Alien Warrior (Zerconian Warriors Book 1)

by Sadie Carter

  Zoey climbed into the shuttle and took a seat, belting herself in.

  God, she hoped she was in the right shuttle. Knowing her luck, this was the one shuttle in the bay that was broken.

  This was not the way she wanted to die.

  Chapter Eight

  Dex rushed down to the shuttle bay. Stars, what a mess. Filled with fury, he could barely contain a growl of rage. Why would the Teargans attack them? Worse, they’d tricked them, then inflicted so much damage that it was too dangerous to remain on the ship. Their only recourse was to evacuate.

  He’d given the order to start evacuating thirty minutes ago, keeping only a minimum crew onboard to cover the escape shuttles as they left. He didn’t want to risk the Teargans picking them off one by one.

  The only thing keeping him sane was that Zoey’s shuttle had gotten away safely. Not all of the shuttles had been so lucky. He sent a prayer up to the Gods for those lost warriors lives.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Thor yelled as he raced up beside him.

  Incredulous, Dex gaped at him. “Thor? What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be with Zoey.”

  “I couldn’t stay. There were injured who needed me.”

  “You left her?” Dex threw himself at his cousin, pinning him to the wall. “I gave you an order. If something has happened to her...” It didn’t bear thinking about.

  “I put her in the first shuttle. She promised me she would remain there.”

  “You trusted her word? Zoey is young and foolish. She doesn’t think before she acts and you left her?”

  “Hey, you two, want to do this later?” Koran asked, separating them.

  The ship rocked, creaking.

  “Fine.” Dex nodded and took off running. “But she better be safe.”

  This was his fault. He should have ensured her safety, not left the protection of his mate to his cousin.

  Zoey hummed to herself, trying to keep the fear from overtaking her. All the other shuttles had gone—this was the last one left. What if she was the only person left on this battleship? What if Dex had already gone?

  “Oh God, don’t let me die here.”

  The door to the shuttle opened and she nearly wept in relief as Thor stepped inside.

  “Zoey!” His jaw dropped open. “What are you doing here? You were supposed to remain on the other shuttle.”

  “Zoey?” Dex stepped inside and pushed Thor aside. Zoey leapt into his arms with a sob. Thank God.

  “I thought I was on my own. I thought I was going to die.”

  “We still might,” Koran replied grimly. “Locan, get us out of here.”

  Three more men climbed on board, one going straight to the controls.

  Dex set her down on a seat and belted her in, before doing the same. “Zoey, what are you doing here?”

  “You promised you’d stay in the other shuttle.” Thor scowled at her.

  “I promised not to leave the shuttle bay,” she countered. “And I didn’t. But I couldn’t leave without Dex.”

  Placing his hand behind her head, Dex pulled her in for a short but intense kiss. “Although I’m not happy that you left the other shuttle, I am glad to see you, my own.”

  She smiled up at him.

  “But we will be talking about this later,” he warned.

  “You need to beat her ass so she can’t sit down for a week.” Thor crossed his arms over his chest.

  She glowered at Thor. “No one asked you.”

  “No, but I promised to spank you myself if you disobeyed me.”

  “I didn’t disobey you.”

  “Both of you, quiet. Thor, you won’t be touching my mate. My own, you might not have directly disobeyed, but you knew what Thor’s wishes were. What my wishes were. I am happy to have you with me, but I would be happier to know you were away safely. Now, let Locan concentrate, we are still in a lot of danger.”

  “Do you think they’ll fire at us?” She clasped hold of his hand tightly.

  “I know they will. The only question is how successful we are at evading direct fire.”

  The shuttle left the shuttle bay, spinning and going directly under the large battleship. Zoey’s stomach spun sickeningly as the shuttle dipped and dived. For once she was glad she couldn’t understand Zerconian. She’d rather not know if she was about to die in a spectacular ball of fire.

  Zoey held on for dear life, certain that they were about to die at any moment. She bit down on her lip, praying silently. There was so much she had to do, so much she hadn’t seen.

  A loud bang forced a scream from her lips, and Dex yelled something in Zerconian as he undid his belt and threw himself over her. The shuttle spun out of control.

  Zoey screamed, the pressure on her head, as they dropped suddenly, was excruciating—the pain so intense she would have done anything to stop it.

  Her lungs heaved for breath as the world went dark.

  ***

  Zoey groaned. Oh, God. There was no way she was exercising ever again. This was torture. She stretched, whimpering. There wasn’t an inch of her that didn’t hurt.

  Something brushed against her cheek, tickling her. She batted it away.

  “Go away, Dex. I’m not in the mood.” A dull ache in her stomach made her groan.

  It brushed against her cheek again. When did Dex get so hairy? Zoey opened her eyes, screaming as she looked up into two round, black eyes staring back at her from a circular, hairy face.

  “Oh God. Not Dex. Not Dex.” She scrambled backward, away from the thing that just stared back at her. It was only about a foot high with fur covering its entire body. Its eyes studied her steadily as it made low, snuffling noises.

  “What the hell are you?” She watched it for a long moment. “You’re not going to eat me, are you?”

  Sure, it looked adorable. Almost like a gremlin—the cute, cuddly kind. It had large, pointed ears and tiny hands and feet. But that didn’t mean it wouldn’t turn on her at any moment. But it just stood there, bouncing up and down slightly and making those quiet noises.

  “Good boy or girl.” She reached out a hand slowly for it to sniff. “Nice little gremlin.” It sniffed her hand then rubbed its face against her skin. “You’re really very cute. Think I’ll call you Giz. I guess if you were going to eat me you would have done it by now. I just really hope that you don’t have an evil, destructive side.”

  She scanned the lush vegetation. “Where the hell am I? How did I get here…oh God! Dex!”

  She surged to her feet then clasped hold of her head with a groan as she fell back onto her butt. “Ow, that was not a good idea.”

  Where were Dex and the others?

  “Okay, Zoey. Don’t panic. The shuttle must be close by. You didn’t just fall from the sky.” She rubbed her stomach, trying to ease the ache.

  Pulling herself up with the help of a tree for support, Zoey took another look around her. Nothing but vegetation. She looked down at her companion, but he just twitched his nose.

  “How am I going to find Dex?”

  Maybe if that stupid bond had kicked in.

  Perhaps she could try a bit harder. She hadn’t exactly been thrilled with the idea that Dex could nosy around inside her head, so she hadn’t been trying as hard as she should be to strengthen the bond.

  Sitting, she attempted to clear her mind as Dex has taught her. Breathe in. Breathe out. Think about Dex. There. It was faint, but she could feel him. He was alive.

  She did a fist pump.

  “Okay, okay, where are you, babe?”

  She concentrated again. To her right. Not far away. Rising, she followed her instincts, moving through the bush.

  One of her shoes had disappeared and mud squelched between her toes. Uhh, nature. Really not her thing.

  “Great, I’m like frickin’ Hansel and Gretel, following a candy trail in my head.” The little creature walked beside her. Well, bounced, actually. On its two hind legs.

  “How come I landed over here?”

&n
bsp; The creature looked up at her with a blank expression. “Guess you wouldn’t know anything about that, huh, Giz? Oh shit. Oh no!”

  She pushed her way through the bush to find the shuttle on its side, black smoke billowing up into the sky.

  “Dex! Dex!”

  There was a low moan to her right and she rushed over to find Koran lying unconscious on the ground. “Koran! Thank God. Stay there, I’ll get help.” She shook her head. “Good one, Zoey. Like he’s going anywhere.”

  Running toward the shuttle, she came to a stop beside a prone Locan. Crouching down, she felt for his pulse, sobbing as she couldn’t find it.

  “Please be okay, Dex. Please be okay.”

  “Zoey?” A low voice rumbled from the left of the shuttle and she raced around. Thor knelt beside Dex, who was lying on the ground. Thor raised his head as she got close, his relief clear. “Zoey. Thank the stars you’re all right.”

  “Dex! Is he-is he—”

  “I’m okay, Zoey,” Dex spoke up. “But I have a slight headache, so a bit quieter, please.”

  “Sorry,” she replied, kneeling beside him. “Thor, is he all right?”

  She scanned him then noticed that Thor was holding a bloody shirt against Dex’s abdomen.

  “Oh God,” she groaned, holding her own stomach. She realized now that she was getting echoes of his pain. “Please tell me he’s going to be all right.”

  “I’m going to be fine.” Dex looked up at her. “I want you to go and check on Koran.”

  “No, no.” She shook her head, tears racing down her cheeks. “No, I’m not going to lose you now. I just found you. No!”

  “I’m not dying, my own.” His face was stoic as ever, but she could feel his pain and it was getting worse. The bond was really kicking in.

  “Damned straight, you’re not.” She bloody well wouldn’t let him.

  Thor gave her a sympathetic look.

  “He’s not dead,” she whispered fiercely. “Fix him.”

  “I can’t. At least not without a regeneration chamber,” he whispered back.

  “I can hear you both,” Dex spoke dryly.

  “How long?” she asked.

  “What?” Thor looked at her in confusion.

  “How long does he have?”

  Thor sighed, looking sad. “I don’t know. Maybe a few hours.”

  “Right, then we need to get help. We need to get him to a regeneration chamber.” She rubbed her stomach.

  “Is there something wrong, my own?” Dex asked.

  “Uhh, yeah, our shuttle crashed. You and Koran are injured.” Locan was dead. Aarex was missing. “Things could be better.”

  “Take my hand, my own.” She slipped her hand into his and he squeezed her hand gently. “Take a deep breath in then breathe out.”

  “Dex, I don’t have time to bloody meditate.”

  He gave her a stubborn look.

  “Christ, half dead and you’re still a bossy bastard.” But she took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. She’d never admit it, but she felt a lot calmer.

  “You keep rubbing your stomach. Are you hurt?”

  “No. It’s your pain I’m feeling. The bond is strengthening, Dex.”

  His eyes turned blue. Sorrow. Then the pain slowly dissipated.

  “What did you do? The pain’s gone.”

  “I blocked you, my own. I can’t have you feeling my pain.”

  He could block the bond? That was something he hadn’t bothered to tell her. She filed that piece of information away for later.

  “But how am I going to find my way back here with help without the bond?” She gazed down at him frantically.

  “You’re not going anywhere, my own.”

  “He’s right, Zoey,” Thor added. “We don’t know where we are or where to find help.”

  She glanced around then spotted Giz, calmly eating clumps of grass. Okay, so at least he appeared to be a vegetarian. “No, but he probably does.”

  “What?” Thor asked, looking over at Giz incredulously. “Zoey, that’s an animal. And nothing I’ve ever seen before.”

  “I have got to try! Would you rather I just give up? I’m going for help, even without the bond. I’ll leave a trail or something to find my way back.”

  “No.” Dex’s voice lacked its normal strength. “I forbid it.”

  “Tough,” she replied. “You’re in no state to forbid anything. I’m going.”

  “Zoey, I am still your mate. If you disobey me…”

  “What? You’ll punish me? At least you’ll be alive to do so. Tell you what, buddy. If you get through this, I’ll let you spank my ass every night for a week.”

  “If you leave, I will spank you every night for four weeks.”

  Tears dripped down her cheeks as she leaned over him, kissing him gently. “I’m sorry, Dex. I have to go. You need help.”

  “No!” Dex yelled out, trying to move. “Zoey, come back here. Now!”

  “Lie still,” Thor growled at him, gently holding him back. “Are you trying to kill yourself?”

  “I’m dying.” Dex scowled up at him.

  “Not right at this moment.”

  Thor glanced up, searching. “Stars, she’s quick when she wants to be. She’s gone. Zoey!”

  “Go get her,” Dex ordered.

  “If I stop this pressure then you will bleed out.”

  “I’m going to die anyway.” He was resolved to that.

  “Not if Zoey finds help.”

  “We don’t even know how far away from civilization we are,” Dex pointed out. “She’s unarmed, female and alone.”

  Thor swore quietly, looking worried. “I cannot leave you.

  “I am the Crown Prince. I am ordering you to go and get my mate.”

  “You’re also my cousin. And my best friend. I cannot leave you.” There was a stark note in Thor’s voice.

  Dex studied him, seeing the pain in Thor’s gaze. “She won’t survive out there alone.”

  Thor gave him an irritated glare. “Have you not realized by now that she is far stronger than she looks? Zoey isn’t delicate. She’s a fighter.”

  Yes, he knew she was much stronger than she appeared. But Dex still worried about her. He needed her to be careful, cautious.

  “What if she doesn’t return?”

  Thor looked around him. “If she hasn’t returned soon then I will figure out some way to track her down. Do you think she’ll become lost?”

  Probably. But that wasn’t actually what he meant.

  “I meant, what if she uses this as a way to escape me?”

  “What are you talking about?” Thor asked.

  “What if she doesn’t want to come back to me? I am forcing her to leave everything and everyone she knows.”

  He closed his eyes in self-recrimination. He wouldn’t blame her if she took this opportunity to leave. “Just before the Teargans attacked, we were arguing. She accused me of trying to change her and she is right. I do want her to change. Because I’m worried about her fitting in. But she believes I’m embarrassed by her.”

  “So you’ve done some stupid things. But that is all the more reason to live,” Thor urged him. “You need to make things right with her.”

  “I am set in my ways. Arrogant and selfish.”

  “Stop the pity party.”

  Dex opened his eyes. “What?”

  Thor grinned. “It’s something Zoey likes to say. She’s teaching me some Earther sayings. It means stop feeling sorry for yourself. It isn’t as though Zoey is blameless. The two of you just need to work out how to live together.”

  “If she comes back.”

  Thor looked around then nodded. “Yes, if she returns.”

  ***

  Zoey stumbled through the bush, wiping at the tears dripping down her face. Dex was dying. He was leaving her. She hadn’t truly realized until now how much she cared for him.

  Loved him.

  Crap. She loved the bossy, arrogant barbarian. Didn’t mean she alway
s liked him. He always thought he was right. He didn’t listen. He was dismissive and a bit egotistical.

  But she couldn’t bear the thought of losing him.

  “Pull yourself together, Zoey. Find some help. Get back there and save him.” She stopped and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

  Something furry brushed against her hand and she glanced down to find Giz, balanced on his hind legs, reaching up to her with one of his front paws.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  He snuffled quietly then headed to the left.

  “This way?”

  She swore he nodded. “Okay, you’re the boss.” He could be leading her around in circles, but right now she didn’t have a better offer.

  They walked along for what felt like forever before the scent of smoke hit her nose. She stilled and glanced down at Giz. God, she had to be hallucinating because she was pretty certain he was smiling at her.

  Moving forward, she heard the sound of voices and nearly stumbled to her knees in relief.

  “Giz, I could kiss you!”

  ***

  “This way! This way!” Zoey gestured at the group of aliens who were following her through the forest. Under any other circumstances, she’d have found it quite funny.

  Here she was, trying to herd a group of beings, whom she couldn’t communicate with, hell, she didn’t even know if they were going to help her or eat her, and the only help she had was a walking, breathing gremlin.

  Pretty bizarre.

  But so far the group of aliens, whose skin was the color of blueberries, didn’t appear to be salivating over her. Mind you, it was difficult to tell as she hadn’t yet worked out where their mouths were.

  If she wasn’t so worried about Dex, she might have tried to figure out what race they were. But she didn’t have time for that. Right now, her only concern was getting back to Dex.

  “Please let me get them there in time,” she muttered. “Please.”

  Just the thought of being without him was enough to bring tears to her eyes.