by Lynnea Lee
The adrenaline coursing through his veins sharpened his responses, and he was able to land on his large clawed feet. He grabbed the stalker, ripped it off his female, and threw it hard against the trunk of a nearby tree. It landed with a dull thud that brought down several small branches.
Aware now of its new adversary, the stalker shook itself off and turned to face Zey, its tail swishing back and forth in warning. Clicking sounds rattled ominously from its throat before it sprang into action, deciding that the tasty morsel was worth the fight. It managed a glancing blow off Zey’s shoulder, drawing blood, but the cut was shallow. They circled each other, each waiting for the perfect time to attack. The stalker attacked again and pinned Zey to the rock wall. Trapped between the wall and the beast, Zey sought out the more vulnerable joints at the beast’s shoulders. Opening his strong jaws wide, he bit hard into the creature’s shoulder joint. The beast screamed in anguish.
The stalker backed away and tried to shake his attacker off, but Zey latched on tight, gripping onto the creature’s fur with his ham hands as his teeth tore at the weakened shoulder. He brought his taloned feet up and kicked at the beast’s hips and belly. The stalker went wild, bucking and thrashing until it finally freed itself from Zey’s grip. Backing away, the stalker hissed. Not knowing when to stop, the stalker readied itself for another attack.
It pounced again. Zey ducked under the beast and reached up to catch its hind legs. Transferring the beast’s own momentum into a swinging arch, he launched it hard against the jagged rock face. He didn’t give the beast time to recover. As it landed against the wall, he delivered a brutal kick to the stalker’s midsection with his talons extended, eviscerating the creature. The stalker fell to the ground, its bowels spilling across the leaf litter in a rush of red.
With blood dripping from his claws and his eyes shot with violence, Zey roared his victory. A familiar scent caught his attention, the delicious smell of fear. He turned towards the source, his delicate female. With a threatening sounding snarl, he stalked towards her.
Ashe knew the monster before her was Zeylum, but was unable to calm herself. As he approached, she shuffled backward away from him, her heart still pounding hard. His fangs were much longer than before. It was the first time she had seen the cheek creases in action, and his jaws had unhinged like a snake devouring whole its prey. His face was covered in the dead stalker’s blood, and the crimson ichor dripped from the claws on his feet. He looked terrifying, feral, inhuman. Did he even recognize her in his bloodlust?
He continued towards her, determined for his prize. His arousal was very evident, tenting the front of his pants. She remembered him explaining on the shuttle that violence triggered a need to fuck in his species. Zey reached for her, dragging her towards him by her ankles. She kicked at him intuitively. With a powerful grip on her hips, he flipped her over on her stomach and pulled her up on her knees, putting her into position to be mounted. She tried to crawl away.
As the adrenaline faded from her body, Ashe started to cry. She didn’t want to be the type of useless girl who cried when she could fight, but the last week had been too much. And now, the very man that she had relied on to keep her safe was coming upon her, looking more terrifying than the stalker he had just disemboweled. She knew he didn’t mean to scare her, she knew he wasn’t going to cause her harm, but her mind was too tired to cope. She was too stressed to remain logical. So she cried. Maybe she was going crazy.
She definitely felt crazy, out of control. Silly. Zey had done nothing but protected her. It wasn’t his fault the stalker attacked. He couldn’t help the way his body reacted to violence. It was ingrained in him; it was his nature. Her mind knew her reaction was unfair to him, but she couldn’t stop her body from shaking, couldn’t stop the tears from leaking out in big wet globs.
Zey paused, confused. Something was wrong. Why was his female crawling away from him? Why was she shaking in fear? The danger was over. He had won. The fight was over, he was the victor, and he was ready to claim his prize. The tang of her blood reached his keen nose and pierced through the overwhelming need to take and possess. Blood was seeping through the tattered ruins on her pants where the stalker had grabbed her. He flipped her over on her back to survey her body, looking for other injuries. She continued shuffling away from him, crab walking backward until she hit the trunk of a tree.
Of course she was terrified. She was just attacked by the deadly carnivore. Blood spattered her exposed skin, and her pants were torn where the monster had grabbed her. She was bleeding from the wounds marring her calf. And here he was, acting like some barbaric brute, trying to mount her. Zey felt like a first-class heel. He forced himself to retract his fangs and soften his gaze. He knelt down, bringing himself to her level to avoid towering over her. He could see her slowly start to relax as she realized that he wasn’t going to hurt her.
He reached for her right leg to check her wounds. He held her foot firmly and peeled back the material of her pants from her lower leg. The claw marks were superficial, and the bleeding had already slowed to a slothful seep. There was no muscle damage, but it may scar if he didn’t get her into a med bed before it healed. They would be on his ship within days, so he wasn’t worried. The stalker did not carry harmful poisons or bacteria on their claws. But still, the wound needed to be cleaned to avoid infection. Ignoring her protests, he lifted her, one arm supporting her shoulder and the other under her knees, and carried her towards the river.
Ashe gradually calmed down, the fear she had of him retreating, though not disappearing completely. He placed her on a rock by the river and used the canteen to carry water over to wash her wounds. Then he tore her pants off at the knee, leaving her calf bare. He also washed the blood off his feet and his face and rinsed his mouth thoroughly. When he bent to lick her wounds clean, she tried to pull away.
“Don’t move,” he ordered, “Let me tend your wounds. My saliva will help stave off infection.”
He bathed her wounds with his tongue. In the process, he lapped up the seeping blood.
“Stars!” His tongue darted out to lick his lips. “Even your blood tastes good.”
She jerked her leg away.
“Relax! That’s not how I want to eat you, little one.” Zey hoped humor would lighten the situation and take her mind off what she had witnessed, but the humor was lost on her.
He reached for the ripped hem of his tank and tore it over his head. He wrapped it carefully and firmly around her injured calf to keep it protected.
“Let me see your hands.” He took her hands and turned them palm up. As he had suspected, the rope had left a strip of friction burn on each palm. He took his tongue to those as well.
She avoided his gaze. What if she could never look him in the eyes again without recalling his ferociously feral look as he stalked her after his kill? As she stared at the ground, her line of sight crossed his feet, and the claws that had torn open the forest predator with such ease. He folded her into his arms and held her close against his chest.
“I’m sorry I scared you, little one. Forgive me.” This was all his fault. If he hadn’t left her exposed and unprotected, the stalker would not have attacked. And after he killed the stalker, he had let his primal urges rule him. He had frightened her.
“I will never harm you. Please believe me. I can’t claim I’m a good person. I know I’ve done horrible things in my life. But you, I will never harm. This, I swear.”
She relaxed against his body. “I know.”
It soon became evident to Zey that they needed to revise his original plan to get as far away from the port as possible. Ashe was favoring her injured leg, and the shoe on the other foot had completely fallen apart. They were better off trying to hide in the foliage and waiting it out. With luck, the Dominion lackeys Ulrek sent down would by-pass them completely.
He found a good location to bunker down and set up camp. After he made sure Ashe was safely tucked away in the hanging shelter, he w
ent out on his own to remove as much of their trail as possible. He wasn’t able to remove the rope from the side of the bluff as it was anchored to a tree above, but he managed to sever it high enough that it would create a challenge to anyone using it to get down. He then made some false tracks heading along the river and then finally into the river itself as if they had crossed it.
He headed back to their aerial hideout. The river was close by, and the large mature trees provided ample cover. There was a small field nearby for his crew to land. They had plenty of nutrition bars left, though Ashe seemed to have lost her appetite. All there was to do now was wait for his crew to arrive.
Zey kept his eyes on the comm unit, willing the light on it to flash to signal Calix’s call. Nothing happened. He ran his hands over his hair and glanced over at the small form curled up in the corner of the tent. She was pretending to be asleep, but he knew better.
Since the incident yesterday with the stalker attack, Ashe had been very quiet, keeping to herself. Zey was worried that she would never get over her fear of his more violent side and didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to make things worse than it was by forcing his attention on her, so he opted to give her some space. What he really wanted to do was grab her, nuzzle her neck, and then hold her close to his heart.
It wasn’t fair to force her to stay with him if she was afraid or disgusted by him. It was his fault she was attacked; if he had been more careful, it would never have happened. It was his fault she was exposed to such brutality. She should never have witnessed such viciousness. A good male would have made sure of it. She would find a better male at Reka 5 to care for her. The thought made him want to tear something apart—more violence.
His voice broke the silence. “They should be here soon. Once this is over, we can get you to Reka 5.”
Ashe pretended to be asleep. She didn’t want to face Zey today. He hadn’t touched her since she had overreacted to him yesterday. It was cool last night, and she had spent it without the warmth of his body. He did cover her with the thin foil blanket from their survival pack to keep off the chill, but that had been worse than nothing when what she really wanted was him. She felt so lonely that the cold seemed more suitable than warmth. When she woke up that morning, his scent still lingered in their small tent, but he was sitting outside on the branch.
“They should be here soon. Once this is over, we can get you to Reka 5.”
She knew it! He didn’t want her. He couldn’t wait to get rid of her. Why did she react the way she did? Why did she flinch away from him? He had saved her life, and what did she do in return? What an ungrateful bitch he must think her!
She forced herself to stop her runaway train of thoughts. This was ridiculous. She was acting like some spineless emotional damsel from a cheap soap opera, letting some silly misunderstanding get way out of hand. Nobody liked a drama queen. This had to stop now. She needed to tell him that she overreacted. She needed to apologize. She needed to make things right between them.
Ashe realized that the societal ideals she grew up with were no longer useful to her here in the untamed outer reaches of the galaxy. Although she was raised in a sheltered society, she understood very well that human history had always been a violent one. It was the habit of acting on that innate aggression that propelled mankind to command and conquer all that roamed their blue-green sphere, sometimes to their own detriment. She needed to embrace this part of her humanity, to come to terms with the human propensity for violence.
She rolled over and gazed up at the man sitting on the branch above; his feet hung into the tent. His talons gleamed. She reached up and fingered a sharp claw, getting his attention. Moving to place herself between his dangling legs, she got onto her knees and looked up at the mesmerizing green that were his eyes. After a moment, he slid off the branch and lowered himself down into the shelter. He sat back on his heels in front of her with his knees bracketing hers to bring them eye to eye.
“I,” Ashe stuttered, trying to form coherent thoughts, “I didn’t mean to react the way I did. I mean, um, thank you.” She reached for him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and rubbed her cheek against his. She wanted to show him that he did not frighten her. “Thank you for saving me.”
He wrapped his thick, brawny arms around her waist and pulled her close as she continued to speak.
“I’ve lived a protected life until just a few short days ago. It’s been hard to adjust. But I will, I have to.” She paused before she added, “I’m sorry I overreacted. You don’t frighten me. In fact, I feel the safest when I’m with you. I really like you.”
She breathed out a long sigh, glad to have gotten it off her chest. She was falling hard for the rugged alien. She wasn’t naive enough to believe that he would want to stay with her beyond their arranged agreement. Hot intergalactic space captains like him didn’t fall for backwoods, slightly chubby girls like her. But she wanted to spend whatever time they had together on good terms. She would deal with Reka 5 when she got there.
Zey threaded his rough fingers through the tangled mass of her hair and tilted her head back, forcing her to look into his eyes. “It is my duty to keep you safe. Even if it means frightening you sometimes. Even if it means doing something you might not agree with. I will protect you always. Always! Do you understand?”
Swallowing the lump forming in her throat, she nodded. Zey swooped down to press his lips to hers in a human-style kiss. She was glad kissing was a human mating ritual he intended to keep. But before the kiss could progress into anything more, a sound in the forest caught their attention, and he drew away much to her chagrin.
Zey’s eyes narrowed at the disturbance of the regular forest noises which they had gotten accustomed to. He released her hair and held the side of her face with both hands, tilted it down, and kissed the top of her head tenderly.
“Stay here. I’ll go investigate. Do not make any noise and do not leave the shelter. I’ll be back by nightfall.”
Before she could protest, he was out of their cozy little hideaway and on his way down from the safe cover of the canopy. Ashe stared up at the alien sunset playing out above her tent. With nothing to do but lie there and think while she waited for Zey’s return, she had a lot of time to contemplate her situation. She had become altogether too reliant on him. Of course, with him claiming to protect her always, this was an easy thing to do. What did he mean by always anyway? He had mentioned bringing her to Reka 5, did he mean always, until then? Or did he mean always, always? Had he decided to forgo Reka 5 after all? Why did the thought excite her so much?
She chided herself for getting so emotionally attached. The last time she gave away her heart, it was stepped on and then torn into a zillion pieces. She wanted to protect herself but realized that it was already too late. The thought of leaving Zey to start a new life on some alien colony made her want to curl up and cry. Damn it! I screwed up, didn’t I?
Chapter 9
Ashe held the comm unit in her hands and contemplated what to do. The sun had already set, and in the darkness of the enclosed tent, the little green light on the comm unit flashed brightly as the unit buzzed for the third time in as many minutes. Should she answer the comm unit? It vibrated again, and she made up her mind. She pressed the button to take the call.
“It’s about time you picked up, Zey! We’re here to save your sorry ass, and you ignore our transmission?” The rough voice was the same that had taken Zey’s call before.
Another male voice snickered in the background. “That little female’s probably got him all distracted.”
“You’re actually speaking to that female right now,” Ashe said in as steady of a voice as she could muster. “Call me Ashe, by the way. Who am I speaking to?”
“This is Calix, second in command on the Defiant. Where’s Zey?”
“Zey went out to investigate some strange noises and never came back. He should be back by now. I’m getting really worried.”
“Damn
it! And here I was hoping for a routine rescue.”
“He routinely requires rescues from strange planets?” Ashe’s brow rose in the dark of the tent.
Boisterous laughter rang from the comm unit. “Zey gets into his share of trouble.”
“What should I do? He said he would be back by now. What if he ran into Ulrek’s men? Zey left the blaster in the tent with me. He’s defenseless!”
“I wouldn’t call him defenseless. That male is one vicious motherfucker when he has to be.”
Ashe remembered their encounter with the stalker and silently agreed.
The voice on the comm continued speaking. “Listen to me, if anyone tries to get you out of that tent without first buzzing this comm unit, shoot them. Don’t hesitate. Just blast his ass. We detected one of Ulrek’s shuttle landing just outside of the nearby port. They are searching the forest as we speak.”
Ashe’s heart dropped. Somehow, she knew Zey had been discovered. And it seemed as though Calix thought so as well.
“We will find Zey. They’ll want to keep him alive. It will buy us time. We will be landing a retrieval team in the field just north of your location at first light. I’ll come to your location personally to escort you back to the ship. Whatever happens, try to keep the comm on your body, we are tracking the signal.”
“Okay, got it. So shoot anyone who doesn’t call first, keep the comm on myself, and you’ll get me in the morning. ”
“Stay safe. Calix out.”
Calix ran his hands through his dark shoulder-length hair. He knew to expect trouble when they got the report of the Dominion shuttle landing so close to the comm signal they were tracking. Life was one close call after another since the Dominion managed to claim their new territories. It didn’t help that his captain, Zeylum of the Defiant, was a magnet for trouble. His reputation proceeded him, and somehow he had managed to accumulate a ridiculously large bounty on his head. It made the simplest of missions a challenge. Maybe it was time the crew of the Defiant laid low for a while, took on some low-risk jobs at the compound, at least until the pressure subsides.