“Veikko is in my thoughts.” It was a strange sensation, but fleetingly she felt him, he was alive. It appeared the Gorgano weren’t the only beings able to get into a human head. “I’m connected to the Braxians. They won’t let him fester on a bad planet. He will come for you, an assassin never stops until his contract is dead, or he is.”
“Where I’m taking you no one will ever find us. We’ll have lots of time in the pod for me to get to know your danger zones.” Alaric pulled his body torturously from the tree, Adan backed up farther realizing he had fooled her into a sense of safety. He grinned at her. “Did you think a little fire and some tricks would stop me? You do know what I am.”
“You’re an assassin.”
“What was your first clue?”
“Fuck you.”
“I would rather fuck you.”
Four sharp two-inch long arrow points pushed past Alaric’s flesh on his knuckles on both hands. He wiggled his fingers at her. The tips glowed green. With the top of her foot Adan reached for a large stick on the ground and with a kick sent the stick into her hand. One of the razor sharp arrows flew at her. Adan gulped and stumbled when the arrow embedded into the stick inches from her throat.
“I only need one,” Alaric said as they circled one another. “You won’t feel any pain, it works instantly.”
Both fists held four spikes apiece. Adan could see every bulging muscle on Alaric’s torso as he turned sideways. The spikes on his feet retracted with every step, and then shot back into the ground as he made contact. Adan felt the sweat drip from her forehead to the tip of her nose. Alaric fired again. Adan spun catching the arrow in the stick before being shot in the hip.
“Two down, six to go,” Adan whispered.
“I appear to have a dilemma,” Alaric said. “If I shoot too many I’ll get you, but I’m uncertain what your little human body can take. Each spike will knock you out for hours, too many will kill you.”
“Choose carefully.”
Alaric twisted, he moved so incredibly fast he was behind her. Rifle fast, two more spikes were thrown. One at her ass and one at her neck. The stick was in one hand, straight up behind her. Adan’s wrist bent back with the force of impact of both spikes on the stick. Openmouthed, she gasped in air trying not to black out. The stick fell and she dropped to a knee, her wrist was broken.
Alaric aimed once more. “Nighty-night, female.”
Adan reached up and grabbed the vine of a tree and gave it a sharp tug. The tree wrapped around her good wrist and up she went, high into the branches. She heard Alaric roar. The grip on her wrist was tight but her sweat made her slippery and Adan wriggled out of the hold. She ran across the massive branches, avoiding vines as they tugged at her clothing and reached to touch her.
When she looked down, Alaric was running up the side of the tree, an arm extended waiting for his shot. Adan ducked as two more shots fired her way; two tree vines went limp when struck. The vines worked in her favor sensing the threat; as she ran, a barricade of vines went up behind her, weaving together. Alaric smashed through them. Places where the branches intertwined separated suddenly trying to catch him unaware when Alaric ran onto them. If not for his spikes, he would have fallen.
Cradling her aching wrist against her chest, heart pounding, lungs burning, Adan saw the creature beneath the tree. A colossal black shaggy cyron lumbered below. They were deadly. Blu had told her the female Zargonnii tried to keep the beasts away from the males; the females did leave their sons but they tried their best to protect them. The cyron were known to occasionally slip past the females.
Adan jumped. She landed square on the cyron; her breath exploded from her lungs. The beast roared, reared and Adan slid off its ass to the ground and ran, glancing back. The cyron spun its bulk, massive teeth showed when it roared again and prepared to go after Adan. Alaric dropped onto the beast as it lowered to all fours and shot four of the arrows into its neck. The beast went down, collapsing under the assassin, its shaggy feet tried to rise and failed. The beast wasn’t unconscious, just immobile. Alaric jumped to the ground and was after Adan.
Fuck he can move.
Adan had never pumped her legs so fast. Around the next turn was a startled bangor. The beast was her size. Its nose dripped snot, soaking its lower face. It didn’t have time to swing its claws at her.
“Fuck off, dirt bag,” Adan yelled and shoved the beast out of her way toppling it.
Two of the green spiked arrows hit a tree next to her, another hit the bangor. Adan looked back; Alaric was taking aim, new spikes on his fists shone bright.
“Seriously? Seriously? He can re-fucking-load?”
At a clearing, Adan came to a halt, she couldn’t run anymore. When Alaric came bolting into her sight, Adan squeezed her eyes closed, concentrated and bellowed, and Alaric went flying backwards into a huge boulder. He bounced off effortlessly, his body rolled from a summersault to his feet. Now Adan knew how he’d survived the fall from the nest, she bet he had let go on purpose knowing he’d get another chance. The muscles on his back cracked the rock, splitting it in half. Alaric simply shook himself off.
“You can’t beat me,” Alaric said as he stalked her, he was grinning.
“Maybe not,” she said, her chest rose and fell as she gasped for air. “But you can beat you.”
For a second, he looked at her curiously. Adan concentrated with all her energy. This would be her last shot. Alaric raised a fist. He winked at her and said he would take extra special care of her while she slept, vulnerable. His extended fist suddenly pushed up and fired four arrows into his neck. He gaped and gasped, his body trembled with a massive seizure. His knees hit the dirt, then face-first he nosedived onto the ground. Adan crumpled, her powers spent as he went down.
* * * *
Blu gathered Adan to his chest. “She’s hurt. Finn, her wrist doesn’t look right. She’s paler than normal. She’s drenched in sweat, she needs water. She’s barely breathing. Finn do something.”
“It must have been some battle,” Titus said as Finn took Adan from Blu’s arms.
“I need to get her to my office,” Finn said. He placed his mouth over her nose and mouth and blew into her, expanding her lungs. Adan shuddered, gasped in air and settled. “She’ll be fine, Blu. She’s breathing. Deal with that damned assassin.”
As Finn took off at a dead run with Adan cradled in his arms, his hair wrapping protectively around her, Blu and Titus went to the assassin. Blu kicked him in the guts with a foot. Alaric groaned but didn’t move. Blu wanted to stomp his face into pulp. He had never loathed another being more.
“The Braxians should have sent their warning sooner,” Blu said growling. “I think they wanted Alaric to take her.”
“The Braxians want him sent to purgatory,” Titus said. “Veikko wasn’t able to contact them sooner, he had fallen into some hole, or volcano, something Alaric pushed him in. He lost consciousness or they would have sensed him earlier.”
“If Alaric’s left alive he will never stop hunting Adan. I can’t allow that, Titus.”
Titus seemed to ponder Blu’s words. “If you kill him, it may start a war. Braxians like their rogue warriors where they want them put.”
“I’ve killed their assassins before. They know what needs to be done to stop a contract. It doesn’t matter the Tonan died, an assassin is honor bound to finish his job.”
Titus sighed. “He wasn’t sent by the Tonan, Alaric went rogue. He wanted to breed with Adan. So it’s more than a contract, he wasn’t driven by greed in the end. He wants your female. If the Braxians declare war, it should be my doing, not one of my warriors they will claim has gone rogue and is as bad as Alaric.”
Titus stared hard at Alaric. His blazing eyes ripped down the length of him slicing him in half. A huge gush of green gas burst from the assassin’s body. Both Blu and Titus coughed.
“Nasty shit. Even dead, he wants to take an opponent with him. I’m glad the toxins can be filtered by our lungs,” Blu said
.
Titus sneezed. “You were breathing that shit all this time?”
“Mostly.”
“Damn, no wonder your mate is a kick ass. I’d be cranky as hell if I had to smell that damned shit all the time.”
“Titus, will you go and sit with Adan? Tell her I’ll be right there. I need to find my son.”
“Go. But I’m guessing he’s fine. Something tells me Adan didn’t leave him alone, and she wouldn’t let anything hurt her son.”
Blu concurred.
There would be only one reason Adan had left Rafe, it would be to save his life. She must have found out some way Alaric was coming after her. Or he had gone to the house first. Blu speculated as he ran, all thoughts going through his mind. He didn’t think for a second Adan would allow anything to happen to their child, she loved Rafe as much as Blu did. It was a surprising thought; Blu knew his child was safe. He didn’t doubt Adan would fight a cyron to the death for their child.
Blu raced through his front door and stopped dead. Rafe’s mother was standing there holding the child. She hissed at Blu for a second before sniffing the air. She settled when Rafe laughed and raised his hands to Blu. Reluctantly, she handed over the baby. The female spoke a few words but Blu didn’t understand. She motioned with her hand at a certain height, Adan’s height.
“She’s fine,” Blu said and smiled. The female frowned and raised her hand higher to Alaric’s height. “Dead.” Blu made a motion, his eyes firing to a blaze for a second. The female was not in any danger from him, but she understood.
Blu guessed the female was the one who sent Adan away. Adan would never have dropped the window for any other reason. She must have been running to find him. Blu gazed at the female and gestured at her, he wanted her to know Adan had fought bravely and Rafe was in no danger. The female nodded, turned and walked out the window. Blu punched in the code that would only allow him and Adan back in. He watched as the female walked away with her head bent. He could scent her sadness even from a distance. Blu snuggled Rafe into his arms. He was suddenly very glad he never had to wonder if he had sired a daughter he would never meet.
Chapter 12
The surface was soft under Adan; she fingered the material beneath her except one hand was restrained. Her eyes fluttered open and she was startled to see Finn, Blu and Titus all bending over her, staring into her face. It was a little unnerving. She jumped and they stood straighter. Adan blinked and tried to sit up; three huge open hands pushed her back at the same time.
“Where’s Rafe?” she asked. Her gaze anxiously scanned the room.
“Zane and Bay have him, he’s fine,” Blu said. “He’s having the time of his life with his cousins, being doted on.”
“Alaric?”
“Dead,” Titus said.
“I killed him?” Adan asked stunned.
“I did,” Titus said.
“Will there be war between the Zargonnii and the Braxians?” Adan asked.
She knew while they were on the planet the Braxians had their own ulterior motive for saying nothing about the death of their assassins, but Alaric was in Zargonnii territory. He hadn’t been contracted to retrieve her, except by himself, the most dangerous contract made. The Braxians would expect their assassin to be handed over and sent to purgatory, perhaps rehabilitation. Adan knew if Alaric was alive he would be hanging over her head forever. Blu would never allow that. It appeared no Zargonnii would allow that. She was glad he was gone, but at what price?
“If there is war, we have a secret weapon,” Titus said and smiled at Adan. He winked at her and walked from the room.
Adan looked down at her wrist. “What do you have my arm in?”
Her arm from her elbow to the tips of her fingers was encased in a large black cast of sorts. The tube was rounded, warm and it pulsed. A soft sound of soothing chimes emitted. Lights in the shapes of bugs and creatures ‘walked’ or ‘flew’ across the top in a cute way. It was very eye catching.
“On rare occasions, really rare, a Zargonnii child breaks a bone. This cylinder heals the bone. If it will work on a child it should work on you,” Finn said. “I’ll be back in an hour to take it off.”
The concept of the creatures made sense to Adan, a child would love the cast, it would be entertaining. A smart idea to be sure. When Finn left, Blu slipped onto the bed and pulled her into his arms careful of the cylinder. Adan clutched him with her good hand. She was at the stage where she wanted to cry she was so relieved but knew he would be distressed and Adan would rather smile at him instead.
“What happened?” Blu asked. “How did he find you?”
“Alaric put a device in my skin; he activated it when he got to the planet. That’s how he found me. I don’t know how Rafe’s mother found out, except you have some really weird cell service here, but she did and came and told me I needed to leave to protect Rafe. She said she couldn’t protect me and her son from an assassin like Alaric. Now I know why females leave their sons, to protect them from your race destroying one another.”
“It’s alright, Finn will remove the device. It’s no longer activated when the depositing host dies, the system shorts because the connection is severed.”
“When Alaric found me in the jungle I was so angry. I couldn’t bear to lose another family, losing my first almost ripped my heart out. I couldn’t get to you. I wanted Alaric to burn and his fat ass caught on fire. My head hurt after, but I realized I wasn’t as helpless as I thought.”
“How did your wrist get injured?”
“Alaric had these green tipped spikes that shot from his wrists. I deflected them with a stick until he sent two at a time. My wrist bent back. God, it hurt.”
“Are you in pain now?” Worry etched his face.
“No, I’m fine.”
Blu gazed at her. “You are fine, aren’t you? You have your own weapons and skills. I’m so proud of you.”
“I was worried you’d think I went off half-cocked.”
“Um, Adan, does your head ache? You have no cock never mind half of one.”
Adan laughed. “Never mind. Just hold me until this thing heals me. The chiming is damned annoying even if the critters are cute.”
Blu snuggled her face next to his throat. He began the sweet tone Adan loved so much. As she listened, she noted something odd. The tone was more than simple humming. The tone had words embedded within. She’d never heard them before. The Braxians had further altered her brain waves with her encounter with them.
The words were meant to soothe the recipient into acceptance. Blu was claiming her, calming her. The tone was an added hypnosis. Adan wondered if Blu knew he had claimed her with his first thoughts. The first time he had summoned the tone it was altered for a mate.
He mated her on the ship and didn’t realize it.
Adan was stunned. This wasn’t a simple tune, it went back to the beginning of the Zargonnii when males and females didn’t Holiday but stayed together. Males had forgotten the words, so too had the females, but Adan heard the song. She wondered if she was the first in millennia to know what it meant. Blu loved her more than either of them realized. Adan had never in her life heard a more precious tone.
A power surged within her breast, love overwhelmed her. Adan blinked with the power she felt. She was going to be fine on this planet, her new home. She would be more than fine. She was sorry when an hour later Finn came in and removed the tracking device. Blu was asleep beside her, still crooning when Finn entered. He smiled at her while he took the device off her arm. Adan didn’t have the heart to tell him she had healed her broken bone herself.
* * * *
“What the hell is that thing?” Adan howled.
Rafe had been playing on the floor when Blu entered their home; she snatched her son up off the ground. Adan had never seen anything like the creature. Blu stood grinning like he’d found gold.
“This is the toff I said I’d be getting you. Let me tell you they are hard to come by. I had to do some pretty stiff hagg
ling for it. But I know how bad you wanted a pet.”
“A pet, Blu. Not Godzilla’s offspring. It’s huge.”
Understatement of the year.
The toff was as big as a black bear. Adan held Rafe high in her arms. The wriggling spring-haired creature was a mop of curls. It licked Rafe’s feet and the baby was loving it.
“It’ll eat Rafe,” Adan yelled and jumped onto the couch to get away from it.
“Nonsense. These creatures are as loyal as they come. They are gentle as hell unless something goes for one of us in its family. Then it’s a nightmare with teeth.”
“You’re going to need a dumpster and a dump truck to hold its poop.”
Blu took Rafe from her arms and sat him on the floor. Adan jumped off the couch and crouched near her son.
“Relax, Adan. It’s a pet, don’t kill him, give him a chance.”
Adan knew Blu was serious. She could kill the being, she was that worried. Rafe grabbed the toff with his little fists and yanked on him. Adan was concentrating on the toff, one wrong move, a growl, a fart, a burp, anything, she’d burn it. Rafe laughed, and with the toff’s help, walked around the living room easily until he wore himself out and smiling he reached for Adan.
Adan cuddled Rafe to her chest. She smoothed her hand down his long hair. She kissed his pudgy cheek. Blu was gazing at them strangely. Adan knew he wasn’t jealous of her and Rafe’s bond; she wondered if Blu was thinking of what it would have been like to have both a mother and father while growing up. Blu kissed his son and they both put him to bed for the night. The toff settled on the soft ground in his bedroom.
“He’ll be there for the night. The toff recognizes the weakest pack member and takes care of it,” Blu said.
“It’s already scary as hell,” Adan said. “If something angers it, the thing won’t suddenly turn into Cujo, will it?”
“If Cujo is a word for scary as shit, then yes, it will Cujo. But it won’t morph, what you see is what you get, unless pissed, then it gets angry, but stays the same size. Under all that fur is a set of teeth no bangor on the planet would mess with.”
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