Page 25 of 80% Beef 20% Cake (Alien Fated Mates #2)

25

G inger’s warm imprint tickled the back of my mind as I woke, but I would have much preferred her physical presence in my arms. She was somewhere close, likely in the shower. A rush of sadness washed over me as a notification for a final briefing from Sisip came through on my com. Why wasn’t Ginger here to wish me well in the upcoming battle with a luck-filled kiss? I craved the concern in her eyes and the lightness of her fingertips brushing over my skin.

Ginger’s scent lingered in our small cave. My fingers grazed the outline of a linnea leaf, one of many twining around my wrists as I pulled on my leather pants. True mates. For the first time since my banishment, I felt like my old self. Better than my old self. As if buoyed by Ginger’s life force. When she’d placed her linnea leaf bracelet against mine last moon, everything had slid into place.

This rotation’s perilous mission left no room for an awe-filled heart though, so I shoved thoughts of a future blessed with Ginger as my mate aside, quenching my desire by picturing the beasts I must kill. When Tern was safe from hellsna, Ginger would be too. Cool chain mail slid over my arms, and I strapped my favorite blade to my right thigh and Courageous Heart to my left.

I ran my finger over the etched hilt of Sisip’s dagger and sent out a prayer. Serve me well and I will return you to your rightful owner, friend.

Nebula skittered over my spare tunic next to Ginger’s discarded pants from the day before. Maybe she got hungry and went for breakfast. After folding the shiny black material, I set it on top of the neat stack in the basket by her sewing table. The dorat pawed at my tunic. Her twitching tail matched the deep hiscus color.

“Nothing to fret over, Nebula. I’ve handled bloodroot fungus many times.”

I laced my boots and double-checked my knives. The ritual cleared away the emotional clutter, allowing me to focus on the task at hand—killing. Would this be the last time?

But an image of Ginger, hair spread across my chest, infiltrated my battle-prepped state. Did I still want to return to my life as a warrior? To regain my position as Lead Elite Guard of Yagras? In the eyes of the supreme councillors and the citizens of Yagras, there would be no doubt about my innocence. The goddess Sola would never bless someone who’d killed a female with a true mate. When they saw the physical manifestation of our mating bands and my iridescent skin, we would be granted many privileges.

Despite the draw to return home, snippets of my last annum on Tern tumbled through my mind. The weight of a heavy crossbeam on my shoulders, testing my strength. Sitting head-to-head with Geo, planning the best possible layout for a dwelling. My crew’s laughter when pink mud dripped from us. D’ovey’s proud smile when he’d hung the open sign on his new bakery.

Would Ginger even like Yagras? Most Rock Dwellers weren’t very fashion-forward.

The appeal of a life much fuller than that of a solitary warrior seeped into my bones, dissolving the need to return to my role as lead elite guard now that I had a female to protect full-time and share life with.

A few off duty enforcers wandered around the command center, their containers of thick javae full to the brim. The first sun’s light had not yet brightened the black walls. Tuga leaned against the thin railing.

Even bent, his Rock Dweller height meant he towered over Sisip by his side. In front of them, the map, usually blinking with bursts of color showing her enforcers’ locations, showed only the sparsest flash of color. All troops, besides perimeter guards, had been grounded.

I walked toward Tuga with a spring in my step. With an elite guard at my side, the weight of the task at hand lightened. Dressed in a black uniform, a white worm emblazoned over one breast, he pushed off the rail toward me. A cascade of memories flooded me. I paused as the last one stole the air from my lungs, hitting harder than a physical punch to the gut.

At the supreme councillors’ nods, guards had approached me from each side. Tuga, my second-in-command, gathered one arm. “I do not wish to cuff you, Lead Protector.”

A recruit hooked his arm through my other elbow.

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

Empty-handed, chin high, I walked the long hall, exited the courtroom and climbed into the hovercar waiting at its entrance. Numb in mind, body and spirit, they ushered me through the departure bay, up the grated ramp and into the shuttle to serve my sentence.

I shook my head, but the memory still left haunting traces behind.

Tuga’s friendly green eyes turned wary, narrowing on me, and his eager steps slowed. My second-in-command had never been at fault. I had to remove the guilt from his eyes.

“Guard Tuga, we meet again.” I embraced my old friend.

Sisip held her javae with both hands, her gaze pinging from me to Tuga.

“So it seems, Lead Elite Guard JayJay.” The familiar guard uniform crinkled between us as Tuga returned my hug.

The tension in my neck eased. If he’d called me Inmate 141…

A look of awe passed over Tuga’s face as he took in my clothes, skin and wrists, and in response, my chest jutted out and shoulders rolled back.

The tawny tufts of Sisip’s ears twitched. “I’ll let you take it from here.” She spoke to the both of us. “After all, this is your area of expertise. May the goddess Sola’s goodwill be with you today.” Her eyes lingered, as if she wanted to say more than the traditional send off. Instead, she squeezed my arm before shuffling to the javae urn and refilling her container. After this rotation, she could rest.

“I can’t believe it.” Tuga slung his large duffel over one shoulder, and we walked to the lift tube. “Only you could end up banished and have the goddess bless you with a true mate.”

A pride-filled inhale inflated my chest. To hear this from another Rock Dweller, a friend, reinforced the conclusion I’d already come to. “Have you studied our history then?” I still hadn’t spoken to TeyTey, what with my injuries, Devile and now this idiotic plan getting in the way.

He eyed the linnea markings on my wrist, cheeks bunched above his wide grin. “You’ll be a champion among Rock Dwellers. When they see your marks, Yagras’ citizens will welcome you back with open arms.”

Tuga side-eyed the tube’s loud hover engine whirling overhead. “My fata was a keeper at the Black Rocks of Nara.”

Keepers were entrusted to preserve our ancestors’ knowledge. “And what did he say about true mates?”

“I’ve seen the archived drawings, JayJay. The silver pearl skin, the sacred linnea leaf markings…” He ran a thumb over the raised skin of my armband while his awed forehead ridge sank deeper into his head.

As the tube door clunked open, my heart jumped into a higher gear. If I’d had wings, my feet would’ve lifted off the ground, and my body would’ve floated alongside my elated mind. I hadn’t doubted the legitimacy of our bond, but hearing the reverence in Tuga’s voice made the truth even sweeter. Ginger had been right when she’d guessed we were true mates, like Geo and Makir.

Cool air greeted us in the dim pre-sun light. Dew dotted our boots as Tuga and I walked side by side to the temporary hoverbay.

“We must celebrate after we take care of business.” Tuga rubbed his well-shaped head with one hand, then shook it in dismay. “I wish to meet your female. Maybe your luck will rub off, though a life companion would be enough for me.”

A worthy male meeting my female? A guard by her side? I spun toward him. Fists clenched. Tuga didn’t live in a sono or share space with a bunch of young Rock Dwellers. His dwelling overlooked the Black Rocks of Nara, where the water sang down the lush valley side.

As my uncertainty built, a warm glow grew around my heart, and I closed my eyes, leaning into the sensation. An image of a gold shield spread, pulsing from my heart in growing circles until it encompassed my body and the doubt fled.

Tuga chuckled and backed up, hands raised before him. “Ah, I see the mating rage is true. I’ll wait until the bonding stage is complete. The records mentioned it could take weeks for some bonds to settle.”

Tuga carried on, “Though now I know why Devile almost ripped my head off, muttering about true mates. Then, out of nowhere, he’s sending me on a suicide mission straight into the monster’s lair. That is, if I don’t die on this beat-up machine first.” He strapped his bag to a borrowed hovercraft. “This backward dung heap plan has clearly been devised by someone who’s never encountered danger.”

We waited until the sun rose, but Devile never showed. When it came to taking action, Devile always made himself scarce. I pictured the lazy bastard, pillow under his thick skull, strategizing about how to claim the hellsna’s demise as his triumph while Tuga and I did all the work.

Ginger must have gone back to bed. In the back of my mind, her presence flickered, but I didn’t know the range of our connection or how it worked.

Tuga glanced at his wristport for the third time, but his tight jaw said it all.

“Devile hasn’t changed, then?” I pinged the entrance coordinates of the hibernaculum on the other side of the Starry Volcano to Tuga. “He’s still the same lying, deceiving Rock Dweller scum with wealth to waste and a bottomless desire for power.”

“That isn’t even the half of it, JayJay. Yagras has changed in your absence. The elite guard is no longer what it once was.” Tuga’s fist rose, and he slammed it into the saddle of the hovee in front of him, spraying the morning’s condensation over his skin. “If you came back, the supreme rulers would have no choice but to clear your name. The ancestors have spoken for you.” He waved his hand at me. “They’ve granted you a great gift.” His voice softened, and he unclenched his fist. “Then things could return to normal.”

I’d yearned for so long to return to Yagras and have my name cleared, but a female with long silvery-white hair and black bangs had me hesitating where I usually would’ve jumped in with both feet.

Tuga toyed with the bandolier that crossed his body and one shoulder. “After your banishment, the rumors started.”

I wanted to hear nothing of rumors about me. “Are you ready to bring these blanting beasts down?” I nodded toward my hovee and threw one leg over.

“Wait, JayJay…the rumors weren’t about you. You need to hear this. The rotation before Yula was attacked by a hellsna and died, she had given a gift to LenLen. She’d told LenLen that Devile had been pressuring her to mate against her will.”

I clutched the handlebars in a white-knuckled grip. “This is a twisted tale rife with deception and dishonor.” As younglings, LenLen and I had been inseparable. I rubbed over the scar on my thumb. A rock had sliced through my knuckle as we’d fallen from a vine while stalking a jungle cat. It had been many annums since I’d thought of LenLen.

Tuga smiled sadly and placed his fist on top of my shoulder. “You’ve always been blind to the worst in people, JayJay. There’s more. LenLen never recovered from losing Yula. I heard he took the long, slow walk into the sea.” Tuga stepped back, head bowed, one arm crossed over his shoulder. “I know LenLen was from your district’s rearing group. I’m sorry for your loss.”

Loss turned to anger, and I lifted my head to face Tuga. “We must do something. Devile can’t ruin any more lives. My female is in danger. He’s trying to manipulate the mating bond in some capacity.”

“It’s not enough,” Tuga stammered, “but the guard have petitioned the supreme rulers with as much evidence as we’ve uncovered to clear your name and prove Devile’s unworthy of holding the representative title.”

The early dawn light ghosted through the morning mist in shafts of gold dust, as if the goddess Sola’s fingers were reaching out and touching us.

“You honor me with the time and effort spent on my cause, but we must clear our minds of this for now and prepare for the battle.”

Tuga nodded. “I follow you, as always, Lead Elite Guard.”

A moment later, the engine rumbled under my legs, and a warm weight nestled there, camouflaged, in my lap. The sooner I eliminate the threat, the sooner I can get back to Ginger.

The air warmed as we dipped below the volcano. Graneth grew in clumps between the sparse trees, and woodskies scattered in the downdraft wherever we passed. I breathed deeply, preparing my mind for the battle ahead. Nothing would get past me. Hellsna, be warned.

Tuga followed close behind, lining up his hovee beside mine beneath the cover of a boulder. The path the hellsna used to slither through the volcano opened a short distance away. Camouflaged, Nebula scurried up my arm when I rose from my bike.

“Will they have sheltered for the day?” Tuga asked.

There’d been no sign of them since the last one had plummeted to its death. On Yagras, Tuga would’ve been right. First sun approached—the time of day they usually avoided. “The Fires That Cleanse have devastated the landscape, but instead of eliminating life, it has transformed it. Expect the unexpected. The hellsna here do not shy from the sun’s light.”

Tuga opened the roll of fabric that housed the bloodroot fungus. “We’ll have to be careful with these.”

“Is that all of them?” My heart skipped a beat.

Tuga nodded.

“Blanting bastard.”

Five short darts spread before us. Yagras’ best weaponry experts had designed each tip to explode upon impact and shower our opponents’ lungs in bloodroot fungus powder. Tuga had been at my side the last time I’d taken down a hellsna on Yagras. We’d watched it writhe in agony for the span of three breaths as the thin lining of its stomach absorbed the poison. I ran my fingers over the precious contents.

“One spare shot…” I snarled. “That shrunken-headed fool only sent us one spare.” A knot of fury tightened under my skin. “No problem. I’ll keep this one to fire into Devile’s lying, cheating heart.”

Tuga’s forehead ridge furrowed into a vee. “Be thankful he prepared this when he thought there were five hellsna, not four.” He kept two darts for himself. With care, he placed them into slots on his belt and passed the remaining three to me.

That bastard better not be anywhere near Ginger. I secured the darts in the band of the knife belt, wrapping one leg. Hill’s crew would keep him at bay.

I jerked as Nebula flew from my shoulder and pounced on Tuga’s duffel, which leaned against his feet. That’s odd.

“Ah, you’ve found RitRat.” Tuga’s deep laugh scared a nesting woodskie, sending it flying.

Pinned beneath Nebula’s front paws, another dorat floundered, its camouflage dissolving into a solid sable color. Nebula’s tail stood erect, and her long fiber-optic fur flashed a rainbow of colors even in the sunlight. Her head dipped to RitRat’s, and she licked his face from chin to ear while her tail swished a happy rhythm.

“I think she’s excited to see him.” I smiled at her domination over the smaller male. “She may have escaped the Fires That Cleanse because she was inside the volcano. I haven’t seen another.” When I lived on Yagras, a dorat had yet to claim Tuga. Now, Devile’s extra covetous behavior made more sense. In Tuga’s and RitRat’s presence, Devile would be driven mad with the reminder that he didn’t have the integrity to be claimed.

Nebula returned to the perch on my shoulder, and I patted the darts on my thigh. I powered down the notifications on my wristport, ensuring there would be no further distractions. Side by side, we strode over volcanic rock polished to a glossy finish from annums of use.

The arch overhead was remarkably similar to the soldier’s graveyard on Yagras. I swallowed hard. A wall of heat and humidity consumed us as we slinked under the forbidding entrance.

“This is it,” I whispered to Nebula.

The stench of decomposing flesh assaulted my senses as we passed deeper into the volcano. My nostrils flared at the rancid odor. The scent grew unbearable as the tunnel opened into a large bowl encircled by a flat ledge. With a quick scan, I oriented myself.

Tuga and I would have to communicate via hand signals to be understood over the hissing and sputtering magma, loudest beyond the smooth shelf ahead. That meant the rock wall to my immediate left also belonged to the enormous cavern the enforcers occupied, though much farther in. Sure enough, when I cast my gaze upward, I spotted the same small opening I’d investigated what seemed like an eternity ago. If I’d had a say in planning…

Tuga knocked my elbow with his and jerked his head toward the bowl. There, four worms slept tangled together. Long, oozing gouges pierced their transparent white skin, and their open mouths secreted strings of saliva that smeared each other in a paste of half-consumed mantu.

We worked as equals. Tuga’s index finger circled his palm, then tapped once under his left eye. I snapped my head to the left and brought my arm down in a slash.

As signaled, I crept along the platform of the bowl to where the closest worm’s giant maw gaped open. My stomach soured at its reeking breath. Perspiration dripped down my spine and pooled in the divot above my ass.

Tuga maneuvered into position, locked eyes with me and raised three fingers.

In half a breath, the cool dart was in my careful grip. My lips pressed against the hollow launcher tube. Heart beating a steady thud, thud, I narrowed my gaze at my target. A long string of drool dripped from its mouth.

The timing had to be perfect. We would only have a moment. Tuga dropped a finger.

Thud.

The beast’s mouth widened. The second finger on Tuga’s hand closed.

Thud.

Target acquired. His final finger curled inward.

Thud.

A sharp blow against the launcher.

Thud.

Our darts released in unison, firing through the air. Straight as an arrow, they pierced the soft inner flesh of two mouths. Bullseye.

The oversized worms reared up, shrieking and undulating. Their end-of-life cries spiraled deep into the belly of the volcano, echoing like haunted souls.

Their death cries alerted the two remaining hellsna to the imminent danger. Long bodies hammered the edges of the bowl as they whipped around with shocking speed, scanning for prey.

The straightforward part had ended. If Devile had sent a trained team, we would’ve killed them all in their sleep. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Four darts deployed. In. Out. Done. Now, with a lot of strategy and a heavy dose of luck, we might just make it.

Tuga rushed to my side, shouting, “Let’s work the magma to our advantage.”

Acting on their own, Nebula and RitRat launched themselves at one monster, bathing it in a wash of pungent mist.

Tuga and I crouched knee to knee in the shadows.

“Blant, we’re lucky to have them on our side,” Tuga said.

“Their intuition is every guard’s dream.”

I crept along the ledge behind the other veiny bastard, Tuga at my rear. We needed to reposition ourselves in front of it or else get it to turn its head, but the river of boiling magma halted our progress.

Nebula and RitRat raced up and down the domed ceiling over the second giant bastard’s head. As if reading my mind, the dorats split up, Nebula darting toward me.

In a flash, the launcher met my lips. Blant. Wrong angle. I shifted. The giant beast towered above me. I charged to the cavern wall with the launcher in my teeth and climbed. The magma heated my skin where it sputtered and hissed beneath me. Sweat poured down my arms and dripped into my eyes. My grip slipped. The sharp jerk dislodged the dart from my mouth, and it clattered to the ledge below, a hairsbreadth away from rolling into the hissing magma.

“Blant!” I shouted.

Numb to the deafening shrieks that had gone on for so long, I stared at the lost dart as if it were water in the desert. With a steady hand born of endless drills, I retrieved the last dart from my knife belt. My toes lodged into the brittle volcanic rock, and with one hand on the wall, I turned. The beast lurched toward me, easy pickings as I clung sideways.

I sucked in a lungful of humid air and blew.

The dart sailed through the air and pierced the roof of the hellsna’s mouth. But, in its final race from death, it rocketed straight toward me.

“Watch out!” Tuga yelled.

My arm shuddered, and blood dripped from my hand. The sharp volcanic rock was tearing through the skin holding all my weight. Pain ricocheted through my half-healed muscles, stretched to their limit. Blisters started to form on my skin as the magma’s heat took its toll. The wall grew so hot I could no longer tell whether the suffocating heat emanated from the churning volcano or the worm’s rotting breath.

With strength I didn’t know I possessed, I threw myself against the wall, latching on with both hands. Urged forward by another wailing death cry, I half scurried, half jumped along the vertical face.

On my heels, the dying monster was gaining on me. Time to redirect.

Chest heaving, I promised Sola my undying loyalty if she would only spare me. I could no longer feel my hands. They were shredded to a pulp. But I blindly leapfrogged down the wall in larger, riskier jumps, trying to escape.

With its last threads of life, the beast smashed into the wall above me and fell.

Time stopped as the dead weight of the worm corpse hung like an anchor suspended over my head.

“Jump!” Tuga’s voice echoed through the cavern.

Eye to eye with the dead beast, my life flashed before my eyes. A future with Ginger… My voice broke as we fell. “Tell… Ginger… I….”

I launched myself toward a dangling vine, going through the motions of grabbing for it though my fingers held no feeling. The hellsna’s body crashed into a rocky shelf, raining debris on me and slowing its descent. Orange fungus broke off in chunks as I smashed through one large cup, then another and another, taking down the whole stacked cluster. They eased my fall onto the moss floor below, and with half a heartbeat to spare and no oxygen in my lungs, I scooted backward on my ass. A moment later, a ton of worm corpse landed on me.

Pinned beneath the vile body, my legs tingled. Blant, I’d be dead if it hadn’t got hung up on that rock shelf. Nebula raced around my heavy head. Her nervous ears flickered with so much speed they looked like they’d lift off and fly away.

“I can’t believe I dropped a dart.” I punched my fist into the ground, growling, leaving behind a bloody smear.

No matter how much I struggled, the beast still pressed down on my legs. Waves of heat throbbed through my lower limbs, swelling my feet until the leather of my boots bit in. My head spun from the fall, and nausea stirred like acid in my stomach.

I couldn’t blanting see over the reeking corpse trapping me.

Where in the goddess Sola is Tuga?

“Shhh…. calm down.” I attempted to soothe Nebula. Agitated, she pranced around my head. With my knives trapped under my buried legs, I needed Tuga’s help to get out of this mess.

Nebula burst away from me. A heartbeat later, a wailing death cry rang through the cavern, trailing into a blissful silence. The back of my neck relaxed into the humid moss floor. Tuga had shot true.

Tuga, blood dripping from his forehead ridge, strolled toward me with a giant grin plastered on his face. “Napping on the job again? No wonder they sent you away.” He brushed his hands together as if wiping off the crumbs from a sandwich. “You might need this.” Tuga pulled a long knife from a scabbard on his hip, but it slipped through my fingers when he passed it to me.

“I owe you my life, old friend.”

“And you may be the most pathetic thing I’ve ever witnessed.” Tuga grinned as he picked up the knife and carved deep into the hellsna beside my right knee.

My legs dripped with the gore from the dead worm’s innards. My stomach heaved, and I turned my head to the side and vomited, then gathered a breath. “How’s that for pathetic?”

Tuga chuckled before winding his hands through my armpits and tugging me backward. “Who would’ve thought the lead of the elite guard couldn’t handle a little blood and guts?”

I took one breath, then another, and rose on shaky legs. RitRat scurried away as I leaned my weight on Tuga and embraced him. “I know one thing for certain.”

Tuga’s forehead ridge furrowed, and he dipped his head. “What’s that?”

Drunk on victory, I smiled. With Tuga as my crutch, I leaned into my friend. “I can’t wait to wipe the smirk off Devile’s lips when he takes a look at us alive and kicking.”

Tuga patted my forearm. “You got that right. Let’s get the blant out of this wormhole.”

Afternoon light spilled from the entrance, and I took a moment to lift my chin toward it. When I turned my wristport back on to report to Sisip and check on Ginger, my elation switched to alarm. A distressing number of notifications were pinging through.