His mate would survive, and be in a position to protect their young.
“From what I understand, the symbiont builds from metals in blood and replicates them when it works to protect you, then returns the metals back to your blood when it deactivates. In this case, it released them… I suspect you may feel the side effects from it.”
She squinted at him for a moment but nodded reluctantly. “Yeah, I didn’t want to mention anything, but I am feeling a bit weak and dizzy. I’m holding onto you not only because I’m happy to see you, but I admit it’s also so I don’t fall over.” She chuckled softly at the pronouncement. “Fucking lot of good I’m going to be helping us to get out of here.”
Veral tilted his head. They would have to replicate synthetic boosters for her blood for such situations in the future when she might need them. For now, though… He swept his mate into his arms.
“Veral, put me down, you idiot. You’re hurt!”
“I am vulnerable and adapting to the blind spot, yes, but I am still operational. We must leave immediately, and if you are too weak to operate near full capacity, it is logical that I carry you. You will not be able to use the symbiont armor again until you have recovered the loss of metals in your blood.”
She grimaced but nodded before settling more comfortably in his arms. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
He paused. “What show?”
“I don’t know. Something my dad used to say. Just means let’s get moving.”
Veral absorbed that new human phrase. The human species was strange, but he was enjoying his mate’s idiosyncrasies. Her turn of phrase was just one of the more amusing things that made every day a delight. He could imagine their half-human offspring carrying on such charming traits. His arms tightened protectively around her.
They would be free soon.
He attempted to make contact again with Kaylar, but received nothing but silence. He frowned at that but continued to make his way through the corridor with his mate secure in his arms. Kaylar was hard to kill, even more difficult than Veral. He would arrive.
26
Being carried made Terri feel like a burden, but knowing there was a reason for it was a relief, even if she didn’t understand the explanation he had offered. She might not have the strength right now, but she peered over his right shoulder, her cheek nestled against his neck. She would be an extra set of eyes for her mate, to compensate as much as she could for the loss of his vibrissae. The shorn ends twitched against her uselessly, a reminder of the terrible pain and disorientation he was experiencing.
Veral had swung her on to his back and taken off down the hall. His balance was definitely off, and he seemed to turn his head frequently to the right to compensate for his blind spot.
“I’m watching on your right,” she whispered in his ear. “Trust me. We’ll work together to get through here.”
He did not reply, but she didn’t expect him to. Instead, he squeezed one of her thighs he had boosted up around his hips affectionately in acknowledgement.
“I swear, if I get out of this, I’m never going on a planet again. Filthy, dangerous places creeping with things that want to eat you. My ship, and even the most broken-down space station, would be preferable to this,” Azan wheezed, squinting into the distance while maintaining her ground-eating pace. “No more fleeing from creatures trying to eat me. The only running I plan on doing from here on out is short bursts to evade law enforcement. Space is far more civilized.”
Terri chuckled tiredly at the observation. She could just imagine the pirate holed up on one ship or another for the rest of her life, charting a new course the moment someone so much as whispered about having to land planetside.
Azan shot her a sidelong look. “What about you, little human? Are you sure the life of a salvager is right for you? There would be a place for you on my ship. Nice, cozy… minimal chance of being eaten.”
Veral stiffened against Terri, and she rubbed her hand soothingly on the thick muscle of her male’s arm. “I’m quite sure. I can’t think of anywhere else I’d like to be other than my mate’s side.”
“Your species must possess a limited imagination,” Azan retorted, laughing.
Terri shrugged and nestled closer to her mate, breathing in his warm scent. She wouldn’t live in a cage, no matter how lovely. Anything less than being at her mate’s side was unacceptable. Veral’s threatening growl at the suggestion warmed her heart as she recognized the demonstration of her male’s claim in response to the pirate’s words. The territorial sound was as close to violence as Veral could get at that moment.
If Azan had been another male offering what could be perceived as a better, more comfortable, life, she wondered if he would have managed to control his reaction, injury be damned. Any worry she had that he would consider casting her aside when their relationship became too much trouble evaporated at that sound. Even after everything that had happened over the last several days, he was demonstrating—in as grand of a gesture as it got with him—that she was completely his.
“I’ll be yours for as long as you want me,” she whispered.
A purr rattled from him, his hands tightening around her legs. “Never would there be a time or place where I would not need my anastha, or lay my life and honor before you. You may be mine, but I am yours as well,” he replied, the heartfelt lengthiness of his response surprising Terri.
Azan sighed. “You two are disgusting. How unlikely that your relationship survived this long intact. How is that, I wonder? Regardless, it was worth the attempt.”
Veral snorted and shook his head. “You do not understand mating. It is not about what is pleasant in fortunate circumstances, but that which survives and is tempered by life. My anastha is the other half of me. She carries my heart and all of my future, pirate.”
Azan directed a twisted grimace in his direction. “You are saying that because she is capable of carrying your offspring…”
“No,” Veral interrupted, his voice sharp with anger as he cleared rubble that lay in their path. “Offspring are desired but are not the soul of a mating. She is my future not by what her body may issue but that her presence in my life provides a richer meaning by sharing my life with her. She is a light that brings greater clarity to my purpose. Darkness that descends upon us does not extinguish that light, but makes it that much clearer to see when that bond is focused upon rather than things that cannot be changed. She was made to be by my side, and the gods have seen fit to provide her with what she needed to accomplish this. Our experiences together, even the difficult ones, provide the tools.”
“I did not realize that the Argurma were so romantic,” Azan teased with a devilish smirk.
Veral snorted. “It is not romance. It is sound reasoning.”
“So you say… How much longer until we get out of here? I have had all that I can stomach of this mated bliss.”
Her reply was met with a loud chuff from Veral as he peered about. He veered to the left, his limber body practically gliding across the floor with predatory grace that Terri could feel shifting in his muscles.
“The exit is ahead. We will arrive in the main chamber of the wreckage in…”
A loud groan started above them as the entire ship shook, an odd blast shaking it violently, casting apart debris as it fell everywhere. Terri shouted as a large section of the roof began to cave in, the metal buckling as it slid downward at an angle toward them. It squealed and screeched, jumbled among the other sounds as the ship appeared to be tearing apart. She wasn’t even sure she could isolate the sound from that part of the ceiling specifically from the death cries of the ship.
“Veral, the ceiling is collapsing to your right!” she shouted around the sudden pressure of her heart leaping to her throat.
In a lightning-fast response, he spun to the side just enough to see the falling sheets of metal before darting out of range with Azan trailing close behind them. The sounds of falling metal and more distant sliding stone filled the air
with such a blast of noise that she was uncertain exactly how long the world fell around them as they raced against destruction. She was aware, however, as the dust settled, that everything in the corridor had changed.
Veral lifted his head, looking around...listening. Terri noted that the AI, whose voice had been garbled during the collapse as it issued barely audible commands to evacuate, made no further attempts to communicate. There was nothing but a yawning gulf of destruction all around them. Terri’s eyes roved over it from where she was still perched overlooking Veral’s shoulder, an uneasy shiver sliding over her skin as she could make out patches of dim sunlight filtering down.
They were now more exposed than they had been, and all that noise…
“I don’t suppose that went unnoticed…” she murmured.
She jerked as one of the large bird-like creatures swept overhead, its wide wings filling the air over the gap in the ceiling as it squawked. She swallowed nervously, but tensed further as she noticed that Veral wasn’t even looking at the animal. Instead, he was completely still, head turned to the left as his expression tightened.
“Wha—”
He shook his head in admonishment, bidding her to be silent as he shifted his weight on his feet. Azan turned in the same direction as she palmed her blaster.
“Experiment 302,” he hissed as the ground quivered with a small vibration, and then another.
The creature emerged from the shadows slowly, languidly, as if it didn’t have a care in the world, secure in the knowledge that its prey wouldn’t be able to outrun it. Unlike the larger monsters, its body was smaller and lithe with six long, narrow legs supported by clawed paws. The fact that it was smaller wasn’t much of a boon, however, since it was still twice as tall as Veral.
The creature looked like no animal that Terri was familiar with. Its face was sharply tapered, six eyes blinking at them, forming a half ring on its face as two pairs of ears flicked and moved. As it stared at them with glowing, blood red eyes, its rigid upper lip rose, revealing sharp teeth offset by four sets of deadly fangs. A sail-like fan of skin at the end of its tail opened and snapped closed again as it studied them. Its mouth opened wider as it snarled just as a long tongue uncoiled, whipping erratically as it vibrated in the air not unlike one of Veral’s vibrissae. This, however, had a hollow, sucker-like tube at the end that made Terri’s stomach heave with fear.
With slow, gliding steps, it moved closer, a low, trembling whine drawing through its throat. The sound was not the pitiful noise made by Krono when he was denied something he enjoyed, but a whine pitched in such a way that it made the hair on her arms stand up. A chill ran through her as it ceaselessly filled the air with desperation.
It was a sound of starvation. The sound of deep-seated hunger.
Veral moved back, one of his hands dropping away from supporting her as he allowed his claws to slide out from his free hand. 302 crouched down further, its muscles coiling as it readied itself to spring. A gurgle rose in Terri’s throat. Exhausted as she was, she couldn’t even help her mate beat the creature back with her handy symbiont as she had before.
It crouched even lower, its belly nearly touching the floor. It sprang at them with a snarl, a sound of rage mixing with its keening cries of hunger. Terri tucked her face into Veral’s neck, prepared to meet her end. A blinding light flickered behind her eyes just as a loud blast cut through the air. Screams of pain rang out, stopping after only a second. Jerking her head up, she stared in awe as the plumes of smoke disappeared, revealing a bubbling mass of the creature lying on the floor. A chuff of laughter left Veral.
“Plasma cannon, warrior class,” he stated with no little pleasure just as a large mass dropped down in front of them.
The figure uncurled as he stood, revealing himself to be an Argurma male somehow even bigger than Veral. His face was broader, with a more sharply defined square jaw. His vibrissae practically stood straight out from his head in an enormous halo as he absorbed information on everything in the area. His expression was hard and foreboding despite the small smile that just barely turned up the edges of his mouth.
“Veral,” he said, his glowing amethyst eyes narrowing.
“Kaylar,” Veral returned in greeting, though he made no attempt to approach.
The male, Kaylar, tilted his head in acknowledgement before flicking his eyes to the remains of the experiment. “Is that it?”
“Yes,” Veral replied. “The pirates in our company are dead, and that was the only land-mobile experiment within the remains of the ship, although I make no guarantee what that blast might have attracted from the outer areas.”
The other male shrugged. “I required a quick entrance. I loaded the virus into the pirate ship and set my ship into auto-hover mode so that I could lower myself down to the wreckage. I did not expect to encounter flying beasts that attempted to chew on me midair. Blasting my way through the hull seemed to be an expedient solution to get away from them once I became bored with their games.” His eyes flicked to Azan, who immediately held her hands up in reaction to his hard gaze. “What of the Blaithari?”
“An ally. She poses no threat.”
“I see. And the coordinates?”
Veral nodded. What did their rescue have to do with coordinates? Terri stared in confusion at Veral as he initiated the data transfer. “Wait—what?”
The ghost of a smile widened on the male’s face as he accepted the transfer and nodded in approval as he no doubt reviewed the information. “Your mate did not tell you? I am not surprised. It is in his nature to protect, whereas it is not in mine. Another flaw in his systems. You should know that the council is very interested in your species. That you are biologically compatible with Argurmas could have interesting implications when it comes to usefulness for organ harvesting and organic replacement tissue for our species, among other uses in testing. It is believed that a female would be preferable to keep for initial testing.”
Terri’s mouth dropped open, and she leaned back so she could adequately turn her head and stare at her mate in shock. “You didn’t…”
“It was necessary. It was all that he would accept for his aid. He has the virus codes that are temporarily disabling the pirate ship orbiting the planet. It was the only way to save you,” he growled.
Terri swallowed back her dismay and the many rebukes that had been ready to fly off the tip of her tongue. She hated that he gave up that information without even consulting her, but perhaps he had known that she wouldn’t have agreed. He wouldn’t sit back and let harm come to her. He would sacrifice anything for her.
She couldn’t say that she wouldn’t have done the same.
She leaned into him, worrying about the fate of the women she had left behind on Earth who wouldn’t even know that anyone was coming after them.
“Interesting,” Kaylar said quietly. “Even after your betrayal, she still cleaves to you.”
She shot him an annoyed glare. “I’m not so stupid that I don’t recognize he did it for me and our child. As much as I hate you right now for what you’re about to do, I can’t be angry at him for making that choice. I would have done the same for him.”
A heavy brow rose in her direction, and he hummed thoughtfully to himself. “Interesting.” He gave them a long, considering look before he shrugged and drew an enormous blaster from his back, leveling it on Veral. “I am truly in awe, cousin, that you have had the good fortune to find a worthy mate. Unfortunately, that doesn’t change anything for you. I do believe it is time for you to surrender.”
“Betrayal, Kaylar?”
One corner of the male’s mouth pulled up in a genuine smile. “Business only. Truly, I will regret it, but when the council learned of where I was going, they commanded it. There is no keeping anything from them for long—as you should know.”
Veral nodded and very slowly lowered Terri to her feet. His fingers flexed as he glared at the male he called cousin. “You will understand if I insist that I must decline.”
&
nbsp; Kaylar’s smile widened, and he chuffed again. “Of course, naturally! Not that I think it will do you much good when you have lost a quarter of your vibrissae. It is a good look for you, however,” he said, with another laugh echoing around him.
Veral smiled in reply, his body loose as he faced off with the other male. Terri didn’t even see the attack coming. Veral rushed from her side, his claws out as he struck out with fury at the Argurma before him. She choked in surprise even as everything within her prayed for victory.
27
Azan watched dispassionately as Veral charged the newcomer. She really did not have a stake in this personal disagreement, but a life debt would be difficult to settle if the male she owed was locked up or dissected somewhere. With the Argurma, it was difficult to judge what the punishment may be.
Besides, she liked Terri. Azan was still of the opinion that the little female would fare better with her, but she was not one to try to take choices away. In any case, she had taken the opportunity to intercept the coordinates. She could always find a small, soft human of her own. It would seem like bad manners to accept or steal such a fine gift without even attempting to even the field of engagement between the Argurmas.
Sighing, she pulled out her modified blaster. It had one grenade capsule implant left in the attachment. She hated to waste it, but she did not wish to appear ungrateful either. It was difficult dancing on the right side of morality. Absolutely disgusting.
She squinted at the males as they tore into each other, metal-enhanced claws slashing at each other. Raising one hand, she glanced down at her own simple claws with a pang of envy. Perhaps once Veral straightened out the reason for being hunted down she could talk him into assisting her with acquiring the modification. He would have to be alive to do that.
Pirate's Gold (Argurma Salvager Book 2) Page 19