Mated to the Jardan Warrior

by Aria Bell

  “What is wrong, d’mura osefei? Why do you weep?”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, my voice trembling. “I ruined everything for you. I charged in there like a fool when I didn’t understand a thing that was going on. And now we’re trapped here forever…”

  My Jardan warrior leaned down and kissed me tenderly. Then he rested his forehead against mine and smiled for me. “Do not blame yourself, Nena. You had your duty. I had mine. But now you know, and it lifts my heart that you believe me.”

  I nodded, sniffling, not trusting myself to talk. I didn’t like to cry often or without good reason because I was tough and I knew it. But neither did I try to hold back when there was good reason to cry. So I cried some more. Ryrke held me under the stars until I quieted.

  “Will we ever get off this planet?” I finally asked.

  “I have been thinking about that. My ship was destroyed, but there was an emergency beacon on the escape pod frame. Also, your ship sank, but it should have things we can salvage. The challenge is to boost the signal past the planet’s interference. But I believe we have no other choice. I had hoped someone would come searching for you…which is why I have held off until now.” He shook his head. “It will be a risk, with so many predators out there in the wilderness.”

  I looked at him, my heart lifting with hope for the first time in a long while. “Can we do that? Salvage supplies from my ship?”

  He looked up at the stars, but I could tell he was thinking hard. “There were aggressive water creatures. One of them attacked me while I was rescuing you. But the water was not too deep where the ship went down. Ten meters perhaps. A Jardan can easily hold his breath long enough to work at that depth. It would be difficult but certainly not impossible.”

  “Then let’s do it. Tomorrow. We’ll bring weapons and packs. We’ll hike to the ships and see what we can salvage.”

  He hesitated…and then nodded. I wondered why he had paused. I knew we couldn’t stay here on this planet forever. This strange, almost unreal dream couldn’t last. But what would happen to us if we did manage to be rescued? Would we simply forget our joining? I knew I could never forget the nights of incredible passion and pleasure he’d given me. The memories would stay with me for as long as I lived…but was that all I would get?

  And if we were rescued, how would I deal with his quest for vengeance? I was a galactic police officer. I wasn’t supposed to allow vigilante justice, even if it was deserved. But how could I defy him, when in my heart I wasn’t sure I wanted to?

  I shook my head. I had to stay focused on one thing at a time. First we had to get off this planet.

  But right now, I focused on the feel of his strong arm around me, holding me close. And on the growing flame of desire heating my core. Anticipation of our lovemaking to come flooded through me. I would make certain I showed him exactly how I grateful I was with every naughty trick my body had.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Ryrke Zo’dan

  I woke at dawn. Nena was draped over me, with her arm on my chest, snuggled tight against me and still snoring lightly. I looked down at her and smiled, loving the silken feel of her light human flesh and her warmth as our naked bodies were intertwined. My cock began to stir, almost as if we had not finished a marathon lovemaking session only a few hours before that had left us both sated and content. I could scent her musky aroma on me and I loved it. I loved how she was not shy about vocalizing her pleasure when I fucked her. I loved how she seemed to sense how important a kiss was to me as a Jardan. I loved that she gave pleasure as easily as she took it.

  She was something special.

  But now my duty and oath called again. I had been thinking about a way off this planet since the moment I’d survived the crash, but talking about it last night with Nena had brought my vengeance quest back to the forefront of my mind. I could not imagine this planet only as some kind of pleasure stop. A place where I had a willing, delightfully easy-to-arouse mate who enjoyed having all her erogenous zones brought to the heights of bliss while my cock thrust into every pleasure hole she had. That was too tempting. Too easy. I had the justice of my clan to deal out. To do so, I had to leave.

  I gently shook Nena awake. She blinked at me and smiled. I could not help it. I kissed her, trying to tell her without words how wonderful this short time with her had been. Challenging but wonderful.

  We set out within the hour for the wreckage of my ship. I intended to remove the distress beacon from my escape pod and bring it back to the settlement so that any searching ship would be brought straight to the settlement. My blade was at my side and a pack on my back with some small tools from the survival kit. The pack would help us carry any supplies we scavenged. Nena carried a Voltuni spear and another pack. She wore her cleaned flight suit with her long, dark hair tied back with Voltuni beads. I had managed to find a shirt that fit me. The shirt had been specially made and was given to me by a jovial Chief Moppo. Moppo told me I was distracting all the females by striding around bare-chested and he did not want any further problems. I kept my opinions about his problems to myself after having solved his biggest one by killing Gamesh. Not that I regretted it, since it had brought Nena into my bed…

  The Voltuni males I’d worked with at the watchtower had been full of advice on avoiding Soepra’s predator species. I followed their advice closely as we kept to cover as much as possible and moved as quickly as Nena could go. Last night I had stayed awake for a long while, worried about taking her with me. Every part of me wanted to protect her, keep her safe from harm and danger. But I also knew she was a capable female. Her help would make this easier.

  Besides, I wasn’t certain I could make her stay at the settlement, short of tying her up. While that might be fun for our love play, I knew she wanted to be by my side for this. So I kept my worries to myself. But I promised myself to keep a close watch over her so she would never come to harm.

  After a few hours of travel, we reached my escape pod, which was really just the cockpit section of my star fighter that detached from the ship frame when ejected. It was undisturbed, with no evidence the local wildlife or the Voltuni had been near. No evidence a rescue team had arrived, responding to the beacon, either.

  There was not all that much to scavenge. I already had the survival kit with me at our dwelling in the Voltuni settlement. I quickly used the tools I’d brought to detach the emergency beacon and put it in my pack. Working together, Nena and I stripped some of the wiring and a battery pack and anything that looked as if it might be useful.

  We set off again in the direction of the lake where her ship had crashed. So far there had been no sign of predators stalking us. Flying creatures with large wingspans sailed around in wide circles over toward the east where there were mountains. A few tiny mammal-like creatures crossed our paths. They were furry with large eyes. Prey creatures. They quickly vanished. But it was the predators that concerned me, both the ones on land and the ones beneath the water.

  At the lake, we searched the area for predators again to make sure we’d be safe. I saw more of this world’s strange creatures, but the sleek, two-legged animals that hopped away from me at high speeds were obviously not aggressive. Following the advice of the Voltuni hunters, I quickly made three small fire pits in a triangle around our part of the shore, with two on the sand and one on the slabs of rocks above where the sand ended. I used the laser lighter from my survival kit to light bundles of sweet-smelling plants. According to the Voltuni, the smoke would drive away the land predators, who hated the scent because it irritated their noses and eyes.

  Then I headed for the lake water, stripping down to just my pants and blade. “I will go in first and make sure the water is safe. Where is your ship’s emergency kit located?”

  “In the cockpit on the right side. There’s a bright orange box with a manual release. It has an emergency shelter, raft, rations, tools, batteries, and a broadcasting beacon.”

  I grunted my pleasure. That was a good start. Especially
the raft. I could have her in the raft above the ship so I wouldn’t have to swim to shore with any part I scavenged.

  Nena was watching me. “Be careful, Ryrke,” she said softly.

  I almost told her I was a Jardan warrior and had no care for caution or fear. But being smart and respecting both predators and unforeseen hazards was only wise. Instead, I went to her and wrapped her in my arms, effortlessly lifting her from the ground as she wrapped her legs around my waist. Then I kissed her. A parting kiss. One in which I poured all my tenderness and care for her, so new to me but burning so brightly, into the touch of our lips. I was not one for words, but I only hoped my kisses could convey what I felt.

  By how fiercely she kissed me back, I judged that she understood.

  I set her down, and without another word, I entered the water. With powerful strokes, I made my way out to where her ship had sunk. I followed the same swimming pattern as before. Several strong strokes and kicks above the surface, then diving down beneath the water to look for any approaching threat. I spotted plenty of strangely shaped fish and invertebrates. More spider-like crustaceans on the lakebed. And finally, I spotted one of the species of predator that had attacked me before. It maintained its distance, keeping away near a cluster of water plants and rocks in the dim shadows at the bottom of the lake.

  The part of the lake where the ship had come to rest was still a little cloudy from all the silt the crash had stirred up, but I could see well enough. I filled my lungs with a big gulp of air and then dove down, kicking with my powerful legs and rocketing down to the lakebed. My body efficiently transferred oxygen to my blood, so I could easily stay beneath the surface for ten minutes or more. Plenty of time to find the survival kit and anything else that might be useful.

  The cockpit shield was open, because I’d opened it to get her out and had not bothered to close it before the ship sank completely. The big orange survival kit was right where she said it would be, next to the pilot seat on the right.

  I found the manual release for the locks and freed the survival kit. I turned and kicked off from the ship and shot toward the surface. I began to swim for shore where Nena waited with her spear in hand, shielding her eyes from the sun as she watched me.

  Once I’d returned to shore, I quickly sorted through the kit. The kit was a little more than a half meter square and very efficiently packed with all types of useful things. But what I focused on now was the raft. It was built of cut-resistant material and would auto-inflate with the press of a button. We inflated it, and she climbed inside. I towed the raft behind me as I swam out to the ship again.

  Then it was a matter of scavenging parts and useful items from the ship and its compartments. Not all of the ship was easily accessible. It was a challenge working with tools under the surface, especially with some of the silt kicked up by my movements and the lack of good lighting. But as I gathered things, I brought them up to the raft and handed them to Nena. She kept watch with her spear, letting me know if she saw anything coming close. I also kept alert, but so far both predator and prey fish had kept their distance.

  I’d brought up a transponder, radio, and emergency beacon to the surface. I wasn’t certain they would all work after the crash and submersion, but I would have plenty of time to check them over later. I also found Nena’s blaster pistol tucked in a holster inside the cockpit. I looked at it for a long moment, unsure. Then I swam back to the surface with the rest of my supplies. Her eyes widened when I handed the blaster to her without a word.

  She took it and checked the charge. The water wouldn’t have harmed it. It could easily shoot through water and fire in the vacuum of space. Then she looked at me again. I could see that she wanted to say something. I didn’t want a big discussion right now with all the work I had to do and the threat of predators at hand.

  “Blast anything that swims too close,” I said, wiping the water out of my eyes. I softened my tone a little and gave her a smile. Humans seemed to enjoy smiles even more than the Jardan. “But do not shoot me. I am a big target.”

  “I won’t,” she replied, so solemnly that it hooked a laugh out of me. I preferred my blade, so I felt confident with her and the blaster. After the time we had shared together, I did not think she would use it on me, no matter that we had started off as enemies. She knew what I had sworn. I believed she understood the Jardan warrior way.

  I made another couple of descents before I spotted Nena waving frantically at me above at the lake surface. She was pointing to the north. Several of the sleek, sword-finned predators were swimming quickly in my direction. They looked hungry.

  I cursed and let the pack I’d been using to transport supplies fall back to the lakebed so I could draw my blade. I hoped the predators would veer off if I did not flee and faced them instead. No luck. I was forced to kill the first one that tried to clamp its jaws around my neck. The water filled with clouds of dark blood. I swam away, trying to get some distance to see the next threat. My blood was pounding with battle fury, but my thoughts were colder than ice.

  Another one of the creatures came at me. I killed it, but when my blade was buried in its flesh, a third predator swam out of the cloud of blood right for me. Its jaws gaped wide to tear into me—and then the creature vaporized as a blaster bolt sizzled through the water and hit it dead center in a swirling mix of superheated steam bubbles and blood.

  I glanced toward the surface of the water and saw Nena at the edge of the raft, holding her blaster in both hands. Faintly, I could hear her yelling something to me. But the blood in the water had attracted more predators, some of them even bigger and more dangerous.

  Then I saw a much larger predator with wide, wing-like fins racing straight for the raft. Right for Nena. I knew fear then. Fear for her safety. I began to swim for the surface, racing for her as fast as I could move.

  I was only afraid I might not reach her in time.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Nena Brax

  My shot had been perfect. I hit the predator fish dead center before it could sink its teeth into Ryrke when my warrior had his blade buried in another attacking creature. After I made the shot, all the fear and reaction set in. My hands started to shake. That had been too close.

  “Get up here!” I yelled to Ryrke, praying he could hear me deep under the water. He turned to look up at me after I took the blaster shot. I waved at him, trying to convey that he should forget about the ship and surface right away. “There are too many of them!”

  He began to swim toward me with amazing speed. Relief flooded through me. The other predators had begun feeding on the carcasses of the ones already killed. He was in the clear to make it back to the raft.

  I didn’t see the huge dark creature closing in on me until it burst out of the water and tried to bite off my arms with gaping, teeth-filled jaws. I screamed in surprise as I threw myself backward. The jaws snapped shut right where my arms had been an instant ago. The metal survival kit box hit my funny bone as I fell and jarred the blaster from my hands. I swore as numbness shot up and down my arm.

  The predator creature was hauling itself onto the raft by flailing with its wide, flapping fins. Its jaws snapped at my feet. One lunge nearly took off my foot.

  I didn’t have time to scream. I stretched my arm out, grabbing for the blaster. The creature was almost on me. I had no more room to escape. It reared back to take a chunk out of my thigh.

  An explosion of water shot up beside the raft. I had a glimpse of Ryrke Zo’dan launching himself up from the surface, raising his blade high above his head, and driving it down into the creature before it tore into my leg. The creature thrashed and died. Ryrke yanked his blade free, grabbed the predator, and threw it over the side with ease, although it probably weighed at least as much as I did.

  “Are you hurt?” he demanded, his green gaze roaming over my body quickly, checking me for injuries.

  “No. Almost. You saved me.”

  “We are even, d’mura osefei,” he rumbled. He was staring d
own at the creature’s blood in the raft. And at the very large hole his blade had punctured in the bottom when it had gone completely through with the immense force of his blow. “The raft is sinking. We don’t have much time. I will paddle. You shoot anything that comes close.”

  Ryrke paddled with his arms at the front of the raft, big butterfly-like strokes that got us moving. My heart was in my throat as I scanned the water with my blaster ready. Nothing was chasing us. The predators had fallen to a feeding frenzy on each other.

  But the raft was quickly filling up with water. It was already nearing half full. As it filled, we moved slower and seemed to sink faster. Soon we’d be right back in the water filled with dangerous predators that wanted to eat us. I couldn’t bail us out and protect us with the blaster at the same time.

  “We’re sinking,” I said, my voice surprising me with how calm it sounded when inside I was near panic.

  “I know,” Ryrke replied, paddling harder with his big arms. Despite all his superhuman effort, we had only made it about halfway to shore.