The Vilka's Servant: Scifi Alien Romance (Shifters of Kladuu Book 1)

by Pearl Foxx

  The crowd of servants at the outer rim of the amphitheater’s pit was almost as large as the number of clan members in the stands. Hundreds and hundreds of them, wearing cloth tied around their shoulders or what had clearly been separate pieces now sewn together to cover their bodies. All around him, whispering voices hushed, and servants watched him as he walked by. Occasionally, he received nods and tight, nervous smiles. In his wake, the talking resumed, and one name floated after him: Vera.

  They were ready. His efforts these past two days hadn’t been wasted.

  A roar went through the crowd as the clan jumped to their feet. They jeered and threw rocks and rotten food toward the pit. At the divide between the servants and the clan, Rayner had a clear view of the pit.

  Guards led Vera out. She had been stripped of the tunic he’d given her and was wearing little more than a few scraps of fabric to cover her most intimate places. Her eyes were red with unshed tears. They pushed her to her knees in the center of the dark-stained dirt.

  “Don’t watch this, old friend.”

  Rayner turned at the familiar voice. Gerrit stood in front of him with Nestan hovering a few steps away. “You’d have me look away and bring myself even more shame?” Rayner asked.

  “No. I just wish there was a way to spare you.”

  “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be up with your father?”

  The young man shook his head. “I won’t stand beside him when what he’s doing is so wrong. He has to deliver this himself, without my support.”

  Rayner offered the heir a sad smile and squeezed his shoulder. “You’ll be far better than him, Gerrit. Even when he was in his prime and bringing us out of the dark times, you will stand on the shoulders of his accomplishments, and you’ll carry us so much further.”

  “I hope so.”

  With a nod, Rayner turned back to Vera, who was staring at the crowd, searching faces. Searching for him. He pushed closer to the pit’s edge. The servants around him and Gerrit parted, and her eyes caught on him. Relief flooded her face.

  Kaveh stood and raised his hands. A beat later, the crowd settled, but the rumble of excitement coursed through the stands.

  “My people! My Vilkas!” Kaveh called out, bringing the crowd to immediate silence. “We are here today to witness the crimes of a servant. This woman you see before you has committed an act of treason and insubordination so great that we have no precedent. She has connived with and seduced one of our own and worked with others of her low station to orchestrate not only her own escape, but also that of three other human servants. Humans, all of them, who should have been grateful to not have been slaughtered upon their unsanctioned landing on this grand planet.”

  At this, Vera rolled her eyes, and Rayner’s love for her surged. Gerrit chuckled beside him. “Are all humans so spicy in their temperament?”

  “For our sake,” Rayner whispered back, “I hope not.”

  Kaveh continued. “In her brazen, unmerited treachery against the very clan who welcomed her and kept her safe, she has undermined the entire principle of our culture. We have operated under a hierarchy of power, a structure that has descended through time from the very Originals who first populated this planet. It was spoken in the stars, and we merely listened. This human has desecrated that beyond measure.”

  The crowd screamed again, whipped up into excitement by the reading of Vera’s crimes.

  Rayner leaned forward, listening to every sound coming from the stage.

  His mate was dry-eyed despite the humiliation she endured. Kneeling like a slave, she kept her back straight and her eyes clear. She smiled at him. He wasn’t strong enough to return the gesture.

  “This human slave has shamed herself and insulted us all.” Kaveh’s voice rose above the crowd.

  Vera did not cower.

  “Her crimes as laid before you are punishable in the most extreme ways possible. Even the old laws have no mercy for those who would undermine their Alpha! It is time we look to the stars again and decree a suitable punishment!”

  The crowd cheered, but the servants around him were silent.

  “To remind those who might find her insubordination inspirational, we will use the same ancient laws as was used against my half-brother, Savas. At dawn, the human servant will be strung outside the enclave, above the entrance to our ancient holy home, until she succumbs to either the elements or the Draqons!”

  Vera flinched, and she looked away from Rayner. At the gruesome punishment, she paled. Before he could get her attention, she was hoisted to her feet by two rough guards and dragged back to the tunnels where she would be imprisoned until nightfall.

  Men and women cheered. The bloodlust the Omega Sacrifice had whipped up in them had taken over, and they were succumbing to their baser instincts. His fellow Vilkas were acting more beast than man, and he watched the people he had sworn his life to protect celebrate the impending death of the woman he loved.

  At his back, the servants stood silent and watchful. He’d warned them this would be the punishment leveled upon Vera. But their rage still simmered in the air around him, thick in its taste and smell.

  He turned to them now and moved deeper into their numbers until he stood in the center of them. They stared back at him, waiting to hear what he would say.

  “Do you want to save her?” he asked a servant standing near him.

  “I’d give my life for her,” she replied, jaw squared.

  “As would I.” Rayner spoke to them, his eyes searching their gathered numbers. “Because I love her. She’s my true mate.”

  He’d spoken the words a day and a half ago when Vera was deep in a cell, and he’d determined Kaveh had turned his back on his old friend. To the servants, to his mother’s people, he’d turned for help. Reluctant, they hadn’t believed his intentions until he’d told them about the mating call. Until he’d told them the story of his mother and sworn to right the wrongs he’d allowed to accumulate against them.

  On the Kladian moons, he’d vowed to right those wrongs. To protect Vera. To protect them.

  It was why he couldn’t leave with Vera tonight. It was why he’d lied. He owed these people so much, least of all the promises he’d made them.

  Kladuu was his home. For his mother, he’d see these servants their rights and privileges granted. They would be full clan members before he allowed the moon madness to take him.

  To them now, he said, “We are on the same side. After tonight, no more of you will die trying to escape. No more scraps of cloth. No more scraps of food. No more begging and starving and pinching together a survival promised to you but never received. We will fight together tonight. Are you with me?”

  The servants dipped their chins toward him, a cheer impossible with the clan still clamoring in the stands behind them. Not all of them agreed with him or believed him. They would stay back tonight in silence, their weary eyes watching. But most would stay true to their word. To them, Rayner bowed back and fisted his hand over his heart.

  “As will we,” said a familiar voice.

  Rayner turned to find Gerrit and Nestan. He shook his head at the heir and his best friend. “Neither of you should be involved. If we fail, it will mean death.”

  Gerrit glanced around at the servants who had gathered near them. “If a revolution is coming, I’m the only one who can stop it from becoming a civil war. Plus, I was taught better than to leave a brother in his time of need.” He clasped Rayner on the shoulder.

  “And if you think I’m letting my only cousin go out on this suicide mission alone, you’re as nuts as everyone is saying.” Nestan cracked a lighthearted smile and added, “Besides, it’s not like I’ve got anything better to do tonight.”

  21

  Vera

  The ground vibrated beneath Vera. Barely a second later, a muffled boom sounded far above her head. Some instinct buried deep inside her sent her scrambling across the narrow cell. A chunk of stone fell from the ceiling onto the ground where she had just b
een lying.

  In the distance, small explosions rumbled the mountain and sent more bits of rock cascading down from the ceiling. Vera got to her feet near the door, her eyes on the ceiling. Higher above her, perhaps in the main cavern, she heard the sliding crash of rocks. Another blast sounded closer, and a guard ran by her cell.

  “Hey,” she yelled, wrapping her fingers through the metal bars of her cell’s door. “What’s going on? Who’s attacking?”

  No one answered as two more guards ran past, checking behind them as if they were being chased.

  “Answer me!” Vera screamed after them. “Come back!”

  “Vera?” Niva’s tiny voice called out, and then again, stronger, “Vera!”

  “I’m here!” she cried, shaking the bars as much as she could to rattle the door against its hinges.

  Through the darkness of the hall, Niva’s heart-shaped face filled the door’s window. “There you are!” Niva said. She stuck her fingers through the bars to grasp Vera’s. “We’ve been looking everywhere. They moved you. Sorry it took us so long.”

  “You’re right on time, as always. But what’s going on? Are those explosions?”

  “It’s total chaos, but it’s also the perfect backdrop for a daring and romantic rescue.”

  Niva winked as Rayner came up behind her, keys in hand.

  “Ready to go home, Vera?” he asked her, the smile on his lips not quite meeting his eyes.

  “We are,” she said.

  He unlocked the door, and she fell into his arms, feeling the strength of him wrap around her. He kissed her tear-stricken eyes before placing his lips against hers. She rose up on her toes, pulling him against her to deepen the kiss.

  “We have to go …” he whispered between kisses, but she didn’t care.

  “Blessed Avilku, do we really have to watch this?” Nestan stood behind Niva, flipping a knife in his hand. The scar through his eyebrow looked all the more sinister in the flickering light of the tunnel. But he smiled at Vera and dipped his chin.

  “What’s happening upstairs?” Vera asked, her question punctuated by more rock falling from the ceiling.

  “The servants are revolting, and Savas’s loyalists are instigating fights.”

  At Rayner’s plainly delivered words, Vera’s mouth fell open. “What?”

  “That’s one hell of a distraction,” Gerrit called as he jogged down the tunnel to join them.

  He was leading a large group of people, and as they came into the light, Vera recognized Rebeka, Isma, and all the other human women. Her heart leaped at the sight of the women, all safe and grinning like fools. As Gerrit came to a stop beside her cell, Niva beamed up at him.

  “You got everyone?” Rayner asked his friend. Unlike the women, Rayner and Gerrit weren’t smiling. Instead, their faces were drawn with worry. Only Nestan joined the women in their excitement.

  “All of them.” Gerrit let out a huff. “I swear, Rayner, if you blow up my mountain before I even get to be Alpha …”

  Vera had so many questions, but Nestan clapped his hands right as a rumble echoed from somewhere above them. “Let’s go before this mountain caves in.”

  “That’s not funny, Nestan.” Gerrit swiped at him with his knife.

  Nestan lithely avoided the strike and danced out ahead, the women following after him like fresh-feathered ducklings. “It wasn’t? Not even a little bit?”

  Gerrit growled and stalked after him and the women. Rayner followed, keeping Vera close with an arm tight around her waist, his fingers spread across her ribs, right below her breast.

  “Did you do this?” Vera asked. When Rayner cast a questioning glance down at her, she pointed upward to indicate the revolt. “Did you help them? That was your plan?”

  “It was going to happen. Your escape only fueled them with hope. They want more for themselves, Vera, and you inspired that in them. I simply gave them the time and the means to put up a good fight.”

  His words made Vera sick. She wanted more for her fellow servants, but not at the cost of their lives. “The servants won’t be hurt, will they?”

  “They know what they’re doing, and they were prepared to fight. The women and children are deep in the mountain, ready to run if it should come to that. But I know Ansel, the new Beta. He’ll offer to negotiate before the destruction gets too bad.”

  “And Savas?”

  “Won’t make it out of this mountain alive.”

  Even with his reassurances, Vera’s stomach still cramped with fear.

  Nestan scouted the area ahead of them before running back to report, again and again with a seemingly endless fount of energy. Around them, the occasional explosion went off, sending a smattering of rocks pinging off the floor and tangling in their hair. The walls shuddered with the violence.

  When they came to a giant set of double doors made from thick glass that glinted a dull ebony in the dim lighting, Nestan went ahead once again. Rayner and Gerrit stopped farther back with the women behind them. As Nestan listened at the doors, Vera glanced at Rayner. His face was hard set and his mouth tight. To see it pulled at her heart and made her stomach drop. He wouldn’t look at her.

  Her stomach gave a nauseous lurch, and for a horrible second, she thought she might puke.

  “I don’t hear anything,” Nestan said, reaching for the latch.

  “Wait.” Rayner stepped forward. “We need to be ready to fight.”

  “If there’s fighting on the other side, I can get in without anyone caring. No one knows I’m with you.”

  “It’s too dangerous.” Rayner shook his head.

  Nestan stood up straighter, a scowl on his face that made him appear older and far more dangerous. “I’m disposable. You’re the true Beta, and Gerrit is the next Alpha. I’m the only one who can do this.”

  “You aren’t disposable,” Gerrit said before Rayner could argue. “But you are the least likely to draw attention. Rayner, let him go.” The young Alpha’s voice, although quiet in their secrecy, held a power and command that even Rayner couldn’t deny.

  He nodded. Without another word, Nestan slipped through the door.

  They all held their breaths, ears straining to catch any sound coming from the other side of the doors. The women shifted anxiously behind them.

  “I don’t hear anything,” Niva whispered.

  “That’s good, right?” Vera asked. “If it’s quiet, then no one’s fighting.”

  “Or everyone’s already dead.”

  Niva’s eyes stretched wide at Rebeka’s harsh words. “Oh …”

  “No one’s dead. It’s fine,” Vera reassured Niva, but even she heard the undertone of uncertainty in her voice.

  They stopped speaking, and the quiet seeped into the tunnel like water into the earth. Niva took Isma’s and Rebeka’s hands.

  Finally, when Vera thought she could bear it no longer and Rayner looked ready to burst in after Nestan, the door cracked open and Nestan stepped through, throwing it wider so they could see the landing pad. “Free and clear, my friends. Not a soul in sight.”

  “Is anyone dead?” Niva asked, her voice a squeak.

  “Nope. The guards left their sentry stations, probably figuring no one had any use for a ship. I mean, where would anyone go? Besides the prisoners that is.” He chuckled to himself.

  Gerrit shook his head at his friend. “You’re insane, do you know that?”

  “Bite me, royal.”

  “Let’s go,” Rayner said, waving them all through the door. Nestan dashed ahead toward the small ship sitting at the end of the deck beneath a protective overhang of rock.

  “What about the Draqons?” Rebeka asked as they hurried through the dark. She cast a weary glance to the sky. Vera did the same, remembering the rain of arrows and spray of acid and the crazy women riding on the backs of the huge creatures.

  “It’s still early for their patrols,” Gerrit answered. “We should be able to get everyone on board and take off before they show up.

  “Good.
” Rebeka shivered.

  At the small ship at the end of the flight deck, Nestan opened the hatch and stepped back, ready to help everyone onboard.

  The other women ran toward the ship and swarmed around Nestan. He laughed as he helped them climb aboard. Only Niva trailed behind the others, glancing back at Gerrit now and then. Vera stayed back with Rayner. When they were almost to the ship, she tugged him to a stop.

  “Look at me,” she demanded.

  “There’s no time,” he snapped. Up ahead, Isma climbed on board with tears spilling down her cheeks and a bright smile on her face; she thanked Nestan countless times.

  “I’m sorry you have to leave,” Vera said, softer now. He was only acting strange because he was leaving his home. That was all. “I know how hard this must be for you. But we can make a good life for ourselves on Earth, I promise.”

  “What?” He stared down at her, not blinking. Vera frowned. But then Rayner understood what she’d meant, and he quickly added, “Right. Come on. We don’t have much time.”

  Vera was still frowning when Rayner took her arm, but she let him hurry her toward the ship. Gerrit helped Niva board, though she moved slowly, exchanging whispered words with him.

  “Start the prep,” Rayner told Gerrit when they reached the door.

  Vera climbed on board with Rayner right behind her. Staying outside, Gerrit engaged the ship’s outer electronics for a preflight check.

  The women took their seats, their trembling hands fumbling the harnesses. In the small bridge, Nestan adjusted the computer settings to set the ship on an autopilot setting with coordinates to Earth. The journey would be longer than just traveling to the space station, Vera figured, which meant Rayner wouldn’t have to be piloting the ship the entire time. As the final preparations concluded, the women chattered excitedly, hugging each other from their seats and wiping their tears.