by Pixie Moon
“We’ll get whoever broke in. No matter how much blood is shed,” Tairin solemnly swears from the backseat.
“Zyfing right we will.” Someone is going to pay.
The second we arrive and get out of the vehicle, the smell of clocpinians sinks into my nose and invades my vents. Zyf! From the scent, I know it’s the ones Ryk and I dealt with the evening before.
“Prel! They aren’t supposed to be on Zaphin anymore,” Ryk says. His eyes are cold as he looks around.
“They’re sneakier than most clocpinians. We’ll have to remember that,” Von says as we all break up and start searching for clues as to what’s happened.
With weapons drawn, we advance. Von and I enter the house while Ryk and Tairin start moving around each side of the house. Regardless of where they are, we’ll find them.
In the house their scent is stronger than outside but too weak for them to still be here. Von checks the rooms on one side of the corridor while I check the ones on the other. At this point all we are looking for are clues.
At the end of the corridor, we meet. “None of the rooms I checked were entered by the clocpinians. How about yours?” I ask.
“No. Let’s go outside and get these zyfing fools,” Von says as his hand rubs his throwing knives.
“They will pay for taking Hallie Mead.” As we jog down the corridor and out into the backyard, all I can think about is her safety. If they’ve hurt her in anyway, I know I won’t be able to control myself. Hallie is my weakness. The warrior in me isn’t happy about that but the man in me doesn’t care. No, the man in me just wants her back. The scent of clocpinians has me growling. My claws come out as anger rushes through my body.
Ryk and Tairin call us over. We quickly cross the yard to our friends.
I calm myself and inhale deeply. Hallie and the clocpinians have been here. “Let’s move out.” No other words are necessary. We can all scent the people we are tracking.
Stealthily, we follow their scent. The smell of my scent on Hallie is tainted by her captors. My stomach twists with rage. Nobody touches my little seema.
We follow their path and scan for evidence. There are many signs of the groups passing clumsily through the jungle. Any young zaphinian could follow all of the broken plants and disturbed ground.
Their scent strengthens. I look around and see a lot of evidence. “They were fighting.”
Ryk kneels by a mass of smashed grass and broken vines. “Yes, it looks like they were at it for a while.”
Tairin and Von nod in silent agreement. Their gazes scanning the area with keen intent.
Ryk stands and inhales. His hard gaze pans the jungle. “The two that were fighting took a different path than your seema and the clocpinian with her.”
Tairin’s eyes reveal his agreement. “Let’s follow them while Zar and Von go after Hallie.”
I nod in approval of the plan and inhale deeply. I follow my little seema’s scent. Von is close on my heels. We come to a new location where only the scent of Hallie and one of the clocpinians can be scented. The smell of blood taints the air. A small jolt of pride runs through me. The blood is clocpinian, not human.
I bend and touch some orange blood. My heart aches when I scan the area and see Hallie’s hair. I move to the rough cut strands and pick some of them up. Rage moves through me as I smell them. Her scent has me itching to resume the search.
“Looks like your female is a fighter, brother.” Von’s gaze moves from the hair in my hand as he scans the jungle.
“So it seems,” I reply. The stink of blood hinders the trail that will lead to Hallie. My heart pounds out a rage filled rhythm as my need to find her increases by the second.
“Let’s go find this prelling idiot,” Von says.
The side of me that longs to find Hallie wants to run wildly through the jungle trying to pick up her scent again. The warrior in me wants to find the clocpinian who took Hallie and kill him then go find Hallie if she’s not still with her captor.
I try to scent her but in my wrath, I can only smell clocpinian blood. A fresh burst of rage pulses through me.
“Come on, Zar. Her scent trail is tainted by the blood of our enemy. We’ll find her though.” Von heads through the jungle.
I snarl in frustration and follow the foul scent along with my brother. My blood beats against the walls of my veins. Fear for my little seema makes me want to howl in rage.
Something in my path wiggles. I stop and notice that Von does as well. My gaze follows the moving vine. When I step closer to the hugmar tree its vines reach out and circle my wrists.
“What...” Impatience winds around my spine and shoots outward. I’m on the brink of asking Von to do a little vine trimming when a familiar pulse pushes through my wrists and radiates through my body.
My muscles stiffen as my world narrows to the heartbeat coming from the hugmar tree. It’s Hallie’s. I’d know her sweet pulse anywhere. I hear it every night when I press my face to her neck. I never appreciated my hearing abilities as much as I do right now.
Joy bursts through my chest. The vines send me another pulse beat before releasing me. I turn to Von and smile. “Hallie’s fine.”
“Do you know where she is?”
“Not exactly. I was given the feel of her heartbeat. It’s strong and healthy. A little fast but that’s to be expected under the circumstances. She connected with the hugmar tree in our backyard and that connection just saved her life. She has to be snuggled up next to the trunk of one of the trees nearby. Once we take care of her attackers, I’ll go looking for her.” I’m itching to find her now but I also need to know that the threat to her is over.
We continue to follow the stink of the clocpinian’s blood until we encounter Ryk and Tairin. The two are looking at us as though they are superior because they found the clocpinians first.
Von shakes his head and Tairin smirks. The gleam in Ryk’s eyes tells me I won’t be allowed to forget this defeat anytime soon.
Ryk leans close to me and sniffs. “You found her.” It wasn’t a question.
“I know about where she is and I know she’s okay. That’s enough for now,” I whisper.
Ryk rubs his blade and grins sinisterly. “Good. Let’s go take care of the clocpinians.”
I turn to Tairin. “You’re on vidcam duty since there are more of us than them.”
Tairin smirks as he gets the vidcam ready to record. “Nobody can say we aren’t fair fighters.”
I pull out several of my special throwing stars and start flinging them at two of the clocpinians. Von follows by throwing his knives at the last male. I grin as my enemy jumps and starts cursing as they look around. Orange blood seeps from the many nicks of our weapons.
While Von and I continue to wound the stupid clocpinians, Ryk and Tairin circle them. When we have them thoroughly surrounded, I stop throwing my stars. Von throws once more at each of them for good measure before he stops.
I hold my stars where the three fools can see them.
Stil rubs a scratch on his arm. “That was a cheap shot. Why didn’t you approach as warriors?”
Ryk snorts. “The purpose of their actions were to let you three know you didn’t stand a chance. We don’t want any more of you to die here on Zaphin.”
As Glip starts whining about us not fighting fairly, I look at Mocso’s thigh. It has three bloody wounds. Pride in my seema circulates through my entire body. She is a warrior in her own way.
My gaze swings over to the still whining Glip. I cut him off and ask, “How does taking females count as fair?” Hallie’s scent is strongest on him. My blood boils at the thought of this male trying to steal my female. If not for planet relations, Glip would already be dead.
Glip wipes a trail of orange blood from his forehead. “Do you see any female here?” The maliciousness of his tone pokes the warrior in me. The male looks at his bloody fingers and then glares at me. “You will pay for this, TocGar. My father is going to demand retribution for the crimes you a
nd the others have done to us. To make it easier on yourselves, you should all leave and pretend you never saw us. Our mission has nothing to do with you.”
I’m surprised by the continued vehemence in Glip’s voice. Plus, I can smell the aroma of the lie coming from Glip’s mouth. What have these clocpinians been drinking?
Von snorts and rotates the knife in his right hand. “The only mission you three are supposed to be on is the one that returns your dead friend to his family.” Von looks the males over with cold eyes. “Your orders were clear.”
All three of the clocpinians stiffen. A fresh wave of rage scents the air. Once again, I wonder what these males are on.
Stil shifts and then shouts, “We don’t live here so you can’t order us to do anything.”
“Oh, but we can. The four of you caused a lot of harm which hurt several people, damaged a club, and led to the death of Rep. Since you’re all mentally slow, I’ll tell you exactly what that means.”
I pause and stare them down. They should be looking at the ground in meekness but they’re not. “When your actions caused us to be called, you were no longer welcome to freely roam our planet. Our commander has already told you all of this. Now that you’ve heard it again, I hope you understand it.”
Ryk rubs his knife and eyes all three of the foolish clocpinians. “Now we are going to escort you back to the spaceport, where you are going to call your craft to come get you, and then we are going to put a tracking device on your spacecraft, and then watch you leave Zaphin.”
Stil looks at Glip who then growls and bears his claws. “You are not about to send us home before we are ready to leave.”
Glip slashes his left hand through the air and then all three of the males yell and charge.
I jump back when a big bare foot comes toward my chest. Glip lands and then pivots to come at me again. I don’t give him a chance. I start throwing my stars at Glip’s feet with the right amount of pressure to dig deep into the foolish clocpinian’s skin. My stars do their job well and then return to me only to be thrown again and again.
Orange blood seeps from many cuts on Glip’s feet. I catch a glimpse of my brother throwing his knives just as rapidly as I’m throwing my stars. Ryk’s sword is pulsing with energy as he does battle with Mocso. These males don’t stand a chance. It’s a shame they didn’t catch on sooner.
Glip blinks wildly and shouts before he makes a run for a dense area of the jungle. I watch as a hugmar vine reaches out from low down and trips the clocpinian. Glip whines and scrambles across the jungle floor.
I chuckle. The sound is just as menacing as I feel. Glip tried to take my female, he deserves everything he’s getting and more.
I’m on him in no time. I secure Glip’s hands behind his back and slap a pair of my thickest metal cuffs to his wrists. Glip is squirming and cursing as I haul him to his feet.
Looking around, I see that Ryk and Von have Stil and Mocso cuffed as well.
Tairin walks over to me. “I’ll take him in while you go find your pretty little seema.”
I glare at Glip. “Try taking my female again and I’ll kill you.” I let the promise show in my eyes. When Glip’s gaze drops to the ground, I release him and nod at Tairin.
Going to the hugmar tree that tripped Glip, I touch it and clear my mind. A warm pulse issues from the tree. A moment later, I feel a connection to the tree slice through me. Images of a path flash through my mind. When the vision ends, I thank the hugmar tree and follow the path I’ve been given.
Halfway down the trail I’ve been given, I inhale Hallie’s unique aroma. Relief soothes my soul and slows my heartbeat. Fear taints her sweet scent. The smell breaks my heart. Needing to relieve her stress, I hurriedly follow her scent.
Another rush of relief courses through me when I see a suspiciously thick hugmar trunk. Needing to hold her, I run up to the trunk and plunge my hands into the leaves. I moan when my hands touch her precious skin. She’s everything to me.
She screams in surprise at my touch. I know better than to laugh. The hugmar vines concealing her slide away as I pull her to my chest. She only struggles for a split second.
The warmth of her flesh pressing to mine has me shuddering at the sense of rightness. I feel whole again with her in my arms. I inhale her sweet scent and glory in the feel of it circulating through me.
I don’t know what I’d do without her. Hallie Mead is more than a fascination to me.
I love her.
I shudder as I realize that I need her by my side forever. Hallie belongs to me. As my kesdy. My zaphinian wife.
My heart flips and expands in my chest. Love for her fills every cell in my body. The need to conjoin her to me consumes me. Soon, I’ll mark her as mine.
CHAPTER
36
~ Hallie ~
♥
Footfalls growing steadily closer ramp up my fear. I remain totally still. I feel a presence near the hugmar tree. A silent scream lodges in my throat. I can’t go back with those stinking males.
A scream rips from my mouth when large hands suddenly grip my shoulders. Zyf! I’ve just blown my cover. To my horror the vines fall away and I find myself being crushed against a wide chest. I struggle for a second. Then Zar’s masculine scent fills my lungs.
I relax but only for a moment. We are too exposed. The bad guys could come upon us at any second. I can’t let them hurt Zar. He’s my world.
Reaching out, I grab up a few of the leafy vines and try to put them around both of us. Come on hugmar, don’t fail me now, I silently beseech the tree. I don’t understand why the tree is no longer protecting us. Does it dislike my warrior for some reason?
Holding some of the vines, I nudge him in closer to the tree and look up into his curious eyes.
“There are bad guys in the jungle,” I whisper, hoping only Zar hears me.
A gleam enters his intense eyes. “We’ve already taken care of them, little one. It’s time to go home where we belong.”
I’m stunned but I shouldn’t be. Din Zar has repeatedly proven that he’s capable of taking care of himself and me as well. Pride in him fills my chest to overflowing.
He places his hand on the tree’s trunk. “Thank you,” Zar tells the tree. The leaves shimmy for a moment in response. I’m glad the tree doesn’t hate my warrior.
I place my hand on the trunk as well to relay my own thanks. A warm pulse comes from the trunk. I smile at the wonders of my new home. A home I wouldn’t want without Din Zar TocGar.
I love him.
It’s about time you realized that, my logical side points out. She’s right. I truly fell for him the moment I laid eyes on him.
He pulls me away from the tree and looks me over. “Are you hurt, little one?”
The concern in his gaze heats my heart and points out another reason why I love him. “No.” I look him over and see a few drops of orange blood on him. “How about you?”
A chuckle rumbles up his broad chest. “I’m not injured.” His eyes take on a merry gleam. “Later I want to hear all about how you escaped three clocpinians.”
He looks at my hands and his lips twitch at the sight of a little bit of orange blood on my right hand. He turns me around and I feel his hand sink into my hair. My shorter hair. It has to look bad. But at least I’m alive.
I’m whirled around and then pressed into his chest. I inhale his scent and let it fill me with love and happiness.