by Octavia Kore
Once they were separated, it would be easier, surely. He just needed to make it off the planet and then he could work on putting her behind him. Eventually, he would forget her face, her scent, the way it felt to kiss and hold her.
Brin swallowed thickly and tamped down the denial that formed like a fist in his chest. Goddess help him forget, because he would go slowly insane if he had to live alone with only her memory for the rest of his life.
Jun
Her night was anything but peaceful. Each time her thighs rubbed together, it sent a sharp jolt of need racing through her body.
As she tossed and turned, she tried not to remember the way Brin’s lips felt against her own. She tried her best to ignore the sensual dreams that plagued her sleep, dreams of being wrapped in Brin’s arms and writhing beneath him as he thrust against her.
For so long now, her job had filled up most of her waking moments. It kept her from being completely crushed by the homesickness she felt every single day.
Any spare time she had was spent with Amanda, and the two of them were more apt to spend their evenings stuffing their faces and watching movies than going out and looking for men to cuddle up to.
Now, her best friend was busy with Oshen and she was stuck with an alien of her own. One who made her blood heat, even when she was tempted to slap the smirk right off of his strangely handsome face.
Jun didn’t trust aliens as a rule. She had seen far too many times what they were capable of doing to humans, but Amanda trusted Oshen so she would try her best with Brin.
She tried to go back to sleep again, but her bladder was screaming to be relieved. All the water she was being told to drink daily meant she found herself waking up more often at night to use the bathroom.
Pushing herself up from the bed, Jun crept across her floor and out the open doorway, making sure to keep the lights out so she wouldn’t blind herself. She always found it so much easier to go back to sleep if she kept them off.
As quietly as she could, Jun turned the knob and slipped into the bathroom, closing the door behind her before she padded across the floor to the toilet.
She tugged her pajama bottoms down her legs and sat down, but the rumbling grunt that sounded behind her and the hard exoskeleton beneath her legs made her eyes widen.
“I thought you’d never take me up on the offer, female.”
Jun shot to her feet, one hand yanking her bottoms up while the other wrapped around the nearest object. She wielded the plunger like a bat, bringing it down on top of the Grutex’s head over and over as he growled and cursed at her.
What the hell was he doing in here alone with the lights turned off? Where the hell was Brin? She dropped her weapon and lunged for the door, but it wouldn’t budge. The sound of her fists beating against the wood echoed in the small room.
“Brin! Get your fishy ass in here! Let me out of here, Glowworm!” she yelled, trying with all her might to force the door open. “Brin!”
There was a loud thud from the other side and she stumbled backward as the door was swung open and a frazzled looking Brin burst into the room.
“Shayfia?”
“Don’t Shayfia me!” Jun shouted as she shoved him. “What the hell is he doing in here on my damn toilet?!”
Brin grabbed at her flying hands, looking from her to Raou and frowned, “I didn’t think he would bother anyone in here.”
“I sat on him, Brin!” She swatted at him as he growled. “How am I supposed to use the bathroom with him sitting there?”
“You sat on him?” Brin froze.
“I look forward to more of that in the future, female,” Raou practically purred.
“You braxing son of a––” He started forward, but Jun shoved at him again, catching him off guard.
“I wouldn’t have sat on him if you hadn’t put him there in the first place!” She slapped his arm, and Brin turned his angry blue gaze on her.
“Will you stop hitting me?”
“No!” Jun shouted.
With a low growl, Brin grabbed her arms and pulled her against his chest, spinning them away from the curious gaze of the Grutex.
“Enough, Shayfia! I’m sorry,” he whispered as she scowled up at him. “I’m sorry.”
“You should be,” she grumbled, feeling her anger dissipating. She grasped at it, wanting to use it as a shield against the things she felt when he held her close or whispered to her. What the hell was wrong with her? She took a deep breath before pulling away. “Could you move him before I pee myself?”
Brin mumbled a hasty apology as he typed in a command on his wrist. She watched in fascination as the massive male was lifted into the air and moved effortlessly out the door. She was left alone to do her business and as she washed her hands Jun stared at herself in the mirror.
“Get your shit together, Junafer,” she reprimanded her reflection. “You have no business feeling anything other than annoyance and frustration with that man. He won’t stay, and you won’t go.”
That was that. She scrubbed her hands over her face and stepped out into the hall.
Chapter 9
Brin
What exactly had he been thinking when he’d set the Grutex on the toilet? He hadn’t even taken his mate’s needs into consideration. Some time away from the barbed comments had been his only goal, and now he was paying the price for his thoughtlessness.
Brin watched as Jun exited the bathing chamber and followed her into the bedroom, a frown marring his face as he watched her tremble. Some might have mistaken the shaking for fear, but he’d grown up with a female who shook with the intensity of her rage.
“Jun––”
“No, Brin. I want to be alone right now.” She dumped a small pill from one of her bottles into her hand before popping it into her mouth and swallowing.
He shifted from one foot to the other as she threw back the blankets, wanting to pull her into his arms and make it better anyway he could.
“I’m sorry, Shayfia. I’m sorry that I didn’t take you into consideration.”
“Didn’t take me into consideration in my own home? Seriously, Brin.” Jun turned to glare at him.
“I’ve never had a m––” Brin slammed his mouth shut and frowned. He couldn’t tell her that. “I’ve only ever needed to worry about myself.”
“Obviously,” she grumbled.
“You’re still shaking.”
“You aliens are hell on my blood pressure,” she said, slipping beneath the covers before turning her back to him. “Shouldn’t you be watching Raou?”
“I wanted to make sure you were okay. He’ll be fine for a moment.”
“I’m fine,” Jun said. “Not thrilled that I put my bare ass on a Grutex in the middle of the night, but I’ll live.”
The reminder that she had inadvertently exposed herself to the male made his lip twitch with the urge to sneer, but he suppressed it.
“I truly am––”
A loud crash from the main room where he had left Raou interrupted him. He spun around, racing down the short hallway.
The front door had been thrown open, and there was no sign of the massive male. Brin checked the other rooms, but he knew he’d find nothing. Raou was gone, and his female was in even more danger than she had been before.
A soft gasp from the main room drew his attention, and he stepped out of the room where they had eaten the first day to see Jun crouched down next to the fallen table that had held the necklace. She gathered the little objects that had fallen, cursing as she picked up some of the more fragile pieces.
Brin carefully lifted the table, draping the cloth back over it so she could empty her arms.
The shark tooth necklace had fallen out of its box and rested on the floor just beneath the corner of the couch. Using the top and bottom of the small black container, Brin scooped it up.
“I didn’t touch it.” he told her as he held the box out.
Jun ran her fingers carefully over the top and sighed. “Thank you.”
His eyes roamed over the beautifully painted statues, noting that more than one of them had suffered minor damage in the fall, and grimaced.
This was his fault. He’d been careless and hadn’t checked the hex after removing Raou from the bathing chamber. If Jun had touched it during their brief interaction, the device might have reset itself without him knowing. The male could have feigned paralysis until he had a chance to escape.
“A warrior leaves no room for mistakes, Ruvator. Mistakes will get you and others killed,” he could hear Brega hiss.
The phantom sting of the whip against the skin on his back made him flinch, and he rubbed at his shoulder out of habit. Brega and Tesol had trained him for situations just like this and what had he done the first time he actually needed to draw on the experience? He’d failed.
Brin had endangered not only his life, but the life of his mate. He should have double–– no, triple-checked the braxing device before walking away.
He couldn’t blame his carelessness on his lack of sleep. How many nights had he been forced to stay awake and alert, to be on guard in case one of his parents came in to check on him?
If they had found him nodding off… Well, he had the scars to remind him to never make that mistake again.
Brin closed the front door and turned to watch Jun run a finger over the jewelry in her hands. “Is there some other place you can go where you’ll be safe?” he asked.
“Is there anywhere safe anymore?” Jun swallowed hard before she sighed. “The only person I’m close enough to who would take me in would be Amanda, and she’s already got enough on her plate with this potential mating.” She turned her worried gaze on him. “We can’t tell her about Raou and we definitely can’t lead him to her. He never told us how he found his way here, and I don’t want to put her in harm’s way.”
The next couple ure seemed to crawl by. They checked, double checked, and triple checked the windows and doors, making sure they were as secure as possible. He hated that she lacked any sort of a security system, but he did what he could.
You should have done this the moment you realized you were going to be spending an extended amount of time here, the voice in his head chided.
Brin stepped into the room Jun called her kitchen. She was busy scrubbing the counters and cooking surface for the fourth time in a row. Her brows were drawn together, and she mumbled as she wrung water from her rag.
“Master, you have an incoming ping from Oshen,” Nyissa alerted him, pulling him from his observations.
Jun’s head whipped around, and she lunged at him, eyes wide with concern as she gripped his arm. “Do not say anything to him about this, Brin! Please.”
He didn’t like the idea of lying to Oshen, but there was no need to alert him to anything right this moment. Brin just needed to keep them all out of danger until they could contact Vog and bring him up to speed on Raou’s capture and escape.
Taking a fortifying breath, Brin mentally tugged on his mask, praying to the goddess that it was convincing.
“Where have you been? You look awful.” Oshen asked as soon as his face appeared on the display.
“Don’t start with me, old man. I’ve been working day and night to get this braxing signal through. Fine timing, by the way.”
The lie fell from his lips as easily as the smirk that tugged at his lips. He hadn’t been working on the signal at all since Raou had shown up. Oshen didn’t need to hear that this was most likely a ploy used by the Grutex in an attempt to find them.
If by some miracle this wasn’t them, then maybe someone on the ship had finally figured out where they had gone and broken through the block. Please be the latter.
“I suppose I shouldn’t have ever doubted your exemplary skills, Havacker. What was causing it?”
Brin looked over to see Jun watching him with narrowed eyes, daring him to tell their secret. If she were anyone else, he might have done it just to provoke her, but the memory of her fear and anxiety over telling Amanda was fresh in his mind and he’d hurt her enough already.
“What else?” he answered instead. “The Grutex obviously don’t want us knowing what they have going on here. They’ve put up shields that scramble everything. The humans wouldn’t be able to reach out for help even if they knew we were here.” Something fell behind him, and he turned to see Jun crouch down quickly, picking up the pieces of a shattered plate. “What is your status?”
“My mate is in trouble. One Grutex—”
“Mate?” Brin interrupted, feigning surprise with widened eyes.
His brutok had been waiting years to share this news, and he didn’t want to diminish the moment by bragging that he already knew about Amanda because he’d been staying with her best friend. Oshen would know soon enough where he had been.
“I’ll explain later. I’ve sent our location. Brin?”
“Yes, brutok?” He glanced down at his arm as the location flashed in the corner of the screen.
“Don’t get us into any trouble.”
Brin gasped dramatically. “Me? I’ll remind you that this little excursion was your idea.”
“Noted. Be ready for a confrontation. I have no idea how many are out there.”
“You know I’m alway—” But his words cut off as the call ended abruptly.
“Don’t even think about telling me to stay here when Amanda is in danger,” Jun said as she stepped up to his side. “When do we leave?”
Brin smiled down at her. “I wouldn’t dream of defying you, Shayfia.”
He couldn’t have left her even if he’d wanted to. Raou could return at any moment, and if the male came while he was gone, he had no doubt she would be taken from him.
“We can’t tell them about Raou. Nothing about him, okay?” Brin grimaced, but nodded. “From the sound of it, they’ve got enough on their plates without us adding to it.”
Brin took a moment to admire how fierce and protective she looked as she crouched down to strap her weapon to her leg. He hadn’t even noticed the holster before. His little mate was full of surprises, and he delighted in discovering each of them.
“Let’s hope Bridget isn’t sitting with her face pressed to the window. The last thing we need is for the cops to show up looking for you.” She turned the light near her front door off before motioning for him to follow her outside. “We’ll figure out what’s going on there, and then we’ll figure out how the hell to stop Raou.”
Even with the craft cloaked, Brin recognized the familiar change in pressure as Oshen and Amanda departed. His tail slid up Jun’s leg, wrapping comfortingly around her calf as she struggled with her emotions.
Maybe it was the pheromones causing him to imagine things that weren’t actually there, but he swore he could feel the sadness and a sense of loss.
It poured from her, washing over him in waves so strong they threatened to drown him. Brin tugged her closer, tucking her into the crook of his arm, and ran his hand over her braided hair.
He should have been putting space between them, but the instinct to protect and comfort his mate outweighed any logical thought he might have.
There had been no time to speak to Vog about Raou while he’d been on Earth, but perhaps Brin would be able to reach the commander on the ship after he’d spoken with the council.
Oshen finding his mate here was something the elders would demand to know about, and even Vog couldn’t put off speaking with them for too long.
Brin and Oshen had defied the orders of their commander to warn humanity, and now that Oshen was gone, it seemed as if it were up to him to finish the job.
He looked down at Jun as she swiped at a tear on her cheek and pretended not to notice the soft sniffle that followed. She sighed as he pulled her back into the shelter of Amanda’s dwelling and closed the door, blocking out the soft glow of the moon.
“I don’t want to go back home, Brin,” Jun said, shuffling over to the couch before plopping down onto the plush cushions.
Brin shook
his head and kneeled in front of Jun. “We’ll stay here for now,” he told her, but he knew they wouldn’t be able to hide out too long. The Grutex knew about Amanda’s dwelling, but they didn’t exactly have very many options at the moment. “We can figure this all out tomorrow, Shayfia. Tonight, we rest and tomorrow we seek out human authorities who can help.”
Jun grimaced, and when her eyes settled on his he saw the exhaustion swirling in the deep brown depths. “Tomorrow, we sort it all out.”
Chapter 10
Jun
Jun pressed the power button on Amanda’s TV as the bacon sizzled and popped in the pan. Amanda’s house was rarely this quiet and she found herself missing her friend’s laughter and Hades’ angry yowls as he glared at her from the doorways.
The voices of the local news anchors filled the living room as they reported the weather forecast for the rest of the week.
Rainy and hot, no surprise there.
They’d run back to her house before sunrise to grab her medicine and an overnight bag. Brin’s blue gaze had roamed over every dark corner, ever vigilant. By the time they’d made it back to Amanda’s, Jun was dead on her feet.
The constant worrying over her friend and everything she had been through with Raou had caught up to her. That night, for the first time since the Grutex had broken into her home, Jun slept without interruption.
No visions of terrifying monsters plagued her as she slept in her friend’s bed, and even the more pleasant images of a certain dark, glowing alien warrior were absent from her dreams.
Brin hadn’t been in the living room or kitchen when she woke up to use the bathroom, so when her stomach grumbled, Jun had decided to busy herself with breakfast.
Last night, she had wanted nothing more than to run after Amanda, to beg her to stay. They could find a way to keep her safe without having to send her to another planet, couldn’t they?