Page 1 of 80% Beef 20% Cake (Alien Fated Mates #2)

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One year ago on the planet Yagras…

T he courtroom swam before my eyes. A sea of gray-skinned Rock Dwellers stared down at me from their steep seats. Three vertical inclines, filled with pinch-lipped faces, surrounded the podium I stood on far below. Their haughty gazes, magnified by sheer numbers, diminished my worthiness to a speck. I swallowed hard.

“I did not commit this crime.” My voice rang loud and clear through the amplifier. I ignored the citizens in the crowd and turned toward the councillors, willing them to see the truth.

Light glinted off the polished head of the Rock Dweller standing on the raised dais before me. Devile. His sharply pressed sash cut across the deep indigo of the representative uniform he wore—a slash of bloodroot fungus red. Behind him, seven supreme councillors fanned out—one for each Yagras district. Draped red cloth hooded their heads, cloaking their decisions with anonymity.

“The time for pleading your case has concluded. A verdict has been passed.” The more the public nodded, the louder Devile’s voice grew, bolstered by the hive-mind energy of his large audience. “For the calculated planning that led to a female’s death, the supreme councillors of Yagras have come to their decision—”

The crowd roared along with my racing mind. Surely this can’t be happening.

Devile raised a three-fingered hand to hush the districts’ eager citizens.

My heart thundered inside my rib cage. Sweat stung my eyes as I scanned the crowd for the distinctive white worm emblazoned over the hearts of my soldiers’ uniforms. Every time I caught a glimpse of white, my shallow breathing eased.

Frowns etched the hard mouths of my elite guard. Strewn among citizens demanding answers and retribution, they were the voice of reason. With their unconditional solidarity anchoring me, my breaths grew deeper. I stood taller, shoulders squared. My team would not see me falter under pressure.

How could I have fallen from hero to hated in such a short time?

The crowd grew riotous. Under my tight grip, the podium vibrated. Representative Devile waved his raised fist to no effect.

I hope he’s trampled under the masses. I aimed all the hatred firing through my veins at Devile.

As the citizens’ rage built to a deafening roar, the supreme councillors rose and turned as one. The crowd went silent. Seven shrouded heads nodded at representative Devile to continue.

Devile swept his hand down the length of his red sash. “For the intent to kill a sentient being, a female…”

Females are revered. Who would stoop so low? My legs grew weak, and I leaned into the podium. Blant that lying bastard!

Livid, the crowd surged forward, their wrath-filled words hurled at me like poison darts. “Kill him. Kill him. Kill him.” Even as a respected male commanding many guards, their misplaced hatred pierced through my brain, sharper than any headache.

Each supreme councillor unfolded their draped hood. Bloodroot-red fabric dripped down their backs as they exposed their stony faces to the mob. Without a word uttered, the citizens of Yagras calmed.

Devile circled the raised dais like a stage. “The Rock Dweller before us—” He paused and turned his wrist in a theatrical gesture aimed my way. “—Lead Protector of the Yagras Elite Guard, JayJay Atlason, shall be exiled to Tern.”

Exiled to Tern? But who will take my command?

The crowd sighed in collective relief, and an arrogant sneer curled the representative’s upper lip. I didn’t take it personally. The citizens needed someone to be punished. Anyone would’ve done.

At the supreme councillors’ nods, guards approached me from each side. My second-in- command gathered one arm.

“I do not wish to cuff you, Lead Protector.” Though his gruff words said ‘Lead Protector,’ his glassy eyes and gentle grip said ‘friend.’ A new recruit hooked his arm through my other elbow.

The supreme councillor’s ruling was final. No matter how much I wanted to scream, ‘I’d never kill a female,’ a lead protector would never debase himself with such a show of emotion.

I cleared my throat. “I will not fight.”

Empty-handed, chin high, I walked the long hall, exiting the courtroom. Behind me, boots pounded metal stands as hundreds of Rock Dwellers stomped out their support for the verdict. A hovercar awaited. Numbness spread through my bones.

Stunned, I flew through the arched gate lined with sharp teeth. Loss prickled my skin as I passed through the barrier constructed in the image of a hellsna’s giant mouth—the beast I was charged with protecting Yagras’ citizens from. My people, what would become of them?

My friend’s warm hand landed on my lower back as I exited the hovercar. He ushered me through the departure bay, up the grated ramp and into the shuttle. Bent on one knee, an arm crossed to his opposite shoulder, he bowed his head. “Until I see you again, Lead Protector.”

With every silent step he took away from me, I wondered, Is this the last time I will set eyes on a Rock Dweller?

The small shuttle jolted skyward. Alone, with only a pilot behind cockpit doors, I dropped my face into trembling hands and scrubbed my head.

An AI system pinged, and a sunny female voice announced, “We’ll be arriving at Tern, a remote outpost in the Reiner System, in approximately thirty-two suns. If you wish to know more about Tern, please scroll through the options menu on your armrest. Topics include its recent recolonization after a plague, a map of the only settlement, Yurstille, and a gallery of goods for purchase at the local bakery. Please do not hesitate to ask me if you have any questions. My name is—”

“Enough. I wish for quiet.” Beneath me, the black rocks of the Nara district grew smaller. Everything I knew and loved faded away before my eyes, until all that remained was a hollow ache. A jungle cat perched on the high peak above the tree line lifted its head as if saying goodbye.

I whispered, “I’ll catch you one day.”

It had been one annum since I was driven from Yagras’ lush forests to Tern’s barren rolling hills.

“Blanting pink dust.” From under the worksite’s roof, I stared through the space a wall would soon occupy. Endless blue snow-covered hills stretched far into the distance.

One dwelling at a time, the building crew I was foreman of had transformed Tern for new colonizers. Where a vast pink desert once sat, the settlement of Yurstille now thrived.

Sully, the mech-grader operator on my building crew, drove past, kicking up dust while leveling the ground for our latest client’s accommodation.

A curl of smoke spiraled from Yurstille’s bakery. Even two streets over, the yeasty tang filled my nose, and the honey-sweet aroma of graneth bread melted over my tongue as if I were eating it.

Sully’s deep voice bounced off the plasmasteel studs going up, pulling me back to the moment. “We’re going to knock this one out in no time.” A much-larger-than-called-for grin was plastered over his face. “I’m disappointed they don’t want to put in a pool, though.”

Sully’s family had arrived on Tern from Yagras among the new batch of colonizers, and since then, he’d been obnoxiously happy —rightly so. Finding a mate was every male Rock Dweller’s dream, except mine. Way too much work.

Despite the rarity of Rock Dweller females, the compulsion that had driven my friends to Tern to find compatible mates was foreign to me. I’d been satisfied with my career. A female would never have been enough motivation for me to leave Yagras voluntarily.

For a moment, a sliver of guilt shot ice through my veins. One annum ago, someone had killed a rare female on my home planet. That meant one less male would find their mate. But who had set me up, and why had they risked our dwindling population?

Beside me, Sully positioned the hydro-tamper over the loose soil, shouting over the loud whirring, “Bish, JayJay, cheer up. Geo will be back any rotation now.”

Though I missed my human friend and boss, that wasn’t the reason behind my sullenness. This rotation marked the first anniversary of my fall from worthiness. Representative Devile had done everything to break me, but nothing could dampen my love of home, not even banishment to this desolate land of pink dust and endless blue snow. I longed for Yagras.

“I have just the thing to brighten your rotation.” A swath of compacted soil followed in the wake of Sully’s machine. As he worked it over a tricky rocky spot, the wide grin spreading over his face had me bracing. “TeyTey invited Ginger for dinner. You should join us.”

Every vertebra in my spine snapped to attention at Ginger’s name. My three fingers loosened as her image came to mind—pale-faced and silver-haired. The shovel slipped from my grip and I yelped as it landed on my boot, making me hop on one foot. Ever since Ginger had come from Earth to visit her friend Geo, weeks ago now, she’d lurked in the shadows of my mind, tiny and clever like the jungle cat on Yagras, and just as elusive.

Nuh-uh. No way. Voluntarily sharing space with Ginger was out of the question, even if my boss had expressly asked me to watch over her while he dealt with an emergency. I might’ve considered it if I didn’t freeze in her presence like some towering bald idiot.

Sully’s grin faded, and he paused his work to focus on me. The hydro-tamper bumped against a reclaimed beam, where it idled. “Before you say no—” Sully swiped a grimy hand across his sweaty forehead ridge. “—you know TeyTey will ask you herself. I’m just preparing you.”

Disgusted by my incompetence around females, I rolled my shoulders back. I was a fierce fighter, with dozens of hellsna dead at my hands to prove it.

With a new resolve, I committed to fulfilling my promise. Geo would be back any time now, and Ginger would be his responsibility once more. I could suck it up until then. Besides, I would never turn down Sully’s mate.

“You need more practice talking to females if you ever hope to gain the attention of a mate.” Sully’s laughter rumbled through the building’s skeleton frame and dampened when it hit the berm of blue snow surrounding the construction zone.

I didn’t want a blanting mate.

Females confused me to begin with, but one, in particular, confused me so much that my brain didn’t seem to connect to my mouth in her presence. Ginger was so different. Much smaller and more fragile than a Rock Dweller female. No Rock Dweller female would visit an unfamiliar planet on their own. Well, besides TeyTey .

Plus, Ginger had hair, and when the silvery curtain swished around her face, it awoke something I couldn’t grasp inside of me. I wanted to touch it.

I passed the hydro-tamper back to Sully, telling myself I couldn’t deny a request from TeyTey. “What time should I come?”

Sully’s jaw clamped tight as he held back his grin. “Sundown, and bring some of that hiscus wine. Ginger’s raving nonstop about it, and my female loves it.”

Great. Now a looming dinner with Ginger would occupy my mind for the rest of the blanting rotation. The dwelling could wait. I needed to wash away the grime, polish my head and find something besides overalls to wear.

Avoiding TeyTey, I crept through the back entrance to her and Sully’s dwelling, into their solarium, and relaxed near the lazy river. One finger traced the leaf of a frilly plant lining the humid oasis, and my thumb pressed into the tiny bumps on its underside.

“Blasterball!” YimYim shouted, tucking his knees into his chest and jumping.

I jerked as he doused me in warm water. Thrown back into the moment, I wiped the droplets off my head, preparing to battle Sully’s eldest son. Eight annums old and as tall as Ginger, he could easily throw her into the pool if she were here.

“Gotcha good, Uncle JayJay. Watcha doin’ out here all by yourself?” YimYim ducked under the water, jetting through the gentle current before I could retaliate.

“It’s like that, is it?” I wiped any levity from my voice and fake-stomped toward a hose coiled along the pink earthen wall. With as much stealth as I could muster, I turned on the faucet, lever in hand, and leaped toward him. “Now who’s the boss?” I drenched him with cold water.

“No fair!” YimYim screeched as he scrambled to get away, his smile so big he choked down mouthfuls of water.

The see-through door separating the courtyard from the kitchen snicked over small wheels as it unfolded. TeyTey loomed in the opening, arms crossed. Her dress billowed, and the purple linnea leaves on the patterned fabric fluttered the same way they would if caught on a breeze at home.

I blocked out a sudden longing for Yagras brought on by the matching wrap tied in an intricate twist over her smooth head.

“JayJay, get in here this instant and say hi.”

I stood, limp hose in hand. Guilty as charged.

TeyTey turned on one foot and marched back into the kitchen. “Unmated Rock Dwellers—unbelievable. I’ll have to teach them all manners so they can find females.”

I ducked my chin and shrugged at YimYim before following.

YimYim spun toward the pool. “Manners are overrated.”

He had that right.

My mouth watered. Rich roasting mantu and tangy graneth bread flavored the air. “TeyTey…” I opened the cooler and placed a bottle of hiscus wine inside to chill. “Thank you for inviting me. I was only getting a breath of humid air.”

TeyTey juggled an armful of spiky black tubers. Her forehead ridge jumped at my excuse, but she let it pass. “JayJay, if that’s hiscus wine, you’re forgiven.”

I suspected she wouldn’t mind if her wine was a little warm, judging by the eagerness in her voice, so I returned to the cooler and poured her a container. Sure enough, she took a long sip and sighed.

TeyTey put on gloves before removing the spikes from the tubers. “Ah, here they are.”

An icy blast blew through the front entry, but it did little to chill me as Sully motioned Ginger into the warm dwelling.

My mind grew foggy as she approached, so I ducked behind a tall plant to avoid looking stupid. Most of Ginger’s straight white hair hid under a warm hat. In my imagination, my fingers threaded through the strands, and they were as soft as clouds.

Ginger hugged a wet YimYim, patting him on the head even though he was her height. “TeyTey, it smells soooo good in here.” They embraced next, and YimYim rushed back to the pool.

When will she take her hat off and reveal her pretty hair? I smothered a cough. What the blant was going on with me? I did not need a female who caused me to abandon reason whenever she neared. A leaf tickled my nose.

Sully kicked off his snowy boots. Water pooled on the geothermal floors where they stood. He walked to TeyTey’s side and wrestled against her solid hold on the oven door. “Bish, sweet TeyTey, just a morsel…”

Sully and TeyTey’s teasing drifted into the background as Ginger removed her coat and hat and hung them on the ball hook dangling from a ceiling chain. Her black forehead hair cut straight across her eyebrows and framed the amber, green and gold of her eyes—a sharp contrast to the otherwise silver-white length.

Pink tubes encased her legs, highlighting the small mounds of her calves, and as my gaze swept up to the fabric sheathing her body, my mouth went dry. Brown leather crisscrossed in a vee at her neck and flared at her knees and wrists like a tunic. Little animal shapes were punched out along the hems, and a sparkly pendant hung from a gold chain around her neck, nestled at the top of her—

I forced my chin up.

Wide-eyed, Ginger scanned the home while she snapped pictures on a handheld device. I swore her eyes narrowed as they landed on the plant I was staked out behind.

“This is breathtaking, TeyTey.” She walked through the folded door to the courtyard, and her slender fingers glided over the same plant mine had lingered on a moment ago. “Oh, drat.” She bit her puffy lower lip. “I forgot my gift outside. It’ll have turned into a popsicle.” She rushed to the front entrance then returned, rubbing her arms vigorously after foisting a giant plant similar to the one by the lazy river into TeyTey’s arms.

TeyTey ducked her head between a gap in the leaves. “Thank you. This will look beautiful by the lazy river.” Then Sully scooped the plant from her arms.

“Ginger?” TeyTey playfully shoved Sully away from the oven when he snuck up behind her again. She reached in and pulled out the roast mantu, shielding it from Sully’s wandering fingers. “YimYim has lost his lovely mittens. Do you have any more?”

Ginger clicked a picture of TeyTey and Sully. “Dang. No, I don’t.” She pursed her lips. “And shoot… I’ve used up all the linobee pelts.” Her pink tongue darted to the corner of her mouth. “Oh, I know, after our hoverbike lesson, I can fly to the rocky outcrop and do some trapping.”

“Bish, TeyTey. I’m hungrier than the elite guard after a battle with the hellsna. Let me have a little taste.” Sully’s mention of the hellsna jolted me from the camouflaged position I’d been using to track Ginger’s every move.

Flashes of my old life, where I’d once held a role of prestige now forced the hole in my heart wide open, emptying it of any sense of self-worth. I’d spent my entire adult life responsible for protecting Rock Dwellers from hellsna on Yagras.

“I don’t know what the elite guard is, but nothing seemed hungrier than that giant freaking worm. Talk about terrifying.” Ginger shuddered, her hands rolling down the front of her tight dress. As if she’d known my location all along and was speaking to me directly, her hazel eyes locked on mine. “But a certain somebody did a helluva job rescuing us.”

Sully stiffened and lowered his head in embarrassment. The few Rock Dwellers inhabiting Tern were the only ones who knew of my banishment. “Blant, JayJay. I didn’t mean to bring up the elite guard.”

In the beginning I’d missed my team more than I’d thought possible, but the ache had dimmed with time. What I couldn’t wrap my head around was how the same hellsna that terrorized Yagras had evolved on Tern.

“You owe us five credits for swearing, fata,” Sully’s younglings hollered from the open doors to the solarium.

Sully rubbed his head. “I know it was hard for you to leave that part of your life behind.” He squinted at me through the leaves, giving away my position behind the too-small plant.

A scar on my head throbbed, and my stomach roiled. I had no soldiers to command here, and rescuing Ginger after she’d been trapped in a cave had me yearning for my old uniform and bloodroot darts. “It’s all in the past.” My voice rumbled as I tipped my chin at Sully.

But the fact Ginger thought I might have the answers…that she sought me out for reassurance… It filled the hole in my self-worth just enough that I craved more. It also stirred the same part of me that wanted to test whether her hair felt as silky as it looked.

I plopped down on the stool beside Ginger. “You’re planning a trip to the rocky outcrop?”

Startled, Ginger jerked the plate TeyTey had just passed her, and it dropped from her hands, shattering on the polished floor. Blant, I’d forgotten how loud she found me.

“Shit.” She crouched to pick up the large shards. “Well, hello to you too, JayJay. Interesting plant?”

Blant this female and my lack of tact. I had gone full-on hunter, studying his prey.

Moments later, I’d found the pan and broom and nudged her out of danger. “Who’s accompanying you to the rocky outcrop?” I quickly filled the pan with the broken pieces and dumped them in the container.

“Oh, my day was great. Thanks for asking.” She pursed her lips as she grabbed the broom from my hands and completed another pass over the floor. She smelled like the rich vegetation of Yagras. “Let me see. I worked on the designs for some mantu coats I’m sewing, fed the chickens at the greendwelling and transplanted some of the veggies I brought from Earth. They’re growing fabulously, by the way.” Ginger’s smile was intact but held about as much enthusiasm as one of Mayor Yurst’s stale bulletins.

Instead of the embarrassment I should’ve felt at her scolding, my stance grew wider and my vision tunneled, as though Ginger were the target at the end of my sighting scope. “The rocky outcrop is dangerous. It’s cold, and there’s snow on the ground. Who will accompany you?”

TeyTey and Sully stood side by side in the kitchen, Sully sneaking mantu from the platter on the counter and openly eavesdropping. TeyTey’s forehead ridge wrinkled. The younglings’ splashing in the pool carried through the open folded door.

Ginger’s eyes narrowed as she looked up. “Not that it’s any of your business, but TeyTey’s giving me hoverbike lessons. Then I’ll be going by my little lonesome. Me, myself, and I.” Her enticing chest shoved out when she planted her hands on her hips. “Problem?”

I patted my hip, seeking comfort, only to find it empty. My old blaster was nowhere to be found, and I swore at how she mentally disarmed me. Blant, this female is unsettling. “I’ll accompany you.”

Her hair swung around her like the frilled neck of a Yagras jungle cat. “Jeez, do you have to talk so loud?! I can handle the cold, JayJay. We have snow on Earth, ya know. I don’t need anyone to accompany me.”

Though I spoke at a regular volume, I lowered my voice. “I promised Geo I would protect you, and I’m a male who keeps his word.”

YimYim ran into the kitchen, trailing water behind him. “Mata, I’m starved.”

“All right, have it your way, King Kong,” Ginger huffed while she passed the broom and the emptied dustpan to YimYim. Her face softened as she saw the youngling’s smiling one, even though he made a bigger mess with the water pooling around his feet.

Yim Yim’s voice echoed from inside a cupboard “Ginger, what’s a King Kong?”

Although YimYim had asked the question, her laser focus pinned me. “King Kong’s a giant make-believe gorilla that tries to protect women, I mean females, from things they can handle just fine on their own.”

TeyTey snorted and nudged me with her elbow as she placed a dish of sizzling mantu on the table. “Sounds like every Rock Dweller male I’ve ever met.”

Sully protested in the background while YimYim squinted, likely processing the image the translator sent to his brain.

Ginger’s chair scraped across the floor, and she tucked it under the table, as far away from me as possible. She showed all the signs of a ruffled fledgling after its mata had nosed it from the nest—elbows locked, arms crossed over her chest and spine rigid.

I would protect her whether she liked it or not. The hellsna on Tern didn’t behave the same way they did on Yagras, and who knew where they would surface next?

Ginger planted her balled hands in her lap. Her black bangs shot toward the ceiling as she blew out a breath, and silver-white strands jerked over her narrow shoulders as if affronted. Then, more composed, she faced me. “Fine. I don’t want you to get in trouble with Geo.” Her face lit up with a grin. “But I’ll do the flying, and that’s not negotiable.”