Other stuff was great fun but the other stuff might give her a sore throat.
She snorted. Yeah, right. A sore throat. Her throat was not the part of her body Kol made sore.
Voices came through briefly on the radio. She leaned down, as if that could help reception. “—increased presence. Reporting to the secure zone and encampments is mandatory in the following counties—” Static garbled the rest of the announcement.
Shit. That did not sound good. She’d tell Kol when he came back.
As if she’d summoned him, the front door creaked opened. Heavy steps sounded down the hall.
Penny jumped up from the mattress, blanket still around her, and went to the doorway to greet her man. She pushed through the blanket covering the doorway, stepping out from the warmth of the enclosure. “That was fast—”
Golden skinned and wearing armor of flat black, the Suhlik soldier was inhumanly beautiful. Its large eyes blinked twice and lips curled back to reveal rows of needle sharp fangs.
Penny’s hand flexed, wanting to grip the bat she had left on the mattress.
It struck her before she could react. A heavy arm knocked across her head, claws at her hair, and she was flat on her back. She kicked and yelled, scrambling away, but a large hand gripped her ankle and something pierced her skin.
Fuzzy warmth spread throughout her. She stared up at her ceiling, having never noticed the purple and silver glitter mixed into the popcorn plaster. Vaguely she was aware of being dragged through the house, the carpet burning her skin as her shirt rode up in the back. Then the carpet shifted to cold concrete and her head thumped down the front steps.
Kol would be upset, but her thoughts grew disjointed and she couldn’t exactly say why.
Chapter Thirteen
Kol
If the tracks had been a Suhlik, he’d be dead. Or gutted. Same thing.
The footprints in the snow were just far enough apart to suggest a long stride, made by legs taller than a Terran. The wedged shape was not Terran. Only one creature had a foot so misshapen. Suhlik.
The prints were disturbingly close to the house. Too close.
His gaze followed the Suhlik’s tracks. They came from the river, but Kol could not see any obvious Suhlik shuttle or patrol. Perhaps a lone scout, searching out survivors. Or, the thought chilled him quicker than the sub zero wind, a scout searching for the source of smoke from a chimney.
Kol finished the circuit and turned back to the house. He had kept the fire in the fireplace burning for far too long. He knew it at the time, but his mate had been cold and the firelight playing on her warm brown skin was exquisite.
Foolish male. Prideful male.
He picked up a new set of tracks outside the house. Kol crouched down, his gloved hand brushing the snow as if it could tell him what happened. One set went directly into the house. The second set was muddled, distorted as a large object was dragged behind.
Not an object, he realized as dread settled into his bones. A person. Penny.
He ran into the house, banging on the door, bellowing her name. No response. He expected nothing else.
A sharp copper scent cut through the fury in his mind. Blood. Penny’s blood on the floor.
His head fell back in a howl, twin currents of despair and rage surged through him. He did this. He left his mate unprotected. He could not lose her now that he finally had her love.
His finger swiped through the blood splatter. Still warm. She was close.
He had time to rectify this mistake.
The sun slipped below the horizon, but he could make out the tracks well enough. The arrogant Suhlik made no effort to cover his trail. A blind child could follow them. The Suhlik soldier either didn’t care if anyone followed, or it was an invitation to follow. A trap.
Cresting a slight hill, Kol made out the shape of a shuttle. He crouched down to observe. He itched to rush in and rip out the throats of the Suhlik who would dare to touch his mate, but he had no weapons. Such a plan would be disastrous. He needed a plan because he would rescue his mate from the Suhlik. Failure was not an option. There was no future without Penny. She was for him. Always.
He had no weapons, just this ridiculously primitive Terran firearm. It might as well have been a club. A club would have been more useful, in fact, as it would be balanced and designed for bludgeoning. This “rifle”—he loathed to call it that—was unwieldy and not balanced. It was a poor choice for a club. It barely had enough firepower to pierce paper. Any bullets he fired would bounce ineffectively off the hull. He might as well throw it at the shuttle.
Kol peered down the barrel. Could it even fire straight? It functioned. He verified that. Still, this was his only option. He needed to make the most of the tools he had and not wish for what he preferred.
The Suhlik had his mate in a shuttle. It could leave at any moment. If it left, he had no way to follow. The only advantage he had was that the Suhlik had not detected his presence. Yet. They were too occupied with their new toy. Kol’s teeth clenched at the notion that his mate was a toy, but now was not the time to lose control.
He had to focus. He had to be precise. Failure was not an option.
Kol crept up on the shuttle, using the strewn rubble to provide cover. The shuttle had cameras that could monitor 360 degrees around the body of the craft. However, if the pilot was distracted, any image on the screen would remain unseen. The craft could have a proximity alarm set, but Earth had many small animals, even in an urban environment, and such creatures would trigger the alarm constantly.
The shuttle door remained open, the interior light spilling out into the darkening evening. Kol’s approach depended on the Suhlik being too lazy to check the monitors and too irritated to set the proximity alarm. Too much of his plan depended on luck. He did not like it one bit, but he crept closer, each step growing in confidence.
The door to the shuttle slid shut and his heart shuddered to a stop. No!
Kol dashed forward, shoving the barrel of the useless rifle into the door jamb. The shuttle engines rumbled to life, high pitched and annoying like a swarm of insects. It lifted off the ground and tipped to one side, the pilot trying to shake him off.
Kol dug his fingers into the door frame, metal bending under his grip. He didn’t breathe. He didn’t think. He roared with the strength of ten males as he pried open the door. He could see her, there, discarded on the floor like a broken toy. Metal protested under his hands before finally giving way to his will.
The Suhlik at the helm turned in his seat and fired a pistol. Kol growled, dodging to one side. Too close to his mate. He tackled the male, their forms tumbling as the shuttle wobbled.
Claws slashed out at Kol, tearing through his already compromised armor. Poison from the claw tips leached into him. The numbing agent spread, creating a hollow sensation in his gut. He was running out of time.
He did not dodge the next swipe of claws but let poisoned tips sink into his shoulder. Grinning, he clamped his hand around the Suhlik’s wrist and twisted. Bone broke. The male screamed, trying to pull his worthless hand back, but Kol would not let go.
He pulled the male to the damaged door. The engine whined as the shuttle gained altitude, several dozen feet above the ground now.
The Suhlik dug his heels in, resisting as Kol dragged him to his fate. The male was getting off the shuttle now. His teeth snapped, as if basic intimidation could stop Kol.
He reached for the utility knife at the Suhlik’s belt. Using one hand, he switched on the blade, energy humming down the edge. With one swift motion, he hacked through the wrist. The blade dug into his own flesh but he severed the Suhlik’s hand.
Giving a satisfied roar, Kol kicked the stunned Suhlik in the stomach, propelling him through the open hatch and into the air.
Quickly he checked on Penny. She breathed. With the Suhlik claws still embedded in his shoulder and his mate unconscious on the floor, he turned the shuttle towards the Mahdfel base.
Chapter Fourteen
Penny
She was in heaven. Warm and wrapped up in soft, clean sheets; this had to be heaven.
Her memory was foggy. She remembered the fire in her belly, the spreading poison that froze her muscles and made her unable to resist as the Suhlik dragged her through the snow.
Oh. There it was. Her memory came back, drowning her in a deluge. Shit. Walking around the corner, expecting to find Kol but instead she stood still like a dummy while the Suhlik captured her. She couldn’t breathe. Her throat closed up in panic and she tried to run away to hide, but strong hands held her down.
“Hold her,” an unknown man said.
“Do not injure her!” another man said. His voice was odd: familiar and strange all at once.
“Penny honey, you need to calm down,” a loved, long-lost voice said.
In her struggle, Penny caught a glimpse of the room. She was on an enormous cot—Mahdfel sized—set up in an orderly line of other enormous cots. It seemed like a field hospital set up except she recognized the mural of green Midwestern farmland on the wall. This was the ballroom in the student union.
“You’ve sustained some serious lacerations to your abdomen,” the unknown man said. “We stitched you back together, but the poison keeps weeping. You’ll heal in time. Until then, take it easy.”
Weeping. That sounded painful and disgusting. A quick brush to her stomach confirmed a thick layer of gauze under medical tape.
“Aunt Jas?” Her voice came out in a rasp, dry and sore.
“Right here, baby girl. You were hurt, but you’re going to be okay.” The hands that pinned her shoulders gave way to soft hands cradling her face. Jasmine leaned in, her face worn and hair more grey than the last time Penny saw her. She wore the most ludicrous pair of gold earrings, complete with a giant fake pearl. Accessory options were limited in an alien invasion but dang, they were tacky. Where did Jasmine find those?
“We were so worried about you,” the older woman said, eyes watering.
“Momma? Dad? Chris?” Penny asked before a cup of water was pressed to her lips. The liquid felt divine, soaking into her parched mouth.
“Everyone’s fine. They managed to get to a shelter before the raids started.” Aunt Jasmine rattled through a well-rehearsed story of where the family was the day the invasion turned deadly and how they managed to find each other again. Jasmine had a bad feeling that morning and left work early. She went to campus to find Penny, but the raid started and she found herself stuck in place. While speaking, Jasmine’s hands touched Penny’s hair and her face, as if to verify that she was real and not a dream. “The only person we couldn’t find was you, honey.”
“I was home.”
Jasmine’s gave a tired laugh. “I knew it! I knew if you couldn’t get to the safe zone, you’d stay put. How many times did I ask you to check my address? How many times!” Her angry tone was directed to someone over Penny’s shoulder.
Out of curiosity, she turned to find the target of Jasmine’s ire.
Kol’s knotted brow said it all. “You made no request of me.”
“I asked someone. One of you.” Jasmine waved her hand vaguely. “You can’t expect me to tell you apart.”
This was going well.
“Hey, Aunt Jas. This is Kol. I see you’ve met. Also, why do I hear you here?” Penny tapped the side of her head.
Jasmine huffed, arms crossed. Kol did the same.
This was going really, really well.
“I authorized the implantation of a translator chip. It seemed prudent,” Kol said.
“I’m her family and I didn’t authorize it.” Jasmine lifted her chin, resentment dripping off every word.
“Wait, how can you understand him?” Penny asked.
Jasmine’s eyes softened for a moment and removed an earring. “It’s not exactly fashionable but it reduces confusion.” She turned back to Kol. “She’s awake now, so you can leave.”
“I will not leave the side of my ma—”
“Friend!” Penny shouted, louder than she intended. “Kol’s my friend.”
His shoulders slumped and her heart hurt with regret. Whatever they were—dating, boyfriend and girlfriend, mates—it was more complicated than friendship.
“Yes,” he said, “I am her friend.”
“He helped me,” she said. His eyes flashed. Oh, so that’s how it was. He could tolerate only so much of her stretching the truth. “We helped each other,” she amended.
“I owe my life to Pen-knee,” he said. “She pulled me from the water when I was unconscious. I would have frozen or drowned without her intervention.”
Jasmine turned to Penny, eyes wide. “You did that? How? How did little old you pull all of him from the water?”
“He was buoyant.” Moving Kol in the water had been the easy part. “We got stuck in the storm. Oh, the tree! Jas, I’m sorry. The house got hit in the raid and there was a fire and then a tree fell through the roof.”
Jasmine nodded. “That’s just stuff and junk. I’m thankful you’re safe.” She gave Penny’s hand a squeeze. “I suppose I have you to thank for bringing her here.”
Kol stood at attention, back straight and tail uncharastically still. “A Suhlik patrol discovered our location and captured Pen-knee. I terminated him.”
“You mean you terminated his plans,” Jasmine said.
Kol did not amend his statement.
Yup, meeting the family was going super well.
“Vadi Kol,” a voice thundered. Kol snapped to attention as he pivoted towards the large red male stalking towards him.
The male moved with dangerous intent. Everything about him reeked of confidence and authority. This had to be the warlord.
Jasmine’s hand squeezed Penny’s shoulder and Penny leaned in.
The warlord paused at the foot of Penny’s bed, sniffing the air. “This female. Explain.”
The tattoos on Kol’s arms glowed faintly silver. The warlord’s eyes narrowed and he tossed an accusatory glare to Penny. For a long, terrible moment, Penny was convinced that the warlord would end her.
“I located this female in the unprotected zones. A Suhlik patrol attacked and we were forced to seek shelter for the duration of the storm.”
The warlord completely ignored Kol as he spoke. “Is this true, female?”
“That’s it in a nutshell,” Penny said.
The warlord nodded briskly. “And you pulled this warrior from the water?”
“Yeah, I wasn’t going to let him drown.” Seriously. Why did that surprise people?
Another brisk nod. “Thank you for my son’s life. You have done us a great honor. Our clan is in your debt.” The warlord turned his attention back to Kol. “Come. You are released from protecting this female.”
Kol did not move.
The warlord cocked his head to one side. “Unless you have another claim—”
The significance of the word claim did not escape Penny’s notice. Kol gave her a beseeching look, asking her to claim him now, but she panicked. Her throat dried up and no sound came out, even when she opened her mouth.
“I do not,” Kol said, voice resigned.
“We still have that date, Big Red,” Penny managed to call out to his retreating figure, but her words felt like too little, too late. “Don’t stand a girl up.”
Kol
His mate denied him. That had always been a possibility. His Penny was a willful spirit. Stubborn. He admired those qualities, but he never thought he’d stand before her and she’d deny their connection.
He had agreed to wait for her to claim him. He agreed to her rules. When she gave herself to him physically, he assumed that was her claiming him.
Foolish male. Terrans were not so easy in their affections. She gave him her body—luscious as it was—but she withheld her heart.
He had much to learn about Terrans.
Kol nodded briskly. “I will hold you to your promise of a date,” he said before withdrawing.
He did not wait for Penny to answe
r. She would honor her obligation. He knew her well enough to be certain of that.
“What did he mean?” Jasmine’s grip tightened on Penny’s arm.
“Not now, Aunt Jas. Kol, wait.”
He kept moving. As he moved past the other occupants on their cots, he caught snatches of their conversation.
“Who does he think he is? Sniffing around after us girls?” an unknown female asked.
“I bet he kidnapped her,” a second female replied.
“Did you see her stomach? I saw the nurse change her dressing and she is fucked up. Seriously. I bet he did that to her.”
“God, I know. How gross would that be?”
“I dunno. I hear they’re good in bed,” a third voice chimed in.
Penny struggled to her feet, lurching from the cot to the next, holding onto the frame for support. It pained him to watch his mate struggle, so he turned his eyes away.
“Vadi Kol, if you walk away from me I’ll… I’ll never talk to you again!”
That caught his attention. Penny might do just that.
“And you,” she turned her attention to the gossiping females. “Don’t you talk about my man that way.”
His heart swelled. Her man.
“I’m sorry, Kol.” Her steps faltered. He caught her in his arms. He led her back to her cot, letting her walk because he knew she would protest if he carried her. “I should have told everyone the truth about us.”
“I’m your male.” He leaned down, bumping his forehead to hers.
“Yes.” She smiled up at him.
“The truth about what?” The warlord loomed behind his mate, face in a frown. Kol bit back the urge to push Penny behind him, to hide her away from his warlord and father.
“I claimed Kol as my mate.”
All the conversation in the room stopped and every set of Terran eyes were on them. Penny stood defiant to them all, chin held away in that stubborn way hers.
The warlord narrowed his eyes before shooting an accusatory glance to his son. “Is this true?”
“You heard my mate.” Kol refused to feel ashamed. His mate claimed him, for all to see.
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