by Tempest Luna
“I’ve never grown anything.” The excitement in her voice warmed Ro’s heart, and he cupped the back of her head, drawing her in for a kiss.
“We must hurry or we will not make it back before dark. Stay close.”
The mountains stretched for more than two cycles’ walk in both directions, and they trekked along the footpath, pausing every time Ro caught sight of a grouping of small green leaves protruding from the rocks.
As he pulled bunch after bunch free, Tessa tucked them into her pack. “I see a large vein of Foxfire,” he said, pointing to the top of a craggy cliff. “But I will need to climb up there to harvest it. Stay here. It will be safer.”
Leaving her with his pack, he wedged his boot into a fissure between two smaller rocks, pushed off, and closed his fingers around a small outcropping. Using the crevasses to his advantage, he scaled the cliff quickly.
“Boltrak,” he swore. The vein had enough Foxfire to get them through the ice storms as well as earn him a boon at the next trade if they could carry enough back with them.
With a glance down at Tessa, who sat in the sunlight, her head tipped back and a smile on her face, he vowed he would carry more than he ever had before just to keep her happy and safe.
Chapter Thirteen
Tessa
Her alien swung the little pickaxe time and time again, sending small citrine-colored crystals tumbling down the cliff. After every half a dozen or so, he’d stop and let her walk up and down the path, gathering as many as she could carry to tuck them into his pack.
A glint from a large vertical fissure in the rock caught her eye, and she glanced up at Ro, who was focused on a deep part of the Foxfire vein.
“Ro? I think there’s another vein in here.” She gestured towards what she was pretty sure was an entrance to a cave, but he was too high up the cliff to hear her.
He’d been so worried about the trade. About being able to afford what they needed—what she needed. Tessa had to be able to pull her weight. Hefting her little pick axe, she headed for the narrow cave.
“Score!” The vein was easily as thick as her arm and looked to run a good twenty feet past where currently stood. Adjusting her grip on the pickaxe, she took her first swing.
Thunk. The impact raced up her arm, but a piece of crystal the size of her fist popped free. The sense of accomplishment left her floating, and she tried again and again.
Soon, she had her own little pile of crystals gathered at her feet.
One more.
As the axe hit the Foxfire, pain exploded across the back of her skull. Her scream died as a rough hand clamped over her mouth, and darkness tinged her vision.
Her heels scraped along the ground, and she had the vague sense of being dragged, even though she couldn’t see, couldn’t scream, couldn’t even move.
“Ro! Help me!”
The male holding her tightened his grip, his big thumb pressing against her nose and cutting off all ability to breathe. Pain coiled deep inside her belly, an all-consuming agony, but there was nothing she could do. Her body wouldn’t respond, and as she gave into the all-consuming darkness, she had only one thought.
Ro. I’m so sorry.
* * *
Ro
Something inside him tore in two. Like someone had punched a giant hole in his heart with a hill beast prod set to stun. His axe fell, bouncing along the rocks until it landed on the path below. The empty path.
“Tessa!”
He felt the distance between them—felt it growing steadily. The pain made it hard to think. He had to get down off the cliffside before he fell to his death.
By the time Ro dropped onto the path next to his rucksack, sweat drenched his brow and his hands shook. “Tessa!”
Scenting the air, he turned in the direction he thought she’d gone. A cave? These mountains were full of small hiding holes, some big enough for animals. If Tessa had encountered one of any number of predators…
No. She was alive. She had to be. He could not lose her. If she was dead, he would soon follow.
The opening was almost too small for him to squeeze through. Rocks scraped against his skin, catching on his chest harness and opening up gashes along his chest and back. He ignored the pain—it was nothing compared to the twisting and shredding of his heart.
He emerged into the dim cave, and swore. “Boltrak.” A pile of Foxfire crystals rested next to a thick vein, and Tessa’s small axe had fallen a short distance away. The rocks were disturbed, as if there’d been a struggle, and Ro tried not to growl as he dropped to his knees, running his fingers over the drag marks from her boots.
“I will find you, sonara,” he whispered. Tucking her axe into his belt, he headed deeper into the cave. Whoever had taken his mate would pay with their lives. And if she’d been injured in any way, he would rip them to shreds. One appendage at a time.
* * *
Tessa
Her head ached. She wasn’t in Ro’s bed. And the smell. Something damp and smokey. Almost like…a fire.
Where am I?
She couldn’t see. Or…not clearly. Everything shimmered around her, pinpricks of light exploding in her field of vision. Nausea churned in her belly, and she swallowed hard, trying to bring her hands up to cover her mouth.
Except she couldn’t. Her wrists ached, something thin and hard binding them together behind her back. Lying on her side, she tried to focus.
The dull roar in her ears started to fade, and voices whispered from somewhere to her right.
“Who gets her first?”
“I know this female. The Balrovian who bought her will tear you to pieces.” This voice was angry…and familiar.
“Let him come. I will gut him like the beast he is. And make him watch while I take his female,” the first male hissed.
“I will take her now,” a third voice said sharply. “I have not seen a female in two revolutions. Longer than either of you. I do not even care if she is awake. She will be mine.”
Tessa jerked, her head throbbing as she tried to wriggle away from the voices. “No. Don’t touch me,” she said weakly as rough hands grabbed her upper arms.
A green-skinned male, taller, but thinner than Ro, hauled her up and shoved her against a rough wall. She blinked hard, and the small cavern came into soft focus. Two other Sypians sat next to a glowing pile of Foxfire crystals emitting wispy curls of steam.
One of them watched her with the same disgusting need churning in his yellow eyes, but the other…she knew him. Byjuk. The monitor they’d met before. Dark green spikes of hair covered his head, and he bore bruises all along his face and bare arms. Unlike her, his wrists were bound in front of him. Despite his bindings, he leapt up and rammed his fists into the back of the one holding her.
Tessa collapsed, her legs too weak to hold her, as the two grappled, and the third stalked towards her with a blade in his hand.
“The Supreme Ruler will be very happy to know you died screaming, human.”
Refusing to give the Sypian the satisfaction, Tessa held her tongue as she tried to scramble back, but the Sypian drove the blade into her shoulder, and white-hot pain lanced through her body, all the way down her bound arms. As he climbed on top of her, she thrashed and kicked, but he was too heavy.
She was going to die. But before they killed her, they were going to rape her. She couldn’t let that happen. “Get…off of me…you…bastard,” she sobbed through the pain. Ro. Where was Ro?
“Shut up, human,” her attacker hissed.
“My name,” she managed, “is Tessa.”
He backhanded her, and she hit the wall, then sank to her knees. “You do not have a name.” A dull roar filled her ears, and Tessa feared she’d never see Ro again.
* * *
Ro
The pain lessened the deeper he ventured into the deep tunnels. When he heard Tessa scream, he pulled one of the blades from his chest harness and raced around a curve to find a small, narrow opening. “Boltrak!” He’d have to crawl, and
he would not be able to attack from the cramped space.
But Tessa was on the other side, and she was scared. Terrified even. And in pain. Her emotions hit him like a lightning strike. On his hands and knees, he raced forward, barely able to think, until he emerged into a dimly-lit cavern.
Two Sypians grappled in one corner, and in the other, fuck. A wiry green-skinned male was on top of Tessa, his hands around her throat as she thrashed under him.
Pulling the blades from their sheaths once more, he leapt for the male and slashed through the side of his neck on the first strike.
Green blood spurted over his hand, and the Sypian tried to scream, but Ro drove the second blade deep into the male’s throat, ripping out his windpipe and sending him crashing against the wall.
Rage consumed him, the bloodlust too strong to ignore, and he whirled around, barely able to hear Tessa’s pained cries as he roared an oath and withdrew a fresh blade.
“You. Hurt. Her.”
“Wait!” one of the males shouted as he dropped to his knees. But the last Sypian, a small male with scars across his cheek, pulled out his shock stick and thrust it at Ro.
Ro jumped back, and the scarred alien tried to follow, but the other stopped him, sending him to the ground by throwing himself into the male’s knees.
Without thinking, Ro plunged the blade into the prone Sypian’s back, severing his spine. The male gasped for air, his torso flopping helplessly as his legs remained still.
A second strike took off his Sypian’s head.
One left.
“Ro! Stop!”
Tessa. His mate needed him.
“Not until they are all dead,” he growled, advancing on the last of Tessa’s attackers.
“It’s Byjuk. He helped me. Don’t hurt him.” The desperation in her voice shocked him out of his rage, and he put his back to the wall so he could see both the threat and his mate at the same time.
Tears lined her eyes, and blood streamed from a wound in her shoulder. Boltrak. The blade was still embedded in her delicate flesh. “Tessa. Fuck.”
He had to eliminate the threat and get her to safety. Pray to the ancient gods the wound was not mortal. He knew so little of humans.
“I will not hurt you,” Byjuk said as he held up his bound hands. “They…were taking me back to the Citadel. I…ran. Deserted my post. The Supreme Ruler would have killed me. I tried—”
“Ro. Please. I…need you.” Tessa’s voice was fading. He felt her pain. His own arm throbbed, all the way up to the ridged muscles along his shoulders. “Untie me, please.”
On her knees, she shuffled around, and Ro lunged for her, cut through the ropes binding her wrists, and caught her in his arms as he sank to the ground. “Tessa. My heart. I am sorry. Stay with me, sonara.”
“There are healing wraps. In the gray rucksack,” Byjuk said. “I—” At Ro’s growl, Byjuk shrank back against the far wall, his hands still in the air.
“Get the wraps. Move slowly or I will gut you.”
The scent of Sypian blood surrounded them, and Ro could not think with Tessa bleeding in his arms. He still wanted to rip the other one into pieces, but he would take Tessa’s pain away first.
“Here.” Byjuk held out the wraps, then nodded towards Tessa. “I can help if you—”
“No. Back away. Face the wall. If you move, I will kill you.” Ro did not relax at all until the Sypian had done as he’d ordered.
Tessa shuddered in his arms, her tears soaking the thin material of his shirt. “I am here, sonara. You are safe. I will not let anyone harm you. Never again.”
“Just…get the knife…out,” she managed, her eyes screwed tightly shut and her breath shallow.
Ro laid her on the rocky ground and pressed his left hand to the wound, the blade between his first two fingers. “This will hurt.”
“Already…does.”
His human was so strong. So brave. He slid the weapon free, and her blood coated his fingers. But the power of the bond flared where their flesh met, and he shared his strength with her, taking on as much of the pain as he could without compromising his ability to defend her.
The bleeding slowed, and Ro risked removing his hand so he could rip her shirt and expose the ragged wound. As quickly as possible, he layered the wraps over and around her shoulder, and when she sighed and her body relaxed, he took his first steady breath since she’d disappeared.
“Now, Sypian,” he said, his voice low as he enunciated every word. “Tell me why I should not kill you.”
* * *
Tessa
He’d come for her. Ro had found her and he’d killed for her. The two Sypians who’d attacked her lay dead, their heads severed, blood coating the cavern floor. She wanted to get out of here, but she didn’t think she could walk yet, and she felt so good held in Ro’s embrace.
Byjuk turned, his hands still bound, and grimaced as he tried to get comfortable. “I did not attack your mate. I tried to stop Monitor Forp and Monitor Swak.”
“What were you doing here in the first place?” Ro asked. “I saw no Sypian speedsters in the area. This is not a patrol route.”
“I ran away.” Byjuk sat up a little straighter. “The Supreme Ruler has ordered all of his patrol monitors to search for more humans. He is convinced there are others besides Tessa on Balrov. That is what I was doing when I met you on your land.”
Tessa tried to shift, but Ro held her tight. “Has he found them?”
“No. But he suspects one may be with a male named Vrax.”
Ro stiffened. “Vrax is my brother. Why does he think this?”
“Because Vrax has disappeared. His home is deserted. It has been for two cycles. And a monitor was found under a speedster not far from there. Dead.”
Over their bond, Tessa felt Ro’s fear.
“If he is suspected of killing a monitor, he will be executed. After being tortured until he prays for death,” Ro said.
“What can we do?” Tessa peered up at Ro, linking her fingers with his. “Can we hide him? Protect him somehow?”
Byjuk shook his head. “Nothing will protect him. Not if the Supreme Ruler decides he has outlived his usefulness. But…”
Ro straightened. “What? You have an idea, Sypian. I am not certain I trust you, but there is nothing I will not do to save my brother.”
Chapter Fourteen
Ro
In the pre-dawn light, he held his mate’s hand as they trekked down the mountain. He wanted to carry her—had tried to insist—but he could not manage her and both rucksacks. The Foxfire crystals filled his pack to bursting, and her pack held the nissal leaves and what they’d pilfered from the dead Sypians—healing wraps, credits, and two shock sticks. Ro did not want to touch the weapons, but Tessa insisted they needed them.
Byjuk was on his way back to the Citadel. Alone. With Ro’s communications unit’s frequency. They had a plan, but Ro hated it.
“I can feel you thinking,” Tessa said softly. Her voice had started to fade, and he sensed her pain. He’d done a poor job of binding her shoulder in the cave, and his frustration rose with each wince she could not stifle—and all the ones she thought she had.
“This is suicide.”
“This could save our people.”
Ro stopped and framed her face with his palms. “Our people?”
“I’m your mate, Ro.” She offered him a weak smile. “I’m with you for the rest of my life.”
“If we succeed…you could go home, Tessa.” He did not want to entertain the thought, but he could not ask her to stay on Balrov if she wished to return to Earth.
“This is my home.” She levered up on her toes to kiss him, and Ro caught her around the waist when she swayed. “You’re my home.”
He could not speak as he held her. The lump in his throat made words impossible. But he poured all his love, his hopes, and his fears into that one kiss.
“I love you, Ro. Now, come on. Let’s get home, repack, and go find Vrax.”
* * *
Ro would not let her leave until he had rebound her shoulder and seen that she’d eaten a whole koa fruit and a bowl of anu and nissal leaves. He managed a few bites himself, but he could not force himself to eat his fill. His stomach was twisted into knots.
Tessa ripped a small strip of cloth from her ruined shirt and did something fancy with her hair—separating it into sections and winding one over another until the dark blond locks hung down her back in a single plait, then tied the end with the cloth. “Stays out of my eyes this way,” she said as he gingerly touched the smooth strands.
“You are beautiful, sonara. The most beautiful creature I have ever seen. And so strong. Stronger than me.” The awe infusing his voice was nothing compared to the wonder filling his heart at his mate. “I love you.”
Tessa smiled and snuggled against his chest, her head tucked under his chin. “Then let’s go find your brother. And maybe my friends. If we’re lucky, we might even be able to take this planet back.”
* * *
THE END…Until Vrax’s story. The other three novellas in the Balrov Mates series are available for preorder NOW!
Grab Claimed By Her Alien, Owned By His Alien, and Saved By Her Alien.
All four novellas cover the same span of time…approximately ten Balrov sun cycles, but each are from the perspectives of a different couple. They build upon one another until the final battle to save Balrov. Or doom it forever.
About the Author
Tempest Luna is the pen name for a romance author who thought branching out would be fun. Turns out, she just can’t color within the lines.