cutting through the forest, it had taken them a day and a half to get from the hot springs to her village. They had been traveling at a slower pace and stopped for the night. If he kept up the pace he was maintaining and didn’t stop for the night, he should reach Madas with a few hours to spare.
He had not put on his wrist computer or his weapons after his shower. Without the device, he would have to rely on his instincts for direction and time. A quick glance at the sky told him that he only had a couple more hours of daylight. He needed to cover as much distance as he could—but first he needed weapons.
An hour later, he was jogging across the coarse sand to his ship. He fell to his knees, taking in deep breaths of air as he pulled the storage container out from under the ship. Pressing his thumb to the locking mechanism, he opened his emergency supplies.
“Madas first, then I will take care of the others,” he murmured with satisfaction.
He grimly picked out only the items he felt were essential: thin, lightweight cabling with small hooks on each end, night-vision goggles, several blades with their sheaths, and a few water packs. He drained two of the water packs and tossed them back into the storage container before he reached down and lifted the false bottom of the container.
Concealed beneath the false bottom was a collection of specialized weapons. He pulled out several laser pistols, a short laser sword, and the components of a larger laser rifle, which he skillfully assembled in a matter of seconds. Then, he retrieved the extra energy charges, and stored them in the lower pockets of his trousers.
After replacing the false bottom, he closed and sealed the container before rising to his feet. He methodically strapped the blades to his arms, waist, and calves, then looped the wire cable across his chest so that it wouldn’t catch on anything as he ran, and slipped the band of the night vision goggles over his head.
Gril looked at the spot where Madas had watched him the day he had crashed. It was hard to believe it had only been a few days. It felt like a lifetime. He glanced around one last time before he took off across the sands and disappeared into the forest.
The Goddess’s Fury:
“How long do you want to wait? Why can’t we just cut the rope, let Madas die, and then kill the Tearnat?” Cardin nervously demanded.
The Tearnat continued to stare out at the mist. Around them, they could hear the night crawlers moving. Cardin didn’t completely trust the shield of moss that Orden and the others had put up when they brought Madas here.
Carden had been reattaching the sections of the moss that they had scattered as they left, and several times he had been tempted to just disappear when he had gone to retrieve more. He would have if the Tearnat hadn’t followed him the first time.
“You talk too much,” the Tearnat stated.
“I don’t understand why I have to be here. I’ll be missed back at the village. They know I was with the group that brought Madas. They will be wondering where I am,” he defended.
“You are where you should be—watching the female you wanted as a mate die for betraying you,” the Tearnat answered.
Cardin glanced over at the cage. Madas was still unconscious. He fingered the last dart he had.
“You’d be dead before you had a chance,” the Tearnat commented as if reading his mind.
He blanched and dropped his hand to his side. The fog was getting thicker, increasing his unease. There was always a chance that Madas’s prince could make it here alive. That was what the Tearnat sitting on the stump of the dead tree was expecting. If the male did by some miracle make it, they would never see him coming.
A noise near them made him jump. “What was that?” Cardin asked.
The Tearnat turned to give him a cold stare and pointed a laser pistol at his chest. Goddess, how could he have been so stupid to get himself into this mess?
“Unless you wish to wait outside of the security of the moss, I suggest you shut your mouth,” the Tearnat threatened. “Your incessant talking not only attracts the beasts, but will alert Gril to our location and cover the sound of his approach.”
Cardin swallowed again and nodded. Sitting down on a log, he tightly gripped the small laser pistol in his hand. It was little more than a toy, usually perfectly adequate when he was shooting small prey, but now it felt woefully inadequate.
Goddess
, but I hate this place, he thought, trembling when he saw the long leg of a night crawler move through the fog.
Gril threw the empty hull of the green water nut to the side. In front of him, he could see the veil of sweet moss hanging from the trees that bordered the Goddess’s Fury. Droplets of water ran down his shoulders from the rain that had started during the night and continued even as the first rays of light struggled to lighten the horizon through the dark, heavy clouds.
The rain had washed the blood from his face and clothes. He had encountered a night crawler. It hadn’t gone well for the creature. It really shouldn’t have gotten in his way.
Gril focused on the layout of the Goddess’s Fury. He would head first for the large hot spring where they had seen the cage. As he walked along the path, he gathered some of the sweet moss hanging from the trees. He draped it over his shoulders and tied some around his waist.
Striding forward, he was almost to the entrance when a cloaked form stepped out onto the path in front of him. He sneered when he saw the Tearnat holding a spear in one hand. He swept his hand down along his side, pulling the short laser sword out and activating it in one smooth motion.
“Wait!” the man called out, lifting one hand.
“Get out of my way. I will not let you stop me,” Gril ordered.
The male reached up and pulled the hood of his cloak off his head. Gril frowned when he recognized him as one of Madas’s brothers. He tried to remember the male’s name.
“I’m Joren. I’m not here to stop you. I want to help you,” he explained.
Gril studied the other male. “Why should I believe you?” he suspiciously demanded.
Joren cautiously walked toward him with his hands raised, his expression somber. Gril could tell the male wasn’t much older than Madas.
“I’m probably the only one who could ever relate to Madas—not only because of our age, but because of our desire to escape this world and travel to the stars. Unfortunately, our mother had very different plans for us both. I wasn’t as smart or as strong as Madas. I gave in,” he quietly shared.
