by Tana Stone
Torven rested one hand on the blaster hooked to his belt as he scanned the open space. He couldn’t see anything, but his instincts told him they were not alone. As desolate as the planet seemed, he was almost certain the planet wasn’t void of life. Geysers meant that there was heat beneath the surface, as well as water, and those two things usually indicated some sort of life, even if it was microscopic. The only problem was he didn’t know what kind of life, how big it was, and whether it was friend or foe.
The ground trembled again, followed by a loud snap, and Torven watched open-mouthed as a crack split the ice. The thick sheet beneath them rose as if pushed up from below, and he caught Trista before she slipped under the ship as it skidded backward. Planting his feet into the snow, he held both of them in place.
“Is this an Earthquake?” Trista screamed.
Before he could answer, a large, scaly creature emerged from the crack, dripping water from its elongated white head, which it swung in their direction.
“I don’t think this is a valley,” Torven said, glancing at their feet. “I think we’re on a frozen lake.”
Trista inhaled sharply. “That explains the giant albino alligator.”
Torven didn’t know what alligators were, but he knew whatever this beast was, it wasn’t friendly. He drew his blaster, letting go of Trista and trying to decide where on the ugly creature to fire first.
“We have to get back inside,” he said, but then realized he was talking to empty air as Trista had ducked under one wing of the ship and started running in the opposite direction.
The creature locked his attention on her and gave chase, racing across the ice faster than Torven would have expected, with his short legs and flat webbed feet. Fear shot through Torven as he watched his mate being chased by a creature with enormous teeth and a thick tail that swung behind him as he ran. No way would she come out on the winning end if it caught her.
“Grek,” he muttered as he tore after them both, firing at the creature. His heart pounded in his ribcage as his feet thundered across the ice, and he tried to keep his arms steady and aim his blaster. Even though he hit it, the creature barely slowed. Torven guessed that its scales were protecting it from most of the damage. He kept firing, going for the legs, until he hit one and the creature started to limp. It swung around, its red eyes focusing on Torven. It roared once, the sound splitting the air, before it slipped into another crack in the ice and vanished into the water.
“Trista,” he called out as he stopped and bent over at the waist to suck in air. He couldn’t make out anything but a flash of movement, as her environmental suit made her blend in completely with the background.
She stopped and turned, and he could finally see her face through the clear window in the hood. Seeing that the creature was gone, she smiled and gave him a thumbs-up. A wave of relief washed over him, and his breathing began to return to normal as she started walking back toward him.
That was when another crack opened in the ground where she stood, and the gaping ice swallowed her whole.
Chapter Ten
She expected to feel the frigid water as she plunged beneath the ice, but Trista’s suit shielded her from the cold. She did feel the pressure of the water engulf her as she fell, and she instinctively sucked in a breath before her head went under. What she didn’t expect was the pitch-blackness that instantly surrounded her. The ice was so thick light didn’t penetrate beyond the crack in the surface, and she quickly sank into the dark depths.
Trista tried not to panic. There was air in her facemask, although she didn’t know how long that would last. She kicked up, but it didn’t feel like the motion propelled her. Her boots were too heavy and, to keep them on her feet, she’d tied the laces tightly around her ankles. Not only that, she couldn’t tell which way was up and which was down anymore. It was too dark. For all she knew, she could be pushing herself deeper. She stopped and closed her eyes, willing herself not to panic.
Was this really how she was going to die? Under the frozen surface of an ice planet, after being taken from Earth and then kidnapped from the aliens who’d taken her in the first place? The whole thing seemed so ridiculous. If she didn’t feel like crying, she’d want to laugh.
She took shallow breaths to conserve oxygen as something large brushed against her leg. Well, this just got better and better. Being eaten alive by that albino super-gator was definitely worse than drowning. She resisted the impulse to thrash as her lungs burned. Pointing her arms overhead and kicking up, Trista hoped she was moving in the right direction. She tilted her head back and searched for a sliver of light.
As her ears started to ring, something grasped her hand. For a moment, she thought the creature had gotten her and she jerked back. But the larger hand around hers held tight, pulling her up until they both breached the surface.
Torven hooked an arm around her waist as they bobbed in the water, holding her tightly as he gripped the edge of the ice with his other hand.
She trembled in his arms, allowing herself to sag against him.
“We need to get out,” he said, pushing her up and onto the ice.
Trista’s arms shook as she scrambled onto all fours and then turned to help Torven, but he was already heaving himself out. Water streamed off his suit and puddled around them both.
“You saved me,” she said.
“I will always save you.”
She didn’t know how to respond to that. She’d never had anyone sacrifice themselves for her. Not her parents. Not her ex-boyfriends. Nobody. If there was one thing that had been impressed upon Trista over her lifetime, it was that no one would be riding in to save the day. Until now.
Torven pulled her up and looped an arm around her waist. “We need to get back to the ship.”
“I’m sorry I ran,” she said, feeling like she needed to apologize. If she hadn’t taken off, the creature wouldn’t have chased her and she wouldn’t have ended up in the water. “I guess I freaked out when I saw that thing.”
“Let’s hope we do not see it again.”
“I’ll second that.” Even though her legs did not feel shaky anymore, she liked the feel of Torven’s strong arm around her.
They approached the ship, the sleek black hull stark against the blinding white terrain. The panel exposing the engines was still open, and the tools lay in the snow where she’d dropped them. She didn’t need much longer to patch things up, and her fingers twitched at the thought of getting back to the broken machine.
“Let’s go inside, first,” Torven said, lowering the entry ramp by touching his wristband.
“But I’m almost done,” Trista said, jerking a thumb back toward the engine.
“You almost drowned. I want to run a quick scan and make sure you’re all right.” He touched a hand to her suit, the droplets of water frozen into shards that fell to the ground. “At least you’re not soaked.”
She begrudgingly agreed, even though she felt fine. Trista reminded herself she was fine because he’d jumped in the freezing water to save her. And because the fabric of their suits kept the water from freezing them to death. The least she could do would be to let him run his scans and ease his mind.
Closing the ramp after them, he flipped back his hood before pulling a med kit out of one of the hidden cabinets and popping it open.
“They really stock these shuttles with everything, don’t they?” Trista glanced around the polished, black walls and wondered what else was tucked away inside them. She stood still as he rummaged through the cabinets, the water from her soaking boots puddling at her feet. The next thing on her agenda after getting scanned? Dry boots.
Torven found the scanner he needed—a small, metallic disc—and he switched it on before turning his attention to her. “I need you to take off your suit, or at least slip it down to your waist.”
She shimmied out of the environmental suit, noticing that the fabric had taken on the color of its surroundings again, and was jet-black now, instead of the white it h
ad been outside. Since most of the ice had fallen off it outside the ship, it was also dry again. “Drexians have pretty cool technology.”
Torven raised one of his eyebrows as he ran the blinking scanner down her body. “You do not have this on Earth?”
“Only on TV,” she said. “The Sci-Fi channel mostly. And even there we don’t have clothes that change color.”
“Your planet has not achieved light-speed technology, so it makes sense that you do not have the innovations we do.” He glanced at the scanner and seemed satisfied. “That is why we protect you.”
“Doesn’t it bother you that no one on Earth knows what you guys are doing?” she asked. “I mean, aside from a few government people.”
Torven cocked his head at her. “Why would it bother me?”
“I don’t know,” she mumbled. “You’re at war for a bunch of people who don’t know you exist. They can never thank you.”
“I don’t defend Earth for the thanks.”
“Right.” Heat rushed to her cheeks. “You do it because you get a woman in return.”
He shook his head. “I would do it even if I was never matched with a tribute bride. I do it because defending those weaker than us is the right thing to do.”
“Hot and honorable,” Trista said with a shake of her head. “I think you guys are missing a golden opportunity. If women on Earth knew about you, they’d be killing each other to volunteer as brides.”
Torven put the scanner back in the med kit and snapped it shut. He pulled her environmental suit up and began zipping it closed. He paused when he reached her neck. “And you? Would you have killed to be a tribute bride?”
She laughed, but it was nervous laughter. “I doubt I’d make the cut if you had your pick of women from Earth.”
“I would always pick you.” He was not laughing as his eyes locked with hers.
Trista’s knees wobbled, and at first, she thought it was his proximity that made her feel like the ground was shifting. She put a hand on his chest to keep from falling, and realized it wasn’t just that he made her legs feel like jelly. The ship was moving.
Torven grabbed her as a loud crack sounded, and the ship listed to one side. His shoulder hit the wall of the shuttle, but he kept her from impacting.
“The ice,” she said. “It must be breaking up even more.”
Without speaking, he opened a cabinet and retrieved a pair of backpacks that appeared to be made out of the same fabric as the suits. He thrust one at her. “Fill it.”
He opened more hidden cabinets and started jamming rations, canisters of water, and blankets into the large bags. Trista followed his lead, stuffing as much into her bag as she could, her stomach churning all the while. Did this mean they were leaving the ship and not returning? That couldn’t be good. She did not want to live out her life on a planet with mutant alligators.
Torven hurried to the ship’s console, his fingers flying across the shiny display. The ice cracked and groaned. The ship dropped a few feet, the nose tilting down as it slipped slowly toward a crevice and the dark water below.
Torven dashed back and grabbed her hand. “We have to go. Now.”
Trista sealed the hood of her suit and hoisted her full pack onto one shoulder. She glanced at the front window of the ship as the ramp lowered, her heart racing as the yawning black mouth grew larger as the ship slid forward.
“Jump,” Torven yelled, as he yanked her by the hand, and the two of them leapt off the only partially lowered ramp.
The ship fell away as her feet left the floor, and moments later she landed on the ice. Her teeth rattled in her head from the impact, but she didn’t have time to shake it off before Torven had yanked her to her feet and they were running across the icy surface as it cracked beneath their feet.
Stealing a glance over her shoulder as they ran, Trista’s heart sank. Their shuttle—and their only way off the ice planet—splashed into the dark waters beneath the surface, gurgling as it disappeared entirely.
They were officially stranded.
Chapter Eleven
Torven stopped once they’d reached the edge of the frozen lake. He didn’t want to look back, because he knew their shuttle was gone. Seeing the empty ice would only slam the reality home, and the reality was they had no way off planet C-459.
The ground trembled under his feet, and a geyser of steam shot up a short distance away, sending tiny pellets of ice down around their heads as the steam froze in mid-air and fell back to the Earth. Not only did creatures dwell under the surface, there appeared to be a significant amount of seismic activity. So much for the planet being an uninhabited, frigid wasteland.
He looked down at Trista and at the fear in her eyes, and his stomach twisted. This was his fault. He’d brought her here, landing them on a frozen lake and marooning them on a frozen planet with seemingly no inhabitants but monstrous ones.
Peering up into the sky, he saw the single sun—a tiny glowing dot in the distance—dipping low on the horizon. He took a deep breath and resumed walking. “We need to keep moving.”
Trista pulled back on his hand. “Why? Where are we going?”
Torven turned to her, not meeting her eyes. He gestured to the craggy rocks in the distance. “The best chance for shelter is in those mountains.”
Her jaw dropped. “We’re never going to reach them before dark.”
“Not if we don’t move.” He tugged her forward again.
They plodded through the snowbanks surrounding the frozen lake, and across a wide stretch of hard-packed ice, Torven never taking his eyes off the white range of mountains. Trista stumbled and he caught her by the elbow, but she sank again.
“I’m so dizzy,” she said, her voice thin.
He raised her wrist and looked at the band linked to her suit. The pure oxygen that flowed into the facemask was almost gone. Initial scans of the planet’s atmosphere had reported breathable air, but with much lower levels of oxygen than humans were used to. He knew he’d be fine, since Drexians had a greater lung capacity, but he worried about the small female. He removed his hood and inhaled the icy air.
“This is going to be cold,” he said as he lowered her hood. “Take slow breaths.”
She shivered as the air hit her face, but started breathing evenly. “That’s better. Freezing, but better.”
Scooping her up into his arms, Torven continued walking.
She slapped weakly at his chest. “Hey, He-Man. I can walk.”
He shook his head. “You’re weak. Your body is probably having a delayed reaction to going under the water.”
“You went under, too,” she said, her head resting against him. “Why aren’t you having a reaction?”
“I’m Drexian. Our training to be warriors helps us adjust to intense situations.”
She didn’t respond to that, just nodded as her eyes fluttered closed. He saw her chest rise and fall, and felt the warmth of her breath as she breathed in and out.
It was better if she slept, since Torven had a long walk to reach the mountains. His mind whirled as he trudged through the snow. What if he couldn’t find shelter before dark? Could he keep her warm enough? Could he fight off any creatures that might emerge in the night?
His worry spurred him to walk faster, the crunching of his heavy boots the only sound he could hear. After a lifetime spent doing what was right, Torven had made a series of bad decisions that had brought him to where he was. He squinted at the hard, cold ground that seemed to stretch out endlessly in front of him. Unfortunately, he’d dragged an innocent female along with him, and now her life was in danger.
“I will not let anything harm you,” he promised, whispering the words out loud, even though he knew she was asleep.
He tightened his hold on Trista, pulling her closer to his chest and feeling a pang of regret. He had to keep her safe, no matter what. Not only was she his mate—at least, she had been—but he wanted to learn more about her. He was already fascinated that she knew her way around an engi
ne, and he’d loved watching her face light up as she worked. It was clear there was more to the pale-haired creature than he’d first thought. It was also obvious that she was keeping parts of herself hidden.
He looked down at the long lashes fanned out beneath her closed eyes and the pale dots scattered across her nose. Warmth spread through his chest. More than claiming her as his, he wanted to know her. Know her as well as he knew his closest friends.
His mind went to Dakar. When Torven had been dragged out of the outpost bar, his best friend had vowed to clear his name. He wondered if the warrior had been able to discover anything that could clear him. Dakar was known for his tenacity, as well as for his ability to sweet-talk just about anyone. If there was a Drexian warrior alive who could uncover the truth behind the false charges, it was Dak.
“I’m counting on you, Dak,” he said only to himself.
The thought of being proven innocent made the trek seem less daunting. He lifted his knees higher, even as his back ached and his shoulders screamed in pain. Torven could survive anything, as long as he had his honor. His eyes drifted to Trista again. Perhaps now he required one other thing.
As the sun eased lower, and slats of golden light lit up the ground in front of him, Torven began to run. He was determined to keep her safe until they were rescued. Holding her tight to his chest so she wouldn’t be jostled, his legs pumped furiously.
When he reached the edge of the craggy cliffs, he stopped to breathe. His heart hammered in his chest. It had been a long time since he’d run so far, carrying so much weight. Even when he used the training simulators in the battleship’s gym, he didn’t have two full packs of supplies and a human.
“I like to hear a man breathing heavy,” Trista mumbled, her eyes barely opening, and her words slurred.
Torven wasn’t sure he’d heard her correctly. He shifted her in his arms.
“You’re so big,” she said, rubbing one hand across the muscles of his chest. “Just the way I like it.”
He knew he’d heard that. He stared down at her. Her eyes were half open, and she looked dazed as she looked up at him. His cock twitched, as she continued to rub him.
