The Vilka's Mate: Scifi Alien Romance (Shifters of Kladuu Book 2)

by Pearl Foxx

  But all was quiet.

  The ride back to shore was tense, the air charged. When the boats settled against the black crystal sand of the narrow beach, which was just feet away from the thick vines of the jungle, the Hylas barely even paused to let the Vilkas clamber off the boats before they whisked the boat away, sprays of water splashing off their flippers.

  “They seem pissed,” Jude muttered under the breath while Caj stomped off into the jungle, the guards at his heels. Only a few stayed back to bring up the rear behind Gerrit and Jude. It wasn’t even close to a proper formation, but then, Gerrit doubted his brother even knew there was a protocol for trekking through the jungle.

  So why did Caj care where they stopped to make camp?

  “Let’s hope they don’t tell Tavorn how rude Caj was.”

  “You know they will.” Jude tracked the departing boats with a hand shielding her eyes from the sun.

  “Come on. Caj is right about one thing. We want to set up a good camp for the night.”

  Jude turned a weary gaze to the jungle. “It’s just a two-day hike?”

  “Should be. Let’s hope no other beautiful Earthen women crash on the way back.”

  “Ha. Very funny.” She rolled her eyes and hitched up her dress, exposing long, tanned legs. She knotted the hem of the dress up by her thighs. Gerrit didn’t fail to notice the guards’ lingering attention.

  He growled at them.

  “You coming, or will I have to carry you?” Jude asked. She was already at the jungle’s edge.

  “Coming, dear,” Gerrit said and trotted to catch up with her.

  “Call me ‘dear’ again and I’ll kick you in the nuts.”

  Gerrit couldn’t help but laugh. Now that they were away from the Hylas, he almost felt safe. Jude was one step closer to home and safety.

  The foolish thought had crossed his mind before he could stop it. His mountain wasn’t her home, and one step closer brought her one step farther away from him. He might have claimed her as a mate, but she would never be his.

  They hiked for miles before finding a suitably defensible spot to set up camp for the night. Not a single Draqon had been spotted in the sky, and Caj hadn’t let an opportunity slip to make a joke about the big bad jungle his brother had found himself stranded in. With each joke, more guards joined in the laughter, and the darker Jude’s expression became.

  Her feet had to be killing her. Hylan sandals weren’t exactly made for treks through the jungle, but she hadn’t complained once. The guards’ looks at her had become less of a perusal of her body and more like ones of grim respect. She’d made the trip in a thin dress and strappy, flat-soled sandals, while they had struggled in Arakid combat gear and heavy boots.

  They prepped a low-burning fire and dinner while guards collected water to boil. Others established a perimeter. A watch schedule was set up. It all happened under Gerrit’s instruction. Caj volunteered for none of the tasks and scoffed when Gerrit suggested he pitch in, which didn’t surprise Gerrit all that much. Caj had always been a bit lazy, something that had driven their father crazy.

  Jude manned the fire and the boiling water, doling out rations to each guard before taking her own slight sips. Caj had demanded his first.

  Seeing him out here, like this, Gerrit realized he didn’t particularly care for his entitled brother. In the mountain, Caj had always stayed under the wing of tutors and trainers; Gerrit had rarely seen him except for family meals or at Vilkan events. Perhaps he hardly knew the young man he called family.

  When all the guards were hydrated and her feet had rested, Jude met his eyes and lifted her chin toward the darkening trees beyond earshot of the gathered guards.

  Gerrit’s heart thumped in his chest. Did she want to sneak in some playtime? He couldn’t help his cock’s growing hardness at the thought. All day, his skin had itched for the feel of her, his hands aching to hold her tight to him.

  She drifted off with the mumbled excuse of needing a nature break. A few minutes later, when most of the guards were preoccupied, Gerrit slipped off after her, passing his brother’s sleeping form.

  He followed her scent and found her beside a small stream, leaning against a fallen log with her arms crossed. “Hey,” he murmured, pressing up against her and wrapping his arms around her waist.

  Before he could dip his mouth down against hers, she held a hand against his chest. “Wait.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I wanted to talk. Not everything is about kissing, you know.”

  Gerrit sighed and stepped back from her. He adjusted his pants, which now felt much too tight. “I know that. Many things don’t involve kissing. Like—”

  “I’m serious, Gerrit. Something doesn’t feel right.”

  The thread snapped taut between them. Through it, he felt her fear. Her worry. Instantly, the humor was gone from inside him. He glanced around, inhaling deeply, assessing the area for threats. “What’s wrong?”

  Jude bit her lip. “I don’t know. I’m just worried. I don’t …” She trailed off uncertainly. He’d never seen her mince her words, not around him.

  “You can tell me. Whatever it is, Jude.”

  She took a deep breath. “I don’t trust your brother. In fact, I don’t like him at all. He’s an asshole, but that’s not the point. I’ve worked with plenty of assholes before who were good at their jobs. There’s something about him I don’t trust. Something isn’t right.”

  Of everything he’d expected, that wasn’t it. He let out a soft, relieved laugh. “He’s just a spoiled brat,” he said quietly in case any of the guards on watch had ventured close enough to hear them. “That’s all. Don’t worry about him.”

  But Jude shook her head. “It’s more than that. He didn’t even care to appease Tavorn. That’s either stupid or careless. And all day, he pushed the pace, then he did nothing at camp. He doesn’t strike me as the type who prefers grueling hikes for the hell of it. What was he in a hurry for?”

  It was odd, but Gerrit didn’t think it was anything to worry about. “He’s just—”

  “An asshole,” Jude huffed. “I know. But he wouldn’t shut his trap the entire day, showing off and trying to make you look bad, and now he has nothing to say. I don’t like it. I’m sorry because I know he’s your brother, but something isn’t right.”

  As they spoke, the sun set, casting the jungle into longer shadows than normal. Everything down here felt like perpetual night, with the shadows stretched denser and darker than usual.

  Goosebumps spread down Gerrit’s arms.

  The jungle was silent.

  Jude heard it then too. Her eyes stretched wide. She’d learned the dangers of a quiet jungle.

  Gerrit had just enough time to lunge toward her and pull her down before the jungle’s green-tinted darkness was shattered by blinding spotlights and the sudden, deafening roar of a spaceship. And it was landing right on top of them.

  They had just enough time to scramble away before it settled into the new clearing it had burnt beneath it.

  The exit hatch opened with a whoosh and a silhouette appeared.

  Gerrit was already growling and pulling Jude behind him before the man even spoke.

  “Hello again, Gerrit,” the man said, stepping out into the spotlights.

  Savas.

  20

  Jude

  “You fucking coward.” Gerrit lurched forward with a growl, but Jude grabbed his arm. Though he trembled with rage and clearly wanted to rip this guy to shreds, he stood beside her.

  This was the guy who had killed Gerrit’s father? Gerrit’s uncle. The one named Savas. Jude felt a sinking sense of despair.

  “Who’s your pretty friend there?” Savas drawled, his eyes going to Jude.

  “I wouldn’t mess with her,” said a voice from behind them. “She’s his mate.”

  Jude turned to find Caj strolling toward them, a group of nearly fifteen guards following him. Taking her arm, Gerrit pulled her back a few steps so he had a c
lear view of both Savas and Caj. But the night was dark, and anything could be at their backs in the shadow-filled jungle.

  “Caj,” Gerrit said, “stay back.”

  Jude thought Caj probably had no intention of staying back, not from the self-satisfied sneer on his face. But Gerrit didn’t see it. Or maybe he just refused to.

  “You see, Gerrit,” Savas said as he descended the small ramp from his ship. “Caj and I have a lot in common. We’re both bastards. Both less than royal and too far from noble birth to be considered Alpha-worthy. Tell me, why should we be punished for who our fathers fucked?”

  “Caj?” Gerrit ignored Savas, his eyes locked on his brother. “What’s going on?”

  But Savas was clearly their biggest threat, and a row of men lined the hatch behind him. Even if some of Caj’s guards fought with Gerrit and her, they were still woefully outnumbered.

  As Linnea would have said, they were screwed.

  “Back home, you barely even look at me.” Caj’s face transformed as he spoke to his brother. Suddenly, he wasn’t an entitled, spoiled brat, but a young man who just wanted his brother’s approval. “The only time Father spoke to me was to tell me about something amazing you had done. Do you know what that feels like? To not even matter?”

  “Don’t do this,” Gerrit whispered. Jude heard the heartbreak in his voice. Felt it in her bones.

  “I’m afraid it’s too late,” Savas said. All humor was gone from his voice, but he clearly relished this. He prowled closer, his dark eyes sending chills up Jude’s arms. He looked crazed. Wild. Desperate. “You’re going to die here, Gerrit. You have no friends here to fight for you. Only your mate, and she’s going to die beside you.”

  “That’s what you think, asshole,” Jude spat. She might be wearing a stupid white dress, but she was about to kill this motherfucker.

  And Caj. She was going to kill them all for breaking her mate’s heart.

  Savas’s skin rippled. Beside her, Gerrit’s skin did the same in response.

  It was wolf time.

  A howl ripped through the air, followed by another and another. Gerrit shoved Jude into the jungle brush behind them. Before she could even struggle back upright, his clothes had ripped and he’d shifted. The black and silver glint of his wolf was growling and snapping, charging into the fray with headlong, rage-filled abandon.

  Struggling to her feet, Jude slapped a wet fern out of her face. Before she could leap after Gerrit, Caj stepped in front of her.

  He wore a taunting smile.

  “Oh perfect,” Jude said. “I was really hoping I’d get to kill you.”

  Behind Caj, Gerrit was lost to the fight. The ship’s spotlights caught flashes of fur and snarling, snapping teeth. But she couldn’t tell one pelt from the next, one swiping set of claws from another. But beyond the fight, the ship’s hatch stood open and empty. Waiting.

  “Brave words,” Caj said, drawing her attention once again. “Gerrit must be pleased to have a mate like you. Sad, really. Such a fleeting time to be in love. And true mates at that.”

  “You should call your guards off before you get hurt pretending to be a man.”

  Caj might be Gerrit’s younger brother, but he was big. Size must have run in the family. His skin rippled, but he fought the shift off. He narrowed his eyes at her and growled, “You’ll wish you hadn’t said that.”

  The fight shifted farther into the jungle. Gerrit used the trees and dense ground cover to funnel his opponents. With satisfaction, Jude noticed he was leaving a pile of blood and bodies behind him.

  Savas should have brought more men. He was going to need them.

  A howl ripped through the clearing. It was all Caj needed. His skin tore apart and white fur slashed through. Lunging, he snapped at Jude’s neck.

  “Bad doggie,” she grunted as she dove, rolling to the side, and sprang to her feet. She jumped up and grabbed a tree limb above her, swinging her feet up a split second before Caj’s teeth could close on her bare foot.

  She was on the limb before he regained his balance and pivoted to leap at her again. She pulled herself up to the next limb and the next, climbing ever higher to lose herself to the canopy’s shadows. Caj sprang at the tree beneath her, but when she jumped to the next tree, she knew he’d lost track of her in the leaves. With the fight so loud and the ship’s thrusters roaring behind him, he wouldn’t be able to hear her unless he was standing right beneath her.

  She kept her distance as she jumped and grabbed different limbs, forcing her feet to move before the branches could bend beneath her weight. She couldn’t help but think of all the trees she and Linnea had climbed in Alabama, back when they were young and their mother was still alive.

  Back when Earth still had trees.

  Back when her father had smiled instead of used his fists.

  When she was twenty feet from the ship, she stopped.

  From the direction of the fight, a Vilka howled in agony. She could only pray it wasn’t Gerrit.

  With a deep breath, she dropped to the ground.

  The fall was farther than she expected, and her ankle wrenched when she hit the ground. But the pain was only a distant haze in the back of her mind as she bolted for the ship.

  Behind her, Caj crashed out of the jungle.

  She hit the ship’s ramp and sprang inside. She found the hatch’s auto locks were just inside the door. She slapped them, and the ramp started closing, the hatch lifting.

  Caj sprang closer, his eyes red, his lips snarling over fangs dripping saliva. He was close enough that she could imagine his hot breath on her skin.

  She hadn’t been fast enough.

  He was going to get inside.

  She stumbled back, feeling genuine fear for the first time since Savas appeared as Caj leaped for the quickly closing gap in the door.

  The metal hatch snapped home. Outside, she heard Caj smash into the door. A frustrated howl and a scrape of claws made her smile.

  She spun and ran toward the cockpit.

  Half falling, half launching herself, she took the pilot’s chair. Before her, the control panel looked foreign and complicated, but she recognized a few switches. She hit those to power up the slow-burning thrusters beneath her.

  The ship rumbled in response. She had power. Now to release the alien version of the parking brake.

  She hit a lever beside the steering column. The ship shuddered, and a mechanically lyrical voice said, “Manual control initiated. Ready for takeoff?”

  “Let’s go!”

  The thrusters surged. Beneath the ship, the ground fell away, and Jude was airborne. She whooped from the thrill of it, the adrenaline in her system like a drug she could never get enough of. She finally understood what the other Falconers meant. She would never feel more infinite than she did right then.

  And this was one flight exam she couldn’t fail.

  She twitched the steering column, and the ship responded with a smooth sideways glide. The Falconers could use tech like this, especially if this ship came with its own artificial intelligence.

  “Time to kill some baddies,” Jude muttered. She narrowed her eyes on the fighting group. She had a tiny amount of space, and above the fight, a twisting array of limbs and vines blocked her only exit. The maneuver was nearly impossible in the cumbersome ship, which wasn’t anything like the compact Falconer shuttles, but she’d piloted worse.

  She imagined the jungle was the rings of Saturn and blasted forward.

  She buzzed the fighting wolves with a low pass, just close enough to warn Gerrit. She pulled back on the steering column, and the ship’s nose lifted like a dream despite the ship’s size. She sailed upward, following the trajectory of the trees, and spiraled out of the top of the canopy.

  Bursting free of the jungle, she could see everything up here. The moons shone brighter, the stars like a million tiny flecks of glowing dust. And far off in the distance, she could make out the craggy point of the tallest mountain.

  Gerrit’s home.
>
  She executed a back roll and dove back through the canopy, making her own entrance this time.

  Limbs and vines slapped across her windshield, but she could still see enough to spot a group of Savas’s men who had been separated from the group by her first pass. She aimed at them with a maniacal grin spreading across her face.

  They didn’t have time to scatter, not before she hit the thruster ignition and sent a slew of hot air scorching across their backs as she skimmed the ship right above their heads. She imagined she heard their flesh sizzling from inside the cockpit.

  But her laughter died off. “Oh shit,” she hissed.

  She hadn’t looked far enough ahead. A massive tree appeared through the darkness. She shoved her weight against the steering column, and the ship gave a shuddering groan as it realigned. The ship rolled up sideways, narrowly missing the tree, and slammed a wing into the ground.

  Jude almost fell out of her seat, but she righted the craft, knocking half the leaves off a nearby tree, but she got back out of the canopy.

  “Just like Saturn,” she muttered, feeling sweat dripping down her back. That had been close. Too close.

  Above her, the mechanical voice returned. “I see you’re using tactical maneuvers. This appears to be a battle scenario. Would you like to engage offensive weaponry?”

  “Hell yeah, I want to engage offensive weaponry!”

  “Weapons online. Fire at will.”

  “Fuck yes!” Jude circled the ship back around as a few lights lit up on the dash before her.

  When she came back through the canopy and spotted a few more men trying to get to their feet, she happily started tapping the pretty blue button with delighted abandon.

  With each tap, a burst of gunfire sprayed from the ship’s weapons below the deck.

  She didn’t have time to witness the traitorous Vilkas’ reactions or see how many she’d hit because she wasn’t about to run into a tree again this time. She pulled the ship up and executed a tight wing tuck to face the widening hole she was making in the canopy.