“Chief,” he said, speaking A’li-uud. “They have made contact, the Conquest attackers. Dane—Elder De’inde—is requesting your presence. Now.”
10
Celine
When the door flew open, I jumped so violently I nearly took out the nearest set of stacked pots waiting for planting. The A’li-uud that ran in looked very similar to Lokos with his flowing white hair and toned shirtless form, but he was stockier and more muscular. He reminded me of the pictures shown on the news of bodybuilders who’d been busted for steroid use.
The A’li-uud made an unnerving clacking noise at Lokos. I immediately looked to my mentor for some kind of reassurance, but he didn’t acknowledge me. He did, however, seem to understand the clacking, and then he responded with his own series of clicks and clacks.
I felt out of place, as if I was intruding on a private conversation even though I wasn’t able to comprehend a word that was being exchanged between them. Awkwardly trying to shrink back, I stepped toward the curved wall to bury myself amongst more stacked pots that towered well over my height. Neither A’li-uud seemed to notice. They continued snapping their tongues at each other for another minute before Lokos finally turned to me.
Thankfully, when he spoke, he used English. “You will stay here,” he ordered.
“What?” I asked, confused. “Why?”
“It is not your concern. Remain here and wait for me to return,” he said.
He started to leave, the other alien already crossing the threshold, but I shook my head and followed after them. “I’m not just staying there!” I protested. “I don’t know anything! I don’t even know where I am or how to get back to the group, and who knows when you’ll come back?”
Lokos waved his cohort on, who reluctantly took off down the hall at a jog, then turned back to me. “Did you hear what I said in orientation?” he hissed. “It is essential that you follow orders. Your safety could depend on it.”
“But—”
“Foolish human,” he snapped, interrupting me before I could get more than a syllable out. “There is no time for this.”
Then, exactly like he had before we’d jumped down the hole that led to this hallway, he swept me up and threw me over his shoulder. This time, I was better prepared and braced myself for the impact of his shoulder to my gut. Still, I wasn’t pleased, and I smacked his back with the flat of my hand.
“Put me down! I know how to walk!”
“You walk too slowly. We must hurry,” he said.
And then we were off. The walls became little more than a blur as he sprinted down the straightaway, and the already dim lighting seemed to dim further until it was a dull gray illumination. I bounced with each step he took, but I didn’t feel jostled. On the contrary, it was like riding in a smooth-driving car. His strides were as limber and graceful as a gazelle, and his breath seemed no shallower than if he’d been walking at a casual pace. The muscles in his back flexed each time he drew another foot forward, carving deep creases of toned muscle into his skin and adding to the drool already pooling on the roof of my mouth. I felt silly being carried this way, particularly while he was running like we were being chased, but I knew it was futile to protest.
And I didn’t really want to protest.
I could feel the intensity pouring from his pores like sweat. He was worried, panicked or something equally concerning, and, in his rush, he was taking no measures to hide it. Though I couldn’t feel his heartbeat from my unorthodox position, I imagined it was like mine: throbbing, anxious, and frantic. I didn’t know Lokos very well, but I knew an emergency when I saw one, and this was an emergency. If only I had been able to understand the strange clacking.
When we reached the ladder that led to the ground-level of the Headquarters, he didn’t bother to reground me as I expected. Instead, he secured one hand around my middle, his fingers slipping between his shoulder and my belly, and grabbed a rung with the other. Then, in one great leap, he wrenched upward, and I was soaring. His feet slammed into the floor a split second later, and we were racing again.
Before we entered the main hall through the slender door, he came to an abrupt stop and tilted forward. My body slid from him like water from a glass. I realized my legs were shaking a little as I supported my weight, though I couldn’t be sure if it was from fear or the sheer velocity at which he’d ran.
“You will stay in the hall,” he said firmly. This time, there was hardness in his stare that left no room for negotiation. “You will wait for me there.”
“Can’t I come with—”
“Listen to me, Celine.” He took my chin a little roughly between his thumb and forefinger, pulling my face toward his. Our lips were little more than a breath apart, and my stomach fluttered as I wondered if he would close the space. He didn’t. Instead, his gaze bore into me with white darkness, something I never knew existed before that moment. He was the War Chief, capable and powerful and a force to be reckoned with, and another flame of lust flared at the apex of my thighs. “The creatures who bombed your ship have made contact. I need to report to my Elder immediately, and I need you to stay in the hall.”
My thoughts froze as I tried to process what he told me. The very idea that my potential killers were in communication made me nauseous with fright, and I suddenly felt a strong desire to return to the hall and find Donna. I nodded my agreement.
“Thank you,” he said, releasing my chin. He turned the doorknob, and I was met with a scene of lost-looking people adorned in brilliant purple light balls from the geodes all around. There were very few A’li-uud present, but the ones that were seemed to have disbanded from the humans into a huddle near the far end of the room. Even across the long space, I could distinctly hear echoes of clacks. I started to enter, my eyes scanning the crowd for a sign of Donna, but Lokos stopped me with a hand on my forearm.
“Do not leave the hall,” he reiterated commandingly. “I am serious, Celine. Stay here.”
“I will,” I reassured him. “I promise.”
A loud screech overhead made me snap my neck up, and I immediately groaned with pain as my burn stretched and pulled at the mending skin. Lokos palmed the back of my skull to turn my face to him once more.
“Do not forget: you belong to me,” he whispered. And then he was gone.
11
Lokos
“I am here, Fierce One,” I said, striding into the dark, round room.
Dane looked up and greeted me with a silent nod. His mouth was pulled into a tight, thin line, and his jaw was clenched so tightly that the bones jutted out on either side of his cheeks. Around him, there were a handful of Montemban warriors and his brother, Duke, who also happened to be his predecessor as Elder. Silah was lingering back from the group, but I realized he was waiting for my arrival. Even in a crisis, his loyalty was unwavering.
The room was one I had never entered, though I was familiar with how to find it as I had worked closely with the humans and the A’li-uud who had built the Headquarters. It was meant to be a military operations conference room and had been outfitted as such with a massive torus-shaped table in the very center of the room with space for up to thirty chairs, blank boards for writing and drawing, and absolutely no windows. It sat above the passage that led from the main hall to the underground trapdoor, but it was completely soundproof, and the only thing I could hear was the breathing of my counterparts.
In Dane’s hand, there was a slim cylinder, silver and turquoise, and from its flat tip emanated an aura of indigo light. I knew it to be a communicative transmitter, but I had worked very little with the tool and was not certain of its functionalities. Before I could ask, however, the door slammed open unceremoniously, and General Morgan strode in with irritation on his florid face.
“All right, what’s the problem?” he barked tactlessly. “I was about to show some of our new young ladies around the Ward.”
Silah gave me a sideways glance that I opted not to return for fear Morgan would notice and cause a
stir. In contrast, Dane shot the general with a glare so contemptuous the human should have shrunk into the floor. It was well-known amongst the Montemban A’li-uud that there was no love lost between Dane and Morgan, as the lecherous man had attempted to win the affections of Dane’s beloved, a human woman he had met on Earth and with whom he now shared a home.
“We believe the new threat has intercepted our interfleet communication channels and is making contact,” Dane explained irritably. “I was under the assumption your presence was required in relevance to the safety of the colonists.”
“It is,” Morgan replied, bristling. He strutted to the cluster of A’li-uud, bumping my elbow as he did, and peered at the indigo light. “What’s that?”
“A communicative transmitter,” I snapped. “Quiet.”
Silence filled the room for only the briefest of seconds, and then my ears were pierced with the most horrible screeching sound I had heard in my life. My brain immediately whirred into action, trying to place the sound, while the rest of me tried to retreat from the noise. Then, the indigo light changed from a flat surface of color to a mixture of dots, both large and small. Lines began streaking through the dots, some shooting vertically, others horizontally, and a few at diagonal angles. The screeching continued, but it no longer burned my senses as comprehension took over.
“It is useless to fight,” I heard. The dots and lines flickered in brightness with each syllable. “This is only the beginning.”
“What the holy hell is that?” the General bellowed, his voice drowning the last tones from the transmitter. He had his hands pressed to his ears, and his eyes were squinted into slits.
“Quiet!” I shouted.
The device emitted flat light again, though significantly thinner than in its resting state, but the screeching continued.
“Leeeeeaaave…”
Dane was staring at it with subtle fury on his face, and the others around him looked equally enraged. Morgan started to shout over the noise again, but Silah seized him by his beefy arm and shoved him backward toward the door. They wrestled for control over one another for a brief minute before Silah finally succeeded in extricating him from the room completely. He glanced at me, silently asking if he should stay with the disruptive man, and I gave him a very small nod to indicate my approval. The door closed behind them both, leaving us bathed in darkness once more.
The indigo continued to flicker. Finally, with one last sputter of dancing dots and spearing lines, the screech whispered, “We are coming.” Then, the light became broad and two-dimensional once more, and soundlessness roared back into existence.
No one spoke. No one moved. It was as if we had all frozen in place and had become statues. Seconds passed without a sign of life. Even my own body, breath and all, had ceased to function. Only when Dane extinguished the light with a click of a button and pocketed the transmitter did we all inhale, and we did so in unison.
“I understood it,” I finally said. Anger was pulsating through me, though I could not be certain if it was due to the threat of the message or the arrogance behind it. Either way, I felt defensiveness for my people rising within me, and I had a strong desire to return to the main hall and find Celine. “I understood the language, but I do not know which race it belongs to.”
“I do,” Dane said darkly. All eyes turned to him, my own included. It was difficult to make out his expression without a single source of light now, but I could distinctly see his pale brows knitting together with the same ire I felt. “It was the Novai.”
Several of the warriors shifted in place with throaty grunts of disgust while others remained in their positions and silent in their revulsion. I growled under my breath at the word. “How can you be sure?”
“One remembers a language like that,” the Elder replied with loathing. He straightened, his shoulders folding back and his spine evening in a stance I recognized from his many years as a warrior, and directed his next order to me. “Tell the guides to see their charges to the dorms. We do not know when the Novai plan to attack, and we must keep everyone safe. I will summon the Council. A curfew of sundown for all colonists and Montemban citizens is to be enacted and enforced, effective immediately, until further notice.”
“Yes, Fierce One,” I said, inclining my head.
He motioned for dismissal, but, before I could join the small herd moving toward the door, Dane called out, “Lokos!”
I turned. He was looking at me with a strange expression, one I had never received from him before and one I was unsure I had ever seen on him at all. His eyes were sympathetic, but his brows were curved downward severely, and his mouth was set rigidly. When he spoke, it was with tempered remorse.
“Your interest in the human is not well-disguised. I know better than anyone the magnetism of a human woman—the human woman—but it is worth pointing out the importance of ensuring everyone’s safety, not hers alone.”
I swallowed hard, startled by his intuitive knowledge and wondering if I had not been subtle enough in my glancing during the orientation speeches. “Yes, Fierce One,” I said respectfully.
“I made you War Chief because I trust your judgment,” he went on. “And I trust it in this matter as well. However, before you allow yourself to go deeper with her, you must realize your role and ask yourself: would you be willing to sacrifice her to save others?”
12
Celine
“I have to admit, I’m kind of scared,” Donna said.
As much as I didn’t want to be, I was too. I nodded a reluctant agreement as I scanned the faces for a sign of Lokos amongst the crowd, but, thus far, he was nowhere to be seen. Donna and I had been sitting together in the chairs we’d occupied during the initial speeches for at least ten minutes. I knew it was possible he’d be gone for much longer than that, but I had it in my head that, the sooner he returned, the less of an emergency it was.
“Their language freaks me out,” she whispered, sending a shifty look to the A’li-uud guides in the corner. They were still clacking rapidly, but their hands weren’t flying about or their expressions changing like a human’s would have been in an energetic conversation. “It’s not normal.”
“Actually, we’re on their planet, so we’re the ones who aren’t normal,” I corrected absently.
She shrugged and sat back. “Whatever. I just wish I knew what was going on. One minute, my guide is telling us about how they don’t manufacture much because nature provides almost everything, and, the next minute, we’re being hustled back in here without any explanation.”
I jumped to my feet as Lokos appeared from the right side of the speaking platform. He wore a grave expression, and he was swinging his eyes from left to right. When he spotted me, he immediately made his way over.
“Come,” he said, holding out a hand.
Donna stood up next to me. Her eyes were round and thirsty as she absorbed the sight of his ripped stomach and muscled chest. “Whoa,” she muttered appreciatively.
“You remember my friend Donna,” I said to him with a wryly apologetic smile.
“Yes.” He inclined his head to her. I was learning quickly that the inclining of the head was the A’li-uud equivalent to a handshake. “I am glad to see you are doing well.”
“I am doing very well,” she told him, her voice lilting suggestively. He crooked a brow at me, and I nudged her sharply in the ribs with my elbow. Donna was ever on the prowl, though, and she either didn’t understand my jab or didn’t care. “Although I could probably use some physical therapy sometime.”
Lokos nearly smiled again. “Perhaps you ought to inform your doctor.”
Donna’s face fell slightly, but she recovered within seconds. “Well, I guess if everyone’s back I’ll go rejoin my guide,” she chirped. Leaning toward me, she whispered loudly, “He’s got a butt like you wouldn’t believe.”
As she flounced off, I stifled a chortle and took Lokos’ proffered hand. “False alarm?” I asked.
He furrowed his brow a
s he led me through the rows of chairs to the main entrance of the hall. “What do you mean?”
“Oh, just that the emergency was no big deal,” I explained quickly. It felt strange to simplify otherwise common human jargon, almost like teaching a child grammar. Except this was no child. This was a tall, strong, gorgeous alien who had me by the hand and insisted I belong to him.
His face darkened. With his free hand, he pushed one of the huge double doors open, and a gust of wind fluttered his hair over his eyes. He didn’t answer my question, which unsettled me, but I knew he’d heard me because his fingers had tightened around mine and his jaw flexed. I wanted to ask again, but he’d been so averse to questions that I didn’t bother. There would be plenty of time later.
“Thank you for staying in the hall,” he said abruptly, stopping in the middle of the stone street to address me.
I was taken aback by the sudden show of gratitude, as unemotional as it was. “Yeah, of course,” I replied with a shrug. “I don’t really know anywhere else to go.”
“Well, pay attention now,” he instructed. “We are going to your dorm.”
My first thought was that I was going to have this arousing, domineering A’li-uud in the same place as my bed. My second thought was that it was much too early in the orientation to go to dorms and that something had to be wrong.
“Why are we going there?” I asked, disregarding my previous decision to relent on the questioning.
Lokos ignored me and resumed walking. The neat blocks of unique buildings passed one by one without a response from him, and, rather than pressing him again, I decided to do as he ordered and pay attention to the route we took. After all, I had no idea where my dorm even was, let alone how to get to or from it.
Lokos: A Scifi Alien Romance: Albaterra Mates Book 4 Page 5