by Rayna Tyler
His grin faded. “Is it the males from the village?” He pushed off the floor into a crouching position.
“No, it’s a male and a female, possibly scavengers or road bandits.” I glanced at him over my shoulder. “From what I could hear, they seemed more interested in the transport than anything else.”
He grinned and moved to join me, grabbing his knife off the floor on his way. “Good, then they will be easy to dispense with.” He retrieved his blade, then set the sheath off to the side with his belt.
It wasn’t long before our unwanted visitors returned and the male went to work on the exterior lock. I wasn’t in the mood to make more repairs and decided to open the door before he could do any damage. “Ready?” I whispered to Zaedon, getting a nod before releasing the access.
We never got to execute our attack. A tall human male with dirt smudging his face, wearing worn clothes that appeared and smelled as if they hadn’t been cleaned in over a week, leaned through the entryway. “Surprise!” He jabbed a stun stick into Zaedon’s ribs.
Ketaurran males were strong, could withstand a lot of pain, yet a single jab from the stick had Zaedon snarling and his body jerking. The blade dropped from his hand, clanking against the metal floor seconds before he fell backward next to me with his eyes closed.
“Zaedon!” I yelled, then noticed the female had a stick of her own and was thrusting it in my direction. I scooted backward to avoid being shocked, the metal tip barely missing my leg.
The male admired his handiwork. “That luzardee wasn’t kidding when he said these were strong enough to knock out a ketaurran.” The male eyed Zaedon, then me. “Best trade I ever made. Maybe he’ll be willing to trade another one for you and the lizard.”
“What I can’t believe is how easy they made it for us.” The female playfully smacked the male’s arm, then sneered at me. Her clothes weren’t much better, but her face was a little cleaner, the bridge of her nose and cheeks covered with freckles. “Did you really think we’d be stupid enough to open the door without being armed first?”
I almost said yes, but figured it would earn me a poke with the stick and thought better of it.
The male sneered at me, then snickered. “Nobody just up and leaves a transport out here unattended. We knew you had to be inside. That’s why we were practically yellin’ what we planned to do.”
I glared at the bandits, calculating the odds of disarming one before the other had a chance to stun me.
The male must have guessed what I was thinking. He held the tip of his stick near Zaedon’s chest. “It’s also powerful enough to kill, so unless you want to say goodbye to your friend permanently, I suggest you cooperate.”
I hadn’t realized how much I cared about Zaedon until the thought of witnessing his death slammed into my chest. Unwilling to risk finding out whether or not the male was bluffing, I held up my hands and sat back on my haunches.
“That’s a good girl.” He kept his focus on me and spoke to the female standing next to him. “Bev, go get the shackles.”
“You got it,” she said with a grin.
While his partner was off doing his bidding, I continued to glare, mentally planning the numerous ways I was going to exact revenge for the pain he’d caused Zaedon.
***
Zaedon
With a groan, I struggled to open my eyes, grasping for reasons why I could not move my arms. I wondered why the aching throb pulsing along my forehead was a close match to the pain radiating along my ribs, then remembered the human male who had jabbed me with a stun stick.
Ketaurrans could tolerate a lot of pain, the vryndarr conditioned to bear even more. I had been stunned with a stick before, the shock never anything more than an annoyance. This was the first time the current had forced me into unconsciousness. It was obvious the stick had been modified, the voltage increased, turning it into a weapon with lethal capabilities.
Once the hazy condition of my brain began to clear, worried thoughts of Cara filled my mind. Had she endured the same torturous treatment? Was she still alive?
“Zaedon, if you can hear me, don’t move or draw attention to yourself.” Cara’s whispered warning came with a nudge to my shoulder.
Hearing her voice went a long way toward helping me relax. I immediately stilled, keeping my eyes narrowed so I could take in our surroundings. I was seated on the ground, my wrists and ankles shackled, my back braced against a tree, which, luckily, only grew sharp thorns along the upper branches and not along the trunk.
Judging by the diminished sunlight filtering through the upper branches, hours had passed and evening was approaching. We were situated in a large clearing, the sandy surface flat with signs of wear, the only apparent way in or out a single road off to the left.
Besides our transport, there were two others parked on the opposite side of the clearing, and beyond them was the beginning of several rock formations. Mumbled voices echoed through the air, and I caught glimpses of two human males moving between the vehicles, the female I had seen early nowhere in sight.
Without turning my head, all I could see of Cara were her wrists, bound with similar shackles, and her legs extended on the ground in front of her. The humans had not bothered to bind her feet. It was an oversight they would not have made if they had been aware of her fighting abilities. “Are you unharmed?”
“I’m fine, but what about you? You took one heck of a hit.” The concern in her voice was more soothing than any healing salve.
“I will survive.” It would take another day before the pain was no longer noticeable.
“Good, because if you ever scare me like that again, I’ll hurt you myself.”
“It was not as if I could have foreseen what would happen.” I turned my head slowly so I could see her face. “You were worried about me?”
She shrugged. “No, I didn’t want to explain to Khyron how my bodyguard ended up in worse shape than when I got him.”
I concealed my laughter with a snort, knowing that Khyron would not care. He had seen me with far worse injuries.
Cara kept her gaze focused on the humans, who, so far, had not paid any attention to us. “We need to find a way out of here before they figure out who we are and decide to turn us in for the bounty.”
“Us?” Whoever had wanted Khyron dead had also set a price for all the vryndarr, myself included. I wanted to know who had given my friend the deadly toxin, the treacherous piece of chaugwas dung whose life I intended to end should I ever discover their identity.
At the moment, it wasn’t nearly as important to me as getting Cara to safety. Over the past few weeks, I had grown to care for her deeply. She was my ketiorra, and, if something happened to her, there would never be another female for me.
“Des might have mentioned that the vryndarr are worth a few cradassons. I guess you forgot to tell me, or it must have slipped your mind, since you were too busy being overprotective.”
“It did not seem relevant to keeping you safe.”
“Relevant or not, in the future, I’d appreciate a heads-up.” She punctuated her frown with a stern glare.
Her use of the word future held the promise of possibilities and warmed me to my core. I thought it best not to question her further and concentrated on a way out of our current situation.
“How many are in their group?” I asked.
“I counted five—the two who attacked us and three others who arrived in the other solarveyor.” Cara slowly adjusted the way she was sitting by pulling her legs closer to her body.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Getting us out of here, remember?” She smiled and worked a thin-bladed dagger out of her boot.
The female was always surprising me. As far as I knew, she preferred to use her fists, had no use for weapons. This was the first time since we had left the settlement that I actually saw her handle a blade.
She noticed the direction of my gaze and spoke before I could ask. “I got it from Des. Buying one of his handcr
afted weapons is the price for information.” If he was one of her sources, then I had no doubt she possessed an extensive collection, one I planned to have her show me later.
“Mind keeping an eye on our friends and letting me know if anyone looks in our direction?” she asked, then went to work on the lock.
I watched the humans as she asked, stealing an occasional glimpse at her effort. After several minutes, I heard a click, and the metal cuffs loosened on her wrists. “Done.” She placed the blade on the ground next to my leg and pushed against the trunk until she was standing. “I hope you know how to pick a lock.”
“Cara, what happened to our truce and sharing information?” I growled through gritted teeth, my breath wasted because she had already disappeared into the surrounding darkness.
Was she getting even because she had learned about the threat to the vryndarr from Des and not me? I swallowed a frustrated groan and reached for the dagger. Two of the other humans Cara mentioned moved into my view, and I froze, not wanting to draw their attention. While the one who was tall, lanky, and had a tousled head of reddish-brown hair set up portable glow emitters, the other, a shorter and wider version of the first, prepared a fire for cooking.
It would not be long before they noticed Cara was missing. If we got out of here alive, Cara and I were going to have a discussion about sharing details of her plans before executing them.
I had barely removed the cuffs around my wrists when Cara slowly appeared from behind one of the transports, her fingers wrapped around what appeared to be a large rock. What was the female thinking? I hurried to open the other lock, my attention divided between whatever crazy thing Cara was about to do and freeing my ankles.
“Hey, asshole!” Cara shouted.
I grinned, admiring her choice of human curse words and the fact that it had been directed at the male who had stunned me.
Even more admirable was her throw. It caught the male on the side of the head, eliciting a yelp and causing him to stagger a few steps backward.
The other four members of the human group were on their feet and two of them were reaching for the stun sticks. Cara did not stay to fight as I’d expected. Instead, she raced back the way she came, once again disappearing from my sight.
The female joined the others, her arms wrapped around two containers, one stacked on top of the other. “Lloyd, what happened?” she asked as soon as she saw the male holding the side of his head, dropping the containers in her haste to get to him.
“The female got loose.” The male winced when she pulled his hand away to examine his injury.
“What?” There’s no way she should have been able to get out of those shackles.” The female’s tone was filled with disbelief.
“Well, she did.”
The female pointed in my direction. “Look, the ketaurran’s getting away too.”
The tall, thin male held a stun stick out to his wider look-alike. “You go after the female and bring her back. I’ll take care of the ketaurran.”
“No.” The male who’d been injured with the rock pushed to his feet. “I owe the female for what she did to my head. I’ll go.” He grabbed a stick out of the other male’s hand.
Normally, I had no problem entering a fight when the odds were not in my favor. Injuries I could handle, but a jab from one of those sticks would incapacitate me again, leaving Cara to battle alone. It was a risk I was not willing to take. I grabbed the shackles off the ground, hoping to put them to use, then followed her lead and headed into the thickly wooded area behind me.
Chapter Seven
Cara
Now that the storm had passed, the remaining sunlight provided enough illumination for me to see where I was going. After throwing the rock at the male who’d hurt Zaedon—an extremely satisfying experience—I circled around the clearing to the spot where we’d been shackled. It wouldn’t do Zaedon and me any good to get Trixie and leave. The bandits would just follow us, and I was more afraid of what Laria would do to me if her transport got damaged again.
The only way to make sure that didn’t happen was to incapacitate them and drain the solars in their vehicles, which wouldn’t leave them permanently stranded. It would take them at least a day to recharge, provided they had full sunlight, and give us plenty of time to make it back to the farming community without being followed.
I also wanted to get my hands on those stun sticks. First to keep our attackers from using them on anyone else and, second, to get a closer look at them and see how they’d been modified. Maybe it was something Josh could reproduce once his fingers were healed.
If that was possible, I knew for certain Burke and his guys would love to add them to their weapons collection.
Zaedon and the shackles were gone, but before I could figure out where he went, a firm, broad chest pressed up against my back, a hand clamping over my mouth.
“Cara, it is me,” Zaedon whispered in my ear, then dropped his hand but didn’t move the arm encircling my waist.
The vryndarr were trained to move with stealth when necessary, which was why I hadn’t heard his approach. Even if he hadn’t said anything, after waking in his arms this morning, I would have known it was him. “I kind of figured.” I smiled, enjoying the protective way his tail was wrapped around my ankles.
“Can I assume you had a plan when you attacked the male with a rock?” I heard the humor in Zaedon’s voice but was distracted by his lips, which were inches from my neck, his warm breath causing shivers along my skin.
It was hard to concentrate with him this close, so I tapped his arm, urging him to release me. “A distraction to give you time to get free. And maybe to get a little revenge for you.” I shrugged. No point in lying.
“Beautiful and devious.” He reached for my hips and pulled me closer.
“Zaedon, we…” Telling him we didn’t have time for this seemed unimportant after his mouth covered mine in a possessive kiss that lasted only seconds.
Once he released me and I could think clearly again, I said, “The males with the stun sticks are already moving away from the other three in the group. If we take out the unarmed ones first, we shouldn’t have a problem going after the other two together.”
Our discussion was interrupted by rustling in the underbrush to our right, followed by a male voice. “Lloyd, any sign of them?”
“Not yet, but they couldn’t have gone far,” the other male said. “No one can survive out here for very long. My guess is they’ll go for their transport, which is why I have Jeff and Evan watching it. There’s no way they’ll let the female and the lizard get inside.”
“Good, then let’s split up, cover more ground.”
Zaedon reached for the shackles lying on the ground next to his feet, then motioned for me to lead in the opposite direction. If Lloyd’s insult had bothered Zaedon, he’d masked his reaction well. Personally, hearing it disgusted me, and I muttered, “Sounds like I need to find another rock.”
***
Zaedon
Cara’s warrior spirit constantly amazed me. It was hard not to proudly puff out my chest after hearing she had purposely injured the male who had stunned me as retribution for the pain he had caused, then threatened to go after Jeff as well for calling me a lizard.
It was not the first time I had been insulted, and I was certain it would not be the last. Some humans had not adjusted well to being stranded on a strange planet with no hope of returning home, and it showed in the way they treated my people.
I did not care what the bandits thought of me. All that mattered was how Cara viewed me. Observing her protective nature reinforced my hope that when I finally told her she was my ketiorra, I would be able to convince her we were meant to be together.
Cara glanced over her shoulder. “What do you say we start with the two guarding the transport?” She was already heading in that direction, moving in a wide enough circle so we did not cross paths with the two males wielding sticks.
When we reached the trees near the ve
hicles, she stopped and peered around a thick trunk. “They’re armed with blades, so we’re going to need a distraction.” She playfully rolled her gaze over me from top to bottom. “I might think you’re kind of cute, but I don’t think the two males guarding the access door will be interested in you.”
“A chonderra is cute.” I huffed. “I am a warrior and would rather be compared to one of your Earth lizards than have my appearance compared to a furry creature young ones consider a pet.”
“If you already know you’re good-looking, then you don’t need me to tell you.” The shake of her head included a roll of her dark eyes. “Besides, Fuzzball is very good at snuggling.”
Fuzzball was the chonderra that belonged to the human young ones living with Harper back in the settlement. I could not resist the opportunity to defend myself with a little teasing. “You did not seem to mind my snuggling capabilities last night. As a matter of fact…”
She cut me off. “I… You… Now is not the time to have this discussion.” She turned her attention back to the two males. “Why don’t I do the distracting and you can sneak up on them from behind?”
“What about their weapons? If the males have experience with blades, it might take longer to disarm them.” I did not mention my concern that she could be harmed in the process.
“If you need my help, just say so.” She tugged on the front of her shirt, exposing more of her ample breasts and making it difficult to stop staring or keep my shaft from hardening.
I scowled, not happy that other males would see what I so desperately wished to touch.
She followed the direction of my gaze and grinned. “Yeah. Not going to be a problem at all.”
“If you are done teasing, shall we?” I snarled at the treacherous female who was going to be my undoing.
With a giggle, she slipped past the rear of the vehicle, stepping into view of the other males. “Hey, guys. I don’t suppose you’d be willing to let me take my transport and leave if I were to give you something in return, would you?” Cara approached the males with an enticing swagger.
