Page 10 of 20% Stud 80% Muffin (Alien Fated Mates #1)

10

“ M akir, this is D’Argon and D’Rasma.” D’irk slapped the back of my shoulder where we’d agreed to meet at the base of the winding path up to the Rowtees’ tree-top aviary. All three were Boola, had deep brown skin that glistened in the sun and wore enforcer-issued boots. Their heads tipped to the side in greeting. “They’re brothers, if you can’t tell.” The brothers shared the same broad shoulders and tapered hips, but D’Rasma’s more rounded chin set him apart. D’irk laughed at his own joke.

They rolled their eyes, and I lifted my chin in greeting. “Happy morning.”

D’Rasma’s gleaming white teeth shone. “Glad you came. We know you’re in the middle of construction. You’re luckier than the last winner of the intergalactic lottery.” He chuckled as he adjusted equipment on his hovercraft. “I think I’m last on the list for a dwelling.”

D’Argon’s arm swept out. “Sisip wants us to survey the outskirts of the mapped area of Tern, so we’re heading north.”

Except where the occasional weed popped up among the graneth stalks with the recent rain and sun, Tern was dominated by pink soil as far as the eye could see.

“Y’up for it?” D’Rasma asked.

I nodded and shook the morning funk off. I’d had the best sleep in a long time last night, but I’d been unsettled since I woke. The tether between Geo and me buzzed in agitation, not liking the distance between us. Disheartened to find Geo’s bed empty when I woke, I’d told JayJay I would be away for a couple of days hunting instead. Geo had probably installed a reinforced door on my dwelling before I’d even awoken.

D’Rasma sipped the syrupy dark drink most of Tern preferred. I would stick to hiscus. “D’irk has raved about your skill with a snare, and Sisip has told us nonstop how you’ll be her salvation with the hand warmers you’re crafting for her. Sisip and her cold hands…” D’Rasma’s long lashes trembled when he laughed.

“I think I have something to warm up those hands.” D’Argon thrust his hips out playfully.

D’Rasma’s narrowed eyes nailed his brother with a near-lethal glare.

Interesting. Sisip has an admirer.

“Quit harrasin’ your brother, D’Argon,” D’irk said. “Makir, show ’em the pelts you got when you slept out in the wastelands.”

My tail loosened behind me as the inclusion into this group settled over my shoulders like a warm blanket. I dropped my backpack full of gear on the rough ground and rooted through it for one of the pelts I’d packed.

D’irk had been part of the rescue crew when my hoverbike broke down in the wastelands. He had eyeballed the creatures I’d snared after they attacked me. The last time I’d seen him at the weekend market, his eyes had dipped to the vest I’d fashioned from them.

D’Argon inhaled and clicked his teeth. “A linobee! A huge linobee! You were right, D’irk.” D’Argon and D’Rasma smoothed their fingers over the thick fur, their dark skin a sharp contrast to the pearly white coat. “These are highly prized on our home planet.” D’Argon’s wide-eyed gaze caught mine. He cradled the pelt in the crook of his arm. “The ceremonial clothing for our mating ritual is entirely crafted from linobee. Only the species on our planet is much smaller.”

“Well, boys, are we done with the greetings?” D’irk projected a map of the surveyed area into the air from his wristport. “The sooner we get to where Sisip would like us to scout, the sooner you can get your hands on some linobee.” He pointed to a rocky outcrop in the center and tapped the place we’d be hunting in. “Linobee are pretty enough, Makir.” D’irk chuckled. “But I’m after a critter a whole lot bigger. Those mantus cook up real nice, plus they earn me a few credits at the market.”

I straddled my hoverbike, the trailer in tow behind. “Geo has my plans”—not that he’s following them—“and currently, I have no roof, so this is a perfect time to get away for a few days.”

Hmmm…maybe the linobees would earn me a few credits at the market.

My shoulders tensed when I thought about Geo as I secured my gear. I didn’t know what to expect from him. He’d hammered home the fact that my plans extended beyond what the Intergalactic Federation would provide and then proceeded to completely disregard them and built whatever came to mind. I just wanted a hovery.

I looked at the blue sky. The sun warmed the back of my neck, and I stretched into its heat. The rotation hummed with a sense of adventure. I would not let the emptiness of an incomplete bond between Geo and me ruin it. I turned over the ignition. “Let’s hit it,” I yelled over the downdraft of my hoverbike.

As I flew in line behind D’Rasma, I couldn’t help but worry that Geo had been upset with me when he crawled into his nest last night. He was always growly and aloof, but something had been different. I might have put my finger on it if I hadn’t been so distracted by his magnificent chest—especially when he puffed it out. His blocky pectoral muscles, matted with swirls of damp fur, had driven me to distraction.

Deep inside my protective pouch, I grew hard and slippery. I caught Geo’s fragrance on my skin, and my bike dipped. When I swiped the sweat off my forehead, his aroma lingered. I had no desire to wash it off anytime soon. I loved that his scent covered me. My erection throbbed, and the channel that extended from my opening lined itself with slippery wax.

Blant!

Every sensation heightened, and waves of arousal rolled through me. I dodged a flock of woodskies. It all pointed to one thing. My heat is here.

My erection quickly deflated at the thought of a bond with Geo, but I couldn’t deny the signs of my heat.

Under no circumstances did I want to spend the rest of my life with somebody who constantly bossed me around. I’d had enough of overbearing alphas. Tern was my fresh start—a safe place where my omega traits weren’t supposed to be triggered. Even though it was rare for a Lornian omega to move away, Bonic and I had checked the species colonizing Tern and none were Lornian.

Stupid blanting faulty bond tethering to a human.

I needed to tell Bonic that my body showed signs of sexual compatibility. My tail whipped beside me in frustration. What a fun conversation that would be—telling him my breeding passage was preparing its natural lubricant, I was growing hard, and a temporary human tether combined with the full moon had triggered my heat. My shoulders turned inward.

A faint sulfur odor tainted the air. Then a rocky outcropping appeared, a wall of ebony rocks jutting from the ground. The sun rose high, and dust motes enveloped the hoverbikes in a cloud.

D’irk motioned where to park. “We’ll set up camp here. ”

My jaw dropped open as the full scope of the razor-sharp terrain we had to survey spread out before me.

I threw my bag down near the base of the outcrop and hollowed out a nest, a simple job I could wrap my head around. Then we moved forward as a team, the soft thud of my water container bumping my hip as I scouted the landscape. Jagged black rocks rose from the raw pink earth. The sharp contrast transformed the land. A Do Not Enter sign would not have been out of place.

“Strange how it’s all mixed up like that,” D’Argon said. We stood shoulder to shoulder, admiring the layered striations of silver and charcoal among the ebony that twisted and warped at odd angles.

Although we were only about one sun from Yurstille by hoverbike, the rugged nature of the ground had left this area unexplored until now. Heavy with supplies and weapons, D’Rasma and D’irk joined us.

“This is perfect ground for snaring.” I handed everyone a length of wire. “You’ll want to hold the wire this way as you create your loop.” I wove a long coil over my forearm and around my hand into the perfect snare. “Cover it up a bit when you find the right spot. The snare should be hidden. The rocks will hold many good hiding spots, but it will be tricky to find the right one.”

“Especially when we haven’t got the goddess clue what the blant we’re hunting out here,” D’Argon joked, but a sense of unease grew among us.

The expansive plateau we sat on was dotted with flat droppings dry enough to burn. The night air crackled as D’Rasma threw another patty on the fire in front of us. The moon, directly overhead, passed behind a cloud, and our breaths puffed out in cold mist. The sun had long set, the snares were laid, and a trap had been built to take down the mantu. My stomach was full of the mantu strips D’irk had dried, and linobee fur would line my nest tonight .

D’irk tipped his head. “This planet was supposed to be a dead zone. Mantu and linobee should not exist here. Tern keeps throwing all these mutations at us.”

“The Fires That Cleanse are not very well studied.” D’Rasma’s dark fingers tapped his thick pants. “I remember my sister researching it for a proposal she wanted to bid on, and she shared all sorts of anomalies that have come up in the places where it’s been used.”

“Right, I remember that,” D’Argon chimed in. “She didn’t get funding because the backers thought it was too risky to complete the on-site investigations.”

My tail lashed against my thick leather leg covers. “Well, we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t safe. There’s no way Mayor Yurst would allow it.”

“The mayor…” D’Argon, D’Rasma and D’irk all huffed, displaying pointy white teeth.

Their reactions swayed me to reevaluate my opinion of the mayor. He did talk an awful lot without saying much of anything, but wasn’t that a trait of mayors federation-wide? I wondered what he’d done for all these capable enforcers to mistrust him?

“Let’s find us some critters to eat.” D’irk threw some soil on the fire and swiped the scanner on his wristport, mapping the ground as we walked. He signaled for the rest of us to do the same.

My fingers prodded the latest gash in my leg covers. Scrambling over jagged rocks all rotation had bruised the arches of my feet and gouges covered the soles of my boots, even though they were manufactured from the highest quality material available on Lorne. Worn by the elite protectors, they’d been a parting gift from my brother.

A couple of moons later, when the night sucked the heat from the air, the area well past the rocky outcrop was mapped.

“Let’s have a break before the big show,” D’Argon said.

“That cliff was something else, wasn’t it?” D’irk drank from his container. His mouth widened in a deep yawn. The container held the same slick sludge the Rock Dwellers drank every morning. I guessed Boola liked it too .

“Sprang up out of nowhere. Almost walked straight off it.” D’Rasma chuckled and rose from the short springy grass, securing his weapon on the belt at his waist.

Despite the peacefulness of the moment, my tether tugged. Agitation burned through me and beads of sweat broke out on my forehead. I tilted my head to glare at the full moon.

Blanted heat! How would I get through this with no alpha to service me?

The deep lowing of a mantu echoed in the distance. I focused on the crisp air and the looming full moon hunt. If I was firm enough with myself, everything else might fade away. Mind over matter. Denial had been my best friend before, and it was a comfort to hide behind it again. Instead of my heat, my focus would remain on D’irk’s plan.

At D’irk’s signal, I positioned myself as planned. Borrowed spear secured to my back, I crouched behind the boulder marked with an X. My lungs expanded and filled as I waited in the stillness lit by the pale moon’s glow. D’Argon and D’Rasma were tasked with separating a mantu from the herd with the help of D’irk’s clever whistle. It mimicked its young in distress.

The thunder of hooves stiffened my spine, and my breaths shortened as the ground shook. Mantu were herbivores, so I was at no risk of being eaten alive, but their long tusks and hard hooves could skewer or crush me in a moment. Adrenaline pumped through me as my heart drummed in my ears.

Here they come.

Then it was on me. Faster than I thought possible I charged forward. Shoulder to shoulder, I ran alongside the snorting beast, our grunts and heavy footfalls in sync. I held my breath, rib cage fully expanded, and felt the hot gusts of air blowing out its nostrils against my skin. Then I tightened my grasp on the spear I held overhead and lunged. A fierce bellow tore from deep in my chest as the spear arced through the sky. The mantu lowed and stumbled as the sharp point struck its target. A blow to the mantu’s shoulder forced the beast into the sharp curve of the boulder-strewn path we’d toiled all night to build .

As the anchor of the crew, I would close the deal and ensure the shaggy-coated mantu fell into our trap.

The snorting and pounding of hooves abruptly ended. Straight off the cliff’s edge, the mantu soared before it plummeted to the grassy plateau below, its neck at an odd angle. The loss of life left my heart skipping a beat in sadness.

I peered over the steep drop as D’Rasma shouted, “It’s a good clean death. C’mon down.”

D’irk ran up beside me, his chest heaving. “Worked like a charm, Makir. Couldn’t have got it done without you. Those tusks are yours.” He tapped his fist twice on his opposite shoulder.

The show of respect made it difficult to swallow. A sense of pride filled me, not unlike when my brother and I had come home with a bundle of bush-tailed monties. “I will mount them in a place of honor.” Still flushed with adrenaline, we clambered down the boulder-strewn path to the plateau.

Crouched before the mantu, the suction pad of my tail, still hidden among the fluff, touched the space between its lifeless eyes. “From the soil to the land, thank you for what you give to nourish us.”

D’irk bent one knee to the trampled grass and passed his sharp blade through the mantu’s thick, shaggy coat. The spilled blood from its neck soaked the dry soil below, a tribute to its time on this planet.

The somber moment was yanked away. Below me, the plateau vibrated, the sensation rolled through my knees, and four heads cranked toward the source. A herd of mantu stampeded directly toward us. Their panicked lows and snorts neared. And taking up the rear, chasing them, a creature the size of a tower wreaked havoc.

My shoulders tensed. The air tasted metallic with spilled blood. Every muscle coiled, strung tight as a bow. “W-what the blant is that?”

“Seek cover!” D’Rasma yelled over the din, already in motion. He grabbed my jumpsuit .

“C’mon.” D’Argon pointed to the base of the cliff among the boulders and stones.

A long, flat space emerged as we raced closer. On our stomachs, we wiggled through a narrow cleft. All too soon, sandwiched between three Boola, it became an unwelcome cage to watch the gruesome scene play out in front of us. My tether tightened, prickly and itchy. It twanged, like humming feedback along a taut wire. Geo’s concerned face flashed through my mind.

D’irk gawked. “Blant me, look’a the mouth on her.”

My heart raced, but crammed side by side on our stomachs, we were relatively safe. Just above our heads, a stone shelf extended over us like a roof.

D’Argon’s teeth clicked in time with his bouncing foot. “It looks like some type’a mutated worm.”

“Goddess, no.” I trembled as an enormous, pale, round-mouthed, eyeless creature tore through the herd of mantu. Gore dripped from rows of pointed teeth, circling the black hole of its gaping maw and extending down its throat. Mantu were flung from the creature’s mouth, their death screams haunting the herd left behind. Broken bodies littered the grassy plateau. The steam from their snorting noses turned into white clouds in the cold air, and the moonlight cast an eerie glow across the macabre scene.

The bloodshed, too gruesome to process at the moment, would haunt me later while I lay safe in bed. I scanned the carnage as if I were watching it on a screen, not like the all-too-close, terrifying reality I could almost reach out and touch.

Time ticked by while I lay frozen in fear. So much gore. I flashed back to the worst night of my life. Tremors racked my body. “Reinik. No. Stop.” I pleaded. “You’re hurting me! Bonic, h-help…” My vision grew black, my breaths so shallow it felt like I was suffocating.

My hand clamped so tightly onto the rocky ledge in front of me that my skin broke and bled. My vision tunneled as the giant worm-like monster gulped down one more mantu, then sank back into the earth, purple with blood, a geyser of soil rising in its wake .

“I guess it’s had its fill,” I distantly heard D’irk mumble.

“Makir.” D’irk’s hand rested on my shoulder. “Take a deep breath now.” He spoke to me in a low voice. “You’re calm and safe. Breathe now. Listen to my voice… Good. Focus on my voice. Keep breathing.”

The two brothers chatted in the background, faint at first, then louder. “She’s as pale as the moon. My guess is it’s nocturnal,” D’Rasma whispered. “I think we should wait ’til morning before we move.”

My mind finally stopped its freefall. I drew in a long breath of air. Hunting I enjoyed, but single-minded destruction was something else altogether.

D’irk’s hand remained a solid presence on my shoulder. “You okay now?”

I nodded and drank from the water container he offered. “Th-thanks. How did you know what would help?” This wasn’t my first panic attack, but my brother was the only one who had successfully brought me out of one.

“T’isn’t somethin’ new to me….” He stared into the distance.

Wedged between a stone slab above me and one below, the hiding place was eerily similar to the graves on Lorne rather than a haven. How would I spend the rest of the dark hours in this tiny shelter?

When I stared into the moonlight, its glow electrified the tether’s vibration and pull. I felt hot all over, my face flushed, and it had nothing to do with the lingering effects of the panic attack or the warm bodies on either side of me.

I closed my eyes and prayed to the goddess Sola to let me get through this night.