by Ella Maven
“Are you flecking crazy?” I roared, spittle flying from my mouth. Rage and confusion bubbled in my blood.
“I might be,” he said with a sardonic snort. “But what I saw in that lab…” His gaze flitted to Fra-kee, and his nostrils flared. “I have work to do here. I don’t know what it is, but Fatas is telling me I can’t leave.”
“That makes no sense!” I tore my fingers through my hair. “Get on this side of that door now. I won’t leave here without you. You’re the only family I have left!”
“No, I’m not.” He gestured to Fra-kee. “She’s your family now. I’ll always be your brother, but I am not the future. You are. And so is your Fra-kee.”
“Five, four…”
“No!” Fra-kee wailed. “You have to come with us!”
Fleck this. He wouldn’t play the martyr. I’d carry him kicking and screaming. I raced toward the door just as Sax held up his hand. The keyring on his finger flashed. I saw in his eyes what he planned to do.
“Nooooo!” I roared, launching myself at the closing door.
Sax blinked slowly, his lips turning up in his signature smile. “I love you, brother. She Is All.”
“Two, one.”
The door slid shut, and the last vision I had of my brother was him blowing me a kiss. I slammed my body into the door repeatedly, roaring and shouting for Sax. I cursed him; I cursed the Uldani. I collapsed onto my knees as my heart felt like it had burst. It wasn’t until I felt Fra-kee’s soft hands on my back I realized my fists were bloody.
I stared at them, and then into Fra-kee’s eyes. Tears coursed down her cheeks. She sobbed, her shoulders shaking. My sweet Fra-kee, mourning my brother even though she’d only just met him.
I had to keep going. Sax, curse him, was right. Fra-kee was my future. Despite the ache in my heart and the heaviness in my shoulders, I hauled myself to my feet and wrapped my arms around my weeping mate. I cradled her, and I started to run.
Shouts sounded from the other side of the door, and then they faded. Sax must have been leading them away to get them off our trail. I couldn’t think about him now. For the first time in over a hundred and fifty rotations, I decided to put my faith in Fatas. My Fra-kee was proof she hadn’t abandoned the Drixonians.
We reached the end of the hallway, and I peered up the ladder to determine where it led, but it seemed to disappear into darkness.
Fra-kee wiped her eyes and sniffed. “What is this?”
“I don’t know,” I confessed. “But Sax said this was the way.” I shifted Fra-kee and directed her to cling to my back.
She wiggled. “I can climb.”
“No, you’re injured, and I don’t trust your ankle.”
She sighed and didn’t argue which told me she was in pain. With her arms locked around my neck, she gripped me with her thighs.
“Don’t let go,” I said.
Her breath ghosted over my neck. “Never,” she whispered.
I placed one hand on a rung, and I began to climb. And climb. Hand over hand, foot over foot. I ascended until the light from the hallway below us was but a dot. Fra-kee trembled, and her hands slipped a few times on my sweaty skin.
“Fra-kee,” I warned.
“I’m trying,” she insisted. “You’re slippery. And my arms feel like they’re going to fall off.”
“I can—”
“No, you’re doing enough.” She clung tighter with her thighs. “Just keep climbing.”
So, I did. I climbed until my arms burned and my legs screamed, until sweat matted my hair. I climbed until the ladder ended and my head slammed into something hard.
“Oh!” Fra-kee said. Her hand rubbed the top of my head. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” I grunted.
I banged on the object over my head, and a solid metal thunk echoed around us. After a few more hits, a small crack of light appeared. Moonlight.
“Oh my God!” Fra-kee screeched, and her little heels dug into my ribs. She lifted her fists and hit with me, both of us pounding until the metal hatch flew back. Warmth flooded the shaft and stars gleamed in the sky. A small burst of orange glowed on the horizon, signaling the coming dawn.
“We made it!” Fra-kee scrambled up over my head and launched herself on the grass. On all fours, she kissed the ground with loud smacking sounds. “Never thought I’d see you again, blue grass.”
I hauled myself to the ground next to her and shut the hatch behind us. “We can’t linger. I’m sure it’ll only be a matter of time before they figure out where we left.”
She nodded, her expression darkening to grim determination. It took me a minute to get my bearings. The halls we ran through had taken us just beyond the walls of the Uldani fortress and the shaft had brought us to the surface. The stone rose high and forbidding beside us, sheltering us in its shadow. There was still the large swath of open land to contend with until we were free and hidden by the dense foliage of Torin.
I had no protection other than the dim dawn sky. I had to run now and hope Fatas blessed us with escape. I had no other choice. If we stayed where we were, they’d find us.
I picked up Fra-kee in my arms, gathered my strength, and began to run across the open field. It would either be our salvation or our downfall.
Frankie
I clung to Daz as he ran. His boots pounded the ground, kicking up small clouds of green dirt. He ran so fast I swore I was in a car on the highway. The field was a blur. He was like Usain Bolt on steroids. His breath heaved and his heart raced against my ear. I felt useless, but with a fucked-up ankle, I would only have slowed us down.
I didn’t glance behind us, but I listened for the sounds of solar guns, shouts, whistling blades. I heard nothing, and I started to believe that maybe, just maybe, we could pull this off.
My hope was dampened by thoughts of Sax. I didn’t want to think about what the Uldani would do to punish him. I only knew he was strong, so extraordinarily strong, and smart. I had to have faith he’d survive and return to us, because the alternative was too painful to comprehend. I’d only known him a brief time, but I cared for him and sensed his duty and honor. His bond with Daz showed me a whole other side to my big alien, and I despaired I’d never see it again.
Daz didn’t slow down as the protection of the forest drew closer. He kept going, past the first line of trees and deep into the foliage until the ground inclined, and he began to ascend. He ran for what felt like hours, digging his toes into the terrain, and powering us up out of danger. My head spun and I fought not to lose the measly contents of my stomach from all the bouncing.
He probably could have kept going, but when we heard a qua stream trickling nearby, he slowed down. I was shocked to see that while he breathed heavy, he wasn’t nearly as exhausted as I would have expected him to be. By now, the sun was over the horizon, lighting up the small stream so the clear qua sparkled. He set me down on the bank. “We are out of immediate danger, but not far enough away yet to relax. We can’t rest here long, but I want you to drink.” He frowned and glanced back in the direction we’d come from. “That seemed too easy.”
With a shake of his head, he took off my boot to asses my injury. I grimaced. The joint was swollen, the skin purple and discolored. I could move it, but barely. “I don’t think it’s broken, but I definitely sprained it.”
“This happened when you fought the guards?”
I winced as my ankle throbbed. “I hit it on the cell doors when they were taking me away from you.”
“The rage I felt then…” His jaw clenched. “I can’t even describe it.” He cupped some qua in his hand and helped me drink. “I wish I had food for you.”
“I wish we had food for both of us.” I placed a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“Me? I’m fine,” he said dismissively as he splashed some qua over his face and hair. “That run was nothing.”
“I’m not talking about the run,” I said delicately.
He went still, muscles taut. “I’m not sure
I can think about him right now. That is for another time.”
“Do you think he did the right thing, staying back?”
“That is a complicated question. He believed he was doing the right thing, and I have to trust that.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “This is my fault.”
He tilted his head. “How so?”
“This was my idea—”
“Yes, but I went along with it, and so did the rest of my males. We made it out. And even if we hadn’t, being brave doesn’t always mean being successful. Taking this risk to save my brother was…” He shook his head. “I’m in awe of you. I got to see my brother again, even if it was for the last time. And I now know he’s there with the belief that Fatas is behind him. I will mourn him, but my cora is at ease. And that’s thanks to you.”
Daz was right. He’d had the chance to say goodbye. And Sax had the opportunity to stay and see what Fatas had in store for him.
“I want to be a good mate for you. I’ve never been a leader or someone that others looked up to.”
“Well, you are now,” he said. “The women look up to you. I look up to you. Maybe on Earth you were a follower, but here, you are a queen.”
Me, a leader. I thought back to all I’d done since I arrived on Torin. From stabbing the Kulk to carrying an injured Daz to being a leader to the women and finally to forming a plan to rescue his brother, even if it resulted in him only getting a chance to say goodbye. I hadn’t fucked up quite as badly as I’d thought. And he was right. Bravery didn’t mean success. I wasn’t an imposter. I was queen to the Night Kings. “I guess you’re right. Strange I had to come here to finally step up and direct my own life.”
He grinned and brushed his thumb across my lips. “Thanks Fatas.”
My stomach rumbled. The reminder of my pregnancy no longer filled me with absolute terror. “Did you agree with what Sax said about me?”
He frowned and sat back on his haunches. “Explain what you mean.”
I nibbled my lip. “He said I’m your future—”
“You are.”
I rolled my eyes. “You asked me to explain but then you interrupted me.” He huffed out a breath but kept his mouth shut. “I’m asking…” I tapped my fingers on the stream’s bank. “Are we your future because we can continue your line? Give you babies?” I couldn’t keep the trembling out of my voice. I clenched my fist, so I didn’t wrap it around my belly.
His eyebrows dipped in anger, and he opened his mouth. I braced for a harsh bark, but then he stopped himself, and his face cleared. “Oh, my Fra-kee,” he murmured and gathered me into his arms. He petted me gently, and his heart beat sure and strong under my ear. “Your womb is not all you are to us,” he said. “To the Uldani, yes, but to us… Females mean a purpose. We Drixonian males were born to protect. That duty is woven into our sola. We are warriors and without females and a life to defend, we have been aimless.” He pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “If you never give me a chit, you are still the most important being in my life. You are my purpose.”
His aura expanded, the red rich and bursting. I looked up into his eyes and reflected in them were my own, nearly amber instead of their normal dark brown.
“Your aura,” he spoke in awe. “The gold is… so beautiful, so bright, that it shines through your eyes.”
“Your aura is a bright red, lush and powerful.” I stroked his cheek and he leaned into my touch. “It’s been like this since the night before we left. I think—” I swallowed. “This is what love feels like.”
His body went still, and he pulled away from me slightly so he could study my face. His nostrils flared, and the ring in his septum glittered in the light of the rising sun. “This is love?” he whispered. “Your aura’s golden threads are woven all through my mind, bright and beautiful. And when I think of you, I feel powerful, like I can do anything, and that I will do anything to keep those golden threads of yours alive and gleaming.” He brushed his lips against mine. “If this is love, then it is the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced in my life.” His hands clasped my hair and tugged my head back so I could do nothing but look into his swirling purple irises. His voice deepened into an emotional rasp. “And if this is not love, then we are what love wishes it could be.”
I opened my mouth to him, and he swept inside, his tongue invading me like his conquering red aura. I surrendered. His words spread throughout my limbs, warming me to the very tips of my fingers. What we were couldn’t be defined by a simple four-letter word.
I ended the kiss long enough to whisper, “I think I’m carrying your chit.”
He jerked back and gripped my face. His expression went blank for a moment before his chest expanded, and his eyes widened in wonder. “What did you say?”
I nibbled on my lip. “When they took me to that lab place. They tested my blood. The older Uldani said I was pregnant.”
His large palm spanned my belly. “Here? My seed took root and you grow our chit here?”
I nodded. “I didn’t know what it was, but for a few days now I have felt another aura. Faint, but it’s there.”
He stared at my stomach in wonder. “You have already blessed me enough, and now this … this is almost too much for me to believe. After so much sadness…” A brilliant smile lit up his face as his gaze connected with mine. “A new life and a new purpose.” His smile dimmed. “I wish I could give you and your females back your home, but I am also not sorry, because giving you up would kill me.”
I placed my hand over his. “My home is here now. Or wherever you are.”
His eyes fell closed for a brief moment. “Sax,” he said. He focused on me again. “He was reading the monitor while I freed you. Did he see? Did he know?”
“I think he did.” Tears spilled over my bottom lashes and I swiped at them. “He gave me a look and… he knew.”
“That’s why,” Daz breathed. “That’s why he did what he did. While you slept, we talked, and he worried the Uldani wouldn’t stop, that they’d find a way to get their filthy hands on our chits. I have to believe…” He sighed. “I have to believe they will not kill him. I have to believe Fatas has plans for him and that he has a purpose at Alazar.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m so, so sorry.”
He kissed me with a soft smile. “There is nothing to be sorry for. He made his choice, and I have to accept it. We tried, and now I know he’s there with a mission and a duty. Sax will complete that duty or die trying, and both of those are honorable.”
He squeezed my waist and then patted my ass. “We need to keep moving. It will be a long journey on foot. I will have to carry you.”
After fashioning an ankle brace with some leaves and a few vines tightly wrapping around the joint, I tested my weight on it. I tried to hide my wince of pain, but Daz saw it and immediately scooped me into his arms.
“You can’t carry me the whole way there,” I said.
“Oh?” He raised a brow nub. “I can, and I will.”
He turned with a smile. It immediately dropped from his face when he saw, standing in our path, an armed Trupa with an evil grin. Behind him stood four Uldani guards.
“Should have kept running, Dazeem,” he said. “You Drixonians. Your love for your females will forever be your downfall.”
Twenty-One
Daz
“You didn’t wonder why you made it across our open plain so easily? Of course, we saw you. But I couldn’t risk hitting your female in my quest to kill you. So, we tracked you here. More fun to make it personal, anyway.”
Trupa pulled his gun from his waistband and pointed it at my head. Fra-kee trembled in my arms. My pregnant mate—scared and in danger.
This was the second time since I’d met her I’d had a solar gun pointed at my head, but the situations were drastically different. Then, I was panicked, enraged, and fearful for Fra-kee.
But now… Time seemed to slow to a crawl. I was aware of every sound. The soldier’s heavy, tense
breaths. Fra-kee’s rapid heartbeat at my back. The rustling of the wind through the leaves in the trees. Even the distant sound of an antella call, followed by a welf howl.
I tilted my face up to the sun. Fra-kee’s arms tightened on my neck. The soldiers shifted uneasily.
“Not going to charge us?” Trupa mocked.
“No.” I stood with my feet braced apart, body taut. “I’m not.”
“Why?”
“Because by the next time you blink,” I said softly, “your soldiers will be dead.”
Trupa cocked his head. I heard a distinct click, and I smiled.
A laser bullet entered my vision to the left, piercing the head of the first soldier, sailed through the remaining three, before slamming into the trunk of a tree, sending the branches crashing to the ground.
Blood sprayed the air. Trupa whirled around to find his men dead on the ground behind him. Fra-kee screamed. Xavy appeared at my side and stripped her off my back just before I rushed Trupa. He fumbled with his gun, but it was too late. I was on him before he could lift his arm. I knocked the gun from his hand, and it sailed into the air. Xavy caught it with one hand as he held a flailing Fra-kee in the other.
Trupa was no ordinary Uldani; he could fight. He shifted out of the way quickly, brandishing a blade in each hand. I unleashed my machets and crossed my arms in front of my neck as we circled each other.
“Shoot him!” Fra-kee reached for the gun that Xavy held.
“No, cora-eternal,” I said. “This is a fight I intend to finish face to face.”
Trupa stumbled. “What did you call her?”
I unwrapped the leather band from around one of my wrists. “She is my cora-eternal. Our matching loks prove it. Even with all your tricks and your machines and your chains, you are no match for a Fatas-granted union.”
His face drained of color, the silvery gray turning a sickly off-white. “But she’s pregnant—”