Page 26 of 80% Beef 20% Cake (Alien Fated Mates #2)

26

C ocooned in JayJay’s arms, I slowly stirred awake. Today was the day he and Tuga faced the hellsna, and I needed to put on a brave face. I traced the leaves tattooed on my wrists, surprised to find no tenderness. JayJay’s soft breaths ruffled my hair, and despite my anxiety, I sank into his warm embrace, reveling in the waves of love and contentment washing through me. I’d never felt a connection like this with anyone—as if I’d been rebuilt into something stronger, something bigger than life, something more real.

From the corner of my eye, I watched my wristport vibrate off the sewing table and plop into the sea-colored moss below. Likely just a reminder to take my medicine, but now that I was awake, I could no longer deny the pressure in my bladder. JayJay looked more peaceful than I’d ever seen him as I wriggled free of his hold.

Scooping up my wristport, I groaned at the early hour, then grabbed a change of clothes and a towel. I’d have plenty of time to return to JayJay before he left to face the hellsna. Inch by inch, I eased the door open before hopping off the ledge. A lightness in my joints I’d thought lost forever brought a smile to my lips. A perma-grin plastered my face as I walked the quiet path to the shower room. Someone had left a recorded message.

“ This message is for Ginger Ellis in regard to the Global Design Guild’s World’s Best Designer Championship. We received your initial acceptance, however, we have not received the portfolio of the work you will be presenting. The deadline has now passed. Please return my call at your earliest convenience to explain, and an extension may be considered. If no further contact is made, the Global Design Guild will consider that your withdrawal from the competition. Kindest regards, Deidre Hall, Global Design Guild Director. ”

Vines had already woven through the walls of the temporary washroom, and I rested my forehead on the leafy door. Tears blurred my vision as the reality of losing my chance to compete with the best of the best tore into me with fresh vigor. Then, fumbling with my wristport, I found one of the many emails I’d missed while preoccupied with nursing JayJay. I typed back a quick message.

‘Thank you for your consideration. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, I can no longer compete.’

Then, even though I’d thought I’d come to grips with not participating, I sat on the toilet and sobbed. Giving up your dreams sucked. As a final tear crawled down my cheek, I promised myself it would be the last. There were plenty of design challenges here. This was only a fork in the road, not the death of a dream.

While in the shower, I visualized a new life. A much fuller life. One where I balanced a career with a giant, gray-skinned Rock Dweller. One where I was healthy.

The door next to mine snapped shut, and my eyes jumped to my wrist to check the time. Shit! JayJay would be getting ready to go. I bundled my dirty things in my towel and unlatched the door.

A thick gray arm reached through the gap, stopping me in my tracks. Before I could scream, Devile, eyes glowing with menace, had muzzled me with a wide stretch of tape. A bolt of fear raced through my veins, and my breaths grew short and fast through my flared nostrils. But when Devile lifted my wrist to his mouth and traced a linnea leaf with the point of his tongue, fear turned to rage.

With as much momentum as I could gather, I stepped back, threw all my strength into my leg and kicked him where it counted. My toes ached in my pointed boots, but the shock on his face was worth the pain. I ran past his hunched form as he cradled his dick, and I clawed at the tape over my lips.

“Not so soon, pretty female.” He grabbed me by my wet hair, twisting my head until I fell to my knees.

Damn it! Why did I pick today to wake up early and have a shower? Pain seared my skull, and my heart hammered as I struggled with the tape, the need to scream clawing at my heart.

“I see I need to teach you to play nice,” he hissed, binding my wrists with some type of lock, leaving me at his mercy.

I dug my heels into the moss as Devile towered over me, forcing my stubborn feet farther into the enormous cavern with each wrench of my hair. He may have been small for a Rock Dweller, but he’d still overpowered me in seconds.

“Inmate 141. How could you have chosen him?” His eyes rolled, the whites showing like a rabid dog. “You’ve wasted your precious gift on that dishonorable Rock Dweller.”

My arms burned, bound behind my back with zip tie-like enclosures. Each jolt abraded the tender skin. “You’re the only dishonorable one here,” I screamed through the tape.

Time slowed as I prayed for someone to wake and walk by. But chances were everyone would be in the command center wishing JayJay well. Exactly where I should have been.

I needed to tell JayJay not to be a hero. That if the beasts woke, he needed to get the fuck out. That there would be other opportunities. That he needed to come back to me.

Just when I thought the hair might rip free from my scalp, Devile dragged me inside a narrow slot. We’d traveled to the far reaches of the cave, but I’d never noticed this hiding spot before.

The pock-marked volcanic walls resembled a black glass sponge. Shards splintered free when Devile shoved the heel of his hand between my shoulder blades, throwing me into the wall and forcing me to kneel. He tore the tape from my mouth in one searing jerk.

“Take it easy, would yah?” I rubbed my mouth against my shoulder, then leveled a glare at him that bounced straight back off his hard eyes.

I’d been working on a set of clothes that matched the armor I’d made JayJay, and I’d chosen to wear them today in a show of solidarity. The thick leather protected my knees from the jagged ground below.

“Inmate 141 has always thought too highly of himself.”

Saliva dotted my chin where his disgusted words landed. I nudged the taint away, wiping my chin on my arm, and a full-body shudder rolled through me.

He softened his voice and smoothed the front of his buttoned tunic as he paced in circles. An unusual design angled from high on his collar down past his hips. In the dim light, his matte gray skin was lusterless. Even before JayJay’s skin shimmered, it had never had the dull cast Devile’s did.

“On Yagras, I’m well respected. My dwelling is located atop the Black Rocks of Nara and looks over the Great Water.” He puffed up like a rooster. “With my true mate’s bond, you’ll be the envy of Rock Dwellers far and wide. Anything you desire…”

Well respected? Or power hungry and resented? It takes more than a house, you asshole!

“What I desire,” I hissed, hoping to nail him in the chin with spit, “is JayJay, you delusional idiot. I already have a mate bond.”

With clenched fists, he snarled, “What do you think happens when two males face five hellsna…” His short neck arched, and he laughed and kept laughing until I prayed the cavern would collapse on top of him.

My pulse raced, and my breaths grew shallow. Believing JayJay had been set up and having it confirmed were two very different things. JayJay needed help.

“What do you want from me? I can’t be your mate if I’m already JayJay’s.” If I could keep this clown barking like a hyena, surely I could figure my way out of this mess. Sisip needed to know this backstabbing piece of shit had set JayJay up.

“JayJay didn’t tell you?”

“He told me you set him up for a crime he didn’t commit.”

His grin slipped. The next moment, he lurched forward, and his three fingers gripped my throat until his bald head blurred into two and then three.

“Careful with your words, fragile little mate.”

He released me. The sudden movement wrenched my shoulders and shot a spike of pain through my bound wrists. I gulped down a greedy breath, and my vision cleared. “I’m not your mate.”

“But you will be.” His lecherous smile soured my stomach. “When JayJay dies, you’ll go mad unless another Rock Dweller claims you. You’ll crave the mate bond. I’d even settle for a life companion’s connection. I’m your best option.” He paced back and forth in the narrow space, no longer talking to me.

Hours later, when I’d shifted to sitting after my knees had gone numb, he was still droning on.

“I’ll make history.” An ear-to-ear grin spread across his dry, cracked lips while his voice rose. “Forevermore, with your linnea arm bands, I’ll be known as the Rock Dweller who restored the true mate bond to the people of Yagras, lost for centuries. I’ll show them the way. My legacy awaits me…”

I had no idea if what he said was true. Surely JayJay would’ve mentioned something like that. Unless…he didn’t know.

While Devile envisioned his twisted future, something nudged my butt cheek. I shifted to the side and squinted. Nothing… But nothing turned into the slight weight of…two distinct paws? A flash of fiber-optic color burst from the spot. Devile, too distracted by the commemorative speech he was outlining, took no notice of our clever guest. Nebula. She dropped her camouflage, and my eyes tracked the direction her silky chin pointed.

Bright little thing.

Nebula eyed the domed ceiling. Above us, a gap connected to the next chamber. The same one JayJay had investigated when we’d hit a dead end while exploring our first day together.

My heart jumped, and I forced the wide smile on my lips back into a flat line. JayJay and another large Rock Dweller scaled the gap. Tuga.

Through blurry eyes, I watched them descend in silence for a second, careful footfall by careful footfall.

He’s alive!

I dragged my cheek over my shoulder to soak up the tears and forced my gaze away from my rescuers. Devile, too caught up in his celebrity-status future, didn’t notice the change in my behavior. Bent over the bag of supplies at his feet, he reached in and took his time assembling something out of my sight.

The air crackled with unspent energy, and the humidity glued the leather to my legs. Tick, tick, tick. Time slowed. That two-faced snake’s up to no good. What does he have planned? Devile’s sudden silence disturbed me.

Under their own power, my eyes darted up. JayJay and Tuga were paused at about the halfway mark, right above the narrow chamber Devile had concealed us in. I needed to keep his attention away from them. My breaths turned shallow and choppy. I hadn’t feared for myself, but with JayJay at risk, the need to free my hands overwhelmed me.

Desperate, I scooted back on my butt until my back hit the wall and rubbed my enclosed wrists against the jagged volcanic rock with slow, precise movements. Instead of the sharp sting where the rough edges bit into my flesh, I felt numb. Underneath the urge to free myself, one thought reigned. Help JayJay.

If my luck held, I could occupy Devile’s manic mind, keeping all his focus on me. “Devile, do you think I could get some water?” Tiny movements, millimeter by millimeter, kept the motion of my arms unnoticeable as I sawed at the binding.

He plucked a nearby trumpet-shaped flower, drank most of it, and then pressed the velvety petal to my lips before tipping. The few drops did nothing to quench my sudden thirst.

“There’s more of that, little mate. You can have your heart’s desire if you accommodate me.”

Against my nature, I forced myself to sound submissive. “Tell me more about your home?”

His eyes widened, and he tossed the empty flower away before leaning closer. Devile’s acrid breath fanned my face. “You’ll adore my dwelling. It’s equipped with every luxury. The latest technology, the highest quality materials… I have spared no expense in its construction.”

One of his stubby fingers ran down the tendon along my neck, and he sucked the moisture he gathered into his mouth. My stomach heaved.

“The bedroom walls have been updated according to the latest trend. The transparency can be adjusted to allow others to watch.” His chest expanded, and he licked his lips. “You’ll join the special members’ club I’m a part of. They’ll love you. We have many interesting female species, but so few are compatible.” Devile’s three fingers wrapped around my throat again.

Millimeter by millimeter, I continued to saw, not daring to look up.

“I like clubs.” How he couldn’t read the fakeness in my voice was beyond me. I directed the disgust in my eyes at my leather-clad knees.

In a flash, his arms shot under my armpits, and he pinned me to the wall. With my feet dangling in the air, at his mercy, he pressed his nose to my collarbone. “Your perfume is divine. Tell me you’d love to come and stay with me?”

You smell worse than the woodskie shit fertilizer Geo uses in his garden.

The sudden impact snapped the final tether that held the cuffs together. My shoulders loosened at last. Fire seared through my arms, and my fingertips throbbed. Euphoria and disgust, in equal measures, fizzed like bubbles under my skin, spreading goose bumps down my arms.

Muscles straining, I clenched my free arms behind my back. “Your house sounds…nice.” I know what you’re after, dick face. And I also know none of this bullshit compliment business holds water without my intent! You might want to look a little closer into your people’s rituals.

With my arms pinned to my sides by sheer will, one thing kept me from slugging him in the face. JayJay. He would arrive any second. Soon, this hell would be over.

His pursed lips dragged up my neck and over my jawline. Too near me, his chest rattled, and his forehead ridge sank into his forehead.

Oh, God, no! There’s no way those lips are touching mine!

But my plan to distract Devile was working. I could stomach his vile lips if it meant keeping JayJay safe. More of his weight leaned into me. My leather tunic prevented sharp volcanic rock from carving notches into my back. A hard bulge pressed into my stomach. You’ve got this. JayJay will be here in a moment. My head slumped against the rough wall.

“Get the blant away from my mate!” JayJay hung one-handed from the wall, about to pounce. His deep forest-colored eyes drank me in, his expression ravenous.

I collapsed to the ground as Devile bolted away from me.

JayJay rushed to my side. “Ginger, bless the goddess Sola. Are you okay?” He crouched and held my bloodied hands in his. Torn and swollen, JayJay’s poor hands were in worse shape than mine.

“I’m fine. Are you okay?” My thready voice broke over my words.

“Tuga, arrest Inmate 141 immediately.”

JayJay spun, placing himself between Devile and me like King Kong in all his glory. He shimmered, his skin lit from within, except for the patterned bands that circled his wrists. Gore and blood soaked him, but under the filth stood a man with more integrity than Devile could ever dream of faking.

Tuga stood hip to hip with JayJay. They loomed over Devile, an impenetrable wall of muscled Rock Dweller.

As impressive in size as JayJay, Tuga spread his massive arms in front of him. “What has he done?”

“You’re my bodyguard. It’s your job to protect me from potential threats, and he’s a potential threat. Now, do as I say.”

“I’m a definite threat,” JayJay roared. “It’s you who’s at fault. You kidnapped my mate and trapped her against her will.”

No matter how hard I studied Tuga, I couldn’t be sure whose side he was on.

Devile’s lips twisted. “Against her will. I don’t think so, Inmate 141,” he barked, fondling his coil. “Ginger, tell Inmate 141 how much you wish to see my home.” He spoke to me, but his eyes leered at JayJay.

Despite racking my brain, I couldn’t figure out why Devile was still taunting JayJay. The gig was up.

“Oh, how the special club members will love to watch me take my fragile mate again and again until the bond takes.”

JayJay lunged for Devile, and my mate’s loud rattle thundered through the narrow slot within the larger cavern.

“Not so fast.” Devile’s hand darted around his back, and he pulled out a gun. Silver glinted, and fear choked me like a noose as the muzzle met JayJay’s temple. The click of the safety release stopped JayJay dead in his tracks. “I always have a backup plan.”

I whimpered. No. We’re so close. This can’t be happening.

“You didn’t even suspect it, did you?” Devile sneered at JayJay.

“What? That your inflated boulder-brain has turned to sand?”

“He didn’t mean that.” I backpedaled. JayJay’s ability to mediate seemed to have flown out the window.

Devile’s finger caressed the trigger, the gun still aimed at JayJay, paying me no mind. “That the Supreme Council had selected their candidates for the next representative at my term’s end.”

All Devile’s mysterious ramblings were beginning to come together. A conclusion was forming in my head.

“Get to the point. My female needs medical attention.” JayJay shuffled back and forth, and I could feel the tightrope line he was grappling with, resisting coming to my aid.

Then it suddenly clicked. “JayJay! The Supreme Council selected you as a candidate.”

“Ah, pretty, and a clever little thing, too. She’ll be just the guarantee I need to make the representative position mine for good. No more terms.”

“Did LenLen also happen to be a candidate?” Tuga barked.

Time seemed to stop, and the humid air grew so thick that my lungs felt like they were filling with liquid concrete. A fiber-optic tail flickered for a second, then went dark near Devile’s ankles.

JayJay’s jaw clenched, and he jerked his head from side to side. He was a ticking time bomb.

Blood dripped from my shredded wrists as I slowly rose to my knees, then stood. Laser-focused, I braced for whatever opportunity Nebula might present.

“You had a blanting female killed to dishonor me so you could keep a title?”

Devile kicked out, shouting. His gun went flying as he swatted at an invisible Nebula and clutched his ankle.

I bolted for the gun. It spiraled through the chamber, slamming into the wall and discharging a shot into the domed ceiling. A stalactite broke off and fell like a bolt of black lightning toward Tuga, who jumped out of its way without a moment to spare.

At that exact moment, JayJay wound his arm back and seemed to funnel every ounce of his pent-up hate straight into Devile’s jaw. Devile’s head snapped around 180 degrees, and a trail of saliva flew out in a slow arc around him.

Tuga moved to my side as I scrambled to grab the gun. His eyes never left JayJay as he landed another hit to Devile’s solar plexus.

Hunched over, back heaving, Devile called out, “Tuga, my bodyguard, my friend…” He panted, reaching toward Tuga with one hand. “The lead elite guard position could be yours…”

Nebula stood in all her Technicolor glory at my feet, her tail rigid. Seconds later, a sable-colored dorat dropped a pair of wrist enclosures on Tuga’s boots.

When Tuga didn’t respond, Devile tried again. “Tuga, retrieve the wrist-locks in my bag.”

Tuga rocked beside me like a tiger in a cage. Though I knew his loyalty was to JayJay, I also knew that Rock Dwellers took worthiness to the next level. Would Tuga turning his back on Devile, his charge, make him question his actions?

JayJay’s fist coiled backward and hurtled upward, straight into Devile’s chin. “Your time for talking is over.” As Devile's head snapped back JayJay hooked his foot behind the only Rock Dweller he truly hated and swept his legs from beneath him.

Splayed over shattered volcanic rock, Devile moaned and curled on his side, pleading, “Inmate… JayJay, please…”

“JayJay,” I called, and his stormy gaze snapped toward me. “I’ve got it from here.” I motioned him to my side with my chin and lifted the gun with both hands.

JayJay shook his head as if in a daze and rushed to my side.

The buzz of a weapon engaging filled the cramped space. At the sound, Devile’s swollen lids cracked open. “I surrender. Please, just…”

“Tuga, the enclosures.” I nudged Tuga in the elbow while still holding the gun steady on Devile.

A stiff Tuga picked them up and approached Devile.

As Tuga bent to bind Devile’s wrist, Devile jerked forward, grabbed a glass-sharp splinter and plunged it into Tuga’s thigh. Devile’s eyes flashed like a madman’s as he raved about betrayal while Tuga clutched his bleeding leg. “Tuga, consider Tern your new home. You will never return to Yagras.”

My arms trembled as I held the gun steady, and when Tuga rolled free, I pulled back the trigger.

Held my breath.

Closed my eyes.

And let go.

Only nothing happened. The firing mechanism must have jammed when the gun hit the ground.

I stood frozen long enough for Devile to hurl an ebony shard. It flew true like a spear, straight toward JayJay. Only JayJay was frowning at the gun, still hanging useless in my grip.

“JayJay, watch out!” I shouted, shoving his hip. As he twisted out of the way, the blade sheathed at his thigh flashed as if calling my name, and I grabbed it.

Guided by an instinct new to me, I charged toward Devile, the knife edge flashing a deep orange in the low light. I lunged, trapping his neck with the heel of my boot where he writhed on the ground, and sank the knife between his legs.

Devile squealed like a stuck pig.

“You’ll never test another female for a mating bond again,” I spat, twisting the hilt as his legs jerked beneath me.

JayJay grabbed the enclosures, bound Devile’s wrists, then looked at Tuga and me. “Should we throw him in the river?”

“I heard a shot.” Sisip’s ears flickered as she peered into the narrow slot, Hill’s freckled nose appearing around her. “Bring him here, Tuga. Nobody’s throwing anyone into the river.”

JayJay lifted me into his arms from where I straddled Devile and withdrew the knife from Devile’s groin. I took in a shaky breath and collapsed against his side.

“My beautiful, fierce jungle cat,” he praised as he ran his palm down my hair.

When he looked at the obsidian blade and then me, pride tingled in my core. JayJay wiped the blade off on Devile’s shirt before passing it back to Sisip. “ Courageous Heart struck true.”

“She does like a female’s touch.” Sisip nodded to me. “I should’ve known.”

Devile wriggled on the ground. “Sisip, under your authority,” he gasped, clutching his groin, “I d-demand to be freed and have JayJay and Tuga—” He stopped to catch his breath. “Arrested.”

“Overbearing, misogynistic prick”—I ground my teeth—“if I have any say, I’m all for throwing that bastard in the magma river.”

Sisip’s stoic expression cracked, and one corner of her split-lipped mouth twisted up, whiskers bobbing. “Devile, as lead enforcer of Tern, I will decline that suggestion.”

Hill joined her and unrolled a slip of paper. “We’re here to notify you that you’re to remain in custody as a person of interest in the case of Yula Rackver’s death and for the possible wrongful arrest of JayJay Atlason. Under the Intergalactic Federation’s Ruling Body, you’ll be required to stand trial on an impartial planet. A shuttle is en route.”

Tuga grinned. “The Supreme Council must’ve finally looked at the evidence we’ve collected.”

“These claims are…outrageous,” the lowlife panted, twisting in Tuga’s arms. “Inmate 141 committed a horrific crime and is serving his time.” Forehead bathed in sweat, his blustering voice grew thready. “The Intergalactic Federation will rule in my favor.”

Sisip carried on, ignoring Devile’s bluster. “Bonic has agreed to act as a character witness for JayJay. The elite protector to the high hold of Lorne intends to clear JayJay’s name with recent evidence the Yagras guard has collected and bring to light your role in sabotaging this mission to rid Tern of hellsna.”

“Will this help?” I scrolled through my wristport’s screen and tapped, filling the crowded space with Devile’s manic ramblings.

“You’ve been recording me the entire time?” Devile’s skin grew pale in Tuga’s grip as the blood rushed from his face. “I’ve changed my mind about you. You’d be an unworthy mate.”

JayJay growled.

My eyes bulged out of my head. “You conniving piece of shit. You’ve destroyed JayJay’s career, kidnapped me, bound me and planned to rape me. It’s time to face the consequences, you fuck.”

Hill pulled JayJay back when he advanced on Devile.

I glanced toward Sisip. “I’ll testify against this scumbag any day of the week. Put me on that shuttle?”

Tuga twisted Devile’s arms until he turned into a blubbering mess. “Say goodbye to your representative title.”

JayJay’s rumble rippled through my body, leaving a rush of dizziness that had nothing to do with blood loss in its wake. “I’ll do everything in my power to crumble this Rock Dweller to dust.”

Devile’s struggles grew weaker as blood pooled around his groin. “Sisip, I couldn’t help but notice your enforcers need a new fleet of hoverbikes…”

“Enough!” Sisip silenced Devile. “JayJay, Dr. Ten has been notified there may be injuries. He’s on his way.” Her eyes dipped to her wristport. “Get yourself checked out along with Ginger. Tuga, you too. Hill, I’d appreciate your assistance in escorting Devile to the shuttle.”